Disney World 2013 ~ Day One

I'm finally getting around to blogging about Disney World!  I can't wait to share the pictures and stories with you.  :)

So, after driving about 15 hours (split between two days--we stayed with friends in Atlanta overnight), we arrived at our resort, Pop Century, on Sunday afternoon!  We walked in and I was like a little kid.  I was dancing around, telling myself, "I'm at Disney World, I'm at Disney World!"

It was my first time, okay?!

Luke and I got first visit buttons.....

....and we all got magic bands, which are these little bracelets Disney has come up with--they are your Fastpasses, room key, and meal plan all in one little bracelet.  You just hold it up to their little scanners and go.  It's very handy and very awesome.  :)

We spent the first evening in Downtown Disney.  It was our first little taste of what the rest of the trip would be like and we loved it.  :D  I rode the Characters in Flight hot air balloon.

The fact that Peter Pan was on the side of it really just made me want to ride it more.  ;)

It made me a little nervous at first, but I loved it!  They actually shut it down after I rode it, because the winds were getting too high.  I didn't know that at the time, but it made sense once I got off and my parents told me...we were getting blown around a bit!

I took a bunch of pictures while up in the balloon.  It was so neat!

There was this guy in Downtown Disney playing the guitar and an Australian instrument called a didgeridoo.  It was really neat!

There's this place in Downtown Disney called Planet Hollywood.  It's a restaurant and it has all these movie souvenirs and stuff like that.  Really cool.  But doesn't it remind you of Pizza Planet in Toy Story?  That's all I could think of when I was looking at it.  I always wanted to go there when I watched the movie as a kid!

I think the nerd within me passed out when I found out that just up those stairs was the ACTUAL Iron Patriot suit from Iron Man 3.  We waded through the crowded tables and got some good pictures of it.  It was really neat.  :D

All right.  So we went to sleep that night all ready for the next day--our first full day at Disney World.  I woke up insanely excited because what park did we go to first?  MAGIC KINGDOM.  And do you know who resides in the Magic Kingdom?  PETER PAN.  

Peter Pan has always fascinated me.  I love the movie, the book, the whole story and the characters.  And since Disney World is as close as you can get to stepping inside a fictional world....I was pretty excited.  

I brought a kiss for Peter (it's a thimble...if you've read the book or seen the 2003 movie, this will make sense ;)).  

Pulling up to the gates of the Magic Kingdom was one of THE most exciting feelings.

Walking into the park was like a dream.  I've wanted to go to Disney World since I was little and saw commercials on our old Disney movie VCR tapes, and seeing the castle kind of just completed things!  :)

When we walked in and had our bags checked, the man handed my mom her bag and said, "There you go, princess!"  It was the perfect way to start out the day.  ;)  Disney World is just a magical place!  I love that every time you leave somewhere, they say, "Have a magical day!"

Main street was decorated for fall, and it was all really pretty!  :)

Childhood = complete.

Our MyDisneyExperience app said that Peter would be in Fantasyland right after the park opened.  So what did we do as soon as we could?  We headed to look for Peter.  My parents knew how excited I was to meet him.  They were really great about it.  :)  We walked past where we were supposed to meet him, not knowing it, and asked a person to point us in the right direction.  They did, and as we were retracing our steps, I saw a flash of green and blue and Peter's hat and Wendy's curls!  I set off following them, my parents and Luke trailing behind.  

I loved how they were so adorably in character, even when they were just walking.  Wendy acted like a little girl in Neverland, and Peter was just...totally himself.  I had actually not planned on meeting Wendy.  If I had known she was going to be there, I probably would have brought something for her.  :)  I'm glad I got to meet her, though.  She was really sweet and good with Luke.  He was really shy with both of them.  :)

I had three goals for when I met Peter: 1. Give him the kiss.  2. Ask him to crow for me.  (Or better yet, crow WITH him!)  3. Give him the little story I had written about Peter Pan and Neverland.

I said, "I have something for you!" and gave him the kiss.  He said, "I have something for you!" and ran off and got me a little flower.  Wendy helped me put it in my hair.  :)

I was really excited and a little flustered when I first met them (I met them on my own because I had gotten there ahead of Luke), so I forgot to ask them to sign my canvas bag (I got almost all the characters I met to sign it) and to crow.  So, I went through a second time with Luke so they could sign his autograph book, sign my bag, and I could ask Peter to crow for me.  It was lovely.  :)  Peter said, "Will you crow with me?" and I said, "I'll try!"  So we did it.  It was a lot of fun.  :)  I never did give him the story I had written, but I'm planning on doing that next time.  :)  I was grinning from ear to ear when I left.  :)

All throughout the rest of the day, when we were riding It's a Small World....

...and seeing Rapunzel's village (EXACTLY how it looks in the movie...SO cool)....

...all I had to do was think, "I crowed with Peter Pan!" and I went into all smiles again.  :)  Unfortunately, his ride was closed down for refurbishment and won't be opening again until around November 13th.  :(

We set out to hit the rest of the park!  Mama, Luke, and I rode Splash Mountain.  I got to ride up front and get covered with water.  ;)

Mama and I rode Big Thunder Mountain, and I rode Space Mountain by myself.  Mama had ridden it before and knew she didn't want to do it again.  ;)  But I had been looking forward to it!  I made up my mind before we came to Disney that I would ride everything, no matter how scary, and I did!

We went on the Pirates of the Caribbean ride and explored the Swiss Family treehouse.  

It's Captain Jack Sparrow, mate!

As we were getting off this ride, the pirate working it pulled out his sword as I was walking by.  I got a little past him, and he pointed it toward a girl behind me and accused of her of stealing treasure!  :)  The little things like that make Disney a magical place.  

We also went to Enchanted Tales with Belle.  Very neat!  Lumiere and Madame Wardrobe were literally life-like.  They talked and they moved just like in the movie!

Sorry for the blurry picture!

And then Belle came in, and she was perfect.  Definitely one of my favorite princesses!  :)

Luke got picked to play Maurice, Belle's father, as they acted out Belle's story.  We got to meet Belle quickly and she gave us each a bookmark.  :)  The fact that I have a bookmark from PRINCESS BELLE of all people makes me really happy.  :)

Later that afternoon, we went through the waiting line to meet the princesses--we could only pick two, however--either Cinderella and Aurora, or Rapunzel and Snow White.  I really wanted to meet Rapunzel, because she, Belle, and Mulan are my favorite princesses, so we got in line for Rapunzel and Snow.  While we were waiting, I saw this little girl dressed in a Merida costume, and, since I hadn't gotten to meet Merida, I asked her to sign my autograph book, and we got a picture.  :)  She actually asked me to sign her book, too, which I thought was really sweet.  :)

And then I met Rapunzel and my inner 7-year-old came out!  ;)

She was beyond adorable, and so sweet, and so in-character.  She loved my braid.  "That's like my favorite hairstyle EVER!" she said.  She asked if Luke was more the ruffian or prince type.  And when she wasn't greeting someone, she just twirled around in her dress.  And who can blame her?!  Isn't it adorable?  :)

Snow was really good, too.  She said she liked my "earbobs."  "Lovely red color!" she said.  :)

At the end of our night at the Magic Kingdom, I did what I had been waiting all day to do--get my Peter Pan hat!  :)

Coming soon....day two....Animal Kingdom!  :)  

God bless you guys and have a great day!

Joy :)