Once we arrived at the park, we quickly stopped on Main Street to have a Disney photographer take our picture with the Castle. Of course, I don't have any of those on my camera and they are all on order! After a quick photo session, we headed over to Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin. Got right on that ride and then headed to Space Mountain. Somehow, we convinced Taylor to ride this ride with us. She is not a thrill-seeker. Not her thing at all. But, she did decide to ride it. I'm pretty sure she cried the entire ride. So, to make it up to her, we let her pick our next ride. I knew it would be the teacups (those are her favorite) and she had been asking if they would have the teacups on the cruise ship. So, we were off to spin round and round. Well...the kids and Michael. As I've gotten older, the constant spin of things like the teacups make me too dizzy. So, I get in my own cup and take pictures of them having fun. My cup just goes with the ride and doesn't spin.
After we finished riding, Alice and the White Rabbit came out and chose a child to ride with.
Our next stop was Peter Pan's Flight. This is Disney classic and everyone goes to it. It wasn't long before the standby line was over an hour. We got our fastpasses, then stood in line for about 30-45 minutes. It was as fun as I remember it. Nothing like flying in a ship over Neverland!
When we got our Peter Pan's Flight Fast Passes, we also got additional Fast Passes to Mickey's Philharmagic. So, that was our next stop. We enjoyed this show...another one not to miss. At this point, we checked to see where Rapunzel and Flynn, from Tangled, were meeting at. This was a must-do for Taylor. She had her Rapunzel dress and hair and was ready to meet them. Unfortunately, it was over a 2 hour wait and because this is what Disney calls and "Enhanced Meet and Greet," it would have taken an additional hour to spend with the characters. We didn't want to devote 3 hours to this, so walked on. We went back and used our Fast Pass to ride Peter Pan again. After that, we walked across to "It's a Small World."
After "It's a Small World," we headed over to find Princess Tiana and Naveen. They were on break, so Michael and Zachary decided to go ride "Big Thunder Mountain" and Taylor and I went towards the castle to watch the parade. The Toy Story Floats were the ones closest to us, so Taylor quickly found her dance spot on the street and started dancing with Jesse.
After the characters got back on their parade floats, the floats made a full circle around the hub. They were so bright, colorful and cute.
Once the parade was over, Taylor and I went back to where Tiana and Naveen would be and waited for them. Before they came out, Zachary and Michael met back up with us and waited too. Zachary told me he didn't want to meet Tiana and Naveen. I had told him that would be okay, but he had to stand and wait with us. When it was Taylor's turn to go and meet them, she told them that Zachary had not wanted to meet them. Naveen immediately came over to have a "man to man" talk with Zachary. He told him that they could just have some "Man time" together. It was so sweet and cute. That is one thing I will say about Disney...when there is a kid that doesn't look like they are having a good time or is shy (we've went through both of these feelings with characters over the years), the characters really try to make the kids feel included. Naveen knew that Zachary was the only boy standing in line to meet them. He told Zachary how happy he was to see another "Man." All of this made Zachary feel important. It was one of those magical Disney moments!
After Tiana and Naveen, we somehow convinced the kids to ride "The Haunted Mansion." It was a 45 minute wait in line. While waiting in line, I did take a photo of Zachary with "Big Thunder Mountain" behind him since he loves it so much.
The kids in front of "The Haunted Mansion."
While waiting in line, there were several different monuments, headstones and tombs to look at that belong to the ghosts that live inside the mansion. We saw the one for the boy/girl set of twins and made the kids stand by it for a photo.
The actual ride was not a favorite. I liked it, but the kids were not happy. Taylor said she kept her eyes closed through the entire ride. To make it up to her, we went back towards the castle area to see what the wait time was for Rapunzel. It was around 1.5 hours, so Taylor and I got in line and waited to see them. Michael and Zachary took off to ride a few rides. They made it back to us right before we were to go into the Tangled meet and greet area.
When we got in there, there were about 20 kids that they let in at one time. They all gathered around a table and colored. Then, Rapunzel and Flynn came out. They danced with the kids around the table and interacted with them. Taylor was wearing her Rapunzel dress and hair. Flynn really liked her hair and played with it and spun it around several times.
Then, everyone got in line to go up for pictures and autographs. When it was our turn, Flynn took Zachary off for a little "guy talk". Of course, Zachary was the only boy there for the meet and greet and didn't want to be there. Poor kid. Flynn (just like Naveen) acknowledged this and took special time just to spend with him. There's that Disney magic again! Flynn tried to teach Zachary how to do the "smolder"...his signature look. There was a really great photo of the two of them on my Disney Photo Pass...I'll have to share a few of those photos once they arrive.
At this point, it was getting close to time to have dinner in Cinderella's Castle. We had just enough time to ride the carousel. The kids had to stop at first to see if they could pull the sword from the stone...no luck this time...maybe next time.
Now, it was time for dinner. We checked in and met Cinderella. Then, went upstairs for dinner. The last time we had dinner in the castle, the characters were the Godmother and the mice...this time it was the princesses. Jasmine was the first to come over to our table.
Sleeping Beauty was next.
The big surprise was seeing Ariel. With the renovations at The Magic Kingdom, you can't meet Ariel anymore at her normal meet and greet spot. So, when she was announced and came out, it was a big surprise. Taylor had also never met her with human legs...only with her mermaid tail.
The last princess was my favorite princess...Belle. Of course, my camera started acting up again and we had to get out our small camera. Belle offered to take my camera to her Papa so he could try to fix it.
After dinner, we headed back the Beach Club to get ready for our day at Animal Kingdom.
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