Prior to our trip we were in St. Petersburg for Ellie's birthday party, so we departed from there. We woke up the morning of March 17th to great news that my cousin Molly had her baby in the wee hours of the morning, and there's nothing like a new little niece to jumpstart a fun few days, right? We got everybody up, loaded up the car and hit the road around the time E.J. was due for his morning nap, in the hopes that he would sleep in the car a bit (he did).
We arrived at the Magic Kingdom with just enough time to get parked and into the park before our first FastPass of the trip: meeting Mickey at the Town Square Theater! The kids loved seeing him as much as ever and this was a perfect way to kickstart our Disney vacation.
Hugs for Mickey!
Let's do this Disney thing!
After visiting Mickey we hustled out to Fantasyland to make our lunch reservation at Be Our Guest. Eric did a great job of securing this reservation for us, and we were very excited to eat in the Beast's castle! We were able to place our food order online ahead of time, so when we got there, we checked in and were given a buzzer (in the shape of a rose, naturally). We walked in and quickly checked out all the dining rooms before ultimately settling in at a table in the Ballroom. As soon as we were seated, our food was delivered to our table!
Exterior of Be Our Guest, with Beast's Castle up on the hill
Inside the restaurant
The Ballroom, where we had lunch
Looking up at a chandelier from our table
Eric and I each ordered a different entree so we could share and try a couple of things. We got the Braised Pork and Croque Monsieur, plus a children's grilled cheese for Ellie (which went largely uneaten). It was all quite tasty, although the Braised Pork was by far the best.
Lunch!
Enjoying our meal
For dessert, we ordered a Triple Chocolate Cupcake and "The Master's Cupcake" (complete with "gray stuff," a la the song the restaurant is named for). Both were very good, though we were quite partial to the gray stuff.
Yummy cupcakes
The gray stuff - it's delicious!
While we were finishing up, Eric walked around to take some pictures of the other available dining rooms: the West Wing, and The Rose Gallery. There were some very cool touches in each!
The West Wing
The Rose Gallery
After lunch, Eric and Ellie were off to visit Elsa and Anna. We were only able to get one FastPass for the Frozen duo, so Eric and Ellie went alone while I hung out by Cinderella's castle and nursed E.J. As usual, Ellie was thrilled to meet those two. She showed Elsa her Thomas the Train temporary tattoo, and chatted it up with Anna about how they were "braid friends" (thanks to an Anna baseball cap with faux braids we picked up at Bed, Bath and Beyond the day before). She was so happy!
Showing Elsa her tattoo
So excited to be talking to Anna
Twin Annas!
When we reunited, we did a little waiting around for the Fairy Godmother, who was supposed to make an appearance near where I was sitting momentarily. Unfortunately we kind of got the run-around and our waiting was for naught, but we re-grouped. E.J. was ready for a nap so we had Ellie vacate the stroller so he could snooze, and she got to ride on my back in a Toddler Tula we borrowed from my local babywearing group's lending library. We spent some time walking through Frontierland and Adventureland while E.J. napped. Ellie liked watching the geysers near Thunder Mountain Railroad.
Ta-da! A new way for Ellie to enjoy the Magic Kingdom!
Resting up for more fun
We watched this thing forever.
Watching the rollercoaster go by
We wandered past the Magic Carpets of Aladdin and Ellie expressed interest in riding. We were able to make a quick switch of FastPasses, giving up something we were going to pass on anyway, in order to get Ellie and me right on the ride while E.J. continued his nap. It was fun to ride something with just my girl!
On the Magic Carpets (or, as Ellie called it, "riding the pillows")
Aladdin and Jasmine were scheduled to make an appearance soon thereafter, so we got in line for that. E.J. woke up during our wait, and Eric went to get us some cool refreshments because it was very hot and we were tiring out.
Nothing like a little frozen treat to revive you on a hot day!
The wait was worth it, as we were able to see Aladdin, Jasmine and the Genie. All were great with the kids, and we got a nice family photo!
Aladdin having some fun with Ellie and totally making Jasmine jealous
Jasmine greeting E.J.
I wonder what his three wishes will be?
The whole gang!
As I mentioned, we were growing pretty tired, so we slowed things down a bit. I stopped to nurse E.J. in Adventureland, then we moved on to Main Street and let the kids stretch their legs in the grass with the castle in the background.
Staying hydrated!
Relaxing
The cutest.
You can't not take a family photo on Main Street when you go to Disney, no matter how OVER IT your kids may be.
We were pretty ready to call it a day, but we had one remaining FastPass. The one was my extra, since Eric used his third to take Ellie to Anna and Elsa. My last one was used to take Ellie to see Tinkerbell. She seemed tired in line, but waited patiently to get Tinkerbell's autograph and then perked right up when her turn came.
Marker at the ready!
That's my Ellie!
And that was it! We left the park and caught the ferry back to the parking lot.
With E.J. on the ferry
We stayed at a suites hotel not far from the park that was not nearly as nice as the place we stayed in January, but still perfectly serviceable with two bedrooms, two bathrooms and a kitchen. We got checked in, settled, and put E.J. to bed as soon as possible. We had pizza for dinner with Ellie and then put her to bed, too. Eric and I relaxed a bit then crashed ourselves. That was a long day, and we had more fun ahead of us in the morning!
Loved this! What fun!
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