WDW Day 3: Magic Kingdom

Today was our last day at Disney! Since we had such a late night last night we slept in and got a little later start today. Julia had another goody bag to open this morning before we headed out. Today's bag had a Mickey sticker book, a Mickey Mouse Pez, glow sticks and some snacks and drinks for the park in it.

Excited about her Mickey Mouse Pez!

I promise she was more excited than she looks!

When we got to Magic Kingdom we headed straight to the Town Hall Theatre to get a FastPass to see Mickey Mouse. We were shocked when it said the wait was only 15 minutes so we quickly decided we would just wait instead of getting a FastPass. When it was our turn to see Mickey she walked straight up and gave him a big hug. She loves Mickey Mouse! Unfortunately Minnie Mouse was out shoe shopping so we didn't get to see her, but we did see her at Chef Mickey's yesterday.

Since it is Disney World, you have to walk through a gift shop to get out of any ride or attraction. When we left Mickey Mouse Julia proceeded to pick up every stuffed animal in the gift shop and tell us who they were. She even clarified that this was "Baby Goofy".

After Mickey Mouse we got a FastPass to see the princesses and headed over to our lunch reservations at Liberty Tree Tavern. We were a little early so Julia and I sat outside while Michael went in to let them know we were there and see if they could seat us a little early. While we were waiting Julia asked for a snack. I told her that she didn't need a snack because we were about to eat lunch. This led to a crying fit, of course. To try and get her to calm down, because people were starting to stare, I told her that if she counted to ten she could have a snack. She immediately stopped crying, counted to ten, and asked for her "snack please"!! I couldn't go back on my word, so she got her fruit snacks!

Julia and Daddy mapping out our afternoon

My sweet girl!

On our way to our use our FastPasses for the princesses we saw Mary Poppins. Michael thought she was just one of the characters who are dressed up on Main Street, but I knew better! :)

Julia was a little hesitant, but Mary Poppins assured her she had plenty of experience with shy children, just like Jane and Michael.

We actually ended up waiting longer to see the princesses than we did to see Mickey, even though we had a FastPass for the princesses! Julia occupied herself by checking out all her autographs in her book.

We quickly realized that Julia much preferred that characters with masks on than the "people" ones. She wouldn't go see Cinderella by herself so I ended up having to carry her up there.

Getting Belle's autograph

Princess Aurora

After we got outside from seeing the princesses we noticed it was quickly becoming overcast. Michael checked the radar on his phone and saw that it was going to storm so we decided to head back to the hotel and let Julia rest instead of trying to find shelter at the Magic Kingdom. As soon as our bus pulled out of the parking lot heading toward the hotel it started raining. When we got back to the hotel we got soaked going from the bus stop to our room!

Julia got in a good nap and we were out of the rain!

Once Julia woke up we headed back to finish our day at Magic Kingdom!

Julia & Daddy waiting on our bus

Waving to everyone riding Dumbo

Daddy & Julia waiting to ride Dumbo

Mommy & Julia waiting to ride Dumbo

Dumbo!

Riding Dumbo!

 

Goofy's Barnstormer was right next to Dumbo. Julia said it looked like fun so we decided to try, but unfortunately she was about 1/4" too short! I think if we would have gone back later when someone else was working she could have ridden it but we never made our way back over there.

Michael wanted to ride the cars so he stood in line for TomorrowLand Speedway while Julia burned off some energy exploring. When he got close to the front of the line we joined him for the ride.

She looks a little scared of Mommy's driving!

After every ride she would pump her fists in the air and say "We did it!" They usually had much more enthusiasim than this one, but I finally got her to say it for the camera.

We walked to a quick service place across from the race track for dinner. You can tell by the picture below that the chocolate cake was Julia's favorite!

Since we went back to the room this afternoon and let Julia get a good nap she was ready to go tonight. That worked out really nice because a lot of the younger rides that have long lines during the day didn't have very long lines tonight since most little ones were sleeping. After dinner we set off to check the rest of the rides of our list, starting with the tea cups. She loved making the tea cups spin!

After the teacups we headed over to Prince Charming's Regal Carousel. We knew Julia would love this because she loves the little one at the mall so much. There wasn't a long line so she was able to ride two times in a row. She yelled "Wee" and "This is fun" the whole time!

Next we walked over to Peter Pan's Flight. We didn't have very long lines for any ride but this was the longest. We waited about 45 minutes for this one. Julia was such a trooper in the lines though.

Waiting for Peter Pan's Flight

 

I hate that this one turned out blurry because she said this was her favorite ride! We'll see what she says in a few days though.

We missed the earlier parade so we knew we didn't want to miss the last one. We headed over to main street kind of early and got a good spot in front of the castle. They do a laser show with lights and pictures from throughout the day on the castle before the parade. One of the first pictures that came up was a huge picture of Julia hugging Mickey Mouse!

Daddy bought Julia these cool light up Mickey ears.

She loved trying to catch the bubbles that the cast members were blowing to keep the kids entertained while they waited on the parade to get to us.

Primping while we waited for the parade to start

Once the parade started Julia was beside herself. She loved every second of it. I would say that she easily enjoyed the parade the most out of everything we did. She would spot a character and yell their name the whole time until they passed and then she'd find another character. She absolutely loved it!

We thought we would head out after the parade but Julia was in a great mood and the park cleared out even though it was still open for another two hours so we decided to take advantage of it. We headed over to Pixie Hollow to see Tinker Belle. She had her friend Rosetta with her. We've never seen or heard of Rosetta before but Julia didn't seem to mind.

Tinker Belle asked Julia if her grown up made her autograph book. When she said yes Tinkerbelle replied with "Oh, it looks like your grown up likes to tinker too". Ha!

When we were leaving Julia kept saying "thank you Tinkerbell".

Aladdin's Magic Carpet Ride was just outside of Pixie Hollow so that was our next stop. Again, Julia loved it. I don't think there was anything we rode today that she didn't like!

   

Our last ride of the night was the Haunted Mansion. I was afraid it might be a little scary for Julia, but I was wrong. She didn't *love* the ride, but she tolerated. After our last ride we watched the fireworks and started making our way to bus stop. When we got to Main Street we let Julia get out of her stroller. We told her she could pick one thing out before we left so we let her wander the store. She picked several things up and put them down before deciding a Minnie Mouse doll dressed as a character from Aristocats. Michael and I had to ask who she was dressed as!

Since we still had one snack left on our dining plan we put Julia back in her stroller and walked across the street to get a snack. When we got across the street I bent down to ask Julia what she wanted and realized she was sacked out!

Luckily we didn't have to wait too long for the bus. We just got back to the room a few minutes ago. Julia is sound asleep and I'm not far behind her. I can't believe our days at the park are over and that we will be heading home tomorrow. We've definitely made memories to last though!  

WDW Day 1: Hollywood Studios & Epcot

We woke up bright and early this morning ready to start our day at Disney! We gave Julia her "prizes" for the day before we checked out of our hotel. Today her bag consisted of a Disney Junior coloring book, Jake stickers, a Winnie the Pooh pez, glow in the dark bracelets and Mickey Mouse fruit snacks.

 

Julia was so excited even though I don't think she truly understood where we were!

When we got to Disney we checked into our hotel, Port Orleans - French Quarter. They didn't have our room ready so we left our bags at the front desk and took the bus to Hollywood Studios. 

waiting for the bus at our hotel

Once the bus got there we loaded up and were on our way. Julia was fascinated with all the pictures of the Disney characters on the bus.

Julia's first glimpse of Hollywood Studios

She was ready to get out of the stroller already! 

Once we got inside and got our bearings we headed off to our first ride, The Great Movie Ride. 

waiting in line

Next we headed over to Voyage of The Little Mermaid. The Little Mermaid was my favorite movie growing up and Julia likes it too. When we went to Auburn last January for the National Championship celebration she watch the entire movie in the car. 

waiting for The Little Mermaid 

Julia was definitely glued to it but I was a little disappointed we didn't get to meet Ariel! 

Next we headed to Muppet Vision 3D before our lunch reservations. Julia was a little hesitant of all the loud noises and flying objects. She made it through the whole thing though. 

Julia was rocking her matching paci and glasses. The glasses didn't last long though!  

After that it was time for our lunch reservations at Hollywood and Vine. We took turns wandering around trying to keep Julia occupied while we waited for our table. 

Julia LOVED lunch. She got to meet her favorite characters from Disney Junior and even got to dance with Jake after we ate.

Jake was the first character to come over to our table. She was a little shy to start with but she warmed up!

Then she spotted Special Agent Oso!

June came over to see Julia and wanted to get her out of her high chair to play. I promise she was more excited than she looked but I do think she was a little overwhelmed!

They had music playing in the restaurant and every so often all the characters and waiters/waitresses would go to the front and sing and dance. They invited the kids down front to dance with them. Julia wanted to go but she didn't want to get too close.

Daddy! I don't have time for pictures. Here comes Handy Manny!

Julia and Daddy watching Handy Manny sign her autograph book

We got ready to leave and I wanted to take Julia's picture in front of the sign at the entrance to the restaurant. We had one of the last lunch reservations so the restaurant was pretty empty when we left. 

While we were taking her picture the staff and characters started singing and dancing again. Julia poked her head around and was watching them dance. Jake saw her and came over and got her to dance with him. She was in heaven!

She had to get one last picture with Jake before we left.

When we left Hollywood and Vine we put Julia in her stroller and were trying to figure out what to do next. The next thing we knew we looked down and Julia was out!

I pushed her around for a little bit while Michael rode the Rock N Roller Coaster. Julia woke up about the time he got off. Since we were right at the Beauty and the Beast show and it was almost time for it to start we decided to go in and watch it. Julia was still a little groggy from her nap!

Mommy and Julia waiting on Beauty and the Beast to start

Julia and Daddy leaving Beauty and the Beast

I have been looking forward to this trip for a while and have gone crazy with the Mickey stuff. Michael said there were Mickey heads stuck on everything we brought! I made these little tags for the stroller and all our bags with our phone number on the other side.

We knew the one thing that we didn't want to miss at Hollywood Studios (besides our lunch) was the Disney Junior show. The whole trip and point of the trip has been based upon Julia's love for Disney Junior. The only complaint I had about the show was that the characters were puppets and not life size characters. Julia didn't seem to mind but I expected to see life size characters.

Family photo in front of the sorcerers hat!

We made our way over to the Honey! I Shrunk the Kids Movie Set Adventure. Julia wanted to climb up it so I went with her. Holy mackerel! That place should come with a warning! I thought I was going to die before we got out! 

Our last ride at Hollywood Studios was the Studio Backlot Tour. Julia and I were kinda take it or leave it but Michael wanted to go so we agreed. I figured as much princesses and girlie things he was going to have to endure over the next few days that we could give him one ride!

Julia wasn't fond of the explosion at the beginning. 

After the backlot tour we took the ferry over to Epcot. We didn't get to ride anything but we did walk around the World Showcase for a little bit and get dinner. We ate dinner at Katsura Grill in the Japan section of the World Showcase. It wasn't the worst meal I've ever had but I'm positive we could have found something better.

After dinner we wandered for a little bit and then headed back to the hotel with our fingers crossed that our luggage would be in our room! Thankfully it was so we set out to give Julia a bath and get her in bed.

The first thing she spotted when we walked in our room was the Mickey Mouse made out of towels on our bed. She was also pretty fascinated with the Mickey's on the shampoo bottles. Every time she turned around she found another Mickey!

"Mickey!"

We had a great first day in the park! Tomorrow we're heading to Animal Kingdom and Epcot. I can't wait!