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I just got back from a long weekend trip to Disney World with a friend from church— without ANY of our kids!! We both have annual passes(!) and went down to visit her oldest daughter who is part of the Disney College Program this semester.
We spent our last day of the trip at the Magic Kingdom and we arrived bright and early! Even though the park officially opened at 9am, they open up Main Street at 8am so people can shop or grab a cup of coffee. After using the Passholder line (the little perks make us happy!!) we made our way towards Cinderella Castle to get a spot to watch the Welcome Show— something that we often skip when we’re traveling with all the kids since they’re all about the rides.
While the weather that day started out fairly nice, big thunderstorms filled the afternoon forecast. We snagged a great spot on the curb for the 3pm Festival of Fantasy parade and then secretly hoped for the storm to move in and the Rainy Day Cavalcade (also known as the Rainy Day Parade) to take its place. We chatted with the Cast Members as we waited– they were also hoping for the Rainy Day Parade as none had seen it yet.
It sprinkled for about thirty seconds and then started POURING!! We quickly opened up our ponchos, got covered up (some of us had them on backward at first!), and held our spots on the curb. The Cast Members said that we looked like the three fairies (Flora, Fauna, and Merryweather) from Sleeping Beauty and after a while, we had our own little crowd of CM’s to hang out with. Every 15 minutes there was an announcement that due to the storms, Festival of Fantasy would be delayed, and we kept waiting for the announcement switching to the Rainy Day parade.
We waited on the curb as hordes of people tried to leave the park or huddled in the stores hoping to wait out the rain, and we had a blast doing it! Our great attitudes about the rain and the fact that we were having fun with a group of CM’s- instead of getting mad at them because it was raining like we saw and heard multiple people do- totally worked out in our favor!
Our little group of CM’s all chipped in and bought us a Mickey balloon and then offered to take pictures of us (while still holding our spot on the curb!) in front of the castle. After several delayed parade announcements, and a whole lot of fun and laughing on our part, one of the CM’s asked us if we’d like to give up our curb spot and move to the VIP Parade seating on the Liberty Square Bridge and of course, we jumped at the chance!
The CM’s went and got towels to dry the benches off for us and then we had the MOST AMAZING VIEW of the Festival of Fantasy Parade! Because we were in VIP seating, the character interaction was phenomenal and everyone wanted to talk to us and waved and smiled as they passed by!!
There’s nothing quite like watching the Festival of Fantasy parade make its way across the Liberty Square Bridge and having a completely unobstructed view to really bring the Disney magic alive.
The detail that goes into some of these floats is amazing- this one has axes swinging like pendulums as well as Rapunzel, Flynn Ryder and a few henchmen!
The Lost Boys were a riot! I honestly thought that the parade was going to get held up because they were having so much fun interacting with our group!
The Maleficent dragon float is the most impressive parade float I’ve ever seen! The piercing eyes seem to look right into your soul and then she pulls her head back and breathes fire.
Since it had been wet and rainy, parts of the parade were eliminated (like some of the dancers) but there was still plenty of Disney magic to enjoy. The Seven Dwarfs all came over to see us and Happy even sat on our bench!
For a lot of people, a rainy afternoon at the Magic Kingdom can totally ruin their day, but if you’re flexible and have a good attitude, it can become a wonderful, once in a lifetime experience!
What has been your most magical experience at the Magic Kingdom??
