Magic Kingdom

We loved our quick trip to Walt Disney World so much last fall that we made it our family vacation destination this year.  It was also an early 4th birthday celebration for Will. Day one started VERY early.  We arrived in Orlando at 9:30 a.m. and took the Magic Express to Disney's Wilderness Lodge.  I was very impressed with all of the little touches of "magic" that Will got because we registered our visit as a birthday trip.  Mickey and Minnie left him a voicemail that was waiting for us when we got to our room.  And the second day, "Mousekeeping" left a card from Mickey.  And throughout the week, he got lots of birthday greetings when cast members saw his button.

After lunch at Whispering Canyon Cafe and a quick wait out of a rain storm, we took the ferry to the Magic Kingdom to start the fun!

Due to the earlier rain, the parade route was flipped, and we walked right in to a great spot in front of Cinderella's Castle only 10 minutes prior to the start.  Will LOVES the parades and waving at all of the characters.  This is his version of meet-and-greets.   He doesn't want to meet/hug/talk to/get a picture with the various characters, but he waves and yells hello to everyone in the parade. 

I had a good view of Tomorrowland from the parade stop, as well.   That's Will's favorite land since it has the Buzz Lightyear ride, Astro Orbiter that you can see here, and the Tomorrowland Speedway.  

Since we didn't get to the park until 3 pm, we were able to make it through to the Main Street Electrical Parade.   We also had a good spot near the castle for this parade.  Afterwards, we made a quick dash back to New Fantasyland to walk on the Under the Sea with Ariel ride before dashing back to see Wishes fireworks show.   

I had never viewed either or the evening shows at Magic Kingdom.  Wishes was amazing!  I'm glad we stuck it through to 10 p.m. to see it!