The first day, we spent the morning at Magic Kingdom and met at Epcot for the late afternoon and evening. We took advantage of the Extra Morning Magic Hour, and were at the park when it opened at 7am!!! This was a challenge since we didn't get settled in our hotel room the night before until midnight after flying in late that evening. But, we pushed through, and it was worth it because we were able to accomplish 13ish (i think) attractions before 11am, including a few character meet n greets. That is important because the crowds really start getting heavy around 9-10am. We literally waited only 5 minutes for each attraction, if that. There were no lines and no crowds to fight. I knew I would take my kids back to the hotel for a nap during the afternoon because of our late night the night before, which made it easy to justify the early arrival.
I planned our "touring" through touringplans.com but honestly looking back, I don't think I would've needed the "plan" since we were so early. There were no lines anywhere, so there was no real need for a hard plan. That said, I do think I am glad I had a plan, especially since it was my first time in a very long time to do Disney, and with kids, I felt comforted with a plan in hand. In planning, I grouped our mornings and afternoons by "lands" in the parks. That way, we would stay in one general area without having to hop all over the park.
SO. The very first thing we did, was tour Fantasyland in the far back corner of the park. I think this is the area with the most concentrated kiddie kid rides. In hindsight, I am glad we did the kid's right off the bat. We rode Under the Sea first. Lilah didn't like the huge Ursula. I loved the ride it was very bright and the sets were super fun to look at. I wish now we would've done that one again to help it soak in better. :) After that, we rode Peter Pan's flight. This ride has super long waits (well most of these rides that we rode first thing do, but particularly Peter Pan) and we waited about 5 minutes at 7:30. :) The kids loved it - I did too. One of my all time favs. Then we headed to Enchanted Tales with Belle. This was an interactive show with Belle. Olivia was chosen to participate and she was the wardrobe part. She didn't quite understand that she was supposed to be looking at the camera for a picture, apparently. This is another one with high wait times. I actually think this was one of my least favorite things we did. I'm not sure why, maybe because it was an interactive play/show and it wasn't geared for my kids' age necessarily; a little older. Belle came out, but the kids couldn't meet her or anything. Lilah would've been ecstatic if she could've. Belle is one of the only ones we didn't meet. All in all, not worth the wait in my opinion. We went to Ariel's Grotto afterwards to meet the Little Mermaid herself (which wasn't on the plan) and this was awesome. I think because I didn't know what to expect in a character meet n greet, and this being our 1st, it was neat. It was special because you walk around a corner and there she is sitting and waiting for you. She greets the children with the biggest smile and hug and chats with them a bit. It's just cool how it surprises you and how one on one it is with the character. In addition, she is sitting in a scene so it's neat to look at and have the photo taken. Ariel was one of my favorite meet n greets; they were all spectacular. What's funny too, is I had not planned any (NONE) meet n greets because we had a breakfast planned to meet Cinderella and other princesses. I'm so glad we fit them in though. The girls loved this so much more than the rides.
Then we did Dumbo, Mad Tea Party, Barnstormer and Winnie the Pooh. Lilah loved the Barnstormer and I wish we could've done it again for her. (A downside to doing the tour in "lands" - you don't plan for returns to re-ride attractions). We then did, Mickey's PhilharMagic, the Haunted Mansion (this is where Lilah was done-in and refused to do anything else - it scared her to death). After Haunted (wasn't on our original touring plan - lines were short so we just did it), we waited to meet Rapunzel and a visiting princess who was Snow White (which also was not on my original touring plan). We waited a long time for this, about 30 minutes. But it was worth it. To my little girls, these are the real princesses and they were just in awe. We did It's a Small World then ate at Pinnochio Village Haus for lunch about 11:30. We were starving by this time. After this, I figured I'd get my kids back to nap and recoup for the rest of the day.
After naps, we met at Epcot for Turtle Talk with Crush, Finding Nemo, Soarin, Captain EO, Figment, Living with the land, and Test Track. I enjoyed these attractions, but Epcot just has a different feel than Magic Kingdom. Soarin was my favorite and the girls were going with the flow. But I also would've loved to explore the worlds, but we didn't have time. Next time, I won't hop parks, I'd like to spend more concentrated time each day at one park per day. The food selection was very disappointing in my opinion. It was kind of like cafeteria quality and not many choices. :-/ Test track was a fun big kid ride. :)
It was a SUPER first day. The first half though, was probably one of my favorite parts out of the whole trip. The excitement and anticipation was high and it truly was magical. I will post pics tomorrow. :-)
~pieper
Sites I used to plan: ourhappilyeverafters.com, touringplans.com and allears.net
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