Merrie May Travels - Part 10
Who: Gene & Me
Plan for the Day:
Magic Kingdom
Main Street Bakers for breakfast
Jiko for dinner
After soaking in the tub for a bit last evening, it was off to bed. I’m not a big bath person but since the jetted tub is there and I’m on vacation, it’s fun to indulge once in a while.
Once in bed, I read for a bit but shut the Nook down around 11 even though the Dean Koontz novel I was reading had entered its final, most exciting stage.
I did not hold out much hope for the wake-up call to actually work but at 6:30 the phone rang. Because I was expecting a recording, I didn’t say anything but only put the phone on speaker. Then I heard a man say “hello” so I responded and he said “This is your wake-up call”. I thanked him and disconnected. I told Gene I was expecting to hear Stitch and Mickey so was a little taken aback when it was a real person. Two minutes later, the phone rang again. This time I picked up the receiver and said “hello” only to hear the recording I had originally expected. I guess after our complaints they wanted to be doubly sure we actually got a wake-up call. We were half expecting there to be a third call to make up for the other missed wake-up call!
Breakfast consisted of the goodies we had purchased last evening at the Patisserie in France. We could have left earlier but I was in the last 20 pages or so of my book and really wanted to see if the family would survive the spirits that had invaded their house in “What the Night Knows”. I didn’t quite make it to the end of the book but read enough to satisfy my curiosity about what happened next.
We did not wait long for a Magic Kingdom bus. I was able to get a seat but Gene was somewhere in the back of the bus and I’m sure he stood for the duration of the trip. Security and park entry were a breeze. I’m hoping many folks opt not to visit this park today as it will be closing at 7 tonight for another grad night – the very last one ever, I believe.
After a couple of photopass stops, we make our way to Peter Pan. It’s a five minute standby so we ride. When we exit, it’s a 10 minute standby so we ride a second time. We grab fast passes for Winnie the Pooh (The fast pass distribution center is no where near the Winnie ride – it’s over where the Philharmagic fast passes used to be distributed). It’s a Small World is having technical difficulties and is closed. We pass by and head to the Haunted Mansion. This is the first time we’ve seen the new additions to the queue. Pretty cool!
There aren’t many folks there so we are able to wander through at our leisure and take as many pictures as we’d like. I’m glad they preserved the classic gravestones and Leota is still in her spot by the door. We enter the ride and I can’t wait to see the new hitchhiking ghost enhancements. We are not disappointed. Our ghost takes our heads and switches them – putting Gene’s head on my body and mine on Gene’s. Pretty cool stuff!
We head to Splash Mountain with the intention of grabbing a fast pass but it’s literally a walk on so we ride. We fortunately are only damp upon exit (I’m not a big fan of wet rides but do need to do this one from time to time as the rest of it is so good!). Big Thunder Mountain has a non-existent line as well so we ride that one too. When we get to the top of the first big hill, we grind to a halt. That’s never happened before! We only sit for a few minutes and we’re off again! This time, there are no more unexpected stops before we finish the ride.
Before heading off to Winnie, we go to the Hall of Presidents which is as stirring as always. I had expected that the Liberty Square Riverboat would now be down for refurb but it appears to be operating as usual.
After our Winnie the Pooh ride, we walk over to Space Mountain and pick up fast passes there. It’s lunch time so it’s off to Cosmic Ray’s for us. I have chicken and Gene heads off to the burger station to get a cheeseburger. Sonny Eclipse is performing when we arrive but he quickly goes to sleep and does not resume before we leave.
In quick succession, we enter Mickey’s PhilharMagic, Snow White’s Scary Adventures (This, surprisingly, has a 15 minute wait time), and the Carrousel (I still can’t think of it as belonging to Prince Charming) though this has a 2 cycle wait time with the line heading off to the left and then turning back to the usual loading area. Gene selects a horse behind mine. A man places a little girl on the horse besides mine and then begins to take pictures of her. He backs up a bit and then a bit more. I’m watching him and thinking he will surely turn around to see how much more space he has before he falls off the edge of the platform. He does not and steps back yet again. I shout “Watch Out” (but I don’t think he understood me.) Fortunately, he catches himself as he goes over edge and does not take what could have been a terrible tumble (There’s not much space between the rotating platform and the rock wall and I could certainly see someone falling back and striking that hard surface). When I told Gene about this later, he was totally unaware of what I was witnessing and, because he was behind me did not hear my shout!
While on the Carousel, I see that Small World is now open. We head there next and get on the line that is out on the plaza. Oops! They’ve closed it down again. It’s a bit puzzling as it does not appear they are ejecting all the folks who are already on line inside. In any case, I do not wish to get stuck inside somewhere. My son-in-law is always telling me the story of his older sister who got stuck for quite some time on this ride and, as a result, can no longer endure the song! From the way he tells the story, it’s a wonder she did not sue Disney for emotional distress!
The Speedway shows a 20 minute wait. Okay, we’ll do it. I know it’s a fairly dumb ride but there’s something that’s still charming and enjoyable about it. I don’t know why I go on this but, for some reason, still do like it (and I’m not even an avid car person)!
Off to the People Mover! Now, it’s time for our Space Mountain fast pass but, first, we grab fast passes to Buzz Lightyear. The stand by line is quite long but the fast pass makes our wait no more than 5-10 minutes. I find this ride quite rough so I have no idea why I continue to do this one either. There are several spots where it feels like we bottom out without any cushioning whatsoever! Oomph!! Oomph!! Oomph!! The California version is so smooth compared to this!
We head to Carousel of Progress. During the first scene, a man in our section gets up and walks out the door in the back. To whomever that was, I would like to say I am not at all happy with you! Due to your rather rude actions all the rest of us in the theater got to sit through the same diorama a second time! If you didn’t want to ride it, don’t get on and if you do get on and are told to remain seated, do so and suffer through it even if you don’t’ care for it! Thankfully, everyone else remained seated and we made it through the remaining scenes without interruption.
Off to Buzz Lightyear. When I was here in February (sans Gene), I had some excellent scores – over 100,000. Of course, with Gene present, that did not happen today! Where was that excellent spot I hit more than once on that trip?! Oh well! (When I looked at the photo they snapped, I can see the frustration on my face at not having repeated my earlier success! Too bad I didn’t get the picture as it was pretty funny!)
Gene suggested we do Stitch. Well, okay. Not a favorite but I don’t hate it either. Guess I’m just indifferent to it. Our last attraction of this day is Monsters Inc. Cute, as always though it’s starting to feel like it could use a few new elements.
As we head out of the park, we stop for a couple more photopass opportunities. We wander through the shops. At the Bakery, we select a couple of items to take home with us for tomorrow morning’s breakfast. When I run into the rest room, Gene heads into City Hall and selects “Happily Ever After” buttons for us. How sweet.
We only wait at the bus stop for a few minutes when our bus arrives. Back home, we pick up items we had shipped back to the resort over the last few days and then stop into Victoria Falls for a drink.
When our drink is finished, we return to our room where we change for dinner and I take some time to write these notes. Gene turns on the Kentucky Derby. One of horses is named “Animal Kingdom”. I think to myself that I’d bet on that horse “just because”. Surprisingly, Animal Kingdom won!
It’s now 7 p.m. and it’s almost time to head off to dinner which is at Jiko tonight so we only need to head downstairs. More to come……
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Thread: Merrie May Travels - Part 10
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Originally Posted by mouseketeer mom
We get at least one every trip.
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