WDW 6 Magic Kingdom

After such a busy day and late night, Thursday was definitely a sleep in day! Brenna and I were the early birds and Bryan and Cameron slept later. After getting ready, we went downstairs and had a quick service breakfast at the Roaring Forks. Since the seating area was packed, they opened up the Territory Lounge for overflow and had the television set to Playhouse Disney. The girls sat and watched Imagination Station while Bryan and I planned the rest of our day. After two days of being outside in 30+degree weather, we didn't want to go out to a park until it warmed up.

Following breakfast, Bryan and Cameron headed upstairs to drop off the extra water bottles and Brenna and I toured the Mercantile, took some photos around the lobby, sat in the rocking chairs in front of the fireplace and then went back to the room.

We decided to use the hotel clue pages to search for Hidden Mickeys; all over the parks and hotels there are little Mickey Mouse logos. We had seen them in the bedspread, the carpet design, the wallpaper. Hunting around the public areas, we found one in the fireplace stone, another in the Whispering Canyon fireplace, one outside in the log beam, and another in the basin of the geyser, which was going off while we were searching.

(see the stone that looks like Mickey's head?)

Even though it hadn't quite warmed up, we left for the Magic Kingdom about 11:30 on the boat launch.

Magic Kingdom felt more crowded than our first two days. As we walked into Main Street, we saw the Mayor and said hello. We saw the trolley with actors, who stopped and did a little show that included the Trolley song from Meet Me in St. Louis. (I just realized I didn't need to take any video, you can find all of this on YouTube from other guests!)

We went into the Crystal Arts shop where I bought the girls each a small glass slipper with their birthstone as a surprise for later. Then we headed into Tomorrowland and went straight to Space Mountain and got a FP to return between 2-3 p.m.

We walked into Fantasyland and stopped at Ariel’s Grotto, but didn’t stick around to meet her because there was about an hour wait, so she is the only princess we didn't get to see during our trip. During the summer, the grotto is probably a very popular place with water sprinklers. The sprinklers were on a little and both girls splashed in the water.

We went to the Haunted Mansion and stood in line to ride it again. We went through Liberty Square and Brenna wanted ice cream. Since we had so many snack credits left, we all got popcorn and ice cream. We took our ice cream aboard the raft to Tom Sawyer’s island for some exploring through the mine and cave and over the barrel bridge. Then we high-tailed it back to Tomorrowland, where Cameron and I rode Space Mountain with the FastPass. I liked it better than I let on and I would have ridden it again if she begged, but I screamed my way through the ride. I also had my neck jerked around.

Meanwhile, Bryan & Brenna rode the Tomorrowland Transit Authority and wanted us to ride it. I wanted to take advantage of the parade to go into Toontown to meet the fairies. (The parades draw people out of the more crowded areas of the park.) But they insisted and so we got on the TTA. About a minute after departing the station, the ride stopped. From our vantage point we could see parts of the parade, a little far away, but the ride never started again and we felt trapped. After 30 minutes cast members came to let us off.

They escorted us along the catwalk and into an emergency door, down stairs, past an office, and out into a gift shop. They also gave us a FP coupon good for ANY attraction in the park. We debated what to use it for… Cameron wanted to do the Indy Speedway again, but I didn’t want to use it for something we’d been on already. We decided to head over to Toontown to see how long the wait to meet the fairies would be. It was an hour wait, so we asked if we could use the FP. Yes! Bryan didn’t go (saving his FP) and I took the girls behind and around with a cast member escort to meet Iridescent, Tinkerbell, and Faun.

We looked at our list of what we hadn't been on yet and decided to go to the (updated) Enchanted Tiki Room. We also stood in line for about thirty minutes for the Jungle Cruise. This was the first time we stood in a standby line for an attraction that had a FP dispenser. Not realizing how late it was, we meandered back into Liberty Park and ate a funnel cake while overlooking the castle, which was all lit up blue and purple.

Suddenly we realized that it was an hour later than we thought. Bryan had told Cameron she could use his "Any Attraction FP" to ride the Indy Speedway, and since she was too short to drive herself, he rode with her while Brenna and I watched from the Grandstand viewing area.

A quick dash out allowed us to catch a Monorail to the Contemporary Resort for our Chef Mickey reservations. Disney makes dinner reservations but they don’t mean you’ll be going in at that time. A 7 p.m. reservation means you check in about 6:50, then wait until 7:20 p.m.

After dinner we rode the boat launch that runs between the Contemporary and the Wilderness Lodge. On our way to the dock, we found a cool Mickey sculpture and took a photo using the timer.

Tomorrow will be our last full day at DisneyWorld and we planned to spend it at Epcot riding Mission Space and touring the World Showcase.

WDW Day 5 Epcot Princess Breakfast

One of the reasons we rested on Tuesday night was because we knew we had a big day planned for Wednesday. We hoped to get to Epcot about 8:30 a.m. in order to ride a few of the big rides or get some Fast Passes before our 10 a.m. Norway Akershus Princess Breakfast. Unfortunately, it wasn't meant to be. Day 5 is when things start to get a little dicey. We rushed in the morning and hopped on the Epcot bus a little later than I'd hoped.

You'll notice in the photo above that both girls are wearing a badgeholder around their necks. We used these to keep their ID, their "First Time" pins, and their room card key aka entrance ticket to the parks. After we were on the bus to Epcot I noticed that neither girl had their badgeholder on. After some calming breaths, we evaluated the situation and decided to hop off at the Ft. Wilderness stop. There we were able to take another bus that went through Ft. Wilderness and ended at Wilderness Lodge. Bryan ran up to the room for the badges while the girls and I tried to keep warm and hoped that the next Epcot bus wouldn't come before he came back down. (Seriously, it was 27F overnight and the orange crop froze!) He arrived about 30 seconds before the Epcot bus and after a 45 minute delay we were once again headed to Epcot.

Epcot's World Showcase includes the Akershus Royal Dining Hall in Norway offering character dining with princesses. We waited about 20 minutes in the cold, stepping inside the heated gift shop long enough for our noses, cheeks and ears to thaw, keeping our hands in our pockets tightly gripping the handwarmers.

When they call you name, you get a slip of paper and join the line. Now you wait with a purpose, because the line ends with Belle. The princess, in her yellow ball gown and a convenient drape for the cold, greets each girl kindly, signs their autograph books and poses for both you and the Akershus photographer.

Then we are led to our table where we receive drinks and a platter of scrambled eggs, sausage, (undercooked) bacon, and potato casserole. A buffet line offers thinly sliced smoked salmon, some kind of herring, pastries, croissants, a yummy apple pastry, muffins, lingonberry cream cheese and fresh fruit. During breakfast, the other princesses come by to greet you. We were visited first by Jasmine. This time she wore a blue robe over her skimpy costume.

She immediately recognized us from yesterday! She asked us to pass on a message to Cinderella at our dinner tonight – would we tell her “Tag, you’re it!” Clearly, some kind of inside joke between the princesses. Next Mary Poppins, all proper and British, comes by to sign the books and pose for a photo. Then Snow White, and last a new princess – Mulan!

While I had the girls in the restroom, Bryan said that Jasmine came back over and told him thank you, that the girls were delightful and families like ours made her job such a delight.

We wandered a little back over to the Future World, the park was still very crowded with large international touring groups and VERY cold. The wind! Our first stop was to get a FastPass for Soarin’, then we got in a 25 minute line for Living Seas with Nemo, which put us in the theater for Turtle Talk with Crush – just as good as everyone talked about. The kids all sit on the carpet in front and it was very crowded.

We went into Imagination Station with Figment and played around with some of the kiosks there, waving our arms with melody makers and morphing photos.

We went to get a FP for Test Track and stopped inside Innovations (for warmth) where we saw the testing labs and played a creative, interesting (and a bit preachy) game about Waste Management. We were the Kelly Green team!

Bryan bought the girls passports and we headed into The World. It had started to warm up a bit, but not much. We ate some Fish'n'Chips in Britain as we rushed around The World to get back to Soarin' in time for our FP entry. Soarin' is this fantastic multi-sensory ride that simulates hang gliding over parts of California. Your seat goes up in the air so smoothly you don't notice it at all and while watching the IMAX screen, you really feel like you're soaring complete with breezes and odors. Brenna loved this ride.

We walked over to Test Track and discovered it was not running! The cast member said our FP would work anytime before the park closed, so we went to China to try out a Kim Possible adventure.

The phone “kimmunicator” gave her clues, things to find around China. The entire game was very well designed – requiring her to find a lion in front of a gallery. Then go into the gallery and find another clue (the clues interacted with her) and then come out and find a zodiac wheel (she is year of the Sheep). Then finally the riddle is solved and the puzzle completed. The phone goes into a drop off point.

After viewing the 360 degree film on China, we stopped for some shrimp fried rice with a pork eggroll and caramel ginger ice cream. By now it’s getting really cold again and dark. We headed for Test Track to see if it’s running again. It was, so we got our ride. Poor Brenna really hated the fast part of the ride, and I was so worried about Brenna that I didn’t really enjoy the ride. Yes, it went fast – increased to 65 mph but then immediately decreased. Bryan and Cameron loved it.

We decided to ride the Living with the Land boat ride before we left for our dinner reservations and we caught the last boat of the night, but before it pulled away from the loading point, it stopped and we were trapped on board for almost 15 minutes while they figured it out. We were tired, cranky, and decided to get off, but they wouldn’t allow us. Finally it started and the ride was better than we expected. The best of the “boring” educational rides so far.

We rushed to the Monorail, and rode it to the TTC, catching another monorail to the Grand Floridian resort. These were "last minute" dinner reservations and I was pleased to have the opportunity to see the inside of the Grand Floridian since I've always wanted to stay there. After checking in with the 1900 Park Café, we stepped outside by the pool to see the 8 p.m. Magic Kingdom fireworks.

The dinner buffet included all of the Cinderella characters introduced with great fanfare.

Before the end of the dinner, Cinderella and Prince Charming enjoyed a waltz. After dinner we had to take the monorail to the Magic Kingdom and from there catch a bus (just barely!) to the Wilderness. If we hadn’t caught it, we would have had to go from the Floridian to the TTC to Epcot and caught a bus from there. Both girls just barely made it up to the room, took showers without much complaining and went straight to bed.

Disney World Day 4 - Princess Breakfast

Tuesday dawned with temps hovering in the low 40s, quite a change from yesterday's warm afternoon. Today was our special breakfast at Cinderella's Royal Table so we dressed in our finest Princess tiara and took the boat launch from Wilderness to Magic Kingdom.

Even though it was super-cold, we rode the Magic Carpets of Aladdin, another flying Dumbo ride but with carpets. Then we went in search of an indoor ride discovering Pirates of the Caribbean nearby. We rode this one twice - just to warm up! Both girls enjoyed the ride, while I tried to guess which scenes I remembered from Disneyland circa 1986 and what has been updated to reflect the popular movies. Obviously having Johnny Depp as Capt. Jack Sparrow is an update. Then we walked up to Liberty Square and rode the Haunted Mansion. Brenna was very hesitant to ride this at first, but I sat with her and we laughed at the "movie magic" so that in the end she really enjoyed it.

As a special treat we made reservations for the Cinderella Royal Table breakfast with the princesses. This is a special dining area in the Cinderella castle where the Disney Princesses come around and greet you at the table. We checked in just before our 10 a.m. reservation time and were told to wait in line. We waited in the shade of the castle, with the wind blowing through our jackets, freezing, for about 30 minutes. I even went into a shop and paid an exorbinant amount of money for their last pair of Princess gloves. Finally our part of the line entered the outer door and we waited a little more comfortably to have our photo taken with Cinderella.

After meeting Cinderella, we could (at last) go up the spiral staircase to the dining hall. We relaxed with some (hot) coffee and hot chocolate and a nice hot breakfast of eggs, hashbrowns, sausage, bacon, fresh fruit, and muffins. One by one the princesses came to our table to sign autographs, talk a moment, and take photos.

Each girl was given a wishing star and a wand and there was a little ceremony to make a wish. I have a video of them doing this and Cameron's face is so genuine, so intent on making that wish, so believing and trusting, that when she opens her eyes and the only thing that has happened is the lights are flashing she's looking around not quite sure what to believe.

After breakfast we had a slightly more leisurely day planned. We walked away from the castle and the girls went nuts over Excaliber in front of the Carousel, insisting that Bryan come and pull it out.

We wandered into Mickey's Toontown Fair where Mickey & Minnie keep a house. We walked through both of their houses; then Cameron and I rode the Barnstormer roller coaster.

Bryan and Brenna checked out more of the area including the souvenir shop and the lines to meet Princesses and Fairies (over 60 minute wait). When Cameron and I finished the Barnstormer we went back into Fantasyland and rode The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, which Bryan really enjoyed since Pooh was one of his favorite childhood characters.

We crossed back into Adventureland and climbed around on the Swiss Family Robinson Treehouse. We were getting pretty tired so sat down to watch the Country Bear Jamboree show.

Even though it was only 2:30, we decided it was time to call it a day and rode the Walt Disney Railroad around to the Main Street entrance. We were about to leave when Cameron asked about buying a pair of Mickey Mouse ears. We popped into a store near the entrance, then another store. Suddenly the parade was coming around the circle. We stood on the store porch and had a great view of the parade.

When the parade was over we immediately went to the boat launch and rode back to the Wilderness Lodge. Bryan and Cameron went downstairs to do something while I put Brenna to soak in the bathtub. Afterwards she rested and I soaked in the tub to warm up my body. At 5:30 we went down for dinner in the Roaring Canyon restaurant in our hotel. (Yes, we had to make dinner reservations for our own hotel restaurant.) Sadly we were a bit too tired to really enjoy the rowdy rootin' tootin' atmosphere that included stick horse rides, twirling napkins, tall milkshakes, and huge skillets of all you can eat bbq.

Brenna wanted to sit by one of the fireplaces, so we took some homework and playing cards. After she did a page or two, we played Go Fish for about thirty minutes before calling it a night.