meals, parade and fireworks at Magic Kingdom?

[TanaL]

Hi everyone,
I'm trying to plan a one day trip to Magic Kingdom before we leave for our Disney cruise in December. We'll be arriving Thursday afternoon, staying at Contemporary Resort for 2 nights and leaving Saturday afternoon.

We definitely want to do a character meal at Crystal Palace, I'll be calling tomorrow to make ressies, hopefully there are still good times available. My kids are 4 and 6 and they love the Pooh characters. We also want to do any special things the park might have for Pooh's 80th anniversary, although I have no idea yet what might be going on.

Other than that, I know we want to see the parade and the fireworks. Do I understand correctly that there is an afternoon parade, then an evening parade with neon lights on everything and then fireworks after the parade?

We saw the Fantasia show a few years ago so we're not worried about fitting that in this trip, maybe next time (we'll be back in april or May for a 4 day stay).

So, I guess my question is, should I plan for the character meal at lunch or breakfast, watch the afternoon parade and then return to the resort and make a reservation for the Contemporary restaurant and watch the fireworks up there? Or have dinner in the park with the characters at Crystal Palace and watch the evening parade and fireworks from there? We will have a garden view room so no fireworks watching from our room.

Sorry so long; thank you for any advice you can offer!

 

[disneygirlatheart]

We watched the afternoon parade, had dinner at CP, then stayed for the nighttime parade and fireworks. It was easy for us to do that, but our children are much older than yours. They might get tired. I think whatever you decide, because only you know your children best. How much can they do in the evening etc. Best of Luck to you and I know whichever you choose you will enjoy it!

 

[TanaL]

thanks disneygirl, that sounds like a good plan. Do you know how late the fireworks go? My kids can make it until about 9pm; if it's later we'll need to make time for a nap in the afternoon which I hate to do since we only have one day there.