Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom

Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom (SotMK) is a fun and *free* activity in Magic Kingdom. *Free* is only mostly true, but we will get to that later on. To start the game you head over to the Firehouse in Magic Kingdom. The Firehouse is located on the left side of Town Square over near Harmony Barbershop and the restrooms. Once you get to a cast member inside they should ask you if you’ve played before. If they do not ask, tell them you’d like to start playing. They will set you up with the magic bands or park tickets for everyone that would like to play in your party. We have 3 magic bands for our family since Callen does not have a park ticket due to his age. Once set up they will give you some packs of cards (typically one pack per person) and take you to the practice portal within the Firehouse, so you can see how to play. That portal will tell you where your next portal is, but you will need the map to find it.

Portals work by scanning the lead person’s magic band (they will tell you who that belongs to at set up) to the key hole near the portal. Scanning the band “opens” the portal to play. There will be a video that plays and you will be told to “cast your spell.” When you are told to cast your spell you will hold up one of your cards toward the portal and the camera should pick up which card you are using and then play an action to go with the character. There are a total of 70 cards plus there are special cards that are only available at Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party and Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party. You will find cards 1-60 within the packs you are given over time, but 61-70 are found by buying booster packs

There are three difficulty levels of SotMK and you have to complete each one to move on to the next. We are still on the easiest level after 8 months of playing. We have not played on every single trip down, but we do play every time we go to Magic Kingdom. We finally completed cards 1-60 on our last full family trip. We have a few of the 61-70 cards that we have purchased the booster packs to obtain.

You can watch a video of a portal being played below.

I know this is kind of a vague post about Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom, but we are also still figuring out a lot about the game. I wanted you all to know that the game exists and to stop by and start a fun game the next time your in Magic Kingdom. Your game won’t expire on you, so go, enjoy!

VIPassholder Events

One of the perks to being certain level of annual passholders lately has been VIPassholder Events where usually Gold and above get to be in a park for some after hours fun! Since we’ve been passholders we’ve done two. The first one we had to option of going to Magic Kingdom or EPCOT. I chose Magic Kingdom. The second one was the option of Magic Kingdom or Typhoon Lagoon. Again, I chose Magic Kingdom.

Ashley and Belle on Space Mountain during a VIPassholder Event.

During VIPassholder Events basically all rides in the park is open. There are usually a special dessert to purchase if desired. There are also some fun photo locations in the parks as well.

Ashley and Belle on Haunted Mansion during a VIPassholder Event.

Crowds can vary drastically. The first one we went to it rained a few hours before and was sprinkling the first hour or so, which kept a lot of people away. The second one was warm and really overall good weather. The lines were not terrible, but there were definitely a lot more people!

If you get an invite to attend a VIPassholder Event you need to be quick. Each time reservations have been filled within a few hours. When we get Galaxy’s Edge emails it will be even worse. If you get the chance to do an event go for it!

Harmony Barbershop

Not many people know that Walt Disney World has a working barbershop right in the Magic Kingdom! We have taken both kids to have their first haircuts at Harmony Barbershop.

Belle really not enjoying her first haircut in 2015!

Harmony Barbershop offers first haircuts, child haircuts, and adult haircuts. There is no shampoo bowl within the barbershop, so hair needs to be clean upon arrival. There are only 3 chairs in the barbershop, so it can be difficult to get a reservation for a haircut depending on the time of year. They do allow walk ups, but remember that will be a first come, first serve based off availability. That being said you may be if you can not get a reservation, but NEED to go you could have a long wait.

Callen getting his hair pulled into a ponytail to get it chopped off!

Child haircuts start at $18.
Adult haircuts start at $19.
The first haircut package is a phenomenal price of $25 considering it includes the haircut, a bag with a hair lock in it (or in our case with Callen an entire ponytail!), a littler certificate and Mickey ears that have “My 1st Haircut” embroidered on them!

The stylists do know how to deal with a wide range of behaviors of children. Belle was not about her haircut at all, which resulted in her sitting on Andrew’s lap. Then Callen, the one afraid of water, sat in the chair without saying one word or crying or really caring at all!! Crazy!

We can’t speak for adult or child haircuts as we’ve never had one there, but if nothing else the first hair cut package is amazing and I will always tell people to do it if they can!

I had to show how much was actually cut off of Callen!!!

Bippity Boppity Boutique

This is a girly post, but if you have boys, fear not because they are not excluded! Walt Disney World has two locations for children to visit Bippity Boppity Boutique (BBB). You can visit BBB in Magic Kingdom inside of Cinderella’s Castle or Disney Springs on the Marketplace end. When we took our daughter the only available place was Disney Springs and I was perfectly alright with that since presently Disney Springs is a newer, bigger, and less popular venue. Plus the five year old knew no real difference.

Each location offers the same packages varying in price. The lowest price package for princesses is currently $64.95 plus tax and can stretch up to $450 and up plus tax. I say and up because there are other options that can be added that would be an additional price. Knights are a bit more reasonable at $19.95 plus tax starting and go to $79.95 and up plus tax. You can see the package list here https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/shops/disney-springs/bibbidi-bobbidi-boutique-marketplace/

We opted for $64.95 plus tax option since I found all the pieces of the costume Belle wanted on sale. We brought with us a Tinkerbell costume, Tinkerbell shoes, and Tinkerbell wings. The $64.95 package got us hair styling, nail polish, make up, a cinch bag to hold all of her unused makeup and nail polish, and a BBB sash, plus the whole experience. The Mickey bobby pins seen in the picture above were included in the hair style as well as the pink and purple colors.

There are multiple hairstyles to choose from and from what I could see they all included hair accessories whether it was a clip, bobby pin type, tiara plus for some colorful hair extensions. Belle opted for about the most low key one they offer (and I’m not going to lie I was so thankful for that because some of those styles are a bit tacky in my opinion).

The whole experience took about an hour, even with a photo shoot afterwards! Each child has a Fairy Godmother in Training that does their hair and make up. There is a PhotoPass photographer that goes around to each person and takes pictures throughout the whole experience. This is done by a card that stays on the stylist’s station, so you’re not ending up with a bunch of pictures of strangers like you do at other attractions (Jedi Training and Enchanted Tales with Belle). Participants must be between the ages of 3 and 12. I believe this may be a every 2-3 years experience for us if it is something Belle would like to do again. Callen turns 3 this year, so she may get to do it 2 years in a row or we may just wait another 2 years until Callen is a bit older.

As stated above, if you have a Princess and dress up loving child this is a great addition for your trip. If you could pair it on a day with a Cinderella’s Royal Table or Akershus meal I think it would make it extra special. We did not do this, but it was more for lack of planning ahead than anything else. We went to Magic Kingdom at night after her makeover.