My Top 10 Favorite Magic Kingdom Songs

For Top Ten Tuesday, since this is my Disney Blog, I decided to feature 10 of my favorite Disney songs. But, rest assured, while that may seem an easy task, it really isn't. My OCD has caused me to list my Top 10 Favorite Magic Kingdom Songs...because you just can't lump all the movies, parks, parades, events & tributes together & come up with 10 that easily.

So, here goes...

My All-Time Top 10 Favorite Disney Songs...from the Magic Kingdom

10. If You Had Wings - now, I know what you are thinking. If You Had Wings was an extremely dated 1970's ride. As much as it drove me batty as a child, every time I hear it now generates a floodgate of memories. Simpler times, memories of it being my grandmother's favorite ride, a very vintage Tomorrowland, and some very blue buggies! I think the cliff diver was the scene I remember the most.

9. SpectroMagic - This is great parade music. It is also the only night parade my children know. While it is gone for the summer this year, I will be sad.

8. Everybody's Got A Laughing Place - This song makes me smile. It is a great reminder that no matter what, something makes you happy inside...and everyone has their own happy place..you just have to find it! (Betcha can't guess where my happy place is..lol)

7. Wishes - Wishes is the best collaboration of Disney's all time favorite cry-along songs. Seriously. It makes my heart smile every time we watch Wishes. The kids sing along & each has their own favorite parts. It is one of our very special Magic Kingdom moments.

6. Mickey Mouse Club Theme Song - ok, so this song can't be heard in any particular spot in the Magic Kingdom, but it most certainly SHOULD be! I remember watching the Mickey Mouse Club when it would come on. The Mouseketeers would sing the song under the Castle...I do think of that song every time we walk underneath the Castle.

5. Its A Small World After All - who doesn't like this song? Its A Small World is very special because it is one of the only rides that is really not *branded* with anything Disney. Another reason why I am glad we have the original version & not the new Disneyland character version.

4. Pirates of the Caribbean - This has become a family tradition. We skip all the way thru the ride que singing "yo ho yo ho, a pirates life for me".

3. Grim Grinning Ghosts - Happy ghosts are a good thing.

2. There's A Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow - Nostalgic & definitely a catchy tune, its more than that. It's inspiring. No matter how bad your day was, there's a great big beautiful tomorrow shining at the end of every day. And tomorrow is just a dream away.

1. Main Street Electrical Parade (aka Baroque Hoedown)- Did you know that the theme music for this parade has an actual title? This is my ALL-TIME MOST FAVORITE. I grew up with this parade. I cried when it left. I cried when it returned. And, when the announcement was made that it was returning, I cried again! I am so excited for my children to see the parade so they can visualize it for themselves. The music has been burned into their minds thruout the years. I love this song so much that I even used it in one of my cheerleading routines (they won the state championship that year as well!)

Do you have favorite Magic Kingdom songs as well?

Will you be crying on Main Street with me this summer when Main Street Electrical Parade returns home?

Do you think I am just crazy??

Feel free to leave me some love below ;)

Well, that is my top ten this week. Please go back to OhAmanda & check out other Top Ten Greats on this Tuesday!!

til next time ~

make it magical :)

Super Family Fun Weekend 2010 pt 1

What a whirlwind weekend!

Itinerary:

Saturday - Future Headache's Football Game, Magic Kingdom, Hotel

Sunday - Space Shuttle Launch, Epcot, Superbowl

If you could define a perfect weekend, this would have been the one. For one thing, my house was clean & everyone was packed (including the car) by Friday night!! That itself is an extreme rarity! (you can read about past OCD issues here).

After Future Headache's phenomenal game(read here), we were off to Magic Kingdom. Granted, after all the trips I make there, a normal person may not be as excited as I was. There was another photo lesson to be taught..this time ACTION! So, after the standard & customary Move It Shake It, the rest of the group & I headed off. It was cold & windy...so we hit Pirates of the Caribbean. For once, we were thankful there was a LINE! After PotC, we met up with the rest of the gang over by the Crystal Palace. Thanks to the refurbs being done at that time, most of the area was blocked off. So, that beautiful little area that overlooks the castle was pretty much dead(think..great spot for fireworks!) We love finding new angles to watch the fireworks from.

So while we held our seats, we just had fun. Princess Peanut ran around the circle area there & sang songs. Patriotic music played in the background with twinkling lights surrounding us.  Later on(we waited for about an hour), I did send some of the troops over for a Waffle Bowl Ice Cream Sundae from the The Plaza Ice Cream Shop. Can you say excited children?? Watching them sit around this one dish of ice cream... and before you can say " 1 bowl?", there was a reason for that....seeing the sharing... laughing... talking... was priceless.

Just before fireworks started, I got a text from a friend, Michelle (<---follow her on twitter!) that I have not seen since 8th grade. Thanks to Facebook, I have reconnected with most of my gradeschool friends. She was in the park, too. She & her family made their way over to where we were & watched fireworks with us. It was so neat to reconnect during such a magical moment!! Luckily, they are local (& passholders!) so we will meet up again -next time to ride Cinderella's Golden Carousel. Disney is such a great place ;)

We decided to leave after fireworks, since we were driving over to the Space Coast st 2am. Originally, we were at Epcot, so we had to take the monorail back there for our car. As luck would have it, we boarded at just the right time. By the time the monorail was pulling into Epcot, we rode thru the park on the monorail during Illuminations. I have been wanting to try that for a while! While missing the music, it was still a great sight!

What a great night!

OH! & I found a penny...heads UP!

Celebrate.....ME :)

picture taken by Maria Elkin-not bad for a camera phone ;)

OK….
How often do you take time out of your day to celebrate the things you need to? Or do you just celebrate when it’s convenient? Most of the time, life is so busy & hectic, we tend to push off celebrations until it’s convenient for everyone. But, thanks to Disney this year, we will stop and celebrate when we have to!

I have lived in Fl since 1973-74-ish. For as long as I can remember back, we always went to Disney twice a year. We always went at some point over the summer & for my birthday in October. For quite a few years, my dad’s company gave out tickets for Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party. That’s quite a few trips. And since we have had passes, we average a trip every 2 weeks. But I can honestly say, in all of those years & trips, we never went to Disney on my actual birthday.

This year, I did.

We didn’t get as early of a start as I would have liked, but we did arrive at the Magic Kingdom at about 12:30...just in time for the Move It Shake It Celebrate It Party. We skipped down Main Street & danced in the street with Baloo & sang along with Mickey. Even though I have seen this before, it was different because it was MY birthday this time J I think just about every cast member between the entrance & the castle stopped to tell me Happy Birthday. It was so neat!

Only having a few hours in the Kingdom, we hit a few of the standard you-can’t-go-to-the-MK-and-not-ride rides...Haunted Mansion & Pirates of the Caribbean. By naptime, we had successfully danced, sang, spooked & swaggered all over the land.

Even though I only had a few hours to play, this was definitely one of the most magical birthdays ever. Celebrating with me was The Boy, Peanut & Peanut’s friend. I have to admit, this was a great promotion. I never would have stopped everything to celebrate on a Thursday under any other circumstances. So, Disney, I say thank you. Thank you for forcing me to stop & celebrate me. I had fun.