We were up at 6 am. We had a reservation for 8.05 am at the Crystal Palace our favourite character breakfast. In our house, you just cant go wrong with the characters from the 100 Acre Wood and as far as buffets go, you cant go wrong with CP in my opinion.
We were on the bus and on our way to the Magic Kingdom just before 7 am. I wanted a few quick pictures of Main Street before the crowds descended on the park, forcing me to play dodge with bodies in bopping in and out of my cameras frame.
We were first at the turnstiles, ready and waiting.
We knew we would have to wait some time yet before they let us in, but about 30 minutes after we arrived they let us through. They then held us at the entrance until just before 8 am.
Not wanting to be late for our ADR, we took a few quick photos and went straight to CP to check in.
t was a sail up to the podium to collect our beeper which went off before we could even move out of the way to go and wait. We were seated immediately and Pooh and Eeyore came to the table before we could think about getting any food. This suits me fine. The one drawback about the non family style buffets is the constant stress about missing characters while you are getting your food.
The restaurant was by no means full but for some reason the queue at the buffet was incredibly slow moving, making it feel somewhat busy, when it was far from it. Despite our prompt seating and having seen all the characters within the first 15 minutes, it was 9.10 am before we got out of there. I can only think it may have been down to how long it took to get our food. I do wish there were two lines one for hot food and one for the cereals, fruit, yogurt, etc. Most people dont mix the offerings from those two sections on the same plate so it seemed silly to have to wait through the line at the cereal bar to go and get 2 sausages for DD. I dont recall this being the case in the past so it may just have been the way everyone started out that morning and all the others followed like sheep.
Once we left we proceeded straight to Tomorrowland to ride Space Mountain. We saw Chip & Dale and stopped for autographs.
They were on top form that morning, full of their usual antics. We walked onto Space Mountain and ended up in the back row. My neck really took the brunt of that ride. I kept wondering if I was suddenly getting old, but the theory holds true, I am convinced of it: the roughest ride is in the back. Time for a quick walk-on for the Indy Speedway.
We decided to do what we could in Fantasyland as that tends to get crowded really early. First stop was Peter Pans Flight to grab a FP. The wait was already 30 minutes and the park had only been open for 30 minutes. I wont wait that long for a 1 minute ride so DD, who was the self appointed FP collector for the trip and took her role very seriously, was delighted when 2 surprise Philharmagic FPs popped out along with the others.
Not that you need them; you just have to time it right for the shows, but after a short wait for Snow Whites Scary Adventures, that was next on our itinerary anyway so when we saw the wait was 5 minutes we simply walked through the standby entrance, keeping the FPs for scrapbook material. I love watching DD during 3D shows. Last year our first show was ITTBAB and I had to be escorted to the nearest exit by a CM less than 10 minutes into the show so there were no more shows last trip including Philharmagic. No need to worry this time though. DD loved every moment of it and it was so cute watching her trying to catch the musical instruments and reaching out a helping hand to try and save Donald when he was begging for help. She chuckled with glee through the entire show as if she had never seen it before and I felt a wave of contentment come over me as I kept glancing at her sitting perched at the front edge of her seat as if she was waiting for her cue to jump right into the show.
By the time we left the show we were ready to ride Peter Pan and enjoy the very quick ride before moving through to Frontierland, stopping briefly on our way past Splash Mountain to collect a Fast Pass and moving straight to BTMR, which fortunately only had a 15 minute wait by this time. By the time we had exited BTMR we only had a five minute wait for Splash so we stuck around waiting for our time to show up above the FP queue. We were entertained while waiting by a family who had return times exactly the same time as ours, pleading their cause with the CM, convinced that five minutes wasnt going to make a difference and couldnt understand why they were being made to wait.
It was so funny because they spent the whole time discussing it and every minute the CM would interject with BTW folks, its only 4 minutes now, etc until it was time for them to go in.
We had our preferred Illuminations viewing booked for Epcot that night and since its may favourite fireworks show I wanted to make a real evening out of it. DD was very keen to get her swim at the resort first so I made it clear that we should be making our way out of the park no later than 1.15 pm. We walked around the hub and Main Street, stopping for some Photopass pictures on the way and then stopped to enjoy the fabulous Dapper Dans on the way out.
They really are brilliant. I so wish they made a little DVD my family would love it! Again we benefited from a little more civilian entertainment as I was trying to take a picture of them and there was a guy standing on the other side of the Dapper Dans, signalling his disapproval that I might get him in my picture. Trust me sunshine, I dont want you in my pic if I can help it, but unless you move youve been framed!!
I didnt say anything by the way, except to shrug as though I had no idea what he meant, lined my camera up, smiled at him nicely by way of a courteous message that I was going to take a shot
- and he then moved right out of the frame. It does amuse me though, when in a park with tens of thousands of other people, most hoping NOT to get anyone else in their photo, and then you get one who takes exception to being caught in the background.
We were on the POFQ bus and en route to the resort at 1.20 pm. Good timing!
We needed to eat lunch and decided to drop the park bag in the room and grab our mugs to go and check out the foodcourt at Riverside for our meal. There were CMs beating tambourines to lively childrens music, surrounded by a group of children dancing and singing. I found it a little odd that they were doing this in the middle of the foodcourt, however it was very quiet so perhaps they had carefully chosen their moment. DD wasnt interested in bopping about to If Youre Happy and You Know It, but when the hoola hoops came out, she was in there and spent about 10 minutes having fun.
We ordered a turkey sandwich to share, which came with chips and a fruit bowl for dessert. There was a lot of filling in the sandwich and we struggled to finish it, even between the two of us, leaving a good portion of the chips and taking the fruit with us.
We stopped at Fultons quickly and then made our way back to our resort for our swim. It was very hot in the sun that afternoon and we wasted no time getting changed and plunging into the water.
Epcot evening coming up! 
Don't put ideas into her head. I suspect she would put me to shame getting the knack of the menu before I do - I dont want to be humiliated! 
I will be making a start on day four this evening. I wanted it posted by now. I shall have to put some extra effort into it to make up for the delay. 
(still not all done). 
and I really had to sort the house out today. For some reason I struggled more than ever coming home this year. I think all the anticipation of this trip threw me in on a different emotional level, if that makes sense, and I just didn't want to get stuck into anything when I got back, aside from my photos, trip reports and planning another 
As the beat started for the intro I could already feel the goosebumps rising on my arms. It is amazing how, no matter how often I watch it, every time is just as breathtaking as the first. After the show the little girls parents and I sat and chatted while the girls enjoyed their own. What lovely people! Eventually a CM came to politely ask us if we could move along. The girls had already planned the evening we were spending EMH together. No problem. 
