Day 3 - Part 2! continued...
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Even though we were so close to the kitchen, being on the water still makes up for it and it is well worth the wait. We took some time to decide what we each wanted, and to make a long, boring story short, Morgan went with the steak and I went with the crab cakes. Blue Bayou definitely redeemed itself for me, as the crab cakes were light and fluffy and not overwhelmingly fishy. Quite delightful, I must say, and certainly the better of the two dishes. There were sides upon sides piled even onto the steak itself, which I think was to hide the unimpressive taste of the steak itself. Morgan described it as tasting like McDonald’s beef. (Which leads me to wonder - is that before or after the pink slime debacle?) Overall, however, lunch was good, I enjoy the gumbo to start it off and it was nice to try something new. I’m sure we will go back for dinner again, and I’m sure the filet will not disappoint.
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After lunch, we grabbed another fastpass for Indy, and noticed that the line for Jungle Cruise was not very long at all, even during this busy time of the day. Since we hadn’t yet done it, this would be the perfect opportunity. Growing up, the Magic Kingdom version of the Jungle Cruise was always our first ride of the trip, so the attraction holds a special place in my heart. The ride is unique in that the skipper makes or breaks it, and this particular time was a good experience. Nothing exceptionally memorable though, but good nonetheless. We were still in the area and had old fastpasses, so we went for a drive through the Temple of the Forbidden Eye, which was thrilling as usual.
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It was about this time that we really started to notice how nice it was outside. Not because of the weather itself, but because of how busy the park had become. There was hardly any room on the paths and there was no way to go without bumping into another couple people. Since it was the first time in three days that it was really nice out, and being spring break, I’m sure more people started to make it out. Lines for most of the rides were skyrocketing, and we decided to slow down our pace a little to accommodate.
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I wanted to head to an attraction that I knew would not have a wait or heavy traffic. Off to the castle, we went! The walkthrough is one of those hidden gems. Even though it is basically just a bunch of cardboard cutouts, the effects and bright colors make it that much more enjoyable and it is a nice place to spend a bit of time. The fact that is in the castle doesn’t hurt either! We went for a quick ride on Pinocchio, and strolled through Fantasyland and toward the pathway leading past Big Thunder.
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As an aside - the stand in that particular pathway that sells hot and frozen beverages, among other things, had an awesome travel mug on our August trip (I collect them) and through a tragic occurrence, the lid was lost and then we never got a chance to see the mug again (though we did end up with a broken lid). Anyway! By chance, I mentioned to Morgan that was the place that had it last time and told her we should take a look. Low and behold, they had it again! Needless to say (but I will anyway), I bought it and don’t you worry - the lid made it home with me. (I was probably even too excited to get a picture)
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I was in such a state of joy that I had absolutely no care what we did. Though I did prefer that we find somewhere cool to walk since I now had a hot chocolate in one of the hotter parts of the day. We meandered around the park and ended up watching a couple of shorts at the Main St. Cinema. We did some shop scouting for later and the trip and I needed to cool off. The line was short for a dole whip, which meant it was a perfect time for me to get my first of the trip!
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Day 3 - Part 2! continued...
We took a walk over to BTMRR to get a fastpass, over to Haunted Mansion for another ride, and wouldn’t you know it, we were hungry again. We brainstormed a few places and had to think of some of the meals we wanted to try and the pastrami burger sounded like it would fit in here. Off to Pinocchio’s Village Haus we went. I don’t normally do burgers in Disney, and this was probably why. Not that it was bad or anything, but it was basically your average fast food burger at your not so average fast food price.
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We headed over to Astro Blaster’s, which I always tend to have trouble with. There are just so many red dots flying around that it is sometimes too hard to find yours! On the bright side, I beat Morgan (as tends to be the case) 65200-41900. We went around to take a few photos and rode Big Thunder. The nights seem to be a bit more photo heavy, though this report may not end up showing all of them, but we then waited for and watched Remember...Dreams Come True. This happens to be my favorite fireworks show. I get excited every time I hear it and the ride segments get me every time. This was the first fireworks show I saw in Disneyland back in 2010, and it blew me away then and I could watch it every night and not get bored of it.
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The court. by BretJMiller, on Flickr
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Disneyland's Splash Mountain! by BretJMiller, on Flickr
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She can fly! by BretJMiller, on Flickr
We headed over to it’s a small world to prepare for Magic, Memories and You. I have not done well in the past with the nighttime shows like this that require using a higher ISO and wider aperture so I decided to take a video instead and otherwise just enjoy it. We strolled around a bit more and waited for Fantasmic! to start. The seating for Fantasmic! fills up hours before the showtime so we always wait until the very last minute and stand in the back, right in front of Pirates. This works well for us so we can head straight into Pirates right after and be one of the first people on right after the big show.
grrrrrrrowwl....I’m sorry, was that your stomach or mine? We headed over to get a cream cheese filled pretzel, but since Morgan isn’t really a big fan, we also shared a corn dog. We had to set it on the garbage as a table for when we were here last August, which is how and when we met Lou Mongello!
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Anyway, we were reaching the end of our night and Morgan was getting to be a little bit cold again so we did one last attraction and it was another ride on Space Mountain. I wanted to get some more pictures, so I took my time and we decided to make our walk back to our hotel. We HAD to make our way through the Grand Californian and sit by the fireplace for a few minutes just to tease ourselves and then made our way back to get some sleep for our last day at DCA for the trip.