Holy smokes we're still going! The airline that we flew in and out of Orlando on only operates a few days of the week, so it seemed perfectly reasonable (at planning time) to stay for a full week. And sure, we could have split up our days differently, perhaps visited the beach, or taken a complete resort day, but no. We opted to do as much Disney World as we possibly could all week long. And by this day, we were all definitely feeling it. Late nights and early mornings were made more fun with the Disney app filters-
But we were still tired by the time we got to our first destination of the day.
Here we go again...
Just kidding, we had another great day planned!
We got up extra early this day so that we could make our way over to breakfast in Cinderella's castle!
It was cold this morning- drizzly and cloudy- but we had hopes for the sun breaking through and warming everyone up later in the day (spoiler alert: that did not happen, and our plans were significantly and happily altered because of it).
There are four water fountains around this beautiful statue, and the kids all took drinks from it at the same time. I don't know why I don't have a picture of such an exciting moment!
Cinderella's Royal Table! We finally made it! This is one of the hardest reservations to get at Disney World, and we went back and forth about whether it would even be worth the cost, but in the end, we had such a wonderful time and are so glad that we took the time to visit Cinderella's castle!
The castle is beautiful inside. Perfectly, tastefully decorated and quiet and kind of like the temple, only not nearly as grand or significant.
The dining hall was magnificent! We felt just like royalty.
We were hoping for a table by the windows so we could look out over the Magic Kingdom,
but we were seated closer to the center of the room, which ended up being perfect because that was closer to where Cinderella appeared! Our server was the sweetest older lady who called all of the kids 'princess' and 'prince' and was very attentive to our needs. It was such a treat to start out day out being served rather than just scarfing our food down!
And we feasted!
We drank lots of hot cocoa- it was so chilly outside!- and I resisted the urge to insist that everyone get a different dish so that we could have a nice balance of eggs and meats along with the heaps of pastries and Mickey waffles that we had been looking forward to all week.
No one came away from this meal hungry. It was probably the best Disney meal we ate all week. And it wasn't long before Cinderella came peaking around the corner!
I knew the kids wouldn't enjoy her appearance in quite the same way that they would have five years ago, but it was still so fun to watch them watch her.
I hope their wishes come true!
So we slowly made our way back downstairs to join with the common folk.
But first! A portrait as royalty.
They tried!
And tried!
And tried!!!!
But no luck. So we headed over to Prince Charming's Carousel for a quick ride- we didn't ride this on our first day in Magic Kingdom and we wanted to make sure that we hit it early this day.
To help us get through the park as efficiently as possible this day, we had Genie Plus passes and tickets to ride the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train and a very loose itinerary for the day. It was essentially the opposite of what we aimed for the first day, which was to methodically work our way counterclockwise around park. There was definitely more zigging and zagging today, and that was alright too.
Then we were off to the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train! We weren't sure what to expect- this ride was a complete miss last time with three year old Noah, (oh, look at all of those babies!)
As she got closer to our table I encouraged the boys to wave back at her,
and just as Adam did she looked away, leaving him to quickly switch to scratching his head instead. I happened to get a picture of it and it was the sweetest 'our kids aren't babies anymore in fact they're the cutest awkward nearly teens' moment of the entire trip. I love these big boys!
At one point Cinderella told everyone to pick up a wishing star and make the wish of their hearts desire. The girls took it very seriously.
We weren't exactly rushed out of the dining hall, but we did not have the option of hanging around for long once our breakfast was done.
Silly Daddy.
I think Cinderella was very happy we came!
And armed with swords and wands, we were ready to take on the kingdom!
Hey! We were just up there!
Despite the drizzling, misty rain, we had to stop at the Sword in the Stone to see if anyone was able to pull it out.
And tried!
First up, while we were digesting our breakfast feast and waiting for the drizzling rain to stop, we took another quick pass through It's a Small World.... some of us might have napped through it again....
and we caught Mickey's Philharmagic again.
understandably, but we all had high hopes for enjoying it much more this time around.
And we all loved it- so much so that we committed to riding it again, no matter how long the line was, one more time before the day was over!!
Watch out Snow White!
Are we ready for this again??
The Enchanted Tiki Room,
and the Swiss Family Robinson treehouse, which we had a greater appreciation for this time since we've seen the movie. We got a few ideas for upgrades for our own treehouse too.
Look! Cinderella's castle!
Let's see... after that we wandered back past Cinderella's castle,
and ended up in Tomorrowland for another spin with Buzz Lightyear,
and a bit of regrouping while we decided what to do next. The cold and drizzling rain just wasn't letting up. The trusty little popcorn bucket lid was a great help as we waited to ride the Peoplemover.
This was such a fun little ride that we've never been on before! It zipped through Tomorrowland, giving us behind the scenes view of Space Mountain, Buzz Lightyear, and Star Traders. The inside parts were awesome, the outside parts were sooooo chilly! Those of us that were riding backward had a little less wind in the face than those that were riding facing forward. Poor Daddy- no hood and not much hair!
After that we split up for a bit. The thrill seekers- Adam, Leah, and Daddy- went on Space Mountain again while Emma, Noah and I enjoyed another round at the Monster, Inc Laugh Floor- and this time they told our joke to everyone! Emma had the idea for the joke-
Why did the sea cross the road?
To get to the other tide!
Then we took a quick stop past the castle- these two were absolute troopers about walking all over the parks all week long-
and then went over to Casey's on Main Street to get some lunch for everyone.
The piano player was amazing, the hot dogs were huge, and we officially hit the point when everyone was feeling the effects of a little too much vacation. (crazy eyes!)
It seemed that it was officially going to be a gloomy day, and we were all about one layer short of being dressed appropriately, but we soldiered on! A cold day at Disney is better than a freezing cold day in Iowa!
Everyone humored me through The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, and Emma nearly came home with this adorable and so soft little Eeyore.
Then we wandered back over to the Princess Village,
where we got one of the BEST pictures of the entire trip.
Nope, not that one, this one!
The photographer said make fish lips and sweet Noah went for a blob fish! We all laughed and laughed when we saw this one, but he switched to a regular fish for the second one.
Such a funny family.
The boys posed by the ridiculous Gaston fountain. I love Adam's smile here- it clearly says, Mom, I don't want to do this but I will because I love you.
We passed by the Beast's castle- no feast here for us this time-
and we saw Belle! She was separated from us by an impressive hedge, but she still maintained a princess-like whisper as she visited with us.
She looked beautiful, but the girls commented on how plastic-like her heavy makeup made her look. Almost animated!
I think at this point we were just waiting for a fastpass time to arrive. We did a bit of wandering, and that was okay. There is always something to see in every corner of Disney World.
Another quick clam ride!
And another flight on Dumbo's Flying Elephants- the cold was just not breaking,
but it was still so fun!
And then off to the Astro Orbiters, another ride we haven't experienced before and probably would have really enjoyed if it wasn't in the 40s and if we weren't all underdressed and if we hadn't had to wait in the drizzly rain for 45 minutes to ride the elevator up to the windiest place in Tomorrowland.
Noah protected me from the wind and we committed to stay as low as possible while everyone else zoomed up above us. Such a fun ride, and definitely a do-again on a warmer day!
By this point it was about 4:30 in the afternoon and we were all just cold. The fireworks started at 8:00 so we made the decision to go back to our hotel for a few hours to get warmed up, bundled up, and packed up. The trip was definitely coming to a close, but getting the most out of our last few hours in Magic Kingdom meant that we needed to be warmer!
So we made our way out of the park, enjoying a quick princess parade
and then making an epic stop at the Main Street Confectionary for our treat of the day because absolutely zero of us wanted to eat ice cream.
Emma won the resort room theme guess, and her prize was supposed to be the first bag of Goofy Gummies of the trip, but there were none to be found anywhere in Disney World.
She picked chocolate covered Oreos instead- and there were enough to share!
We were all so happy to be back at our resort in the middle-ish of the day. I had to take a picture of these noisy seagulls in daylight- they were SO loud when they started barking, "Mine! Mine! Mine!" We jumped at their noise more than once over the course of the week, and the boys loved shouting "cover your knees" and running past them.
And there was our sign of building- the giant Crush!
We spent the next few hours packing up our suitcases, sorting through souvenirs, and warming up! Again, our day didn't go exactly as planned, but it actually ended up going even better because we were willing to pivot and do what everyone wanted most of all, which was to get out of the cold and relax for a bit!
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