MAGIC IN THE AIR

Our day at the Magic Kingdom on October 23rd was one of the most magical days of my life. I don't know how Disney does it, but they really give me all the feels. One of the reasons I was so tickled all day was that Vivi looked like a head-to-toe Disney dream. I don't know a two-year old in the history of the world that would wear those Minnie ears with as much enthusiasm as Vivi. They aren't comfortable for a full day of wear, but Vivi never wanted to take them off! And her black short hair with her little widow's peak made her look like a little Minnie Mouse. Oh my goodness I NEVER got over it. Then watching big sister Stella show Vivi around and share the magic with her made me feel all warm and fuzzy the whole time. What a day!

We started the day with our traditional "Welcome to Disney" pictures. This time though, we had Vivi with us. I still took one with just me and Stella though for the record books. I don't know how long I am going to be able to pick her up for our traditional pose, but I got her up this time and that is all that counts for now.

When we first arrived, Chip and Dale were greeting guests. They are two characters that Cali needed for her book, so we waited in line for them. I got some enchanting pictures while we waited in line. I also made Christy document Vivi insisting on pushing her own stroller. Thankfully this didn't last long and she got tired enough at one point to just ride in it with no complaints. I love our pictures with Chip and Dale. I forgot to get pictures of Vivi in front of the castle before it got dark, and these kind of have to do. They just look so festive and fun.

Christy and Cali had princess fast passes so we hung out in front of the castle and watched a show for a bit. (That's why I didn't take pictures--there were so many people watching the show and I thought for sure we would make it back to the castle before sundown.) After enjoying the magical show we went on the teacups. Cali and Christy were able to hop in our teacup at the last minute.

So we were probably the only people in the park that day that had "ride the Carousel of Progress" as our number one goal for the day. It had been closed during the Halloween party and they don't have it at Disneyland so Christy had never been on it. I LOVE it. I love it because it is old and just reeks of Walt Disney's spirit. Thankfully, everyone who saw the "show" (they call it a stage production, which only makes me love it more) gave it two thumbs way up.

We all had fast passes to Space Mountain including my parents, so we waited for them to catch up to us in the park while taking another charmed ride on the People Mover.

We met up with my parents and then all got in line for Space Mountain. I guess the ride had been down so the fast pass line was actually really long. We didn't have to wait too long though so that was good. I think that might be the last time my dad rides a roller coaster in his life...

We made our way over to meet Minnie and Daisy. The line to meet them wasn't too long. It was Vivi's first chance to meet Daisy and you can never meet Minnie Mouse too many times. Vivi was a lot less scared this time and it was magical.

After riding Little Mermaid we came out to find it sprinkling a bit. So we decided to get some food. We got a seat by the window to Small World and they have all of these fun signs to hold up and show people on the ride, asking them to do what the signs say (clap, take a selfie, blow a kiss...) All of the girls loved it, and so did my dad--it was a fun lunch. Then we all made our way to Small World. I could NOT get over how adorable Vivi looked while we were in line. She was still wearing her ears and I couldn't believe how lucky I was to have her with me that day. I know everyone thinks their kids are the cutest, but I really was convinced that every single person that saw Vivi in the Small World line thought she was the cutest kid they had ever seen.

Then we used our fast passes to ride on Peter Pan. It is always a favorite, but Vivi was scared of this one. I don't know if it was the fake flying, but she was nervous the whole time.

We had some downtime while Christy and Cali were off shopping I think. So we took some pictures at one of my favorite spots. The busy carousel is always a crazy spot of comings and goings. I love getting pictures amongst the craziness of Disney.

We went on Winnie the Pooh and then headed over to Big Thunder. Vivi had finally reached her limit and she conked out on our walk. It was drizzling pretty good, and even though it wasn't cold it seemed like most of the ice cream stations had closed. I was getting worried that we wouldn't find a traditional ice cream sandwich to share this year (it has happened before!) but my dad spotted someone eating one and we found a stand. Whew!

Unfortunately the sandwich did not sit so well with me. At this point I was absolutely exhausted and I had run out of gas. Waiting in line for Big Thunder was really hard. It was loud and I was sure I would not make it to when the park was closing like we had planned. My exhaustion followed me through to riding Pirates of the Caribbean, but then I started to pep up a little.

It was time to head over to the fireworks. Cami, the president I serve under in the stake, had told me not to let anyone talk me out of watching the fireworks show. I told her that was impossible because I love the fireworks so much. Unfortunately after letting the girls ride the Aladdin ride we got over there at the last minute and it was absolutely packed. The show they have now is pretty new and everyone has a friend who tells them not to miss it because it is the best yet. I've never seen anything like the crowds we encountered when we got to where you watch the show. It didn't even seem that busy in the park that day, but everyone seemed to be in this one place. We couldn't get in where you are supposed to stand. Suddenly it was starting and the "cast members" just let us stand in the back of the roped-off areas. It meant that I had to hold Vivi the whole time and Papa held Stella on his shoulders (which was not easy for the old guy). I am glad that Christy and Cali decided to go on rides, because they were never that interested and I would have felt bad for how hard it was to see anything. It was still AMAZING and I am glad we watched it, but it wasn't ideal viewing--that is for sure.


After the show we just kind of sat down and waited for the crowds to thin out. We took some castle pictures because I remembered that I hadn't gotten any of Vivi! We just kind of hung out because they had another little show coming up at the castle that we were able to see perfectly about half an hour after the big show had ended. It had fireworks too, so I'm glad we watched it.

Cali and Christy tried to find us during the show, but poor Christy fell really hard after tripping on a train track. So she was now injured. Thankfully at this point we were heading out of the park.

As we were leaving it was about 10:45 and we saw that the wait to see Tinkerbell wasn't too bad. So Mom and Dad took Vivi home and we waited to see Tinkerbell. It was a great way to end the day--plus it made the timing of when we left perfect because we were able to just walk right onto the tram missing all the crowds. I couldn't believe how fast we got to our cars since it had taken SO very long after the Halloween party.

Of course we were so sad to leave. We always have the best time and the best days. I loved sharing so many memories with my girls, my friend, and my parents. Bringing Vivi for the first time went better than I could have ever imagined. What an amazing day and days at the Disney parks. I'm so glad we went to the Halloween party too because we were able to get in pretty much all of the rides we had wanted to. We had amazing weather and amazing company, and it made for a pretty perfect visit.