Day 15 & 16: First Time to Magic Kingdom and Acting Like a Princess

What better way to write a post about my first Disney experience, than with Disney Radio? Perfect.

Wow. Where do I even begin. Let's start here:

We began at Magic Kingdom and walked down Main Street, which is where Cinderella's castle is highlighted. There are a ton of cute shops, bakeries, and different restaurants that you can go into. A tip for the Main Street Bakery is that it is literally a Starbucks. When I say that it is LITERALLY a Starbucks, take heed to my advice and don't go. It's not a true bakery - not only that, but you get the expensive Starbucks prices.

It's hard to get a picture like this alone - oh well.

Whenever Disney does construction, they put up these tarps that make
it look like there is no construction going on - talk about good show! 

Main Street Bakery aka Starbucks

"Here you leave today and enter the World of Yesterday, Tomorrow, and Fantasy"

Main Street and the Main Street Theatre

We walked through Main Street and decided to head over to Tomorrowland, since we all wanted to go on Space Mountain. Space Mountain gets packed within the first few hours and the Fast Passes are gone by 2pm for the rest of the day, so we wanted to make sure that we at least go on that ride. We ended up getting a Fast Pass for Space Mountain at 2:10pm, and it was only 12:30, so we decided to busy ourselves with other rides/attractions until then.

A quick note about Fast Passes:

1. You can only get one Fast Pass at a time. This prevents people from stocking up on Fast Passes. You're allowed to get another Fast Pass once the time on your First Pass expires.
2. When you receive your Fast Pass, it will give you an hour range in which you have to return to the "Fast Pass line." If you are too late, they will not make accommodations, so make sure to keep organized.
3. Most of the more popular rides (Splash Mountain, Big Thunder Mountain, and Space Mountain) will run out of Fast Passes available by 3pm or earlier, so if you know you want to get on that ride, then you need to get that ride's Fast Pass right when you arrive.
4. Not all rides have Fast Passes, so sometimes you'll just have to wait out the lines.

Once we got our Space Mountain Fast Passes, we had about two hours to spare, so the first ride that we decided to go on was Stitch's Great Escape. We found that this only had a 5 minute wait, so while it was not the ride that we wanted to go on first, it was fastest. There is actually a really nice app that you can use to find the ride times; it's called "Disney World" and it's by Undercover Tourist. It is free and I would recommend it to anyone.

Stitch's Great Escape was alright, it was basically a 4-D experience where you were recruits and had to look over the monsters. We went into this circular room and there were upper body restraints that went down on top of you and they honestly hurt really bad. They would press down really hard on the very tops of your shoulders and made you slide lower into your chairs which made them go lower. Honestly, it wasn't the best ride and I probably wouldn't recommend it as a "must do."

We then headed over to Monster's Inc. Laugh Floor which was right across from Stitch's Great Escape. The wait was only 20 minutes long and it was SO worth it. The jokes, while some corny, were actually really funny and all of us were laughing the whole time. They had a ton of audience participation and it is definitely worth your time if you're in Tomorrowland.

Our next stop was the Mad Tea Party, which is more infamously known as "The Tea Cup" ride. The ride was only 20 minutes, which really wasn't bad. Nick gets really queasy on the Tea Cup ride, so it was just Staci and I. I have to say, we were spinning the cups and even we were getting a bit queasy and had to stop rotating the cup for bits of the ride. Once we got out, Nick was in his "Sad Keanu" pose waiting for us.

Here is construction that they are doing for the Seven Dwarf Mine Train.

Staci cheesin' on the Tea Cups.

Sad Nick

After the Tea Cup ride, we still had a few more minutes until our Fast Passes would work for Space Mountain, so we decided to head to Mickey's Philharmagic. Mickey's Philharmagic is another 4-D experience, which was leaps and bounds better than Stitch's Great Escape. It is a 3-D movie, which has sights, sounds, and delicious, delicious smells. It takes you through Beauty and the Beast, the Lion King, Aladdin, and the Little Mermaid.  It was so powerful and so overwhelming that I almost started crying. I think it just hit me that "wow, I am here and I am working for DISNEY."

Cutest.

After Mickey's Philharmagic it was finally time for Space Mountain! I was actually getting really nervous. While I love roller coasters, it does take me some time to get used to them. Since I didn't exactly have time to acclamate myself, I was even more nervous than normal. We went into the Fast Pass lane and we were on the ride in probably 10 minutes. Let me emphasize this. Get a Fast Pass for Space Mountain. If we had not gotten a Fast Pass, then we would have had to wait over an hour and a half. We finally boarded with Staci in the very front and we were off! My voice was almost gone after we were done from me screaming so much, but I was so pumped after Space Mountain and I seriously just wanted to ride it again! I think that was my favorite ride of the day :)

After Space Mountain, we headed over to Main Street to get our lunches, but wanted to get a Fast Pass to meet either Mickey or the Storybook Princesses. After some debating, we decided to get a Fast Pass for the princesses and thank God we did because as we passed the Main Street Theatre, the wait time for Mickey Mouse was only 5 minutes! We walked right to the door to Mickey and go to meet him right away! Mickey seemed to be a little off, but we were all excited anyway :)

 We then went to the lockers to grab our lunches - pasta for Nick and I - and Staci had a Mickey Mouse ice cream bar. We went on top of the Train Station and ate our lunch and to our surprise, the Celebrate parade was happening in just 10 minutes! I think we had the best view of the parade and here are some pictures to prove it:

Here was our view for lunch!

The start of the parade!

Minnie & Mickey

Pinnochio 

Snow White & Prince Charming

A SUPER good Aladdin!

Mary Poppins :) 

Peter Pan & Alice!

Cinderella, Prince Charming, and the Fairy Godmother 

Belle & Beast!

Ariel & Prince Eric were the cutest!

Just look at them!

Tiana & Prince Naveen

It was then time to meet the Princesses! We had the chance to Rapunzel, Aurora, and Cinderella and they were all super nice! We asked Rapunzel how Pascal was and if she had painted any new galleries lately. She said she had and that she was almost running out of room in her own castle! Aurora was very nice as well and congratulated us on our new jobs with Disney. Cinderella was very sweet and also congratulated us on our new jobs.

Nick, Staci, Rapunzel, and I!

Nick, Staci, Aurora, and I!

Staci, Nick, and I talking with Cinderella!

Staci, Nick, Cinderella, and I!

We headed towards the castle and I decided to take a picture with Walt's Statue. I have becoming more and more starstruck with Walt as he created this entire world that everyone has had some sort of connection to. I look up to him and hope to have his brilliance and creativity.

Cinderella's beautiful castle!

Walt, Mickey, and I

We then headed over to Adventureland and immediately got a Fast Pass for the Jungle Cruise. In the meantime, we went on the Pirates of Caribbean ride, which was really cool! It really shows how far Disney has come from the typical animatronic rides.

After Pirates, it was then time to go on the Jungle Cruise and we had the most hilarious tour guide! She has us laughing the whole way through with her sarcastic, punny jokes. At the end she said "If you enjoyed this tour, then my name is Lauren and if you didn't, then my name is irrelevant." A perfect way to end.

We then travelled to Liberty Square where we went to the Hall of Presidents. This ride is either loved or hated. I personally loved it, but if you are not interested in American History, then you will probably not like it as much.

We then went to the Haunted Mansion and it was so cool! Was it scary? Not really, but the effects were amazing, especially the ballroom and then at the end with the hitchhikers. Our hitchhiker actually switched Staci's and my head! It was such a cool illusion!

The gravestones actually ended up being really gruesome...

Next stop was "It's a Small World." I've always known that the song is really annoying and that it is really  just animatronics, but I hear it's a must see and so I dragged everyone to it. Once we got on the ride and started sailing through the beginning arch, I turned to Nick and said "I immediately regret this decision." To be honest, I'm surprised this ride is still around with it being so racist and stereotypical. There has to be a way to name the countries without being so stereotypical.

The next stop in New Fantasy Land was to Enchanted Tales with Belle, which was made for primarily kids. I was essentially recreating the story of when the Beast fell in love with Belle and each person in the audience got a chance to play a part. To our amusement, Nick got chosen to be a Knight and had to stand near the front for the entire performance.

We then stopped to eat dinner and then it was time to watch the endless parades starting at 9:45pm near Main Street. First was Mickey's Electrical Parade, then Celebrate the Magic, and then it was Wishes, a fireworks show. Celebrate the Magic was a projection show on Cinderella's Castle and it was honestly amazing!

Wreck-It Ralph on the Castle!

Rapunzel's Floating Lights 

Rapunzel's Floating Lights! 

Then came Wishes and I almost started crying at multiple points during the show. The entire time I was just shocked that I was working for a company that makes magic for so many people.

Today Staci and I were referred to as "Team Cinderella," and cleaned the house while Nick and Janie were at Guest Relations training all day. Staci and I cleaned the house, then were exhausted by 4, so we both took naps, and are now watching Harry Potter! Congrats to you if you actually made it through this super long blog post :)