We had an early reservation for breakfast at Be Our Guest, so we were able to get in to the park before it opened. It was pretty fun letting the kids run free down Main Street with (relatively) no crowds! Also, if I can toot my own horn for a second, the kids looked adorable. Ellie wore her Cinderella dress, and I made E.J. a little Prince Charming outfit to match and it nearly killed me with cuteness all day long.
Stop it.
My goodness.
Cinderella and Prince Charming running to their castle
It was cool to see the park as empty as it was! The top photo is the stroller parking area by the carousel when we got in before opening, the bottom picture is the same spot about six hours later.
After enjoying our breakfast at Be Our Guest, we went right over to visit Cinderella and Rapunzel again.
Rapunzel was great! She played peek-a-boo with E.J. and told Ellie about Pascal brushing her hair with a tiny brush. We were a little bummed that this Cinderella was the least engaging princess of the trip - even with the kids dressed to match!
Next, we went to see Ariel. I should mention that the kids were not the only ones in costume that day: I channeled my favorite Disney princess and was sporting some mermaid scale leggings with a purple tunic. Ariel noticed and loved my leg-fins!
Meeting Ariel
Ariel is E.J.'s favorite princess, too!
A better look at my ensemble!
After our princess whirlwind we decided to pause for a moment to apply sunblock and regroup, and as we were doing so we spotted Suzy and Perla (or so we're told - they're Cinderella's mice friends!), and Ellie had a great interaction with them! They made sure her tiara was perfectly atop her head and they danced together.
Cinderella and her friends
When the mice departed, they were replaced by Anastasia and Drizella, Cinderella's wicked stepsisters. They moaned about how jealous they were of Ellie's tiara, and then took an excellent sassy photo:
Adorable.
Next, we rode some rides. Eric and I took turns riding Seven Dwarfs Mine Train, then Eric and Ellie rode the Tomorrowland Speedway while E.J. and I rode the Little Mermaid ride. Ellie has been asking to ride the Speedway since our last trip (when we never got to it), and she was so excited. Eric said she didn't actually want to drive, but she still named it as one of her favorite things from the trip! As for E.J., he loved the Ariel ride, happily pointing and waving at everything along the way.
Eric on Mine Train, Eric and Ellie on the Speedway and E.J. enjoying the Ariel ride
After our ride break we went back to meeting characters, with a stop to see Tinkerbell, followed by Snow White.
Tinkerbell!
Snow White - a new Magic Kingdom princess for us!
I have to talk about how darling the kids were while we waited in line for Snow White. We were in line behind a family that did not speak English, but their little girl (roughly E.J.'s age) was dressed as Cinderella. Ellie and she became fast friends, holding hands so sweetly. Of course, our Prince Charming also lived up to his name and held that little Cinderella's hand for a moment, too. Then, he let go and walked to a nearby patch of flowers, picked one (well, pulled off its petals, but it's the thought that counts) and gave it to the little princess. How dear is that?!?! Melt my heart, that little charmer.
Prince Charming giving flower petals to his princess
We decided to give the kids a little bit of "free time" and returned to our favorite grassy spot along Main Street to let them run around for a bit. They made friends with other kids there, doing "gymnastics" and running around, and when the "Move It! Shake It! Celebrate It!" dance party came through, Ellie asked Eric if they could go dance with Officer Hops. And dance she did!
Cuties!
The grown-ups!
My best girl
Sometimes a princess just has to hike up her sparkly dress so she can really run.
Dancing with Officer Hops. Officer Hops waved and blew a kiss to Ellie at one point - Ellie was so starstruck!
This was about the point when we decided to abandon our fireworks plan and extend our morning. We figured out a place in the park that served pizza (one of the few restaurant foods our crazy kids will eat) and went to have some lunch. After lunch, we resumed our fun with a stop to see Princess Aurora.
Ellie waiting to meet Sleeping Beauty
Princess Aurora
Then, we went over to Rapunzel's tower and the garden nearby to look for "Pascal's friends." There are 10 chameleons hidden in the garden. We searched and searched and were only able to find eight of them!
By Rapunzel's tower
Hidden Pascals!
By that point, I had a sweet little chorus of "Ride! Ride Dumbo!" coming from the small child strapped to my back, so we made that happen for him!
VIDEO: E.J. makes a request!
Off to Dumbo!
Eric and Ellie on the ride
Then, we stopped in to visit Donald Duck and Goofy.
Dancing with Goofy
Hugs for Donald
Since E.J. had been allowed to choose a second ride on Dumbo as his contribution to the day, so we asked Ellie if she could do one more thing, what would she like to do? She told us she wanted to visit Merida, so back to Merida's garden we went. She had another nice chat with her favorite princess of the trip, got to shoot the bow and arrow again, and E.J. sweetly bid farewell to "Meriduck" when our turn was over!
Ellie and Merida
Looking so legit.
We also promised the kids some ice cream as a final Disney treat, so we picked up a Mickey ice cream bar and returned to the grass to enjoy. Afterwards, the kids had some fun with hula hoops nearby!
Ice cream!
Hula hoops on Main Street
And that was the end of our time at the Disney parks! We left to the soundtrack of E.J. calling out, "Bye, Disney World!" the whole way out. What a great time!
Yay, fun!
Coming up next: Our last morning in Orlando before heading home!
If you'd like to see the rest of our pictures from our second day at Magic Kingdom, you can see the full set here.
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