Happy Birthday My Princess- First Day at Magic Kingdom

When Natalie woke up there was a birthday balloon left on our villa's porch. She was so proud of her balloon and the little card attached to it. Throughout the week, The Colonel used it as a target to practice throwing shoes at. Despite knowing all the princesses names, Stephen is SO boy.
Both Natalie and Stephen loved riding the little train that served as transportation from our villa to the main part of GKTW village. We probably did not ride it as much as they would've liked, but they enjoyed it every time we did.
Morning meet and greet at GKTW. Natalie got her first autograph.
Then we went and ate a nice breakfast, where Natalie was treated to a birthday waffle and a rendition of Happy Birthday led by our airport greeter Roger.
After breakfast, the kids enjoyed a ride on the GKTW carousel before heading off to Magic Kingdom for the day.
Then it was off to Magic Kingdom for our 'first time.'
Natalie was giddy with excitement in the backseat and acting silly. Throughout the trip the kids enjoyed the t.v. in the car, they watched Dress Up Days Strawberry Shortcake the entire trip. Natalie delighted in Stephen learning how to say "cake," and declared that now he needs to learn to say Stawberry and Short. It is funny because now that we are home, Stephen asks for t.v. everytime we get in the car.
We really enjoyed riding the fairy into Magic Kingdom and being able to see the castle in the distance.
When Natalie saw the castle she told David that she knew it was Cinderella's castle because it was blue and Cinderella likes blue. We hadn't even talked about her castle being at Magic Kingdom before we went. Neither David or I had ever been there before and I don't think we realized how amazing it was going to be.
When Natalie turned the corner on Main Street and saw the castle she got excited and jumped out of the stroller and said she would walk.
The Colonel was pretty impressed too.
A perfect background for my princess.
I think this may be my favorite picture from the trip.
Getting The Colonel to cooperate for the camera did not always happen...
Stephen LOVED Mickey. As soon as we walked in the park, David bought both kids Mickey ears and bought Natalie a better autograph book than the one we brought (this was was princessy). Throughout the time on our trip Stephen would walk around saying, "Mickey's hat" or "Mickey's hand" (pictures on the bus) and in general pointing Mickey out wherever he saw him. It is so cute the way he says it, it sounds more like Minnie. I thought it was funny how much he liked Mickey since he has never seen the cartoon. He did get some Mickey PJs a while back. I can't blame him, I have to say that I REALLY like Minnie. I think she is SO cute.
After checking out Cinderella's amazing castle, he met the Fairy God Mother outside. Natalie was so excited to meet her and she told us where to go to meet some princesses.
That was the first thing Natalie wanted to do and we headed right over.
Natalie loved showing the princesses that they were in her shoes, it just so happens that Cinderella, Sleepign Beauty, and Belle is in her shoes. Perfect, since those are the three that are together in the princess room.



After meetng the princesses, Natalie passed the time waiting to go into Pixie Hollow by checking out her map. A lady at GKTW had circled where all the princesses were at on the map. Natalie was on a mission to get all the princesses autographs.







Stephen loved playing in the water outside of Ariel's place. It was perfect because it was a hot day. After seeing Eyore, Tigger, and Ariel we had a bite to eat and then hurried to Belle's storytime.

Belle read a story to all the crowd.
Natalie was invited to come up on stage, which was very special for her. Another family that I saw that came up on stage were wearing t-shirts that said Remission Rocks- 5 years Cancer Free. So cool, can't wait until we get to that day.
Natalie accepting a birthday phone call. Later in the day, Natalie got a phone call from Pluto while David and I were in a store. Grandma said someone came up to her and told her Natalie had a phone call. Natalie took her call and then told Grandma that it was Pluto telling her Happy Birthday. Pretty cool!

After that, we caught the parade. We all loved it. Natalie loved the princesses and both kids were very excited to see Aladdin, which turned out to be the only time we saw him on our trip.





After the parade, we were walking and Natalie and Stephen were invited to play hula hoop by some of the older greeters. They were cute. Natalie had never done hula hoop before, she decided she needs to practice.


After that we went on Its A Small World. I LOVED seeing Stephen's reaction, he was SO excited by everything and loved the music.
Natalie loved it too.



After It's A Small World, we were excited by how much they loved it and went on Pirates of the Carribean. David and I have only been to Disneyland, and that was when we were kids, so we thought it was the same ride we went on as kids. Nope. Natalie was very scared and cried until it ended. Stephen liked it. Later Natalie decided she would venture out again and go on the Haunted Mashion ride. When they set the mood in the first room, she freaked. After those two bad experiences, she did not want to go on anything but obvious kiddie rides for the rest of the week. Too bad!

After the Pirates and Haunted Mansion, we caught the very end of Mickey's Fantasmic show at Cinderella's Castle.
Then we saw Lilo and Stitch, which was very special.

Then we caught another parade, which we all loved again.


I love this picture; I'm pretty sure she is puckering up to give me a kiss!

After that we needed an ice cream break! Yummy!


The Peter Pan Ride was another of my favorites.



After that we saw a great 3-D movie with all kinds of Disney characters, we all loved that. I think it was one of my favorite things the whole week. The park was closing early for a Halloween event, so we decided to end the day with some shopping.

We loved this beautiful statue.
Some window shopping while David and I were sneaking more birthday presents.
All day long Natalie saw kids dressed up from the Bibbipy Bobbidy Boutique (and because there was a Halloween thing that night) and she did not ask once if she could have one, nor did she ask to buy any of the ones she modeled. I thought that was cool, she had no idea we were going to surprise her the next day. She was very excited when we went into the boutique because of all the little girls she had seen the day before. So cute, she saw them but never asked.

Jasmine's shoes are 'blue sparkly' maybe a little more bluish-greenish but that counts too in Natalie's book.
Isn't Cinderella's castle gorgeous at night?
David loved taking pictures of it.
Natalie was crashed out in the stroller...
so The Colonel and I made funny faces; and looked at old trains, keys, and pictures; and sat in cool chairs all to keep him from trying to run up the stairs and leave Natalie behind in the stroller while we waited for Grandma and Daddy to meet us.
Extra cute smile! We ended her birthday with a few more presents we picked up at the park, it was a perfect birthday. Much better than where we spent her birthday three years ago. Hard to get much better than this day!
Birthday gift from Daddy.
Birthday gift from Mommy.
Crashed for the second time! So cute together!