Lexi, William & Kate,
Today was a dream. I LOVED seeing the sparkly twinkle in your eyes, hearing the awe in your voices as you met characters and feeling the adventure in your souls as your grabbed a hold of my hand during ride. True Joy.
Today started with us packing up all of our luggage and dropping them at coincerage as we were moving to stay at the Wilderness Lodge for the remaining two nights of our trip. If you do a split stay, Disney will transfer all of your items for you to another hotel free of charge–they even will refrigerate items for you!
Next we hopped on a bus to Magic Kingdom (around 8:00ish), matching shirts and all for our 8:30 breakfast reservations at Crystal Palace with Tigger, Pooh, Eyeore and Piglet. The park doesn’t technically open until 9:00 but they let people in around 8:00 to take pictures, shop around on Main Street etc.. We took advantage of the low crowds and got another family picture in front of the castle, with our family shirts on.
Breakfast was amazing! It was a buffet so I was a little hesitant on it, but it was so good. Bill had a Bloody Mary and I had a Mimosa and the kids each had chocolate milk. The kids had fruit and Mickey Waffles and sausage and donuts and bacon and bill had salmon and this amazing omelet. While we’re eating the characters came around for autographs and pictures and even did a little parade with all of the kids in the restaurant. Lexi and William LOVED seeing their beloved Tigger and Pooh pals, while Kate was slightly moody. However, when Piglet came by, she turned on the charm and gave a big hug and smiled great for a picture.
One thing I continued to be so surprised about is the uniforms that cast members wear, whether they are working the front desk or picking up trash or serving food. They look like they are the original uniforms from 50 years ago. The designs and patterns are pretty hideous and hot and are due for a little refresh.
With our bellies full and excitement to get the day started, we headed over the castle and went on the Little Mermaid Ride. Girls rode in one shell and boys rode in the other and we were brought through the story of the Little Mermaid with the songs, lots of black lights and an overall low-key easy ride, with a 5 min wait. Notice No-née (Kate’s Bunny makes frequent appearances in our pictures)
Next we headed over to ride the beloved Dumbo ride. Prior to coming, I heard that Dumbo was great because the kids can play in an indoor playground while you wait and then you get a buzzer when your near the front of the line. Unfortunately, it wasn’t busy enough for this to be open, so we waited the 20 minutes to ride. William loved controlling our Elephant and bringing us up and down. Kate, whined a bit that she didn’t like it and tried to climb into my lap, but didn’t have a complete melt down so we called it a win!
It was just after 10:00 at this point and Minnie, Daisy, Donald and Goofy had about a 20 minute wait for a meet and greet. The line was moving pretty slow, so Daddy and William went to meet Donald (Goofy was still sleeping) while Kate, Lexi and I waited to Meet Daisy and Minnie. Kate was starting to get tired so I bribed her with a sucker to meet Minnie and Daisy. Late loved Daisy and that she wears purple so she was pretty excited about that. Also, note that having DumDum suckers in the park bag is a total life saver. They are quick, easy, non-melting, non-messy snacks that can make waits a little more tolerable.
It was about 5 to 11:00 so we headed over to Peter Pan’s flight for the first past pass of the day. We made it there 3 minutes before it ‘expired’ even though they still would have let us on. We hopped aboard our ship and flew through London and Neverland to see the mermaid lagoon, Captain Hook, and the tick-rock croc. I’m not sure what it is about this ride, but it is one of my favorite more low-key rides.
Our next FastPass, an 11:00 ride on Seven Dwarfs Mine Train was ready. Daddy and Lexi went first, Oats passed on riding as he thought it might be a little to scary for him, since he only just turned 5. We got our Rider Switch set up and William, Kate and I went to get a snack–a Peter Pan Float, which was Lime Dole Whip with Sprint and it was delicious!!
After Lexi and Daddy rode, Mommy and Lexi went and Daddy went to go get some Cotton Candy. This ride was pretty fun. It is the big hot roller coaster of Magic Kingdom at the moment and lines are easily over 2 hours for it. Our FastPass had us in and out in about 20 minutes. The coaster doesn’t have any kind of clicking sounds as it goes up hills and the cars will sway side to side in stead of front to back. Lexi loved it and got so excited to put her hands up. She kept saying, ‘Mom, you gotta put your hands up. Wait until this next part, it is so fun.’ We started to find out we have a little roller coaster junkie on our hands. Your Mom and Dad couldn’t be more excited about this as we both love a little adventure.
Enchanted Tales with Bell was across the walkway from Sever Dwarfs and the wait was about 20-30 minutes so we hopped in line as it was an experience the whole family could enjoy. It was pretty cute. They take you in through what looks like Belle’s home and then bring you to a room that has a huge magic mirror which comes alive and invites you to walk through, it to where the wall disappears. You are then brought into Belle’s room inside the castle where the dresser comes to live and gives out parts to the kids to participate in a mini play. We did a quick dress rehearsal before arriving in the Ball room, where we got to meet Belle take a picture with her and act out the story of Beauty and the Beast. This was a great low-key experience that was also air-conditioned, which was fantastic as it was sunny and starting to get really hot.
After this, Lexi and I had a FastPass to ride Splash mountain at 1:25, we made our way to the other side of the park. William opted out of riding so Lexi and I made our way through the line and rode the iconic splash mountain. The ride itself is pretty long and a little odd, but sitting next to Lexi and feeling her adrenaline rush as her body tensed up as we went down the big drop was exhilarating. She was smiling so big and was so proud of herself for doing it. Such a fun moment.
When we got off, we tried to find our photos, but couldn’t and then discovered that Lexi’s magic band had fallen off. We approached a cast member in the store and they back-tracked through all of the cars until they found our picture. Sure enough, she was wearing her band in the picture, so we new if feel off somewhere between the drop and the photo board. In the picture, they identified the log we were riding and and when it came back around for new guests to ride, they found her sweet pink Lexi band sitting in it.
While Lexi and I rode, William and Kate both feel asleep in the stroller for a little nap. Bill and William had our last scheduled FastPass for the day on Big Thunder Railroad so Lexi took his spot and was giddy with excitement to go on another big coaster.
While they were doing that, I headed over to the Be Our Guest restaurant for our 2:15 reservation. I checked in, but ended up leaving as it was going to be just too much to try and squeeze that in with two sleeping kids.
Instead we went to get a spot to watch the parade. We got a great spot, right on an isle and front row. Holy smokes was it hot though. There wasn’t a cloud in the sky and it was 85 degrees. Don’t get me wrong, it felt amazing, but I was so sweaty and a little crazy with the sunscreen to make sure the sleeping kiddos weren’t getting burnt in the strollers. We waited about 30 min and I even snagged another Peter Pan Float to enjoy since it was so good. The parade was amazing. The floats, the costumes the dancing, the music, everything was just executed perfectly and it was so entertaining to watch. Of course, Daddy was more intrigued with the engineering elements of the floats and how they were doing different maneuvers.
Once the parade was over in our area, we tried to high-tail it to the front of the park and head back to the Wilderness lodge to check it out and get a quick break before Lexi and I had to be back for her Bippity Boppity Botique appointment at 5:15.
One of the nice things about the Wilderness Lodge is it is a 10 min boat ride away from Magic Kingdom. This hotel was beautiful. The detail is remarkable. The lobby is all open with billowing logs that take you from floor to ceiling and a massive two-sided fireplace. The furniture fits in with the aesthetic of huge wingback chairs, fabric that mimics Native American culture. There is also a little creek that begins in the middle of the lobby and the trickling sound and vastness of the space create a very calm and relaxing vibe, it feels very zen.
When we arrived at our room, we discovered our bags hadn’t arrived yet. I headed down to concierge to get two bags. I took a lightning-speed shower to cool down and change into a clean shirt and then Lexi and I headed back to Magic Kingdom for her appointment. When we got down to the boat–one was just pulling away and I thought we were going to be super late to her appointment, but we ended up only being 5 minutes late.
The Bippity Boppity Botique is quite the experience. They doll the girls up like a true princess, have a little photo session and let the girls feel like a true princess in the most magical place on earth.
The first part of the process was meeting with her first Fairy Godmother in a dressing room and picking out a hair style. Lexi really wanted this pink and blue hair (like the descendants) but the hairstyle wasn’t very princess-y, so she picked out another one and then we purchased the pink and blue hair piece separate.
After picking out a hairstyle, you can opt to pick out a princess dress. I had gotten the tip that these dresses were marked up and you should bring your own. Lexi had danced to ‘When you wish upon a star’ the previous year and her dance costume looked just like a Cinderella dress so we used that instead. Throughout the entire experience, everyone was referring to you as ‘Princess Lexi’ and is this your mother the Queen? Can you ask the Queen for this, or Princess, would you like some water. It is these small details that just add to make everything magical.
After selecting the hairstyle and getting dressed into the princess gown, she was whisked away to the salon to get her hair done, nails painted and a little bit of makeup put on. There are photopass photographers there capturing every moment of the transformation. When they are finally complete, they do a big reveal with the photographer where the spin the princess around to see her final look. Lexi, you were shy and conservative during this moment, but as soon as we stepped out of the salon, you couldn’t stop beeming. You loved the whole experience of being done up
The final step was having a mini photo shoot done. I swear my innocent 7-year-old suddenly looked 14. They had a glass slipper and few other props to make the experience complete. On the way out of the store, you discovered this light up bow that you needed to have. You were so excited about to show Mrs. Schwartz and your friends, I just couldn’t say no.
Our final planned event for the day was to enjoy a princess dinner all dolled up. However, the dinner was at Akershus in Epcot at 6:40 and we were probably done around 6:10 or so. You hoped in the stroller and we ran through the park and to the monorail to get over to Epcot where Daddy, Kate and William were waiting for us. This took SOOOO much longer than I anticipated. We got on a the monorail, which brought us to the transportation center. We then needed to get off that monorail, go down the ramps to that and then up another set of ramps to get to the monorail that would take us to Epcot. We ended up being about 30 minute late to our reservation. Again, thanks to the wonderful-ness that Disney is, they quickly moved things around and made it seem like no big deal.
We had another amazing meal. Bill ordered the meatballs and a Norwegian beer and I had the steak and a glass of wine. We were joined by Snow White, Ariel, Cinderella, Belle and Aurora. We hadn’t met many of these princesses yet so it was fun to get their autographs and a picture with them and being dressed up as a princess yourself. You received SO many compliments on how beautiful you looked and how much people loved your dress.
The night was concluded with the Epcot fireworks display. These were different but still amazing as they were done over the world showcase lake. Part of the show was having jet skis that had really tall kites on them with fireworks on the end. So impressive.
Kate fell asleep prior to the Fireworks and Lexi and William zonked as we made our way back to the monorail. We then took our first monorail, transferred to the second and then got on a boat to head back to the Wilderness. Definitely not as convenient as I had imagined
When we finally got back to the hotel, our luggage still hadn’t arrived so Bill went up to wait for that while I went to order some food. Although we still had one more day, our dinning plan would expire tonight as our it was linked to our reservation at Pop Century and we couldn’t extend it with our stay at Wilderness. We had 1 unused kids quick service meal and 2 adult quick service meals and a whopping 18 snack credits. I purchased a bunch of candy to save for later and got some donuts, chocolate milk, a pizza and a few other items that we could put in the fridge and eat the following day. As part of our quick service meals, I was also able to get a beer for Bill and I. We enjoyed it out on our balcony and watched some late night Magic Kingdom fireworks. It was the perfect way to conclude our fun-filled day.
Love,
Mama
Peanut Smiles 