We went to Target, grabbed some assorted deliciousness (including a roasted chicken, which was dinner that night) and then headed back. We wanted to eat and then kick back and relax for a couple of hours since we were planning a late MK night with EMHs!
Once we got back to the room, we snuggled in with Stacy and fell asleep for about two hours. Naps are one of my very favorite thing while on a WDW vacation, and they make a huge difference in my day - plus I'm on vacation, ya gotta nap!
There's nothing like waking up refreshed and knowing you have hours and hours ahead of you for fun. We got up and headed to the bus stop; because we were heading to MK, we wanted to take the bus right to the entrance instead of having to go to TTC if I took the car.
We headed out to the bus stop, and within ten minutes, a mostly-empty bus arrived. We had quite a few people at the stop with us (a harbinger of the night to come), but we managed to get a couple of the very last seats available and sat down.
The bus continued to fill up. By the time we got to BC and loaded up, this was my view:
Aaaaah, armpits.
We were at MK within 15 minutes and skipped to the front (I know it was within 15 minutes because I took the picture above at 7:02 p.m. and the one below at 7:17 p.m.).
We scanned our tickets and we were IN!
Mom and I couldn't believe we'd been at Disney a FULL DAY and hadn't made it to MK yet! We'd been to Epcot and AK, but not MK, which is very unlike us!
We like to sneak up on the castle. We know it's there but we like to be surprised.
HI!
"We're not sure if you noticed, but there's a CASTLE behind us!"
It's our first night in MK after our first full day in Orlando... what, oh what, would we like our very first ride to be?
PEOPLEMOVER OF COURSE!
Here's where I saw something CRAZY. The overflow queue was open for the TTA.
I didn't know that even happened. Ever. But there you have it. Clearly, this was going to be a busy night.
We did get held up a little bit; something was happening up top but we couldn't see what.
They finally let us head on up.
This really is one of the best rides in all of WDW.
We had no plans and no designs, so we decided to head over to HM and maybe even PP or IASW on the way. But while walking, I saw the bright colors of the new Dumbo luring us in, and we wandered into the Storybook Circus!
No, we didn't ride. We were just looking. <3
Not sure if it was the humidity or a dirty phone lens, but here's a blurry pic of the splash station:
The new Fantasyland is going to be stunning when it's open. This lighting was wonderful!
It was then I realized that we were inching towards 9 p.m.; Splash would close for the night since they weren't going to have it open for EMH! We first walked by HM, but the line was out past the cemetery and we were afraid we'd miss Splash if we didn't go right then. I told mom we needed to get over there, so away we went!
Mom kept getting splashed; we couldn't stop laughing. At the end of the ride, we got stopped next to the waterfall and she was getting sprayed constantly. It was cracking us both up.
We're in the second-to-last row in this RRP (redneck ride photo).
We discussed riding it again, but decided to do something else instead.
Since we were in the area, we figured we'd head over to the wildest ride in the wilderness!
It wasn't much of a wait, and now EMH had officially began.
We loved the refurb, and all the lights and special stuff up on that thar mountain. We ran back through the line for one more go.
We thought we'd head in the general direction of Pirates, and then I thought "i'm a little hungry. What would be the perfect snack?"
DOLE WHIP!
The line was long, but we happily waited and both of us had our first Dole Whips! We both really enjoyed them; we had the pineapple swirl!
The line shortened considerably while we waited.
We'd both enjoyed the time we'd spent in MK, but agreed that we had a full day the next day and wanted to head back to the resort early. We started out of the park.
It was after 11; we were hoping the bus line wasn't too crazy for YC, and it wasn't.
Now, take a look at this:
This, ladies and gents, is the line for POFQ. And the line for POFQ was NOT the one next to YC; no, that one was for OKW and the bus had just spirited those lucky people away. The POFQ line wound up and down the regular queue, then out of the queue, then past OKW, then past YC, and continued on!!!
I can't imagine how long it took the people at the end of the line to get back to their resort; I've never seen ANYTHING like it! There were people on radios calling for more buses - but they were going to need a LOT of them because every single person staying at POFQ appeared to be leaving EMH at that exact time.
Our bus arrived and we loaded an ECV and then pretty much everyone else in the line for YC. Did I mention that POFQ hadn't moved at all? I don't think I did.
Here's where I really saw the importance of hand washing at Disney. There was a man and woman with a tween girl and very young boy in the line ahead of us - the man was zonked out, sleeping in line on the ground with his back and head supported by one of the queue supports. The bus arrived, and the man woke up and picked up his son and then got on the bus. I ended up in the back of the bus with him and his family, while my mom took a seat farther up near the driver.
I could not stop watching this guy. His whole family was sleeping, but every minute or so he would enthusiastically pick his nose. I'm talking full-on, to-the-second-knuckle nose-picking. He'd then either rub his fingers on the seat, his son, or throw whatever he dug out onto the floor in front of him. He didn't ever stop. The entire ride. I was never so grateful to get off a bus in my life; we stopped at YC first, and there were only a few of us getting off. Nose-man stayed on.
We arrived at YC around 11:45. We had some snacks and turned on Stacy. I took a hot shower; after the terrible leg and shin pain I'd had through half of my solo trip in January, I was NOT doing that again!! I was stretching every break we got and admonishing my Ma to do the same. I let the hot water beat on my calves, then took some Advil and hopped into bed.
I set my alarm. I had to be up at 7:30 for the Segway tour in the morning!
Soon I'll be back to update everything, but this will be a crazy week - it's quarter close, and September is always a big one for us at work, so I hope for this week to be as smooth as possible. My hope is that I can knock out the worst of this cold before I have to hit the ground sprinting on Monday. Maybe if I feel like getting out of bed tomorrow, I'll find some time.
She totally reminds me of mine.
I don't know what I'm going to do with NO trips planned until DL next summer. With my AP expiring and some bigger expenses now that I'm living alone, another trip for me seems far, far away. 
Great park to start in. Illuminations is a great show. Can't wait to hear about your moms first trip to AK.
