Hey there princess!
I hate to spoil the surprise, but this was my absolute favorite day of my entire honeymoon - and it was spent entirely in the Magic Kingdom. We got up early (well rested from turning in early the night before, best decision we made the whole trip), and headed to the park for our 8:30am breakfast reservation at Be Our Guest.
I love this photo from that brief moment that we were in the parks all on our own before they opened up at 9:00am. We are both squinting into the sunlight, and I think Niles got a little sunscreen in his eye from dousing ourselves earlier, but still - it's probably my favorite picture from the trip! After a quick snapshot, we were on our way to a seriously delicious breakfast!
We ate our food in the West Wing area, which was tons of fun (but not super photo-friendly since it is so dark). Thunder crashed, the portrait of Beast flashed and changed, and the AC sent chills down my tank top-clad spine. The food was amazing, and way more than we could eat first thing in the morning. I opted for the charcuterie board, which is about as French as I've ever been, and both of us were so full from our own meals that we weren't even able to touch the complementary pastries that were placed on our table.
When planning this trip, one of the things that I am most thankful for is signing up for the dining plan. Each time we went out to eat or stopped off for a snack, we didn't have to constantly pull out or wallets or worry about juggling large amounts of cash. We used the Quick Service Dining Plan, so the only meals that we paid for were the table service ones (for us - this was Garden Grill, Brown Derby, 'Ohana, and San Angel Inn). We actually ended up booking our trip during a time when Disney was offering free dining with our hotel reservation, but in the future I would book that dining reservation all over again.
After that incredible meal, we decided to take it easy and ride the People Mover around Tomorrowland a few times. This is such a fun, relaxing ride, and perfect for all ages. There is basically never a wait, the ride is slow, under shade, and partially air conditioned. Plus, you get to have a little preview of all of the rides in that area!
While we were in Tomorrowland, we decided to jump on Buzz Lightyear Space Ranger and Space Mountain (which was a favorite for Niles). They are both such classics, and since we had the photo pass, the app made it really easy for us to download our ride pictures. I always loved looking at these when I went with my family growing up, and these are just as treasured! It makes me want to pull out all of my old scrapbooks!
Of course, we also had to make a trip to visit one of my favorites - the Country Bears! This is such an underrated attractions and I personally could watch it several times on a trip (Niles maybe not so much), but I think it is just so charming! I remember reading that it was the last project that was approved by Walt Disney before his passing, and I think that makes it all the more special.
The best meal we ate the entire trip (and honestly probably my favorite memory from our honeymoon) was sitting down to dinner at 'Ohana. When we arrived at The Polynesian for our reservation, the hostess saw my little "Happily Ever After" button, and she asked if we would be alright waiting another 15 or 20 minutes for our table. We didn't mind, and enjoyed walking around the hotel looking at the different shops and things they had to do there.
To our complete shock, when we were called back to the restaurant, we were directed to the most amazing table in the entire room! It had a private view of the pool, and a perfect shot of the fireworks show. None of my pictures do this table justice, but you have to trust me - it was magical!
Even more incredible was the view after sunset when the audio for the 'Happily Ever After' fireworks show came on in the restaurant and we got to watch them pop over the Magic Kingdom from the comfort of our table.
Again, my photo skills are not that great, but hey! I did my best to document the experiment while also stuffing my face.
The menu there is set, so once you sit down all of the food is brought right to you. I honestly love this style of dining. I don't have to worry about balancing a tray at a buffet, and typically have more opportunities to stretch my taste buds, while also having some really great standards to lean back on if I find that something not to my taste is being served.
I feel like I can really get lost in a sea of French fries and chicken nuggets when I am at Disney World if I'm not careful, and 'Ohana was anything but that. I wish I had taken a photo of the food, but I was too busy inhaling it to stop (we actually hadn't eaten since Be Our Guest that morning).
To start, we were served coconut bread along with pork dumplings and honey-coriander chicken wings, and that was just the appetizer. Once we had tasted all that deliciousness, they brought out the most incredible noodles that I have had in my life accompanied by skewer after skewer of sirloin steak, sweet and sour chicken, and spicy shrimp. If we weren't already bursting by that point, they also brought out bread pudding with ice cream and caramel sauce. I was positively bursting.
As luck would have it, it was also extra magic hours in the Magic Kingdom until midnight, so after finishing our meal, we hopped on the monorail and headed back to enjoy more fun! There was something so fun about being in the parks when there were so few people, and we could basically walk onto our favorite rides (hello Space Mountain).
We just couldn't get enough Space Mountain!
As we rode the bus back to Caribbean Beach, with the cries of babies who were up way past bedtime ringing in our ears, we knew we had just had the most incredible day ever. From start to finish, it was fun and funny and transportive. I would live that day all over again now if I could!
How about you? Are there any specific Disney days that stick out in your memory as being particularly incredible?
Sparkle on!
