Bismey!

 

Ah, the Magic Kingdom. Matt had the idea earlier this year that since Brooke is so "into" Princesses, we should take a field trip to Disney (or "Bis-i-mee", as Brooke calls it - and we don't correct her because it's cute) when we went down to his parents'. It's about a 3 hour drive, so once again we found ourselves leaving at 5:30 in the morning. Have I mentioned that Brooke isn't a good car-sleeper? We got to the Magic Kingdom at around 9 with her going on about 6 or 7 hours sleep. We weren't sure how it would go.

 

But it's the stinking Magic Kingdom, so of course it went great. I think it was a combination of exhaustion and awe, but she was amazingly good. 

 

It was also my first visit (I'd been to Disneyland as a little girl). I'm not going to lie, I got a little choked up as we walked through the gates. Which is weird, because I'm not usually an emotional person. I'm also rarely sarcastic.

 

I don't know if you've been to Disney World lately, but 1) Fantasyland just opened several new Princess-themed rides in December 2) Christmas/New Year's break is supposed to be the busiest time to go and 3) there's this whole "Fast Pass" system that's kind of like doing a crazy logic puzzle (i.e. "If I have a Fast Pass for 'Enchanted Tales with Belle' at 11 and it's 10:30, but I've had the Fast Pass for 2 hours, I can go for a new Fast Pass, but only if I'm wearing a blue hat, facing East and standing in Adventureland").

Thankfully, Matt thrives on a challenge. After much discussion with my friend Christy who is a Disney expert, he went in with a game plan and I think we had an incredibly successful and productive visit.

Brooke seemed to like the more carnival-ish rides the best ("Dumbo", "The Barnstormer").

 

The ones that went into darker tunnels or where she didn't know what to expect she spent so much time worrying that I don't really think she got to enjoy the ride. Also, she was NOT a fan of the 3-D movie.

We did have a little bit of a problem later in the day when our Space Mountain Fast Pass (the only ride Matt and Jamie really wanted to ride) wasn't until 9:30 and we had planned to leave early evening.

 

After a fair amount of deliberation, we decided to cut our losses and wait in line for the Princesses, who just happened to be featuring Rapunzel (or "Tangled" as Brooke called her). Her favorite tends to vary frequently, but she's been on quite the Rapunzel kick lately. After waiting forever (over an hour), we were finally let into a room with Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, and Rapunzel. I think that Brooke spent most of her time with the other Princesses talking about Rapunzel.

And Rapunzel did not disappoint. She blew Brooke a kiss as soon as we walked into the room and was so sweet and patient with her.

We didn't stay for the fireworks, but we did get to see the castle lit.

Brooke promptly passed out for our drive home. It was expensive and tiring, but something I'd do again in a heartbeat (probably not for a little while, though...).