Magical plans

I found the fast pass system to be very helpful when we spent one day at the Magic Kingdom last year. This year they have implemented the FastPass+ system, through which you can make a few reservations ahead of time. Since we're not staying at a Disney resort, today was the first day I could make reservations for our day at the Magic Kingdom, as we plan to be there on July 9. Yesterday I made our reservations for July 6 at Hollywood Studios. Nadia is very disappointed that we aren't going to Sea World this year. She's been there twice (in 2011 and 2013), but I think two days at amusement parks in July will be plenty. That gives us several days just to enjoy the pirate themed swimming pools at the resort. Because there aren't very many rides at Hollywood Studios, it was very easy to make those FastPass+ reservations. In contrast, I spent many hours today working on our reservations for the Magic Kingdom. I gave up on trying to get a FastPass for the new Seven Dwarfs Mine Train ride. We'll just head right there at 9:00 when the park opens.

I did get reservations for Tales with Belle (which was where we had the longest wait last year), Big Thunder Railroad, meeting Ariel, Peter Pan ride, Buzz Lightyear ride, and the VERY hot commodity of meeting the Frozen princesses - Anna and Elsa (I only got two fast passes for that so I'll take Nadia to meet those princesses while the others do another ride). I made sure that none of our reservations were for the late afternoon or evening because once you have used up your reservations, you can make more (via a kiosk, tablet, or smart phone). The system kept wanting to give me very late reservations for everything, but I finally found a way to get them earlier in the day. Hopefully the kids will have a fabulous day! We would appreciate prayers that Paul's mom will be healthy enough to join us on the trip as planned. She's had pneumonia the last three weeks.

It hit me on Sunday that I've never attempted to take a picture on the railroad tracks that we pass every time we walk to the park, and I've seen many cute pics others have taken over the years on a railroad track. So I made a quick attempt on Sunday. I'll be trying it there again as I think I could get some nice ones. It's fun to try different locations!