Our Disney Trip 2017: A Magical Day at Magic Kingdom

On our second day at Disney World, we spent a very full day exploring Magic Kingdom.  I knew this park would be the busiest so I planned a schedule that I hoped would work best to ensure we did everything we wanted to do.  We rode all of the rides we wanted to ride.  The one part I would go back and change is that it got dark on us before we made it over to see the newest part of the park where the new castles were built.  There really weren't any rides back there, and it was mostly princess character photo spots, but I at least wanted to see it.  I did not know it would be so completely dark in the area behind the castle at nightfall.  We literally could barely see to walk around safely.  We also spent a very long time waiting in line to ride the newest ride at the park, the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train.  Being so new, it was impossible to reserve a fastpass, and I wasn't even sure I wanted to wait in the long line until the end of the day when we had ridden almost every other ride.  Evan and Brody and I did decide to wait while Daddy kept the babies happy by visiting Winnie the Pooh and Tigger.  The sad part was my phone had died after the long day so I had no way to take any pictures.  I had hoped the ride would at least have a photo opportunity on it, but it did not.  Way to go Disney!  There were also some neat interactive play areas in the line that would have been nice to photograph.  Eddie had the camera with him, but he didn't take any pictures so I should have taken it with me.  Oh well.  Besides these little misfortunes, it was a memorable and fun day.  We didn't do any character experiences here because we felt our time was better spent on the rides.  We got all of our character experiences out of the way at the other less busy parks, including our character dining experience.  Most of the character experiences at Magic Kingdom involve princesses so not really a must do for boys.  It was a very long and magical day from beginning to end. 

Driving into the park instead of taking the monorail allowed us this magical view of the entrance sign.  It also allowed us to arrive earlier and stay later without worrying about transportation.  The big Christmas tree at the entrance would look extra magical all lit up at night. 

The castle looked traditional, but the other buildings had on their festive holiday decor. 

Main Street always gives you the feeling of stepping back in time.  I loved the shop windows decked out for the holidays.  

These boys were excited to begin the day, but we had to wait for a family picture in front of the castle first. 

The traditional picture in front of the castle.  Yes, I wish I would have put the boys in their Disney shirts for these pictures, but I was saving them for other photo opportunities.  Sigh. 

We got to hold Tinkerbell.  Our photographer was actually one of the least friendly ones I had seen and did not want to give us any of his precious time so I had to ask him to do the special picture.  Sigh. I had watched him do it for other families who didn't even have young kids.  Mattox didn't understand what we were doing.  

Frontierland in the park was almost dead this early in the morning so it was a nice walk back to Big Thunder Mountain Railroad where we had a fastpass.  We didn't get to ride this one on our last visit because it was closed for maintenance.  I was glad we got to ride it this time because it is probably the best ride in the park. 

Brody and I rode it first.  He became my little riding buddy because he would ride anything.  Just like mama! 

Daddy caught some shots of us on the ride. 

While waiting for us to ride, Mattox enjoyed watching this geyser shoot water up.  He would have jumped in if he could.  

I tried to capture Eddie and Evan on the ride, but I could only see Eddie.  

Next, we headed over to Adventureland to ride Pirates of the Caribbean. 

The boys enjoy walking through the line at Pirates of the Caribbean because there is a lot of cool pirate stuff to see. 

They love cannons! 

Ready for our boat ride. 

It is too dark to get good pictures inside without using a flash.  This ride hasn't changed much over the years except the addition of Captain Jack Sparrow at the end after the movies were made. 

A picture with my hubby outside the ride wearing my new Minnie ears. 

Mattox's one request the whole trip was for a Mickey bubble wand.  He kept seeing other kids with them and had serious bubble envy.  He was so happy to get one! 

I could not get a fastpass for Splash Mountain, but Brody and I decided to wait in line while Daddy and the other boys played in a fun little play area nearby.

Thank goodness for ride photos.  I did take some selfies of us on the ride.  Brody really loved this ride! 

This ride tells the story of the old classic "Song of the South" about Brer fox and Brer rabbit and the other animals that live in the Brer Patch.  Brer is how you say briar with a deep south or cajun accent.  Brer fox tries everything to catch brer rabbit. 

Brody likes coming down the big mountain into the briar patch.  Daddy got a picture of us coming out into the patch.   

The main theme song for this movie is "Zip-a-dee-do-da."  Eddie really loves this movie so he probably should have ridden it. 

Mattox mostly enjoyed playing with his bubble wand in the play area.  

Big brother Evan takes over the bubble wand so the little kids can play in the bubbles. 

My favorite ride as a child and probably Evan's favorite too is the classic Haunted Mansion.  They used this mansion for the recently made movie with Eddie Murphy as opposed to the mansion at Disneyland.  

The line queue has some fun things to see like these funny statues honoring the "dead."  

The descriptions on the statues are quite funny. 

These boys enjoyed playing the organ. It was all very interactive. 

Some more funny headstones in the graveyard like the tomb in which the Captain floats in brine because he was allergic to dirt.  He also braved the sea but drowned in the bath.  Oops!  

The inside of the mansion is just too dark for pictures.  The boys always love the silly ghosts who try to leave with you and are sitting on your head when you look in the mirror at the end. 

For lunch, I was actually able to get a reservation at this cute little restaurant with a Lady and the Tramp theme.  Lady and the Tramp has been my favorite Disney movie since I was a kid.  I had it on VHS then but had not been able to get in on DVD because of the whole Disney vault nonsense.  I had actually ordered a copy on ebay years ago, but that copy turned out to be from Asia and was unreadable in our DVD players.  Thankfully, it was just recently released (in February 2018) so I bought it for us to watch.  My kids had never seen it. The restaurant is called Tony's Town Square restaurant and has Italian fare like the Tony's Restaurant in the movie where Lady and Tramp share a meal. Grayson really enjoyed the bread.  We were all really hungry.

After lunch, we headed over to Tomorrowland.  

Our first stop was to ride Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin which is similar to the Toy Story ride at Hollywood Studios where you get to shoot at targets.  We didn't get our picture made with Buzz here because we knew we would see him later. 

I rode with Mattox and Brody so my score was infinitesimal.  

I let Eddie take the boys on Tomorrowland Speedway.  Brody drove his and Daddy's car, and Evan got to ride solo.  Brody was ramming him in the back.  Ha! 

Brody and I enjoyed Space Mountain after Evan baled out on us.  I was so proud of Brody for being so brave. 

Daddy took Mattox and Evan on Buzz Lightyear. Of course, he scored much higher because he just lets Mattox sit and do nothing. 

I enjoyed taking Mattox on his first rollercoaster ride, Goofy's Barnstormer.  

Daddy took Brody on the ride, but I couldn't get as good a picture because they weren't in the front. 

One of the new additions is part of the Dumbo ride.  They added a second Dumbo and then the ride queue lets the kids go into a play area in a Circus tent to play while you wait for your number to be called.  Mattox enjoyed this little firetruck while big brothers ran off to climb in the play structures.  I am glad he didn't want to go because I would have never found him in that chaos. 

Brody was up in the burning building.  Can you spot him? 

It was getting dark by the time we rode Dumbo.  I wanted Mattox to experience this special ride. 

Daddy took our picture, but I wanted him to get a picture of him and Brody and Grayson.  Sigh.  He wouldn't wait for me to take their picture. 

It was completely dark by the time we made it to Seven Dwarfs Mine Train, but the line was still over an hour long. The castle was lit up like an ice castle. 

Eddie got to take the boys to see my favorite characters.  I love how Mattox gave Pooh a big hug.  He was shy with so many other characters but not these.  

Grayson seemed to really like Tigger. 

Stay tuned for more!