Disney World Day 2 Part 1 (Magic Kingdom)

About to start day 2 in the happiest day on earth. I can't believe how far we had to drive to get to the Magic Kingdom. Once we parked, we then had to board and ride a metro rail that took over lakes and valleys to get to the actual kingdom. There is no driving and parking at the park itself. Pretty crazy!

Here we are!

Had to get the "Mickey Shrub" at the entrance. Classic Disney pic.

I just love walking into the park and the whole feel of Main Street.

The great Town Hall.

Minnie Mouse posing for pictures in front of the entrance. Don't have time to wait for that so her back will do. . .

We met Kristen and her friend early at the park, an hour before it opened and look at how many people are already here! Geeze. Her friend was very nice to give us free passes to get in, because Kristen gave us her free passes the day before.

Walking down the road to Cinderella's Castle. BEAUTIFUL! First time I've ever seen this!

Here we are in the Magic Kingdom. Kind of a bummer because there was scaffolding all over the castle. They are doing a major remodeling.

Awww. Love this gal.

Here's a shot of the castle on the other side away from the scaffolding.

We grabbed some yummy breakfast sandwiches from the Starbucks and made our way to the first ride- Peter Pan!

I loved this Peter Pan ride. Even more than the one in Disney Land. The line was so much more fun to walk through. Very neat details in the nursery!

Loved the way the shadows moved and were animated.

The beds were very cartoony.

Cool details.

This is where you stood in line and got to be covered in pixie dust.

Think happy thoughts! Christmas!

After Peter Pan Kristen wanted to show us one of her favorite spots- Rapunzel's tower. Except it's just a really cool decorated bathroom. We loved it though.

Rapunzel's stuff is so cool!

This was the entrance to the girl's bathroom.

The frying pan helped us know this was Flynn Rider's bathroom.

Kristen pointed out all of the gecko's  that were hidden around the Rapunzel buildings.

This was inside the Flynn Rider bathroom.

Frying pans!

 

This is inside the women's restroom. Looks like Rapunzel has been busy painting.

The tower is very small, but very awesome!

Another Gecko.

And another.

Next it was time for the haunted mansion. Kristen had just gone on a big "behind the scenes" tour of it so she had lots of interesting stuff to tell us.

This will be spooky scary. . .

She pointed out how all of these stories coincided with one another. There was only one innocent and all of the others murdered another one. Very cool and connected. . .

If you press all of the instruments on the plaque at the same time it plays some creepy music!

This organ is awesome.

This is the wedding rig of the murderous bride. Apparently the whole story of the mansion is tied to her. Huh, who woulda thunk?

One of my favorite art pictures that stretches at the beginning of the ride.

 

I thought it was awesome how this pic in the gift shop was a modernized twist- but WAY too much money!

Because Disney did away with Mr. Toad's wild road they put a little monument in the cemetery for him. Pretty sneaky and cool.

This rock paved stuff in the middle is supposed to symbolize sewage that would have been seen in the middle of the streets in the 1800s. Here we were walking in the middle of all this muck. :)

On to Space mountain!

Rock on! This one is so much more fun than the one in Disney Land (in my opinion)

Ari even loved it!

After this we went to a Monster's Inc Joke show that was all about laughing and jokes. It was so funny. My joke was also chosen. I googled some jokes as we were walking in then texted it to the number. I can't remember for the life of me what the joke was. . . Oh wait. The titanic. . . something about the titanic. How do you think the unthinkable? With an itheberg. Ha ha.
Glad they chose it.

Next we walked through Adventure Land to get to Frontier Land.

So could ride our favorite- Splash Mountain! So much fun! Tada!

Love the drop!

Now time for another favorite- Big Thunder Mountain Railroad.

After this we stopped and got the best, most refreshing orange and vanilla ice cream. The orange was made from real orange juice. SO GOOD on a hot humid day!

We toured the Swiss Family Robinson Tree House and I forgot how much I loved this. When we got home, we watched it with the kids and they loved it too! Sad that Disney Land turned theirs into the Tarzan Tree House. Kids need to know about Swiss Family Robinson.

We grabbed a quick bite to eat at the baseball themed restaurant "Casey's Corner." I got a chili Dog and Ari got a hot dog. Pretty good but not my favorite of the trip. Seems like it took a long time and was crowded or something.

I loved this artwork in the archways underneath Cinderella's Castle. Each of the pieces depicted the story of Cinderella.

Time for Belle's story time. Kristen knew a guy so we were able to bypass the line and get right into it. It was a very cool idea.

We started in Maurice's workshop/house and there was a mirror on the wall.

Beast provided this mirror for Maurice so he could visit Belle at the castle whenever he wanted. We said a magic enchantment and magically transported into the library in the castle.

They chose participants to act out a story for Belle. Ari was chosen to be the opera singing wardrobe lady, but sadly they forgot to include her part when it came time for the actual production:(

She was excited to be chosen though:)

Story time, narrated by Lumiere.

The library was pretty wicked- awesome wicked that is!

Here's Belle. It was crazy because I thought she looked just like Jill when she was a senior in high school.

She was very nice to take pictures with everyone!

This is the sad little representation of Belle's castle. Pretty lame, sorry Disney. That was where we were supposed to be in the castle. Then we magically came back to Maurice's. Oh, the magic.

Gaston's Tavern. I wish I would have stopped and tried some of Lafue's Brew. I hear it's just like the butter beer at HP.

This next castle was our absolute favorite. Prince Eric and Ariels Castle. Very cool. The details of the walk into the ride were AMAZING. It was just like the Little Mermaid ride in Disney Land but a way cooler walk to get in. It felt very Portugalish.

The fake bluffs were amazing.

So hot and sweltering!

When we got to a drinking fountain in the line we were about to die, but the water pressure was so low.

Finally, inside with air conditioning. Cool paintings!

Love how the light is around Ariel.

Next stop- Epcot Center!