Three weeks out, Kim and I met up, and she filled me in on all things Disney. Let me pause and say that we'd been to Magic Kingdom once when AR was three, so three years ago, but we had NO CLUE what we were in for. We casually showed up at 2PM, used FastPasses on things that didn't need FastPasses, and had no plan of attack. After talking with Kim, I realized I needed a plan! Still, it wasn't until March 10 that I bought our tickets for Magic Kingdom on March 18. I'll let you know that I read blog upon blog upon blog about Disney, each one overwhelming me more and more. I'd make a plan then read a blog and change it up, then I'd make another plan and rearrange. I was obsessed, it was all I thought about in every free moment of my day! Bottom line, no two families going to Disney are the same so you'll have to customize your plan for yourself. Just for reference, it was just myself, a single mom, and my almost 7 year old daughter. I'll note that she is a thrill seeker and pretty mature for her age but I still knew waiting in long lines would be awful for both of us so I had to contemplate our plan very carefully. It was nothing short of magic that she was AMAZING the whole day, no whining, no begging, just enjoying the day. We went into it having decided we'd just do what we could and weren't going to be in a hurry or rush and that was the best attitude to have. Now, let me break it down for you what WE did but then go and do your own thing!
Arriving/Departing
Little did I know that our resort was basically across the street from Magic Kingdom. We were waiting for the first bus at 8AM which dropped us off right in front of the security gates. I'd heard horror stories about the line being long for bag check but we'd planned on being there from open to close and I didn't want to spend an arm and a leg so I was armed with a backpack full of survival items. Surprisingly, the bag check was quick, we got held up at the ticket line because AR had two accounts and apparently they weren't on the same account as My Disney Experience, which we had issues with later as well, but all was fixed and I swear to you we were in the park by 8:15 with a front row seat to the Let the Magic Begin show. Originally my plan was to get in line for FantasyLand but there was already hoards of people so we opted for front stage of the castle and it was awesome!!! First note, be flexible, make a plan but be prepared to mix it up.
Now, at the end of the night, we skipped the fireworks. I know, I know, shock and awe, gasp, what kind of people are we, right? Well, we'd seen them the night before from the roof top of the Contemporary. It's the only place outside Magic Kingdom that has the sound piped in. So, we couldn't see the images on the castle but we heard everything and saw all the fireworks.
I gave AR the option when we were at MK to watch the fireworks or do our last FP with Peter Pan and she opted for Peter Pan. At this point, she was exhausted, as was I, so I think we were both ready to wrap things up and head back to the resort to soak in the hot tub.
We walked right out of the park at 9:51PM, got on our bus to Wilderness Lodge and was in our cabin by 10:01PM and in the hot tub by 10:10PM.
Backpack
I think I overpacked but here's what I definitely used:
Baby Wipes (sat on the curb for a parade and she got chocolate all over her shoes and pants)
Hand sanitizer
Snacks-applesauce pouches, almond packs, turkey sausage, raisins (all bought at Aldi's)
1 water bottle-I took in a metal water bottle that I filled with ice and water. I got the water bottle at Costco and it seriously kept the ice frozen all day. It fit in a pocket on the side of my backpack so she could pull it out and put it in as needed. I also got some spray in drink flavoring, zero sugar and zero calories from Aldi. This kept asking for "special drinks" to a minimum. We refilled at lunch and dinner so we had plenty of water and didn't have to buy any drinks from there.
Raincoats-it was a chilly day that we were there so it doubled as a raincoat when it was drizzling and warmth in the morning/evening.
Magnetic travel games-we played Chinese checkers a few times while waiting in line for Big Thunder Mountain
Joke book/Question book for waiting
Bag of pennies/quarters for pressed pennies (we only saw one in MK but they're at every resort and lots of other places outside park)
Pins for trading-more on that below
I also had Ibuprofen, I didn't use but had it been warmer I probably would've, a coloring book she used for a little bit while waiting for dinner, empty Ziplocks for leftover food, wet clothes, etc...chargers for phone but never used, Sharpies. I didn't really feel like there was anything that I wish I had so stick to the basics, your back will thank you!
OH! And I was able to take my backpack on ALL the rides we rode which was amazing!!! Other theme parks should figure out how to do this as well, it was so convenient.
FastPasses
One week out, I was lucky enough to snag a FastPass for Space Mountain and Peter Pan's Flight. The only bad thing was that they were in the evening. Each ticket gets three FPs and once you've used all three then you can get one more FP throughout the day... over and over. Since ours were in the evening, we weren't able to do that, but Space Mountain FastPass alone was worth it! The other FP we had was for The Little Mermaid ride but it was first thing in the morning so we didn't necessarily need it so I feel as though I kind of wasted that FP. Being I only was able to book a week out, overall, I was happy with what we got though.
Dining
Dining... boy, did I luck out! First though, I made a major rookie mistake. I'd booked dinner at 1900 Fare with Cinderella on the day we were at the park. I knew it was outside of MK but I totally didn't factor in that once we left, we'd have to go through the bag line again so what would be an 1.5 dinner would turn into almost 3 potentially and I didn't want to lose that time in the park since we only had one day so I cancelled that reservation and was super bummed because now it was four days out and I had no dining at all.
I kept checking and checking and was finally able to get Be Our Guest for lunch. There's no characters there for lunch but you get to eat inside the Beast's castle which is super cool! Also, order your lunch online before you go!!! We skipped a LONG line because I'd already preordered. Also, I only ordered the adult turkey sandwich and fries and we split it, definitely enough for both of us. If I had ordered her a meal, we would've wasted it. AR didn't care for the bread so she just ate the turkey and fries. Now, this is the totally magically part... They gave me a receipt and told me to sit where ever because it's open seating. There's three rooms to sit in so we took a seat and then, magically, a waitress shows up with our food. How in the world they knew where we were sitting is still a mystery to me and everyone else eating there because I heard more than one family ask and the staff simply answered, "Magic!" Then, our waitress brought over this birthday card signed by Belle and Beast for me with "gray stuff" which tasted like thick whipped cream. I had a birthday button I wore while there which meant lots of people told me happy birthday and little surprises like this!
I was still upset about having to cancel 1900 Fare and I wanted to go big because who knows when we'll go back. I jumped on this Facebook group which I highly recommend because these people know what they're talking about. It's called Smart Moms Planning Disney. Seriously, any Disney question you have, ask in here and these ladies can help you out! I was scrolling through and saw someone ask a question about dining reservations. They mentioned Mouse Dining. This is a free website where you go and pick what restaurant, date, and time you'd like a reservation. If something opens up then they'll text or email you. Sure enough, Friday night, two days before we went to MK, I got a text about 6:30PM that there was a dining reservation open at Crystal Palace. I opened up My Disney Experience and sure enough, there it was! I was sooooo excited, I finally got a character dining IN THE PARK!!! I was a little worried that AR wouldn't be into the Winnie the Pooh characters because we were never into them and maybe they were a little babyish so we talked about it but she said she still wanted to go. I have to say, she was the most excited about seeing each of them. Tigger and Eeyore were the best! They did a parade with the kids, I got a cupcake for my birthday, and the food was amazing. I would've loved to get Cinderella's Royal Table but AR knew no difference and she had a great time here so it made no difference!
I got so excited about getting Crystal Palace that I kept searching for March 17 and March 19 for dining. I made the mistake of telling her about dinner with Cinderella before I realized it wasn't going to work so I kept searching for that one as well. I ended up getting Chef Mickey on March 17 which our whole party went to. I would say if I had to do it again, I wouldn't book a buffet three nights in a row. The food was good but it was all basically the same, not to mention the price is high, but like I said before, who knows when we're going to go back or if we do, that she'll still be excited about characters so I wanted to take advantage of it while I could. I mean she'll only be little for so long and I wanted her to enjoy it while the magic is still alive for her.
Okay, now 1900 Fare is at the Grand Floridian. OMG! This resort is sooo fancy! I felt like a major bum because we were coming after spending a day at Universal. No one cared though, it was still an amazing time. It was totally different than the other character dining because these characters could talk so it was fun to ask them questions and hear what they would say. Drizella is the absolute best, I loved her! AND, it was as though the magic was with us because even though I had to cancel our original reservation, on Tuesday when we went, the Wicked Stepmother wasn't there but the FAIRY GODMOTHER was!!! I got another cupcake for my birthday, more delicious food, and even more memories. Highly recommend this one!!! Fairy Godmother was like a real grandma, she helped AR dig her hood out that was flipped in her jacket and she wished me the sweetest birthday wishes.
Pin Trading
Easy way to keep her entertained during lulls! Throughout the park, staff has pins that they'll trade with you. You can buy pins in the park but they come with a big price tag. I had read about this before we left so I bought a Mickey Mouse lanyard on Amazon, scouted the Disney website for discount pins and hit up the local Disney outlet for some on clearance. It doesn't matter what pins they are or if your kids like them because you're trading them aka giving them away. I ended up with WAY too many because I waited til the last minute and was afraid they wouldn't arrive in time so I made the trip to Disney outlet then they all came. Anyway, she really got in to it and staff at resorts will do it too. Characters do NOT pin trade. She found a match that she loves so she was happy with that set and wouldn't trade any that she got from other people. I think I got a Toy Story set of 6 pins at Disney outlet for like $16 which added up to fun throughout our whole trip. You can also buy lots of pins on Amazon or ebay but beware of "scrapper pins." I'll let you go down that rabbit hole on your own but trust me, just buy the clearance ones from Disney to save yourself the time of getting of determining if the ones you have are fake or not. If you have a kiddo that's old enough, definitely do it but buy before you get in the park.
Funny story...when we got to the airport to leave, a flight attendant walked up with a lanyard and pins on it. AR got so excited and yelled at me that she pin traded, too! I took a closer look and they were all Southwest pins so I had to tell her that it was a different kind of pin trading but proof that it was a fun activity for her!
Our Schedule: Rides and Characters and Shows
Here's the order of everything we did while at the park from 9AM-9:51PM:
8:55AM Let the Magic Begin
9:00AM Meet Ariel at her Grotto
Little Mermaid Ride (FP)
Enchanted Tales with Belle
Barnstormer
Met Daisy and Pluto
Met Gaston
11:30AM Lunch at Be Our Guest
12:30PM Move It, Shake It Dance Party
1:00PM Friendship Faire (with fireworks)
Big Thunder Mountain (waited in line for 1.5 hours, this was the only LONG line we waited in)
Ice cream sandwich
Watched Fantasy Parade on Main Street (plus side of only having one kiddo, she was able to squeeze in for a great seat and sit the whole time)
As soon as parade was over, snuck in to meet Tinker Bell with almost no wait. By the time we came out, the wait was up to 45 minutes!
Stopped by Photoshop to fix our Memory Maker
(can't remember the exact order after this... exhaustion was setting in!)
Monsters, Inc Laughing Floor
Pin trading on Main Street to kill time before dinner
Dinner at Crystal Palace
Space Mountain
Mickey's Phil HarMagic
Rapunzel's Lantern pic (waited in line almost 30 minutes for this)
It's a Small World
Peter Pan
HOME!!!
Look at all that! It is WAY more than I anticipated getting in, we still missed out on a few things, but we did more than I planned, too. Overall, it was an AMAZING, successful day with an AMAZING daughter.
Random Thoughts
I'd brought a notebook, all prepared for her to do the autograph thing. Then the night before, I saw a friend post that when they went, their kids did it and then never looked at it again. I got to thinking and was like yeah, that's probably true so I talked to AR and we scrapped the idea. One less thing to carry, worry about, etc... I did see someone had a frame and had characters sign the mat for it. It looked really cool and it was unique souvenir. Neither of us are upset that we didn't get autographs!
I tried to buy as much "souvenirs" as possible before hand. I bought the pins/lanyard as stated above. I bought Minnie ears on Amazon, wish I'd bought a pair for myself. We had shirts made which AR loves when we match so I think she was just as excited about as going to the park. She was being so good that I told her I would buy her something in the park and she seriously asked for the one thing I did NOT want. It's a wand that blows bubbles out of it automatically. I was not a fan because every kid in a stroller had one and it would blow directly in our faces while we were sitting on the curb and waiting for the street party, parade, etc... Luckily, she only asked twice and I deflected by trying to point out other items then we totally forgot about it by the time we left. I did buy her a Tinker Bell pressed penny holder at our resort but that was seriously the only take back we got. Well, that and a Christmas ornament because we get one at each place we visit to add to our tree and remember our trips at Christmas time. Pressed pennies and ornaments are our travel thing wherever we go. I also prepped her by telling her what I would buy for her ahead of time so that I wasn't constantly saying no all day. It really helped to prepare both of us and there wasn't any arguing or let down since we'd already discussed it.
Memory Maker-GET IT!!! As a single mom, I actually got to be in pictures and they weren't just selfies! Sure, I could've asked someone to take pics for us but again, this was one less thing to worry about and juggle while dropping my backpack to get in the picture, not holding up the line, worrying about lighting, etc... I will warn you that there's about 6 photographers all along Main Street to get the castle in the background. Don't stop at everyone or if you do, ask them to add some magic!
Lantern picture is a new photo op by Rapunzel's Tower, kind of by It's a Small World. We waited in line closer to 9PM for this and the line was almost 30 minutes. Worth it to get this great photo at the end of our magical day!
So, that's it, that was our day at Magic Kingdom planned in less than a week! I'm sure we missed out on some stuff or did things "wrong" but we were both happy girls that had a great time together. It was a pretty spectacular day and I can't wait for another day like this with her except not as much walking. OH! And to top off your trip, schedule a pedicure for when you return and thank me later!
