Disney World - Day 1 - Magic Kingdom

We headed out for our first park day at the Magic Kingdom, and magic it was!  I'm not quite sure how they do it - I guess a combination of the gorgeous and perfectly manicured flowers and beds, how clean they keep it, the architecture, the awesome rides, shows,  characters, parades, or Cinderella's castle - but it is just the neatest place! And the weather was sooo nice, especially considering it was still cold back at home :)  The temps got down in to the 50's and 60's at night and were up close to 75 or 80 during the day :) 

Yes indeed, let the memories begin!

She was too busy looking around checking everything out to look at the camera!

Shanda, Ben and HJ.  

It was St. Patrick's Day . . . that's why we're all wearing green :)

The first thing we did was head to the castle for the Dream Along with Mickey Show.  It was a great way to start out the day.  It made me cry (I wasn't the only one  . . .  you know who you are ladies!).  I think it was a culmination of finally being there after reading, planning and talking about it for months and just feeling so overwhelmed with the blessing of having a little one to share it with, as well as my whole family.  I realized that there are many people who would love to come to Disney that won't be able to and I had a weepy moment!  It was a great show with lots of characters, fireworks and all.

This is a small snip-it of the show, it's when the princesses dance (since our girl loves the princesses). 

Then we stayed right where we were and enjoyed the "Move It, Shake It, Celebrate It Parade" and guess who stopped to "shake it" right in front of us! Mickey!!!

It was a super energetic and fun parade, a good way to get the day going. 

Laney and HJ danced a lot on this trip, and this is where it all started!  Please focus on the little one's dance moves and not her mom's.  I almost didn't post this because of it, but it's Disney and everybody was dancing and wearing mouse ears . . . it's all good! 

Laney and Daddy riding Dumbo!

After the parade, we rode dumbo and met up with Shanda and Ben.  

They had to take a trip to the Minute Clinic, Shanda had an ear infection :( 

 Then we found Rapunzel's tower and the town with the flags and lanterns and then grabbed a bite to eat at Pinnochio's Village Haus and then rode Prince Charming's Carousel.

After that we all split up and did a few more things before heading back to the hotel for a quick nap before our dinner reservations.

We grabbed some ice cream, with  Mickey ears of course and then rode the train around the entire Magic Kingdom.  When we got off the train we exited right at the Town Square Theater and I noticed that the wait to meet the princesses was down to 15 minutes (it had been over an hour earlier in the day)  so we hopped in line.  It was so sweet to see her reaction to them.  She didn't say a word to them, but gave them hugs and smiled for the camera.  Her reaction to Cinderella was my favorite, she sort of just fell into her.  I got teary-eyed again :)

Needless to say, she conked out on us right after we met those princesses. We loved having our stoller with us!  We got a short nap back at the hotel and then we all met up at the Grand Floridian at 1900 Park Fair for our dinner with Cinderella, Prince Charming, the Fairy God Mother, and the Step Sisters (they were a hoot and not scary at all :)

Waiting on our reservations. . .

We had four princesses in our group, Emmy was Rapunzel, Laney was Cinderella, Harvey Jane was Tinker Bell, and Liz was Belle!  So fun!

We really enjoyed the "character dinning" experience.  The food was great and the characters really talked to everyone and stayed in character. I also really liked visiting another resort hotel and one that we could never afford at that!  The Grand Floridian is beautiful! The only down side was the price $$$!

After our dinner we rode the monorail to the Magic Kingdom to see the Electrical Parade.  Laney loved it and just about danced the whole time.  She said the dragon was her favorite part.

 After the parade we enjoyed the show where they project scenes on the castle and fireworks, which we loved!  After that, our two year olds were pretty pooped so we headed out, but the twenty somethings and Nonna and Pa stayed for the Extra Magic hours.  I think they stayed until 1 in the morning and rode as many rides as possible with Space Mountain being a favorite:)

We had a magical first day!