We recently took a family trip to the happiest place on earth
My children are very familiar with all the Disney characters, we have many Disney DVD's and we watch the Disney channel on a regular basis. So it's inevitable that a trip was going to take place especially since my daughter wants to be a Princess.
We took the kids 2 years ago for their first trip when they were aged 2 and 4. My children are now 4 and 6 and while my eldest remembers the trip my youngest can now make her own memories as compared to just flicking through her photo book that I complied for her.
We took a 7 day trip to Orlando and decided to spend two days at Magic Kingdom so that we could experience as much as we could without feeling rushed, especially now my two are out of strollers and little legs get tired easily. We had spent a lot of time on their first trip 2 years ago meeting characters and getting autographs so this time around we focused on rides because they are now both tall enough for a majority of the rides.
We hit fantasyland first so we could ease into the gentler rides for my youngest.
On the way to fantasyland and of course to each land you hit the center point which is Cinderella's Castle. This always brings oUt the little sighs as they look over in amazement. While in Fantasyland the Peter Pan ride was our favorite and of course the classic "Its a small world" ride. We love the fast pass option which allows you to swipe your entry ticket at special booths to allow you to enter the fast line at allotted times. This enables you to enjoy a ride while skipping the lines for the more popular rides. Being that I was born and raised in England being able to point out London sights on the Peter Pan ride to my children and teach my children the countries of the world on the Its a small world ride was a bonus.
We were dissapointed to find that Mickey's Toontown Fair was closed due to an expansion of fantasyland (anticipated opening in 2013). Looking through the construction the expansion looks very exciting. So we headed to Mickey's Philharmagic 3D show. At first the technology looked old but soon Donald and his instruments appeared to be flying out at us. It was funny to see the kids swiping out in front of themselves to grab Donald. My children had just watched their first 3D movie recently so were familiar with the concept and thought it was a great show.
We then headed to the haunted mansion. We took the cemetary walk first and the kids had fun with the spooky bookcase. The ride in the doom buggy's were entertaining and not too scary for the kids.
We had brought tickets to the Mickey Not So Scary Halloween party for the same day so to not over-extend ourselves we headed back to our condo for a break and to freshen up for the night ahead of us! The event calls for kids to dress up in costume and so my daughter wore her Belle Costume. My son's halloween costume was a SWAT team member but this was a thick dungaree material which is not great for the humid Orlando weather so we opted for him to wear his pirate inspired clothes. The main highlight of the event was the parade. The kids enjoyed being up late and in the dark an of course see their favorite characters in the parade. We were given candy bags and during the parade they were given some goofy lollipops.
After the parade we ventured out to Adventureland. We went on a Thursday (during a school week) and the event was not sold out so getting on rides was wonderful and the crowds were not overwhelming. We hit the Pirates of the Caribbean and magic carpet ride.
There were candy stations at certain locations where candy was handed out by cast members. This was a great feature for the kids as they went home with 4 bags filled with candy. We even got to meet Woody and hit a carousel ride before watching the amazing fireworks show. Its incredible to think how much is actually spent on fireworks each night.
A fun time was had by all at the Mickey's Not So Scary Event. While this event did require a separate ticket than the earlier entrance ticket we had used in the morning it is worth going for the experience.
We came back the following Monday for Day 2 of Magic Kingdom. Magic Kingdom was super packed from the get go. We realized that the whole of Europe was at Magic Kingdom since this was their fall break and school had let out. Note to self to check the international schedule for next visit. We were glad that we had hit some "hot" spots on Day 1 and so our goal for Day 2 was to hit our priority list rides. We headed straight to Tommorowland for Space Mountain.
While my youngest is tall for her age and could enter the ride, they had changed Space Mountain since we went on it last about 8 years ago (pre-children). The ride is nothing like the picture above, it is in pitch black and so not a particularly fun ride for the little ones who are not dare devils. My son is a dare-devil so he loved it of course.
We took a break from dare-devil rides and hit Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin, Test Track and the Jungle Cruise before heading to see Mickey and Minnie and the Princess at The Town Hall.
My husband and son hit Big Thunder Mountain Railroad and Splash Mountain® while us girls hit the parade.
All in all a fun filled packed trip to Magic Kingdom. Magic Kingdom can be overwhelming but with planning using the internet you can map out your trip ahead of time to suit your family's needs. Our memory book is filled with photos and I'm sure the kids will be talking about their Magic Kingdom experiences for years to come!
Disclosure: We were provided complimentary tickets but this did not influence my review, all opinions expressed are of my own (others may differ).
1 COMMENTS SO FAR:
I can't wait to take the kids to disney! Thanks for the great tips. I am hoping to go during the school year, too, and will have to remember to check other school schedules so we can plan during a slower time. DIsney has changed so much since I was a kid. It looks like so much fun. Looks like the kiddos had an amazing time!
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