Day 2 - Magic Kingdom

After a beautiful first day at Disney World, we slept in Monday. Actually for the whole trip we did not set any alarms in the morning - it was so refreshing!

I love Magic Kingdom. I still get excited when you round Town Square and catch a glimpse of Cinderella Castle. It is still so magically and I hope that never ends for me. We rode a bunch of rides/attractions before lunch - Buzz Lightyear Ranger Spin, Space Mountain, Mickey's Philharmagic, and Little Mermaid.

Inside the gorgeous ballroom at Be Our Guest

For lunch we ate at Be Our Guest. We were not going to eat there because the lines are so long, but...we received this invitation to beta test a lunch FastPass+ to eat there. So basically with this lunch FastPass, we select a time we will arrive for lunch; it is a 30 minute window, and then we select our meal. You do not have to pay online - you pay when you arrive in case you want to change your order. The Fast Pass worked well except they couldn't find our pre-ordered lunch. Minor set back - we just ordered inside, but still got to skip the crazy long line.

We love eating inside Be Our Guest. It is themed like Beast's/Belle's castle and is divided into three rooms - grand ballroom (where we love to eat), west wing and the library. In the back of the ballroom there is "snow" falling outside - it is super cool. And it is definitely worth checking out the west wing because there they have the Beast's enchanted rose and you can watch the petals fall - it is something to see.

Roast Beef & French Onion Soup

Croque Monsieur

The food there is so-so - it is really the ambiance of the restaurant that people wait in long lines to get in. I ordered the croque monsieur and Christopher had the roast beef sandwich and french onion soup. We both ordered special cupcakes - the triple chocolate and the "Grey" stuff cupcake. Both were delicious.

Try the Grey Stuff it's delicious!

Little bit of chocolate heaven

After lunch we walked around a bit and rode Haunted Mansion. We walked through a couple of shops and ended up finding the perfect spot to catch the Festival of Fantasy parade at 3. We sat on top of the sleigh that is outside the Ye Olde Christmas Shoppe. Perfect vantage point because we were sitting higher than everyone was standing.

Our perfect parade viewing location

The parade...oh my goodness....it is fabulous! The pictures really do not do it justice because the floats are so interactive. From actors swinging and swaying off the floats to a fire breathing dragon - it is incredible. And the sheer number of performers is crazy. In between each float there is a whole set of choreographed dancers with amazing costumes. It is truly something to see when you visit.

After the amazing parade, we had fast passes for Splash Mountain and Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. Both were fun, except the part where I got completely soaked on Splash Mountain and Christopher was as dry as can be. We also cooled off with a Dole Whip and walked through the Swiss Family Treehouse.

Ben! We found you!

One of our favorite parts of the day was catching up with Christopher's childhood friend Ben! Ben works for Disney and is one of the Talking Mickey handlers - such a crazy, tough but rewarding job. It was great to meet him. Hopefully we can catch up with him more when we go back in December. Ben snuck us back stage to meet Talking Mickey! Talking Mickey is absolutely incredible - I was amazed at how the character interacted with us. How is Disney going to out-due themselves! There was a little girl there before us and Mickey sang her Happy Birthday! I thought she was going to faint in excitement. When I left, I had the biggest smile on my face - must be the little kid in me.

After walking out of the Town Square Theater, we caught the Flag Retreat ceremony perfectly!

For dinner we ate at the Columbia Harbour House and cooled off for a bit. Christopher had chicken nuggets and I had a grilled chicken salad. After dinner we left Magic Kingdom and took the monorail to Epcot. We love walking through Epcot and ended up walking right on to Spaceship Earth!

On our way to our resort, Christopher grabbed another cronut and shared two bites with me. We ended up catching another street performer on the Boardwalk and the performer asked Christopher to assist him in the show. It was super cute.

Christopher helping out the street performer

Once back at the room we decided to check out the spa area at the resort and relaxed in the hot tub for a while. We ended up catching a bit of Fantasmic from the spa. Such a magical end to another great day!