February 2017 Disney World Trip Report Part Three
Today is part three of my trip report from our February visit to Disney World. You can find Part One and Two in previous posts. Just a reminder, this was Melody's first visit to Disney World. This was our second park day, and we decided to go to Magic Kingdom. You can read about what we planned in this blog post. We didn't quite follow the plan down to each ride, but overall we stayed on track. Check it out below!
With our busy day at Epcot, we decided to let Melody sleep in. We originally planned to be at the park at rope drop, but we really hated to wake Melody again. We figured it would be worth getting to the park an hour later and getting a little bit more sleep. So we woke up around 8:30 a.m. We all three got ready and we left our room around 9:15 a.m. The line for the bus was SO long. We actually missed the first bus that came and had to wait on a second bus. Which I am kind of glad because I really did not want to stand with Melody. We were finally on a bus around 9:40 or so.
We made it to Magic Kingdom around 10:05 or so. I carried Melody in the Ergo again to try and keep her calm and also make security easier. You can see the picture below of what security looked like. It was chaos. I have honestly never seen it this bad. It probably took us 15 minutes to get through security. The line at the gate itself wasn't too bad, however.
Since it was already Melody's bottle time, we went straight to the Baby Care Center. We made it there by 10:30 a.m. This center wasn't quite as nice or as big as the one at Epcot. It is located near The Crystal Palace. It contained a nursing room, a kitchen, a diaper changing room, a women's bathroom, and a large room with a TV, chairs, and high chairs. This was semi-distracting for Melody, but it was better than feeding her outside. We fed Melody then we headed off to our lunch reservation!
We had lunch reservations at The Plaza Restaurant. We checked in around 11. We just made it across Main Street before one of the parades came through. Lunch was good and Melody was a charm! You can check out my review here.
After lunch we went straight to Dumbo! I have never been on Dumbo, and I wanted this to be Melody's first ride. It is just about as Disney as it gets. We made it there around noon. We had a slight issue with the stroller parking. I parked the stroller exactly under a "stroller parking" sign. As I was walking away a castmember stopped me and told me that wasn't stroller parking and the stroller needed to be moved. I was highly frustrated by this. He said he could move it for me, but I told him I would move it myself.
We went into the Dumbo tent and we were given a pager and asked to wait. There is a neat area for kids to play, but Melody is too small. So we sat and took pictures instead (check them out below). Our pager went off after about 10 minutes, and we went and got in another line. We were on the ride within another 10 minutes or so. It was fun. Not sure if I will rush back to ride it, but I am glad it was her first ride.
After Dumbo, Melody was getting sleepy. So we headed to The Journey of the Little Mermaid. This was another super long wait that I did not expect. It wasn't more than 25 minutes, but I have only walked on this ride. So I was taken by surprise. Melody slept through it, of course. We decided to stop for ice cream and let Melody sleep for a bit. After ice cream, we went and used our Fastpass at Peter Pan's Flight. Melody was actually awake for this one.
We went back to the Baby Care Center around 2 for Melody's next bottle and round of solids. It was MUCH busier this time of day. It was slightly frustrating because there was a family with 3 adults and 3 kids and they were all scattered throughout the room with the chairs. Brad and I couldn't even sit beside each other because they were so scattered. Luckily they left before it was time for her solids so we could be beside each other for those.
We headed to use our Fastpass for Jungle Cruise around 2:45 p.m. The Fastpass was also quite the line (the second picture below), but it didn't take too long to get through it. There was a couple on their honeymoon who sat across from us on the ride. They spent the whole ride watching and talking to Melody instead of paying attention to the skipper or the cruise itself. I am thinking there was some baby fever going on!
We went and walked on to Pirates of the Caribbean next. It was literally a walk on, but Melody slept through it! We stopped and got some popcorn to kill time until our Haunted Mansion Fastpass. We finally checked in for our Fastpass at 3:45 p.m. While in line, I booked a Fastpass for Buzz Lightyear for an hour later. Surprisingly Melody wasn't phased by the Haunted Mansion. I was afraid she might get a little spooked, but she didn't.
We finally got to head to Tomorrowland, our favorite land! We went straight for the PeopleMover. Our shirts are a giveaway that this is our favorite Magic Kingdom ride. Melody also seemed to enjoy it! We then went and used our Buzz Lightyear Fastpass. Unfortunately our ride photo never appeared in my account, but it was cute! We then went and rode Carousel of Progress (Melody smiled and talked the whole time!). And we finished up with one more ride on the PeopleMover.
We wanted to get some cute pictures of Melody in her shirt I made her, so we were lucky to find a semi-short line for a photographer in front of the castle. She was great with us and Melody. We took some just the 3 of us, then she took some of Melody by herself. The lady was literally laying on the ground getting these shots. So sweet!
It started to sprinkle, so we went and walked through the shops as we headed to the exit. We decided to take the monorail to the Contemporary and eat dinner there. We had to wait on the second monorail in order to fit with Melody's stroller.
We made it to the Contemporary around 6, and we fed Melody her bottle. We then went and had dinner at Contempo Cafe. It wasn't amazing, but it was nice to be there. It really made us miss this hotel. Especially compared to the value resort we were staying at. When we finished dinner, we did some shopping, then we fed Melody her solids.
We took the walking path back to the Magic Kingdom to get a bus back to our hotel. It was around 8:30 or so. The park closed at 8, so we were in a huge crowd, but people were really nice about me holding Melody. A young girl gave me her seat when she saw I was holding a baby. Luckily I had her in the Ergo at this point, but it was nice to sit with her.
When we got back to the room, we showered, let Melody play, gave her a bath, fed her, and we all went to bed!
