Disney Trip: Magic Kingdom

There is so much ground to cover at Magic Kingdom and this is where the biggest crowds are too.  For that reason, we planned for two days at this park - our first and our last days.  Here are some highlights from both those days.

First day, first ride ... Dumbo!

I sat next to this excited creature.

We had leftover stroller rentals from years ago so we gave it a try.  That lasted an hour before we decided it was quicker to have the kids hoof it.

Letting Anna walk/keep up proved to be a risky business, however.  We lost her more than once!  And usually because she had ducked down to the ground to gather leaves and rocks while we were moving on to the next attraction.

It's a Small World was closed while we were there, so we were sad to miss that classic ride.  Then the Mad Hatter's Teacups were having a techincal issue, too, but on our second pass by, it was back up and running. We grabbed a ride while we could.  It was a delightful spin as always.

Off to the races at Motorcross Raceway again.

Dreams Come True Parade was one of Noah's favorite parts.  You can't tell because my dumb camera wasn't quick enough, but Noah's dream came true right there when Donald came over to give him a high five.  Right after, Goofy made contact with Anna. :)  Those are my feet and my missed timing with the shot.

We waited almost an hour to save these spots on the front row.

Worth every minute, too. :)

 We took several turns on the Buzz Lightyear ride.

The view from the top of the the rocket ride.

And from the back of my seat with Noah.

And looking down on Josh and Anna. :)

We lucked out and happened to be passing by another performance later in the day.

I had to hold this guy up the entire time so he could see over the standing crowds. Not easy!  He has grown since the last time we saw this show.

Anna enjoyed it very much. :)

Noah's favorite moment is always the bad guy parts.

Love these guys!

So much excitement in the air!

It was nice to have kiddos old enough to last til nighttime.  The crowds thin out by then, the air finally cools, and the castle looks so magical.

This was how Anna spent most of our time in line, any line.

On a whim, we visited with Cinderella.

And Sleeping Beauty.

It's adorable to me that Noah enjoyed this more than I thought he would.

Love all the details.

Love the lights.

Even love this view of the kids' backsides at the fountain just outside Gaston's Tavern while we waited for Josh to rustle us up some grub.

Aren't they hilarious?!

Awe.

We finally made it into Ariel's new ride.  Anna was impessed.  Hope met!

Before we left the park, we took in the lights parade.

I would have loved to go back into the park after this point because we still had Extra Magic Hours to take advantage of, but someone was fading fast.

Someone else was hanging in there with us though.

So we wrapped up our first day at Disney with the Fireworks show.

We remembered how the last time we saw this, we were right up under the castle.  That ended up being the WORST spot to have because you couldn't see the fireworks that go off right above the castle.  This time we knew better.  We watch the show from the train station's second floor terrace and then made a quick exit outta there!

I had to catch this shot of Anna on her favorite of any and all the rides.  The conveyor belts!  Ha!  After this, Noah took on Space Mountain with me and again with Josh.  He cried through the first run and manned up through the second.  Lots of bragging rights for him!

Aladdin's Carpet Ride.

Swiss Family Treehouse, a particular favorite of ours.

The castle by day.  This was our second day at Magic Kindgom, which fell on our last day at Disney. Our favorite rides this day were Splash Mountain and Thunder Mountain, both of which both kids were tall enough and compliant enough to ride.  Noah ADORED them both.  Anna CRIED her way through Thunder Mountain.  Fun Memories.  Ha!

On our way out of the park, Anna finally got one of those long-desired balloons.  We spent $10 on that dumb thing!

The one Photopass picture we purchased. Perfect shot!

Thanks for the memories, Disney!