This was the day I'd been dreaming about. The first time you see the castle (well
the first time of that trip anyways), the walk down Main Street, the music, everything. I was especially excited because I knew that this would probably be Thing3's first memory of seeing the castle, as she was only 3 last time. We got up VERY early, probably around 6 AM (5 at our house). We got dressed and made our way to the bus depot. We were nearest to the South Depot, which was just a 5 minute walk from our room. We were on the first Magic Kingdom bus, at 7 AM. The bus ride seemed very long because we were all so excited to get there! When we arrived, we got into the line for early entrance because of dining reservations. After just a few short minutes, they started letting us in. For me, this was probably the moment I felt like I was at Disney World the most. We rounded the corner and took our first glimpses of the castle!
Thing3 was amazed. Thing2 and I were just so happy to finally be there! We leisurely walked down Main Street, stopping to take plenty of pictures along the way.
When we got to the "Partners" statue, Thing2 and Thing3 sat down on the bench, just taking it all in. Before this trip, it had been semi-tradition to eat breakfast at Crystal Palace our first day at Magic Kingdom, so of course, that's where Thing2 and Thing3 assumed we were eating. One day back in January, I was messing around with the online reservation system and happened to find an 8:20 CRT ADR. I was thrilled and after asking Mom and Dad, booked it. The three of us had decided to keep the ADR a secret from the girls until the morning of the trip. Cut back to the Magic Kingdom, Mom decided it would be a good time to tell them where we were really eating. She nudged me to tell them, since I was the one who made the reservation. They were pretty excited to eat in the castle, especially Thing3!
While we were waiting to check in, we walked towards Fantasyland to look at Dumbo from behind the rope. That's when Thing3 really got into the Disney spirit! She started jumping up and down and couldn't stop talking about how excited she was! After a couple of minutes, we went and checked in. We got our picture taken with Cinderella and then went upstairs to be seated.
While we were walking up the stairs, Thing3 kept saying that this was HER castle and that we were her "royal guests". We got seated at a table looking over Fantasyland. It was amazing! First they brought out the plate of pastries, which were okay. I know Mom and Dad got scrambled eggs and some sort of potato, Thing2 got french toast, I got the yogurt parfait thing and I'm pretty sure Thing3 got something with bacon
she loves bacon. Then the princesses started coming around. Thing3 was very excited to get their autographs. Autographs and pin-trading were really fun things for her this trip. First we saw Thing2's favorite princess, Snow White.
Then we saw Princess Aurora.
Next came Ariel.
And finally, Belle.
Thing3 had a great time guessing who the princess would be when the read the little story about each one! I'll have to ask her, but this was probably one of the best moments of the trip for her. After "paying" the bill, we went back down to the Fantasyland rope to wait for the park to open. We had already decided that we were going to do Dumbo first (per Thing2 and Thing3's request). The CM's gave the usual, no running spiel and then undid the rope. We speed walked over to Dumbo and got onto the second ride of the day! My sisters and I were in one Dumbo and Mom and Dad were in the one right in front of us.
After Dumbo, we went straight over to Peter Pan, which I'm pretty sure is Mom's favorite ride in the Magic Kingdom. I rode with Thing2 on this and Thing3 went with Mom and Dad. Then Dad ran and got fastpasses for Winnie the Pooh (and got "surprise" fastpasses for Philharmagic too). We headed over towards my favorite ride, Splash Mountain!! Thing3 was barely tall enough, but we encouraged her to come with us. She sat between Mom and Dad and again, Thing2 and I sat together. When we got off, Thing3 claimed she loved it
not quite what she told us later in the trip. Then we headed over to Big Thunder Mountain, another first for Thing3. Again, she rode with Mom and Dad and Thing2 and I were riding buddies. And yet again, she claimed she loved it, but that was not the case. The wait was still only 5 minutes for BTMRR, so Thing2 and I went again while Dad got fastpasses for Space Mountain and Mom and Thing3 went to ride It's a Small World. After taking our second ride through the wilderness, Thing2 and I walked over to IASW to meet them. Dad was waiting for us and Mom and Thing3 were just getting off. Thing2 and I wanted to ride, so we got in line and were soon riding It's a Small World for the first time of the trip (second time for Mom and Thing3). Next, we headed towards the teacups, in hopes of meeting Alice and the White Rabbit, since they were on our shirts. Sure enough, they were there, so after a quick spin on the teacups for Dad, Thing2, Thing3 and I, we got in line to meet them.
I'll leave you with that picture for now, thanks for reading!