During our last Walt Disney World trip in November, we knew we were going to miss the “soft opening” of New Fantasyland in Magic Kingdom by about a month and to my dismay we would have to enjoy the new construction from a afar. Well, if Disney World isn’t all about magic (and good timing), I don’t know what is!

We started out one of our touring days at Animal Kingdom. After a few times around on Expedition Everest, we stopped for a coffee at Kusafiri Coffee Shop and Bakery. While we sipped (to also warm up, it was COLD that day!), Mark checked his twitter account and saw that someone posted that New Fantasyland was OPEN! Sorry Animal Kingdom, there are some things that take precedence and THIS was one of them! We took the rest of our coffees to-go and booked our happy little selves to Magic Kingdom!

Much to our additional delight, Magic Kingdom had gone through an overnight season change and was decorated in holiday décor!

Without running (hard to resist) we speed-walked to Fantasyland and came to the entrance where there were a few cast members standing “guard.” It felt like we were doing something we shouldn’t, but we walked right in and they didn’t stop us! Success!

I have to first say that the new construction is beautiful and SO on point with the animation that you literally feel like you’re now also an animated version of yourself and just happened to step onto the set of Beauty and the Beast or The Little Mermaid! These are two of my very favorite movies from my childhood so you can imagine how excited I was!!!

First, we just walked around in awe to see everything. So far all that is open (still the case at the time of this posting) are two main attractions (Enchanted Tales with Belle and Under the Sea – Journey of the Little Mermaid), a Character meet and greet with Ariel in Ariel’s Grotto, a little gift shop, and a couple dining choices; more on that later.

Since we’d walked around to the back, we decided to start at Under the Sea! I LOVE Ariel. Period.

I may not be as critical of this attraction as someone else who is less of an Ariel fan. Nonetheless, I was impressed and happy with the execution of this ride overall! There was no line so we buzzed right by the interactive elements within the queue (that we later discovered on round 2). Initially this queue felt similar to Living Seas with Nemo (complete with the exact same Clam-mobiles) but the ride itself is entirely different with animatronic characters recreating a quick version of the beloved story.

Next, I really wanted to meet Ariel and figured this was my chance! We got in line and Mark decided while I waited he would attempt to get into Be Our Guest for dinner (we were not hopeful as it’s booked up way in advance, but it’s worth a try!). I waited for about 20 minutes to see Ariel and had a nice chat with a couple ladies who had made it their goal to get pictures with all the princesses – admirable.

Dream come true! She told me she liked my little bag and asked if it’s what I use to hold my thingamabobs. LOVE her.

Mark was waiting for me on a concrete “rock” when I emerged in all my glowing wonder from Ariel’s Grotto. He looked sad and said he had some bad news. That we were stuck in Magic Kingdom for the rest of the day because he got us a dinner reservation at Be Our Guest!!!!! Oh my gosh, we were SO excited! What luck! Stay tuned for a full review coming up soon!