Day two...part what?
We headed back to WL, started to stand in line at Roaring Forks, said screw that, and went to get flatbread at the Territory Lounge. We both had the v. tasty pulled pork and coleslaw, I also had a RedHook. Yup, that got me drowsy enough for a nap. I'm sad that my picture of the ceiling in there didn't turn out, it was quite stunning.
We had a good nap, made some coffee, and made sure to wake up in time to go see the floating electrical light parade.
ooooohhhhhh
aaaaahhhhhh
yawnnnnnnn
I sort of expeted it to be lame. It was nice to experience it on the beach, however, that was enjoyable...except for the family with all the kids who kept yelling at their kids to sit down. Geeze, let the kids play allready, it's their natural state. They're been standing in lines all day, let them enjoy the cool sand and play time. They weren't bothering me when they were playing, they were bothering me when they were sitting next to me and pouting.
We headed back up to the room for a little bit, and we realized that we had a pretty good view of the parade when it's at them contemporary. Didn't watch it, though.
More coffee, and we're off to the Magic Kingdom. As much broohaha is made on the resort board about the boats, I loved them. Honestly, probably my favorite part of the whole trip were the boat rides. So relaxing, so calm...and very regular. I don't know what peoples problems are with them...because we never had an issue...and you have to admit, the water canal was pretty darn cool.
We got to the park around 11pm (joy, right in time to try and dance around the parade). We managed to beat it by walking through the right hand stores and we got to our goal with time to spare...Adventureland!
First off, my favorite, the Jungle Cruise. Alas, the skipper on this go round seemed to be getting tired after the long day, I understand. She wasn't bad, just not at her best. I will say at this point that the Jungle Cruise in WDW is so so much better than the one DL...no underground temples to go through in DL.
We rode magic carpets for the first time...oo ah oh...w/e. I'm glad we did it.
Pirates was next, which is so not as cool as the DL version. No swamp scene, the drops are too small.
We happily skipped the Tiki Room...as I hate the new one.
There's a story there.
I used to be the sort of snob that hated all things Disney. I couldn't imagine that there was possibly any artistic merit in any of it. To me it was just juvenile with no redeeming value.
That was until I saw the Tiki Room under new management.
The horrors of the new version opened up my eyes to just how good everything else at Disney is. It showed me how everything else tows the line so perfectly in order to appeal to both children and adults...and the art and the difficulty is there, one just has to be willing to truly pay attention. Thank goodness the brillant original is still in DL.
Since it was an EMH night, we made our way clockwise around the park. BTMRR (always best at night), Haunted Mansion (love the refurb), Peter Pan (such an interesting difference from DL's...DL 's is a further away version, WDW brings you closer to the action), Philharmagic (first time, loved it), Snow White (terrified me as a kid),
The Carosel
George got to meet his hero
Winnie the Pooh ( I think I like the one at DL better), and Mad Tea Party (DH refuses to ride with me).
I have to say, I really prefer the look of Fantasyland in DL. It's just so much more...fanciful. The insides might be the same, but the outsides are just an amazing visual feast.
We went on to the Speedway (fun, but only if you have 0 wait), Space Ranger Spin (again, I prefer DL because the controls are more movable...DH won by several 10's of thousands), and Space Mountain. Going on space mountain is like returning to the womb for me...truly...after that ride, my mom knew she was pregnant. Once again, though, I'm having to go with the DL Space Mountain. The approach and music track make it on top for me.
We valiently tried to stay until 3am, but at 2:30am we called it in and made our way back to the boat. A beautiful, calm ride back and a quick falling asleep in bed.
We'll be sleeping in tomorrow.