Disney World's Magic Kingdom with the Wickley Family

 Our First Trip to the Magic Kingdom - May 2023

Last November we visited Disney's EPCOT center.  This year the plan was to visit The Magic Kingdom.  We had a good reason to go when some friends from out of town came to visit us.  We ate Pineapple DoleWhip ice cream and Mickey Mouse ice cream bars.  Hope got to meet one of her favorite princesses of all time, Belle.  We had a wonderful time and the kids did great.

I learned a few things about going to Disney World and the Magic Kingdom during this trip.  I learned that May is way to hot to go to Disney World.  We were sweating all day.  As a result, we will not be going to Disney World again from about March to November.  Not a good temperature here in Florida to be outside all day. So if you are planning on coming to visit us during that time and want to go to Disney, go right ahead, but know that we won't be joining you.

I learned that once you park your car in the parking lot at the Magic Kingdom, you then have to take the Monorail or a fairy boat to get to the front gate of the park, which can take 45 minutes. As a result, if you are wanting to get into the park right when it opens, get to the parking lot an hour before the park officially opens.

The Magic Kingdom is not identical to Disneyland.  Rides are in different places, some are even missing entirely, such as Indiana Jones and the Matterhorn, and there are some attractions that are not at Disneyland anymore, but are at The Magic Kingdom, such as The Bear Country Jamboree and the Swiss Family Robinson's treehouse. 

Disneyland wins the which park is better "Disneyland or Magic Kingdom" contest if you ask me, but I am glad we live close enough to Disney that Hope will be able to grow-up like I did making wonderful memories at the Happiest Place on Earth, well the second Happiest Place on Earth.

Our wonderful friends from Colorado came to visit us and get out of the cold while the daddy in their family was on a mini-deployment.  We had so much fun playing with Denise, Cruz, and Lucas.  The final activity before they headed home was visiting the Magic Kingdom at Disney World.  

Ray and Hope in front of Cinderella's castle.

Hope loved The Little Mermaid ride, but her favorite ride at the park was...

...the Buzz Lightyear ride!  She shot those targets like there was no tomorrow.  

After we went on the Buzz Lightyear ride, we were so excited to spot Buzz Lightyear and ran over to get a picture with the space ranger.

We have our 3D glasses on and are all ready for Mickey's PhilharMagic Concert.

Swiss family Robinson's treehouse.  Hope loved walking around here.

It's a Small World ride. Me, Hope, Ray in the back and Cruz, Lucas, and Denise in the front.

Hope listens to lullaby music at night to help her fall asleep.  One of the songs in the album is It's a Small World.  Now she knows where the song is from.