When securing FastPass+ reservations 30 days out, I was a little shocked that I was unable to secure a FP+ for the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train.  I tried for it at midnight for everyday of our trip and was unable to get the FP+.  What I found especially odd is that I made a FP+ reservation for the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train for July 3rd at a little less than 30 days out with no problem (though it was a very late and undesirable FP+ return time).  But for this obscure week in August, I was unable to get the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train for any time on any day.

The Seven Dwarfs Mine Train was at the top of Max's list of attractions in Magic Kingdom, so I knew that the only way to ride it without waiting for over an hour was to rush there first thing in the morning.

I suppose we arrived early enough that they weren't running the monorail.  Instead, they had ferry and bus transportation from the Transportation and Ticket Center to the park.

There is still construction on the over-water bungalows at the Polynesian which are part of the latest addition the Disney Vacation Club.  They block the view of the Grand Floridian from the Transportation and Ticket Center, and I don't like it!  You can view more photos of the over-water bungalows and read more about my dislike of the obstructive DVC addition in my Independence Day Trip Report.



We arrived to Magic Kingdom right in time for the park opening show... but not soon enough to go ahead into the park before the show.

Believe it or not - although I grew up a Disney kid, I did not grow up a Disney princess.  Sure, I remember loving the movie Cinderella (particularly for the little sewing mice), but in all of my childhood, I never donned a Disney Princess dress.... not even for Halloween

But I had always dreamed of dining in the castle.  So, I got my first taste of Disney Princesses at Cinderella's Royal Table back in 2009.  It was a last-minute 4:30 PM dinner reservation that my Dad scored and surprised us with the day of.  At the time, dinner was the meal that did not involve Disney princess greetings, besides Cinderella at the entrance, but only Cinderella's mice.  Besides our table next to the window with a view over Magic Kingdom, I remembered dining at Cinderella's Royal Table to be rather underwhelming.  It was something that I decided I would not do again until I had my own children or was visiting with someone who was a princess-fanatic.

When visiting Walt Disney World, naturally, I always get cast into the role of tour guide which is something that I enjoy doing.  My goal is to make sure that whoever I'm traveling with has an awesome time and falls in love with Disney.  But when Max told me that his friend, Natalie, had mentioned dining in Cinderella's Castle to him, I was a bit taken aback.  My first thought was that this is a very difficult reservation to get less than 180 days out - what if I can't make this happen?  I'm going to look like a terrible Disney tour guide!

After a few days of persistently searching Disney's Advanced Dining Reservations, a 12:05 PM lunch reservation for Cinderella's Royal Table miraculously opened up.  It was actually on the day that we had intended to go to Universal's Islands of Adventure, but when an available reservation opens for Cinderella's Royal Table, one takes it and reschedules everything else.  Note that Cinderella's Royal Table is a prepaid reservation.  Unless using the Disney Dining Plan, in order to make the reservation you must not only give a credit card number, but pay for 100% of the meal upfront (cancellations can be made up to 48 hours in advance).

Even after I had secured the reservation, I had a few worries.... what if the experience was too girly and uncomfortable for Max?  What if it was too childish and we looked out of place as a table of four adults and no kids?  What if the food sucked (I had read plenty of bad reviews online)?  But my success with securing a Cinderella's Royal Table reservation at 30 days out overrode all of my bad dining experience fears.



We arrived at Cinderella's Royal Table about 20 minutes early, which is what Disney suggests.  I rarely follow that suggestion and typically arrive right on time or perhaps a few minutes late, but since I had already paid for our meal, I wanted to make sure that we did not miss it.  When I went to check in, I was told that they weren't checking anyone in, yet, and that we should wait against the wall until they began.