Because we stayed at the Swan Hotel, we were able to get into the Magic Kingdom for early hours on the Monday of our trip. Early hours started at 7 AM! It is my belief that if you’re paying over $100 per person for theme park admission, you have to be there as long as possible. So 7 AM it was. We made use of the Disney transportation and arrived at the Magic Kingdom (no need to take the ferry or the monorail) just as the morning show was being performed. (This show at the train station is now no longer – they have started letting people in onto Main Street and the morning show is at the castle).
So it was a bit dark outside still!
The icy lights on the castle were so pretty, especially in the early morning. I’m not sure why it looks so cloudy! It definitely cleared up later.
We had three sets of reserved Fast Passes (you don’t have to pay but you do have to reserve them on the app or webpage ahead of time, which is different from our last trip!) – for Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, Splash Mountain, and The Seven Dwarves Mine Train. Our game plan was to start in New Fantasyland and proceed to Fantasyland, hitting up the rides that tend to have longer waits later on. We had almost no lines this early in the morning! The Mine Train probably did have a line right away, but we were depending on that Fast Pass for later!
Our first ride was The Voyage of the Little Mermaid!
Next up was the Barnstormer, aka The Great Goofini. Zachary and Dave rode it twice in a row but Gabbie, Simon, and I got off after one round!
I love the Disney details – hence all the pictures! Look at this cut out of Goofy. He’s holding a Woody doll!
Next up was Dumbo. I really like the design of this ride!
Every time we saw the castle during the day, I think I took a picture! This was on our way to Winnie The Pooh.
I’m not sure if I realized I got the Mine Train in the picture when I took it!
The line wasn’t very long but the kids got to play in the interactive area a little bit too.
Winnie The Pooh is not an easy ride to get photos on – it’s really bouncy!
Next we did Peter Pan. This line can get long, and it was about 30 minutes. I had forgotten they re-did the line for Peter Pan. It now has some things to look at as you wind through.
Again, too bouncy for ride photos! Next up, we watched Mickey’s PhilharMagic. Not exactly a ride, but we love it!
From there it was on to It’s A Small World. You either love it or hate it, and we are big fans!
As we left the ride, we caught the clock opening – it was 9:15 AM.
We were now done with Fantasyland for the time being and we headed over to Liberty Square to the Haunted Mansion.
But first, a stop by the most beautifully decorated bathroom in all the land!
We think the Haunted Mansion is fun and funny, but it is pretty dark in there!
Next, we headed towards Frontierland, where we had our Fast Passes, stopping along the way for The Magic Carpets of Aladdin and Pirates of the Caribbean in Adventureland. Pirates actually had a pretty long line and Simon was not happy about that at all!
We arrived at Big Thunder Mountain Railroad and headed into the Fast Pass line – always fun to pass all the people waiting!
From there, it was straight into the Fast Pass line for Splash Mountain. Everyone enjoyed both of these rides, which was good because some of us were a little worried!
We took this picture of Zachary because we’d taken the same photo a previous time we were in Disney (January 2012):
And that brings us to lunch time! Amazing, right? Tune in next time for more from our magical day in the Magic Kingdom!