Sunday, April 15th Part IV - Ohana and a Late Night Solo Tour of MK
(OK, now that I'm back from my conference, back to programming and need to catch-up! This one is a long one but has plenty of pics to go with them!)
We went back to our room to wash up and rest for a little bit before we headed over to the Great Ceremonial House for a 6:45 ADR at Ohana.
Took this one on our way to GCH.
Checked in right on the mark and received our leis. Between the garlands and the beautiful water fountain in the lobby that we were looking down on from the waiting room, I was really getting into the whole tropical mood.
I had read about the sometimes long wait times after checking in at Ohana, but our table was ready in less than 10 minutes and we were seated.
As soon as we ordered the drinks, the food starting coming out immediately. I guess thats the advantage of having a set menu. The salad was good. The dumplings were great! I thought the wings were just okay. I usually prefer my wings being more spicy than sweet. The meaty portion of the meal was excellent. Well, except that I had to peel my own shrimp!!
My motto is I dont order food that I have to work hard to get to the meat!
All kidding aside, the shrimp was good too. BUT, the highlight of the meal in my opinion is the bread pudding!! WOW! The atmosphere during our meal was excellent as well. The gentleman with the ukulele singing birthday songs and songs wishing happy anniversary really set the island mood although I have to admit, I barely had time to look up to watch him because I was too busy burying my face in my plate of food! He led a little parade with the kids around the restaurant with each child shaking a maraca.
Sorry about the blurry photos. I really need to buy a better camera. Point and shoot worked well enough when there was enough light, but didnt work so well in low light or when I had to zoom. We were all stuffed when we left. Poor DD fell asleep halfway through the meal. She was curled on sideways on the chair and was soundly out. We knew that the food for the adults would be not fit the tastebuds our little ones so we asked for some kid friendly food on the side. I think they brought a plate of mac and cheese for the kids. Anyway, the adults enjoyed the meal!
We took the kids back to our room and got them in bed. DW and DFIL were also very much ready to go to sleep. They were exhausted. Me? Well I had something else planned for the evening. If you hadnt read my PTR, this was the night that DW said I should do the solo late night tour of Magic Kingdom! This is something Ive always wanted to do visit Magic Kingdom at late night. Never got to try it as a child since my parents always had us back in the hotel room at night. And for the last couple of trips, our young children kept us in our rooms at night. Magic Kingdom was open until 12am and EMH until 3am. So once everyone was tucked in bed, I left the room around 9:15pm. I walked over to the TTC (felt like from Tahiti Longhouse this was closer than walking over to the GCH) and caught the MK Express monorail. I was greeted with this friendly view right after I got through the turnstiles.
Main Street was still packed. MSEP just ended and people were standing and waiting for Wishes. I made my way to Tomorrowland and got a FP for Space Mountain. I wanted to be on a ride during Wishes so I could enjoy a different view of the fireworks. I debated whether to go on Astro Orbitor but the line appeared too long that I was worried that I would still be on the lower level line when Wishes started.
In retrospect, I would have been okay. So, I ended up going on the Peoplemover ride right around 9:59pm and try to capture the views on my camera. Here's the best looking one of the crop.
Want to know whats worse than trying to take blurry pictures with a point and shoot at night? Try taking pictures at night from a moving vehicle!! I still enjoyed it but there was a lot more indoor time than I thought. When I got off the ride, the finale of Wishes was starting so I attempted this picture.
While waiting for the FP window to open at SM, I walked over to check out the night views of Dumbo.
I think Disney did an absolutely wonderful job with the new Dumbo ride. The water, the lighting is all just magical. Barnstormer didnt quite have the magical feel to it. I guess the Great Goofini knocked out all the beautiful lighting with the mayhem he created!
I went back to SM to ride using my FPs. This is when I first noticed how much more crowded MK was than what I had expected. Even with FPs, I think I was in line at least 15 minutes. When we got near the loading area, two couples approached from a side entrance. Seemed like they were coming through some sort of VIP lane, not sure. Anyway, they were clearly very well liquored up. And all four of them were wearing bead necklaces. I had to do a double take and look around me to make sure I wasnt in a line on Bourbon St rather than SM. Nope, I was still in Disney. WHEW! All I could think of was, PLEEEEEASE dont let me end up on the same train as them. And Murphys Law said, well just see about that. I ended up on the back end of this joy train.
I enjoyed the ride but with all of the exaggerated hollering and hooting, probably could have enjoyed it even more. All kidding aside, it was still very fun! I always loved the fact that you could never figure out where the turns are coming from or going and every twist and drop gives you a pretty darn jolt. I was happy that I got to ride SM since with the kids who werent old enough to ride, I wasnt sure the adults would get a chance to go on this one later in the week.
After the ride, I decided to make my way over to Liberty Square cutting through the now relatively deserted hub. Caught these two gems from both sides of the moat.
I was debating whether to go on Haunted Mansion when I looked at my watch and realized that the second MSEP of the night was about to start in 10 minutes. So I planted my self at the edge of a planter. And a little while later, I was able to capture some of these images.
Petes Dragon was my favorite! While I was watching, it dawned on me. How the heck did Petes Dragon survive the test of time for MSEP? Do kids these age even know who Pete is?? How does Disney decide to drop Flynn in less than a year from the movies release yet heres Pete and his dragon puffing their way through the parade. Well, good for them!
Once the parade was over, I quickly hopped in line at HM. I loved the eerie vibe and glow the mansion was emitting this late at night. I tried to capture this wonderful view but alas my point and shoot failed again.
I really enjoyed the ride. Its indoors but the fact that I was riding it close to midnight just added to the experience. Oh, and so did the two drunk couple from SM. YUP! Somehow, after I exited the elevator room (I dont know what its official name is, but thats what I call it) and filtered into the line, I started hearing a very familiar hoot and holler. The beaded drunk couple were following right behind me. I just laughed out loud. I mean it was pretty funny. What are the chances, right? I just took it as a sign that I was done with any further rides for the rest of the night. I was getting a little tired as well. So I decided to do a little more sightseeing and picture taking as I circled around to Frontierland and Adventureland before heading towards the exit. Stopped and watched mostly empty vessels at Splash Mountain make the drop. Out of 6 attempts, this pic turned out the best.
Then made it over in front of POTC and Enchanted Tiki Room.
Cut across in front of Crystal Palace and then made towards the exit.
It was about 12:10 am when I got to the resort launch. I wanted to try the boat this time. Hmmm, maybe I should have thought of bringing some extra clothing because it was a little chilly. Made it back to the room at 12:30am and went to bed hoping that this late night out wasnt going to make me crash the next day.
I really enjoyed the late night tour. Didnt get as much rides in as I thought I would. But, I enjoyed the night time scenery of it all and got some nice pics in the process. Hope you enjoyed them as well!
I am looking forward to being able to utilize the PM EMH this trip. Loved those pics of the castle and "moat". Those are going in my screensaver slideshow
but it looks like a good place to see all sorts at once! Our DD's loved Akershus too, love the look on all their faces when the next princess would come out of the door. Great job....more please!
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