On our Disney World Christmas trip we spent two days at Magic Kingdom. It's the park that's most like Disneyland in California. Full of most of the same rides with some additional ones. Disney World just expanded the Fantasyland area in Magic Kingdom. There is a new area devoted to Beauty and the Beast, including Gaston's Tavern, a couple of little shops and the Beast's castle, a fine dining french restaurant. There's a few new rides in fantasyland and still more construction going on expanding and building more and more.
Our first day in Magic Kingdom was on Christmas Eve, to celebrate we ate dinner in Cinderellas castle and were treated like royalty.
The castle was decked out in traditional Christmas decorations, and light flooded through pretty stained glass windows that over looked the park. The food was good I got a creamy pasta dish and Adam got the beef tenderloin. We finished our meal with flourless chocolate cake and pumpkin cheesecake.
We did lots of ride-riding, and ice cream eating and picture taking. Adam's favorite ride was big thunder mountain and mine was Ariel's Grotto (it's a ride about the story of the little mermaid and her under water adventures...maybe I made my family ride it twice - haha). We all bought hats (because we're cool like that) and rocked them while in Magic Kingdom.
We had to try Gaston's tavern, because I had heard rave reviews of the maple glazed cinnamon rolls, and LeFou's brew, a frozen apple juice drink topped with mango foam. Both were well worth the buzz they received. These were two of my favorite treats from the trip. The tavern itself is like a picture straight from the movie, his chair, the fireplace, the antlers it was all over the top amazing.
Our second day at Magic Kingdom we gave the Beast's castle a try for dinner. And I'm so happy we did because it was a wonderful experience. The food was fabulous and the atmosphere was dreamy. From the tile mosaic when you walk in to the grand ball room with floor to ceiling windows, even the "snow" falling out side the windows with the view of the french country side, all played a part in making our dining experience magical. There were three main dining rooms, we ended up in the ballroom but the west wing and rose galley were really neat too. The attention to detail always blows me away with anything Disney engineers get their hands on. As far as food goes it was great, I tried the cornish game hen and potato leek soup, Adam had the thyme roasted pork loin and french onion soup - both were delicious.
We sat through Disney's classic electrical parade and loved it as much as we did when we were kids. Even the castle was completely decked out in tiny sparkling lights.
I think one of the most memorable moments of the trip for me was on our way out of the park on Christmas Eve. It was 12:15 (technically Christmas day) and my sister and I started walking down main street to meet up with the rest of my family. I stopped in the bakery for a big mouse shaped chocolate chip cookie (of course) and discovered on my way out of the sweet shop that it had begun to snow on main street in the middle of Orlando Florida. Christmas music was playing in the background and the castle was brightly lit up (and changing colors) behind us. For some reason it just struck me, and I was awe struck. Again it's those Disney details that always make any marginal experience a magical one.
