Saratoga Springs Sojourn 2

[faline]

Tuesday, January 23

Today, we will visit the Magic Kingdom. We get a late start - arriving at the park around 10:30 am. We have an 11:00 am lunch reservation at The Plaza so there is not much time to take in any attractions prior to checking in for our reservation.

The show at the Castle has just started so we watch that. I hadn't seen this show yet so it was fun to watch. When the show ends, we check in and are the first family seated in the restaurant. My husband and I share a club sandwich and we each have milk shakes - vanilla for me and chocolate for him. My sister-in-law has the reuben sandwich while my brother-in-law selects the tuna salad sandwich.

We had a fastpass for the Pirates ride which I knew we would not able to make. However, the ride apparently broke down while we were still in our fastpass window as I received a notification that I could use the fastpass for another ride within the Magic Kingdom that day. After lunch, we flew on Peter Pan (fastpass) and then used our "free" fastpass from Pirates on Big Thunder Mountain. Our last fastpass of the day was for Haunted Mansion. It was our intention that my sister-in-law ride this one with us. In the past, I have always observed cast member taking those in scooter and wheelchairs out of the main line and escorting them through the exit for boarding. Today, no cast member was there to provide this rerouting. When we located a cast member, we were informed that my sister-in-law would need to park her scooter outside the exit door and make the walk from that point to where the ride vehicles offload. She indicated she could not make that walk so, ultimately, decided not to ride and to wait outside for us. While the rest of us were on the ride, it broke down almost as soon as the ride started. I think we were stuck for about 10 minutes before the ride got going again. The four of us did take a round trip on the train. Only one train was running on this day so there was a bit of a wait for its arrival.

The park was only open until 8 pm on this evening as well. Additionally, the park was very crowded and the popular rides had very long wait times.

We left the park mid to late afternoon and made our way back to Saratoga Springs via the bus.

This evening, we had a reservation for Citrico's. Once we were dressed for dinner, we made our way back to the Magic Kingdom. Since I knew we would need to go up the steep incline to the monorail, we opted to take the motorized scooter rather than the wheelchair. Once through security at the Magic Kingdom entrance, we were able to make our way to the monorail for the ride over to the Grand Floridian.

We arrived in time for our dinner though I did make a brief stop at Basin for some bath bombs before we checked in at the restaurant. This was an excellent meal - the best we had all week!! My sister-in-law and I selected the scallop risotto. Exquisite!! My brother-in-law had the halibut which he greatly enjoyed. My husband had the filet mignon which he pronounced was prepared perfectly. We skipped having appetizers before our entrees so we would have some room left for desserts. We were actually seated right by the dessert station so were able to watch the desserts being prepared. My sister-in-law had the tiramiso for dessert which she said was very good. The rest of us had the chocolate torte with chocolate crown - just decadent!! I couldn't finish mine so brought the rest of it home with me for a very sweet breakfast the next morning.

After dinner, we stopped in to the lounge to listen to the band. Although we were able to find a seat in the lounge, it was very crowded - and very noisy - in there. The band really couldn't be heard above the roar of voices. We noticed a couch outside the lounge being vacated by another group so took our drinks and moved to that location. From there, we were able to converse and also listen to the band play.

We left as the band was putting away their instruments for the evening. Since the Magic Kingdom closed at 8 this evening and it was now after 10, we didn't think that trying to get a bus from the Magic Kingdom would be a good idea so we made our way to the Grand Floridian bus stop. The only transportation running at this point in time was buses to Downtown Springs. When we arrived at the bus stop, there were already two scooters waiting for a bus. Since buses are limited to carrying no more than 2 scooters, we would have to wait for a second bus. A cab was not really an option as the scooter we had with us could not be taken apart to transport via vehicle. It took a little while for the Downtown Disney bus to arrive and it was quite chilly that evening. The very nice bus driver loaded the two scooters that were ahead of us and said he had informed folks that he had to leave a scooter behind. He told us they would send a bus for us very soon. Even before he loaded the rest of the passengers on board, another bus pulled up and we were able to load onto that bus.

From Downtown Springs, we took the path home. I used one of my bath bombs and had a nice tubby. It was quite late when I got into bed but I slept well on this night.

[VWL Mom]

Finally, bath bombs! I remembered all your old trip reports included them and wondered if you had gotten over them.

I think the CM at HM was just wrong, they had were taking scooters/wchairs earlier this month in the special entrance. I don't think they can just say anyone needing one can no longer ride. Sorry your SIL had to experience this.

Thanks for the review on Citricos. We wrote it off a long time ago but may have to give it a try again.

[ibelieveindisneymagic]

I am sorry about your Haunted Mansion experience! It seems to be one of the rides with a "variable" policy, depending on who is working, but when you insist that it can be done, they always do make it work, like they are supposed to, but it is frustrating that sometimes we have to push a bit.

I am glad that they got another bus to come ASAP ... especially on a chilly night!