On Monday, we headed to the heart of Disney World, the Magic Kingdom. Everyone was very excited to go because there are so many rides to ride there. They opened up the new Fantasyland this fall, so we were especially excited to finally see what it looked like. I knew all the kids were just going to love the Magic Kingdom. Since we were going to Magic Kingdom, the girls decided that it would be a perfect day to wear their Ariel costumes. Seeing little girls in darling princess costumes is so sweet in Disney World.
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| Ella and Dawson eating breakfast before the big day ahead. |
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We really wanted to make the most of our vacation. Every day we would get to the parks before they opened and usually stayed until the evening. It exhausted all of us, but we were able to see and do so much.
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| The entrance to the Magic Kingdom. |
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| They do a neat little opening ceremony before they park opens. |
When the opened, Joey and I headed over to Space Mountain to get Fast Passes for later in the day. My favorite ride in all of Disney World, Splash Mountain was closed for refurbishment while we were there. We still had plenty of other rides to go on.
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| In front of the castle |
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Joey and I
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We all decided to meet up at Sleepy Hollow Restaurant to have a late breakfast/snack. I had read that they had amazing waffles. We ordered a couple with strawberries and Nutella. They were wonderful! The waffle itself was one of the best I have ever had. I'm sad we never got back there again.
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| This was heaven on a plate! |
After our nice little snack, we started making our way towards the new Fantasyland. On the way, we saw the carousel. Ashlyn just loves carousels, so we made a quick stop so she could ride.
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| On the horse |
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| Love that look of happiness |
As were entering the new part of Fantasyland, we were informed that the Little Mermaid ride was down. We were a little disappointed, but we knew that we would be coming back another day. We then found the Be Our Guest restaurant. It is the new "big" restaurant in Disney World. It is fashioned to look like the beast's castle in Beauty and the Beast. You have to make reservations for dinner, but lunch is more casual and you can just walk in. I had heard the lines would be very long, so my parents decided to get in line before the lines got bad. We went and rode a ride while they waited. Luckily they got in line when they did, because by the time we got back the line was very long! It was definitely worth the wait. Just the decor of the restaurant was amazing. The food wasn't bad either.
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| The door to the restaurant |
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| Waiting for it to open. |
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| Our little mermaids |
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| Luckily, we were the first in the door. They have you go up to a computer to order. They give you a rose and it must have a GPS tracking device because that is how they know where you are sitting in the restaurant. It was a neat idea, but we found it very confusing. I messed up and had to start over. I would have preferred to just give my order to someone who knew what they were doing. |
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| Bryan and Jameson |
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| All of us trying to figure out the ordering system. |
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| Ella was getting a little bored |
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| There are 3 different rooms you can pick to eat in. This was one we chose to sit in mainly because it had a table big enough for our large group. We honestly felt like we were eating in the beast's castle. It was quite an experience. |
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| The cupcakes we got with our meal. |
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| A bunch of us ordered the steak sandwich and it was pretty good. |
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| This was the cupcake I got. It was amazing! |
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| Eating lunch |
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| One of the paintings |
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| Here is another one of the dining rooms. The windows make it look like it is dark and stormy out to add to the effect. | | | | | | | | | |
After lunch, we had fast passes to Space Mountain that we needed to go to. We all headed over there. They were refurbishing it last time we were there so Joey never got to ride it. I thought he knew it was a roller coaster that was in the dark. He was so funny on the ride because he kept saying, "Did they forget to turn on the lights?" Ashlyn really liked it as well.
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| Joey and Bryan make it there mission to make the goofiest faces possible for the pictures they take on the ride. |
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| I love Katy's expression in this one. Ashlyn is having fun. |
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| I love the joy on her face! |
After Space Mountain, we decided to head back over to the new Fantasyland. They have added a neat big top area that we explored. They had an area where you could meet Daisy and Minnie. Of course, the girls wanted to do this. My dad and I decided to take Dawson on a train that goes around the entire park while they waited. Dawson was so excited to ride on the train. My dad and I found it to be a very relaxing ride.
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| The new circus area |
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| They had neat decor |
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| Meeting Daisy |
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| Getting another signature |
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| Ella waiting in line. She is holding the Minnie that she talked her Gram into buying her and Ashlyn. |
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| Priceless expression |
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| Meeting Minnie |
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| Walking and holding Uncle Joey's hand |
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| Joey trying out the princess crown |
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| Minnie meeting |
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| A dream come true for Ella! |
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| Ashlyn also liked meeting her. She gets so shy when she meets the characters. |
After autograph signings, we found a neat little water area. It wasn't quite hot enough to let the kids really dive in, but they had a great time avoiding the water.
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| Ella running through the water |
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| She had a great time |
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| Ashlyn playing |
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| They had so much fun! |
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| The water area had a dumbo theme which was really cute. |
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| Our little princesses |
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| Ashlyn just had to take a picture in front of her favorite animal, the hippo. |
Next we headed over to Dumbo and used fast passes. This saved us a lot of time not waiting in line.
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| Love Dumbo |
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| It's actually a fun ride |
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| Gram and Ashlyn rode together |
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| Ashlyn, Joey and I all went on the Goofy roller coaster. It is geared more toward younger children. That ride is so short. I swear it lasted 15 seconds. Ashlyn said, "That's it?" when it was over. |
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| Getting ready to ride Goofy |
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By this time it was late afternoon and it was getting very crowded in the Magic Kingdom. We had dinner reservations over in Epcot that night. We decided to head over a little early to enjoy the less crowded World Showcase. We rode the monorail from MK to Epcot. I haven't been on the monorail and we all thought it was pretty cool. Much better than the crowded buses!
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| Dawson and Gram |
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| I love this picture with Jameson and the Epcot ball |
As we were walking around the countries, we spotted a very important princess, Belle!!! Ashlyn was very excited to get her autograph. She took the new Dumbo stuffed animal she got earlier that day to show Belle.
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| You can see Dumbo better in this picture |
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| Belle even held Dumbo. |
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| Ella took some time to stop and smell the flowers. |
We had some more time to kill, so we walked around and took pictures and took in the World Showcase some more. We watched some amazing Chinese acrobats.
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| Group picture with the Epcot ball |
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| Joey had to toss Aslyn in the air. |
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| The country you can see across the lake it Germany. |
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| Joey snapping away |
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| Joey and Bryan being silly |
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| Great picture of the sun setting over the lake. |
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| Papa and Ashlyn |
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| Papa and his sweet girls |
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| Katy and I taking a break. This was the coldest night we experienced while we were there. It was actually kind of chilly. |
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| Another sunset shot |
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| Random picture Joey took of me. I like the way the sky looks. |
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| The Leone family |
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| My new favorite picture of Ashlyn and I |
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| Ella looking at the water. |
We decided to start making our way towards France for dinner. On the way, Ashlyn spotted Aladin and Jasmine. They were getting ready to stop doing autographs, but they told Ashlyn they had time for one more.
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| Getting her pen and book ready |
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| Jasmine was even wearing a coat! |
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| I love how they always give hugs. |
We ate dinner at Chefs de France in France. We ate there a lot when I was younger and always enjoyed it. This time the service was pretty slow and the kids were kind of antsy. They finally brought out all our food, yet they didn't bring Joey's. The waitress assured him it would be out soon. My the time he got his food we were all done eating ours. The food definitely wasn't as good as it has been in the past. I think we may have to cross this one off our list.
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| Dawson playing with his trains |
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| Love his expression |
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| The menu |
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| It's a really neat looking restaurant. It's a lot what I imagine French restaurants to look like. |
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| The beautiful fountain that was outside. |
By the time we left dinner, it was nearly 8:30. We realized that they fireworks went off at 9:00. We figured that since we were already there, we might was well stay and watch them. We found a nice little spot and enjoyed the spectacular show.
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| Bryan and Ella waiting for the fireworks to start |
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| They do a whole show |
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| The bring this globe into the middle of the lake |
Fireworks were a great way to end what was a wonderful day. We headed back to the hotel for the night when it was over.
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