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2.05.2020

Disney Days 2019 {Magic Kingdom day 2}

February 2, 2019

Saturday morning I was (as usual) the first one up.  I showered quickly and slipped out of the room to go fetch the morning coffee and hot chocolates (a fun tradition of our time at a Disney resort) before our last day in the parks.  I came back to the room to discover a fun little surprise...this little guy was perched upon our room lock.  


With cocoa in hand, I rallied the troops and we were out the door, on the bus and to the Magic Kingdom in just under an hour.



With it being our second day at the kingdom that started it all, we took a more relaxed pace down main street, stopping to admire the statues we had soldiered past on Monday.



Besides, is it possible to have too many family pictures in front of Cinderella's castle?...


We meandered through the relatively light crowd and slowly made our way to Fantasyland.


With 20 minutes until our reservation at Be Our Guest and a mere 5 minute wait time on Prince Charming's Regal Carrousel, we decided to take a quick spin.  Even dads have fun!


Next came our long awaited meal in the Beast's castle.  We had been unable to secure reservations on our most recent trip in December of 2015 and so everyone was excited to check out the theming inside the restaurant.


Our meal was enjoyable, plenty of pastries in a French theme.

a mimosa included as part of the meal?  yes please...
We give Be Our Guest a 4 for food...anywhere that lets you take hot chocolate or Sprite to go ranks high with my crew...and a 4 for theming.  It would have been a 5, but Kylie noted a distinct lack of "taking theming over the top" in the restrooms and we all know Imagineers can make even a bathroom break seem special.  Just look at the Tangled restroom plaza!


Everyone is pretty much past the princesses and so we skipped Ariel's Undersea Adventure though the boys paused to hang with King Triton for a minute.


While we were in the area, Ian and I insisted that we stop by to visit one of the most iconic rides in the park.  We were met with resistance as they all claimed we had already ridden the same ride with rockets (Astro Orbiter) or flying carpets (Magic Carpets of Aladdin) in place of the adorable flying elephant.


We validated their statements, but countered with pointing out the line was super short and that none of them had ridden before.  It was closed during construction of New Fanstasyland when we visited the first time back in 2012 and we were too tired to deal with long lines the evening we were in this section of the park in 2015.

We *may* also have hinted at getting Mickey themed ice cream treats if they obliged us and rode...


Why does a Mickey shaped ice cream sandwich taste so much more delicious when you're in the Magic Kingdom than a rectangle one tastes anywhere?


I don't exactly know...
Probably for the same reason a Mickey shaped ice cream bar in the kingdom is more scrumptious than a rectangle one anywhere else.


Next came revisiting the ride we all love!


The combo of a smooth yet exhilarating ride with all the fun details to notice as you whip around the mountain make this one of our very favorites.  The guy in the bathtub makes us laugh every time!


From there we had secured fast passes to the adrenaline rush of Space Mountain.  From scanning our bands to boarding the ride it was a mere seven minutes.


We laughed as we wondered if that's how celebrities feel when they are whisked past crowds.


It was our last day and some still had souvenir money burning holes in their pockets.  Because the ride conveniently dumps one out into Tomorrowland Light & Power Co. Shop, we decided to browse the mostly space themed merchandise for a bit.  Ian and I strongly considered t-shirts.

maybe next visit...
Because we were so close and had not caught many shows, next we headed over to the castle to watch Mickey's Royal Friendship Faire.  The show itself was fun, but what I enjoyed even more than all the characters was people watching the crowd around us.  This darling little girl took me back to when Ky and DQ were so tiny and princess loving on our first trip in 2012.  She was at most three and she knew EVERY SINGLE word to Let It Go and belted it out with all her might.

i wanted to tap that dad on the shoulder and tell him not to blink...

From there we split ways for a bit.  Nicholas had been chomping at the bit to ride Splash Mountain from the time we crossed the Florida state line on Sunday.  However the girls and I didn't want any part of getting wet in February and so we set off to the Mad Tea Party.  Crazy how fast you can get those things going.


Meanwhile Daniel stopped to commemorate how much he's grown since his first visit.  Back then he was right at the 40 inch mark and was approved by cast members to ride some rides and not others.  Splash Mountain was one that he'd missed...

no worry of height restrictions being imposed on my boy anymore
After our self imposed dizziness, the girls and I decided another ride was risky, so we rushed over to "the hub" to catch the Festival of Fantasy parade. The princesses are fun, but my very favorite of all time is of course "the mouse!"

i'm pretty sure he was waving at me here
At the same time over in Frontierland, Ian and the boys were going along with Br'er Rabbit looking for his laughing place.


I hope they found it before splashing down in the Brier Patch!


With snacks entitlements to burn the warmth of the afternoon called for a Dole Whip and Citrus Swirl Floats all around.  Yes, that did make ice cream before and after lunch.  But it was a magical Disney vacation after all...


It was at this moment that our crew realized we weren't really traveling in luxury.  That title belonged to whoever was riding around in the Cinderella stroller!


As the day wore down we began to hit favorites that we just needed to ride "one more time."  Waiting in the standby line gave another reminder that we were not quite royalty as we had to endure an entire *gasp* 30 minute wait to ride Space Mountain.


Because the lines were super short we took a load off our feet to move magnet style on the Tomorrowland Transit Authority People Mover and gave one last spin on the Astro Orbiter.
When we returned to earth, we met a cast member with an unusual and impressive skill.



Water painting.  The kids were enthralled and we stood to watch him create Mickey, Minnie, Donald and Daisy just to have them dry and disappear.


It gave for a fun conversation of creating art, even if temporary, for the pleasure of others.  We stood and watched as Donald and Daisy became a memory and then decided refueling would be the next item of business.  By this point our lunch at Columbia Harbor house was but a memory...

Caleb had been eyeing the burger celebrating Mickey's 90th birthday all week.  The Mickey Cheeseburger was a single patty topped with ooey, gooey mac n cheese (a recent rediscovery), flaming Cheetos dust and imprinted with Mickey's face, it was right up his alley!


I suppose that even in the most magical place on earth a little rain must fall.  But it didn't start until about 7:30 on our last night and thankfully it wasn't heavy enough to stop the unbelievable Once Upon a Time Castle show.  We just pulled our ponchos out of our bags, pulled the hoods down low and gazed on...

nicholas is down there...we didn't realize until later when we had better lighting that he was too short to show up in the family selfie.  our bad.
Earlier in the day we had used our three FastPasses and were able to secure a fourth for the day...the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train.  Luckily it is one that doesn't close for rain showers, so we had a new experience.


Later in discussion we'd learn from several of the kids that it was their favorite ride experience of the trip...riding a roller coaster in the dark rain.


We no sooner stepped off the mine train and the rain stopped.  From there we headed back to Big Thunder Mountain one last time, somewhat against the wishes of the group as a whole.  Ian and I were totally prepared to stay and close down the park when it closed at midnight, but our people were tired.


So it was one last stop in front of the castle to commemorate our vacation.


I couldn't help but smile as we followed our N twins toward the bus lot as hand in hand, they discussed their favorite parts of our "practically perfect in every way" Disney vacation.


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