WDW Day Five: Magic Kingdom & Be Our Guest!

We spent day five off at Magic Kingdom - absolutely a park that you want to spend more than one day at if you have the chance. So, we started off our day here by visiting one of our absolute FAVORITE characters for a meet & greet... TINKER BELL!

As you can see, Presley was completely starstruck!!!! We had a Fast Pass for this experience... there was definitely still a little bit of waiting involved but it cut down the wait time a whole lot by having a FP.  I knew we'd want to meet Tink because she is one of my absolute all-time favorite characters and we all love her movies - especially Pres! It was so fun and I wish I had gotten more pictures of the room itself - everything was huge to make Tinker Bell look and feel so tiny.

Since it's been 3 entire months since our WDW trip, I'm having a hard time forgetting the play-by-play of the day but I know we took the morning pretty easy peasy. We walked around and explored and rode rides with shorter wait times until our lunch reservation at Be Our Guest!

This picture right here is why I absolutely preach that the memory maker is worth every penny. We would have never gotten photos like this one otherwise!

When it came to booking Be Our Guest, it was a no brainer. I knew that we would accept whatever reservation we could get here - any day/time we would make it work. If you guys know me, I am a PLANNER when it comes to our Disney vacation. So I got up bright and early at the correct time to make advanced dining reservations (I think it was 5am?) exactly 180 days out from our trip. I had a list of places we wanted to go and what days we wanted to go there and the window of time we were hoping for. Cinderella's Royal Table for dinner was at the top of my list because that was the one we wanted to go to the MOST for this trip and it was followed up by Be Our Guest for both lunch and dinner. CRT is always one of the most coveted places to snag a reservation but right now I think Be Our Guest is even more popular and more difficult to get into because it's new and wonderful! So, thankfully we got reservations to both places but EVEN waking up at the crack of dawn on our 180 mark, we still kinda got crap times for the dinner reservations.

People either seem to really enjoy BOG or they feel like the food wasn't worth the price or the experience wasn't worth the trouble of trying to get a reservation. We absolutely loved the experience and the food was crazy good. I ordered the french onion soup, ham & cheese sandwich (the fancy menu name for this is Croque Monsieur), and the master's cupcake for dessert. What is the master's cupcake you ask? Let me tell you. It's a chocolate cupcake topped with "the grey stuff" aka a cookies and cream frosting. Ohhhh so good. All of it - literally every single bite of everything I ordered - was so perfect.

The cool thing about lunch at Be Our Guest is that it's a Quick Service credit (opposed to it being a Table Service credit when you eat there at dinner). If that doesn't make sense to you and you want to understand what I mean, just do some research on the Disney Dining Plan and it might make more sense after you read about that. BOG is the only quick service restaurant that requires you to make a reservation beforehand. I felt like this made everything super efficient and convenient. You place your order shortly after walking in at a super user-friendly kiosk.

It looks hectic but it was super streamline.

They bring your parties food out to you once it's ready. I honestly have no idea how they found our party so easy when they have no idea where you seated yourself. Selena said there is probably GPS in our Magic Bands which is kinda cool/creepy but totally makes sense.

Not only do you pick out your own table but you also got to pick which room you'd like to dine in out of the three - the West Wing (Presley wasn't going for this option - it's the creepy dark room), the Grand Ballroom, or the Castle Gallery. We chose the Castle Gallery because we found an open table that accommodated our group. Also, it was close to the drink refill station. Upon first glance it's probably the least interesting out of the three rooms but it's one of those rooms where the more you look around the cooler it gets.

The view of the Castle Gallery room from my seat

The focal point of the Castle Gallery is this pretty statue of Belle and Beast that dances around the entire time.

Relaxing in this comfy booth and waiting for our food to show up!

So happy and super excited!

The majority of these photos are my husbands. When we got home I realized how little I took pictures while we were there and I was SO upset. Tony showed me all the awesome pictures he took and he told me he tried to take as many pictures as he could while we were there so we could look back and enjoy them later. The swoon-worthy part was that he told me he wanted to do that so that I could fully enjoy everything in the moment. Is he not the best man in the world?! Makes me tear up. (But yes... I am hormonal...)

So back to the pictures.

Some of the beautiful details.

The Master's Cupcake. So delicious.

Walking through the Grand Ballroom.

There were good and great things about both lunch and dinner at Be Our Guest but when it comes to BOG for us in the future, I will more than likely opt for lunch rather than dinner.  But more on that later.

After we finished up with lunch we rode some more rides. Again, I don't remember anything at this point! I do know that Presley and I waited in the longest line for the longest time to ride Aladdin's Magic Carpets and man did that ride look extremely dated! It needs some TLC. Even still, we had so much fun!!! (And to be fair, I'm sure it looked so dated because the last time we rode a ride similar to this one was a few days earlier on Dumbo the Flying Elephant - literally the same concept ride. And the Dumbo ride was a new addition for Fantsyland so of course it was bright and beautiful and new! So it made Aladdin's carpets look like a carnival ride in comparison!)

Tony took this one... that's me holding my arms out like I'm having the best day of my life. Which is what I was thinking at that exact moment!

So excited to ride this with her!

We had a LeFou's Brew (which is a "no-sugar added frozen apple juice with a hint of toasted marshmellow topped with an all-natural passion fruit-mango foam") from Gaston's Tavern while we were walking around MK. We got it with a snack credit and for me it was just OKAY but Tony and the girls loved it. It was a little too tangy and too overwhelming for me but I'd definitely say try it once and glad we did!

I had a Fast Pass to the Pirates of the Caribbean ride and none of us had ridden it yet this trip so I decided to sneak away with Presley and BOOK it to the ride before we lost our Fast Pass slot and we ended up being the only ones to ride it on this trip and I'm so so so glad we got it in because it is honestly one of my FAVORITE rides at Disney World!

Presley was a little freaked out on this ride as it's a little spooky, especially with the cannons going off but overall she can understand it's just pretend and seemed to like it!

When we got off the ride Jack Sparrow was entertaining a crowd but unfortunately we had no time to stop and watch!

One of the other Fast Pass experiences of the day was meeting Anna and Elsa!!!! I'm so glad we did this because not only is Presley such a huge fan, but Molly is so in love with the movie, music, and characters, too! Pretty much the entire trip Molly just tolerated all the characters we came in contact with. And in the beginning she would cry and struggle out of our arms to get away from them! But not with Anna. I don't know what made Anna want to do this, but she came nose-to-nose with Molly and oh.my.goodness! She was entranced!!! It was a special moment.

Presley was in literal shock... could not believe what was happening to her!

Anna was so animated and just precious with the kids! Right here she was imitating Sven for Molly.

After this we headed back to Be Our Guest for our late late late dinner. This time we dined in the Grand Ballroom! I'm so glad we got to experience two different rooms at Be Our Guest! This room was beautiful and you really honestly felt like you were living part of the movie being there. Halfway through our meal Beast was introduced to the room and that was pretty neat. I got the layered ratatouille (which was a vegetarian dish) for dinner. It was just OK for me... wasn't a huge fan but I didn't completely hate it either. I really preferred their more simple lunch menu.

Once we finished up dinner and dessert we got to go visit Beast in his study! By this point Molly had food - mostly dessert - all over her face. We decided not to clean her up as it would make for a hilarious photo opportunity and it surely did. I told the staff in line that she ate like Beast at dinner! Thankfully they all found it pretty funny instead of thinking we were crazy!!

Snow falling! So magical.

The West Wing! 

A dessert cart!

The enchanted rose

Presley in the Castle Gallery room where we ate lunch earlier in the day 

My little Belle holding Lumiere!

It's Beast!!!!! 

Our sweet girl was not scared at all - she understood this was the more civilized Beast after he became nice from falling in love with Belle.

After dinner I tried to cram in some more rides while the park was so empty but overall our crew was not having it. It was a LONG day and everyone was tired and ready to go to bed!

So that's a wrap on day five! I tried to pack in as much detail as I could remember but seeing as I don't remember what we did between meals - aside from a few rides - I feel like there is a whole lot I'm leaving out. But if I keep putting off finishing up our vacation posts there will really be nothing left to remember!!!

WDW Day Four: Ohana, EPCOT, & Magic Kingdom

Sorry for the unexpected lapse of time since my last Disney post... I totally lost steam when it came to chronicling the trip. It's WAY less fun writing about the trip as it was experiencing it all!

So, onto our beautiful fourth day at Walt Disney World! We woke up at the Caribbean Beach Resort, got ready, and headed to the Polynesian Village Resort for a 10:30am breakfast reservation at 'Ohana! None of us had been to 'Ohana and it was on my Disney Bucket List of places to eat so I was REALLY looking forward to this meal. I had heard such great thing about the restaurant in general, about the amazing breakfast spread, and also about the fun character interaction and let me happily tell you that none of it disappointed!!! It's also so fun visiting the monorail resorts - both for their beauty and for the fun monorail rides.

The character interaction at 'Ohana is with Mickey, Pluto, Lilo, and Stitch and they're decked out in Hawaiian wear. Knowing this ahead of time, I brought leis and a grass skirt for Presley (all bought from the Dollar Tree in the summertime) and I'm so glad we did. Disney is the best place to go all-out in celebration for every.single.exciting.thing!

But first, we got seated at our table. They brought out some truly delicious breads - a pineapple bread and a raisin bread. I couldn't pick a favorite between the two if I tried! Both were SO delicious. Oh and the POG/Stitch Juice... YUUUUM! POG is passionfruit/orange/guava juice and I am usually NOT a juice person at all and it was sincerely one of my favorite things about the entire meal. They also brought out a nice assortment of fruits that all of us loved. After that it was a gigantic platter of scrambled eggs, breakfast potatoes, sausage, bacon and most importantly Stitch and Mickey waffles! Presley wasn't a fan of the Mickey waffles but she LOVED the Stitch waffles! (Yep... same thing, different shape! Of course they taste totally different...)

During  your meal the characters will come around and visit with you. It wasn't just the kids getting so excited before each character that would come to visit - all of us were excited! Stitch was just about the best character interaction we had our entire Disney vacation. He came up behind Presley and gave her a huge bear hug and usually something like that would completely freak Presley out but she rolled with it and handled it SO GREAT! She was just tickled to meet Stitch and he even licked her face! So so so much fun. After the meal all the kids got in a line to dance around the restaurant while shaking maracas. I jumped in line with Presley and that was something we both really enjoyed! We also visited the gift shop at the Polynesian Village Resort and got some postcards and stamps (and goofed off a bit) before hopping on the monorail and heading to EPCOT!

One of the first things we did at EPCOT was split up. I stayed behind to wait in line to meet Baymax while everybody else headed to the Seas pavilion to ride the Nemo ride again (the girls LOVED it). They headed back over in perfect time to meet Baymax! It was awesome to meet him but he was a less memorable experience only because there wasn't much interaction there. I bet that's a hard job for the cast member there!!! I'm so so glad we met him as we really love Big Hero 6!

We hung out at the Land and Seas pavilions for a good chunk of the day (Living with the Land was one of the favorites for us) and decided to have a late lunch at Sunshine Seasons - which is a big food court inside the Land Pavilion. Molly fell asleep on Tony during the Living with the Land ride and he accidentally left his phone on the boat ride so we ran back over real quick once we realized he forgot it! Thankfully one of the cast members grabbed it! Molly continued her nap on the comfy booth seat while we rested and ate some really good Salmon. Presley had mac & cheese... big surprise... and Selena and Mike got some kind of tuna dish! The food at Sunshine Seasons is fantastic and you have so much to choose from! Tony and I stumbled upon it on our honeymoon and had no idea it was such a delicious place to eat, especially for a quick service restaurant!

After that Tony, Selena, and Mike went to ride the Test Track ride and I took the girls to walk around since they were too little for the ride. We wanted the girls to pick out some kind-of souvenir while we were at WDW so this was the perfect time. Molly got a little Elsa doll and Presley got the matching Anna doll. We didn't have much else to do at EPCOT and Selena and Mike were heading to Animal Kingdom Resort for a date night dinner at Sanaa - so we all headed out of the park. Tony, the girls, and I decided to hop on the monorail and head to Magic Kingdom.

We rode the railroad all around the park - which was really beautiful and fun - and the girls got stickers from the conductor (who was right behind us) after they made it around the whole park. He told us it was for them being so well behaved! It's always such a great feeling to hear that!

The park was closing early that evening at 7pm for a special event (Mickey's Very Merry Christmas) so we didn't spend an awful long time at the park. We did have a late dinner at Pinocchio Village Haus since it was one of the only Quick Service restaurants that was still open. I hadn't heard many good food reviews from Pinocchio Haus but one redeeming quality is that if you get a window seat in the restaurant you have a view of the It's a Small World boat ride entrance! Which thankfully my amazing husband scored us a window seat! So that was REALLY neat. Tony and the girls hung out at the table while I went to get us some food. While I was gone, Tony was teaching the girls to wave to the people riding the boats and it was adorable!!

I got three meals and we all shared - two flatbreads (one pepperoni and one caprese), two side salads, tomato basil soup, and chicken parmesan. If we ever came back here it'd be for the nice view and pretty restaurant, definitely not for the food. It wasn't terrible but it really wasn't great. The best thing here was the chocolate cake that we had for dessert. SOOO yummy! Then we headed back to the Caribbean Beach Resort to call it an early night.

Selena and Mike were down at the food court so once we got to our room we grabbed our refillable mugs and hiked over there to hang out with them. We were surprised to peek in on our room and see that Mousekeeping decorated the room with the girls stuffed animals and blanket! It's the little things like this that make a Disney vacation full of so much magic!

We played around at the arcade for a bit, hung out at the food court, and then headed back to our rooms and ended the evening pretty late, again! Presley ended up falling asleep before we even did their bedtime routine and when I started nursing Molly before her bedtime she fell asleep on me!! Which never happens. So they were both SUPER tuckered out!

And that's it for day four! It was pretty broad strokes for this post because I'm having a hard time remembering what we rode or experienced in specifics since it's been a while now since our vacation! But overall, that's the gist of what we did. It was another fantastic day that I'm so glad to have experienced with my family. Coming up for day five is another day at Magic Kingdom and some really wonderful foodie experiences! So hang in there ;)

To recap, here are the posts on our first and second and third days at Disney!