I took my girls to Disney. We had a chance to go because a friend gave us tickets, a one day shot at packing in as much fun as possible. I went to the Disney web site, found out what time the park opened, when it closed, scheduled Fast Passes, and mapped out our entire day including a variation of “what ifs” for rain, ride closing or lines that are just too long.
I purposely left the boys at home. Not only did I want to go someplace without a stroller, but I wanted to spend the day “Just us girls.” So with my walking shoes, a backpack full of snacks, a plan, and spending money from grandma, we went to Disney’s Magic Kingdom.
The girls had no idea where we were going until we drove under the Walt Disney World sign. Of course, they were super excited. They were a little bummed they didn’t get to ride on the tram into the park because we were there so early and parked in the second row.
After the boat ride, a trip to the bathroom and needing to gather multiple park maps, we watched the opening of Disney show. I had no idea this was even something and thought it was pretty cool. When the confetti and streamers cleared, we were off to a magical day.
Our first stop was Talking Mickey. We walked right up to the front of the line ready to wait. A cast member handed me a card and said “Put your name on this.” I had no idea what was going on so I wrote our last name. She laughed and said, “No you get to keep this. You were the first in line to see Mickey.” She handed us extra Fast Passes for the day. If you have been to Disney or any of the parks, you know that Fast Passes are golden tokens. You get to skip a line. Having mapped out our day, there were a few princess that I wasn’t sure if we were going to be able to see, but now being the first people to see Mickey, we were going to see Elsa and Anna for sure. Then Lizzie was picked as the Beast in Enchanted Tales with Belle. This led to my mother-in-law purchasing our PhotoPass pictures of the day, a gesture I will for which I will forever be grateful. When you daughter dances with Belle, the world becomes a better place.
Throughout the day, the weather was perfect, the lines were short and the only ride we skipped was the Jungle Cruise. I made Evelyn ride the Haunted Mansion even though she begged me not too. I was scared when I was a kid but love the ride now. We made up for it by seeing Ariel. Ariel spent a few moments trying to fix Evelyn’s hair clip. The clip was a bit complicated but Evelyn has a memory she tells anyone that will listen when the topic of Disney arises.
At the end of the day we waited for the Electric Parade to start and staked out what we thought was a good spot. Come to find out it was a horrible spot, but thanks to some kind people, we were able to get the kids closer to the end of the parade route to see the floats.
The castle laser and fireworks show was amazing. The girls, although tired, were in awe and I was in tears. It had been nothing short of a great day.
We only had two things left on our list to accomplish. First, find Pixie Dust and second, ride the monorail.
Riding the monorail out of the park was the easiest task of the two. Finding Pixie Dust proved to be a lot harder.
All day we looked in shops and discussed what souvenirs to buy their brothers and which one to buy for themselves. They settled on Mickey cars for the brothers and Pixie Dust for themselves. We went to a shop thinking they were sure to have Pixie Dust. I looked all over and found none. Then I found Shelby. I asked her about it and when she told us they didn’t have it, the girls were devastated. They weren’t whiny or ugly about it, just sad. We tried to get them to settle on snow globes, a personal favorite of mom and a tale of how the snow globes are filled with Pixie Dust. They didn’t buy into it completely but they settled on the snow globes. Shelby asked us to wait a minute and that she would be right back.
About five minutes later, she came back with cute little tiny bags filled with confetti. She told the girls they were from Tinker Belle. But then my eyes filled with tears when she showed the girls that she found some Pixie Dust. In her hand she had two Disney collector pins. The pins were Tinkerbelle holding a bottle of blue Pixie Dust. The girls were beyond the moon. A perfect ending to the perfect day. We took a picture with Shelby to remember her forever for helping make the day even better.
Being the responsible mom that I am, I asked how much they were because we only had so much to spend. I knew we could get the pins, the snow globes and the cars. And then we got in line. After waiting a few minutes, Shelby asked if she could see one of the pins. She took it behind the counter, scanned something, wrote something down and brought back two bags. She explained that Mickey was buying the pins.
I lost it. Overwhelmed with emotion and tears streaming down my face I hugged her again. She sweetly said it was her job to make guest’s days more magical. Lizzie and Evelyn have no idea what happened but I made sure the manager knew how wonderful Shelby was and how she made my night.
On the monorail back to our car, I explained to the girls that we will never have a day like that at Disney again. Yes, we might go back and yes we will have fun, but they just experienced something special.
It has been four months since our visit and we still tell stories of how we rode Peter Pan twice and that there was no waiting on Its a Small World. I tell everyone that will listen about being first to see Mickey and about Shelby. We take moments to look at the pictures and think of our day.
We may be Floridians, but it doesn’t mean we get to go to Disney whenever we want, but when we did the Magic Kingdom lived up to its promise of being “The Most Magical Place on Earth.”
I purposely left the boys at home. Not only did I want to go someplace without a stroller, but I wanted to spend the day “Just us girls.” So with my walking shoes, a backpack full of snacks, a plan, and spending money from grandma, we went to Disney’s Magic Kingdom.
The girls had no idea where we were going until we drove under the Walt Disney World sign. Of course, they were super excited. They were a little bummed they didn’t get to ride on the tram into the park because we were there so early and parked in the second row.
After the boat ride, a trip to the bathroom and needing to gather multiple park maps, we watched the opening of Disney show. I had no idea this was even something and thought it was pretty cool. When the confetti and streamers cleared, we were off to a magical day.
Our first stop was Talking Mickey. We walked right up to the front of the line ready to wait. A cast member handed me a card and said “Put your name on this.” I had no idea what was going on so I wrote our last name. She laughed and said, “No you get to keep this. You were the first in line to see Mickey.” She handed us extra Fast Passes for the day. If you have been to Disney or any of the parks, you know that Fast Passes are golden tokens. You get to skip a line. Having mapped out our day, there were a few princess that I wasn’t sure if we were going to be able to see, but now being the first people to see Mickey, we were going to see Elsa and Anna for sure. Then Lizzie was picked as the Beast in Enchanted Tales with Belle. This led to my mother-in-law purchasing our PhotoPass pictures of the day, a gesture I will for which I will forever be grateful. When you daughter dances with Belle, the world becomes a better place.
Throughout the day, the weather was perfect, the lines were short and the only ride we skipped was the Jungle Cruise. I made Evelyn ride the Haunted Mansion even though she begged me not too. I was scared when I was a kid but love the ride now. We made up for it by seeing Ariel. Ariel spent a few moments trying to fix Evelyn’s hair clip. The clip was a bit complicated but Evelyn has a memory she tells anyone that will listen when the topic of Disney arises.
At the end of the day we waited for the Electric Parade to start and staked out what we thought was a good spot. Come to find out it was a horrible spot, but thanks to some kind people, we were able to get the kids closer to the end of the parade route to see the floats.
The castle laser and fireworks show was amazing. The girls, although tired, were in awe and I was in tears. It had been nothing short of a great day.
We only had two things left on our list to accomplish. First, find Pixie Dust and second, ride the monorail.
Riding the monorail out of the park was the easiest task of the two. Finding Pixie Dust proved to be a lot harder.
All day we looked in shops and discussed what souvenirs to buy their brothers and which one to buy for themselves. They settled on Mickey cars for the brothers and Pixie Dust for themselves. We went to a shop thinking they were sure to have Pixie Dust. I looked all over and found none. Then I found Shelby. I asked her about it and when she told us they didn’t have it, the girls were devastated. They weren’t whiny or ugly about it, just sad. We tried to get them to settle on snow globes, a personal favorite of mom and a tale of how the snow globes are filled with Pixie Dust. They didn’t buy into it completely but they settled on the snow globes. Shelby asked us to wait a minute and that she would be right back.
About five minutes later, she came back with cute little tiny bags filled with confetti. She told the girls they were from Tinker Belle. But then my eyes filled with tears when she showed the girls that she found some Pixie Dust. In her hand she had two Disney collector pins. The pins were Tinkerbelle holding a bottle of blue Pixie Dust. The girls were beyond the moon. A perfect ending to the perfect day. We took a picture with Shelby to remember her forever for helping make the day even better.
Being the responsible mom that I am, I asked how much they were because we only had so much to spend. I knew we could get the pins, the snow globes and the cars. And then we got in line. After waiting a few minutes, Shelby asked if she could see one of the pins. She took it behind the counter, scanned something, wrote something down and brought back two bags. She explained that Mickey was buying the pins.
I lost it. Overwhelmed with emotion and tears streaming down my face I hugged her again. She sweetly said it was her job to make guest’s days more magical. Lizzie and Evelyn have no idea what happened but I made sure the manager knew how wonderful Shelby was and how she made my night.
On the monorail back to our car, I explained to the girls that we will never have a day like that at Disney again. Yes, we might go back and yes we will have fun, but they just experienced something special.
It has been four months since our visit and we still tell stories of how we rode Peter Pan twice and that there was no waiting on Its a Small World. I tell everyone that will listen about being first to see Mickey and about Shelby. We take moments to look at the pictures and think of our day.
We may be Floridians, but it doesn’t mean we get to go to Disney whenever we want, but when we did the Magic Kingdom lived up to its promise of being “The Most Magical Place on Earth.”