Dining with Royalty

After our character lunch in Norway back in March, Nicolette and I wanted to enjoy another one, and since Nic had never eaten at Cinderella’s Royal Table, why not now?

On rainy June 14^th, we made our way to Magic Kingdom as guests for our meal! After checking in for our reservations, and walking into the castle, we met Cinderella!

When our names were called, we walked up the spiral staircase to the restaurant level. We were greeted and walked to our table, which ended up being THE table of the restaurant. It was the table next to the back center window looking out over Fantasyland.  I felt slightly bad that we were lucky enough to have the table when just a few tables down from us, a man proposed to his girlfriend and she said “yes!” Congratulations to that couple! You both got engaged, and we had a great table. Win-win? I think so!

A quick shot of the view from our table!

Our very charismatic server brought out our food, and everything looked (and tasted) amazing!

While we were eating our desserts, the princesses all arrived and began to circle the room to meet everyone!

It was, dare I say it, a magical evening!

x Lauren

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Bon Voyage!

Two posts in one day! Woah there, don’t try and stop me, I just can’t be tamed! I have been seriously lacking in the blogging department, so I am playing a bit of catch-up now!

May 31^st was the final day of Mickey’s Jammin’ Jungle Parade. It was DAK’s parade at 3:45 everyday. To my understanding, the parade permanently went away because of the expansion coming to DAK.

People had their mixed reviews about the parade, but I for one, quite enjoyed it! I didn’t get to see it much during my program because of my lovely work schedule, but I did watch its final farewell performance on the 31^st because I got off work right before it started.

I took a few pictures of the parade and figured I would share them as a post so that I can remember the little gem that was for years, my home park’s parade.

Did you see the parade? What were your thoughts? How could you not like it? People who say they didn’t enjoy it, must be masking their real sentiments for it as a coping method for its departure :)

Until we chat again, which hopefully is a bit sooner than the elapsed time before today’s posts, have a wonderful day!

x Lauren

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Heigh-Ho!

I was very excited at the prospect of writing this post that I ended up putting it off, naturally. However, it is due time I posted about it!

Seven Dwarfs Mine Train, the final piece to the New Fantasyland expansion, officially opened for the general public on the 28^th of May. Being a cast member has its perks though! On May 14^th, Nicolette and I were able to go experience the new attraction without any queuing! We rode the Mine Train quite a few times and spent a bit of time exploring the interactive components of the queue!

In order to enter the queue in the first place, we needed a special boarding pass, which was really just the best fast pass ever!

So… does it live up to all the hype? I mean, people waited and watched for years to see what new thing Disney had up its sleeve.

Honestly…

A thrill ride, it is not. It is however a creative and innovative ride that pays homage to the classic animated film and original Snow White attraction that previously stood in Magic Kingdom. Is it worth your time, waiting? I would argue, yes. It fits perfectly into the New Fantasyland area of the park, and completes it beautifully.

On another note, the seats are by no means spacious. If you have a bag with you, good luck! I am not sure why they made the individual cars on the smaller side, but they did! I will say that in each individual car there are two rows, and if you need/want a little extra legroom, try for the second of the two! Having been on the ride 11 times now and having sat in every row but one, I feel it is an accurate statement to say the second row is slightly more spacious!

The queue is definitely one of my favorite aspects of the ride though. For a good portion of the queue, you are just doing the typical back and forth walking within ropes, but when you reach a certain point the wait is a little more bearable because of the fun "games."

If you want to be surprised and go into the line without knowing what the interactive components are, then stop reading now! You’ve been warned. Don't say I didn't tell you.

The first thing you reach is a mining station with touch-screen technology (I know, I sound like I really know my stuff). You help Doc by matching up jewels to their little mining carts based on color and shape. Can I get an ooh? How about an ahh? (If you didn’t just go “ooh…ahh…” out loud while reading this to help me out, I am disappointed) 

At the same point of the queue, you can wave your hand under some woodland creatures and water comes out of the spouts with a color and music note. You can create your own little musical fun if you know a particular song and want to play it, or you can just wave it from one end to the other like I do for all of the colors and the little scale it makes!

Next you enter the vault. In the vault are barrels of gems. Each of the beloved dwarfs has their own barrel complete with their name and corresponding colors. The barrels spin if you push on them, and little chiming noises happen. If you look up at the ceiling, the light shining up through the gems makes a pretty little glow of color. Now, the cool thing is (additional spoiler alert) that if all seven barrels are spun simultaneously, an image of Snow White will appear, dancing, on the ceiling.

When I rode it the first time, and honestly, every time since then, I wear such a dorky grin on my face. It makes me so happy. Why wouldn’t you want to experience that?

If you are missing the darker side that Snow White’s Scary Adventure used to have, be sure to keep your eyes peeled at the very end of the ride, right after you pass the cottage with Snow White and the dwarfs dancing. On your right hand side, outside the door to the cottage is the witch! You only see her for a quick moment before you are whisked back indoors to unload, but it is a cool little moment to lookout for.

Now that it is open to the public, fast passes are getting all booked up, and wait times are very long. I am excited that everyone who wants to (and meets the height requirement) can experience this long-awaited attraction! I am a little sad though and will both miss and treasure the days when I could just walk right on. I love being a cast member!

If you’re reading this and have been on the ride, what were your thoughts/favorite aspects? If you haven’t had the chance to see it or ride it yet, I hope you get the chance soon!

x Lauren

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