March 8, 2015 - Magic Kingdom Half Day

After our trip to the International Flower and Garden Festival we spent a few hours the next day at Magic Kingdom. Here are some photos of our day. 

January 24 and 25 Disney Trip

On January 24th and 25th we took a family trip to Walt Disney World. We park hopped, rode rides, learned how to draw some Disney characters and met with some characters ourselves. Here is a look at our family trip. I had each of them sign a birthday card for my nephew who just turned 4 years old.

Hat construction continues as they disassemble it piece by piece

While Jesse and Amara took an extra drawing class I went to visit this little lady.

With rumors swirling on Baymax and Hiro leaving in March, we made sure to get a family photo with both of them.

An Okapi on the Kilimanjaro Safari

Bongos on the Kiliminjaro Safari

A beautiful giraffe. I'd love to turn this photo, or the next one, into a postcard.

Some rhinos just hanging out.

A Lion King painting that will be used in my photo book.

At characterpalooza we met a few characters. First we said hello to Mulan

Pocahontas was feeling cold this day so she put an extra layer over her normal dress.

Snow White was lovely as ever and oh so sweet.

Pinocchio had no strings attached to becoming his friend.

Princess Tiana really liked Amara's top.

Later on that night over at Magic Kingdom we caught up with the White Rabbit, who apparently was not running late for any important dates.

The next day while meeting up with some friends at the Magic Kingdom Train Station, Mary Poppins decided to drop in for a visit.

We soon ended our trip with a visit to the head cheese. Amara recorded the interaction on her GoPro, but due to her recent restriction, that video will have to wait to see the light of day.

All in all we had a wonderful family mini vacation to my favorite place. Now we patiently await the Flower and Garden Festival. And oh, we have brunch reservations at Raglan Road this Sunday. Jesse and I will be having our annual date trip for Valentines (a week early due to work) and I'm very excited!

Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party Part II

I made my way over to the ducks and to my surprise the line was much longer than anticipated, but since it was only 8:20 and they were doing a continuous rotation I found it to be worth the wait. I ended up waiting around 45 minutes to meet Donald, Daisy, and Scrooge.

Minnie was right across from the ducks and her line was very short with only about 15 people in line. I made it up to her about 2 minutes before fireworks kickoff. I started speed walking towards Fantasyland and Liberty Square. If the crowds inside the Diamond Horseshoe were the same during fireworks at the Halloween party then I would have my opportunity to meet the three new characters to the party this year.

As expected the Diamond Horseshoe was empty with all three characters I wanted to meet out. There were about 5 other people in there plus a few cast members. Which made it very easy for me to have one of them take a few photos for me with Clarabelle Cow, Horace Horsecollar, and Clara Cluck. 

It was now 9:45 p.m. and the fireworks had just ended. I had now met with 19 characters total and met with each one on my priority list. So anything after this point was extra. I found this to be a great time to get a front row spot for Mickey's Once Upon a Christmas Time Parade. I've never had the chance to watch this from the front without people blocking my view. 

The parade kicked off right at 10:30 p.m. and since I was in between Frontierland and Liberty Square I was close to where the parade started from, which means I would finish watching it earlier than those on Main Street, and that would make for low crowds for the final hour of the party.

One the parade was over I made way over to Adventureland and decided to get in line for Jasmine and Genie or Aladdin and Abu. There were only about 6 families ahead of me and Jasmine and Genie were out. After just a few minutes the switch came and it was Aladdin and Abu. 

Part One

Part Three