I finally see the (now-not-so) New Fantasyland
On our first park day, we were up and at the Boardwalk bus stop by 7:30, which was pretty good for us. It’s hard to get everyone up and moving, but being at DisneyWorld definitely helps. Magic Kingdom opened at 8 on this day, so I knew that we wouldn’t be there for rope drop, but we should still be in pretty good shape to beat most of the crowds. The bus stop was pretty empty when we got there, and I think we had just missed a Magic Kingdom bus, naturally. We had to wait for a little while, but it gave us time to take a first-morning-bus-stop photo:
Eventually our bus came and we boarded and went straight to Magic Kingdom. We entered the park at 8:09. Our plan was to get in the standby line at 7 Dwarfs Mine Train so that we could get a couple of rides in – this one plus a fastpass ride a little later in the morning. I know, I know...most of the people who beat us to rope drop had headed to the same ride, but I figured that despite that, the line would still be the shortest that it would be all day. I think that proved to be true.
We hoofed it pretty quickly in the direction of New Fantasyland. I tried to take some shots along Main Street as we went. There was a pretty big construction tarp about halfway up the street.
Power walking.
The Hub and Castle.
We made it to our destination.
Dwarf’s house.
We had fun in line.
I remember that Marlene made me laugh by putting her hand in the water and saying, “Water...you doing?” I’m easily amused.
Marlene and James spinning the barrels.
I had read on the DIS that it was fun to rock the mine cars, so while we were in line we hatched a plan that I’d ride with James and we’d try to do that.
It may look like James and I are holding on for dear life, but we’re trying to rock the car. It isn’t easy.
Marlene knew that the drop must have a photo capture, so she struck a goofy pose.
She held it for the whole drop – you’ve gotta respect that level of dedication.
My assessment of it is that it’s a nice little ride. Fortunately, I’d read enough on the DIS to know what to expect and so wasn’t disappointed that it wasn’t more thrilling. I think the hype got away from it a little bit and people were expecting more “thrill”, but on the thrill-scale it’s well below Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, closer to Goofy’s Barnstormer. But still, it’s a fun (but brief) ride.
I do like the video of your ride that you get from Photopass. Most of it is their own canned production video, but there’s a couple of seconds (in slo-mo, no less) where you realize that the people you’re watching in the video are
you, which is pretty cool.
You may or may not remember this (I’ll be impressed if you do), but on our last trip to DisneyWorld, Lauren stopped into Town Square Theater to see Rapunzel but was disappointed to find that she’d already left for the day. She’s a big “Tangled” fan, so saying that she was disappointed was actually downplaying it. Anyway, on our way to the Mine Train she noticed that Rapunzel was at Princess Fairytale Hall, so we could rectify that missed meet-and-greet right now. There were two separate lines heading in to Princess Fairytale Hall -- to the right was the line for Anna and Elsa, to the left Rapunzel and Cinderella. Our current “It” girls, Anna and Elsa, had a huuuge line, which I would (and did) avoid like the plague. But all of those people in their line meant that they were
not in our line, and we wound our way through the empty velvet ropes until we were inside and waiting for just one family ahead of us. Lauren first got that sought-after picture of herself with one of her favorites.
The rest of us met Rapunzel as well. I was trying to think of what I could talk to Rapunzel about, and I blurted out, “All of my kids got haircuts just before coming on this trip.” She got a look of horror on her face and said, “And you let them?!”
She was fun to meet.
The Photopass people took some pictures for us. I would have omitted this picture since James wasn’t looking at the camera, but I thought that it was funny that he was looking at Rapunzel’s hair. Yes James, the length of her hair is a very important plot point of the movie.
We did eventually get one with everyone looking at the camera.
Lauren was very happy to have met Rapunzel, and Cinderella was next up. We didn’t really
need to meet Cinderella, but we didn’t want to hurt her feelings, so we let her meet us. Lauren and Marlene met her first. I think they had a fair amount of dialogue, but I can’t remember what the conversation was about.
And the whole fam.
We exited Princess Fairytale Hall and someone said, “now what”? “Let’s walk through New Fantasyland”, says I.
A look over towards the Beast’s castle.
We walked up to Gaston’s Tavern.
With Gaston’s modest statue.
And the modest sign in front of Gaston’s statue.
He really needs to work on his self-confidence.
Another shot of the statue
We took a group-selfie to send to some friends at work.
continued in next post
Looks like you had a great time, and sounds like a good plan to continue your day/night by starting your trip to Disney.
Like Pat said............once we got our correct room and found it was one floor up and the same room number, we tried to be very quiet walking around.
Even though the rooms at Boardwalk may have needed a little updating, still not bad digs for enjoying Disney for sure!
Actually, that is pretty funny........... 
:
I felt the same way about the SDMT. But one thing I have learned over the years is that when you set expectations you are setting yourself up disappointment. So I was happy with my ride on it. 
We always get in the shortest line in the BIG Tent at New Fantasy Land , one is always shorter , if time permits we do both. As for the mine train it didn't disappoint me cuz all thehype warned me it was not for me , and IF you remember I was traumatized taking Kyle on the Barnstormer .
