Orlando Family Trip - Magic Kingdom

Oct 7 (Wed): Day 3 - Magic Kingdom

Out of all 4 days we were in Orlando, Wednesday was the only day that Magic Kingdom had normal hours (instead of Halloween night specials). That means we were able to stay in the park all day from 8am-11pm with just our normal ticket, and watch the fireworks at night.

Things have changed quite a bit since my last visit 7 years ago. Everything is so techy these days and the those cute Magic Cards/Bands are our tickets for everything. Most of us bought the Disneyworld 3-day Base Ticket for $293/pax while big bro & SIL got the 5-day Park Hopper for $372/pax. Lucky me, I was able to use the $300 gift card that I got from work for this trip. =)


Disney's website/app is a must-have for planning a great Disney trip, especially for a group of 12 adults...haha! Each of us had the option to select up to 3 FastPass per park  30 days in advance. The only trouble I had was to link all 12 passes as a group but after a call to Disney that ended with 'Have a Magical Day', I was able to set up everything else online. :)

After much planning and anticipation, it was finally D-Day! Don't we all look excited? Lol!! We arrived at the Travel & Transportation Center (TTC) around 8.30am, this is where everyone parks and take either the monorail or boat to the main entrance of Magic Kingdom. We opted for the monorail coz it was faster and we were running late for the welcome show.

Our monorail pulled in just in time for the welcome show at 8.40am...tell me about perfect timing...lol! 

The welcome show lasted for 10 minutes and we entered the park together with all the early birds. Spot our tour guide with the GoPro monopod. Glad that there weren't any kids in our group but it still ain't easy trying to get all 12 adults to walk together...lol! P.S. Selfie sticks are not allowed in Disneyworld but bro was able to use his monopod (until it finally got confiscated on the last day in Animal Kingdom...haha!). 

We wasted no time and walked straight to our first destination - Space Mountain at Tomorrowland. We decided to go for this ride early and save our Fastpass for other rides. Indeed, we got there 5 minutes before the ride started.

 Hubby had been to Disney so many times but he always missed this ride so he was determined not to miss it this time. Wish granted...he's a happy boy...haha! 

Walked back to Main Street USA to take photos in front of Cinderella Castle. Such a beautiful day!


You know my travel routine...jumpshot is a must. =P 


My partner in crime jumpshot...lol!!

Happy family photo!! =) Our group is definitely 'special' as compared to most visitors in Magic Kingdom...12 adults, no kids, half American half Asian...lol!!

Next destination...Pirates of Caribbean at Adventureland. This ride was just re-opened a week before our visit so we got a Fastpass for this as we were afraid that the queue would be long. But to be honest, I wasn't impressed with this ride...guess I'm too old or too young for slow boring rides...lol!! 

Our next 2 Fastpass was for Big Thunder Mountain Railroad and Splash Mountain at Frontierland. These 2 rides were definitely worth getting the Fastpass and it was great skipping those long lines!! We finished using all 3 of our Fastpass by 12.15pm and was able to get the next Fastpass for Haunted Mansion from the kiosk. 

I used to hunt for all the characters to take photos and get their signatures during my first visit in Disneyland 10 years ago, but this time we didn't really spend time character hunting and only bumped into Woody. 


Used our Fastpass at Haunted Mansion. I had high anticipation for this, but am I getting old or what, I don't remember it being so boring! Seriously, if it wasn't for our Fastpass, I wouldn't spend an hour standing in line for this! 

I've gotta say we were indeed very lucky with the beautiful weather during our visit. Orlando was still quite hot in October but we really can't complain much coz at least it didn't rain at all while we were there.


Another reason why we can't complain...we didn't have any strollers to push or grumpy kids to deal with...haha!! :P If I'm ever bringing a kid to Disneyworld, I'll wait till they are old enough to walk all day without whining before they are allowed to go...lol!!

We had some time to kill before 3pm so I 'brilliantly' suggested us to go to It's a Small World coz I've never rode on this before. Oh gosh, I almost fell asleep on this ride! Imagine 12 of us plus 4 more adults on a boat, slowly cruising through the moving exhibits with It's a Small World song playing at the background. You should have seen our expressionless faces, I'm pretty sure all we had in our minds was when's this ride gonna end?!

Fortunately, after finally getting off the boring ride, we still made it in time to secure a good spot to watch the Disney Festival of Fantasy Parade at 3pm. I thought the left photo looks quite funny, what a good contrast...lol!!

The floats as seen from our elevated spot. =)

After the parade, we helped bro pull off a surprise proposal successfully, and even had a crowd watching them...lol! I'll let him share the pics whenever he wants so no pics here. :P

Move It! Shake It! Dance & Play It! Street Party. I didn't really planned to watch this performance but I'm glad I got there in time coz I really enjoyed this show! Was able to stand near the stage and see all the characters up close with Cinderella Castle in the background. =)


Haha Mickey is so cute! And yes I like Mickey Mouse...hehe! =P

Best photo of the day, no filter =) I was busy videoing with GoPro on one hand, and taking photos with iPhone on another...not too bad capturing this while multitasking...haha!

Eating in the park is quite pricey so we packed our lunches, but we did enjoy some Mickey themed snacks in the park. We had diner at a cafe that served pretty good food at a reasonable price. That plate of roasted chicken cost $10, not bad at all! 

Back to Main Street USA to hop on the Disneyworld Railroad...our last ride for the day.

After the railroad ride around 7.30pm, we decided to hang around the area to wait for night shows since we didn't have anywhere else to go. 

Found our perfect '1st class' spot to watch the Main Street Electrical Parade at 9pm and Wishes Nighttime Spectacular at 10pm. Early bird catches the worm, we started waiting/chilling here since 7.30pm so we ain't letting anybody take our spot...lol! 

Good thing for planning and thinking ahead, we were able to sit comfortably and watch the show (ignore the annoying flag pole) without have to stand in the crowd. =P

Main Street Electrical Parade.

Wishes Nighttime Spectacular at 10pm. 

Amazing fireworks show to wrap up our day in Magic Kingdom...truly spectacular!! 
Next up...Hollywood Studios.