Yea, you know the drill. BLEEP BLEEP BLEEP.
Finally, the one we've all been waiting for. I don't have a written itinerary but I've been planning the assault plan in my head for months now. Even DH is impressed with the plan of attack. LOL!
But tell me WHY OH WHY does this most popular park have to be so difficult to get to? Of course we HAVE to ride the monorail. Ever try getting a double stoller up that packed ramp without nipping someone's heels. I did it this time, thank goodness. Actually our tandem stroller rolled right onto the monorail leaving everyone sitting plenty of legroom. I send my sympathies to those of you with the side by side double stroller....you'll need the handicapped car or just go for the ferryboat instead.
I don't care how many times I go to MK in my lifetime, I can tell you that every time I see that castle for the first time....well, it's just magic. And with that first walk down Main Street, you almost feel like royalty. Both DH and I get all choked up. This is it. This is what the dream is all about. There are no words to describe the feeling. It's just you passing something you love on to the children you love and hoping it's as magical for them as it is for you. OK I'll stop blubbering now and tell you about my trip!
We head straight for the castle after a quick photo to wait for rope drop. As we take our photo we bump into mom's brother Rob and his fiancee, our resident family Disney addict, Roseann. We tell them we'll meet up with them in Fantasyland, as we're headed for Dumbo. Chris, the CM at the rope, was very sweet and I promised not to mow him down with my stroller. When he sends us ahead we make our way straight through the castle towards Fantasyland and we are diverted towards the right pathway because they are filming a future commercial and guess who is right there....MICKEY!! Emily's face lights up as she yells "HI MICKEY!!". He must have been taking his mouse union break because he waved back at us! What a way to start the day!
We rode Dumbo, Snow White, Peter Pan, Pooh, skipped IASW for now, rode the teacups and were there just in time for the 10am rope drop for Mickey's Toontown fair. Got photos with Pooh and Tigger while we waited and said Hi to Alice and the Mad Hatter as they were passing by on their way to a meet and greet. We headed right in to get photos with Minnie, Chip and Dale at the County Fair building. Then over to take photos with Mickey himself. A little spoiler here - notice in Mickey's Judge's Tent there are 5 doors you could go to but the CM is only guiding you into one open door? Very clever
Mom did not notice this and said "WOW that was fast but we spent so much time with him!" Uncle Rob pointed out how he thought they sped up the line! We'll just keep it our secret. Then we rode Goofy's Barnstormer, fun but too short for daredevil Emily! We headed out to go see Ariel back at Fantasyland and get photos and autographs. Making our way towards Liberty Square, we met Snow White and Dopey on the landing where the old Skyway to Tomorrowland used to be. Then to the Haunted Mansion - LOVED as always by the grownups, but Emily gave it a thumbs down for scary ghosts, but she didn't cry or anything, just didn't care for it. The babies liked it enough to fall asleep. They have been having a total blast meeting all these characters. Ryan particularly liked when Ariel held him for the photo!
Fastpasses for BTMR as we rode Splash Mtn with only about a 15-20 min wait tops - plus with the child swap mom got to go twice because Emily did not want to ride again with dad and the pass is good for three so mom and dad went together while Uncle Rob and Roe watched the kids. THANKS GUYS! That was our only moment 'alone' in two weeks! LOL! Then on to BTMR and Em absolutely LOVED it. Couldn't stop talking about the best rollercoaster ever, esp thanks to a little brainwashing from mommy! Then some lunch at Pecos Bill's Cafe - Yummy!!! And a ride on Pirates of the Carribean and a photo op with Cpt Hook and Mr Smee. Emily was too afraid of him to get the autograph so mommy had to do it. They kept calling her over and she was freaking out! And we're all laughing - could that be considered a form of child abuse? Well she knew it was all in good fun so she got over it quickly! Next stop the Tiki room. Good but I think I like the old one better. And a ride on Aladin's magic carpets. It's now 2:15 and we're all tired and the babies are overdue for a nap so we find a shady spot in Frontierland to camp out and wait for the parade. While we are waiting....the most magical moment of all time: Daddy looks in the sky and somehow catches on film a cloud formation that looks exactly like Mickey's HEAD!!!! (see the photo album). Now how the HECK does Disney arrange that!?!@?! Unbelievable! The parade is FANTASTIC!!! And Emily danced with the Chimney sweeps from Mary Poppins in the parade. But it is VERY hot today and we are drinking LOTS of water and the babies seem a little overheated. Time for some indoor stuff.
We head over and ride IASW another of Mom's favorites and everyone enjoyed that too. We head to Tomorrowland and the skies are starting to look overcast which is welcome because maybe it will get a little cooler now? Get fastpasses to BUZZ and ride TTA while waiting. We are disapointed that Carousel of Progress is closed, it is one of our favorites. We also ride Astro Orbiter and mom votes it L-A-M-E especially NOT worth a 30 minute wait with that dumb elevator thing. The others' reviews aren't quite as scathing but there were no raves. When we finally come out of Buzz with Emily - a GREAT ride!!, Uncle Rob and Roe are waiting under cover of the awning at TTA because the wind is whipping up and a storm's a brewin'!! We take cover under the awning too and cover that carriage!. Luckily we have seats on a bench but others aren't so lucky. Then the thunder, lightning and the worst rain we had seen so far goes on for over an hour!! All of Tomorrowland is flooded and the puddles are at least 6 inches deep. You could not possibly get out even if you could get through the crowd and if you did you were going to be wading in a river. We are determined not to let all this completely ruin the day. We need to find a place to dry off, have some dinner and find a way to hang around and watch the fireworks...even if we have to buy shoes and towels!! (which turned out not to be necessary)
Well Rob and Roe had 8:30 ressies at Cinderella's Castle for dinner. I vote we take the kids to Liberty Tree Tavern and see if we can get in without a PS since the park is really clearing out now. Rob and Roe reschedule their CRT dinner for Friday and join us. We are in LTT within 20 minutes, just enough time for our shoes to dry off a bit. The Dinner was wonderful - a home cooked meal that really warmed our insides - and the Characters lifted our wet spirits and we forgot all about the rain!! We were originally scheduled to do Chef Mickey's tomorrow night on our off-day but now we've seen these same characters twice. So on the way out I reserve a late breakfast at 1900 Park Faire so she can see some face characters at a meal too (Mary Poppins and Alice are there). After dinner we had hoped to do one or two more rides, but really we just didn't have time since it's almost 8:15pm now and the park closes in 15min. So we shopped in the Christmas shop and headed towards the castle to see the 8:45pm fireworks. We got a nice spot in the street right in front of the castle and it was not crowded at all. And we watched what we consider to be the very best fireworks display in the world, the fireworks over Cinderella's castle. Not because of the great pyrotechnics, but because of the wonder you see on the faces of children and adults alike to see those bursts of light in the most magical place on earth.
A perfect end to a very magical day!
Finally, the one we've all been waiting for. I don't have a written itinerary but I've been planning the assault plan in my head for months now. Even DH is impressed with the plan of attack. LOL!
But tell me WHY OH WHY does this most popular park have to be so difficult to get to? Of course we HAVE to ride the monorail. Ever try getting a double stoller up that packed ramp without nipping someone's heels. I did it this time, thank goodness. Actually our tandem stroller rolled right onto the monorail leaving everyone sitting plenty of legroom. I send my sympathies to those of you with the side by side double stroller....you'll need the handicapped car or just go for the ferryboat instead.
I don't care how many times I go to MK in my lifetime, I can tell you that every time I see that castle for the first time....well, it's just magic. And with that first walk down Main Street, you almost feel like royalty. Both DH and I get all choked up. This is it. This is what the dream is all about. There are no words to describe the feeling. It's just you passing something you love on to the children you love and hoping it's as magical for them as it is for you. OK I'll stop blubbering now and tell you about my trip!
We head straight for the castle after a quick photo to wait for rope drop. As we take our photo we bump into mom's brother Rob and his fiancee, our resident family Disney addict, Roseann. We tell them we'll meet up with them in Fantasyland, as we're headed for Dumbo. Chris, the CM at the rope, was very sweet and I promised not to mow him down with my stroller. When he sends us ahead we make our way straight through the castle towards Fantasyland and we are diverted towards the right pathway because they are filming a future commercial and guess who is right there....MICKEY!! Emily's face lights up as she yells "HI MICKEY!!". He must have been taking his mouse union break because he waved back at us! What a way to start the day!
We rode Dumbo, Snow White, Peter Pan, Pooh, skipped IASW for now, rode the teacups and were there just in time for the 10am rope drop for Mickey's Toontown fair. Got photos with Pooh and Tigger while we waited and said Hi to Alice and the Mad Hatter as they were passing by on their way to a meet and greet. We headed right in to get photos with Minnie, Chip and Dale at the County Fair building. Then over to take photos with Mickey himself. A little spoiler here - notice in Mickey's Judge's Tent there are 5 doors you could go to but the CM is only guiding you into one open door? Very clever
Mom did not notice this and said "WOW that was fast but we spent so much time with him!" Uncle Rob pointed out how he thought they sped up the line! We'll just keep it our secret. Then we rode Goofy's Barnstormer, fun but too short for daredevil Emily! We headed out to go see Ariel back at Fantasyland and get photos and autographs. Making our way towards Liberty Square, we met Snow White and Dopey on the landing where the old Skyway to Tomorrowland used to be. Then to the Haunted Mansion - LOVED as always by the grownups, but Emily gave it a thumbs down for scary ghosts, but she didn't cry or anything, just didn't care for it. The babies liked it enough to fall asleep. They have been having a total blast meeting all these characters. Ryan particularly liked when Ariel held him for the photo!Fastpasses for BTMR as we rode Splash Mtn with only about a 15-20 min wait tops - plus with the child swap mom got to go twice because Emily did not want to ride again with dad and the pass is good for three so mom and dad went together while Uncle Rob and Roe watched the kids. THANKS GUYS! That was our only moment 'alone' in two weeks! LOL! Then on to BTMR and Em absolutely LOVED it. Couldn't stop talking about the best rollercoaster ever, esp thanks to a little brainwashing from mommy!
Then some lunch at Pecos Bill's Cafe - Yummy!!! And a ride on Pirates of the Carribean and a photo op with Cpt Hook and Mr Smee. Emily was too afraid of him to get the autograph so mommy had to do it. They kept calling her over and she was freaking out! And we're all laughing - could that be considered a form of child abuse? Well she knew it was all in good fun so she got over it quickly! Next stop the Tiki room. Good but I think I like the old one better. And a ride on Aladin's magic carpets. It's now 2:15 and we're all tired and the babies are overdue for a nap so we find a shady spot in Frontierland to camp out and wait for the parade. While we are waiting....the most magical moment of all time: Daddy looks in the sky and somehow catches on film a cloud formation that looks exactly like Mickey's HEAD!!!! (see the photo album). Now how the HECK does Disney arrange that!?!@?! Unbelievable! The parade is FANTASTIC!!! And Emily danced with the Chimney sweeps from Mary Poppins in the parade. But it is VERY hot today and we are drinking LOTS of water and the babies seem a little overheated. Time for some indoor stuff.We head over and ride IASW another of Mom's favorites and everyone enjoyed that too. We head to Tomorrowland and the skies are starting to look overcast which is welcome because maybe it will get a little cooler now? Get fastpasses to BUZZ and ride TTA while waiting. We are disapointed that Carousel of Progress is closed, it is one of our favorites. We also ride Astro Orbiter and mom votes it L-A-M-E especially NOT worth a 30 minute wait with that dumb elevator thing. The others' reviews aren't quite as scathing but there were no raves. When we finally come out of Buzz with Emily - a GREAT ride!!, Uncle Rob and Roe are waiting under cover of the awning at TTA because the wind is whipping up and a storm's a brewin'!! We take cover under the awning too and cover that carriage!. Luckily we have seats on a bench but others aren't so lucky. Then the thunder, lightning and the worst rain we had seen so far goes on for over an hour!! All of Tomorrowland is flooded and the puddles are at least 6 inches deep. You could not possibly get out even if you could get through the crowd and if you did you were going to be wading in a river. We are determined not to let all this completely ruin the day. We need to find a place to dry off, have some dinner and find a way to hang around and watch the fireworks...even if we have to buy shoes and towels!! (which turned out not to be necessary)
Well Rob and Roe had 8:30 ressies at Cinderella's Castle for dinner. I vote we take the kids to Liberty Tree Tavern and see if we can get in without a PS since the park is really clearing out now. Rob and Roe reschedule their CRT dinner for Friday and join us. We are in LTT within 20 minutes, just enough time for our shoes to dry off a bit. The Dinner was wonderful - a home cooked meal that really warmed our insides - and the Characters lifted our wet spirits and we forgot all about the rain!! We were originally scheduled to do Chef Mickey's tomorrow night on our off-day but now we've seen these same characters twice. So on the way out I reserve a late breakfast at 1900 Park Faire so she can see some face characters at a meal too (Mary Poppins and Alice are there). After dinner we had hoped to do one or two more rides, but really we just didn't have time since it's almost 8:15pm now and the park closes in 15min. So we shopped in the Christmas shop and headed towards the castle to see the 8:45pm fireworks. We got a nice spot in the street right in front of the castle and it was not crowded at all. And we watched what we consider to be the very best fireworks display in the world, the fireworks over Cinderella's castle. Not because of the great pyrotechnics, but because of the wonder you see on the faces of children and adults alike to see those bursts of light in the most magical place on earth.
A perfect end to a very magical day!
