Disney World: Magic Kingdom

If you have ever been to Walt Disney World (WDW), you know it's a BIG place. We had visited Tokyo Disney twice while living in Japan, but WDW is much bigger, and since we had traveled so far to get there, we were determined to experience as much as we could. (Our Tokyo Disney adventures are here and here.) There are four parks within WDW: Magic Kingdom, Epcot, Animal Kingdom and Hollywood Studios. I decided that we would not visit Hollywood Studios and instead spend two days in the Magic Kingdom- I felt there would be more things we could all enjoy and that was more of a true Disney experience. I was really glad we planned it that way because the first day we had to spend a while getting our vouchers exchanged for tickets and just getting our bearings. That day we stayed in the park until about 3:00 and then went back to the hotel. The second day, we got up early and arrived for "Extra Magic Hours", stayed until lunch, napped at the hotel, and went back for the evening parade and fireworks show. (I highly recommend napping in the middle of the day if you're going to stay out late!) Here are some of our out-of-order pictures from the Magic Kingdom.

We have arrived!

Spinning in the Mad Hatter's Tea Party, aka the tea cups

Tinkerbell waves during the beautiful Electric Parade

Cinderella's Castle

Obligatory family photo in front of the castle!

Another must-have family photo at the exit

Abbey crosses the bridge to Adventureland (one of the seven themed areas in MK)

Swiss Family Robinson Treehouse- LOTS of stairs and of course my girls had no idea what it was, but it was still interesting.

We didn't meet any Disney characters in MK, but Abbey met a Suffragette in Liberty Square who was campaigning for Votes for Women!

Cinderella and the Fairy Godmother during the parade

Ready to find Capt. Jack Sparrow in the Pirates of the Caribbean ride

What do you mean there's a giant snake behind me?! (Jungle Cruise)

Big Thunder Mountain Railroad roller coaster- one of our family favorite rides

The one thing I did not like about MK- the crowds. There were a lot of people everywhere, and the worst was the large and loud tour groups from Brazil. Dozens of teenagers in matching shirts, often singing or chanting as they stampeded from one attraction to the next. But really, other Disney guests were mostly well-behaved- not much pushing, cutting in line (except to see the parades), or (my least favorite) loud and foul language. 

This is not even that crowded compared to some areas. 

Fortunately, we did not have to spend too much time waiting in lines even though there were a lot of people there. The combination of arriving early and using the "Fastpass" system helped a lot. The first day there we ate lunch at Cosmic Ray's in Tomorrowland, and while the food was fine, we were glad that we brought our lunch the next day (and ate it on a shady bench in Liberty Square) so that we didn't have to spend as much time doing that.

Just so I can remember, here are our thoughts on attractions in Magic Kingdom:
Loved it!
Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin
Big Thunder Mountain Railroad
Splash Mountain
Great Goofini 
Peter Pan's Flight
It was fun
Magic Carpets of Aladdin
Jungle Cruise
Pirates of the Caribbean
Swiss Family Treehouse
Dumbo
It's a Small World
Mad Tea Party
Mickey's Philhar-magic
Journey of the Little Mermaid
Monsters Inc Laugh Floor
Tomorrowland Speedway
Not so much
Haunted Mansion
Space Mountain (Well, Chad liked it, and Abbey later claimed to like it, but at the time she was really scared, Elliott was scared, and I was seriously TERRIFIED that Elliott was going to fall out.)

That wraps up the Magic Kingdom! Next up... Animal Kingdom!