Day 3 - Magic Kingdom

After researching the parks, I determined that Magic Kingdom would have the most age appropriate stuff for the girls so we decided to visit there during the last three days of our vacation. We had eaten breakfast at the counter service restaurant at our resort the first two days and I couldn't stand to do it again. Both mornings had been very crowded, finding a table had been difficult, it had taken too much time and the girls didn't really eat much.

I remembered reading about the Main Street Bakery on a Disney forum so I suggested to Rich and Grammy that we eat breakfast there after arriving at Magic Kingdom. They agreed. This was a Monday morning and I could not believe all of the people entering the park when we did. If this was a slower time to visit Disney, I sure as hay will never ever visit during prime time.

Here's a summary of our day:

1. Rode It's a Small World


2. Met Ariel


3. Met Princess Tiana and her prince (don't know his name)


4. Met Sleeping Beauty (again!), Cinderella and Belle


5. Rode the Barnstormer roller coaster


6. Visited Mickey's Country House


7. Visited Minnie's Country House


8. Met Rosetta, Tinker Bell and Vidia


9. Rode the Mad Tea Party teacup ride


10. Met Winnie the Pooh and Tigger


11. Rode Cinderella's Golden Carousel

Identical triplet guide for today:

Allie - Dress, purple sandals, blue/purple book

Anna - Yellow top with capris, sneakers, green book

Emily - Skirt, white sandals, pink book

Let me back track and talk about transportation to the parks and parking. We chose to drive ourselves to the parks and because we were staying on Disney property, we did not have to pay for parking anywhere. We had booked our vacation through AAA. While researching prior to our trip, I saw a few comments regarding AAA preferred parking at the parks. Unfortunately, I did not have time to investigate further.

On Day 1 when we arrived at DHS, I asked the guy waving us into Parking Lot Far From Entrance about AAA parking. I thought we would just have to show our AAA card. He asked me if I had my voucher from AAA. Um, no! He then proceeded to tell me that when you book a vacation through AAA, they will give you a parking voucher. Wouldn't you know that Rich had forgotten the package from AAA.

Because we were in the Parking Lot Far From Entrance, we had to take a tram to the entrance. Now, I do have to say that we didn't have to wait for a tram but loading and unloading three three year olds and two strollers was far from ideal.

When we arrived at Epcot later that day with Grammy's AAA parking voucher (thankfully, she had remembered her package from AAA), we asked the parking attendant at the front gate where AAA preferred parking was. She casually replied, "Follow the blue line." We followed the blue line and ended up finding a spot right in front of the park entrance. No need for trams.

The same scenario repeated itself at Animal Kingdom the next day. Follow the blue line, park near the entrance. What was kind of odd about the whole thing was that there were no parking attendants monitoring that parking lot. We always left the parking voucher on the front dashboard in case they did check during the day.

So now we are at Magic Kingdom. Same scenario again. We loaded the girls and all of our crap into the strollers and had approximately a 10 (Rich says 15) minute walk to the ferry at the Transportation and Ticket Center. We picked the ferry over the monorail because we were able to easily roll the strollers onto and off of the ferry.

As it turns out, breakfast at Main Street Bakery was not the best idea because it took FOREVER. I stayed outside with the girls while Rich and Grammy waited in the long line inside. I was able to secure one of the two outdoor tables. The cinnamon roll thingy was delish but man, that just ate up too much time. And for those of you who don't have three three year olds, here's a bit of what we deal with when we are trying to eat, especially when we are not in a normal table situation. I want some chocolate milk. Get me some more orange juice, please. I dropped my napkin. I need a straw. The milk won't come out. I spilled some on me!

The first thing I wanted to do was find another princess for the girls to meet. As Cruise Director, I had planned for us to start the day in Fantasyland. My unofficial guide book told me that we could meet Ariel in her grotto here. Well, we couldn't find Ariel. And then it was time to cath Anna but of course, the nearest bathroom was "closed" and guarded so we had to find another one. After that was all said it done, Rich suggested we ride It's a Small World since the wait time was listed as 5 minutes. Are they any kids who don't like that ride?

So Ariel's Grotto is closed. Gone. Disney is renovating part of Magic Kingdom and Ariel is now hosting meets and greets in a different area. Don't ask me where because I can't remember. It was either Liberty Square near Adventureland or Adventureland near Liberty Square. Either way, we had to ask two employees before we found the correct location and when we did locate Ariel, she was getting ready to go on break.

I want to mention that part of meeting and greeting that eats up a lot of time is waiting for characters to take breaks. I would have to say that 90% of the time we were in line, we had to wait while the characters took breaks. I'm not complaining because I can only imagine how difficult of a job that must be but lines can be deceiving. When we found Ariel, the line was closed and she was going on a break but returning in 25 minutes. We waited and became the first ones in line.

We had spotted Princess Tiana when we were looking for Ariel but her line was closed because she was going on a break as well. After meeting Ariel, we headed back over and waited in line to met her.

The girls wanted nothing to do with that prince, which is why I am in the picture with the girls clinging to me. Allie flipped out when he attempted to sign her book.

After lunch, we headed over to Mickey's Toontown Fair to check out the princess meet and greet in Toontown Hall of Fame. Basically, we waited in one line and the girls were able to meet three princesses in one room. The sign at the beginning of the line claimed that it was only a 20 minute wait. It soon became apparent that it was not a 20 minute wait. And then Allie said that she had to go potty. And then she REALLY had to go potty. Fearing an accident, I picked her up and jogged to the bathroom, which was not that close, and then jogged back. That, my friends, is tiring.

Please ignore the quality of these pictures. It was dark in there and all different flashes were going off. I tried to diffuse as much as possible.

Sleeping Beauty was the SAME Sleeping Beauty that the girls had met at Epcot on our first day. She remembered them and said, "Thank you for bringing them back to visit with me."

Then we rode the Barnstormer roller coaster. The minimum height to ride is 35 inches and Anna just made it. Allie and Em were a smidge taller. The girls actually enjoyed it and the next morning, Allie listed it as the first thing she wanted to do that day. I do want to add that this is a real roller coaster albeit short. I asked the dude monitoring the line if it was intense or a joke. He told me that it was no big deal. Don't be fooled.

We visited Mickey's and Minnie's houses. Those were a big hit as well.

We returned to Toontown Hall of Fame to meet Tinker Bell and crew. The line for that meet and greet had been longer than the line to meet the princesses. When we returned it was a tad be shorter but still one of the longer lines we waited in for a meet and greet.

On our way out of Mickey's Toontown Fair, we rode the teacup ride. The girls ended up turning the wheel to spin us in an attempt to make Daddy dizzy.

Winnie the Pooh and Tigger were hosting a meet and greet after the teacup ride and because the girls had not yet met Tigger, we joined the line. Now I have to say that the majority of people visiting Disney are pleasant. Everyone is here to have fun on vacation. We ran into three major offenders though during our trip. Don't worry, it didn't ruin my day but seriously made me shake me head in disbelief.

So there was a family from the UK behind us and then behind them was a youngish grandmother with two grandkids (a boy and a girl about 5-7 years old.) It took me awhile to figure out that the family from the UK was directly behind us as the boy from the next family kept appearing at my side. He was very rowdy with his sister and kept running past me and standing next to Grammy, staring at her arm. I kept hoping she would turn around and accidentally whack him in the head with her camera. No such luck.

Do you see Anna painting with cheese while she patiently waited?

I had to stand guard against the stroller for fear that this kid was going to ram into it and knock her over. Tigger and Pooh went on break so the line was at a standstill for awhile. When they returned and the line moved up, this kid ran past me into the area where my girls were. I said something to him, to which is grandmother replied, "Don't worry, he's not going to cut." I responded with, "Oh, I know he's not going to cut. She's unsteady on her feet (pointing to Anna) and I'm afraid he's going to knock her over."

I listened to this poor woman try to reason with those kids and she had absolutely no control over these children whatsoever. If it had been me, I would have pulled them out of line and left the park. Sorry, you can't behave yourselves so we are leaving. Obviously, this kid had no idea what discipline was. And wouldn't you know that when it came our turn, the little brat did try to sprint past us. Grammy blocked him.

As we were loading up the strollers to leave, I turned around to see that the kid had cut in front of the family from the UK.

We ended our first day in the Magic Kingdom by riding Cinderella's Golden Carousel. No wait time and always a good ride for the girls.

~ More Magic Kingdom adventures to come ~