Disney World Day 2 - Magic Kingdom

We arrived at the Magic Kingdom just as the opening show was ending. I had wanted to see it, so I knew we had to catch an earlier bus on our second day at that park.

When the gates opened, we walked down Main Street, paused to get our picture taken in front of Cinderella's Castle, and headed for Adventure Land. We purchased a Memory Maker package, which gave us access to pictures from Disney photographers stationed all over the parks. We also brought our DSLR camera and a point and shoot, so our pictures come from a variety of sources depending on what we were doing that day.

Our first stop was Aladdin's Magic Carpets. The ride malfunctioned on our first ride, so we rode it again, and the girls really enjoyed it. Next we rode the Jungle Cruise. The girls liked all of the animals. We then rode Pirates of the Caribbean, which I have vivid memories of from my first trip to Disney. I think that ride scared the girls a little because for pretty much every dark ride thereafter, they asked if there would be pirates.

When we got off of that ride, I realized I no longer had my Magic Band, which is basically a bracelet that was my room key and park ticket. It help my fast pass information, and you can charge to your room using your bracelet. We couldn't find it on any of the rides we went on, but fortunately, someone had turned it in to Guest Relations. There were virtually no waits for the rides we had been on, so that little detour didn't even put us behind my schedule.

We headed to Frontier Land to ride Big Thunder Mountain. The girls loved the junior roller coasters at Michigan's Adventure last summer, so I figured they would love the mostly tame roller coasters at Disney. Unfortunately Tannah had a bad cold and was running a low fever, and she hated Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. Harper wasn't a fan either, so neither of the girls wanted to ride anything fast or with hills after that. I learned that we should have started with Goofy's Barnstormer and worked our way up instead of starting with the biggest roller coaster they could ride first. Live and learn:).

You can tell that Tannah was not feeling well, but she was such a little trooper!

We grabbed lunch at Columbia Harbor House in Liberty Square and went to use our first fast pass for Peter Pan. The girls loved this ride and would have done it again had the line not been over an hour long. We rode the carousel, which was another favorite, and went to Tomorrow Land for Buzz Lightyear's ride and the Monster's Inc Laugh Floor show. Buzz was fun, it's a ride where you shoot lazers at Zurg, and the Monster's Inc show was hilarious, although Harper was getting really tired and didn't want to sit through it. The girls met Buzz Lightyear and got him to stamp their autograph books. I think this was where Harper started telling me she wanted to be "on the other side", which meant that she wanted me to be in the picture and to be in between her and the character. The girls took pictures with almost all of the characters, but it was hit or miss if they would give hugs and pose without me.

Our last fast pass was for a meet and greet with Cinderella and Rapunzel. All of the characters at Disney are great, but the princesses are fun because they talk to you (Characters in costume heads do not). The girls put on their princess dresses and actually stood with Rapunzel without me. The girls really wanted to meet Anna and Elsa, but the line was over an hour, and we had a fast pass for later in the week.

Wei-Yand and I watched the Festival of Fantasy Parade while the girls napped in the stroller. I wish they would have been awake, because the parade was really neat.

We went back to our room for a quick break before dinner. Staying on Disney property was nice because we could do that every day. The girls fell asleep in their strollers when they needed to and never actually napped in the room, but it was nice to be able to put our feet up for a while.

We had dinner reservations at the Crystal Palace, which is a character meal with Winnie the Pooh, Piglet, Tigger, and Eeyore. The girls were not into those characters. They stood on the other side for every picture, except that Harper hid under the table when Piglet came to the table. At least the food was good.

After dinner we rode the Tomorrow Land Speedway, which the girls loved and the tea cups, which they also loved (me, not so much). We caught the Main Street Electric Parade on our way to meet Tiana. We just missed Tiana, but found a spot for Wishes (the fireworks show) near her meet and greet, so we could get in line as soon as it was over. Wishes is great, and we were first in line to meet Tiana and Naveen. Harper wore her Tiana dress, and Prince Naveen asked her if Mama Odee made it for her. It was great. We closed down the park and collapsed into bed when we made it back to our room. It was a great first day!