EMERSON’S FIRST TRIP TO THE MAGIC KINGDOM!!! 🏰
(I only put that photo first in the post, so it will show up first on the Facebook link {which I have no real control over, by the way}, and then we’ll see it again and chronological order in just a bit…)
Started our day waking up bright and early so we could purchase Genie+ and reserve our first Lightning Lane, on the Buzz Lighyear ride. Then we had hotek breakfast, and drove over to the park.
Riding the monorail into the park was a fun way to start the day. We also made Emmie ride in the stroller pretty often, to help her not get as tired throughout the day.
It was just slightly chilly in the morning, but we really had the best most perfectly beautiful spring weather all day! It warmed up in the afternoon, and we had a good breeze, and the humidity was low. We couldn’t have asked for better weather!
We hit up Dumbo for our first ride, and were able to basically just walk right onto the ride, because there was no one in line yet. It was a great first ride, and got Emerson even more excited to ride more things. When we got off Dumbo, she was already hollering, “I want to ride a roller coaster!”
We did the teacups and the barnstormer next, and she had a great time on both rides. I was a little worried that she would be scared once the barnstormer started, but she was riding with Papa, and he said she did great and loved it. She got off and actually said she wanted to ride again, but we never made it back for a second ride there.
Buzz Lightyear was super fun, and she kept telling for me to “shoot the bad monsters, Mommy!”
The Little Mermaid was always my favorite Disney princess from my own childhood, and Emmie loves her now too, so that was special to ride in the clam shells with her for that. She loved seeing Ariel, and kept waving to her on the ride.
Of course we did the classic “It’s A Small World,” and the nice Disney-worker-lady even led us into the Lightning Lane once she saw Emmie’s “1st Visit” button, even though we didn’t actually have the Lightning pass for that ride.
On our walk to the next place, Grammy’s eagle eyes spotted Belle off to the side. She was kind of just hanging out on the side of her castle, and you could chat with her from across the wall, and then she would pose sweetly for a photo like this. So look closely in the background to see Belle. I loved that when we told her goodbye, she responded with “au revoir!”
We had lunch at Pecos Bill Tavern, which was a little bit of Tex Mex situation, and Mom and I both had these meat, rice & beans bowls from the kids menu (I had carnitas & she had chicken), and we found the most perfect table right by one of the doors to their patio. So it felt great, we had good lighting, Emmie was able to watch the parade go by outside from right by our table, and I was able to plug my phone into the outlet right next to our table for a rapid charge. It was a great lunch break.
Then right as we left lunch, the smaller Mickey & friends cavalcade was going by, so I threw her up onto my shoulders super fast so we could watch, and it was perfect timing.
We planned to go to the County Bear Jamboree right after lunch, so that it would give us a nice long break to sit & rest during lunch and that show, and that worked out really great. Emerson was confused at first, thinking there were people dressed up in bear costumes, but she enjoyed it and laughed at all the jokes, even the ones I know she didn’t get 😉
We only had to wait about 10 minutes for the carousel, and that was a great little ride for all of us.
After the very cute Winnie the Pooh ride, Emerson found this adorable little baby Minnie mouse in a swaddle that she chose to spend her souvenir money on.
Emerson’s one snack request was the ice cream Mickey Mouse bar, so of course we had to get her one!
On our way to the other side of the park, we kind of accidentally got stuck on the wrong side of where we were going because they were blocking things off for the parade. But we ended up in a great spot to stop and actually watch the parade, and it was perfect. Emmie waved at all the princesses, and some of them even waved back at her.
And we loved getting to actually meet Cinderella! She was a great princess, and did such a good job talking to Emerson, and Emmie really thought it was so special, and of course she believed she really was the real princess. (We didn’t really know much about Elena, but she was still fun to meet, too.)
One of my top snack requests was an afternoon iced latte from Joffrey’s which I desperately needed at this point in the day, around 4:45pm, after what felt like walking a million steps and a thousand miles… So while I stood in line for the coffee, Grammy & Papa took Emerson on the Carousel of Progress (I think that’s what it’s called?), and then she had some of the snacks we brought in, while laid back in her stroller and we all rested in the shade for a few minutes.
One of my favorite rides of the day was actually the Aladdin ride, because I loved that part of the park, and the atmosphere of feeling like we were in the market/bazaar, flying high above it all.
Although Emerson thought the Liberty steam boat ride was “boring,” us three adults enjoyed the calm 20-minute boat ride around Tom Sawyer’s island.
We had dinner at the Columbia Harbour House after the boat ride, and really enjoyed this spot too. We hauled the stroller up the stairs so we could find a good table, and ended up loving the quieter second floor, that felt legitimately like an old coastal pub with lots of dark wood and late afternoon sunlight. (I hated that I didn’t take a picture of the whole room, especially while we were the only ones up there and it was empty, but we highly recommend heading upstairs if you eat there.) Oh, and I was able to charge my phone again while we ate.
And Papa also got his number one snack choice, which was this blackberry milkshake topped with a raspberry chocolate cake donut, or something like that…
We had been wanting to ride the People Mover all day, but it always had a super long wait time. Then when I just so happened to check the app during dinner, it said it was only a 20-minute wait, so we booked it back across the park again to hop in line. and we ended up only having to wait 12 minutes, and then we had a beautiful, lovely ride, right at sunset! It really was one of the best rides, because the seats were cushy, and it felt great up there, and it was cool to see everything from above.
Our second to last “thing” of the evening was to meet Mickey Mouse back up at the front of the park, so we hoofed it back up there, and Emmie loved meeting him, although she somehow went mute, and barely said a word! She just held up her baby Minnie Mouse to show him, and just smiled so big while the rest of us kind of talked to him.
And then our last event was to find a spot to park ourselves in the masses, and watch the amazing fireworks display! Although we couldn’t see the castle from straight on, we could still see the fireworks, and we loved it. Emerson’s favorite part was Tinkerbell flying from the top of the castle, across the little water right near where we were standing. Emmie waved at her, and she swears and fully believes that Tink waved back at her!
That green blur in the sky is Tink.
I actually got emotional watching the fireworks and listening to the songs, just feeling so super grateful to be there with my girl. Feeling so lucky that my parents allowed me to tag along on this trip they offered to take Emerson on, and for them inviting me to come along too. I first cried at the thought of them taking her without me and so it truly was a blessing to be able to go and be there with her for her first Disney trip! (And speaking of, I was so thankful to Jeff for staying home to take care of Addison, and being so understanding to let me go on the trip!!)
We made one more stop on our way out to do some shopping with the last of her souvenir money, and to pick out some things for Baby Sister too.
Then it took forever while we waited our turn to board a ferry back to the parking lot, so while we stood in line, in the cold night air, for another 50 minutes (from the time we left the store to the time got on the boat), Emmie finally gave in and fell asleep all curled up with her Minnie Mouse in the stroller.
By the time we got back to the Jeep at almost 10:30pm (remember, we walked into the park right as they opened at 9am, and had been awake since 6am), my Google Fit registered that I had walked 24,000 steps, for 8 miles, and burned right over 3,700 calories! When I read out those stats to my parents, my mom’s response was, “We should have eaten more snacks today!” And I agree with her! There were so many other things I wanted to try!
It was 11pm when we got back to the hotel room, and 11:30 before we were finally falling asleep. My feet were killing me so bad I could barely walk across the room to change clothes and plug my phone in again, and then we collapsed into bed.