Disney World. Day 1. Wake Up Tinker Bell

Our quest to wake up Tinker Bell felt more like a scene out of the Amazing Race. Our task was to be the first of 40,000-50,000 visitors to the Magic Kingdom to get to Tinker Bell’s Fairy Treasure store. We all got up and out of the room with plenty of time to spare. As we were waiting for the bus, Fairy Grandmother asked if I had the tickets to Magic Kingdom (MK). Whoops. Thus, I had to run all the way to our room to get the tickets (through the hotel lobby, past the pool, past the football field, past the baseball field/pool, and down a lengthy hall – and back). As I came back through the lobby and rounded the corner I saw that a bus had already arrived and Fairy Grandmother was stalling the bus while acting like she was going to get on but really just kinda loitering at the stop. Luckily, I made it on the bus with the MK tickets in hand.

Once we arrived to MK, we weaved our way to the front of the crowd. This was fairly easy because we just had the three of us and didn’t have to contend with strollers and such. After the opening ceremony, the masses (including moi) were permitted to enter MK. We bee-lined for Tinker Bell's Fairy Treasure store, which is located just behind Cinderella's castle.

This is where I stop the story to give credit to Fairy Grandmother who was speed walking though the crowd. Seriously, I could not keep up – I have a desk job and the closest I get to a cardio workout is getting up from my chair to see what kind of goodies have been left up front for me to eat. This was NOT the task for me.

Once we got to the castle, we scooted to the back of the castle where we were greeted with a rope barrier because they were not letting visitors past the castle. At this point, we had Tinkerbell’s Fairy Treasure store in our sight but we were blocked by the rope barrier.

We waited patiently and finally, when the ropes were removed, we headed into the store where Lulu found the first Cast Member she saw and proudly asked, “May I wake up Tinker Bell?”



I was holding my breath. The cast member smiled and told Lulu that she certainly could wake up Tinker Bell. Yippee!

To wake up Tinker Bell, you ring a special bell while calling out, “Wake up Tinker Bell! Wake up Tinker Bell!” Also, we were told that you must believe in fairies for this to work. Here is a video of Lulu waking up Tinker Bell.

I did not know how long this wake-up procedure would take so I did stop filming. Eventually, Tinker Bell popped up in the little box. She yawned and stretched and then disappeared because she was headed out to visit other parts of the park

Lulu was also presented with this certificate for her Certifiable Magic Moment at the Disney World resort

and she was topped off with some pixie dust before we left the store.

"All you need is faith, trust, and a little bit of pixie dust." Peter Pan

Napmom’s Note: Only one person can wake up Tinker Bell each day. There are no second chances. You must arrive early because there will be dozens of eager moms and girls on your heels waiting to wake up Tinker Bell. Some such visitors arrived shortly after we woke up Tinker Bell. These visitors were told that Tinker Bell had already been woken up but they were given the chance to “call her back” by ringing the same bell and calling out “Come back Tinker Bell” which was still very special!