Published November 22, 2013 by Kasey Vandermark of Kasey Knows Orlando
A sweet Sixteen party is usually one of the most amazing experiences that a girl will have. I remember when I was talking to my mom and dad about planning my big day, they surprised me. I was thinking that I would have a party, some cake, and great friends to ring in my 16th birthday with but what was offered was more than I could have ever imagined.
Many people celebrate their birthdays at Walt Disney World each year. The parks themselves have the magic to make any birthday truly feel like the extra special day that it is. Add in a little expert planning by mother and daughter and you have what was the most magical birthdays I have had.
The day started with grabbing the Disney CD, specially created by my friends and myself, and cramming into the limo that waited for us outside. We sang out hearts out to all of our favorite
Disney songs while we headed to Magic Kingdom. I’m sure I even saw the limo driver singing along to a song or two. When we arrived it was just as I had hoped. My beautifully handpicked tiara matched wonderfully with my carefully chosen birthday outfit and I could hear the excitement in my friends’ voices. We were on our way to an adventure that we still talk about today.
My mom thought of giving each of the girls a disposable camera to take pictures with while we were there. This gave all the girls the chance to take so many pictures that afterwards my mom was able to make an amazing scrapbook of all the happenings of the day! A fantastic idea seeing as this was before cell phones had any type of “good” cameras.
As we walked into the park we decided to enjoy as many rides as we could before meeting my parents back at the Monorail to head off to lunch at the Grand Floridian. In a whirlwind we collected fastpasses for Space Mountain and ran to ride the People Mover! After the People Mover we headed to drive the race cars in Tomorrowland. We later found out that these speed around at a pace of 8 whole MPH! We then decided to ride the Haunted Mansion.
We soon found out that if you have a birthday button and the Cast Members allow you and your friends to ride the ride without getting off you might be the only ones in the Doom Buggies on your second time around. Also, it is much scarier during that second ride around the mansion. After observing many ghosts we headed over to Frontierland and got in line for Thunder Mountain. The line was surprisingly short and we were on in a matter of minutes.
After Big Thunder we ended up on a boat headed towards Tom Sawyers Island. We explored
some caves before realizing we needed to meet my parents very soon! We could have practically walked on water across the lagoon we were going so fast. We made it just in time to head off to lunch on the Monorail. Once on board we realized just how hungry we were and were thankful that we were on our way to a character buffet lunch at The Grand Floridian.
The lunch was so delicious and entertaining that most of what I recall was a blur of eating and meeting princesses. What I do remember is dessert. There was a beautifully decorated chocolate cake that one of my friends accidentally ended up sitting on and getting all over her white pants… unfortunate, I know!
The very next thing we did after lunch was head right back to Tom Sawyers Island and finish our exploration. We ended up on a few barrel bridges. Surprisingly out of the whole day this was one of the most memorable moments. We were all laughing and jumping on the bridges and at one point caused the bridge to be fully submerged in the water. I think we broke Tom Sawyers Island that day. We then rode Splash Mountain as many times as it took to get our picture perfect so I could buy it!
We made it on so many rides it’s impossible for me to remember now what we did and the order that we did it in! Pirates of the Caribbean, Jungle Cruise, Peter Pan, Space Mountain … I think we actually did ride every ride in the park! We geared up for fireworks and I was presented
with a princess balloon I was very proud of! Our last hour we spent riding Space Mountain as many times as we could until the line was closed for the night!
This was truly the most magical birthday that I could ever have asked for. I got to plan it with my mom and enjoy it with my best friends and it was magical. I hope that everyone gets the chance to have a magical birthday celebration at Magic Kingdom just like I did! If anything reminds me of the real magic of Disney it is this birthday I was lucky enough to celebrate at Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom!