Walt Disney World April 2015, Day 1 – Magic Kingdom

Finally I’m taking the time to sit down and write all about our holiday to Walt Disney World earlier this month. To be honest it hasn’t been the writing that has been difficult, it’s the choosing which photos to use! This post has 17 photos in, and this was a short day (8am – 6pm). So I apologise that all my holiday diary posts are going to be very photo heavy, but all together I have over 5000 photos from various sources! I’m going to do it like my US diary last summer and share all the photos first, then tell you what we got up to.

Little Miss woke up at 4:30am on our first morning which of course was to do with the fact back home it was 9:30. As we had free wifi in our room I set her up with something to watch on the iPad while I unpacked and had a shower (things I was too tired to do the previous night when we first arrived). I wanted to be at Magic Kingdom for rope drop at 8am so we caught the Lynx bus to the Ticket and Transportation Center before taking the ferry across Seven Seas Lagoon to Magic Kingdom. It was the best way to kick off our trip, I was so emotional I think I cried from the moment I could see the castle, until we got on the Dumbo ride in Storybook Circus. We spent the first hour walking onto rides, Dumbo, Teacups (twice) and It’s a Small World, before we made our way to Cinderella Castle for breakfast. We had reservations at Cinderella’s Royal Table at 9:20 which we arrived promptly for. Once checked in you proceed into the lobby where you are greeted personally by Cinderella. As soon as she saw Little Miss in the dress made for her by Bee, carrying her Gus Gus plus she made her way over and whisked LMs away while all I could was stand with a lump in my throat. The look on LMs face as Cinderella talked to her set the bar for the rest of the holiday, you could see that for her, it was magic. After she had her few moments with Cinderella we headed up into the restaurant where we were seated at what I could only describe as one of the best seats in the house with a beautiful view across Fantasyland. I ordered the Caramel Apple Stuffed French Toast which was amazing but really filling, so thank goodness I could share with LM. Of course each Princess took her turn coming to our table to talk to Little Miss, we had Aurora, Snow White, Ariel and Jasmine. Little Miss also received a wand and a wishing star. If I can grab a reservation for here in September for breakfast, I will do as I can’t describe how wonderful it was eating in the castle. After breakfast we headed outside and rode the carousel while we waited on Bee and her family to finish their breakfast as we all had Fast Passes for Peter Pan’s Flight. It was completely surreal being in Disney World with them, and I loved being able to share in the girl’s first visit again, it just added to the magic. We used our Fast Pass then after a misadventure looking for the Fairy Godmother we queued to meet Pooh & Tigger. This was LM’s first experience with a fur character and she was wonderful, running straight over for hugs and more than happy to interact with them. We followed this up with a ride on The Barnstormer and then The Haunted Mansion before parting ways for the day and this was all by lunchtime.

After saying goodbye LM and I headed through Liberty Square, stopping for some frozen lemonade and a Mickey Bar, before making our way to the famous hub grass. Sat on the hub grass were a group of friend I’d made over Instagram and they were looking for us! We sat with Mellie, Mikayla, Brianna, Daniel and Aaron chatting for a while then we headed to the castle stage to watch Dream Along with Mickey for the first time. Mellie, Mikayla and Brianna took turns dancing with LM giving me a chance to photograph it. It was love at first watch for both of us and we watched it many times over the course of the 10 days! After the show finished we were joined by more friends, Alex and Mimi, so more hugs all around. I didn’t feel like an outside for a moment, and it was such a great feeling being wanted. Then we headed down Main Street to find somewhere to sit to wait for Festival of Fantasy, the parade at Magic Kingdom. Again it was love at first watch, and I had a huge lump in my throat when it rounded the corner (although Alex tried to cover my eyes so I couldn’t see it until it was almost to us!) By this point it was super hot so a large group of us headed to Gaston’s Tavern so I could try LeFou’s Brew which was delicious and perfect to cool off. LM wasn’t so keen. It was getting late at this point (as where we watched the parade from was the end of the route) so Brianna and Daniel headed away, and the rest of us headed to the Veranda to meet Peter Pan, something I had been desperate to do.. however LM completely stole my thunder and from the first hug she was besotted. As we were last in the queue for the set we had a little longer than usual with him, which worked out great as LM was spending ages just hugging him. I don’t think there was a dry eye.

We called it a day after this, LM was getting tired so rather than catching the Lynx back Mellie offered to drive us. We took the monorail with her and Tori (who started LM’s love affair with Disney popcorn on the way) back to the parking lot then Mellie drove us back to Kissimmee. We dropped off the pushchair and headed next door to the Waffle House for grilled cheese as our dinner, walked around the stores near by but we were back in bed asleep before 9pm.

It was a truly magical start to the holiday, it’s really the only way to describe the whole trip really after LM’s meet with Peter everything just got better and better. I’ll try and not take too long between posts! a