Disney Day 1: Magic Kingdom Recap

Here’s a detailed run-down of our first family trip to Walt Disney World!

I have included time stamps because it was helpful for me during the planning stage to have a sense of how long things might take, so I hope that it’s helpful for you too!

Day 1

magic kingdom

Day 1: Magic Kingdom

My day started around 5:30am. Josh and I did a quick yoga session to wake up then got ourselves ready. We got the kids up and dressed around 6:30 and I purchased our Genie+ for the day. We placed a mobile order for our breakfast at Landscape of Flavors, the Art of Animation resort restaurant, to pick up at 7:00 when they opened. And at 7:00 I reserved our first Lightning Lane (I chose Mickey’s parade) through Genie+.

We picked up our breakfast mobile order on the way to the shuttle stop and managed to hop on one of the first buses from Art of Animation to Magic Kingdom, a little before 7:30. Once we arrived at MK, we had to stop at guest relations to activate our park passes (because we purchased them through our recreation center on base and our military IDs needed to be verified), but the time in line gave us an opportunity to eat our on-the-go breakfast!

Even though it was an extra stop, verifying our IDs was a quick and easy process, plus the guest relations cast members are just so friendly it made us feel like we had a warm welcome into the park. Then it was on to security and park entry, which moved quickly despite the amount of people. Once we were all scanned in it was about 8:20, and we went with the flow down Main Street and watched the kids’ eyes light up as they saw Cinderella’s castle for the first time. We pulled off at the little lawn area to the right of the roundabout in front of the castle and took some pictures.

The line was long at Main Street Bakery for Starbucks, which had been my initial plan, but we didn’t feel like waiting so we went on to Fantasyland for early park entry, which starts around 8:30 for resort guests. We walked on to our first ride, Mad Tea Party, around 8:45… and the park officially opens at 9!

We couldn’t wait any longer for coffee so we stopped at Cheshire Cafe for a Witches’ Cold Brew, where there was also little-to-no line.

Even though it was a Saturday morning at Magic Kingdom, Fantasyland was pretty chill until later in the day. My theory is that most people doing early entry and rope-dropping at MK focus on the bigger thrill rides like Seven Dwarfs Mine Train and Space Mountain, not the little kid rides (exception being Peter Pan’s Flight, but that one wasn’t a priority for us). After the teacups we had another short wait at Winnie the Pooh—which has the absolute cutest play area and interactive queue to keep littles engaged while waiting—then went on to meet some princesses.

Ivy was over the moon to get to meet princesses. We brought her favorite costumes from home to wear in the parks, which added a lot of pixie dust to our day. She wore her Cinderella dress most of the morning and, of course, to meet Cinderella and Elena of Avalor (the visiting princess that day). Then we had a potty break and she changed into her Tiana costume to meet Tiana and Rapunzel.

We rode the carousel then changed again—I had also brought one of her everyday dresses (a sparkly sequin Little Mermaid one) that was more comfortable as the day got hotter. At 11:00 I was able to book our second Lightning Lane, which we used for Meet Ariel at her Grotto later that day.

The parade began at 12:00, but with our LL, we walked up to a reserved area right in front of the castle at 11:30 and had a great spot right up front. I popped Ivy’s Cinderella gown back on for the parade and I’m so glad I did—almost every character acknowledged her with a wave, bow, or air kiss. She was complimented by Prince Phillip and even Grumpy came up and kissed her hand!

After the parade we headed out to catch a shuttle back to Art of Animation for an afternoon rest. Ivy rarely naps at home anymore, but before the trip we set the expectation that naps are non-negotiable at Disney World. Thankfully, both kids napped almost every day of the trip. We had some leftovers in the refrigerator from our dinner the previous night at Raglan Road in Disney Springs, which the kids were happy to eat for lunch before their rest.

On our shuttle back to the park, around 4:00, I booked another Lightning Lane for Enchanted Tales with Belle. When we got back into the park we headed straight back to Fantasyland.

We stopped for a quick snack break around 4:30 at Prince Eric’s Village Market before our Lightning Lane for Meet Ariel at her Grotto at 4:45. Then we went over to our Lightning Lane for Enchanted Tales with Belle around 5:00, which is an interactive performance combined with a Belle meet-and-greet for kids, and it took about 30 minutes overall.

We had some time before our dinner reservation so we used our next Lightning Lane for Dumbo the Flying Elephant around 6:00. There was a LL available right away even though the standby wait time was 45 minutes, and we practically walked on. There was even time to stop for a Mickey-shaped sugar cookie from Big Top Souvenirs before our ride!

Then it was time to head over to our 6:30 dinner reservation at Be Our Guest, the Beauty and the Beast themed restaurant. We had a delicious dinner and it was a great meal to end the night on. By then it was almost 8:30 and time to find a spot to watch the Happily Ever After fireworks show, and we decided to hang out behind Cinderella’s castle since I had seen a rumor on Instagram that the princesses sometimes come out behind the castle during the fireworks. Even though we wound up not seeing any princesses, it was still a great spot to watch the fireworks.

Note: I later learned that the princesses sometimes come out after the fireworks show… so maybe we would have seen them if we had stuck around. Next time!

But the kids were exhausted, and we were all ready to make our way back to the hotel. On our way back to the front of the park, we took the long way out of Fantasyland so that we could walk through Rapunzel’s village to see the lanterns, which was a lovely moment.

The downside was getting through the crowds to leave the park. We went through Liberty Square and I missed the turn, so we had to cut across Adventureland to loop back for the bridge to the castle. There were SO many people, and after how relaxed Fantasyland had seemed most of the day, we were shocked at the massive crowds. Even though it was a Saturday night at Magic Kingdom, it was still off-season, so we weren’t expecting it to be quite that busy. Even some of the cast members we talked to mentioned how unusually busy it was that day. But now we know—maybe hanging out in Fantasyland a little longer after the fireworks would have been the better choice.

Even though exiting the park was a bit crazy, we didn’t have to wait terribly long to get on a shuttle back to Art of Animation, since it seemed like shuttles were scheduled to arrive closer together at that time of night. It was probably 10:00 by the time the kids finally went to bed.

It was a full and successful day! From arriving for early park entry and staying until after fireworks, it was a big day for everyone. After the kids went to bed, I showered, prepped for the next day, reset our diaper bag, laid out outfits, and reviewed my itinerary outline for the next park: Epcot!

What’s your favorite thing to do in Magic Kingdom? Let me know if you have any questions about our day at MK in the comments!