The Magic of Magic Kingdom

We made a slight detour for heading to Anna Maria this year and decided to spend a day at Magic Kingdom to give Mairin the same opportunity that the big kids had while she is at the perfect, princess-loving age.  The night before we left, Nolan and Quinn presented her with a quiz show in which she needed to answer Disney related questions correctly in order to win and be surprised with the news.  She got a big kick out of the game and was so excited during the big reveal.  The next morning we headed out to the airport on our way to Orlando!

                        

                       

The first thing the kids wanted to do once we got settled into our hotel room was to check out the pool, game room and grab some lunch.  Luckily the pool water was warm and they had fun swimming because the air temps were fairly cold that day.

                         

We check out Disney Springs that night and had dinner at the Rainforest Cafe.  It is so overpriced and the food is not great but the atmosphere is cool and the kids love when it goes dark during the simulated thunderstorms.

Arriving at Magic Kingdom the next morning.  Since we only had one day to do it right, we were on a mission to get through as much of it as possible.  We got to the park around 9:00 in the morning and had a solid thirteen hours of fun ahead of us.

First stop:  Pirates of the Caribbean.

Nolan and I have a selfie from five years ago on Dumbo.  He has changed so much in five years and it was fun to ride the elephant again with him.

                        

                             

Watching the parade.  Always a highlight of the day.  Mairin had her princess t-shirt on under her sweatshirt and when Ariel went by, she pulled her sweatshirt up to show Ariel that she had her on her t-shirt.  Making sure to represent.

We bought Genie Plus passes that allowed us to skip ahead in the lines but the Haunted Mansion was one ridge that we were not able to utilize our passes for.  It was an hour wait so Mickey ice creams were a must.

I loved watching Mairin being starstruck over Rapunzel.  She is probably her favorite princess (after Ariel) and she was so cute as she just stared at her in wonder.

3D movie is always a nice break from all the walking towards the end of the day.

We missed the beginning of the fireworks in front of the castle as we were stuck in It's a Small World.  Worst ride ever and we could hear the fireworks beginning.  It was torture but we were able to run off the ride and catch the second half from the back of the castle.

Cinderella's slipper.

Main Street is so pretty during the holidays.

We walked countless miles and managed to see everything that was on our list except for meeting Mickey.  It was a great day and Mairin finally passed out on our way out of the park around 10:00p.m.  She was such a trooper.

I'd be amiss if I left out why this trip was so special.  

Five years ago we made this same trip to Disney for a long weekend in order to unwind and add some happiness into a time in our lives that was uncertain.  We had experienced our pregnancy loss a few months prior and were still hopeful to grow our family by one more.  I have such fond memories of our time at Magic Kingdom with Nolan and Quinn but also remember thinking that I hope we can return someday with a third child in tow.  Little did we know that I was pregnant with Mairin during that first trip to Disney and she would be joining us five years later to revisit all the magic that we experienced the first time around.  I felt content and whole and like I was able to check the box of experiencing Disney again now that our family is truly complete.