Hey everybody! Sorry for the long wait. University has started again and I'm having difficulty finding the time to work on this TR. Hopefully I'll have it done by christmastime haha. Also I never realized how much time it took to upload pictures into photobucket. I've started uploading pictures while I'm not using my computer just to try and get ahead.
So last post ended with me and Thekeeper leaving Fanstamic before the show because of heat and exhaustion. We got to the hotel and really took advantage of our refillable mug. Just a quick word on that. We where staying at All-Star Sports which meant that we had the cups with the chip in them. There was a small screen on the pop machine that told us that our cup was filling. If you where to try to get more pop right after the screen would tell you when the next refill would become available(3-5 minutes later I cant remember). I saw a few people with old cups or cups with different lid color try to fill up and it would not work. We could however fill up a plain bottle with water and ice with no problem. The only issue we had was that if you where to stop halfway through filling the cup then the machine would tell you that you need to wait to fill it again so you where left with half a cup. We did use the food court once and got a disposable cup. Those also have the chip in them and you have the right to 3 refills (I think) within 90 minutes of your purchase. I thought this was fair. So thats the 101 on the chip cups.
Allright so on to day 1.
MAGIC KINGDOM DAY!!!
We knew that day 1 was going to be our longest day because we had reservations at Kona Cafe at 7:30 and EMH at MK till 2:00AM (Spoiler alert we didn't last till 2:00AM).
We got up around 6:30 and tried to hurry to get dressed and packed for the day; however, we where still tired from the previous night so we only got to the main building at 7:00. I asked at the concierge desk how to get to the Poly and he said bus to the MK then monorail or boat to Poly but he said that they didn't start till 8:00. We decided to take a cab directly to the Poly to save on time. A CM at the entrance called us a cab and he got there fairly quickly. I think the cab cost us about 20$ with the tip but I can't remember. We got to the Poly before the Kona was even open but we checked in at the front desk and went to wait on the couches by Ohanna's. I think they thought we where waiting for Ohanna because we where given leis. At 7:30 we where called in to Kona Cafe.
I had planned KC for our first morning because I wanted my DGF to have a good coffee to start the day right. She tends to be grumpy in the morning and I wanted to put all the odds in my favor. I was looking forward to the Tonga Toast. Our Waitress came over quickly with a CM in training. She said that we looked like people who knew what they wanted! We each got a Tonga Toast and a French press pot of Kona Coffee (This counted as both our drinks on the
DDP). Now I'm not a coffee drinker so I didn't taste the coffee but it did smell great! Our Tonga Toast was brought out within 10 minutes of ordering. They where amazing!
Unfortunately, I was only able to eat about half of mine but it did keep my full till lunch time! My DGF loved hers to. Because we where trying to make it to MK as early as possible we got our check and payed by 8:00. We will definitely be heading back to Kona Cafe for breakfast on our next trip.
Now there is something I forgot to mention. When it came time to pay for our breakfast I looked into my wallet for my KTTW and realized that I'd forgotten it at the hotel. DGF used her KTTW but she was not happy with me and was thinking that we would have to head back to our room and we would miss rope drop. Now thank god I spent so much time on the DIS because I had read about this happening to a few people and they had went to guest relations and got a new card. That's what we did and thankfully we where standing by the train station by 8:20. Crisis averted! haha
We took a few pictures by the train station. I tried to do one of those akward self pictures with extended arm of both of us and a kind stranger offered to take a picture of us! This is one of my favorite pictures of the trip. We then decided to stand by the entrance on the left. I think next time I'll stand on the right because we had the sun in our eyes when we watched the welcome ceremony. We stood in the crowd for about 40 minutes. The thing about going end of August is that the parks aren't that crowded but it was HOT!!! I was looking forward to opening just so we could get out of the crowd. We each had a small portable fan but mine broke on the first morning.
Because we where so close to the entrance we weren't able to see much of the welcome ceremony but the music still got DGF crying haha. I have a (very shaky) video that I have taken of it and it gives me goosebumps when I watch it. I think the ropedrop was the reason we headed to MK for day 1 even if Touring plans says to avoid EMH parks.
Video of Rode Drop Ceremony at the MK
Reached the end of the photo limit. Part 2 will be up soon.