DisneyJade
Two decades on the DIS, lurking and learning
- Joined
- Nov 8, 2002
Cast: Jade Disney Planner (1st trip as an adult)
Yorke Disney Skeptic (1st WDW trip DL aficionado)
Day 2: Mickey woke us up around 6:45am. It took awhile for us to get moving (we hardly slept at all the night before the trip), so we were running a little late for early entry to the Magic Kingdom. **Magical Moment Alert** On the way out of the resort today, these two squirrels were skipping and playing in a very choreographed way, so I stopped to watch them. As soon as I pulled out my camera, they both hopped onto a branch on either side of the tree with their backs to one another and sat up in the exact same position! Like they were posing!! I cherish the picture and call them my Dueling Squirrels. I swear, WDW trains those little animals. Theyre almost like mini-cast members in disguise.
We arrived at MK at 8:20am. I was sure we were going to have to wait in lines, but off-season is such a dream! We literally WALKED ON to everything!! Some rides posted 5-minute wait times, but there wasnt actually a wait at all. First, we rode SPACE MOUNTAIN whoa!!!
I remembered that ride as sort of a kiddie-coaster, so I was a little unprepared. It is definitely a thrill ride. Then we did Alien Encounter, which was cool, but now I wish I didnt know so much about it beforehand
its not nearly as scary when you know whats coming. Oh well, thats what I get for over-planning. After that, we did BUZZ and Yorke shattered my score. I got 1600, and he got 136,000 a planetary pilot!
But he sort of cheated because he controlled the joystick the whole time and kept moving it when I tried to shoot stuff.
Then, it was on to Adventure Land. We were so ahead of schedule, we decided to grab some Dole Whips and play with the remote-control boats outside of the Jungle Cruise. That was a fun diversion. We walked onto Jungle Cruise and Pirates of the Caribbean (Yorkes favorite ride)
And thats when the WDW vs. DL battle began. Starting with Pirates, for the rest of the trip, every five minutes, Yorke would compare WDW to DL and point out how DL was better (MK is bigger at DL WDW is too spread out all the rides are faster, longer, scarier at DL etc
) 
**Magic Moment Alert** Then we rode Thunder Mountain and just as we climbed the first hill, we looked over and saw the Shuttle just as it left the atmosphere. SOOO COOL!! Thunder Mountain is still my favorite ride!! I would have ridden over and over again, but Yorke wanted to keep moving. So we were on to the Haunted Mansion.
The most impressive part of that ride is the scene where you look down on the ghosts in the ballroom. AWESOME! Disney at its best, in my opinion!! Even Yorke was impressed.
At that point, wed ridden all of our target rides, so we decided to slow down the pace. I got a couple of pics taken with Tweedle Dee&Dum, which was fun. They were flirting with me and teasing me which made me feel like a kid it was great! After snapping pics of a couple more characters (Capt. Hook, Mary Poppins), we went back to Tomorrow Land to try out these famous Turkey Legs. See Dining Report Then, we went to the Barber shop so Yorke could get his haircut, but the two barbers were busy with clients and didnt even acknowledge us when we walked in.
Shortly before noon (thats right we did all that stuff in less than four hours!!) we took the monorail to Epcot. Walked on to all the rides here too!!! I just couldnt believe it!! As we were speeding through the queue lines, I kept having flashbacks to standing in line for hours as a kid. Anyway, we were very unimpressed with Space Ship Earth. I know its a staple, but Im kind of glad they are gutting the golf ball to put something better in its place. Then it was on to Test Track definitely a thrill, but we both agreed it was too short. We definitely wouldnt wait in line more than 5 or 10 minutes for this one... not worth it for such a short spin. After that, we meandered through Innoventions East and West sent a video greeting to my parents and just took it slower for a little while. Yorke was getting pretty cranky from lack of sleep (he gets about 12 hours every night at home its ridiculous) so we agreed to ride the last attraction on our list Honey I Shrunk the Kids very cute! We were back at the resort by 3pm. Yorke took a nap while I sat down at the pool bar to drink a Margarita and re-arrange our itinerary a bit.
I wanted to go back to Epcot to watch ToD (since I missed it the first night), but I had a pretty bad headache (from exhaustion and dehydration), so I took a nap instead.
When I woke up to get ready for our dinner PS, my head was still pounding. Yorke was so sweet! He went down to the gift shop to get me some Advil and drew me a hot bath. That did the trick! I was 100% when it was time to leave for the California Grill. We called a cab for the ride over, because we didnt want to make an hour-long trek through WDW transportation just to get to dinner. (cab with tip was $20) We arrived right on time for our 9pm PS, but we still had about a 15 minute wait to be seated. We hung out in the lounge and watched the castle change colors
pretty romantic!
Now, youll have to check out my dining report for the full details here, but lets just say our dinner was AMAZING! The best Sushi weve ever eaten
and I have a new favorite wine. See Dining Report After dinner, we took WDW transportation home, and even though we caught all the buses just right, it still took an hour to get back to POFQ. Exhausted and a little drunk, we passed out around midnight.
Buses a breeze again today.
Weather hovered around 70 degrees (people were swimming!) and was warm enough at night too!
Tomorrow: Trouble in Paradise BIG trouble
Yorke Disney Skeptic (1st WDW trip DL aficionado)
Day 2: Mickey woke us up around 6:45am. It took awhile for us to get moving (we hardly slept at all the night before the trip), so we were running a little late for early entry to the Magic Kingdom. **Magical Moment Alert** On the way out of the resort today, these two squirrels were skipping and playing in a very choreographed way, so I stopped to watch them. As soon as I pulled out my camera, they both hopped onto a branch on either side of the tree with their backs to one another and sat up in the exact same position! Like they were posing!! I cherish the picture and call them my Dueling Squirrels. I swear, WDW trains those little animals. Theyre almost like mini-cast members in disguise.
We arrived at MK at 8:20am. I was sure we were going to have to wait in lines, but off-season is such a dream! We literally WALKED ON to everything!! Some rides posted 5-minute wait times, but there wasnt actually a wait at all. First, we rode SPACE MOUNTAIN whoa!!!
Then, it was on to Adventure Land. We were so ahead of schedule, we decided to grab some Dole Whips and play with the remote-control boats outside of the Jungle Cruise. That was a fun diversion. We walked onto Jungle Cruise and Pirates of the Caribbean (Yorkes favorite ride)
**Magic Moment Alert** Then we rode Thunder Mountain and just as we climbed the first hill, we looked over and saw the Shuttle just as it left the atmosphere. SOOO COOL!! Thunder Mountain is still my favorite ride!! I would have ridden over and over again, but Yorke wanted to keep moving. So we were on to the Haunted Mansion.
At that point, wed ridden all of our target rides, so we decided to slow down the pace. I got a couple of pics taken with Tweedle Dee&Dum, which was fun. They were flirting with me and teasing me which made me feel like a kid it was great! After snapping pics of a couple more characters (Capt. Hook, Mary Poppins), we went back to Tomorrow Land to try out these famous Turkey Legs. See Dining Report Then, we went to the Barber shop so Yorke could get his haircut, but the two barbers were busy with clients and didnt even acknowledge us when we walked in.
Shortly before noon (thats right we did all that stuff in less than four hours!!) we took the monorail to Epcot. Walked on to all the rides here too!!! I just couldnt believe it!! As we were speeding through the queue lines, I kept having flashbacks to standing in line for hours as a kid. Anyway, we were very unimpressed with Space Ship Earth. I know its a staple, but Im kind of glad they are gutting the golf ball to put something better in its place. Then it was on to Test Track definitely a thrill, but we both agreed it was too short. We definitely wouldnt wait in line more than 5 or 10 minutes for this one... not worth it for such a short spin. After that, we meandered through Innoventions East and West sent a video greeting to my parents and just took it slower for a little while. Yorke was getting pretty cranky from lack of sleep (he gets about 12 hours every night at home its ridiculous) so we agreed to ride the last attraction on our list Honey I Shrunk the Kids very cute! We were back at the resort by 3pm. Yorke took a nap while I sat down at the pool bar to drink a Margarita and re-arrange our itinerary a bit.
I wanted to go back to Epcot to watch ToD (since I missed it the first night), but I had a pretty bad headache (from exhaustion and dehydration), so I took a nap instead.
Buses a breeze again today.
Weather hovered around 70 degrees (people were swimming!) and was warm enough at night too!
Tomorrow: Trouble in Paradise BIG trouble
Just wanted to let you know how much I am enjoying your reports! You guys sure packed in a lot for one day. Between you and me, I agree about Spaceship Earth -- I'll be glad to see something new and exciting there!
It's much better not knowing what's going to happen. 
