Festival of Fantasy Parade

Earlier this month Magic Kingdom was given a new afternoon parade!  It's been a while since the afternoon parade saw change which is why it never really fell on our itinerary when we hit the park.  However, that will definitely change now!  The new parade is called Festival of Fantasy and is a beautiful display of creativity and magic.  The parade includes characters from many beloved Disney movies, including Tangled, Beauty and the Beast, Peter Pan, Frozen, The Little Mermaid, and Pinocchio!  The parade floats are full of bright colors, flowers, and little Disney touches. You will definitely need to watch it a few times before you see all the detail that went into these floats.  Not only are the giant floats amazing, but the costumes of the performers are incredible.  My favorite section is Tangled which finds Flynn flying high above the crowds! 

Enjoy some pictures of the parade along with some fun facts!

The parade features a cast of over 100!

Characters from over a dozen Disney classics are represented over the nine floats.

The are forty more characters present in animated or sculptural form. Can you spot them all?

The lead float is over 50 feet long!

It takes 27 different fabrics to make 1 Swing Thug costume.

Some costume pieces were designed, sculpted and then grown to size with a 3D printer!

The socks worn by the Lost Boys are custom designs that were knitted to order in Hong Kong

The Jolly Roger sails 28 feet above the parade route

Performers appear on swings, stilts, and pendulums!

Maleficent stretches 53 feet and reaches 26 feet in the air!

The trio of finale floats span 90 feet along the parade route

Mickey's float is the tallest at 32 feet!

Derek and I enjoyed the new parade and cannot wait to catch it again on our next visit to the park! Make sure you stop to watch when you are at the Magic Kingdom! You will not be disappointed. 

Dinner at Be Our Guest

My mom and I were lucky enough to eat dinner at Be Our Guest with our dear friends Jack and Nancy. Jack and Nancy are fellow Disney lovers who have watched my brother and I grow up. They are also avid Beauty and the Beast fans and even had a Beauty and the Beast wedding! My mom and I had both been to lunch at Be Our Guest multiple times but this was our first dinner experience and we were very excited! 

After checking in we got to wait on the bridge for our buzzer to go off. It didn't take long until it did and we were on our way across the bridge! They then give you a candelabra and you make your way into the restaurant to your table. It reminded me on how Belle carried Lumiere when she first came to the castle!

We sat in the West Wing which is my favorite of the three rooms. Only two of the rooms are open for dinner unless it's a busy time. The West Wing is a fun room to sit in because about every 20 minutes there is a thunder storm. When this happens make sure to watch the rose and the picture of the Prince!

TIP: If you want a quieter experience request the West Wing. The ballroom tends to be very noisy, even during dinner. 

One of the negatives of the restaurant is that it is very dark and hard to read the menus. But nothing that a phone light can't help! The food at dinner is very different than lunch, and I tend to enjoy the lunch options better, but there is still plenty to choose from! I ordered the steak and everyone else got the pork chop.

Dinner starts off with some nice warm bread rolls and butter. Jack also got the potato leek soup. Before we knew it dinner was out. And it was amazing! The steak is very good and melts in your mouth. It comes with seasoned steak fries and green beans as well. My mom also loved her pork chop, it came with au gratin macaroni, which was also very good! 

TIP: If you don't like the sides your meal comes with, don't hesitate to substitute something else, we didn't have any troubles doing so!

After a delicious dinner it was time for dessert! I of course got the chocolate cupcake while my mom got the strawberry. These are the exact same desserts as lunch. We were also celebrating my graduation and Nancy's birthday so we were lucky to get some Grey Stuff, which of course was delicious!

It's Delicious! Don't believe me, ask the dishes!

During dinner there is an announcement that is made and the Beast walks around the restaurant greeting his guests. It's a really cute touch. After dinner, you can go meet the Beast in the Library! Definitely a great ending to a great meal.

 My mom and I both loved our meal at Be Our Guest but I don't think we will be visiting again soon for dinner. Unfortunately, we did not have the best server but just the experience and the food made up for that. However, we both tend to enjoy the lunch options much more. It is a great restaurant and if you are lucky to get a reservation I would definitely give it a try! If you can't however, do lunch, you will still have an amazing experience!