Tuesday Dec 11th.
Magic Kingdom DAY! HOORAY!
Another beautiful day at WDW. Breakfast was at the Kona, so we got up early and I pulled out my beautiful Mickey Mouse Stick that my wife made me because we would be at Mickey's VM Christmas Party that night, and, I wanted to show off! It is a wonderful thing. It is painted yellow (for the shoes) at the bottom. 1/2 way up, it changes to red (his shorts), and then the head is black with two large round ears sticking out at an angle. If they were straight up and down, I couldn't use it because my hand wouldn't fit around the ears, but, with it at an angle, I get a nice grip. It still needs some work, but, it's still a wonderful thing.
Anyway, we hopped a boat to the CR and Monorail-ed over to the Poly for Tonga Toast (me) and a full eggs and bacon (the boss) breakfast. I love the Kona and relish every meal I get there. After Breakfast, we again hopped on a boat, this time to the MK. We JUST missed the opening. Then, through the curtain and the magic began!
I had heard a rumor that the Goofy statue was gone from in front of Tony's. It's still there, but, doesn't laugh. I am hoping that will be remedied soon.
As per our tradition, we headed straight to Adventure Land for our first Jungle Cruise of the day. I am glad to know that the 'Hippo' joke has returned….I missed it greatly. Pirates was amazing as always. I noted that they have repainted the beltway to the gift shop, making the peg-leg print much more visible.
Then there was the Haunted Mansion. I will NOT reveal what they have done with the HM, but, I will say that I love it more now than I did even before! It is spectacularrrrrr!
Everything else was great, but, the HM has stepped into a whole new plain of entertainment.
We then did something we haven't done in a very long time. We went over to Tom Sawyer's Island. Polly's is gone, but, there are still things to do. I wanted to explore the cave system and we actually found a cave we haven't been in before. It's the first cave when you get off the boat that says it's a Mine. We also went through the escape tunnel from the fort, which was rather brave of me as I am rather claustrophobic and that tunnel has some very narrow parts. But, I made it through with only a slightly elevated pulse.
The other passages don't bother me as they are all rather wide, but, the escape tunnel is narrow and I am not. All in all, we had a good time on the Island.
Something we noticed was that everything just seemed brighter and more crisp. I later figured out that the last time we were there, it was very smoky from the fires in Waycross and everything was just dull. This time, I just kept my air of euphoria the whole time we were on property.
We ended up in Frontierland eventually and hopped on the train for Main Street as lunch was back at Trail's End. I really like TE's buffet and was NOT disappointed. We needed to pop back into the tent anyway, so, it wasn't even out the way.
The afternoon resulted in my wife getting another butt-kicking from me in Buzz, a great time in the Laugh Zone and all the fun therein in Tomorrowland. We edged round into Fantasyland where the lines were rather short, and ended up back at the HM again. We also enjoyed a ride on the Liberty Belle. I love the view from the top deck.
Dinner that evening was at the Crystal Palace and I enjoyed the carving station muchly. I also love the chicken fingers on the kids table. They are great for munching on while in line . Pooh, Tigger, Piglet, and Eyeore were all in fine form and lots of fun that night.
We got our bands for
MVMCP after dinner and ran over to the Jungle Cruise to get the last ride of the day. Our skipper was an older guy who was just dry enough to make the whole thing quite hilarious!. We then just wandered the park, just enjoying Cindy's place and the whole atmosphere. If you didn't get to see Cindy's place in all it's Christmas splendor, then I shed tears for you. It is beautiful. Cookies were munched and Chocolate was drunk and fun was had by all.
We watched the 10:30 parade from right under the Main Street Clock and had a fine time. They have added a few new things to the parade, including a miniature Corvette driven by a guy who was either on drugs or needed to be on drugs, I haven't figured that out yet.
I also noted that Scrooge McDuck was in the parade. Has he always been in the parade and my brain was too addled to note? He is one of my favorite characters and I hope to meet him one day.
After the parade, which ended at 11:15, we didn't have much time left to do much, but, we did what we could. A quick boat ride back to the Fort and a not so quick wait for a bus (we were tired of walking that day I can tell you) got us back to the tent by 1:00.
Wednesday Dec 12th
EPCOT
Breakfast? Did we eat breakfast? I think we stopped off at the Meadow Trading Post and got doughnuts (whole box, 1 snack credit!).
We got to EPCOT later than we normally would, but, that was ok. We got us some fast passes for Soarin' and road through the greenhouses, noting which bit we would be eating when we had dinner at the Garden Grill. We Imagined (getting a free picture from Kodak in the process) and ended up in Canada enjoying the new 'Oh Canada' movie with Martin Short. It is silly, but, it actually shows you what is happening NEW in Canada, while keeping much of the old footage from the original. I was glad to see that they kept the part with the people skating on the canal hauling the older folks on sleds to be left in the snow to die. (A JOKE!)
We then popped into Images of France, where I managed to leave my hat on the floor. No one noticed, but, the very nice CM let me back in after the next show was over, so, I recovered. When you have a hairstyle like mine, you need to have your hat! We also picked up the next day’s breakfast at the pastry shop. It’s amazing how well the pastries stand up in a backpack.
Lunch was in Morocco, which was wonderful, and then we boated back to FutureWorld as we were hoping, and succeeded in, getting into Spaceship earth! They were running a sneak peak and we got to go…Twice! Or car wasn't working well the first time through, so they sent us around again. It is defiantly different, but, is it an improvement? I am not sure. There is at least one scene that speaks to me, and, as a 70's and early 80's home computer jockey, well, when you see it, you will know.
We then headed over to the east side of FutureWorld and were disappointed in that TestTrak was down, and, down hard. We never did get a ride. But, we did do Mission Space (Orange Team only) We were grouped with another couple (French I think) who didn't quite get what was going on until they had us lined up ready to go into the pod. They backed out, so we were left flying the spaceship by ourselves. We then went by Ellen's and I managed to get a Dinosaur out of the CM in the anti-chamber when he was asking the names of famous dinos. He forgot about 'Sue' the T Rex over in Animal Kingdom, and, I didn't.
We then scuttled round to Mexico, where I bought a very nice pull-over sweater? thingie that is very comfortable and warm. We also took a cruise down the River of Time and I think I do like the new version better. We got to ride in a boat by ourselves, but, it was a wheelchair boat, so, it was hard to snuggle up in that one, I can tell you!
They have also cleaned up Malstrom, but, they didn't change anything. I am hoping that we will get a new movie there one day.
We finally made it back over to the Land for our Soarin’ fastpass and then to The Sea. The Crushman was as entertaining as ever and we got a very nice time with the Manatees. We also stopped by the Visa Meet and Greet for our freebie. Then we went to Mars again, this time with a couple of British Teens who ‘got it’ when it started up.
Dinner was a Le Cellier and was as delicious as always. After that, it was time to head back to the Fort.
Sounds like a wonderful, laid back trip. Perfect. I am looking forward to the pictures.
