Crowds...But No Lines! (Okay, maybe a few lines) - PRESIDENTS WEEK 2011 TR

[Leshaface]

I was hoping to write an update this weekend but unfortunately my aunt became ill on Friday. She had emergency surgery yesterday which was successful but she is not yet stable and has a long road of recovery ahead of her. I have been babysitting my cousin's 3 month old daughter so that my cousin could be at the hospital with her mom.

I promise I have not given up on this TR and will continue it as soon as I can.

Oh no! Praying for a speedy recovery for your aunt and patience for you as well!

And no worries about your TR! We'll all still be here when you return!

 

[BMC423]

Sorry about your aunt, wishing her a speedy recovery and you a restful weekend babies are tons of work

 

[heathsf]

Is dinosaur really that scary? I have never been we didn't even get to that side of the park...

I just realized I never answered your question! I would say for kids (and me) it is pretty scary, if not terrifying. The dinosaurs looks VERY real, they're very loud, and the ride is very very very dark. At one point you can't see anything. My mom screams and jumps when she watches scary/suspenseful movies so I was really expecting her to find Dinosaur scary but I was wrong. I do love the ride though.

 

[heathsf]

After eating our yummy lunch, we decided to walk through the Maharajah Jungle Trek. I had done this once before 5 or 6 years before. This, just like everything else at AK, was new for DM.

Komodo Dragon

Bats

Tigers

Deer

Next we decided to catch the 1:00 show of Finding Nemo the Musical - something new for me!! On our way we saw the monkeys playing...

and had a photopass photographer take our picture. He was very funny and we had a good time with him. Other people were standing around watching him take our picture because he was so entertaining.

When we got there at 12:45 they were just letting people in and it was CROWDED! We got on the back of the line which was moving quickly at this point and were sitting down in just a few minutes. Before the show started every seat was filled. We saw families split up because there weren't enough seats for them to sit together.

We both thought the musical was very cute. It's funny how you stop noticing the people holding the puppets after a while. And they are so talented, being able to act and sing AND maneuver a huge puppet at the same time! I enjoyed it, but if I had to choose between this show and Festival of the Lion King, I would choose Lion King. It was a lot more fun and upbeat. But both were great.

After the show we walked back to EE so I could use one of our FP. I entered the FP Return Queue at 1:45 and was getting onto the train in 2 minutes! Again I was disappointed to be sitting in the very back of the train. Oh well. The ride was still great but I decided not to use the last FP to ride again. After riding for the first time that day earlier in the morning, I thought for sure that I would want to ride 2 more times but I changed my mind so we could leave the park a little earlier. Plus it's just not as fun sitting next to a stranger

After my ride on EE we walked over to Dinosaur to use our FP. It was now 2pm. I took this picture in the loading area of the ride:

I read about this before going on the trip. Does anyone know/want to guess what those chemical equations represent?

Here is our ride photo. This time DM knew when to cover her ears.

I don't think the kid in the back row was enjoying himself very much

We headed out of the park at 2:35 pm to change into pants, pick up DM's new sneakers which should have arrived, and then head to Animal Kingdom Lodge for dinner at Boma. As we were walking towards the exit I realized that we hadn't done It's Tough to be a Bug! DM said she wasn't interested and would rather leave now. Since I'd done it before I was okay with that.

Her favorite thing at AK was KS followed by Dinosaur. Mine was EE of course. Our longest wait today was 10 minutes to use the FP at KS and to ride EE in the morning.

Up Next: Does DM finally get to wear comfortable sneakers? And dinner at Boma...

 

[kathleen27]

We were there president’s week too (third time), and I couldn’t believe how crowded it was! Sounds like you did plenty anyway! I could not get my teens out early & gave up trying by the end of the week.

You must have been so disappointed to have your original trip snowed out.

Love all your photos! Glad your Mom enjoyed some new rides!

Tappan Edo looks really good – I’d love to try it some day!

My phone doesn’t have apps, but I have an iTouch, and I am addicted to the Disney waits apps. I checked the lines on the airport wifi while waiting for the bus to pull out. We need a smartphone next trip that works with the actual Disney app so we can check fastpass times!

Hope your Mom gets her new shoes.

 

[heathsf]

We were there president’s week too (third time), and I couldn’t believe how crowded it was! Sounds like you did plenty anyway! I could not get my teens out early & gave up trying by the end of the week.

You must have been so disappointed to have your original trip snowed out.

Love all your photos! Glad your Mom enjoyed some new rides!

Tappan Edo looks really good – I’d love to try it some day!

My phone doesn’t have apps, but I have an iTouch, and I am addicted to the Disney waits apps. I checked the lines on the airport wifi while waiting for the bus to pull out. We need a smartphone next trip that works with the actual Disney app so we can check fastpass times!

Hope your Mom gets her new shoes.

Welcome!!

My mom and I are both early risers so Disney is the kind of trip for us . Going with my bf this summer is going to be an entirely different story.

We were devastated that night at the airport when our first flight was cancelled but in the end it worked out because we got to stay twice as long!

Teppan Edo was really really delicious. I would love to go back there.

And the Lines app is the 2nd best invention ever (after the disboards of course! )

 

[MelMel11]

Count me in!!

 

[heathsf]

Count me in!!

Welcome! Thanks for joining!

 

[heathsf]

We arrived back at Pop Century at 3:00 pm. We went to concierge and had to wait a little bit to pick up our package but the sneakers had arrived! We then headed back to the room to change for the night.

DM's new sneakers:

They look nice don't they? Too bad they were too small!!!! Yes, that's right. She had been anxiously awaiting some foot relief only to buy new sneakers that didn't fit! She was very frustrated because she has other sneakers at home that are the same brand and same size so she thought this would be a sure thing that they would fit! She wore them out anyway, hoping that they would at least be more comfortable than her original pair.

We changed into pants and went to the bus stop at 3:30. An AK bus was just pulling away so I ran to catch it and the bus driver kindly stopped to let us on. Including us, there were 6 people on that bus.

When we arrived in AK we saw that an AKL bus loading only a few spots away. We ran off our bus and right onto the AKL bus. Neither of us had ever been to AKL so we were both very excited for something new. The bus stopped first at Kidani Village and then Jambo House.

We were walking into the lobby at 3:55, exactly 25 minutes after leaving Pop Century which just seemed impossibly fast! We walked through the absolutely fantastic lobby to the Arusha viewing area.

I had felt a little disappointed after Kilimanjaro Safari that we hadn't seen many animals but this completely made up for it. It was amazing! You can see the guest room balconies in the background of some of the pictures. How magical it must be to come out onto your balcony in the morning and see this! DM and I were both in love with this resort. In fact, she called my dad while we were watching the animals to tell him how fantastic it was and that she wanted to come back and stay here with him. I was thinking "Haha, yeah right" but after we returned home he went on Disney's website to price out a trip - just out of curiosity he said. So maybe he'll shock me and take DM on a Disney Vacation. Anyway, back to our current trip. Here is the back of the lodge from Arusha.

Fire-pit

Stairs leading up to the lobby

What a gorgeous, gorgeous resort with impeccable theming as only Disney can do it. I can only hope that I'll be able to stay here one day.

Up next: Dinner at Boma

 

[Leshaface]

Hi!!!

sorry I've been MIA but i'm back..at least for today! Won't be around this weekend!

I truly hope that your moms shoes feel better as the trip goes on! I couldn't imagine having to walk around uncomfortable shoes all day..In fact, JUST last night, I bought my first pair of flats and decided to wear them this morning....well before going to work I went to Target to pick up something...as I was waiting to pay, I felt some liquid around my heels...yup, they were bleeding! Then I got to thinking, how can some girls wear flats all day around the park!?!?

Anyways, not sure if you know this or not, but you can request a seat whenever you get on rides. Like for us, we love to ride in the back on Space Mountain and Thunder Mountain, so whenever the CM asks us how many in our party, we say 2 and ask if we can be seated near the back They are always super nice about it and have never had any issues letting us sit where we want! You should definitely try that next time for EE!

 

[heathsf]

Hi!!!

sorry I've been MIA but i'm back..at least for today! Won't be around this weekend!

I truly hope that your moms shoes feel better as the trip goes on! I couldn't imagine having to walk around uncomfortable shoes all day..In fact, JUST last night, I bought my first pair of flats and decided to wear them this morning....well before going to work I went to Target to pick up something...as I was waiting to pay, I felt some liquid around my heels...yup, they were bleeding! Then I got to thinking, how can some girls wear flats all day around the park!?!?

Anyways, not sure if you know this or not, but you can request a seat whenever you get on rides. Like for us, we love to ride in the back on Space Mountain and Thunder Mountain, so whenever the CM asks us how many in our party, we say 2 and ask if we can be seated near the back They are always super nice about it and have never had any issues letting us sit where we want! You should definitely try that next time for EE!

I've thought the same thing about flats! First of all, I think every pair I've worn give me blisters at first until I wear them in and then they're comfortable. (which as I'm writing this, makes me feel stupid for wearing them!) Secondly, even the ones that are comfortable I would never ever wear to the park! I know my feet would definitely be bleeding at the end of the day plus there's no support.

Thanks for the tip about requesting seats! I will definitely try it this summer!

 

[heathsf]

Finally it was time for dinner at Boma! We walked downstairs and found that they were almost ready to open for dinner. I didn't realize that we had the first seating time at 4:30 so we had to wait for a little bit. I tried to take a picture of the sign that said "Boma" but it came out blurry twice and then I gave up because it was behind the host's desk and the hosts and hostesses were running around preparing to open and I felt like I was being annoying.

Once they started calling names to be seated there were two percussionists playing African drums which I can't believe I don't have a picture of! We were seated towards the back away from the food which was nice because we didn't have lots of people walking past our table all the time (like we had to do to the people who were sitting close to the food). Our waitress quickly explained the layout of the buffet and then we were off! First stop: hummus! White bean hummus, Black olive hummus, and Sun-dried tomato hummus to be exact, with pita bread and lavosh for dipping. All delicious!

I took pictures of the signs for all the foods I ate so I'm going to do my best to remember which food goes with which sign. If I make an error, please forgive me!

This was DM's plate with hummus and salad:

This was my plate with hummus, marinated cucumber and peppadew salad, curried pasta salad, eggplant and tomato salad, spinach and quinoa salad, and chakalaka (spicy stewed tomatoes and onions). Clearly I took very small portions of each. Of those, I liked the chakalaka the best but it was all good.

Here's a picture of some of the buffet. I think the third pot from the left is the Chakalaka.

Here are the french fries, macaroni & cheese, and pasta.

I'm missing a sign for this but I think it was some sort of butternut squash soup. It was very very sweet.

Another soup, seafood maybe?

My second plate: Chermoula salmon, fufu, Geelry's rice, durban-spiced chicken, bobotie, African carved strip loin, and sweet corn and spinach pudding. The strip loin was very good but a little too undercooked for me.

DM's second plate: Chicken, rice, fufu, curried pasta, chakalaka, and something that looks like cous-cous but I'm not sure exactly what that is.

At this point I was already feeling full but I felt I had to try a teeny bit of the macaroni and french fries just to see what they tasted like. I also got some more hummus and chakalaka.

DM was still hungry but went with a solid portion of pasta as well as some more hummus.

Onto dessert!
My plate: I had to try a zebra dome from reading all about them on the Dis. I didn't think it was all it was hyped up to be. I really enjoyed the caramel cheesecake, peanut butter mousse, and bread pudding. Yum yum.

DM's plate: She got a lot of cookies but didn't really like them.

Dinner came to $78.79 for two people including tax. We didn't order anything that wasn't included in the dining plan so we just used two table service credits.

Overall we both enjoyed Boma. We liked trying new things and everything was good. However we both felt that other than the hummus (and for me the chakalaka), there wasn't anything that was SO amazing we felt like we had to keep running back for more. Would I eat here again? It's not at the top of my list, there are too many other places I want to try. But I would definitely come back if someone I was traveling with wanted to eat here.

Up Next: Hollywood Studios for Fantasmic

 

[heathsf]

After leaving Boma at 6 pm we only had to wait literally one minute for a HS bus to pick us up. We arrived at 6:20 and headed right to a bathroom where we waited on one of the longest lines of the day! Just kidding... But the line was out the door and it was a solid 5 minute wait! It was the only time we had to wait for a bathroom during the entire trip. I guess that goes to show how crowded HS gets on Fantasmic days (and nights). After the bathroom, we headed right into the Hollywood Hills Amphitheater. I took this photo on the way:

I think the scaffolding is a little less noticeable in that picture.

We walked in at 6:30 for the 7:30 Fantasmic and it was filling up FAST! It was more than half full already and the people were pouring in.

I didn't write down which section we were in but we were directed right to our seats which were good. We weren't in the center but we weren't too far off the side either. We were more towards the back but we were fine with that so we could make as quick an exit as possible.

Since we had an hour to kill, DM and I played checkers on my phone. In the meantime, I could feel lots of little bugs flying in and out of my shirt! A few bugs don't really bother me but I don't like feeling like my clothing is infested with them! I don't remember ever being bothered by bugs during Fantasmic or really anywhere in WDW. By the time the show started they had either flown away or I stopped noticing them.

I didn't take any pictures during the show. I've taken a lot on previous trips and this time I just wanted to watch and enjoy without worrying about my camera. Please forgive me for being a bad DISer.

By the way, I LOVE this show. If anyone is reading this who hasn't seen it, see it! It's fabulous! The story line is a little bizarre at some points but it's filled with Disney Magic and great special effects. The music is spectacular, especially at the end. My only warning would be if you have small children, it can be loud and scary. But a great great show!

After the show we speed walked to the bus stop. We figured most people leaving Fantasmic would probably leave the park for the day and we didn't want to be waiting at the bus stop for a long time. But what do you know, we were wrong! The line for the bus was very short AND a bus was pulling up just as we got there!

We hopped right on and we were back in our room at 8:40. We were happy to go to bed early as we were waking up early for a big day tomorrow!

The final verdict on DM's new sneakers was that they were even MORE uncomfortable than the original pair she wore down! All that time on the phone with Zappos and making the extra trip back to the hotel to pick up the sneakers - for nothing! Mostly I just felt horrible for DM that this meant she'd be stuck in uncomfortable shoes for the rest of the trip.

This was a short update. I will post another one later today, so don't feel shortchanged!

Up next: We're finally headed to the Magic Kingdom with some serious touring plans! (Not for the faint of heart)

 

[heathsf]

Our wake up call was set for 6:15 am for our Magic Kingdom day but I woke up at 6 when I heard DM in the bathroom. She woke up earlier so she could take care of returning the sneakers to Zappos.

Off topic for a moment - DM was on zappos.com the other day looking at shoes and she found a review where someone wrote that they ordered a pair of shoes while in Disney World because they forgot to pack their sneakers! Zappos must send a lot of shoes to WDW resorts!

We went down to breakfast at 7:20. This morning I had a "POP" Waffle with sausage and milk. DM had her usual cereal mixture with an apple.

We were at the bus stop at 7:55 just as a MK bus was pulling up. Since yesterday afternoon we hadn't waited more than a minute for a bus to come! We were having a lucky streak! On the bus we talked about what we were excited for that day. DM was most looking forward to riding POTC - she hadn't been on since before it was refurbished. I asked her how she felt about riding Splash Mountain and her response: "I'm not excited about it." She also said that she wasn't excited about BTMRR but that she was interested. Well I was excited about both!

We arrived at MK at 8:20. We were able to go through the turnstiles and wait right at the front of the left tunnel under the train tracks. But a few pictures first:

We were very happy to arrive when we did as the crowds came pouring in behind us.

We didn't have a very good view of the Welcome Show but I had seen it several times and DM said she would rather wait as close to the entrance as possible.

Then finally we were in! Here you can see the construction on the Confectionary. It was still open for business.

Every trip, when I get that first look at the castle I just can't believe that I'm really in Disney World. It always just seems to good to be true!

We turned right and headed into Tomorrowland.

We grabbed FPs for Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin with a return time at 9:40 am so we would be able to get more FP very soon! Then we kept walking into Fantasyland where we hit our first MK ride:

There was no line whatsoever. This was my first time seeing the new interactive queue which looked great. DM ran right through without stopping, or realizing that I wasn't behind her! I went through a little slower, playing a little bit and taking a few pictures. It was pretty neat!

The squashes on the left are drums. I forget what was going on with those flowers on the right.

I didn't take a picture of it but there is a wall that looks like there is honey dripping down it and you can drag your finger in the honey and it looks like it's real! I'm probably not explaining it well. In August I'll take a video. There was another neat part where there were pads on the ground with springs so you could bounce like Tigger.

The ride was as cute as we both remembered and when we were dumped into the gift shop, DM found the Tigger sweatshirt she had admired a few nights ago at DTD but wasn't able to find in her size.

She of course bought it and we left it at the shop to be sent to our room (LOVE that Disney service!)

To be continued....

 

[heathsf]

After The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, we walked right next door to Snow White's Scary Adventures. I'm not sure exactly when they're planning to close this ride so I wanted to make sure we got our ride in because it could be our last! I noticed this small sign on the side of the building:

We walked right on to Snow White and then walked onto It's a Small World.

The grandfather sitting right behind us on our IASW cruise ship was *very* loud and *very* talkative. He pointed out eeeeeeeeeeevvverrryyyyy little thing to his granddaughter. And did I mention he was loud? "Do you see the boy in the sombrero? Do you see the kite? Do you see the boy on the bicycle?" EVERYTHING! It was pretty annoying but we did our best to block him out. He and his granddaughter were obviously having a great time and that's what Disney is about

After IASM we grabbed FP for Peter Pan's Flight. The return time was 10:40 am so we would be able to get more FP in just an hour. Along with our PP FP, out came a Surprise FP for Mickey's Philharmagic. We were planning to save Philharmagic for the afternoon since there isn't usually a wait but it was nice to know that in case there was a wait, we now had FP!

Next we headed into Liberty Square to the Haunted Mansion - one of my favorites! The posted wait time was 10 minutes but we definitely waited less than that.

We walked right past where the cemetery was but there were walls up because they were doing construction on the new interactive queue. I was disappointed because I specifically wanted to look at Madame Leota's grave. I guess I'll have to wait until my August trip...

We were able to walk right up to the front doors but the line was cut off right in front of us so we would be the first of the next group into the Stretch Room. I read before the trip that the reason for the stretch room was that the original ride in Disneyland was underneath the railroad tracks so guests needed to be lowered underground into the basement. So the original DL stretch room is an elevator! This was not necessary in WDW but they used the same effect anyway. Neat stuff!

We completed our visit with some grim, grinning ghosts and then headed towards Frontierland. By this time it was 10 am and in one hour we had 4 rides under our belt and 3 FP in our pocket! Not too shabby

Please note that the park was still fairly uncrowded.

We went right to Splash Mountain to check the wait time:

5 minutes! I asked DM if she was ready to ride right now and she said yes! Wow it was that easy! We walked right through the queue to the end of the line which was in the tunnel right before the loading area. I asked DM how she was feeling. A little nervous - was her reply.

We were in our log in no time. It was definitely less than a 5 minute wait. Here is a photo of the new lap bar:

I love love love love LOVE this ride! And guess what! DM did too! DM was a little upset that we couldn't find our picture after the ride. We were actually stuck for a few minutes at the very end of the ride just before unloading and I think this was the reason that we missed seeing our picture. I knew I was covering my eyes anyway to protect my glasses. DM insisted we take a picture together with the SM sign since she was now a fan!

There we are in our matching shirts. Next we checked the wait time for BTMRR.

It was 30 minutes so we grabbed more FP for a return time of 11:20 am. Again, we had less than 2 hours to wait before getting another FP. We walked up the side of the mountain to see the trains go by. DM decided BTMRR didn't look scary at all. She could totally handle it she said.

Famous last words, right?

Next we entered Adventureland and rode POTC which we waited about 2 minutes for.

Two skeletons playing a never-ending game of chess in one of the prison cells one the queue.

DM really enjoyed seeing Jack Sparrow throughout the ride. I would really like to one day see the longer original ride at Disneyland.

Up Next: Lunch at the new Tortuga Tavern, formerly El Pirata y el Perico Restaurant.

 

[heathsf]

After riding POTC we went to the nearby Tortuga Tavern so I could eat lunch (DM wasn't hungry so she just ate an apple she had brought with her from the POP food court and some pretzels she brought from home). I used one quick service credit to get the beef nachos ($7.29) which came with a chocolate cake ($3.59) and a bottled water ($2.50). The nachos and cake were really delicious. They also had a toppings bar where I could've added to the nachos but I liked them just the way they were.

While I ate, DM took a short walk to Jungle Cruise to get more FP. It was 11:15 am and the FP return time was 12:25 so once again we had less than 2 hours to wait before our FP window opened again. Here are the FP we had collected so far this morning:

Neither of us have ever had Dole Whips but as we walked past Aloha Isle neither of us were ready for ice cream so we decided to come back later. I won't keep you in suspense...we never made it back. It's definitely on my list for August!

Next we meandered back toward the hub and walked past the Crystal Palace where we would be eating dinner later. We took some photopass pictures and I took some with my own camera. Then we continued on back towards Tomorrowland.

We found another photopass photographer on the bridge to Tomorrowland so we took a few more pictures.

At this point we felt like we did all the rushing we had to do and could relax and take it easy for the rest of the day. The rest of the rides/attractions we wanted to do we either had FP for or we knew there wouldn't be a long line. The park was really filling up at this point but it didn't bother us.

Next we did the Laugh Floor. It was very cute and very funny and DM liked it a lot.

After the show we got 2 more FP for Buzz Lightyear with a 2:55 pm return time. We noticed a small crowd forming nearby so we went to investigate and found PUSH the walking (or rolling?) talking garbage can. It is so funny to watch kids interact with it. A couple of curious boys tried to peek inside his lid and a few kids were scared. Its comments and jokes were so funny, we watched for a good 10 minutes. PUSH is not shy about talking directly to people and definitely lets you know that he can see you. DM spent a lot of time looking around trying to figure out where we were being watched from. I insisted that she'd never be able to find it because Disney would never risk having their illusion ruined.

It was now 1 pm and we got on the 2 minute line for the PeopleMover. This is one of DM's favorite rides and is now one of mine as well. It was perfect. No wait and a totally relaxing ride where we could enjoy great views of Tomorrowland.

Crowds!

Up next was the nearby Carousel of Progress. Another 2 minute wait and there was maybe 15 people total in the theatre with us.

I found a Hidden Mickey in the last scene!

On our way back to Fantasyland we saw Pooh & Tigger with very long lines. DM loves Tigger but we weren't going to wait on any lines to meet characters. And besides that, we had a dinner date with them tonight! We took a picture as we walked by:

Next we did Mickey's Philharmagic which I LOVE and was one of the attractions I was most excited to have DM do for the first time. She, of course, loved it too (what's NOT to love!? It's fantastic!). I really wanted to do it again either that day or on our last day when we'd be back in MK again.

We were going to use our Peter Pan FP but the FP Return Line was very long so we decided to save it for later. Instead we headed over to the Jungle Cruise in Adventureland (yes, we did lots of criss-crossing through the park). It was 1:45 at this point so we wanted to make sure that we didn't get stuck in Frontierland during the 3:00 parade since the parade route pretty much locks you in.

Up Next: What will DM think of the Wildest Ride in the Wilderness?

 

[I love disney123]

YOU NEED TO GET LESS PICS FOR YOUR OWN SAFETY OKAY!!! That was my friendly waring.... But I love it
!!!!!!!

 

[remed1978]

I am really enjoying your TR!! Thank you so much for sharing! We were at MK that Saturday, so it is fun to hear how you guys experienced that same week.

 

[heathsf]

YOU NEED TO GET LESS PICS FOR YOUR OWN SAFETY OKAY!!! That was my friendly waring.... But I love it
!!!!!!!

Thank you for the advice and the compliment

I am really enjoying your TR!! Thank you so much for sharing! We were at MK that Saturday, so it is fun to hear how you guys experienced that same week.

Thank you! Are you writing a TR?

 

[heathsf]

We were on our way to BTMRR in Frontierland. Remember those pictures from the morning when it was still empty?

And here we are now at around 2:30 in the afternoon:

So DM was ready to take on BTMRR and off we went on the wildest ride in the wilderness. While we were waiting on line we decided that if she liked it, we would FP again after riding since it was now 2:40 and our window was open to get another FP. But it was not meant to be because DM *hated* the ride. At least she couldn't blame me for that because we watched the trains go by in the morning and she said it looked tame! I felt bad that she didn't like it but at the same time I think a small part of her was glad she did it anyway so she could talk about how she survived the insanely scary roller coaster! So instead of FPing BTMRR, we FP Splash Mountain instead for a return time of 6:10 pm. I was hoping to use it during the earlier MSEP so we could see the floats all lit up from the ride. I've ridden Splash a few times during Spectro Magic and it was a lot of fun.

It was just about 3:00 at this point so we knew the parade was on its way and we didn't want to be trapped. As we were leaving we heard the WDW Railroad and they were announcing it would be the last train before the parade so we hopped on and that's how we made our quick getaway. Here's a picture of the crowds as we were waiting to board:

As we passed by Toon Town we could make out a little bit of the construction that was going on through the trees, but it was hidden very well by fencing and walls. The recorded commentary on the train talked about some of the new things coming with the Fantasyland Expansion. We did stop at the Toon Town Station with an announcement that they were refilling the water tank and to please remain seated.

When we arrived back at Main Street the parade had already finished passing through so we were able to meander down (or up?) the street. Here are some more pictures of the construction:

We went into Tony's Town Square Restaurant to find Lady & Tramp enjoying their meal out back.

We took notice of the lamps as they are gas lamps near the train station and change to electric as you get closer to the castle. Then we stopped here to listen to the singing lessons. These are the little things that make Disney World such an amazing place.

We then strolled back to Tomorrowland for the 3rd time to use our FP for Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin.
Mom's Score:

I won't show you mine but suffice it to say - she won.

We then rode the People Mover for a 2nd time so we could rest our feet and relax. There was even less of a wait than the first time we rode it. We just went right up the escalator and hopped on.

We once again left Tomorrowland for Fantasyland and stopped at Sir Mickey's.

Again - this is the magic that makes Disney so special.

Some construction on the castle. It's amazing how it looks so huge from almost everywhere in the park but is so much smaller when you're standing right next to it. Those imagineers are geniuses.

Next we walked over to Peter Pan to use our FP. This would be our last ride before dinner.

Up Next: Celebrating Friendship with Pooh & Tigger at the Crystal Palace