Day at Magic Kingdom

We were up early on Saturday, May 9th.  Magic Kingdom opened earlier at 8am on a Saturday, so we wanted to be there right as it opened, which we did.  We were up at 6am to get dressed and eat breakfast, the called a Lyft to take us over to the park (about 30 minutes away).  

Entering Magic Kingdom parking lot from our Lyft.  Then taking the Monorail over to the park.

We made it!  Bubbles as we walk down Main Street and getting a picture in front of the castle.  

We went left in the park first, as it doesn't open for Early Entry, so we were hoping it would be less busy, which it was.  We walked straight onto our first ride, Pirates of the Caribbean.  I had booked our Lightning Lanes 3 days before, so we had a plan to maximize our time.

On the Pirates of the Caribbean ride, all by ourselves.

The umbrella we hid under last October when it down-poured on us.

Riding Aladdin's Magic Carpet Ride next at 8:30am.  We used a Lightning Lane for this one just to "tap" in, so we could then "tap" into another Lightning Lane for later.

Then we walked right onto Jungle Cruise.

Then we walked right onto Tiana's!

Then we waited in line for the new Big Thunder Mountain.  It has been closed for 2 years, getting refurbished.  We were all so excited to go on it again.  Hudson was tall enough now to go on it, too!

Parade!  Front row!

Fun pictures on our way to the Haunted Mansion.  

Diane by "Aunt Florence!" (Her first name is Florence, but she goes by Diane).

Haunted Mansion pics.

Unfortunately, the ride shut down for like 15-20 minutes, so we were stuck in one spot w/ the same things going over and over again.  Thankfully, it started moving again, and we were out.  We then went back to Tiana's Place since we had it on a Lightning Lane pass, and we all love that ride!

Tiana's the 1st time, then the 2nd time.

We got wet, especially the boys.  We had officially completed the left side of the park, so it was now time for lunch!  Pretty flowers in the park.  Then all of us squished into the People Mover.  Silly Carter.

Nyles pushing his brothers in the double stroller.  Then to Monster's Laugh Floor.  Ironically, they spotlighted everyone in our group, and Nyles got to talk to them.  It was super funny!

Steve entered this joke, and it was read to the group, his favorite dad joke:

We then did Space Mountain. It was Hudson's first time, as he was finally tall enough to go on it!  

He absolutely loved it!

We also tried the NEW Buzz Lightyear game/ride.  I booked a Lightning Lane for that in our initial choice 3 days before.  It was also refurbished and just reopened.  It is a lot more fun than the old one in that you can move the guns more to shoot, and the color matches your gun so you can tell you actually shot the target.

Diane and Hudson, and Carter and Nyles.

Hudson and Carter got to get a picture w/ Dale as he was randomly walking through the park.  

He was so nice to stop by us and give the boys a hug :)

Teacups!  Steve and I sat that one out.

Hudson was eating a snack while we filled up water bottles, but fell asleep in the stroller :)  

We then stood in line for 7 Dwarfs.  Steve held Hudson for a while.

We saw a lizard and a squirrel while we were going through the line.  

They do have some interactive things while you go through the line, though.

More fun while we went through the line.

Carter and Hudson playing a game in line.

Crazy enough, we were just rounding the corner and going up the steep hill when the ride stopped!  We thought they were going to get it going again like they did at Haunted Mansion, but nope, they had to evacuate us completely.  They had to unlock every seat and helped us get off the ride.

Stuck on the ride, waiting for the cast member to come save us :)

Getting off the ride.  The ride stuck on the hill, empty, after we got off.  For the inconvenience, they basically gave us another Lightning Lane we could use on almost any ride.  

Nyles in front of Gaston's Tavern.  We took a bathroom break by it.  We had never been to this part of the park.  It was nice and quieter.  Then we tried the Little Mermaid ride for the first time.  Ironically is stopped for like 2 minutes, then started up again.  We were on a roll w/ rides stopping ;)

More of the Little Mermaid.  King Triton.

7 Dwarfs was still shut down for a bit, so the boys decided to go back to Space Mountain, while the girls went back to Buzz Lightyear (they are pretty close to each other, which was nice).

Cute Hudson just enjoying the ride the 2nd time!  Carter loving it too!

Diane and I doing Buzz Lightyear for the 2nd time.  New highs for both of us!

Buzz Lightyear fun.

Diane and I at Buzz Lightyear.  Walking past the castle, people getting ready for fireworks.

We then did Pirates of the Caribbean one more time w/ a Lightning Lane, then we made our way out.  They had a glow-in-the-dark parade happening as we were working on exiting.

Pirates was our very first ride of the day, then our very last ride of the day.

Silly boys as we waited for our Lyft ride back to the hotel.  

We decided to have him drop us off at Denny's directly, so we didn't have to walk more haha.  

We then walked back to the hotel.  After a quick shower, we all fell quickly asleep.

We had a super fun, long day at Disney World's Magic Kingdom.  It was our 4th time there, but our first on a Saturday.  I was a little worried about it being super busy, but ironically, it wasn't too bad, and we actually had our most productive day there ever!  We started right at 8am and went until about 9pm.  We were able to hit up a few rides twice and used the Lightning Lanes as we went, very efficiently.  We also didn't backtrack much and were able to do sections at a time instead of going back and forth all day.  We're very grateful for people who share "tricks" on how to make your day more productive, as it seems to have worked!  We were super exhausted by the end, but we all had a great time.  The food at Denny's was actually really good and hit the spot!  We were excited for the next day to board the ship!