Curran's Birthday Trip Day 3- MK again!

Happy birthday to Curran!! We had been celebrating all weekend, but it was fun to wake up in Disney World on the actual day! The morning came bright and early, and I finished getting us packed up so we could check out. One of my favorite things about Disney's resorts are that you can check in for your flights there, get your boarding passes printed, and send your luggage on to the airport! Well it really depends on the airline and what time your flight leaves, but most people are able to use it. We had a breakfast reservation at Be Our Guest at 8:10, so I needed to make sure we were up and at 'em at a decent time. My goal was to get to the airline check in location at 7:30, but we made it at 7:20! That almost never happens in our family! :) I had checked in for our flight online the day before of course, but I got our boarding passes printed and our luggage tagged and sent to the airport, and then we went to the bus stop to go to Magic Kingdom. Boats weren't running yet {they don't start at WL until 8:30}, but we were closest to the bus stop anyway. We didn't have to wait long on a bus, and we arrived to MK at 7:32! They let people who have breakfast reservations enter MK early, but they still made us wait until around 7:44 to enter. Since we were so early, we headed towards the castle to get some pictures before going to breakfast.

King Arthur's sword behind Prince Charming Carousel

This was our first time eating breakfast at BOG {we have had lunch and dinner there several times}. We ordered online ahead of time which I would highly recommend- it saved so much time! We checked in and were taken right to our table. It might have taken 10 minutes or so for our food to come out. We enjoyed it, and they brought Curran a cupcake for her birthday with the "grey stuff" icing, so she was thrilled!

After we finished eating, we headed to the queue for Seven Dwarfs Mine Train. I think it was around 8:40 when we got in line. They won't let you enter the actual ride queue until closer to park opening, but they line BOG patrons up along the fence in front of the restaurant, and once the park officially opens, they escort you straight over to the ride. They had Early Morning Magic going on that morning, so they wouldn't let you pass without an armband {I had tried to go park our stroller across from Mine Train by Winnie the Pooh before breakfast and they wouldn't let me over there.} While we were waiting, we met some nice people from Arkansas and we made a connection- a girl I grew up with had just taught their daughter in kindergarten! I love when the world gets small like that. We were maybe 20 people back in the line, and I want to say it was a few minutes before 9am when they took us over to the ride, so we didn't have to wait at all once we were let in! That was so fun!

Walked right on!

 After Mine Train, we scooted over to the Winnie the Pooh {with our new Arkansas friends :) } which is always fun and cute.

Again, I was trying to let C call the shots as much as possible, and she was really wanting to do some roller coasters. She was begging for Barnstormer, but we had ridden it 4 times the day before, so I asked her to please branch out. So she said Splash Mtn. This was ride #3 for the weekend, but I was up for it. There was only a 10 min wait so we were on the ride in no time.

Front row! Definitely got a tad wet.

Then we headed next door to Big Thunder Mtn Railroad which had about a 15 min wait. The line did seem to move fairly slow for this one. It had started to rain before we got in line, so we pulled our ponchos on for the ride. Then we headed over to the Magic Carpets.

Thankfully it had stopped raining for a few minutes.

Our first FP was for Peter Pan's flight, so we went back to Fantasyland for that. Then we decided to meet Peter Pan who was right around the corner. We got there at 10:50 and he wasn't going to be back until 11, so we had a nice time visiting with a family in front of us who had just moved to Birmingham! I realized while Curran was talking to Peter that I had left her autograph book in the stroller, so they told us we could come back and he would sign in. So after some photos, we scooted over to the carousel where our stroller was and then went right back over for him to sign in.

Then it was time for our FP for Enchanted Tales with Belle. Right as we got in line, the bottom opened up and it started pouring. I was glad we were covered and were about to go inside. Curran really wanted to be a "new to her" part, so she was thrilled she got to be Maurice! Our former babysitter and her girls were at Disney in June, and the oldest, Laura Kate, got to be Maurice, so as soon as Curran was handed her part, she turned to me and told me to take a picture and send it to LK, :) She was excited!

After Belle, we rode on Journey of the Little Mermaid, went to the potty {I really feel like I lived in the restroom that weekend- it was so hot that I drank SO MUCH WATER}, and then went to Dumbo.

Curran really wanted to play in the play area which she had never done before, so I let her do that for about 10 minutes. {I mentioned that in yesterday's post but I was wrong. She played on Sunday, not Saturday. OCD about the details. :) }

When we got out of the play area to the ride, it was raining pretty steadily. It rained off and on all day long {more on than off}, but we made the most of it!

On Dumbo in the rain

After Dumbo it was time for our FP for Seven Dwarfs Mine Train.

That was our last ride of the day as we needed to start making our way towards the front of the park. I really wanted to try the Plaza Restaurant which is table service, but they don't offer many reservations, but you can walk up and put your name on the list. We did that and I wasn't sure how long we would have to wait on a table, but thankfully they called our name literally 30 seconds later as I was parking the stroller, and we got seated right away. C got a burger and I got a club sandwich, and we really enjoyed it! The waitress felt so bad that she didn't see Curran's birthday button until after we had paid the bill and were about to leave, so she didn't get a birthday treat, but I assured her that she didn't need one more thing!

The Plaza is such a cute restaurant!

 We saw that Snow White was meeting near Town Square, so we headed there after lunch.

I needed to pump, so we headed to the Baby Care Center next. On the way to pump, I passed by a random lady who made an ugly comment about C being in a stroller. I wanted to turn around and ask what business of it was hers? I like to walk fast, and we covered a LOT of ground! It was more enjoyable for BOTH of us for C to have a stroller. Who is it bothering?!!? Still annoys me over 6 months later. Anywho...Curran did not like her silhouette we got done in January because her hair was so short and we forgot to put her bow back in so she thought she looked like a boy, and she had been begging to get a new one. They are only $8 so I told her we would if we had time. So we did that after I pumped since we had plenty of time before the parade started. It was a different silhouette artist, and I wasn't thrilled with C's this time. She was making a weird face and holding her head at a funny angle, and the lady didn't tell her to sit correctly. C liked it, so I guess that's good, but it doesn't look like her to me.

C had a birthday gift card from a friend, so I told her we could shop, and I wanted her to pick out something for Sallie Cate as well. We headed to the Emporium and C picked out a few gifts for her siblings and herself. We had lots of snack credits leftover, so we went to the Main Street Confectionery to spend those. Normally we breeze through our snack credits, but they recently doubled them, plus C and I just didn't eat much this trip. After we finished up in the Confectionery, we found a spot in front of the train station {near the park exit} to watch the parade because we needed to be at the Contemporary Resort at 3:45 to catch our ride to the airport.

We enjoyed the parade, but it started raining again about halfway through, so the characters weren't doing the things they normally do. Right before the last float came by, I told C we needed to leave. We walked over to the Contemporary where our transportation was waiting. I turned in our stroller to the bellman there, and we hopped in the car.

Sad to be leaving

She loves posing at the airport.

We hit some traffic right as we were exiting to the airport, so we barely made it to our gate in time for our 5:15 flight. We were the second to last people to board, so there were no two seats together on the whole plane. A very nice gentleman offered up his seat so Curran and I could sit together, and I was so grateful! I enjoyed another of my free drink vouchers on the way home, and we were in Bham before we knew it. John, Sallie Cate, and baby John were there to greet us at the airport, and we were SO excited to see them! They had balloons for C which I thought was just the sweetest thing considering she had just had the mother of all birthday celebrations. Baby John started fussing when he saw me {when he realized I had been gone} but he quickly snapped out of it. They also had a cookie cake waiting on C at home, which was so thoughtful! SC could not have been sweeter and more excited for Curran- I know the situation would NOT have been the same if it were reversed. She wanted to hear all the details, and I was just blown away at how well she handled it. She was so excited about the goodies we brought her!

Baby John loved his baby Bambi

This trip was seriously one of the happiest moments of my life. Curran and I had wonderful time together: we could talk, relax, hold hands, and just enjoy each other without any interruptions or stress from the real world. I hope we both remember this for the rest of our lives! And SC is already excited about her 8th birthday trip- April 2020 can't get here soon enough! :)