Disney Report 2014 - Magic Kingdom 2

So here we are. The last full day at Disney and our second visit to Magic Kingdom on this trip. This is going to be another super long post!! We hit the Magic Hour once again (this was all by chance seriously). My focus was for the side of the park that we hadn't hit on Monday. Also, we planned to hit in the afternoon - Tomorrowland  for Space Mountain, Fantasyland for a meeting with Rapunzel and then New Fantasyland for dinner at the "Be Our Guest" restaurant.

Bri was dressed in her Disney best...

Bri was a bit sad that she didn't get to see Minnie at the Tusker House the day before. As soon as we walked in the park, there was Minnie. This was perfect because Minnie and Bri were both wearing polka dots on Thursday morning...

We wanted to get a few family shots before the park got too crowded...

So, I had my map in hand and I was ready to go. We walked over to Adventureland and it was blocked off. The person standing there said the only part of the park open for the Magic Hour was Tomorrowland. What?? Not open?? Not happy!!! That was Off Plan. Off PLAN!!!
 LOL!

Ok - Doug said to just go over to Tomorrowland and check out some of the rides that we didn't get to go to on Monday. I'll admit, sometimes going off plan works in your favor. Bri loved the two attractions we checked out. I know they both get super crowded in the afternoon, so we might never have checked them out. Bri especially loved the Stitch attraction...

The rest of the park finally did open and we headed to Adventureland first. Love the Jungle Cruise...

Really love the "Pirates of the Caribbean." We were able to ride it twice that day. Here are my sillies acting "nervous" before getting on the ride...

Flying on the magic carpet...

When we visited the Tiki Room in 2009 and 2010, it was the "Under New Management" performance. I wasn't the biggest fan of it. They have gone back to the original version of the Tiki Room and I like it so much better...

We wanted to go on the Haunted Mansion ride again, so we went through Frontierland to hit Liberty Square. We were on plan this time. The line was much shorter. Heh...

You think I should get one of these for my backyard (see below)?

I scheduled Fastpasses for Thunder Mountain in Frontierland. This was another ride we had not done before. I was a bit nervous after the Expedition Everest roller coaster, but this one was a lot more tame that Everest...

Then we hit the Harbor House for lunch - Doug got this delicious lobster salad roll...

Bri was thrilled with the chocolate cake for dessert...

I wanted to go to the "Hall of Presidents." Bri was a bit too young to check it out in years past, but she was quite interested in it this year...

And you of course can't miss the Country Bear Jamboree...

Bri begged for a giant lollipop the whole trip. She finally got one the last day...

We checked out all we could on that side of the park and it was almost Space Mountain time, so we took a train ride to head toward Tomorrowland...

Space Mountain was kind of a last minute thing. The night before our second visit to Magic Kingdom, Doug said he really wanted to check out Space Mountain and since Bri did so well on Expedition Everest, we decided she would probably love it too (she doesn't love the dark and I was a bit worried about that). I had scheduled a different Fastpass for that morning (I think Pirates), but I started to realize that Fastpasses aren't super necessary early in the morning. So I switched it out for Space Mountain in the afternoon. And I opted to sit it out. Now I kind of wish I went because I think it was a lot less intense than Expedition Everest. It's ok though - I rested as they went on the ride...

Bri really liked it, but she said it was "too short." ;)

When they got off Space Mountain, we had time to kill. We had a little under two hours before having to see Rapunzel. We were feeling pretty tired at that point. But we checked out some more rides in Tomorrowland.

The Carousel of Progress wasn't even on my radar, but I have to admit, I really enjoyed it (and it was a good "chilling out" attraction)...

We rode the People Mover again too. And then there was the Astro Orbitor. The line was pretty long, but we really were killing time at that point. We took the elevator up to it...

It went a lot faster than Dumbo or the carpet ride. Yikes!!!!

It was finally time to get over to Fairytale Hall and I changed Bri into her Rapunzel dress...

We used our Fastpasses and got right in. Bri and Rapunzel talked about their dresses...

She giggled with Snow White...

 And I got on the Carousel with her this time...

I had an early dinner reservation for the "Be Our Guest" restaurant. Bri had another costume change...

This was our dilemma though. When I went to schedule the reservation (6 months in advance), I could only get it for two people - not three. The intention was for me and Bri to go and Doug would sit it out. But a friend of mine (that used to work for Disney) suggested that we could try to ask if we could all get in when the time came. And it totally worked! Doug got in too! I'm so glad he did. It is really amazing inside...

The waiting area is really pretty too...

The hostess handed Bri a candelabra as we walked in...

This was the main room ~ the ballroom...

We were seated in the Rose Gallery...

I was actually surprised to see a number of open seats. I'm not sure why the online reservations wouldn't let me book for a bigger party.

The Beast came into the room to wave to everyone...

The food was pretty good. I think Canada was better, but the atmosphere was totally worth the reservation. Oh - and the desserts too...

You can see all the open seats...

We were allowed to check out the whole castle (comprised of three dining rooms). The West Wing room was amazing. I would totally request that room the next time...

Then we got to meet the Beast...

The lobby...

What an awesome experience. We really enjoyed it.

We were getting pretty tired at that point. We were trying to figure out if we should stay for the Electrical Parade. Doug and I were kind of getting at each other because we were just plain tired. The streets were already lined with people who had been waiting for a while for it to start...

Somehow, Doug found a little spot across a little river that seemed to be a perfect spot for the show. I have to hand it to him...

I'm so glad we stayed, the parade was fantastic...

We asked Bri if she wanted to see the Wishes fireworks and she said she was ready to go. We were kind of done too. We headed out of the park to the monorail...

I stopped quickly in a gift shop and the cashier told us we could actually could get a good view of the fireworks from a distance. So we got to see them after all!

The fireworks ended and we shot to the car. We got to the hotel room and totally crashed!

We decided not to get up super early on Friday because we had gotten up early every other day we were there. Friday was the day we drove home - after we had a real breakfast!

My next post will talk about the hiccups and great things that happened on the trip. Then I will be done. Promise!!!