The Jarvii It’s been a minute, but now that we are all fully vaccinated and boosted we finally took a whole family (and my parents and brother) vacation to Disney World. It was a lot of work keeping two kids, a toddler, and five adults happy, but what better place to do it than the happiest place on Earth! And our first day was at Magic Kingdom!
Ordinarily my eldest daughter and I are not morning people. We are night owls and we like to sleep in. But on our first day at Disney we needed to be at Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique at 8:15am! That doesn’t sound too bad, but Disney recommended we take the 6:45am bus from our resort to Magic Kingdom! Um, no. But we did manage to catch a bus at 7:05am, which meant I had to wake up my daughter at 6:30am to quickly eat a small breakfast of cereal and change! Since we were the first pick up stop my daughter, my mom, and I got on an empty bus that eventually was packed before we made our way to Magic Kingdom. We got there a little after 7:30am and had loads of time to kill in the end!
There were loads of people at Magic Kingdom to “rope drop”–people being one of the first folks in the park right as they open. We were in no rush, like some who dashed to the more popular rides. We had a Disney photographer take a picture of us on Main Street in front of the castle, and then moseyed our way to Fantasyland. We located Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique, which is right behind Cinderella’s Castle. Since we had time to kill, we rode Prince Charming’s Carousel and then It’s a Small World. We actually got stuck on It’s a Small World, which was strange since we were one of the first people to get on. But we made it just in time for our appointment.
Onto Bibbidi Bobbidi…
This was such a highlight for my daughter. If you know her at all, she is such a girly girl so this was right up her alley.
After you check in, you wait around for your fairy godmother’s assistant. She then takes you to the shop and asks the parent what package you’ll be doing. You pay and then wait around as they get your room ready. From there they escort you to a changing room, where they hang your dress (or in our case the t-shirt). The assistant then shows you a book of different hairstyles they can do, like fancy ponytails or in our case the high bun with tiara. The assistant then asks your daughter to say the magic words (bibbidi bobbidi boo) and shuts the door. Suddenly the mirror turns into a screen (they used to have these at the Disney Store) and the fairy godmother appears to do her magic and get your kid excited. I presume at this point you change, but my daughter was already wearing her dress. So we waited a little more before they escorted us back out to the store part where we waited again. They then called our names and we were then escorted to a room inside Cinderella’s Castle where there were many fairy godmother apprentices at stations (more like a salon). My daughter sat in a chair and my mother and I across from her to watch the whole thing unfold while a Disney photographer took pictures of her throughout the transformation. The apprentice did her hair, applied light makeup, painted her nails, and added fairy dust (glitter) to her hair. The whole process from check in to leaving took a little over an hour.
When we were done we went over the Sir Mickey’s, right across from the boutique, where a Disney photographer took pictures of my daughter with professional lights and a Disney backdrop. We have some nice pictures from there, so I highly recommend that. Despite the early wake up call, my daughter thought this was one of the best experiences she had at Disney and her smile says it all.
Having said all that, this ish is expensive as hell! Like you can drop $300 if you want. We did the cheapest package, which was $99 before tax. My daughter also chose a hairstyle that was an upgrade, so an extra $10 I think. The cheapest package comes with a t-shirt and cinch bag, both of which are really cute and my daughter loved. I bought her Rapunzel dress from the Disney store for $50 (which was more expensive at their boutique btw) and brought it along with us to save us money. But if you want to have the full experience, you can shop with your fairy godmother’s assistant to find that perfect dress (they had every princess and female character outfits in every size, both a nice version and then upgraded version).
Meanwhile, my other daughter had her first haircut at Harmony Barber Shop at 9am. Not quite an early start like us, but the rest of the family managed to get there on time. They give you the classic Mickey ears hat that has “My First Haircut” embroidered on the back, a locket of hair they chopped off in a small satchel, and a certificate to commemorate the occasion.
We then had a snack at Sleepy Hollow because my kids love nutella and they had the nutella waffles there. We then rode a few more rides, like Dumbo, Splash Mountain (do not ride this and sit in the front after your makeover because my daughter was in tears cause she thought it ruined her makeover), and Barnstormer. We also had lunch at Crystal Palace with Winnie Pooh and his friends. Afterwards, my mom, dad, brother, and I took the girls back to the resort for a nap.
While we were resting, my husband and son basically rode all the rides at Magic Kingdom. It was a rainy day and also the Christmas Party, so the park wasn’t so busy that they were able to ride a lot of the rides without waiting for too long even though they had Genie+. I mean they had a whole boat to themselves for Pirates of the Caribbean.
I then woke up the girls at around 4pm to make it back to Magic Kingdom in time for our 5pm lightning lane callback for Seven Dwarfs Mine Train. We then had dinner at Cosmic Rays and did a few more rides with the youngest.
We had tickets to the Christmas Party, so we saw some of the Christmas parade. But my oldest kids were not interested at all, the youngest was all about it. After the parade she went home with my husband and mom, and the rest of us went on as many rides as we could until about 11pm. The Christmas edition of Space Mountain was awesome because they have Christmas lights going and they are playing Christmas music. We were able to ride Seven Dwarfs again with a minimal wait time.
Overall, I don’t think I would do the Christmas Party again because my kids (the older ones at least) were not interested in the parade or the show or the fireworks. They just wanted to ride as many roller coasters (Disney people call them thrill rides) as possible. We were able to ride many rides without waiting because the Christmas Party limits the amount of people in the park. You also get hot drinks and cookies. They handed out a commemorative ornament when you enter and show your wristband. And when you walk out they give you a printed picture of Mickey and his friends at Christmas. If you are into the different pageantry, then I think the admission to the Christmas Party is worth it. But for us, it was kind of a waste.
In the end our first day at Disney was a success! We were tired, but happy.
