JULY 23RD PART TWO: WELCOME WELCOME WELCOME
When I left off, my family and I had just boarded the monorail and were heading towards THE MAGIC KINGDOM!! That first monorail ride is always so exciting. But at the same time, covering such a short distance seems to take FOREVER. I mean, do we REALLY have to stop at the Grand Floridian? Cant we just be like, Suck it, Rich People! and drive on bye? I need to get to the Magic Kingdom as quick as possible, and as we all know, Disney should be all about catering to MY (and only my) needs.
On this particular monorail ride, we shared our car with the most adorable little girls. They were jumping up and down with excitement and squee-ing with happiness the entire time. It was so cute. And even though I desperately wanted to get up and jump and squee right along with them, I didnt. I was afraid my family would pry open the monorail doors and shove me out because I was embarrassing them, and I dont do well with falling.
Anyway, I internally squee-ed and wore a big, dopey smile on my face as we pulled into the station. And let me just say, that first step out onto that reddish brown-tiled monorail platform was GLORIOUS. I could have stood there forever, happily staring at my flip flop clad feet and noticing how even they looked happy (Is it possible for feet to be happy?), but really who wants to stare at your feet when seven lands of fantasy are waiting just around the bend? Also, if I had stood there for much longer, I would have been plowed over by a hoard of angry tourists. Im talking dramatically being shoved to the ground by a crazy commando DISer, while being run over by a zillion strollers, and stepped on by that one crazy lady you always see who wears 6 inch stilettos to the parks. *shudder*
So I kept on moving, practically skipping all the way down the ramp and into the bag check line with Mom. Dad and Katie were bagless, so they headed in without us. After security was confident that I wasnt carrying any weapons in my Vera Bradley bag (because Im sure most people who try to smuggle in contrabands do so with the cheeriest Vera Bradley pattern they can find), we FINALLY made it to the turnstiles. I know that some people are weirded out by Disneys finger-scaning policy, but my lame self always has fun with it. I stick my ticket in and then I do a fun little index finger air swirl up to the scanner.

I warned you ahead of time that I am a strange little thing
Oh, I should also mention that Mom had a heck of a time getting her ticket to work. It kept getting stuck in the machine. Dad, Katie and I were all standing there waiting for her, but it just wouldnt let her in. The CM at our turnstile didnt know what to do, so she had to go ask another CM for assistance. Thankfully, that savior of a CM knew what she was doing and quickly realized that the ticket had a frayed edge that kept getting caught in the machine. We bought the plastic tickets from the
Disney Store that you have to snap off before you can use, and I guess Moms didnt snap evenly. Anyway, the savior CM filed it down and Mom was FINALLY in.
It was only a little after 8:30 according to this picture,
So we had some time to wait before the Welcome Show began.
I took this picture of one of the trees because I love that its covered in the streamers from previous Welcome Shows. I wonder if its always like that. I had never noticed it before, so maybe someone just didnt have time to climb up there and clean the tree out.
I should also mention that it was FREAKING HOT this morning. Like, we had only been outside for a few minutes, but I was already sweating. The sun was just brutal. Thankfully, a little boy standing near us had one of those spray mister fan thingies and every once in a while Id catch a little errant mist. Thank goodness for little kids with bad aim.
Oh, and at one point they were playing You've Got a Friend in Me in the background and I felt like crying buckets of happy tears. Those of you who read my PTR know how affected I was by the Toy Story movies (3 in particular) so lately anytime I even think about that song I border on bursting into tears/actually do burst into tears. I didnt cry this time, or at least I dont think I did. For all I know, with that crazy heat, the tears evaporated the second they left my tear ducts.
Finally, around 8:50, those beautiful sounds of Welcome Welcome Welcome were blasted over the speakers, signaling the start of the Welcome Show!! I absolutely adore the Welcome Show. Its so cute, and so magical, and so Disney.

I mean, theres singing and dancing and characters
whats not to love? And trust me when I say that the little song will get stuck in your head ALL DAY. Its all pure magic, wrapped up in Pixie Dust. Welcome to a place where dreams come true
.
I consider the Magic Kingdom Welcome Show a must-do. Stacy, girl, add it to your list. EVERYONE MUST SEE IT AT SOME POINT IN THEIR LIFE. I dont care if youre not a morning person. Get your butt out of bed just ONE TIME to get to the Magic Kingdom for opening. You wont regret it. Unless youre some strange, heartless creature who doesnt like to smile
Then, youll probably think its lame. But if you love Disney enough to be reading this TR, then you will love this show.
Unfortunately, I dont have many good pictures from the show. We were facing directly into the sun, so most of them ended up not turning out. But here are the few that didnt turn into giant blobs of light.
Heres the Mayor of Main Street from behind. How do I run for that office?
If they dont let me be mayor, Ill settle for being one of these dancers. I already know most of the choreography from watching it so many times.
Aladdin and Jasmine look like theyre about to make out in this picture. Jasmine, I am INCREDIBLY JEALOUS of you. Can we trade places for a day?
After we counted down from 10 and the Magic Kingdom was officially declared open, we joined the masses trying to squeeze through the tunnels under the train station. And once we emerged, we had this waiting for us
MAIN STREET U.S.A.
[PS: I promise there are much better pictures of Main St. that Ill post later in the report. I thought about posting them all now, but then decided that Id rather keep everything chronological.]
That first stroll
oh who am I kidding? That first fast-paced-walk-so-we-can-be-some-of-the-first-people-back-to-Frontierland down Main Street gives me the greatest feeling ever. It makes me feel like Im home again. All of the cares and worries of real life just float away as I let myself be immersed in all that surrounds me. I often find myself bopping my head along with the background music as I wave hello to all of the CMs lining the street. If only the entire world was as cheerful as Main Street U.S.A
And then, the fact that *this* is waiting for you at the end of the street is just too much.
Cinderella is one lucky girl.
UP NEXT: We head off to Frontierland for a rootin tootin good time!!