A Visit to Magic Kingdom at Disney World

 

The Cinderella Castle inside Magic Kingdom stands 189 feet and was built in 1971. 

My sons and I chose Magic Kingdom as our first park day during our Disney World Trip. Since we were staying at a WDW hotel, we had early entry before the park opened for the day. We should have taken advantage and roped dropped, which is a term that means you get there before the park opens, but we didn't. We did wake up early, but by the time we got ready, ate breakfast at our resort, and got on a bus to the park, it was already around 9:30. But we were planning on staying until after the firework show at 8 pm, so we ended up having plenty of hours at Magic Kingdom. 

We didn't do a ton of rides, but we were able to ride most of the ones we wanted to. I didn't purchase any skip the line extras, which are called Lighting Lanes. I find those pretty pricey for three people, so we didn't do a lot of rides. We usually waited around 45 minutes to 60 minutes for each ride. It was also the week of President's Day, so the park was packed. We had to wait about thirty minutes just to enter the park. The security line was also long, and they had to check my bag. 

Walking into the park and entering Main St. felt just like Disneyland, except the castle is bigger. The Cinderella Castle seemed small from far away, but big and impressive up close. 

Our first ride was The Haunted Mansion. I rode this as a kid at Disneyland and loved it. My sons ended up really enjoying this one, too! A classic Disney ride, for sure! 

This is the Tangled Restroom area! Such a cool restroom, located in Fantasyland. I liked the lanterns. 

I loved the added details from the Tangled movie, like this Rapunzel Tower. 

Although we missed the parade, we did get to watch Mickey's Magical Friendship Faire! Lots of characters, music, and even fireworks at the end! 

Goofy was so cute during the event.

Minnie, in all her glory.

Donald and Daisy were there! 

Characters from Tangled made an appearance. 

The Frozen gang, even Olaf, joined Mickey and Minnie. 

Elsa, singing "Let It Go" at the end, was magical and almost made me cry! 

We rode Under the Sea- Journey of Little Mermaid. Such a great ride queue with lots to look at. 

The Seven Dwarfs Mine Train, a family coaster that's super popular with long ride lines. I really wanted to ride this coaster but didn't. 

The People Mover, located in Tomorrowland, is a ten-minute elevated tour that takes you around the area. This is a relaxing ride with tons of views of Magic Kingdom. We enjoyed this one! 

Another view of the castle! So many angles to capture around Magic Kingdom.

This Winnie the Pooh and Piglet statue was so cute! 

We rode the monorail to The Polynesian Resort for dinner and when we reentered Magic Kingdom, the night sky was so pretty. The buildings were lit up and looked so nice. 

 

The castle was also looking lovely in the blue, evening light. 

We rode The Adventures of Winne the Pooh and it was so nostalgic and adorable.

Then it was time for the Nighttime Spectacular show, Happily Ever After. The firework show gets so crowded, and the cast members put up ropes to block access to certain parts of the park. To get a good view, you need to wait an hour or so in the spot you want before the show. We didn't do that and ended up ender a tree with a blocked view of the castle. 

I felt like we could still see, however, and still really enjoyed the fireworks! The music was incredible, as were the projections on the castle. It lasted about thirty minutes. 

It was such a magical day! We didn't do everything, because that would be impossible, especially for a first-time visit. But we did do a lot and had so much fun. In my next post, I'll cover the food we ate during our Magic Kingdom Day!