The "Big Day" was Saturday! The incentive to travel to Orlando and bring along a friend all revolved around "my Megan" and her performance at Disney World's Magic Kingdom as the high school band leading the famous Disney Electric Light Parade.
I am lucky enough to have been to Disney about seven (I think) times before. I wanted to be sure my friend, who has never been, got as much of the "royal" treatment and an overview of the Magic Kingdom as possible in one day.
We were up around 6 am with plans to leave around 7 am. Our resort was about 15 minutes from Disney. We had a breakfast reservation at Chef Mickey's in the Contemporary Resort. We parked at the Magic Kingdom and took the monorail to the Contemporary Resort. Chef Mickey's is, in my opinion, is one of the best ways to meet many of the characters and get autographs and pictures without waiting in long lines (all while enjoying a great breakfast)! I have gone with my kids in the past, so we already have the autographs -- but you're never too old to give Goofy a hug or tell Mickey that you think he's really "swell"!! Ha! I guess I'm just a Disney kind of girl -- even without my kids!! We met Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, Pluto, Donald Duck and Daisy Duck, plus we had a super nice waitress. I told her it was my girlfriend's first visit to Disney and a short time later she brought her a cute little Mickey cupcake with a candle and everybody applauded her first visit.
We arrived back at the Magic Kingdom by monorail by 10 am. Shortly after we arrived I received a text from Megan that they would be there shortly. We met up with Megan and her group of eight friends, said some very quick hellos, took two quick pictures and she was on her way...
My friend isn't much on "thrill" rides and since I have been on most of those before, I promised her the "senior citizen" overview tour with more of the slow rides, i.e. trains, boats, etc.. Girlfriend does like to shop, though, and we did plenty of that. It was actually nice to not be on the hectic pace of having three kids trying to see, ride, eat and buy everything imaginable in one day!
My girlfriend's career is in fashion and design so when I told her about the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique she had to check it out. It is located in Cinderella's castle and she peeked in and asked if she could look inside. They said certainly, but no pictures. There were tons of cute little princesses getting all "dolled" up! Alyce further explained that she just turned "50" and has no children so she "loved" seeing the boutique. At that point, the kind lady working at the Boutique said, "I know just what you need". She pulled a magic wand out of her drawer and had her stand on a star and said, "close you eyes and make a wish" and after some "Bibbidi Bobbidi" magic words the wand sprinkled tons of glitter all in her hair, on her arms and shirt!! It was hilariously cute!! Of course, she then did the same to me!!! Yep, we were quite the spectacle, but it was a fun memory for both of us!! (It was 90 degrees that day and I think I still have glitter on me!)
Throughout the day we had drinks at Cosmic Ray's Starlight Cafe and later had an early dinner at Liberty Tree Tavern. I have to say, I had never been to the Liberty Tree Tavern before and they serve a good "home cooked" family style meal. It was a nice change after some of the fast food!! (I also ran into my next door neighbor there...she ended up being Megan's official chaperone so I bought her dinner. See, it's a "Small World"). We also spent a long time shopping at the Emporium which was way too fun!!
After watching many shows, going on several rides and shopping, the anticipation for the parade was growing. We were starting to plan our strategy for where we would watch the parade and exactly how long would we have to stand there to be in the front row so that I could actually see Megan. We ended up camping out in a spot right in front of Cinderella's Castle for about an hour before the parade was to start. It was a very long hour and when her band finally came through we were very excited. When we visited when she was three years old, I never thought that ten years later she would be marching with her friends in front of the castle!!
She had the time of her life and so did we!! Be sure to check out the video above. If you're still reading, thanks for letting me share. It was, for us, a Magical Day!!
I am lucky enough to have been to Disney about seven (I think) times before. I wanted to be sure my friend, who has never been, got as much of the "royal" treatment and an overview of the Magic Kingdom as possible in one day.
We were up around 6 am with plans to leave around 7 am. Our resort was about 15 minutes from Disney. We had a breakfast reservation at Chef Mickey's in the Contemporary Resort. We parked at the Magic Kingdom and took the monorail to the Contemporary Resort. Chef Mickey's is, in my opinion, is one of the best ways to meet many of the characters and get autographs and pictures without waiting in long lines (all while enjoying a great breakfast)! I have gone with my kids in the past, so we already have the autographs -- but you're never too old to give Goofy a hug or tell Mickey that you think he's really "swell"!! Ha! I guess I'm just a Disney kind of girl -- even without my kids!! We met Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, Pluto, Donald Duck and Daisy Duck, plus we had a super nice waitress. I told her it was my girlfriend's first visit to Disney and a short time later she brought her a cute little Mickey cupcake with a candle and everybody applauded her first visit.
We arrived back at the Magic Kingdom by monorail by 10 am. Shortly after we arrived I received a text from Megan that they would be there shortly. We met up with Megan and her group of eight friends, said some very quick hellos, took two quick pictures and she was on her way...
My friend isn't much on "thrill" rides and since I have been on most of those before, I promised her the "senior citizen" overview tour with more of the slow rides, i.e. trains, boats, etc.. Girlfriend does like to shop, though, and we did plenty of that. It was actually nice to not be on the hectic pace of having three kids trying to see, ride, eat and buy everything imaginable in one day!
My girlfriend's career is in fashion and design so when I told her about the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique she had to check it out. It is located in Cinderella's castle and she peeked in and asked if she could look inside. They said certainly, but no pictures. There were tons of cute little princesses getting all "dolled" up! Alyce further explained that she just turned "50" and has no children so she "loved" seeing the boutique. At that point, the kind lady working at the Boutique said, "I know just what you need". She pulled a magic wand out of her drawer and had her stand on a star and said, "close you eyes and make a wish" and after some "Bibbidi Bobbidi" magic words the wand sprinkled tons of glitter all in her hair, on her arms and shirt!! It was hilariously cute!! Of course, she then did the same to me!!! Yep, we were quite the spectacle, but it was a fun memory for both of us!! (It was 90 degrees that day and I think I still have glitter on me!)
Throughout the day we had drinks at Cosmic Ray's Starlight Cafe and later had an early dinner at Liberty Tree Tavern. I have to say, I had never been to the Liberty Tree Tavern before and they serve a good "home cooked" family style meal. It was a nice change after some of the fast food!! (I also ran into my next door neighbor there...she ended up being Megan's official chaperone so I bought her dinner. See, it's a "Small World"). We also spent a long time shopping at the Emporium which was way too fun!!
After watching many shows, going on several rides and shopping, the anticipation for the parade was growing. We were starting to plan our strategy for where we would watch the parade and exactly how long would we have to stand there to be in the front row so that I could actually see Megan. We ended up camping out in a spot right in front of Cinderella's Castle for about an hour before the parade was to start. It was a very long hour and when her band finally came through we were very excited. When we visited when she was three years old, I never thought that ten years later she would be marching with her friends in front of the castle!!
She had the time of her life and so did we!! Be sure to check out the video above. If you're still reading, thanks for letting me share. It was, for us, a Magical Day!!
Celebrating a First Visit!!
Goofy -- one of my favs!
Megan is in the purple following Donald...
Sleeping Beauty -- looks like Megan was also catching up on her sleep! Ha!
1 comment:
Looks like you had an AMAZING time!!! WDW is my favorite vacation spot! What a special memory for Megan (and of course for the proud momma!). The resort looks beautiful too!
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