SPOILER ALERT: IT WAS THE BEST DAY EVER!
We got to the park right when it opened (9 am). We took a few pictures and headed straight for Frontierland so Leighton could meet Princess Tiana!
Since it was so early the line was super short. Tiana had the sweetest Louisiana accent. Lei loved her!
Liberty Square is next to Frontierland so we decided to take a chance and ride the Haunted Mansion because the line was so short (this is why you HAVE to get to the parks when they first open!). We just told Lei it was going to be a little dark but we would al be there together & not to get scared. She seemed on board, so off we all went (Gracen was oblivious lol). The girls' eyes were huge as saucers as we were loading into the ride and I think they both had no idea what to think. It was dark inside but not evil or creepy. It was fun! They liked it.
After we finished the ride we headed to the Be Our Guest restaurant. I had read that getting in line by 10 am was recommended so I was a little worried when we didn't get there until 10:20. The line looked really long but we decided to wait it out anyhow. SO happy we did because the line went super fast and I really wanted us to eat here.
Our line was backed up over the bridge and down the road to Fantasyland but only took 20-30 minutes to get in and get ordered/seated. It's worth the wait!
Once you get inside (the Beast's Castle!!!) you order from a kiosk and the cashier gives you an enchanted rose to take to your table, it's like a GPS that leads the wait staff to where you are seated so they can bring your food, so cool.
There are three main dining rooms; The West Wing, Main Ballroom & The Rose Gallery. I really wanted us to sit in the West Wing but it was already full by the time we got inside (get there early if you REALLY want to sit in here) so we chose the Rose Gallery (it is only open during lunch).
Since I love Beauty & the Beast and so does Lei we loved this restaurant so much! The girls split a turkey sandwich, applesauce & chocolate milk, Toby had the prime roast beef sandwich & fries and I had the carved turkey sandwich. We also had two strawberry cream cheese cupcakes that we all shared. The food was pretty good nothing spectacular but the atmosphere was totally charming and I loved it! The drink station is self serve so we could get refills on our drinks which was awesome!
After we finished eating I wanted to take Lei to see the West Wing but Gracen was having an "I only want my MAMA" moment so I stayed at the table with her and Toby took Lei to look around. They were so excited to see the real enchanted rose and the picture of the Beast that transforms into the Prince (or vice versa haha). Overall, Be Our Guest was a great addition to our day! Love!
After lunch we went and grabbed our fast passes for Peter Pan. Our time to ride was 2.5 hours later so we had a lot of time to kill. Toby spent most of the day wondering why this ride was so popular and I spent most of the day telling him to just enjoy Disney ;)
We headed to wait in line for It's a Small World. It was supposed to only be a 20 minute wait but 15 minutes into our wait they shut down the ride so we had to turn around and leave. Grr. Gracen was in meltdown mode so I was eager to try and get her to nap.
**Side note: I had originally planned to leave after lunch & head back to the resort so the girls (err Gracen) could nap & we could return later when they were rested...BUT Leighton would have nothing of leaving mid day, think huge tears in her eyes and pleading to stay, ALL of us to stay (she likes her whole family together lol)...so, we decided to just stay until she was ready to leave. It was her trip after all. That being said, I knew once we made this decision that Gracen was bound to have a meltdown when she was getting tired, and she did, and then she fell asleep in her stroller :)**
After the Small World fiasco we decided to do some walking to hopefully put Gracen to sleep (it worked!). We headed to Main Street to see what the wait time was for meeting the Storybook Princesses. There was no convincing Lei that she already met them the day before! The wait time was 1.5 hours so we decided to get a fast pass later (after our Peter Pan expired) and instead got some cotton candy and watch the parade. Lei said it was the worst cotton candy she ever tasted while Toby said it was the BEST. So, I can not honestly say whether you should buy cotton candy at Main Street Confectionary haha. I did like the peanut butter fudge (though I am not known to be picky when it comes to my favorite treat).
Leighton decided to eat her banana after she refused to eat any of the cotton candy. During the parade, Ballou (Bear from the Jungle Book) saw her eating it & reached out for it and rubbed his belly. She thought this was HILARIOUS and it was one of her Disney memories she talks about all the time. Who knew "gwoss" cotton candy could lead to a wonderful moment. See, Disney really IS magical :)
After Lei had seen enough of the parade (her second time seeing it haha) we headed to Tomorrowland. Leighton wanted to ride the Buzz Lightyear ride but the wait was 1.5 hours. We thought we could always try and come back later and when she saw Stitch's Great Escape across the way she forgot all about Buzz. Since Gray was still sound asleep I parked in the shade with her and Lei & Tobe headed to ride Stich (the wait was 20 minutes). Lei was so excited. This was the first ride we'd tried that had a height requirement (40 inches). She felt like such a big girl!
Both Toby and Leighton did not like this ride. I couldn't get many details about why except Toby just said it was "dumb." Lei said there was a mean Stich inside and she did not like him. So we will be skipping this ride next time. Boo, especially because Lei loves Stitch so much!
Finalllllly, it was time for our Peter Pan fast pass and little sis woke up just in time to ride. The girls and I loved the ride but Toby was not a fan (it was "old" and "boring" according to him, Disney scrooge). I liked it! We did get stuck on the ride at the very beginning for about 10 minutes but better to be stuck ON the ride than waiting in line to get on. I didn't get any pictures on this ride because I was too busy hanging on to Gracen. It's a flying ride (that is very slow, but still) and having my wild child on it made me a nervous wreck. She was not scared in the least haha.
After Peter we decided to try It's a Small World again. After a short wait (10-15 minutes) we got on this time! Yay! I remember riding this ride when I was a little girl. It's a longer ride with lots for the girls to look at. We're fans!
Toby really wanted to ride Space Mountain so he grabbed a fast pass for it and the girls and I grabbed another fast pass for Under the Sea, our favorite! I can't really remember what we did in the time between It's a Small World & Under the Sea. I think the girls rode the carousel again and Gracen finished off the cotton candy (fast pass time was just 45 minutes away this time). We loved Ariel and all her friends just as much the second time. The pictures of the ride really don't do it justice. It's the best!
Toby's fast pass time for Space Mountain was longer than ours was so he still had some time to kill before he could ride. I took Lei to meet Brave (Merida) and Toby and Gracen ran over to get a fast pass for the Storybook Princesses. We were able to get another fast pass and it was already past the time when Toby could get a new fast pass (in case you're wondering how he got another fast pass before riding his ride!).
Merida was AMAZING! I loved her. She was so sweet to Leighton and got down on the ground and hugged her and asked her all sorts of questions. She was great! Love love love!
After meeting Merida, Toby and Gracen returned from getting the new fast pass and I took on the challenge of wrangling both of my wild women while Toby went to ride Space Mountain. This is where I had my awkward/funny/embarrassing Disney memory.
I went up to the little snack kiosk to order an iced coffee (for me) and I wanted to get Gracen an apple (her favorite snack...she eats it all the way to the core...that child). Anyway I walked up to the kiosk and ordered my coffee and asked the cast member if they sold apples? "You're kidding right?" He asked. It was one of those moments where I couldn't really tell if he was trying to be funny or if they really didn't sell them. Call me confused (or blonde lol) but I asked again if they had apples because, you know, I was serious about getting an apple. He gave me a blank stare and said no there were no apples & that this was FANTASYLAND. I should have just ordered something else but still, I.was.confused! I asked him if he was telling the truth because honestly I COUDLN'T tell. Then he yelled, "This is Fantasyland, don't you know what apples did to our Dear Snow White??? Did the WICKED QUEEN SEND YOU????" So, if you're wanting to avoid an awkward Disney moment in Fantasyland, DO NOT try and order an apple. We got sweet Gray an orange instead.
While eating our snacks Winne & Tigger walked by and Leighton was amazed! She kept holding up her Baby Pooh for the real Pooh to see and the sweet cast member said, "Look Pooh, that princess has one of your babies." It totally made her day and she kept telling me that Pooh really thought she was a good mommy. She is so cute.
Lei also took some pictures on the bridge with the castle behind her while we waited for Daddy. Gracen played on the benches but did not want her picture taken (I did not force her...she seemed to be running on fumes at this point!). Sweet Lei is always up for a photo :)
The girls were happy to see Daddy when he returned and he told them all about the cool fast ride he went on. Lei could barely contain her excitement because his return meant it was time to go see the Princesses! Gray was just happy to have him back :)
Next up... the beloved Princesses. I was a little disappointed the only two they had were Tangled & Cinderella. I'm not sure who else is there on any given day but later we found out that Mulan & Aurora were at Epcot (wish we would've known the previous day!). Lei was very happy to meet the ones that were there. She walked right up to Tangled and gave her a hug and took a picture. We totally didn't expect Gracen to want anything to do with the princesses so we were SO surprised when she walked right up after Lei and got her picture taken too! She even gave Tangled a hug! We thought we were turning a corner with the characters!
When it was their turn to meet Cinderella Lei ran right up but Gray shrieked, "NOoooooOOOOOooo!" I guess her character love was very short lived ;) Lei had a big smile though. Cinderella is her favorite.
The girls wanted to check out the gift shop attached to the theatre so we decided to look around. I thought for sure Gracen would want something Tangled since she seemed to love the real one so much but she wasn't really liking any of the toys haha. I made a rule the very first day that each girl could pick out one toy each day we were there. That way they wouldn't be begging for everything they saw. Leighton is SO good about rules and each day she took time to think about what she really wanted. She took her decision very seriously :)
After a lot of browsing Leighton decided she had to have this Tangled hat. She was in love with it and wore it all day (and the next haha).
Little Sis could never find anything she wanted in any of the shops (call us lucky I guess haha). She would go in and look around and then say "byeee." Her first day she picked out a tiny toy car with Mickey inside at our resort and the second day she just couldn't find anything she liked. Girl has high taste I guess...
Since we were at the front of the park we decided to ride the train back to fantasyland (Circus Circus area). We still needed to ride Dumbo & Lei wanted to ride the roller coaster (Goofy's Barnstormer). We loved the train ride and it stopped right at Circus Circus!
The line for Goofy was much longer than Dumbo so we decided to fast pass it. Gracen was bummed because she was 1 measly inch too short to ride (needed to be 35 inches). She would have loved it too!
The wait for Dumbo was 25 minutes without a fast pass so we decided to wait it out. Now here is my only Disney rant...There are two Dumbo rides now; one for fast passers and one for waiters. The waiter ride has a huge indoor play area built in the middle of the waiting line. Once both girls saw the play area they no longer wanted to wait in line for Dumbo. Gracen flat out refused so Toby had to stay behind with her (the terrible twos are alive and well with us). Leighton and I went on and waited but she was all upset because she wanted to play (think indoor McDonalds playground but nicer & bigger). Annoying to have that huge distraction in the middle of a line. I know the concept had good intentions (break up your wait) but it's just a distraction. If you are like me in this aspect just fast pass it! OK- Rant over.
Once Leighton got up to the ride she was happy again. I am so glad I made her ride instead of play because she LOVED it. (I did let her go back to play but you are supposed to get back in line from the beginning & wait until you get to the play area. I told the castmember I had my husband & baby inside and she let my bypass the line).
Next it was time for Goofy! Leighton was so excited for her first roller coaster. She told me, "Mommy take my picture before I get on ok?" Haha so I did!
Leighton loved it! It goes really fast and she was giggling nonstop the entire ride. It is really short which is a bummer but it is definitely fun! After that she wanted to ride every roller coaster there was. We promised to take her to ride Thunder Mountain after the parade and she couldn't wait to take her Daddy back to ride Goofy (we had a rider switch pass).
Apparently while Lei and I were having so much fun on Goofy, Toby was not having so much fun with Gracen. She had been in an "I only want my Mama" mood all day long and it really reached it's high when Lei and I were away. When we finally met up Toby looked exhausted & said she had thrown a fit like he had never seen before. I guess she wanted to play in the splash park area and he didn't want her to. :/ At that point he was ready to call it a day but Lei would have nothing of it. I knew as long as I stayed with Gracen for the rest of the night she would be fine so Lei and I talked Daddy into riding Goofy! AND being the good Daddy that he is, he agreed and actually had fun! Yay! He was on board to stay for the Electrical Parade after that.
On our way to find a spot for the parade, Toby ran and got us fast passes for Thunder Mountain. We wanted to get a spot in front of the castle to watch the parade and I thought 30 minutes early would be plenty of time for us to get a good spot. UH wrong! I think you need to get a good spot at least an hour before the parade starts and maybe even longer!
Leighton got a light up sword & the girls had a cookie while we waited for the parade to start. We did get a family picture with the castle in the background so that was a positive :)
Toby held up Lei so she could see and they loved the parade. What I saw was awesome but I spent most of the parade sitting on the ground and rocking my very tired Gracen! She never fell asleep but loved being cuddled and held. She would yell, "WHOA!" when something went by she liked. I wish we would have had a better seat but oh well!
After the parade we headed to ride Thunder. Leighton actually fell asleep in her stroller when we were walking over but when we woke her up to ask if she still wanted to ride she insisted she DID! So on we went. I rode with her first and she was so giddy! There was this little boy riding in front of us and he was so scared but she just kept telling him not to worry it was going to be "weally weally fast & fun!" And, it was :) She couldn't wait to go again with Daddy.
On the way out of the park we walked by the Magic Carpets (basically the same ride as Dumbo but with carpets haha) and we stopped to ride because there was literally no line. Gracen loved it so much and we actually rode two times without getting off because there was no wait. It was a great way to end our fun filled day!
Both girls were literally exhausted and fell asleep once we got on the bus back to our resort. They were being so sweet & sisterly while waiting in line for our bus. They must have been on a Disney high ;)))) Love them!
Stay tuned for Part 3 (our last day)....................
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