Tuesday, December 18, 2012

The New Fantasyland!! TONS of pics!

Been home for almost two weeks and finally I have the chance to start writing some blogs about our trip!

It really was a fantastic trip! The kids are both at great ages. My youngest could finally go on almost everything. That was so so great!! So many attractions we can FINALLY enjoy together as a family!! No more making one parent wait while the other goes on with kidlet #1!

We got to experience some pretty cool things on our trip, and one was the new Fantasyland expansion! It wasn't "officially" opened yet...we missed that by one day. We came home on December 5th. But it was all open and we got to experience everything!

The one thing I wanted to experience most was the new Little Mermaid attraction, since it is one of my favorite movies! :) I was prepared to wait in line for it...longer than we normally wait. But to our surprise, since we went there first thing, there was no line! Walked right on!!! And it was so so awesome!!

Eric's castle :)

Inside the queue.

There she is! Not a great photo though :(

Outside the attraction.



After the ride, we checked out the Ariel meet n greet in her new grotto. Waited maybe 10 minutes!!!



We checked out Gaston's Tavern next. Very cool! We weren't ready for a snack but vowed to come back another time.

Inside one of the dining rooms.



We then headed over to Storybook Circus, which was also still dead at this time of the morning. We rode Dumbo right away, and even though there was no wait, we let the kids check out the new waiting area. It was cool, but I think I expected more. It was real nice not having to wait in a long line and I bet the double Dumbos really helps during busy times.

The Dumbo play area.





We lucked out and did character meet n greets, which was really cool to see Goofy, Donald, Daisy and Minnie all decked out in circus wear!



We also met with Pluto and Marie in another tent. We rode the reimagined Barnstormer then headed back into the other part of the expansion for an early lunch at Be Our Guest. The place is GORGEOUS!! Like, unbelievably amazing. I only wish the food would have been as amazing :( We got in line before 11...pretty long already. I think we got in and ordered somewhere around 11:30 ish. The touchscreen was real nice and there were CMs there to help. We sat in the main ballroom and the food arrived shortly after. Nice to have it delivered like that! I had the croche monsieur sandwich, which was just a fancy name for grilled ham and swiss. It really wasn't anything special. And it just came with regular Disney fries. I guess I assumed because the menu said pomme frites it would be something different and special....though I do know that just means friench fries in French. Oh well! Hubby had the steak sandwich, which he said was okay, and the French onion soup, which was pretty blah. He was really disappointed since he is a connoisseur of French onion soup and must try it everywhere. My daughter didn't eat her kids pork meal...and when I tried it, I wasn't overly impressed. But the place was gorgeous. Maybe dinner is better :)

On the bride leading into Beast's castle.


Two of these lions flank the doors.

The hallway leading to the ordering room.


The ordering room.

The main ballroom.

My sandwich.


The blah soup.

The rose room. Kind of a dark photo...but it was pretty dark in there.

The rose!

The third dining room.

Mosaic on the way out.


One thing I noticed that to me made SUCH a huge improvement to the current Fantasyland was the moving of Dumbo. It really was in an awful spot and it made maneuvering through extremely difficult at busy times of the day. Without it, the land feels so open and so easy to walk through. Kudos on the move Disney!


New entranceway to the expansion, where Dumbo used to be.



Our second day at Magic Kingdom, we got some tasty treats from Gaston's and got to meet n greet with him :)

LeFou's brew, giant cinnamon bun, and chocolate croissant, all bought with DDP snack credits :)







So there you have it! I think the changes to Fantasyland are wonderful and I look forward to seeing it when it's all finished later on with the new Dwarves mine car ride :)