abctriplets
Earning My Ears
- Joined
- May 19, 2014
DOES ANYONE HAVE PHOTOS/VIDEO OF THE 8/2 MK OPENING CEREMONY??
Pre-trip Planning: We decided to celebrate 8/2 in the Magic Kingdom. It's a special day as it's my wife's birthday, and my triplets' birthday. 4 on one day was sort of special, so I called Disney customer service to help make it even more special. I also read tons here, and decided we'd try to be chosen as the First Family and help open the park. I knew the odds were low....but....
To help celebrate, and to help draw focus to us, I ordered custom shirts for everyone. Zazzle declined due to the Mickey logo I used, but VistaPrint thought it was fine. I took each white shirt and dyed them a different color, and we put the birthday people in ear hats with birthday hats on top.
Arrival: We left at 4:30am, and got to Disney at 7:00am. I used a AAA diamond parking pass (ebay) and was able to park right up front near the handicap lot. We took the bus (since it was fastest), and got to the turnstyles around 7:30am (bathroom stop before getting on the bus). Saw a family ahead of us being led in (turns out for a breakfast reservation), but decided to start chatting up the first CM I saw just in case. Meanwhile, everyone else was getting sunscreened up. After a bit, he asked if we'd like to be the Family of the Day and help open up the park. I couldn't believe all the planning worked.
First Family: We were brought to a bench to wait for about 30min. Then we were taken to a firetruck, and rode down to the castle for pictures. We were then brought back to the train station to meet the mayor and the dancers, and get instructions. It was a fast whirlwind experience - the train arrived, tons of costumed characters were there, we came out and waved to the crowds, the fireworks were set off, and then we were done. We took a few more pics by the firetruck, and then drove down to the castle again. We were given a coupon for an 8x10 photo (which we didn't use) and a character pass for each of us to use (we ended up using it on the dumbo ride, much to the CM's shock - "You know....you can use this for characters? Anna and Elsa???" - but we wanted to go on dumbo...)
Our Day:
- Haunted Mansion x2 (walked on twice)
- Pirates of the Caribbean x2 (walked on twice)
- Jungle Cruise (15 min wait)
**At this point, the FP system crashed, and we got a paper FP to any ride**
- Swiss Family Robinson Treehouse (walked on)
- Thunder Mountain Railroad (planned FP #1) <- 20min wait, since everyone had paper passes
**Now fast passes were given out at specific rides, and we got a handwritten paper one to Peter Pan
- Mickey's Philharmagic (walked on)
- Peter Pan (FP)
**Now fast passes were given out at hubs, and we picked up a timed printed ticket to Ariel at the Philharmagic hub
Then we went to lunch at Cinderella's Royal Table. Quite amazing (and expensive), and we had some private chat time with 5 princesses. Also, I had an engraved glass slipper to commemorate the day delivered to the table.
- Ariel (FP)
- Splash Mountain (planned FP #2)
- 7 Dwarves Mine (planned FP #3)
- Casey Jones Splash Zone
- Dumbo (First Family Character Pass)
**Now the fast pass computer came back online, and you could start reserving your +4 FPs
- Buzz Lightyear (FP)
- Space Mountain (legacy FP from the morning)
- Speedway (FP)
- Electric Parade (FP) <- FP location was great, no one in front of us
- Wishes (FP) <- FP location was great, kids laid down on the grass, saw Tinkerbell fly over us
- 7 Dwarves Mine (FP) <- very nice ride at night
End: We ended up getting back to the car at 11:48pm, after having arrived around 7:00am. We had been given 3 special fast passes that we saved for the end of the day, which worked out great. The weather was great (lightning threatened, but no rain came, was a bit cloudy at times which cooled things off). Kids were great until the last half hour, as expected (since they usually go to sleep at 8pm....). Used 12 fast passes, and barely waited in line at all throughout the whole day. The trip couldn't have gone better!
Pre-trip Planning: We decided to celebrate 8/2 in the Magic Kingdom. It's a special day as it's my wife's birthday, and my triplets' birthday. 4 on one day was sort of special, so I called Disney customer service to help make it even more special. I also read tons here, and decided we'd try to be chosen as the First Family and help open the park. I knew the odds were low....but....
To help celebrate, and to help draw focus to us, I ordered custom shirts for everyone. Zazzle declined due to the Mickey logo I used, but VistaPrint thought it was fine. I took each white shirt and dyed them a different color, and we put the birthday people in ear hats with birthday hats on top.
Arrival: We left at 4:30am, and got to Disney at 7:00am. I used a AAA diamond parking pass (ebay) and was able to park right up front near the handicap lot. We took the bus (since it was fastest), and got to the turnstyles around 7:30am (bathroom stop before getting on the bus). Saw a family ahead of us being led in (turns out for a breakfast reservation), but decided to start chatting up the first CM I saw just in case. Meanwhile, everyone else was getting sunscreened up. After a bit, he asked if we'd like to be the Family of the Day and help open up the park. I couldn't believe all the planning worked.
First Family: We were brought to a bench to wait for about 30min. Then we were taken to a firetruck, and rode down to the castle for pictures. We were then brought back to the train station to meet the mayor and the dancers, and get instructions. It was a fast whirlwind experience - the train arrived, tons of costumed characters were there, we came out and waved to the crowds, the fireworks were set off, and then we were done. We took a few more pics by the firetruck, and then drove down to the castle again. We were given a coupon for an 8x10 photo (which we didn't use) and a character pass for each of us to use (we ended up using it on the dumbo ride, much to the CM's shock - "You know....you can use this for characters? Anna and Elsa???" - but we wanted to go on dumbo...)
Our Day:
- Haunted Mansion x2 (walked on twice)
- Pirates of the Caribbean x2 (walked on twice)
- Jungle Cruise (15 min wait)
**At this point, the FP system crashed, and we got a paper FP to any ride**
- Swiss Family Robinson Treehouse (walked on)
- Thunder Mountain Railroad (planned FP #1) <- 20min wait, since everyone had paper passes
**Now fast passes were given out at specific rides, and we got a handwritten paper one to Peter Pan
- Mickey's Philharmagic (walked on)
- Peter Pan (FP)
**Now fast passes were given out at hubs, and we picked up a timed printed ticket to Ariel at the Philharmagic hub
Then we went to lunch at Cinderella's Royal Table. Quite amazing (and expensive), and we had some private chat time with 5 princesses. Also, I had an engraved glass slipper to commemorate the day delivered to the table.
- Ariel (FP)
- Splash Mountain (planned FP #2)
- 7 Dwarves Mine (planned FP #3)
- Casey Jones Splash Zone
- Dumbo (First Family Character Pass)
**Now the fast pass computer came back online, and you could start reserving your +4 FPs
- Buzz Lightyear (FP)
- Space Mountain (legacy FP from the morning)
- Speedway (FP)
- Electric Parade (FP) <- FP location was great, no one in front of us
- Wishes (FP) <- FP location was great, kids laid down on the grass, saw Tinkerbell fly over us
- 7 Dwarves Mine (FP) <- very nice ride at night
End: We ended up getting back to the car at 11:48pm, after having arrived around 7:00am. We had been given 3 special fast passes that we saved for the end of the day, which worked out great. The weather was great (lightning threatened, but no rain came, was a bit cloudy at times which cooled things off). Kids were great until the last half hour, as expected (since they usually go to sleep at 8pm....). Used 12 fast passes, and barely waited in line at all throughout the whole day. The trip couldn't have gone better!
what am amazing day Happy Birthday all you look fantastic ! You will remember this the rest of your lives
