Another Magical Day…

I had been looking at our filling-up fast calendar, along with taking into consideration how Disney’s crowds would be picking up with Spring Break and Summer vacation coming, so we made a last minute decision, that Sunday would be a good day to use one of the days we had left on our tickets.

We asked my parents to keep Mamie for us this time…We figured she’d be happier at home with Grammy & Pop than doing a LONG day at Disney. Plus, this gave us some one and one time with AB.

On Saturday, we told her we were going and then the girls and I hit Target so she could pick out a princess t-shirt. I totally let go of my typical stance against character clothes and she was so excited to get to pick out a princess shirt!

Mom & Dad got to our house a little after 6:00 on Sunday morning – which was also the day the time changed. Yes, they are the best. :)

We headed out around 6:30. We knew we wouldn’t make it to the park before it opened at 8:00, but we wanted to get there as early as we could.

I was really looking forward to the day, because it was going to be really relaxed – as relaxed as Disney can be. :)  Since we’d just been, we decided that we didn’t have to try to cram so much into the day –  We definitely try to get as much in as we can every time we go – we’re just those people. But this time, we knew we really didn’t have to, since we were just there last month. There were only a couple of things that we didn’t get to do last time that AB had wanted to – meet Gaston, go inside Belle’s castle, and drive the cars at the Tomorrowland Speedway. Those were on the top of our list.

On the way to get in line for the cars, we saw the line to meet Merida (the princess from Brave) – the line was short, so we stopped there for a meet & greet… This was the same spot we met Tangled last year – they had coloring sheets for the kids and even let them take a try at shooting the bow & arrow while they waited to meet Merida.

The wait for the cars was only 5 minutes when we got to Tomorrowland. AB decided she didn’t want to drive, she wanted her Daddy to…I watched from the Grandstands.

When their turn was over, AB said she wanted to do it again and this time drive! They got back in line, and were off again… I loved that all you could see was that hair bow peeking over the steering wheel.

While they were cruising around the speedway, I went and got us some Fastpasses.

We headed to Fantasyland next, to do the Under the Sea ride. On our way over, we saw a line forming outside of Belle’s castle (which is the new “Be our Guest” restaurant. DW stopped and asked if we could just look inside or if  you had to have reservations. I’ve looked at reservations for dinner and they are booked up for MONTHS, so we knew wouldn’t be able to eat there, but AB just wanted to see the inside… Come to find out, you don’t need reservations for lunch – it’s quick service- but the line that was already forming at 9:45 was for LUNCH!! (It opened at 10:30). We debated getting in line then, but decided we’d check back…

We spotted Gaston and got in (a short) line to see him, since that was another one of AB’s requests…

He was hilarious and played the part so well.

We had fastpasses for Under the Sea, so we walked right on to that one…

It was as sweet as it was last time! AB loved it again.

On our clam shell

After Ariel, we decided we’d get in line to eat at Belle’s castle

– the line wasn’t that long and since AB really wanted to see the inside, we decided it was worth it. We ended up only waiting about 15 minutes!!! The inside of the “castle” has lots of things that are replicas from the movie- big chandeliers, knights, and even the stain glass window…The set up is really neat – when you go inside, you are given a “magical rose” – then you take it to an ordering station where there’s a kiosk that you use to place your order and pay. After you order and pay, you get to choose which of the three dining rooms you’d like to eat in. After you have your table, your food finds you (using the magical rose). Servers bring the food out on big wooden carts. It’s really neat and fast, too! We sat in the dining room that looked like the library…

There were framed pictures of the Beast and Belle hanging on all the walls and in the middle of the room, there was a giant statute of them dancing that spun around.

There’s also the ballroom

and the West Wing (which was kind of dark and scary)…

Such a fun surprise that we ended up getting to eat there and AB got to go inside the castle just like she wanted! :)

The line was already backed up when we came out and we were REALLY glad we’d decided to eat early.

After lunch, we did a few more rides in Fantasyland -

- It’s a Small World.

AB used her Daddy’s phone to take pictures of all her favorite dolls. It was the cutest.

I was excited to see they’d taken down the fence in front of Tangled’s tower since the last time we were there – they re-did the bathrooms in that area to look like Rapunzel’s kingdom.

We did the 3D Phillar Magic movie next– We’ve never done that one before, but when we’d gotten fast passes for another ride, it gave us surprise ones for Phillar Magic, so we gave it a try…AB’s favorite part was getting sprinkled with water! 

We headed over to the Toon Town Circus area next-

 

AB was brave and decided to ride the Barnstormer again this trip!

Dumbo is always a favorite – AB is big on being the one who gets to control the up and down knob.

She passed on riding the Adventures of Winnie the Pooh since we’d done it last time, but we did wait in line to see Pooh & Rabbit. That was the longest we waited all day for anything, and it was about 15 minutes…

Back on the other side of Fantasyland we did the carousel, rode Peter Pan’s Adventure and AB even tried to pull the sword from the stone…

Adventureland was up next and we had to stop for the photo op of the castle in the background…

We also lucked up and saw Princess Tiana in her garden…the line was short because she was only scheduled to be there for another 5 minutes. We hit it just right and were the last people they let through to see her that day…

Aladdin’s magic carpet ride was AB’s next request.

After we’d ridden the carpets and had our frozen Dole Pineapple whip, we found a spot to watch the parade.

The parade is always one of our favorites.

After the parade, we watched the Country Bears Jamboree. It’s so corny and cheesy, but AB had seen it advertised on the hotel channel when we spent the night last trip and had asked to see it this time.

After we endured the country bears, we caught the train and rode all the way around to the front of the park. It was nice to just sit and ride for a little bit. AB loved seeing the monorail (which she calls the “mono-tram”).

We decided to hit Tomorrowland again and do the People Mover – by the time we got in line for it, AB was asleep! We rode anyway…

We decided since she had fallen asleep and we’d done everything she wanted to (plus some) that we should call it a day!

Since she was sleeping, it was just me and my prince in this picture on our way out of Tomorrowland…

We tried to wake AB up so she could pick our her charm for her bracelet before we left, but she was OUT – (so we picked one out for her.)

Mames got some surprises, too! – AB had picked out a stuffed animal for her earlier in the day… a raccoon. What in the world?!?!? This happened when I was saving our spot for the parade and DW & AB went into the little shop behind us. She wouldn’t have been able to talk momma into a $14.00 raccoon, but Daddy is a different story…(as it should be). :) We also got Mamie her own mouse ears just like Cooper’s and Annabelle’s.

It really was the best day.

~amw~