Florida Trip: Day 1 - Arrival & Magic Kingdom

I have an abundance of wonderful photos and insight to share about my trip to Florida with my mom, Aunt Carey, Mary and Caroline to see Christine and Kelly march for band in the parade at Magic Kingdom. I dragged the Cannon around Sunday through Wednesday, so there's quite a few photos. I should have taken more than I did though considering how heavy that thing was when you're walking around all day (and your hubby isn't with to help carry it)...  Accordingly, my trip will be recounted in many different posts this week.

Florida Trip: Day 1
Freakishly early f light! Sun! Palm trees! Exhaustion! Rides! The castle all lit up for Christmas!

Today, I begin with Sunday, November 20 which was our first day in Florida. Our 5:45 am flight was not so special. My mom, Carey and Caroline came up the night before (in the snowstorm) and stayed over so we could make this freakishly early flight. My wonderful (and unfortunate) husband got the pleasure of driving us to the airport at 4:15 am. Thank goodness for him. I was barely functional.

5 am and we're already through security

 After a short layover in Milwaukee, we arrived in Orlando around 11:30 am.  The sun, green plants, and palm trees were a welcome sight after the snow and cold of Minneapolis/St. Paul. When we left our house, it was 18° and when we arrived in Orlando it was near 80°. I can't believe people actually live like this... I'm so jealous.

Train to the main terminal

We took the Disney Express bus to our hotel, Coronado Springs Resort. 

Disney Express to our hotel

 We had lunch at the food court there before taking our bags to our room. Mom and I took a short nap while Carey and Caroline watched the second half of the Packers game. It was a close one, so it was kind of hard to sleep...

Our room

Waiting for the bus to Magic Kingdom

 Then, we hit the ground running at the Magic Kingdom that evening. We arrived around 4:45 pm. 

Excited!

Inside the park with Caroline and Carey

 We actually got a ton of things done that night.

•  Pirates of the Caribbean - Fun to finally see the Jack Sparrow additions
  

• The Enchanted Tiki Room - ridiculous but fun. They changed it back to the original (instead of with Iago) which is much more retro and nostalgic.

• Hall of Presidents - Okay. I was a little bored by it, but everyone else liked it.
• Carousel of Progress - Not as good as I remembered it being. It smelled musty and needed updates. The modern part looked like it was out of the 80's - 80's style ski boots and leg warmers? Really?
• Transit Authority People Mover - Fun way to see Tomorrowland
• Quick dinner - a really good Greek Salad for me
• Big Thunder Mountain Railroad (used Fast Passes) - Fun as always
• Splash Mountain - Love it!
• Haunted Mansion - One of my favorites from childhood. They've done a few updates like making your face into a ghost.
• It's A Small World - Annoying, but a must do once per visit.
• Wishes Fireworks show by the castle - Great fireworks show but super crowded with lots of people with their hands up blocking taking photos

• Main Street Electrical Parade - We went to the later parade and it was much less crowded. I like that it's back to the original floats from my childhood.
  

• Dumbo - Must do for nostalgic purposes
• Peter Pan's Flight - I'm not a fan, but everyone else loved it. I'm just not into Peter Pan and it's always a really long wait. I did like the night scene of London though.
• Attempted to go on Space Mountain with Caroline, but the ride was down forever so we just left

 Probably the highlight of my night was seeing the castle all lit up and decorated for Christmas. I had never seen it before, and it was gorgeous. It changed colors too - blue, aqua and purple.

So pretty

My travel companions with the castle

Loved the castle lights!

 Magic Kingdom is normally open until midnight (seriously?), but Extra Magic Hours for Disney Resort Guests meant it was open until 3 am (awesome!). Unfortunately, we only made it until about 1:30 am. I was about to pass out from being up since 3 am that morning and traveling. We were back to our hotel and in bed around 2 am. We were exhausted and still had the whole week ahead of us.