Disney ~ Day 4 ~ The Magic Kingdom

Another day, another slew of character greetings! The Magic Kingdom certainly left nothing to be desired when it came to character sightings. Here is the day in pictures.

I love that the first thing you see when you arrive at this park is this gorgeous train depot. It's such a thing of childhood nostalgia.

Anyone who has never been to Disney World while it's decorated for Christmas is certainly missing out on quite an experience. Disney does nothing half-ass and the decorations are no exception. This is the enormous tree once you set foot into Magic Kingdom.

Our first character greeting was immediate. Our favorite friend, Pluto!

Almost immediately, we spotted another familiar guy. It's Pinocchio!

The girls were VERY excited to meet their first official princess. It was none other than Snow White!

While waiting to see Snow White, a cast member told us that we should try to capture the look on the girls faces the first time that they see Cinderella's Castle. I'm so glad he mentioned that. I ran ahead as hubby strolled the girls to the front of Main Street and they caught their first glimpse. Big A pointed out the big structure ahead.

And then Little A gasped at the site. She was just amazed at how big it was.

And there it is.

Before heading into the rest of the park, we heard rumor that one of the girls' fave characters was just around the corner. And there she was. Miss Daisy Duck herself!

So then we made a stop in Adventureland and were so excited to run into Rafiki from The Lion King. (My fave movie) Big A's room is decorated from this flick.

And then we got an even bigger surprise when we ran into Meeko from Pocahontas. This had special meaning for us because we named our first German Shepherd, Meeko, after this character. It was bittersweet, but fun.

We arrived at The Crystal Palace restaurant for another character dining experience. This time it was Winnie the Pooh and friends. We enjoyed watching Tigger razz my dad for a bit.

And then the girls got some love from Tigger

They were super excited to meet Eeyore. He wasn't quite so gloomy this day!

Piglet was the big hit of the day. Thankfully he was in good form. The girls were ready to hit the road after getting some hugs.

Hubby & I proceeded to wait in line for 40 minutes so that the girls could meet Ariel in her grotto. Thankfully, this attraction had some cool water fountains that the kids got good and wet playing in before we made it inside. And we got to talk with some of the other tired parents who were keeping place in line. The lady in front of us was from Brazil. It's amazing to me how people from all over the world flock to these parks.

We finally made it into see Ariel. I was a little disappointed, but the girls were excited.

And then we went on the most obnoxious ride in the entire state of Florida. It's A Small World. If my mother had not BEGGED to ride, I would've bypassed it quicker than anything you've seen. Of course, my kids loved this ride. Figures.

A trip to the Magic Kingdom isn't complete without a ride on Dumbo. Big A rode with me and was super excited to see the park from "Dumbo's" perspective.

We wrapped up our day here with a story read by Belle herself. It was so great and then the kids got to run up and meet her. Big A still talks about this story time as one of her favorite things from the trip. It makes me so happy that small moments like that left such an impression on her. I only hope that when she thinks back to some great moments in her young life, this will be one that she treasures for many years to come. I know that I will.

After a long day of character fun, we ran back to the hotel and were super excited to see what our housekeeper had in store for us. Each day, she would decorate things while we were gone. Today, our bevy of stuffed animals apparently partied pretty hard while we were away.

After dinner, the grandparents took over kid duty while hubby and I sprinted to the Blue Man Group show at Universal Studios. We weren't allowed to take any pics during the show, although I was extremely tempted to challenge that rule. I will say that the show was AWESOME and if you ever have the opportunity to see this group, TAKE IT. You won't be disappointed.

We headed back to the resort, exhausted & completely unprepared for what the next day was going to bring us. This is where our story takes a drastic turn downhill.