We started the day with a minor miracle: both kids slept in until 7:00 AM! Miles snoozed even later, which felt like a huge win. While they dozed, Joel and his dad made a run for Krispy Kreme donuts—a special treat for Joel’s birthday. In true birthday fashion, Joel managed to polish off seven donuts! Those things are melty delicious.
Fueled by sugar, we made our way to Magic Kingdom, where the first stop was to get a few pictures in front of the castle.
We happened upon the celebration show featuring Mickey, Minnie, and the princesses. Hailey got the VIP view from my shoulders, loving it so much, even when Elsa “blew snow” that she swore ended up in her shoe (which meant getting off of my shoulders and taking her shoes off…). Meanwhile, Miles took it easy—his injured toe was still bothering him a bit, but he soldiered on with plenty of cuddles and cheek kisses for everyone.. and only a few fights over who got to ride in the stroller.
We did a quick tour of the Swiss Family Tree House, it was neat to see but the kids weren’t very impressed. Sheri and I took the kids on an Aladdin’s Magic Carpet. Hailey loved being able to control the joystick at the front to make us fly.
We all wandered over to the other side of the park for The Barnstormer. It was a little kid roller coaster that was over so quickly, the kids didn’t really have time to get scared. Hailey didn’t seem to like it but then said she did. After the coaster, we went over to the Under the Sea ride. Hailey loves Ariel so that was great! She got a little scared during the Ursula portion, but that was the ride she really wanted to go back on.
We grabbed pretzels for a snack since our lunch reservation wasn’t until almost 3! During our snack break, Hailey took a tumble climbing on the rocks and scraped her hand, but a kind, prepared stranger offered us a Band-Aid.
The kids were getting a little restless, so we hopped on the Fantasyland Express train right as it was pulling into the station. We rode it over to the Main Street exit and when we got off, we joined the tail end of the Main Street parade. We only got to see a few of the things go past (which is just the right amount for a parade, per Joel), but those were spectacular. While Joel and his dad retrieved the stroller, the Sheri and I slipped into the Country Bear Jamboree. Surprisingly, Hailey clapped along happily to the old-timey tunes. It’s a silly, kitschy show but Hailey loved it. She kept asking me to take pictures of the different bears that appeared.
We went over to Mickey’s PhilharMagic thinking it was going to be a magic show. It wasn’t. It turned out to be a bit intense for the kids—loud noises and 3D effects meant they spent most of it covering their ears or burying their faces. Lesson learned: we’ll skip heavy 3D attractions until they’re older!
Next, we hopped onto the Prince Charming Regal Carousel, which the kids loved. After, I took the kids on the Dumbo ride which ended up being Hailey and Miles’ favorite “flying” experience.
After we got off the Dumbo ride, we headed to find our late lunch reservation. We had a time slot for 2:50 PM at Be Our Guest. It’s pricey, but the immersive castle setting and fancy menu were a neat experience.
We lingered at the table until almost 5:00 PM (we found out that if you missed your lightning lane window due to dining, you just had to show your receipt and they would honor it!). I was pleasantly surprised to get a custom pasta dish for myself, they are really good at accommodating food allergies. Joel even tried their escargot! The kids at a handful of grapes and French fries.. but absolutely loved their special desserts. The only character appearance was the Beast roaming around—no other characters like we had at Tusker House, so that was a little bit of a bummer, but still a really cool experience.
We had a couple of lightning lanes to use for after lunch so we headed over to the rides. These were a lot more mild, which was great because Hailey was definitely hesitant for some of these – The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh and Peter Pan’s Flight. Both rides stopped briefly while we were on them—Winnie the Pooh halted three times, and Peter Pan did a quick, sudden stop that startled us. Even with the hiccups, it beat waiting in the 60-minute standby lines!
Our plan was to cap off the day with Space Mountain, but it was shut down, and Tiana’s Bayou Adventure was also closed. The kids (and let’s be real.. the adults too) were starting to fade, so we decided to call it a day. We hopped on the ferryboat to get back to the parking lot—Miles and Hailey love anything that floats—and once again appreciated having preferred parking so we didn’t have to trek too far at the end of the night.
We got back to the house for some pool time and to start packing to head home the next morning. The kids loved the pool and it had finally headed up to a nice, warm temperature.
Vacation Highlights (from the Kids!)
We asked Miles and Hailey about their favorite parts of the trip. The results were adorably…unexpected:
- Miles: “Riding the airplane, our new house, and playing in the airport!”
- Hailey: “Riding the boat, riding the airplane, and the cereal! Can we bring the cereal back to our home please?”
Sometimes, even at the most magical place on Earth, it’s the simple things—planes, boats, and Frosted Mini-Wheats—that are the winners…
Although our Disney days had their ups (fun shows, great rides, incredible food) and downs (minor injuries, ride breakdowns), we wouldn’t trade these sweet memories for anything. It will be fun to someday bring the kids back when they’re older and can enjoy more of the rides!
The airplane ride home went well! At the airport, it was a treat for us – in our row, they had one of the K9 training cues. They had taped something under the chair next to where Miles was playing and had multiple K9 dogs walking through aisles, training to find them!
Hailey watched her shows the whole time, I finished a book, and Miles played with his toys most of the ride home! You could hear him “peeewww pshhhh” and then slamming his toys onto the tray table or the side of the plane 🙂
We couldn’t be more thankful to Joel’s parents to making this magical trip happen! <3