We really had set land-speed records for our breakfast at Crystal Palace, we were telling the CM's on the porch to have a nice day by around 8:35 (we hadn't been seated until around 8:15). But in this short amount of time, the fog skulking around the castle had cleared. More people were JUST starting to meander around the area, and so Wingnut and I hopped in the line of 1 other family (at the moment) to have our picture taken again in front of the castle.
Yay, we can see the top!
(All of the pictures of us in front of the castle that day were taken by Photopass photographers with my camera. We had decided against getting the Photopass CD, since really the only picture I knew I had wanted of the two of us was this shot in front of the castle. We didnt end up asking any of the other photographers to take our picture, and we definitely did not regret not doing Photopass this time around.
I got my double negatives right in that last sentence, right? Yes. Okay. Good.)
Ever since it had debuted, our number 1 super mega Magic Kingdom goal was to check out the new queue at the Haunted Mansion. We had seen pictures and descriptions of the additions, and since it also is one of our favorite rides, we knew that we absolutely had to check it out.
Wingnut suggested that since we knew we wanted to not rush through, we go there first thing, and hopefully avoid the crowds (since Haunted Mansion typically isn't one that you hear about people racing to at rope drop).
(And then there's us
)
Heading to Liberty Square:
It was around a quarter to 9 then, and the rope was still up in front of Liberty Square, so we sat down on a bench in front of it and enjoyed the general ambience of the Magic Kingdom.
Tea, anyone?
(No throwing it into Bay Lake!)
(Wingnut also used this time to theorize about how the Pooh's Puffed French Toast was made:
W: But, how do you think they get it like that?
SB: What like what?
W: The puffyness and the doughiness and the crispyness.
SB: It's probably bits of dough that are fried and then rolled in the cinnamon sugar. Like zeppoles.
W: Ohhh. That makes sense.
**If anyone knows how they're ACTUALLY made, feel free to chime in!**)
I also Facebooked this picture of the castle with my phone in the meantime.
At this point, it was only a few minutes until 9, and I wondered when the Liberty Square rope actually would drop. A few Haunted Mansion CM's were standing nearby, opening the rope for a food cart coming in, but not us yet.
By us, I mean Wingnut and I, and the 3 other people that had joined us at this point. Not exactly a frantic rope drop scene in this neck of the woods.
At 9, we saw the fireworks going off by the front of the park, which meant that rope drop had just occurred. I could see the wave of crowds starting to speed-walk down Main Street.
We got off the bench and lingered closer to the rope, and the CM's took it down around when the people reached the Partners statue.
We, along with maybe 5 people, walked quickly through Liberty Square, and towards the Haunted Mansion. Only one other group followed us into the queue, and I was happy that it wouldn't be crowded for our first look at the refurbishment.
As we were walking along the main entrance, I had said to Wingnut that I knew the queue split at some point, one side to go directly into the ride, and one side to walk through the graveyard. I had entirely expected the queue to divide a lot earlier (maybe they adjust the chains when there's more crowds?), and was starting to doubt everything I had seen until we basically got to the front door of the mansion, and saw the two sides.
Phew.
Of course, we went left to go into the graveyard!
The first stones you see are of these busts.
I REALLY tried to get Wingnut to take a picture with them, but he wasn't having it. That didn't stop me from posing with the twins, though!
(The family walking through the queue had already passed us by this point, which I was a bit relieved about. Now we could explore and play as much as we wanted!)
Next, we came across the music-themed tombstone:
(When you touch the instruments, they play!)
The side of the stone is a piano. (No, you can't play music on it too. Yes, we tried.)
And on the other side of the tombstone are creepier "instruments" you can touch to play.
Of course, we had to pay our respects to the Master of the mansion, who now has a prime location in the middle of everything.
The Captain's tomb was next, this one was Wingnut's favorite.
He would sing sea chanteys, and occasionally sneeze and spray water or bubbles.
My favorite was the last one in the graveyard, the writer's.
These books would come in and out of the wall at random. (We weren't able to control them, or if we were, we couldn't tell.)
I THOUGHT THIS WAS AWESOME.
Ok. Basically this was a "speak to the beyond" scene, where a poem would be written out and you call out the last word of the poem to the woman narrating.
I'm going to post about the bride's ring in spoiler mode, because I'm not sure if everyone wants to know about its location and whatnot. (There are pictures, but they dont really give away whereabouts too much.) To read, just highlight!
So before we had even left on our trip, I knew that the bride's ring had been put back into the new queue, and I REALLY wanted us to find it. The only hints I knew were that it was in a corner and by a trashcan.
I told Wingnut about it, and he was keeping an eye out for it too.
"There it is!" Wingnut spied the ring first. From where we were standing, it was blocked by a chain, but I could see ahead that the queue was open to it on the next loop. I was super-excited that he had found it, and crouched down to check it out when we got to it.
The ring is yes, in a corner, by a trashcan. It is near Master Gracey's and the Captain's grave, in a corner along the fence that you also pass when exiting the graveyard. When you first can see it, it is blocked by a chain, but you can get closer to it as you keep walking through the graveyard.
and we're back!
Literally, more people didn't start entering the queue until we were at this last part. It was great to get to have the place to ourselves for a few minutes and enjoy everything. We really really really loved the addition of the cemetery area. I think it really adds to the ambience and theme, and it's truly exceptionally well-done.
All of this fun, and we hadn't even gotten on the ride yet! Clearly, we were in Disney World!
Exiting the graveyard, we waited outside the Mansion's doors for a few moments. I took this time to attempt to capture Madame Leota's eyes open.
I can't tell.
We then entered the Haunted Mansion for our ride, with only around 5 or so other people. It was nice and spacious in the vestibule and in the stretching room. We did stand near the Parasol Girl portrait, just out of habit, really. (The next door opens under her.)
(And yes, now that I know about it, I do have to look up in the stretching room at the end. Creepiest part of the whole ride, in my opinion!)
We boarded our doombuggy, and rode into the mansion. I love the changes that they've made, with the Escher staircase and the updated fortune-teller's room. I think my favorite scene is the ballroom (and checking to see if the Mickey place setting is there!)
With all of our excitement over the new queue, I had actually forgotten about the new hitchhiking ghosts scene until we were right there. Again, we thought that this was an awesome addition, the ghosts now flit around you and switch your heads around or sit on your head or cause other silly antics.
Wingnut and I got our heads switched.
Madame Leota urged us to "hurry baaaaaaaack", and we exited the ride.
(No, we didnt get right back on.)
(Not that it didn't cross my mind
)