Celebrating My Birthday at Disney
Amy Baranek8.20.19When planning our recent Disney vacation, it just happened that the best time for us to travel and enjoy lower crowds fell during my birthday. It wasn’t intentionally done, but I was happy to be able to celebrate in my favorite place!As moms, I know we tend to make vacations all about our kids and other family members-what they most want to do and see. My 12-year-old son was insistent that my birthday be all about me.“Even if I choose a princess meal?”“Even if all we do is see princesses and eat food I don’t really like, I promise I won’t complain.”
So, I started to plan my perfect Disney day. As my plans unfolded, I kept verifying with my family that they were ok with everything and the answer was always the same, “It is your day, we will do whatever you wish.” I started to get more excited as the planning got more ‘real’, first with dining reservations and then with FastPasses.On the big day, I rocked my Minnie dress and ears and headed to Magic Kingdom. The plan was to meet some characters that would normally be met with complaints from my children. On the way in, we stopped to enjoy the Dapper Dans and Citizens of Main Street and then we headed to meet Fairy Godmother-one of my favorite characters. She was so gracious, being sure to get extra photos and take extra time with me since it was my birthday. After Fairy Godmother, we met Anastasia and Drizella, whose crazy antics and banter always make for a fun meet; best of all, there were still no complaints from my kids! We headed over to meet Gaston, who asked if I had a chance to enjoy the town tradition of celebrating a birthday-which of course, is meeting him! There was still a little time before our lunch reservation, so we headed to the Big Top souvenirs where I did a little birthday shopping and browsed all the yummy snacks. I even got gifted a birthday slushie from a wonderful Cast Member!
It was now time for our lunch reservation at Cinderella’s Royal Table. That’s right, if I have the green light from my group of boys to eat where I want, we are eating with princesses! I had my picture taken with all the princesses as they came by, sometimes my family jumped in the picture and other times it was just me. We all received celebratory wands and swords, as well as wishing stars. When dessert came out, my dad had ordered a special dessert fit for a princess that included a white chocolate version of Cinderella’s slipper. It was almost too beautiful to eat! (I said almost-it was delicious!)
After lunch, it was time to park hop to Animal Kingdom, where we had a FastPass for my favorite ride, Flight of Passage. First, I wanted to stop and visit Mickey and Minnie in their birthday celebration outfits. It worked out perfect, since they were right by the exit of Magic Kingdom. Mickey ‘sang’ Happy Birthday to me, Minnie complemented my dress, and Mickey had me take his arm and was sure I was next to him for all our pictures. As we were leaving, Mickey kissed my hand and gave me one last birthday hug, while Minnie and I twirled in our dresses together. They did a perfect job of making me feel like a kid again!We arrived and enjoyed some of my favorite rides at the park and took advantage of some special magic shots. One of those magic shots had me serenaded by an incredibly energetic PhotoPass photographer! We ended our time at Animal Kingdom with our Flight of Passage FastPass which was absolutely breathtaking!Our final stop of the evening was at California Grill in the Contemporary Resort where we had a dining reservation with a wonderful view of Magic Kingdom. Towards the end of our meal, the lights in the restaurant were lowered and the music from Happily Ever After was played in the restaurant, allowing us to enjoy the evening fireworks show and light display as we finished our dinner. You may wonder if seeing the show from this distance loses some of the magic. I believe it allows you to appreciate different aspects of the show. You have such a broad overview of the castle and park that you appreciate the shape of the fireworks, and the way they are timed perfectly to the music and lights on the castle. It draws you in and touches you, bringing up favorite childhood memories or a favorite movie memory that when mixing all those emotions together, it makes me cry every single time.
The evening meal finished with a Mickey dome cake the size of my head ordered by my husband and boys, it was delicious chocolate goodness that left me stuffed! At this point, it was late and everyone was tired so we took a Lyft back to our hotel rather than deal with the post Happily Ever After bus crowds from the Magic Kingdom. When we arrived back to our room, there was one last magical surprise. My dad had ordered a magical room package which was unbelievable! There were Mickey and Minnie totes and stuffed animals, birthday ears, cupcakes, rice krispie treats, a door sign, balloons and more!! It was the perfect ending to a truly magical birthday at Disney! My family was true to their word and helped make a magical birthday with no complaints the entire day and they even planned extra surprises to make sure this Disney mom had an extra magical day!I’d love to help you plan your own magical Disney birthday celebration! Please contact me at amyb@wishesfamilytravel.com. If you have no plans to travel just yet, follow me on Facebook at Wishes Family Travel-Amy Baranek. If you’d like to learn more about me or read more of my blogs, please visit my biography page.