The Quinns: Day 3- Magic Kingdom

On Thursday we went back to Magic Kingdom. The girls ate cereal in the room, and then we headed to the bus stop. John had gotten caught up doing some work on his computer, so we were a tad later leaving than I wanted. As we were walking to the bus stop, we saw the Magic Kingdom bus pull away. :/ We stayed at the bus stop for a few minutes, but they never updated the screen showing what time the next bus was coming. We couldn't be late because I had scheduled a photographer to take our pictures at Magic Kingdom! {More on that in another post.} So we decided rather than wait any longer we should hop in cab {there were several waiting in front of the resort.} The driver dropped us off at the Contemporary because cabs can't pull right up to MK, and we walked over. Folks staying at the Contemporary have their own entrance and security line which is great! We went through that in no time and headed to the Starbucks where we were meeting the photographer, Faison Weiss. John went in and got us some coffee while we waited, and by the time he was done, she was there.

The kids and I waited outside. With the new park opening procedure, the days of an empty Main Street are over.

Once Faison arrived, we headed straight to Dumbo to take some pictures on it. First John rode with both girls while I sat out with BJ, and then I rode with the girls. Then we headed to the carousel for pictures. SC was starting to have a hissy at this point, but Faison got some cute shots. After that we stopped by Cinderella's Wishing Well for a few pics and then headed towards the front of the castle. After getting some shots in the hub grass, Faison bought the girls a Mickey ice cream bar. While we were waiting for her, we saw some performers on Main Street.

Faison took some pictures of the girls with their ice cream, and then she took me off by myself to get a few solo shots for work. :) John stayed in the hub grass with the kids, and they watched Mickey's Royal Friendship Faire for the first time {the new castle show that replaced our beloved Dream-Along with Mickey}.

After we were done with Faison, I needed to feed baby John so I headed to the baby care center. I told John he could take the girls to do something and I would meet them, but they ended up just waiting on me. After the baby ate, I put him in the stroller so he could get a break from the Ergo, and we headed to It's a Small World per the girls' request. Then we rode Journey of the Little Mermaid and headed to our Fast Pass for Enchanted Tales with Belle. Curran did this on our first trip, but SC had fallen asleep in the stroller so this was her first time to do it! They were excited. I had given them a little pep talk about being happy with whatever part they got because Curran was still bitter about being the salt shaker from two years earlier. Well wouldn't you know, she got picked to be the Beast! This is the coveted part because you get to dance with Belle! I was so happy for her. They handed out the main parts and then asked if anyone else wanted one but no one {including SC} raised their hands. As they were walking into the library, I asked SC if she wanted a part and she said she did, so they gave her the barking footstool, and she was pretty happy with that. :)

My little footstool waiting for her turn.

The Beast was sneaking up on Belle to scare her.

Afterwards, all the kids get to pose with Belle and she gives them a bookmark.

After Enchanted Tales, Curran and I had a Fast Pass for Space Mountain, so we headed towards Tomorrowland to eat lunch first. We had never eaten at Cosmic Ray's Starlight Café, so we tried that. I fed the baby while we were eating, and then John took SC and him on People Mover while C and I rode Space Mountain.

I don't remember it throwing me around as much last time. Since it's pitch black it always makes me feel better to have my hands on Curran so I know she's not freaking out. :)

John and SC had a Fast Pass for Buzz Lightyear Ranger Spin, so they did that while Curran, baby John, and I rode People Mover. Something was going on with it again and the ride got stopped so many times.

Game faces

John and SC finished before us, so they went to the castle to get a front row spot to watch Friendship Faire again so we could see it better.

The views from the People Mover sure are pretty.

Curran, BJ, and I met them at the castle right before it started, but the speakers were too loud so BJ and I went to stand further back. It was a really cute show, but I still miss Dream Along.

The girls love Tiana and Rapunzel, so it's fun to see them in a show.

After the show, Curran wanted to ride Splash Mountain and the wait times weren't long, so we all walked towards Frontierland. The younger kids and I stopped to get myself a Dole Whip while C and J went to ride. SC was starting to melt at this point and was begging for plain vanilla ice cream which was not sold anywhere near where we were. I was trying to convince her to grab a spot for the parade, and then we would get the ice cream afterwards, but she was not having it and was acting a total fool. I just found a shady spot anyway and parked the stroller. I knew she had low blood sugar, so I went to the closest snack stand and got her a Mickey pretzel and a churro. She perked right up and was just thrilled to be waiting on the parade. She's a mess. She had a blast during the parade!

SC's first churro! She was a fan. And if I had a dollar for every time she took her shoes off, I'd be a rich lady.

I'm not sure how they pick the Grand Marshalls now that Disney doesn't pick a family of the day at park opening, but this day they choose these two cute old ladies. I had to take a pic to send to my mom and sister. :)

Waiting on all her princess friends!

Hey, Rapunzel!

She spotted Sallie!

And blew her a kiss!

Here comes Tink!

Is that me?!

smooches

After the parade, we walked towards Splash Mountain to meet up with the other two who had ridden it a second time.

Curran was not scared at all on our last trip, so I have no idea why she was so freaked out this time around. Or why she insists on riding it multiple times. {That's them in the back row if you couldn't tell, and then in the front row the second time.}

I have figured out the only two thrill rides she truly loves are Mine Train and Thunder Mountain.

After they finished with Splash Mountain, I saw the wait time to meet Tiana was 15 minutes, which was the lowest it had been, so we went to Princess Fairytale Hall. We have never met Tiana, so they were really wanting to do that. While waiting in line, the baby woke up, so I left to go to the baby care center to feed him while John and the girls waited to meet Tiana and Rapunzel, who meets with her.

SC told Tiana, "My cousin lives in New Orleans!" And Tiana said, "Well the next time you come, I'll make you some beignets at my restaurant!" Sal was thrilled. :)

I was so upset when I realized I forgot to pull out the kids' Mickey ears with Faison that morning! I had packed them the night before just to make sure I didn't forget them. I'm seriously still sick about it. :( After Tiana, John and the kids met me in the hub grass near the baby care center so I could try to get some pictures. But it was a half-hearted attempt- I wasn't about to stress over it, and SC was being silly and you can see that BJ wasn't feeling it.

On our trip in October of 2015, I wanted to get a third little hat to announce our pregnancy. When I miscarried two weeks before our trip, I was devastated to say the least. Being able to buy a third hat this trip and have a cute little baby to wear it was so special to me! Hate I didn't get any good pics, but there's always next time. :)

One of the things I really wanted to do on this trip was to have the children's silhouettes done. So after trying to take some pics, we went to a little area off Main Street. I thought they turned out SO well! My only regret is that I didn't put Curran's bow back in when she was having hers done. She looks very young and little like a boy, but oh well. But the likeness is great!

Curran and John had a Fast Pass for Big Thunder Mountain Railroad that evening, so we all started walking that way. SC and I had one for the Magic Carpets, but we were a few minutes early, so we climbed the Swiss Family Robinson Treehouse to kill some time.

The view of the castle from the treehouse!

Then we went back to use our Fast Pass on the Magic Carpets.

And this is one of my favorite pictures from the trip. She was being a royal pain 10 minutes before this picture. But then...pure joy.

We had a 5:25pm dinner reservation at Be Our Guest, so SC, BJ, and I walked over there and checked in. However they wouldn't let us check in until our whole party was there, and John and C had decided to ride Thunder Mtn a second time, so we had to wait about 10 minutes on them to meet us before we could check in. And then we had to wait a while longer on our table. We sat in the ballroom which I love. SC was scared of the Beast {even though he meets in a different room}, so she was snuggled close to John the whole time. We enjoyed a good meal but baby John was starting to get a bit antsy. After we were finished eating and while John was waiting on the check, I walked the girls around the other parts of the restaurant {the West Wing and Castle Gallery} and they stood by the window to watch the snow fall outside. :) Then Curran wanted to meet the Beast so we got in line. Sallie wanted John to hold her and at first she was fine, but then she burst into tears. Poor thing.

He was awake and starting to get a tad fussy during dinner.

Posing in the Castle Gallery.

Taking turns pretending to be the Beast

After we paid the bill, we went to get in line to meet the Beast. I was surprised SC even went in there.

It was right after this that Sallie burst into tears. :(

We had gotten a rider switch for Space Mountain earlier in the day, and John really wanted to use it, and we did debate hitting a few more rides, but it was 7:00 by this point and I did not want a repeat of Tuesday night with baby John! So we scooted out of the park and caught the bus. It's always sad leaving Magic Kingdom for the last time.