marias
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- May 11, 2004
- Messages
- 121
The Team:
DH: Long suffering one (42)
DD: Beautiful, amusing and very so slightly stroppy (9 going on 19)
MIL: Sexagenarian
FIL: Sexagenarian
Me: Planner, worrier, pessimist (35 almost)
Saturday - Magic Kingdom (is it as good as I remember?).
Another early start and we are all eager to get going so leave the villa at 8.15. We arrive at the park and are amazed that it is not that busy.
This is my absolute, absolute favourite park and I felt like a Cheshire cat the whole day. As soon as we entered we came across Pinocchio and the very first photo is of DD clinging to him for dear life bless. The first glimpse of the castle brought a tear to my eye and it was as if wed never been away. We begin by having a stroll around and wander in the direction of the Haunted Mansion where we find we are ushered in with no queues I didnt even have time to think whether DD would enjoy it. Luckily she wasnt scared and it was a great start to the day. I think after this we went to Pirates of the Caribbean, hearing Dead Men Tell No Tales always sends a shiver down my spine. Upon exiting DD decides to have her hair braided to the tune of $30 (if youre likely to get badgered get their hair cut short before you go) during which she is hand-fed an ice cream spoilt, Ill leave you to decide?. We also manage to meet Mr Smee and Captain Hook so far so good, characters are coming thick and fast. Whilst in the shop paying for the braid a CM notices that the mist spray wed brought from a cart on Main Street is broken and the battery compartment is rusty so she tells us to go to a little shop and get it replaced and if there were any problems to come back to her (she must know our sort we have problem stamped on our foreheads). Well, the CM in the shop was having none of it and told us to return to the cart. After reporting this to the original CM she came over with us and arranged a replacement (for which we were all very grateful for later in the day) the customer service always astounds me!
From here we wandered around a bit, more or less unsuccessfully trying to meet characters, DD was losing heart after being told Dopey was going in and would be back in 5-minutes, but the CM promised that if we hung around there would be a special treat. So being good little Dwarfs we waited patiently. And sure enough when he came back he brought Snow White with him. DID was awestruckJ. With each character greeting the hugs got longer and the smiles got wider. After this three was a brief meeting with a Lion King character although Im not sure which. On previous visits we had not been up the tree house and although it wasnt the best activity it was fun, there were no queues and it was cooler than being out under the sun.
Big Thunder Mountain was as ever a brilliant ride (and even me #1 scaredy cat was screaming with delight). By now DD was into the swing of things but Id forgotten that she follows in my footsteps. Things were going great until you get to the bit where it looks as if you are going to go up an almost vertical piece of track (whereas you actually pass underneath it). Id forgotten about that bit and even my heart stopped for a moment, DDs face was a picture, I thought she was going to cry but she managed to contain it and spent the rest of the day saying how much she hated the ride.
It would be great if I could remember everything we did but it all becomes a blur and writing this 3 weeks later (albeit from notes) it seems like an age ago.
DD was desperate to ride the TTA, which we did, again no queues, but Buzz was reporting 45 mins. We decided to push that forward to our return. But we did manage to fit in Carousel of Progress, which DD wasnt too impressed with but we all loved Theres a great big beautiful tomorrow can't get the tune out of my head. By this time it was close to 2.30 so we made our way back to Main Street to lay claim to a good spot for the parade. It was very hot by this time and it was a welcome relief to wander in the shops taking turns to keep our kerbside places. The parade was great and although different to the last time wed been the atmosphere and build up were the same. Something that I thought was quite good was a CM asking for email addresses so that you can complete a survey about your visit when you go home.
By the time the parade had passed we were all flagging so we returned to the villa for a swim and a freshen before heading out to the Ponderosa for tea.
Once back at the park we were stuck for ages on the Monorail and by the time we got to Main Street it was heaving we had planned to do some more rides but as we had not experienced Spectro-Magic before decided to get our spot. The parade was amazing; unfortunately my new camera was not performing as well as the characters (actually it was operator error and the fact that I hadnt read the manual as well as I should I did warn you Id made mistakes just wait it gets a lot better or worse, depending on your viewpoint). Like I said this was a first for us as was staying for the fireworks, so we wandered up Main Street and pitched a spot to the right of the castle on a walkway towards Tomorrowland. DD lay down on the floor and starts to drift off ahhh! we are all praying she wakes because it is a long walk back to the car. The fireworks were the best Id ever seen and the Wishes song was ringing in my ears long after my head hit the pillow and yes Magic Kingdom was as good, no, even better than I remember truly Magic.
Maria
DH: Long suffering one (42)
DD: Beautiful, amusing and very so slightly stroppy (9 going on 19)
MIL: Sexagenarian
FIL: Sexagenarian
Me: Planner, worrier, pessimist (35 almost)
Saturday - Magic Kingdom (is it as good as I remember?).
Another early start and we are all eager to get going so leave the villa at 8.15. We arrive at the park and are amazed that it is not that busy.
This is my absolute, absolute favourite park and I felt like a Cheshire cat the whole day. As soon as we entered we came across Pinocchio and the very first photo is of DD clinging to him for dear life bless. The first glimpse of the castle brought a tear to my eye and it was as if wed never been away. We begin by having a stroll around and wander in the direction of the Haunted Mansion where we find we are ushered in with no queues I didnt even have time to think whether DD would enjoy it. Luckily she wasnt scared and it was a great start to the day. I think after this we went to Pirates of the Caribbean, hearing Dead Men Tell No Tales always sends a shiver down my spine. Upon exiting DD decides to have her hair braided to the tune of $30 (if youre likely to get badgered get their hair cut short before you go) during which she is hand-fed an ice cream spoilt, Ill leave you to decide?. We also manage to meet Mr Smee and Captain Hook so far so good, characters are coming thick and fast. Whilst in the shop paying for the braid a CM notices that the mist spray wed brought from a cart on Main Street is broken and the battery compartment is rusty so she tells us to go to a little shop and get it replaced and if there were any problems to come back to her (she must know our sort we have problem stamped on our foreheads). Well, the CM in the shop was having none of it and told us to return to the cart. After reporting this to the original CM she came over with us and arranged a replacement (for which we were all very grateful for later in the day) the customer service always astounds me!
From here we wandered around a bit, more or less unsuccessfully trying to meet characters, DD was losing heart after being told Dopey was going in and would be back in 5-minutes, but the CM promised that if we hung around there would be a special treat. So being good little Dwarfs we waited patiently. And sure enough when he came back he brought Snow White with him. DID was awestruckJ. With each character greeting the hugs got longer and the smiles got wider. After this three was a brief meeting with a Lion King character although Im not sure which. On previous visits we had not been up the tree house and although it wasnt the best activity it was fun, there were no queues and it was cooler than being out under the sun.
Big Thunder Mountain was as ever a brilliant ride (and even me #1 scaredy cat was screaming with delight). By now DD was into the swing of things but Id forgotten that she follows in my footsteps. Things were going great until you get to the bit where it looks as if you are going to go up an almost vertical piece of track (whereas you actually pass underneath it). Id forgotten about that bit and even my heart stopped for a moment, DDs face was a picture, I thought she was going to cry but she managed to contain it and spent the rest of the day saying how much she hated the ride.
It would be great if I could remember everything we did but it all becomes a blur and writing this 3 weeks later (albeit from notes) it seems like an age ago.
DD was desperate to ride the TTA, which we did, again no queues, but Buzz was reporting 45 mins. We decided to push that forward to our return. But we did manage to fit in Carousel of Progress, which DD wasnt too impressed with but we all loved Theres a great big beautiful tomorrow can't get the tune out of my head. By this time it was close to 2.30 so we made our way back to Main Street to lay claim to a good spot for the parade. It was very hot by this time and it was a welcome relief to wander in the shops taking turns to keep our kerbside places. The parade was great and although different to the last time wed been the atmosphere and build up were the same. Something that I thought was quite good was a CM asking for email addresses so that you can complete a survey about your visit when you go home.
By the time the parade had passed we were all flagging so we returned to the villa for a swim and a freshen before heading out to the Ponderosa for tea.
Once back at the park we were stuck for ages on the Monorail and by the time we got to Main Street it was heaving we had planned to do some more rides but as we had not experienced Spectro-Magic before decided to get our spot. The parade was amazing; unfortunately my new camera was not performing as well as the characters (actually it was operator error and the fact that I hadnt read the manual as well as I should I did warn you Id made mistakes just wait it gets a lot better or worse, depending on your viewpoint). Like I said this was a first for us as was staying for the fireworks, so we wandered up Main Street and pitched a spot to the right of the castle on a walkway towards Tomorrowland. DD lay down on the floor and starts to drift off ahhh! we are all praying she wakes because it is a long walk back to the car. The fireworks were the best Id ever seen and the Wishes song was ringing in my ears long after my head hit the pillow and yes Magic Kingdom was as good, no, even better than I remember truly Magic.
Maria
