Disney Diaries - Day 5 / Magic Kingdom

Our last day at Disney was spent at Magic Kingdom. With one MK visit under our belt, I knew what attractions were a must on this 2nd and final day.  While I felt more prepared for the day, I was so worried about the weather!  The forecast for our last day at Disney was not looking good according to the weather channel.  Rain + Disney is difficult. Plus, I didn't get any family pics in front of the castle or the main entrance on our 1st Magic Kingdom day, so I HAD to get them on our last day.

While riding the bus to the park, some Japanese tourist took this picture for me. They were very sweet and thought we were cute - they even took a picture of us with "their" camera too...haha! 

 

Ready for a magical day!

First thing on the agenda when we arrived at the park was, of course, taking the family picture. 

Poor Abby was already feeling exhausted and wasn't into taking pictures.   Gotta love it - to be the happiest place on earth, there sure are a lot of kids standing around crying.  ;)

 

Next stop was a few pictures in front of the castle. 

 

Poor Abby (and Lisa), she still was not feeling the picture taking. 

 

Mommy trying to console / bribe her for a picture.  =)

 

It wasn't working. She was DONE and it wasn't even 10 am yet. 

Daddy was so excited to be in Disney, he did a handstand! Haha. Apparently, it's a "Crossfit" thing to take pics of you doing handstands in odd places while on vaca. 

 

Not to be outdone and never turning away from a challenge, Uncle Bo had to try it too. =) 

With castle pics out of the way, we headed for some rides. 1st stop was Dumbo! Emily was SO.HAPPY and excited.  She was dancing and twirling around the entire walk to Fantacyland.  I LOVED that she was so happy.  

Excited for Dumbo! 

 

 Leave it to Dumbo to help perk up a tired, fussy girl. =) 

 

A little blurry, but love it anyway...Mommy, Emmie, and Pawpaw riding Dumbo! 

After Dumbo, we headed over to Goofy's Barnstormer. There was no wait, so the mommies waited with the baby brothers while the daddies and pawpaw rode with the girls. Then, we switched.  It was a fun roller coaster and the girls both loved it.  Especially Abby - that girl is a thrill seeker!

We had to park the stroller a good bit for rides and eating. I was EXHAUSTED after this trip! Cade was a little young, but we made it work. It was worth it to see my Emily enjoy herself so much.

After spending some time in Fantasyland, we headed for Tomorrowland and the girls rode the Tomorrowland Speedway with their Daddys (boys were too small).  While they rode, I ran and got fast passes for Peter Pan's Flight. FP is a MUST for this ride! After the speedway, we headed back toward Fantasyland since our FP would be coming up soon and rode the carousel.  Luckily, Cade was cured of his carousel phobia just in time for Disney.  =)

 

Classic Papaw - Video Cam in hand. =) 

The sword in the stone! 

 

After the carousel, we took a few more pics in front of the castle. Actually, it's the back of the castle which was a lot less crowded and easier to get shots. Plus, Miss Abby was in a much better mood and willing to take some pics. =) 

 

 LOVE how much they love each other!

   

Not only did I get lots of cardio on this trip, but I also got in lots of squats! 

We rode Peter Pan's flight and loved it.  After the ride we regrouped for a potty break at Rapunzel's tower.  Rapunzel is Abby's favorite princesses, so this was no ordinary bathroom break.  The bathroom had Rapunzel's paintings on the walls!!

Little Rapunzel in front of her Tower. 

 

Things we missed in Fantasyland were the Teacups (closed for renovation) and Winnie the Pooh (just can't do it all). We headed toward Adventureland to get FP for Pirates of the Caribbean and then had lunch at Pecos Bill's in Frontierland. 

The Luckey's on display. 

Bo's arms were too big to fit in the holes. This made him happy. =) 

 

Emmie had to give it a try too.

After lunch, the girls and daddies rode The Magic Carpets while Lisa, Pawpaw, and I hung with the boys (they were trying to nap in the stroller). 

 

Pawpaw getting his work out. 

 

Just as Cade was almost asleep in his stroller, I had to pull him out to ride Pirates of the Caribbean. Of course, this ride was great - one of my favs. 

After Pirates, Michael and I rode Thunder Mountain Railroad with Lisa, Bo, and Abby (Emmie didn't make the height cut). Pawpaw was awesome and sat with the boys and Emily, but Michael and I felt so bad leaving Em. As Michael and I were walking away, she said, "I'll be good, I promise!!" Michael and I decided we wouldn't ride any more rides she couldn't ride (Splash Mountain). Em was a trooper though. She did great sitting with Pawpaw and the boys while we rode. 

Abby LOVED the ride. This girl has no fear!  She had her hands in the air and was loving it!  This is definitely her daddy coming out in her because I know her Mommy was not like this as a kid. 

After Thunder Mountain, the Luckey's got FPs for Splash Mountain and we got FPs to The Jungle Cruise. Poor Emily wanted to ride "Splash Water" so bad, but she just wasn't tall enough. We split up from the Luckey's for a while at this point. 

Cade finally fell asleep in the stroller, so I just wanted to walk around a bit.  Emily was acting really tired too and I thought she might take a nap also (she even agreed to put on a pull up and lay her seat back), but it didn't happen. Soooo, we got her a snack. =) 

Pretty soon, it was time for us to ride the Jungle Cruise. I use to love this as a kid. It was cute and Emily and Cade really enjoyed it. It's crazy to ride these same exact rides as an adult that I rode as a kid - I love experiencing it all over again through the eyes of my Emmie and Cade man. =) 

After the Jungle Cruise, we decided to take a River Boat ride. The Luckeys were killing time waiting for their Splash Mountain Fast Pass, so they met up with us for the ride. The daily parade was starting just as we were loading on the boat and we finished watching the parade from the boat. This is one of my favorite memories of the trip. The girls were so excited to see the princesses and also loved the music. They were swaying their arms from side to side, clapping, yelling "hey Belle" and just being so cute! I also love the low key, easy ride of the River Boat. It's just simple fun. 

 

Love my expressive girl. This was her reaction to seeing "Belle" at the parade. 

 

The River Boat ride was great. The kiddos enjoyed running around all over the boat and seeing the sights. BUT, we did have a little problem on the boat. We lost Emily! She ended up being with my dad, but for a few minutes, everyone was looking for her. All I know is I turned away from her to snap a picture of Cade and when I turned around, she was no where. The entire Luckey family and Michael were with me, so I figured she was with my dad, but I couldn't find either of them and I didn't know FOR SURE! Needless to say, I started freaking out. Bo finally found her and she started crying when she realized we were all upset at her for running away. "I was trying to find pawpaw" she said.  Heart attack!

After the River Boat, the Luckey's headed for Splash Mountain and Michael, Dad, Emmie, Cade and I headed for a train ride. This was probably my favorite part of the day - so nice and relaxing. The weather was cooling off as the clouds were rolling in and there was a nice breeze. Dad, Em, Cade, and I sat on the top floor of the train station just taking in the sights of Main Street while Michael got us a snack. The view was so perfect from this spot. 

 

My babies loved the train ride. Seriously, I could have just rode it over and over. 

 

Em took this picture of us while on the train. =) 

While we rode the train, the Luckeys were enjoying Splash Mountain. I wish Em could have rode it, but we'll get it next visit. =) Abby LOVED it of course. 

 

After the train ride, I wanted to go into a few stores. I was looking for a plush Belle doll for Em and Dad wanted to get the girls each something special. I finally found a Belle / Cinderella doll at one of the stores on Main Street. 

It was getting close to our dinner reservation at The Grand Floridian's 1900 Park Fare. I was really excited for this character dinner with Cinderella, Prince Charming, and her step sisters. The Luckeys beat us to the reservation and hung out in the lobby for a little while. 

 

LOVED this dining experience. The food was buffet style and was "ok," but the experience with Cinderella was so fun!

I title this picture "Enter Cinderella" because this was Emily's face when she walked in to the room.  Priceless!  

The characters came to our table, so there was no need to run after them and everyone got a turn. The 1st visitor was Prince Charming. 

 

 Next character visit was Cinderella. They were so excited to see her! 

 

Cinderella loved their little outfits. "You two must have the same Fairy Godmother." =) 

 

Emily asked her "can we watch you twirl?" Abby asked to see her shoes.

  

After Cinderella left our table, some music started playing and she danced with her Prince. We had a great table in the center of the restaurant along the aisle. Needless to say, Emily didn't eat much here. 

After they danced for a few minutes, they split up and started grabbing kids to dance with them. Abby got to dance with Prince Charming and Em got to dance with Cinderella. 

 

 Stepsisters were fun and crazy.

 

Even Cinderella's stepmother was there. The girls asked to see her shoes too. =) 

 

The boys enjoyed the dinner too even though they didn't get up and down to visit the characters like the girls. 

I didn't get to eat much either (as usual with these character "meals"). I was on my feet with my camera every 3 minutes!

After we ate, we walked to the lobby to regroup. While walking back to the lobby, Michael let the kiddos flatten some pennies. They had been wanting to do this for a while. 

 

While we hung out in the lobby of the gorgeous Grand Floridian Hotel, a pianist played classic Disney songs  like "When you wish upon a star."  It was a wonderful ending to a perfect last day at Disney.  I was able to sit and just watch our girls dance with their daddys.   It was a memory I'll carry with me forever. I remember even getting a little teary eyed while I watched them.  I also cought myself thinking how much my mama would have loved this.  It's still so incredibly hard to not have her here with us!

Dad gave the girls each a Belle/Cinderella doll. They loved her and enjoyed dancing around with her too! 

Since this was our last day at Disney, we were determined to finish it out with the Electrical Parade and Fireworks (can you say loooong day?!) BUT, it started raining. I hate rain at Disney! It's pretty miserable. 

  

We were hopeful the rain would pass and the parade would still continue, so we waited it out. I took advantage of the wait and got silhouettes made of the kiddos. Lisa and I had this done at Disney when we were little and it was on my list of "to dos" for this trip. Plus, it wasn't that expensive compared to what you would pay someone local to do it for you. I think we paid about $8 for each kid and you got 2 sets of silhouettes for each kid also. Pretty good deal! 

The cast member creating them was amazing. He just sat in front of our kids and cut a black sheet of paper by hand - pretty impressive! Loved how they turned out - Especially Cade's - it's spot on! 

   

Sadly, the rain didn't stop. In fact, it started raining harder! Lisa and I decided it was a good idea to find a candy store on Main Street and use all our snack credits to purchase some cookies and fudge. While we did this, Bo and Michael went to ride Space Mountain. 

 

Still smiling! 

   

Yum! 

We stood around under a pavilion waiting for the guys to come back from Space Mountain and for the rain to stop. The girls always manage to stay entertained while together. The rain didn't bother them in the least! 

 

The boys, on the other hand, were DONE. At least Cade was. He was soooo tired and was not happy in his stroller. He was a trooper this entire trip! Obviously, this trip was centered around Emily and Abby. The boys were just to little for a Disney vaca, but we could not stomach leaving them at home and they did very good considering stroller naps and late nights were the standard. 

 

Sadly, Disney cancelled the Electrical Parade (soooo sad!). This is something I know the babies would have LOVED and it was so disappointing to miss it. But, the rain stopped and the fireworks were a go! Main Street is so beautiful - even wet!

 

Lisa and I with our prized possession (cookies) - Bo being Bo. 

 

I felt like a pack animal most of the time. 

 

Ready for some fireworks!!!! This was the one and only fireworks/light show we saw the entire trip! 

 

Dancing with my special Emmie. 

And the "Wishes" fireworks show begins...

The fireworks were amazing. I'm so glad we stuck it out and got to see them - it was worth the wait in the rain. And this picture of Abby about sums up the trip. It was wonderfully exhausting.