Thursday had finally arrived. MY BIRTHDAY!!!!
I made sure to wear my “Happy Birthday” button all day long and got LOTS of “Happy Birthday, Princess!” comments from the cast members. 🙂
Magic Kingdom was having Extra Magic Hours and open at 8AM for resort guests before opening to the general public at 9AM.
We arrived in time to catch the opening ceremony:
Our first orders of business were the following: breakfast at the Main Street Bakery, meet Tinker Bell, ride the Walt Disney World train.
Breakfast at the Main Street Bakery?
Check!!!
That cinnamon roll was bigger than Matthew’s head. LOL OMG, it was so good!
We walked over to Adventureland to see Tinker Bell: FAIL! Adventureland didn’t open until 9AM. Grrrr.
That’s okay, we’ll go do potty breaks and then ride the train!
Photos after our potty break:
Time to ride the train: FAIL!!! Can’t ride the train until 9AM.
At this point, we pretty much just gave up. LOL Most the stuff on our immediate to-do list was in Adventureland and it didn’t make sense to wander to the back of the park when we could ride the train in 30 minutes (which Matthew was hell bent to get on). So we spent the rest of the time wandering around the gift shops on Main Street. An excellent use for that extra hour of park time! LOL
We had these pictures taken too:
Here comes the train!!!
Matthew was soooo excited. We all enjoyed the ride around the park much more than expected.
The trolley was coming down Main Street after we got off the train:
We took some time to pose for pictures since Matthew was in a better mood than he was on Monday:
After doing the pictures, Mike and Ian ran for Buzz fast passes and then we all headed over to Adventureland.
Finally open!!!
We immediately got in line to see some fairies.
First we talked to Rosetta:
Then, it was our turn to meet Tinker Bell!!!
I think Ian had a crush on Tinker Bell. 🙂
After our meeting with Tinker Bell, we went to ride the Magic Carpets of Aladdin. Mike and I took the boys on once and then I rode with the boys a second time (Mike enjoyed it just as much as he did Dumbo: not at all LOL).
It’s all fun and games before we get up in the air:
Agrabah Bazaar, where Jasmine and Aladdin have their meet-and-greet:
Going up:
Not so amused at this point:
Me and the boys waiting to ride:
Going up:
After that, I snuck a picture of Aladdin and Jasmine because the boys were not down with waiting in line:
About 2 seconds after I snapped this picture, there was a HUGE clatter in the building next door. Everyone looked over to see what was going on and without skipping a beat, Aladdin yelled “ABU!!!!” LOL He told the next girl in line that every time he hears a noise like that, he always yells “ABU!!!!” because he always assumes it’s Abu getting in trouble and causing problems. The girl in line just stood there and laughed. OMG, it was so funny. I couldn’t believe how well he stayed in character. LOL
I snuck a picture of Prince Eric and Ariel:
Next up? A pineapple Dole Whip for the birthday girl:
OMG, it was soooo good!!! Best use of a snack credit EVER. LOL
While I finished the Dole Whip (I shared it, by the way), we walked over to ride Buzz with our fast passes.
Once Buzz was done, we walked over to the Tomorrowland Speedway for a quick ride before lunch:
Next up, lunch!
Back when we started planning this trip, I told Mike that we could do whatever the entire time but that I wanted to eat in the castle and meet the Princesses. Needless to say, it was a great birthday. 🙂
Jacques and Gus Gus up on the ledge near the ceiling:
It was so pretty inside:
Cinderella hugging the boys:
Here is a terrible scan of the picture they took of us in the lobby with Cinderella:
Seated at our table with a Fantasyland view:
Matthew was pretending to be a cat at this meal (napkin on head = cat LOL):
(Apparently Ian and Mike still had Adventureland on the brain. LOL)
Cinematographer Ian documented Mike ordering his meal (Pork 3 Ways and a Almond Cheesecake):
LOL
During the meal, boys got swords and girls got wands and then they did a wishing ceremony that was cute:
During the meal, an announcer told each Princess’s story and then the Princess came out to meet with everyone.
We got to meet…..
Snow White:
Princess Aurora/Sleeping Beauty:
Ariel/Little Mermaid:
Belle ( Ian’s favorite):
They were talking about their favorite books. 🙂
A waiter brought out desserts for Mike and me (the kids still had their meals in front of them). As he was placing a dessert in front of Mike, Matthew did one of those “oooh, I’ll have that” kind of reaction to the third (not our) dessert on the waiter’s tray. The waiter said “here you go, little Prince” and put it down for Matthew to eat. I couldn’t believe it!
Eating the adult dessert:
After a bit, they brought out the kid’s desserts and a cupcake for my birthday (and they sang to me).
Matthew was very helpful and blew out the candle:
For all his hard work, he then did his best to polish off the cupcake and the sundae that came with his meal. LOL
Sugar overload:
Ian ate like a champ that day:
After lunch, we walked over to ride Buzz (again).
Ian was nice enough to kick my butt:
You can tell he felt really bad about it too:
After we got out of the ride, Buzz was meeting with guests so we got in line to see him.
I have no idea what he was doing here. Praying? Looking for Zurg? Wondering why it’s always so flippin’ sunny? LOL
After that, it was definitely time to go back to the hotel. It was getting hot out and everyone was tired.
Especially Matthew:
Snoring in the stroller, in our hotel room:
LOL
By the way, we did transfer him to the bed after I took that video.
After nap time, I had to go to the hotel’s gift shop and buy this shirt for Ian. He REFUSED to wear his polo shirt and it was causing a major fit (hello, tired 5 year old anyone?!?). At this point in the vacation, we really didn’t have too many extra outfits left and it really wasn’t worth it to continue arguing. Thankfully, I was able to find a t-shirt that he loved that pretty much matched his short AND was the right size.
Fashion crisis averted!
We got back to the park around 5:30PM and people were already staking spots for the 7PM parade. Since we only had one opportunity to see the parade, I pretty much told Mike that we were finding a spot to sit in and that was that. The birthday girl makes the rules. LOL
We got AWESOME spots on the Hub – right at the end where Main Street hits the Hub. The parade was going to be starting down near the entrance and working it’s way to us. Perfect location!!!
After we got settled in our spots, Mike and Ian ran to Casey’s to get the boys some food (Mike and I weren’t hungry). Matthew and I held down the fort and took a couple of pictures.
I literally took these from my spot for the parade:
We got to see Cinderella’s Holiday Wish (castle lighting show):
Just as the parade was about to start, a barely English speaking woman asked if her child could sit in front of Ian (Ian was sitting the stroller). I said yes because I knew the little girl wouldn’t block Ian’s view and there was room. About five minutes later, she then asked if she could sit next to her child. I was more than a little ticked off since we’d been holding these spots for a freakin’ hour but she squeezed in there and managed to not block Ian.
When she asked 5 minutes later if her husband could sit down there too, I flat out said no. There was absolutely no way Ian would see the parade unless he stood and there was no way on God’s green Earth my child was standing during the parade so some jerk could show up 10 minutes before and block the way. He eventually squeezed in beside me (away from his family) and blocked a couple of little girls that had been seated next to me for an hour. What a jerk!
Rude woman that left her manners in whatever foreign country she hailed from:
I’m all about being nice to strangers but seriously? Stake seats early if you want a freakin’ front row seat.
/End Rant.
Here comes the parade! It was so cool!
Can you see Goofy inside the train/driving?
Minnie on the front, Mickey on the back:
Alice (in Wonderland) and the Cheshire Cat:
The White Rabbit walked by:
Cinderella in her pumpkin coach (and Fairy Godmother on the back):
Prince Charming and Cinderella’s step-sister Anastasia Tremaine:
Random people dancing:
There were lights in their clothing!
Big Ben:
Captain Hook and Peter Pan were fighting on this pirate ship!
Mr. Smee!!!
Snow White and her Dwarf-y pals:
Pinocchio:
Pete and his dragon, Elliot:
Patriotic floats to end the parade:
I loved the costumes that these cast members wore:
Our video of the parade:
After the fireworks, we stood and turned around to face the castle for The Magic, The Memories, and You show:
Yeah, we got 9 seconds before both boys decided to be held and we didn’t have enough hands to film the show. LOL (Here’s someone else’s Youtube video: http://youtu.be/p0K9HkE9zYY)
I call this their “when are the fireworks going to start” look…or maybe it’s their “how many flippin’ pictures are you going to take of this castle” look. 🙂
Not too long after that it was time for WISHES!
We had awesome spots for the fireworks but we were close enough it was darn impossible to get the fireworks and the castle in the frame at the same time.
(Here’s someone else’s Youtube video of Wishes: http://youtu.be/C_fc41uB48Q)
I really cannot say enough about this firework show. I loved it! It literally made you say “WOW!” in parts. And not just me, you can hear the rest of the crowd reacting too!
Beautiful!
After the show, we stood off to the side and let the crowd move towards the exit. The park wasn’t open late that night so everyone was going to the same place: the bus stops, the monorail or the ferry. We figured there was no rush and we were right. We eventually made it out to the ferry but I think we had to wait for 2 boats to come before we got on one. We got to see the Electrical Water Pageant again while we waited. LOL
When we got back to the hotel, Mike went down to the restaurant to get 1 kids meal and dinner for the two of us. We were all starved! After that late dinner, we all went to sleep quickly.
What a wonderful birthday!