Magic Kingdom!

(Internet issues and late nights prevented me from posting last night. But again, for consistency, I will change the timestamp to yesterday!)

Magic Kingdom with my family day! I’ve been looking forward to this day since I got here!

We were up mighty early and leaving the house by 7:55am. Because we planned to stay at MK all day, and because I know from experience just how long waits can be to get out of the park at the end of the night, I came up with a plan. Every night when I leave MK after Wishes, I witness the hordes of people clamoring for a spot in line for the boat, monorail, and buses to try and get to their resort or car. And every night, I walk right by them on the nearly empty pathway to the Contemporary. To sit at the nearly empty bus stop and wait for my nearly empty bus. Now, of course, we couldn't take the cast bus I normally get on. And there is no Disney bus that goes to our hotel. However, I see buses headed from the Contemporary to Downtown Disney every night. So, we planned to park at DTD and get a taxi to the Contemporary and walk to MK from there.

It worked perfectly! Just as we got out of our car a cab was pulling up. The cab driver even let us fit all five of us into his car so we wouldn't have to wait for a van. It was a little squished in the back seat, but manageable, and 20 minutes later we were walking towards MK! We got there around 8:30, just as we planned and waited for the opening show. It was brilliant - and really the first time I've seen it this trip. I spent most of my opening day at MK up against the rope to be the first into the park instead of back a ways to see the characters. But today, Mom and Becca and I watched it wide-eyed! :) 

As soon as we were through the entrance, we split up. Mom headed to get FPs for Peter Pan's Flight while the other three and I went straight to Tomorrowland to get on Space Mountain (Mom didn't want to ride it!). Looking at the crowds of people ahead of us though, we decided instead to sit and wait for Mom... but we realized she'd take her time, thinking we were on Space. So, we hopped in line for Buzz Lightyear's Ranger Spin while we waited. Becca managed to get the maximum number of points; 999,999 makes you a Galactic Hero for saving the world from Emperor Zurg ;) We all teased her that it was clearly a glitch or a fluke... Becca nearly always gets the lowest points in this family in shooting games!

When we got out, Mom was no where to be found, and Space Mountain's wait was only 15 minutes! How could we resist?! We hopped in line, and it was even less of a wait than that - 5 minutes later we were in our seats and discussing the best faces to make for the photo. When we finished, we rushed back up to meet Mom - we weren't going to tell her we went on Buzz without her, until Becca got the million points. But, as it turns out, Mom went on Peter Pan and Buzz without us! So we hopped into Buzz line again to do it as a family! Just as we were about to reach the area with targets, the ride stopped. I found out my laser had started working anyway, so I started firing into the next room at the targets to hopefully get a few hundred points before we even started. I picked a good one apparently and my hand-eye coordination was right on the money, because instead of a few hundred, I got a few hundred thousand. I managed to get to 999,999 points before the ride even started!!!!! Clearly Becca's million was not a fluke and we're just legitimate Galactic Heroes! :)

After that, we went up to Peter Pan to use our fast passes - I have yet to see this ride less than an 85 minute wait, and our FP got us in in under 5! It's not all that exciting, but still fun to do and I'm glad I've done it :) After that, we headed into new Fantasyland - my family's first time there :) We went straight into the Little Mermaid ride to escape the heat and because Mom and Becca really wanted to see it. It's so cute that I enjoy it every time! :) After that, we went to line up for lunch at Be Our Guest!! When it opens at 10:30am, it fills up right away, so folks start lining up around 10:15 to be sure that they can get in and that that their food is served quickly!I know that Beauty and the Beast is my thing, but I think my family enjoyed it there as well. I had french onion soup for the first time in my life - and it was so good that I'm a little bit scared to try it anywhere else now for fear that it wont be as amazing! The other guys had sandwiches and fries and all the food was delicious :) We even got cupcakes for dessert and Mom had the chocolate mousse cream puff... and just... yummmmm.

As we were getting ready to leave, the heavens opened up and it started to pour! I was glad I'd insisted on bringing our new ponchos with us, or else we would have been soaked the second we walked outside. instead, we walked through empty streets to Gaston's Tavern and Belle's Village Shop and onwards to Storybook Circus so that everyone could see it for the first time. We spent a few minutes in the circus tent out of the rain and then headed to Thunder Mountain. On the way, we stopped for Mickey's PhilharMagic; one of my favorite things since I've been here. My family loved it, and it was excellent as always!

By the time we left the theater, the rain had let up quite a bit, so we stopped at the Liberty Belle - a huge steam boat that takes guests around Tom Sawyer's island. Daniel and I ran ahead to get fast passes for Thunder Mountain before the boat left, but when we were back and boarded, we had to get off due to 'technical difficulties'. So instead we went up to Thunder and sat and waited for our FP time at 1pm. It was only about a 10-15 minute wait, and because of the rain, new FPs would let us go back on again at 1:30. So, right before we got in line, we grabbed a second FP. We used the first one (love that ride!) and then went into the nearby store to wait for the next one to be valid. We hopped in line again and rode it for the second time :) When we got off, the rain had stopped and we hopped on the train and rode it all the way back to Main Street Station; where we got off and actually exited the park and got on a monorail to the Polynesian resort.

The heat and the walking meant we needed a break! So we found a lovely lounge area upstairs in the Polynesian lobby and claimed it as our own space for about an hour. We got snacks at the Disney-fied convenience store nearby and just recharged for the second stretch of the day to come.


When we felt good to go again, we got back on the monorail to MK, entered the park and did some shopping along Main Street! We went up one side and down the other; pin trading and strolling and laughing and being a family :) On the way back down the other side we saw the Main Street Dapper Dans playing and singing and being silly. They were fantastic. We went into the hat shop and Becca bought a Peter Pan hat and had them put 'Becca' on the back. The even gave her a feather for it.

 We grabbed fast passes to meet Mickey, Cinderella, Aurora and Rapunzel and then went to Tomrorrowland to ride the PeopleMover; usually something we do when we first arrive. On long days its great to find rides that allow you to just sit and enjoy the ambiance of your surroundings (one of the reasons why PeopleMover is my favorite)! When we were done, we get in line to meet the characters - Mickey was adorable as usual, making fun of how tall Daniel was! Cinderella and Aurora were lovely, but it was Rapunzel who made our day, telling us that she was easily the best princess because she was the most down to earth. "I like to run in circles and be silly and go barefoot. They made me wear shoes today. Sighhhhhhhhhh."

We walked up Main St and through the castle to get to the next attraction; the tea cups! Mom and Dad didn't want to ride it but Daniel and Becca and I enjoyed it :) When we were done I went to get FPs for the Little Mermaid while my family went to Gatson's Tavern to look around and take some pictures. I met them there and we sat for a few minute at one of the tables before heading up to see what the line was like for Small World and to see if Peter and Wendy were around for Becca to meet. Unfortunately, they were not, so we went to the Little Mermaid to use our FPs instead.

After we were done, we went to Starlight Cafe to have supper and then we got FPs for Buzz to do that one more time before we were done for the day. We went on the PeopleMover again and then Becca and I split form everyone else to grab the rest of our stuff form the locker so that we wouldn't have to get it in the rush out of the park after fireworks. We met the other three back at Buzz, sorted the locker stuff into bags that were easy to carry and hopped onto the ride for one last attraction before we left. No one got a million points that time though!

We go to our fireworks location at about 9pm, exhausted from the day but ready to claim space for five. We got the perfect place - not only did we have a perfect view of of the castle, but the electrical parade went right by us as well and we could see the larger floats just fine :)

Finally, it was time for Celebrate the Magic; the light show I've been waiting to show my family for the last seven weeks. I can finally post the YouTube version - I didn't want my family to watch it before hand. But now that they've seen it; here it is!

It was beautiful, and the looks on my family's faces were priceless - Daniel when Phineas and Ferb showed up, and Becca for Ariel's part. Dad when the rocket goes up, and Mom just for the whole thing! :) :)

Five minutes after Celebrate, Wishes begins! And it was perfect - I thought maybe the lightning in the distance would keep Tinkerbell from flying. But sure enough, there she was! A real person zip-lining from the top tower of the castle. The entire show was beautiful!

When it was finished we weaved our way to the front of the park where Mom and I went up to the train station to take pictures from the balcony. A stunning view of Main St and the castle! We didn't want to leave!

But we had to eventually. And as we left, my plan for getting us home with minimal hassle was set in motion. As the entire population of earth headed for boats, buses or the monorail (okay, so maybe not 7 billion people, but it felt like it) we took the left path to the Contemporary! A grand total of 20 people were walking down the path, and as we got to the bus stop, the DTD bus pulled up!! I couldn't have done it more perfectly myself.

A (relatively) short bus ride later had us to the DTD parking lot and our van and we were home by 11:15pm! A miracle, for getting out of MK after Wishes in July! ;)

      Tomorrow, sleeping in (yay!) and some Animal Kingdom and some relaxing. But it's been a long day and it's time for some much needed sleep!