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.

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.

WDW Day 3

Originally we planned to spend this whole day at Animal Kingdom, but before going to bed the night before we realized that Monday was "Extra Magic Hours" morning for AK, meaning everyone staying in the Disney resorts would be crammed into the park at 8 a.m. for that extra hour and it would be crowded. So we decided to take our chances, and the possibility of bigger local crowds for the holiday, at another park that morning. We didn't tell the girls about our change of plans.

We got up on time and walked down to the boat launch, but then realized the boats don't start until 8:30 a.m. so we walked around to the bus stop, but apparently had missed the most recent boat. The buses going to Animal Kingdom came every 3-5 minutes and were full, reinforcing to us that we made the right decision. We also knew this would be our last "warm" day in Florida, since a massive cold front was heading down.

The girls were very surprised when the bus pulled up at Magic Kingdom! We even made it before the opening show. One of the cast members went around giving the children a handful of sparkly confetti "Pixie Dust" for the show. The Mayor of Main Street welcomed everyone and the actor sang and danced, then the train roared into the station loaded with Disney Characters.

We counted down the opening of the park and threw the confetti up before joining the crowd going in.

Walking down Main Street, you can see the castle before you and it's really spectacular. To go into any of the lands: Fantasyland, Adventureland, Tomorrowland, Liberty Square, etc. you have to pass the Castle. A lot of people stop there first and take photos and look around.

We knew exactly where we were headed: Fantasyland and Peter Pan's Flight. We rode it twice without any line at all. (Later this ride had a 90 minute wait.) Then we went across the street to It's a Small World, where the girls said "Mom, take a picture of that!" non-stop. (Yes, I have a lot of photos of the Small World ride.) Then we went to ride the Tea cups, poor Bryan.

We had a short amount of time before the park filled up, so we hopped on the Indy Speedway. Cameron drove with me and loved it. Bryan and Brenna rode together.

Indy Speedway led us into Tomorrowland where we saw the Monsters, Inc. floor show. We all loved it. The premise is that laughter is more powerful than screams, so Mike Wasowski has to make us laugh and they interact with the audience, similar to Turtle Talk with Crush. The animation picks people out of the audience and picks on them. A cast member goes around with a microphone so you can "talk" to the Monsters.

Then we rode the Buzz Lightyear blaster ride, but it was not as much fun as the Midway Mania. Coming out of that we ran into Stitch! Brenna was a little afraid of him, but Bryan triple dog-dared her to give him a hug.

And she did! I think this day we also rode the Snow White Scary Adventures, but I can't remember now the exact order.

Now that it was after 11 a.m. we decided to grab some lunch on Main Street at Caseys (1900 style baseball, hot dogs) and head over to Animal Kingdom, figuring that the morning crowds would be thinning a bit.

To get there we rode the monorail in the front car over to the TTC and then took a bus.

Right outside the park, Cameron met with four characters. Brenna feigned indifference, but she was really a little bit afraid of them.

I can't honestly say that I blamed her. That Governor from Pocohantas would scare someone very easily! This park is laid out similar to Magic Kingdom except instead of a castle they have the Tree of Life.

Our first order of business inside AK was to race to Africa and obtain a Fast Pass for the Kili manjaro Safari ride. Once accomplished, we walked through the Pangani Forest Exploration trail. This is where we were when Lisa called to tell us that President Bush officially commuted the sentence for Ramos and Compean. My favorite part of the trail was the gorilla. I always liked the gorilla in the Houston Zoo, who died about 4 years ago.

Next we headed into Camp Minnie-Mickey to see the Pocohantas show. Unfortunately, after all our walking we found out they cancelled the show a few weeks (months?) ago and haven't decided what to do with the theater. Still, we were pleasantly surprised to meet Pocohantas.

I think we headed over to the Dino-Land section next and were able to pick up a Fast Pass for the Dinosaur ride. (Fast Pass allows you to pick up another Fast Pass about an hour to two hours after the first, even if you haven't ridden the other ride yet.) I'm not sure exactly WHY Cameron wanted to ride the Dinosaur ride, but we all got FP for it.

Finally it was time for our Kilimanjaro Safari, one of the most popular rides at Animal Kingdom (after the roller coaster). Your safari truck bounces along the dirt path observing a wide variety of African animals. We saw elephants, giraffes, rhinos, ostrich, lion, crocodiles, flamingos, okapis, warthog, and wildebeests.

I don't remember if we did something else between the Safari and the Dinosaur ride, but the next photo is from the ride. The premise is that you go to a dinosaur museum that sends you back in time to see living dinosaurs and something goes terribly wrong. Think Jurassic Park. I hated this ride as clearly evidenced by the photo.

We're in the second row. On the right you can see Bryan looking mildly impressed at the T-Rex roaring, Cameron is under his arm, holding her ears but still peeking out and looking. Brenna and I are completely bent over. I have my hands over her ears and am saying, "Don't Look! Don't Look!" (to her or myself??) Not that it mattered, because we didn't LOOK again for the rest of the ride. It was super loud, jerky, and there was that breeze they do to imply things moving around you and Bryan said the dinosaurs were really impressive and quite scary. Cameron loved it.

The Animal Kingdom parade started at 4 p.m. and we had dinner reservations at 4:30, so we picked a good spot near the restaurant where we could watch the parade. The girls whined and complained about having to wait for the parade and I realized they have never seen a parade in person.

Once the parade started they really enjoyed it and Brenna loved it. She jumped up and down, waving and giving high-fives to the characters who danced down the street. After the parade, we went to dinner at the new restaurant Yak & Yeti. Hands down this was the best food that I ate the entire week in the park. I enjoyed the Miso Salmon and Fried Wontons for dessert. The fried wontons were so creative and delicious! Wontons with sweeted cream cheese and grilled pineapple on skewers with a light sauce on top and ice cream on the side. A unique blend of flavors. I want this again!

We commented to the waitress how much we enjoyed the food (remember we'd only had dinner at the Sci-Fi place before, which isn't know for the quality of their food) and then she told us the "secret". "Thanks, we're new and we're part of the LANDRYS corporation!" You could have knocked us out of our chairs we were struck dumb and then laughed and laughed. We went all that way to Disney and ended up eating at one of Tilman Fertitta's restaurants!! Maybe that's an inside joke for those of you know us really well. If you don't get it and you want to, send me a comment and I'll email you the story.

After dinner we had just a bit of time before the last show of Lion King, so we went back to Dino Land. Bryan took Cameron on the Primeval Whirl and I took Brenna on the TriceraTop Spin (think Dumbo with dinosaurs). Finally it was time to go see Festival of the Lion King.

All we can say about Festival of the Lion King is WOW! Amazing. Beautiful. Fun! I'm so glad we saw this one. If you have the opportunity to go, don't miss this spectacular show. Singing, animatronics, fire-batons, monkey acrobats; a very engaging show. When the show was over, the park was about 10 minutes away from closing, but we still noticed that characters were available at the Camp Minnie-Mickey Greeting Trails. So popped in very short little lines to meet Goofy, Minnie, and Donald.

This was definitely my favorite Minnie - the jungle safari outfit was too adorable!

We left after the park closed again and rode the bus back to the hotel. We were tired, but glad we were able to spend the first two days seeing two of the parks (Hollywood Studios and Animal Kingdom) in case we didn't get back to them all week. We also were pleased that we snuck in an early morning to Magic Kingdom while it was still warm, though we didn't TRULY appreciate just how fortunate we were to have made that decision until later in the week.