We arrived just moments before Rope Drop. The opening ceremony concluded just as we got through baggage check with a bit of fireworks. The park was open tonight until 11, and we had a Be Our Guest dinner reservation at 8:35 so we knew it was going to be a long day.
A note about baggage check
please be considerate of the people behind you. Have your bag OFF your neck and open so the screeners can look in
If your bag is large, put your stuff in plastic bags. It makes it much easier to glance and go! Believe me
NO ONE wants to see how many pairs of sexy underwear you packed in you park bag and NO ONE wants to know why! Some things should remain private
.
We went straight through the Castle towards Fantasyland. We normally have to go around the castle. I can not remember how long it has been since we got to go through the castle. That is the main difference between going during party season and during regular times.
Our first stop was Pooh! We love this ride and there was a zero wait time. By the time we got off the wait was up to 20 minutes! After Pooh we went to Peter Pan. The wait was 20 minutes here as well, but we knew it would be much longer in a few minutes. They sent us through the wheel chair entrance which made our wait about 15 minutes.
We then headed over to Ariel and Dumbo, which had minimal waits as well. In fact they were both walk on. From Dumbo we were able to see over the walls to the Mine Train. It is getting so close to done! I can hardly wait for our October trip!
It was now 9:45 and our first FP+ was at Big Thunder at 10:30. So we decided to take a trip on the train. We realized we havent ridden it since they closed it down for the Fantasyland expansion
so it was time! Mr D fell asleep on the train, so he continued his nap while we sat for a while in Frontierland waiting for our FP+ time. Once he woke up refreshed and raring to go
.off they went ot one of their favorite rides! While the rest of the family rode BTMRR I found a nice sunny spot to sit and enjoy my favorite sport of people watching.
On that note, perhaps this is a good time to interject my thoughts on how people dress for parks. Some people dress for fashion, no matter how uncomfortable. Some people dress for comfort, no matter how bad it looks. And others
well, lets just say they dress without benefit of a mirror. Some body types should be more cognizant of how a particular outfit looks on them. More than one large chested woman will get home and cringe at the pictures! Designs from a shirt prominent displayed in an unattractive manner
cut in half by a cross body bag. And blinging Mickeys ears is not a problem and looks cute
just be watchful as to where those bling pieces actually fall on the body
and please leave the spiked heels at home!
Once the family rejoined me we headed to Pirates of the Caribbean. Again it was a walk on ride. By this time we decided we should grab a bite to eat and headed to Cosmic Rays. Even though we keep saying we are going to try different places, we always keep coming back to here. It has a wide variety to please everyone and it has mostly inside seating. At first we thought it might be closed. There were construction walls all around. Nope, the side that is closest to the castle is undergoing a large refurb
actually they are enclosing more of the outside dining areas to become inside dining areas.
This has always been one of my favorite places to sit and watch the castle lighting.
From here Mr D and Dad rode Stitch. For some unknown reason Mr D claims this as his favorite ride! At least that is always the reasoning he gives for wanting to ride it! LOL! Afterwards it was time for our second FP+, Buzz Lightyear! Yes, we are a competitive family and we always try to outdo the other. Dad always wins and Mr D always comes in 4th
Miss B and I trade off the other two spots. I think we should handicap dad since he was a trained sharpshooter in the army
and he shoots guns in his everyday life as well
but he disagrees! (I need a smiley with their tongue sticking out here!)
After this ride we headed over to Carousel of Progress. While it is no ones favorite ride, we all enjoy it and it was starting to get HOT. Unfortunately, they made us sit on the first row. Let me just say
vertigo and first row on this ride do NOT mix! LOL..
At this time it was time for our third and last FP+
Space Mountain. (1:55) This is truly one of Mr Ds favorite. From the time he was finally tall enough to ride he has begged to go on it all the time. It is one of those rides he would never get off if they gave him the chance. Since we had decided we had rode everything we had on our MUST HAVE list we felt it was a good time to head back to the room for a couple hours to swim. Dad grabbed a
DAS pass for Space Mtn. The time marked on it was 2:45.
We then headed back to the room for the boys to swim. I needed a nap and Miss B was fighting a sinus cold (how on Earth does she allow herself to get sick as we leave for Disney!!!)
This seems like a good place to end this part of the report. The next report will have some of the GREATEST times of the trip as well as one of the WORST time of the trip
stay tuned!
Nini
We went to Orlando a few years ago to visit Universal and I was bringing an old pair of tickets to WDW that had one day left on them. I had everything for the trip (hotel reservation info, driving directions, tickets) in a folder and the day we left I decided to transfer everything to a file envelope with a clasp so nothing would fall out. Well, go figure the Disney tickets were hiding down in the folder so they never made it on our trip. Luckily my parents were watching the kids and my dad was able to overnight the tickets to the hotel but I was so mad at myself 
for getting Be Our Guest for dinner (I don't think you need to cancel the FP+ for lunch).
