"When you wish upon a star..."

View from Cosmic Ray's Starlight Cafe

Last Wednesday, I (Anna) met my roommate from college, Kelsey, at Magic Kingdom after work. She made an impromptu visit to Orlando when a friend from college, who is interning at Disney, offered her and two other friends, Lyndi and Amalia, free tickets to Disney for two days. It’s not often that I get to see Kelsey, so I left work at 5pm and headed to “the happiest place on earth”.

I decided to drag Matt along for the ride, so I picked him up from work around 6pm and we made it inside the park at about 7:30pm. Lyndi had never been to Disney World, so it was Matt’s and my goal to find a restaurant for us to eat dinner that would give her a good view of the park. We found that in Cosmic Ray’s Starlight Café in Tomorrowland. If you sit outside to the far side of “Bay 3” you will get a great view of Cinderella’s Castle.

At night, it is breathtaking. The food was pretty good, but nothing special. The restaurant offers all the basics: hamburgers, hotdogs, chicken sandwiches, BBQ sandwiches, etc...By the time we finished eating, the Main Street Electrical Parade started, but from where we were seated it could not be seen very well. There were too many trees and buildings blocking it. Still, we stayed there until the castle projection show, Celebrate the Magic, started. We had pretty good seats to view the show on the right side of the castle.

Wishes

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Just before the fireworks show was about to start, Kelsey’s friend, Justin, got off work to take us to a better spot to see that spectacle. The Disney firework show is easily my favorite part of Disney. I don’t know if it’s the actual fireworks, the music, or just the beauty of it all combined with the castle that almost brings me to tears. I always find myself pulling Matt’s arms tighter or just squeezing his hand out of shear excitement and enjoyment. I certainly recommend not skipping out on this experience.

Gaston's Tavern

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After the fireworks show, we headed to the back of the park and went into Gaston’s Tavern. Beauty and the Beast is one of my favorite Disney movies and I loved how they kept the tavern looking like it did in the movie as Gaston is singing about how great he is. We ordered a few of LeFou’s brew, the restaurant’s signature non-alcoholic beverage. The menu also had satisfying snacks such as roasted pork shanks and warm cinnamon rolls.

After drinking and taking in the atmosphere, we decided to take Lyndi on her first Magic Kingdom ride. We went with Under the Sea ~ Journey of the Little Mermaid because out of the six of us only Matt and I had been on it. The ride was cute and served its purpose.

After getting off the ride and only 3 minutes until 11 (when the park closed), we went in search of another ride to go on. Space Mountain was our first choice, but the wait was still 70 minutes long. We settled with Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin which, of course, Matt and I kicked butt at.

Since the monorail line was so long, we opted for the ferry boat at the advice of Justin. I finally got home around 2am. Is going to Magic Kingdom in the middle of the night when I needed to be at work the next morning the smartest decision I’ve ever made? No. Was it worth it? Always.