We were all very excited for our first full park day in Magic Kingdom. There is nothing quite like riding the monorail and seeing a view of Cinderella's castle and Space Mountain out the window.
Main Street Train Station, as we are getting ready to walk through the gates... Even though the weather was cool, it was sunny and beautiful!
Main Street U.S.A. all decked out for Christmas
I love Main Street! It's so charming, especially at Christmastime.
I still don't know how I feel about Cinderella Castle's new paint job, but it certainly looked pretty this morning!
First, we headed to Frontierland to ride Splash Mountain...
This was Alice's first time riding it!
Splash Mountain was my favorite ride when I was a kid. It's about to be reimagined as a Princess and the Frog ride, so I'm glad I got to ride it before the transformation.
Next, we rode Haunted Mansion. Sadly, the stretching room preshow was cut because of physical distancing restrictions. I feel like that preshow sets the spooky tone for the ride so well. I missed it!
Next up was Peter Pan's Flight...
...then Small World!
Esme LOVED this ride.
After riding Small World, we took a break to eat lunch at Pinocchio's Village Haus. This quick service restaurant was the opposite of Les Halle in Epcot, where we ate the previous evening. Pinocchio's has a great atmosphere. You really feel like you stepped into the film, and depending on where you sit, you have a view of the Small World ride below. But the food was not very magical.
After lunch, we rode Dumbo! This was Alice's favorite ride the last time we came to Disney World. She used to call them "the Bumbos".
Even though she's more into the thrill rides now, we had fun riding this together!
After Dumbo, we rode Space Mountain. This was Lucy's first time to ride it (she wasn't tall enough last time), and - as expected - she loved it. Alice wasn't tall enough to ride this one, and she was really sad about it. We needed an ice cream treat to cheer her up, so we made our way to Adventureland for Dole Whips.
Meanwhile, Esme took a nap in the stroller.
We rode a lot more rides - Magic Carpets, Pirates of the Caribbean, Thunder Mountain, Mad Tea Party, Winnie the Pooh, and Under the Sea. Finally it was time for us to get to our dinner reservation at Be Our Guest.
This restaurant is inside the castle from Beauty and the Beast. It really does look a lot like the castle from the movie, complete with a bridge and stained-glass windows and gargoyles. By this time, it was pretty dark, so I was not able to get very good pictures. And the inside was even more impressive. There were suits of armor and more stained-glass windows. The ballroom looked like it had been taken right out of the movie, with the ceiling painted with clouds and cherubs. Out the long "windows", you could see snow falling. And the best part of all was the West Wing. We did not eat in this room because we thought it might scare Esme, but it was incredible. The shredded portrait of the prince slowly transformed into a portrait of the beast. The enchanted rose gradually lost its petals as you looked at it. And this was also a character meal - the Beast made an appearance to welcome us to his castle. He did a formal bow and waved at the kids, who were beyond excited to see him. I thought Esme would be scared of him, but she just kept waving and saying, "Hi, Beast!"
The food was really amazing too! I regret not taking any pictures of it. I had lobster bisque for my appetizer and roast chicken with a savory bread pudding for my entre. And, of course, "the grey stuff" for dessert! We left very full and very happy.
After leaving Be Our Guest, we decided to try to hop in line for Seven Dwarfs' Mine Train. This roller coaster is probably the most popular ride in Magic Kingdom, so it had a long wait all day. (Due to limited park capacity, there are no FastPasses right now, so you actually have to stand in line, just like we used to when I was kid back in the 90's. Since capacity is so limited, most lines were super short, but these very popular lines stay at about an hour wait all day.) BUT, since it was so close to park closing, and we had Esme with us and needed to do a Rider Swap, they let us go to the front of the line. It was amazing to have that be our last ride of the day and not have to wait at all. Lucy and Alice were so excited!
As we were leaving the park, there was a holiday projection show happening on Cinderella Castle. Due to safety constraints, there are no fireworks or nighttime shows at Disney World right now. But as someone with kids who are afraid of loud fireworks, I thought these castle projections were a nice alternative. As we were leaving the Magic Kingdom, Main Street U.S.A. was all lit up and twinkling, and bubbles from all the little souvenir wands were floating through the air. It was magical - the perfect ending to our day in Magic Kingdom.
Magic Kingdom Day
New Experiences: Eating dinner at Be Our Guest. This was the most immersive restaurant, and the food was delicious! It was definitely the highlight of our day.
Lucy was finally tall enough for Space Mountain, so she got to ride that for the first time. Alice was tall enough to ride a few new-to-her rides: Splash Mountain, Thunder Mountain, and Seven Dwarfs' Mine Train. She loved them all.
Things we had to skip: At Christmastime, the Jungle Cruise ride in Magic Kingdom becomes the "Jingle Cruise". It is pretty much the same ride, but with holiday-themed jokes and puns. I had hoped to get to do this, but the wait actually stayed pretty long all day, and we ran out of time.
Things we wish we'd skipped: We loved it all! As I mentioned, the food at Pinocchio's Village Haus was nothing special, but the atmosphere was cute and the location was good. I'd eat there again, just for the convenience factor alone.
Favorite Treats: As delicious as the "grey stuff" at Be Our Guest was, nothing beats a good Dole Whip!
Favorite Attraction: Lucy's favorites were Splash Mountain and Space Mountain; Alice loved the Seven Dwarfs' Mine Train. Esme's favorites were Peter Pan and Small World. Morgan's favorite has always been and remains Space Mountain. I have to say that my favorite ride of the day was Pirates of the Caribbean. It was closed the last time we were in Disney World, so I had forgotten how much fun it is!
Memorable Moment: While Morgan and the older girls were riding Splash Mountain (first ride of the day), I was hanging out with Esme and waiting for my turn to ride it. When they all got off the ride, the girls ran to me, so excited and bursting to tell me all about it. I threw up my own hands in excitement, completely unaware that there was a giant cactus growing up directly behind me (remember, we were in Frontierland after all), and my hand smacked the cactus. I had to pull little cactus spines out of my hand. I might be the only person in history to have gotten a cactus injury at Disney World.
Also, getting to ride the Mine Train last thing of the night without waiting in line was pretty special. And I don't think I will ever forget walking down Main Street U.S.A. with the Christmas lights twinkling and the bubbles floating through the air. I felt like I was in a Disney World commercial.
We caught the monorail back to our car and headed for our resort to get some much-needed sleep. The next day was going to be a big day of firsts, because we were headed to a park I had never been to before...
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