Our Day in Magic Kingdom

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After spending the day at Magic Kingdom, it feels like we're officially at Disney World!

This morning, we enjoyed a breakfast buffet at Trail's End at our resort. We then dropped off our luggage to be transferred to the Swan and turned in our golf cart at the Outpost. With our errands done, we took the internal bus back up to The Settlement, and, from there, caught the ferry to Magic Kingdom. Once again, we had no wait at all for Disney transportation. I have no idea how we got this lucky, but it's been wonderful.

It was getting close to 10 o'clock. Our first FastPass was for Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, and it was good until 10:10am. I assumed we'd miss it. However, when we arrived at Magic Kingdom, we discovered that we had our own baggage check from the boats. There was no line for this security. We got through the ticket area quickly, too. Jo and I decided to make a mad dash for Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, and we told Andrew and Oliver we'd meet them at the exit of the ride. We dashed through Main Street and dashed through Adventureland to Frontierland. We made it in the nick of time! Big Thunder Mountain was so much fun, and there weren't any big drops. Jo was still scared for the fast turns and screamed a few times, but we had a good time. On one of the last turns, we saw Andrew and Oliver watching us from a bridge. It was perfect timing! We got off the ride and headed straight to our second FastPass, which was for Pirates of the Caribbean from 10:10 - 11:10am. Our whole family loves this ride, and we had a great time on it, as expected. The kids enjoyed checking out souvenirs in the gift shop at the exit as well.

It was getting a little toasty. I looked forward to our next FastPass at Splash Mountain. In the meantime, I grabbed an orange cream at Sunshine Terrace while Andrew and the kids walked through the Swiss Family Treehouse. It was an orange and vanilla swirl called Orange Cream, and it was really tasty. We made our way to Splash Mountain. Oliver saw the final drop and started to freak out again. I told him there are some things we need to do as a family. He can't freak out about every ride, and this one will cool us off. He went, but he pouted the whole time. Jo rode next to me, and after ever dip in the ride, she plugged her nose and held her breath. I assured her the ride doesn't go under water, but she, apparently, wanted to be safe. So, she continued plugging her nose over and over. When we finally went over the final drop, she was holding her nose, and Oliver started to scream at me. We all survived, though, and got cooled off from the water.

We then popped over to Columbia Harbor House for a little lunch. We didn't want to fill up too much. I got a vegetarian chili for a snack credit, Andrew got fries for a snack credit, and Joanna got macaroni and cheese for a snack credit. We ordered through mobile ordering, the process was quick and easy. Oliver was pouting from Splash Mountain and said he wasn't hungry and didn't want anything. Once we were all finished and cleaning up, he decided he was hungry after all and wanted fish. We couldn't figure out how to do mobile ordering without using the dining plan, so we needed to stand in line to order. It was much longer to order this way. If you can, I highly recommend using mobile ordering when there's a line at Disney World! Without mobile ordering, it took about 45 minutes to order and get food this way. By the time Oliver finished, we'd probably spent 90 minutes at Columbia Harbor House. We finished shortly before 1pm. Before we left, I was able to reserve another FastPass, this one for Buzz Lightyear Space Ranger Spin.

The kids had hair cut appointments at the barber shop on Main Street at 1:40. We checked the app and noticed the line for Haunted Mansion was 45 minutes long. We decided to try to squeeze it in since it was so close. After 10 minutes in line, the sign over the entrance switched from a 45 minute wait to a 60 minute wait. Oops.

We stayed in line a little longer, but it was clear we wouldn't be able to do Haunted Mansion and make our hair cut appointment. Oliver really wanted to try Haunted Mansion, and I was happy he was finally excited for something. So, he and Andrew stayed in line, and Joanna and I left to make the hair cut appointment. They were so kind about Oliver being late. They moved him to a later appointment without any issue. Joanna got her haircut, and they put it in pig tails and sprinkled her with pixie dust. Just as she was finishing, Andrew and Oliver arrived. Joanna stayed with them in air conditioning. I went out to Main Street to hold a spot for the 3pm parade. It was hot out, and I found a small spot near the end of Main Street in shade. It was by a sewer and didn't smell the best, but shade is precious in the August heat in Florida! Andrew and the kids joined me at about 2:40, and the parade reached our end of Main Street at 3:15. It worked out perfectly. They both loved the parade, especially the fire-breathing Maleficent.

After the parade, we used our FastPass for Buzz Lightyear Space Ranger Spin. That was the kids' favorite ride last time we were at Disney (3 years ago), and it was still a hit with them this time around. After Buzz, we went to our early dinner reservation at Cinderella's Royal Table. Our reservation was for 4:10, and we were let in almost immediately. We met Cinderella and then were seated in the castle for our meal. The dining room wasn't crowded yet, possibly because the dinner hour had just started. We had a very nice meal (the carrot soup was phenomenal), and four princesses came around to visit the kids: Snow White, Aurora, Ariel, and Jasmine. We lucked out again in that we were the first table they visited when they entered the room. The kids felt so special!

As we were paying, I used the app and snagged another FastPass to Buzz Lightyear. So, we did that ride on our way out of the park.

In all, for attractions, we did Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, Pirates of the Caribbean, Swiss Family Treehouse, Splash Mountain, Haunted Mansion, the Festival of Fantasy Parade, and Buzz Lightyear Space Ranger Spin twice. We also ate a "quick" meal at Columbia Harbor House, and a sit-down meal at Cinderella's Royal Table, and the kids got a haircut. We were at the park from 10am to 6pm. I'm pretty happy with what all we were able to see, do, and experience on a summer day at the Magic Kingdom!

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Photos

Yo ho, Yo ho
a pirate's life for me.