The Weltes At Disney: Magic Kingdom

Today is my last Disney post :( Just like our Disney trip, I blinked and it was over. I've blinked, and my recap is almost done! I'd give anything to reverse time, head back to Disney, and for Addy to NOT have a broken leg! You can go HERE to check out all of my Disney recap posts!

Our last day at Disney was spent at Magic Kingdom. When we spoke with our travel agent, I had wanted our Magic Kingdom day first. However, we couldn't get our dinner reservations until our last day (because they book so fast!) and honestly, we ended up saving the best day for last! It was the perfect way to end our vacation!

We had to wake up extra early on our last day! I got all of the girls dressed in their matching outfits, but Gretchen was the only one awake enough to take her picture that early in the morning!

Because we were staying on property, we were able to head to Magic Kingdom for the extra magic hours! This meant, the park opened early for on property guests. On this day, the park opened at 7 am. We were a little late, but we still made it to MK by 7:30. 

I knew that we had to arrive early in order to get everything done that we really wanted to do! If you are staying on property, you absolutely have to take advantage of the extra magic hours. If I could give you one tip, that's what it would be! 

We arrived in the morning, and while the park was busy, it was not near what it would be when the park opened to the public at 9. This was the best time for us to get our picture in front of the castle, because Main street wasn't crowded. 

Our MK day was the last day that I had planned. I was very intimidated to plan it, but it's the day that I followed our list to a tee. (You can see our full itinerary here.) Again, I'm glad that I planned this day out so well, because we were able to hit everything on my list!

Our first stop was the teacups. We had less than a 5 minute wait and walked right on to the ride. I loved that the entire family was able to enjoy this one. 

Once we finished with the teacups, we headed right to Dumbo. Again, we walked right on, and we were all able to ride.

I could've gone on Dumbo more than once; it is such a classic Disney ride!

After Dumbo, we walked over to The Barnstormer, Goofy's roller coaster. DJ took Megan while I stayed back with Gretchen. Once they were finished, Gretchen and I went on the ride. 

Then we went to the Winnie the Pooh ride. It was a 20 minute wait, but there were play areas the entire way through, which the girls LOVED! Adalyn was able to go on this ride too.

We finished Winnie the Pooh, and walked over to It's a Small World and then Haunted Mansion.

(My big girls could've skipped Haunted Mansion, but it was one of my favorites so I had to go on! We just told the girls to keep their eyes closed; which they did.) Adalyn was able to enjoy both It's a Small World and Haunted Mansion.

Once we finished those rides, it was 9 am, and the park was open. We had fast passes at 9:20 for 7 Dwarfs Mine Train. If you are scheduling fast passes, this one is an absolute must! The wait line was forever long, but the fastpass line took about 5 minutes. We used rider switch for this one. DJ took just Gretchen while I waited behind with Megan and Adalyn. Once they were off the ride, I was able to get on with Megan, and Gretchen joined us too. All of us loved Mine Train (except for Megan!)

After Mine Train, we met Ariel in her Grotto. This is the only place you can meet Ariel with her tail. (According to all of my research.) We did have about a 20 minute wait to meet Ariel, and once we were finished, we went on the Little Mermaid ride which was right beside Ariel's Grotto. The walk down to this ride was more than the wait. 

After The Little Mermaid, we made a bathroom stop, and DJ checked us in to our flight for the next day. Then we made our way to Beauty and the Beasts castle for our lunch at Be Our Guest.

From everything I've heard, Be Our Guest is the hardest meal to get reservations for. Our travel agent found that reservations had opened up and snagged them for us! For lunch, BOG is considered a Quick Service spot, and there are no characters. From what I've heard, this is the only place where you can meet the Beast.

Thankfully, we were able to order our food online before hand, so once we made it in, verified our meal, we found a table and waited for our food to be delivered. This was probably my least favorite meal. Lunch is mostly sandwiches, and I ordered mine without arugula, which left me with mayo and turkey. I think DJ enjoyed his meal though. I ordered the girls what I thought was macaroni and cheese, but it was just plain noodles. Gretchen loved the peach applesauce, but neither of the big girls ate their noodles. I wasn't crazy about their kid meal selections. My meal and DJ's meal came with desserts, but the girls meals just came with their applesauce. We ended up getting "The Grey Stuff" and a cheesecake, which we all shared. 

After lunch we caught the tail end of the parade and then we headed to Tomorrowland. We went to Monsters Inc. laugh factory, which was funnier than I thought, and then Gretchen decided she needed to rest.

We had another fastpass for 1:30 to Toy Story, so we had some time to kill. Honestly, I could've skipped Tomorrowland all together, except for Toy Story. Space Mountain is also in Tomorrowland, but other than those three things, I wasn't overly impressed. Their was a cool off station that sprayed some water, so we let the girls cool off there, and there was a DJ and the girls danced while we waited for our fastpass time. 

Adalyn was able to join us for Toy Story, and again, I'd recommend getting a fastpass for it. 

Once we came out of the Toy Story ride, Buzz was out for meet & greets, so we waited in line to meet Buzz. 

There was a child with autism in front of us, and I have to compliment the handler because he told Buzz in advance and Buzz spent extra time with him. It warmed my heart. 

As we were leaving, Buzz noticed Adalyn's cast, and he reached over for a sharpie from his handler and signed her cast. It was pretty special since Buzz usually just signs with a stamp.

Her cast all signed. (It totally made me wish that she had a hard cast but we kept her wrap anyway.)

After we met Buzz, we headed to the train and rode it to Frontierland. This was a much better idea than walking from one side to the other!

In Frontierland, we went through the Swiss Family Robinson treehouse, and by all accounts I'm going to tell you to SKIP IT! You literally are walking up stairs and right back down, through a tree. Unless you want the exercise, then just keep on walking by. 

The girls wanted to ride Aladdin's Magic Carpet which is just like Dumbo, but we had some time to kill, and we knew that we wouldn't be able to ride Splash Mountain due to the wait time. We also couldn't make it to Tom Sawyer's Island because we had some super special Fastpasses at 4.

We decided to high tale it out of Frontierland and make our way back to Fantasyland, with a stop to the Hall of Presidents first. Unfortunately, we didn't have time to make that show, and I couldn't figure out where to meet Tiana, so we stopped at a shop at Fantasyland to kill some time.

At 4:15, we had Fastpasses to meet Anna and Elsa!!!!!

These are crazy hard to snag, and you're looking at a 70 minute wait without them! It would totally be worth it because Anna and Elsa were both so sweet to the girls! Plus, they only let a few guests in at a time, so the room is quiet and intimate and we didn't feel rushed at all.

I just loved how Anna and Elsa said such sweet things to the girls, and told them how important sisters are. 

Once we visited Anna and Elsa, we made our way to Bippiti Boppiti Boutique. This was another surprise we had for the girls, and our travel agent was able to make us reservations at 4:30. There are several packages to purchase at BBB, but we chose the basic package with a hair style, make up, and nail polish, and we brought the girls dresses from home. Once you arrive, the girls will get dressed in their princesses dresses and then get their hair, make up, and nails done by a Fairy Godmother in Training.

I let each girl pick out their own hairstyle. 

I really wanted to encourage Gretchen to choose something different, but I knew this was about her and her memories, so I went with whatever she chose.

Megan chose the basic bun style for her hair. 

I was really nervous about how Megan would act during this experience. She can be really shy and not enjoy new things and she's never had her hair cut before. Which, I know this isn't a hair cut, but I was worried she'd be afraid sitting in a chair and getting her hair fixed. 

But, she was THE BEST and so sweet and patient and LOVED every minute of the attention she was getting!

Gretchen talked the ear off of her Fairy Godmother.

Hmm.... now you know why I really wanted Gretchen to choose something else. Brunette and blonde just do NOT look good together. Even when you're 7, but whatever.

Gretchen getting all dolled up!

Once your princess is all finished, their Fairy Godmother instructs them to cross their ankles, fold their hands, and they glitter them with fairy dust and turn them around and introduce them as a princess. 

Megan finished before Gretchen, so she went over and watched her sister get dolled up.

It made me flash forward to wedding days that will be in their way too near future.

Gretchen got her nails painted with sparkle polish.

And Megan kept watching her big sister.

#heartmelts

Then Gretchen was instructed how to sit, sprinkled with fairy dust, and introduced as a princess.

And, then she showed everyone that she has the perfect pageant wave, even though she's never been in a pageant, and she waved to everyone as if she really were a real princess!

Once my princesses were dressed, we took them over to have "professional" photos made. Unfortunately, we've lost the receipt with our memory maker number on it so there's no way we can access these photos!

Then we headed back to the Hall of Presidents to watch the show, and finally made our way to the castle lawns to sit and relax before dinner.

After a little nap, Addy was ready to get down and play for a while. Since her big sisters were all dressed up, I brought a dress for her to wear too, even though she didn't do BBB. 

Side note- there is a BBB in Downtown Disney if you want to do yours there, but I loved doing ours at the park; it just felt more special.

We had dinner reservations at Cinderella's Royal Table for 7:15. These are the reservations that were so hard to snag, and forced us to be at MK on our last day rather than our first day. Again, it was totally worth it to finish our trip here.

We still had time to kill before our reservations so I kept my princesses entertained by taking selfies. 

And Megan made silly faces.

Then, we were finally able to make it in to meet Cinderella.

We were escorted to our table and the girls were given a wishing star and magic wand, and we made our meal selections. Again, the princesses walk around to each table so we were able to meet them all. 

Gretchen and Aurora.

The girls with Snow White.

Ariel.

Jasmine.

Our waiter at CRT was phenomenal! The meal was also delicious! I had shrimp, crawfish, and cheese grits as an appetizer. Steak for my main course, and a chocolate dessert.

After dinner, we caught the tail end of a parade, and we were debating between Peter Pan's Flight (which we managed to get a fastpass for) or to meet Tiana. The girls were exhausted though, and DJ wanted to ride a roller coaster. We split ways and watched the parade, and then tried to meet Tiana, but we had missed her.

It started to rain, but we were able to meet back up with DJ because it started to pour by this point! It was around 9:30 and we knew that it was time to go. We had made it a very full day at MK and we had an early flight the next morning!

Honestly, I'm surprised the girls made it a full day, and again, the amount of things we were able to do and see- I felt that we did everything we wanted to! I ran away (in the rain) knowing that we had had the very best, very full day that we could've possibly had!

Our trip was fabulous, and we've already decided to go back in a few years when Adalyn is a little bigger! I'm sure our trip next time around will look entirely different, but it'll be just as much fun!

Thanks for following along over the past few weeks! If you have any questions, comments, whatever, leave me a comment, send me an email/message, and I'll do my best to answer them all!

The Weltes At Disney: Epcot

We're on to day three of our Disney adventure! You can check out my other recaps here and here. 

I was really excited for us to go to Epcot! I remember going when I was in junior high and I loved it! Epcot was probably my favorite park because I felt like I could experience culture. DJ loved it too when he went so we knew that we needed to go, despite being told that Epcot isn't really for kids. 

The park didn't open until 9, and we were able to finally get a full nights sleep before we had a full day. I had also been told that Epcot was typically a 1/2 day park, so I figured we would go, and be back to the hotel around 5, in time for dinner and more pool time! I was totally wrong! We ended up staying until 8:00 and probably could've stayed longer, but I was pooped! 

I put the girls in matching dresses, and they wanted to wear their mouse ears. We saved money by bringing mouse ears with us! My best friend bought Gretchen her mouse ears when she was just a year old! I've been saving them (and they've been in her dress up closet) and this was the perfect time to bring them out! Megan's ears are sequined; Gretchen wore them for her 3rd birthday party, and they were perfect to reuse! I had hot glued a loop of ribbon, so Megan's hair bows slid right in.

We tried to get Addy in the picture, but she just wanted to be held. Which after having a broken leg, was expected. 

The girls and DJ ready to go! Our murphy bed in The Lion King suite made a perfect little photo backdrop!

We had a Fastpass for Spaceship Earth at 9:20. Everything I read said to skip Spaceship Earth first thing in the morning since it's the first thing that you come to. Since we had a Fastpass we literally walked right on to the ride. Gretchen loved it! She's since said that it was one of her favorite rides. 

After Spaceship Earth, we played and did experiments, and the girls learned about powering a big city. 

We attempted a 3-D game, but it was a bit above the girls head, so we just had fun playing with the glasses. 

Afterwards, we went to Innovations and learned about the supplies that we needed to have in our storm shelter! Being from Oklahoma, this was a good lesson for the girls to learn!

Once we finished in Innovations, DJ and Gretchen went to the spaceship simulator. Thankfully, there was a playground inside and Adalyn and Megan were able to crawl around and play while we waited for DJ and G to finish the ride. This hidden playground was perfect for the kids to play and I was really glad that we found it! 

When we finished, we headed to the butterfly exhibit and found the perfect opportunity to take pictures in front of the ball! 

Seriously, it was empty back here! I'd recommend walking to the back of the ball (like we were) to take pictures, instead of trying to get pictures right when you come in to the park!

The girls were mesmerized by the fountains too!

Because we were at Epcot during the Spring Flower show, there were gorgeous gardens everywhere! They even had two butterfly houses, where you could go inside and see butterflies! There was a little "house" that had cocoons and butterflies were literally emerging as we watched! It was the neatest thing ever!

When we were finished checking out the butterflies, we headed back to the countries. If you start on the left side, and work your way around, you'll find Mexico first. In Mexico, is a little boat ride (it's way in the back by the restaurant) and it was the perfect opportunity for us to cool off! 

We then walked through China and in to Norway. I had insisted that we find this giant wooden troll because I remember having my picture made there on my last visit! Gretchen was the only one of the girls that wanted to cooperate and have her picture made! 

Megan loved the 7 Dwarf topiaries outside of Germany! 

They also checked out the model trains that were driving around the gardens in Germany. 

Once we made it to Germany and past Italy, we decided it was time for lunch. We used a quick service meal and ate in America because we knew the girls would eat their food! 

It was around this time that Adalyn was getting extremely fussy! At first, I thought she was just tired and hungry, but while we were playing at the spaceship playground, her splint came unwrapped a bit, and even though I fixed it, I didn't get it tight enough. As soon as I ordered our food, I knew that we had to get her splint on better, but she was screaming! We asked where a first aid station was, because I figured they would help me replace the splint, and I ended up carrying her from America to Mexico. It was probably a half mile walk carrying a 21 lb baby girl that ended up falling asleep. It was a total blessing that she slept, because I was able to lay her down when we got to the first aid station, and readjust her splint. Unfortunately, the nurse couldn't help for liability purposes, but I was able to fix it without a problem. We gave her some tylenol for pain, and then I walked back to America (another 1/2 mile) to join the family. 

By that time it was around 1:30 and we had Fastpasses for Nemo. We had to leave the countries behind and head back up to the front of the park. This was total failure on my part, because I thought we could finish the countries in about two hours. 

We went on the Nemo ride and all of the girls loved it! Afterwards, we checked out the aquarium and watched a dolphin show! We saw sea turtles, sharks, and other fish! It was the perfect time of day to go, because it was so hot, and allowed us plenty of time to cool off!

We had time before our next Fastpass, so we checked out Turtle Talk with Crush. It was the cutest interactive show and I'd highly recommend it! The kids were able to sit down front and the adults sat in the back. 

After Nemo and Turtle Talk, we headed over to Soarin. You'll definitely want a Fastpass for it! We took advantage of the rider switch and DJ took the girls while Addy and I waited. Once they were finished, I handed off Adalyn, and Gretchen and I went again. Megan really wanted to go, but this time around, they said she was too short and wouldn't let us take her.

Soarin was so much fun! DJ told Megan that they were going on big swings, and she loved it! In Soarin you "fly" over California and see the ocean, fly over orange groves, and in to the mountains. The smell and wind effects make you feel like you are really there!

After Soarin we caught the ferry to ride back to the countries. The ferry took us right back to America where we left off.

Gretchen learned a lot about presidents this past February, so we wanted to take her over to the show in America. We were escorted in to a large room with a dome ceiling. The girls were told to sit around the outside of the circle right under the dome, and out came acapella singers. They sang traditional American songs and sounded beautiful!

At one point, they sang "Skip to my Lou" and the boy couldn't find a partner. He went up to Gretchen and sang to her and asked if she'd be his partner!

It totally brought tears to my eyes because I'm sappy like that. At the end of the song, she curtsyed and everyone laughed. She loves to be the center of attention!

When we finished with the show in America, we headed toward France and indulged in pastries! Gretchen chose a macaroon, DJ chose creme brulee, I chose an eclaire, and Megan chose a lemon tart. We all shared a bite of each others and they were so yummy!

When we finished in France, DJ ditched us for Fasttrack. He had always wanted to do it. The girls and I were happy to walk and explore!

Once we arrived in England, the girls saw Alice in Wonderland and we had to stop by! I think this is Megan's first character experience where she wasn't afraid!

Alice was so sweet to the girls and talked to them, asked them their names, and made sure that they didn't mix up their dresses (their dresses had their names on them.)

The smile on Megan's face is priceless and it kept reappearing throughout the next day!

When I was planning our Epcot day, I discovered that there were a ton of character meets available! However, the countries didn't open until 11, and most characters didn't show up until noon. We weren't able to time it to meet any other characters and that was disappointing, but the girls didn't know much of a difference. When I was taking Adalyn over to the first aid station to get her cast fixed, I saw Donald Duck and Snow White, and I think we missed Mulan too. If you can time it perfectly and don't mind walking back and forth between countries, I think you would be able to see all of them! We happened upon Belle and Aurora, but the line was closed, and I knew we would see them at Magic Kingdom.

We tried on hats in England.

These hats were a perfect souvenier at only $7.00, but we didn't buy them. They were foam, so they'd easily fit in your suitcase without being destroyed!

After England, we made our way to Canada, and the girls wanted to take their picture.

I told the girls that their grandma Dee was from Canada, so we took a picture with this sweater and texted it to her!

In the girls hands are "fans" with Duffy the bear or I think a little duck from a cartoon show on them....each country has a kidspot, where they can sit down and color their fans. The workers will then stamp it with the country and draw their flag on the back. I didn't realize that that's what they were for until the end of our trip, so we only had about 3 stamps on ours and then Gretchen lost one! Had I payed more attention, it would've been fun stopping at each country in order to get a stamp.

By the time we finished exploring the countries, and DJ finished the fast track, we were all ready to go. We let the girls play on the Monsters Inc. playground though before we headed back to the bus.

My nephew is a huge Monsters Inc fan so I snapped this picture for his mom. My girls wouldn't stop long enough to get their picture taken! They just wanted to play.

It was aruond 8:00 when we finally left! Part of me wished that we could've survived one more hour to see the firework show, but fireworks scare Megan, and we were exhausted after spending a full day at Epcot!

Most people told me that Epcot wasn't for children and that we'd only spend a 1/2 day there. I'd have to say that I'm on the fence on this one. We definitely spent a full day! I think if you choose to do either the rides and experiences or just the countries, you can make it a 1/2 day, but if you want to do both, you'll definitely make a full day out of Epcot.

The girls loved all of the rides that they went on. They loved Spaceship Earth (one of Gretchen's favorites, and she wanted to go back to it!), loved Nemo, and really loved Soarin! Gretchen wasn't a huge fan of the spaceship ride she went on, and she would've loved to play in Innovations longer than we allowed. They were not too interested in the countries. But, it was something that I really wanted to see, and DJ skipped that part the last time he was at Epcot.

I'm definitely glad that we added it to our list of what we wanted to do, but we probably would skip it next time around. Although, I hear they're going to add a Frozen ride in Norway! If we don't skip it, we'll probably do the rides/experiences rather than the countries, although those French pastries were pretty delicious!

Join me tomorrow for my last wrap up of our Disney Trip! It was probably the best day of all so you won't want to miss it!