On to my favorite day... our first day at Magic Kingdom. There's less pictures here, mainly because photos taken on rides generally don't come out well and we spent nearly the whole day on rides. Plus, it was raining and I was too busy enjoying myself to fuss overmuch with the camera.
Part 5: Storm? What Storm?
Loved the Mickey/Stitch wake up call that got us out of bed. So did Kai. Dunno about Scott. But I can tell you, that in all 6 days of hitting speaker, Nicky never once heard the wake-up call. It blared out right next to his ear, but did not wake him up.
He loves Stitch, too.
We knew it was supposed to rain. But hey, the forecast in Florida calls for rain every day, right? We saw the weekly summary with thunderstorms each day, laughed, and paid no more attention to it. But when we got going, it was already raining, so we pulled on our ponchos.
Once the ever entertaining bus system had been navigated again, we splashed our way (glad we had on airwalks) toward the train station. We were the first at our turnstile, and the CM was nice. We chatted a bit, and he mentioned "Did the storm change your plans?" I was thinking... er... do they really call rain a "storm" in Florida? But we laughed and said we just hoped everyone else stayed snuggled in their hotel beds so we'd have short lines. Then we waited for the turnstiles to open. Then we waited for the rope drop under the train station (with Scott getting more upset everytime someone slipped ahead of us on the rope - he was stressing far more than I over our "plan" at this point). Then the rope dropped! We started to hustle down Main Street, avoiding the people who were actually running and pushing their strollers like it was a wheelbarrow derby. But as I saw the castle, I checked my jogging children to yank out my camera. I believe I may have muttered something fairly incoherent about missing moments for marathons, but after I snapped a quick picture, I followed willingly enough as they hustled double time toward the goal. Notice the fact that at 9 in the morning, the street lights were on. And the fact there was enough water on the street to reflect the castle. Hm.
We slid through the castle to find - ANOTHER ROPE! YAY! Scott tugged us over to the right where we found a spot on the rope. Finally, that rope too dropped, and we headed straight for...
Dumbo. What were you expecting? We have two small children, lol. We got on the first ride of the day, and Kairi even got the purple hatted Dumbo she craved. At that point, the rain had slowed to a sprinkle, but the elephants were pretty well swamped. Nicky isn't thrilled about heights, so he didn't want me to lift up the Dumbo at first, but I gradually talked him into it, which was good since they all go up eventually anyway! One and a half minutes later, we headed down the exit ramp. Nicky looked at me incredulously and said, "That was IT???" which for some reason struck me as really funny.
Next, we headed for Winnie the Pooh. While some call this ride corny, our whole family loves it. The rain had all but disappeared at this point, so we pulled off our ponchos as we went through line and jumped in. We bounced along with tigger, waved at ourselves in the heffalump room and generally acted like 4 year olds. Our hardest part was escorting the kids through the gift shop. They still had money to spend, and look! There were things to buy! But we urged them on toward Peter Pan.
Did I mention Nicky doesn't like heights? It was my turn with him on this ride, and try as I might to point out things he likes - "Look Nicky! Pirates!" he was having none of it. As far as he was concerned, we probably really were flying over London and would likely fall to our deaths shortly. (Which really should have given us a clue about Soarin' later in the week. Hm.)
Because it's right across the street, and because my mother had made the kids promise (on the car phone during the trip down) to ride it for her, we went on Small World. If you can't picture those eternally happy little dolls and have that highly obnoxious song play in your head, you're probably not reading this report. So I won't torture you with details. I did however discover a job I'd least like to have at Disney World. The poor CM who loads the ride has to stand there. ALL day. *shudder*
We headed to Haunted Mansion next. I had been at great pains during the trip to convince the kids that HM was FUNNY, not scary. FUNNY. I love this ride, and would be very disappointed to miss it, but I know my two little wimps. Just mention the word "Haunted" and they're likely to opt out. So they tripped on blithely enough.
In the stretch room, we encountered some problems. One, a set of parents was forcing their shrieking and crying daughter onto the ride, which made ours think there was something to be afraid of. Then, a REALLY obnoxious teenager was videotaping the attraction, and said every single line along with the narrator. LOUDLY. And when the lights went out, guess who screamed? Right next to my daughter, who was starting to get a bit creeped out by the hanging body and general atmosphere. And then he started this evil cackling, which is when I equally loudly stated, "Don't worry, Kairi, he's just being RUDE." At this point, though, she was starting to look apprehensive. Nicky seemed pretty fine. She asked if the rest of the ride was like that, and I told her "no" (which I thought was truthful). So she hopped in the doombuggies with me. But the rest of the ride just made her miserable. She said that things "popped out" at her. Since nothing came close to our buggy, I really wouldn't have considered anything that happened "popping out" but then unlike her, I've been on those haunted hayrides where psychos with chainsaws jump right up next to you. The long and short of it was that she was unhappy, and any plans to repeat the ride were ditched, much to my chagrin.
So far, we hadn't waited in any lines, and Scott was starting to stress a bit less about deadlines. I showed them the cool transistion at the overhang from Liberty Square to Fantasyland, talking about how you couldn't see the architecture of one land in another and so forth. Yes, I'm a geek.
We went straight back to Philharmagic. I cannot even begin to explain how much we loved this show. It was just so freakin' cool. Kairi was all thrilled about smelling the food in "Be Our Guest" and after seeing Muppets yesterday, we all knew what was coming when those brooms with the buckets entered the scene. Nicky was so funny because he kept reaching up to try and catch Donald or grab a jewel. The whole thing was simply fabulous. As we left the ride, I said something about having a new favorite, and everyone else just nodded with these big goofy grins on their faces.
At this point, Nicky was getting a bit tired of running from one ride to the other, and started whining about getting a drink. We told him that we would have lunch shortly, but you could tell he wanted a break now. We were walking past Sleepy Hollow on our way to Jungle Cruise, so I decided to stop for a funnel cake and soda to share. Scott didn't look thrilled at the interruption (who would have thought he would have taken all of my touring plans to heart and become a commando tourer???) but when he realized we were getting funnel cake, he perked up.
We had a little problem when my card wouldn't swipe for the snack credits. The CM (who was the only snippy CM we encountered) handed it back and said "It's not working". I said, smiling, "Um, why not?" and his reaction was "How am I supposed to know?" Taken a bit aback, I said, "Well, we just got here yesterday, and haven't used any snacks yet, so there should be.." He just stared at me and repeated the $6 total. Scott intervened and asked him to try his, which went through. He handed it back without even a thank you, and that was the end of that. Certainly not a huge customer service issue, but I was a bit surprised after all the sweetness we had encountered so far.
The funnel cake, which we ate in a dry corner of the open air seating was good, but not great. But then, we're spoiled. Whether it's true or not, being from Pennsylvania we tend to think that PA has bragging rights to the best funnel cake. It's the whole Pennsylvania Dutch thing. Anyway, one funnel cake and diet soda split four ways put the smile back on Nicky's face and we continued to Jungle Cruise. The fastpass time was more than 20 minutes away and the standby line was only 10, so we hopped in line for what was more like a 5 minute wait, if that. We enjoyed the cruise very much, and Scott laughed at all the cornball jokes. (He's like that. Cutie.)
Nicky was all for lunch and Tommorowland after the Jungle Cruise. But his sister had a thing for seeing Country Bears. Considering how much time she spent on his interests the day before, we insisted, and took a rather pouty Nicky along. On the way, I tried to cheer him up by suggesting we go in to see Woody and Jessie at the Diamond Horseshoe Saloon (or whatever they call it now, might have changed) but he was not interested. _I_ really wanted a picture with Woody and Jessie, so I appealed on the "for Mommy?" line - he just said "We'll go there later". As it wasn't worth a tantrum to me, we went into Country Bears, and caught them just closing the doors. (Whew! Otherwise it would have been a 20 minute wait and we would have had trouble with Trouble.) The show, as always, was both lame and cute. The funniest part was how into it the audience got, clapping their hands and stomping feet. Once the show actually started, Nick was content enough to sit on my lap and watch. Kai, who had insisted we go, actually seemed underwhelmed.
As we left, we discovered it had started to pour again. We went for our ponchos and I realized that mine and Kairi's were...*ahem*... most likely back in our Honeypot. On Pooh. You know, the second ride of the day. Scott heroically gave up his to Kairi and we started for Tommorowland. We decided to split up at Cosmic Rays because Kai and Scott wanted sandwiches and Nicky and I wanted burgers. We got in the seperate lines, which is when I realized, Cosmic Rays doesn't have a kids' burger. We left our line. We walked past all the stations, reading the kids' menus. Nicky wanted a burger, but he settled for mini corn dogs. Which I knew he wouldn't eat. Since Kai and Scott were done by this point, I sent Nick to the table with them and did something that would make me the object of rage and scorn on the DIS - I bought Nicky a double cheeseburger meal with my adult credit. As we had walked, I had seen a chicken and ribs combo and decided to get Nick his burger, and then go back and get the ribs. But by the time I made it through line and got back to the family, I just didn't want to wait in line again. So Nicky got my lunch, and I got bites of his burger (which was DIVINE - those are some NICE burgers at Cosmic Rays!) and his Carrot Cake. Plus some of Kai's Mickey cheese crackers, and a few fries. And I started to realize why so many people talk about sharing meals on the plan - I was quite full, and we managed to mostly clean our plates instead of throwing away piles of food. If anyone's keeping track, that was another $32 we didn't have to spend, thanks to the dining plan.
During lunch we were serenaded by a FABU band that was really rocking the place. Sadly, there was only a smattering of applause after each number, which was too bad because they were extremely good. Also, TweedleDum and TweedleDee were walking around, but I'm not entirely sure Nicky even knows who they are.
We left Ray's, still in the pouring rain, and picked up fastpasses for Buzz Lightyear. Then we headed for one of our favorite attractions, the Carousel of Progress. At least, it had been one of our favorite attractions. I hate to think that we're getting jaded, but it does really need an update. As we finished the second to last rotation, the ride didn't move, and the voices faded out on the animatronics. It was a bit weird. Then an announcement came on.
"We're sorry for the inconvenience, but the Carousel of Progress will be closing due to its status as a rain shelter. Please remain in your seats, and a cast member will be around to assist you shortly."
HUH? It's status as a what now? We sat in confusion as the ride recycled the last skit in creepy whisper voices. Then the door opened and we were escorted out. Into not just pouring, but driving rain. It was around then that we heard someone say "Oh, they won't close the park unless it's a category 3."
Wait just one minute. Category 3? That's a hurricane term. And this is not hurricane season. Is it? In fact, I'm pretty sure, while driving past the hurricane evacuation signs on I-4, Scott had asked me "Is this hurricane season?" and I said something along the lines of "Oh, technically, I think it might be, but I don't think you ever get hurricanes this early. Maybe tropical storms..."
So, sheepishly, I asked Scott if maybe we ought to check out the weather channel when we got back to our room.
At any rate, rain or no, we were in the Magic Kingdom and time was a wastin'. So we ran across to the TTA, and were told it was closed. I asked if everything was closed, explaining we had just been kicked off Carousel of Progress. She started to say it was just temporary, when she got a sign from someone and said "We're open now!"
The TTA was fun, but it convinced Nicky that he was NOT going on Space Mountain. Which is too bad. Fortunately, the Tommorowland Speedway was also shut down, so he didn't start begging to ride that. I'd already decided we had the same attraction at our local amusement park and it wasn't worth waiting in line. When we got off, after a quick picture with a statue we spotted of Pleekley, our time for Buzz was up so we headed on.
I really think that Buzz Lightyear is one of the best uses of a Fastpass you can get. Unfortunately, so many people don't get the fastpass, and then give you dirty looks when you slide on past them. We just enjoyed the queue decorations and tried to remember that hey, they could have gotten fastpasses, too. Now, in my opinion, this is one of the most fun rides ever created. We all STINK, just FYI, but we have fun competing with each other because at least we stink equally. I rode with Nicky and he got about 400. I think my final score was in the 40,000 range, and Scott was (barely) better. Kai got about 12000, as I recall. As we left, the plan was to go back to the hotel. Nicky had expressed interest in the Stitch ride, so we took a look at the wait time. It said the wait was only 20 minutes, but mindful of how lousy I heard the attraction was, and knowing we'd be back during fireworks when the lines would be negligible, I vetoed the ride. This peeved Scott mightily. Which peeved me, because until then it was all "Oh Jenny's so cool, getting us on the lines with no wait." I asked him to trust me that we could get a better line (for a bad attraction) later, and suggested ice cream to the kids. Which sent them hustling off to Main Street. Mouse ears cones and rootbeer floats put everyone in a better frame of mind.
By then, we had ditched all the ponchos and were just getting wet, figuring we were headed for the hotel anyway. I didn't get anything again (not sure why - I made up for it later, though) and the total was $9 - or 3 snack credits, really. We stood under an awning and watched the traffic on Main Street while the kids enjoyed their cones.
We stopped on the way out for a few pictures with the Roy and Minnie Statue. All in all, we were very pleased with our MK morning - we'd ridden everything in the original plan, with only one 5 minute wait at Jungle Cruise. We spent the bus ride back listening to Nicky sing "It's a Small World". Since he didn't know the words, though, it ended up sounding like this:
It's a small, small world...
And we're all really puny,
We're just tiny little specks about the size of Mickey Rooney
Though we don't know how we got here, we're 'portant part here,
It's a big nooniverse and it's OURS!!
Which is a combination of Small World, the Animaniacs, and Nicky's complete belief that we really did have the "Keys to the World" that let us get on all the rides (fastpass), eat whatever we wanted (dining plan) and stay at our hotel - therefore, the world is "ours". He's pretty stinkin' cute. Kai just giggled insanely back to the room. For that matter, I think we all might have.
Up Next: Part 6: Wishes = Walk-on
I surprised our 2 boys and our girl with the *news* of our trip on Easter Sunday - we're not going til October but they were totally overjoyed to just hear that we're going back - my 12 year old was jumping up and down and even started crying! 
