elgerber
DIS Legend
- Joined
- Feb 17, 2000
- Messages
- 24,398
Day 4, Monday December 8th
Me, Erika, 34, Disney obsessed for as long as I can remember
DH, Steve, 36, extremely tolerant of my obsession, loves Disney vacations
DS, Matthew, 10 ½, loves Disney World, tried many new things this trip
DD, Alexa, 7 (almost 8), as Disney crazy as I am
MK today, gotta get up and go!!! This is the only park I worry about getting to by opening time. It always seems we can never get out of the hotel room when I want too. I wanted to be at the bus stop by 8:15. Of course, it was 8:20 before we left the room. Luck was on our side, a bus was waiting when we got there! We were there in plenty of time. The first sight we see is all the Mickey statues, very cool! I dont think I ever saw all 75 of them. This is the first time we ever had to wait outside the gates until 10 minutes prior to opening. They had a little opening ceremony and song and dance, with Mickey pulling up on the train. Have they always done this, and I just never saw it before??? By the time we got through the gates, I figured wed be the last ones to Fantasyland. I was wrong, we walked through the castle and got held at the rope for another few minutes. We were very close to the front. When the rope dropped we were actually made the very first ride on Dumbo. We had never done that before, we were pretty happy! After Dumbo, we headed for Pooh, it wasnt working yet. This seems to happen to us a lot. The CM suggest we grab a fast pass for an hour later and come back, sounded good to me. Next we walked right into Mickeys Philharmagic. I was a little worried about dd, after her previous 3D experience. She jumped every time something flew at us, but she LOVED it. We all loved it, it was absolutely beautiful. I was in awe watching it, especially Aladdin, I swear I could have touched him! Next was another walk-on, Peter Pan, a personal favorite of mine. We hit a Small World, the line was literally, non existent, we got our own boat for the 4 of us. A quick ride on the carousel, then we got in line to see Ariel in the Grotto, this was probably our longest line yet. Probably about 10 minutes. Ariel was not as sweet and friendly as she has been in the past, but my kids didnt notice. Alexa was itching for a ride on the Barnstormer, and Toontown fair had just opened, so we went for a ride. Another walk on, then she just had to do it again. This time we had to wait for about 3 minutes LOL. You get so spoiled by walk-ons. We wanted to see Mickey again, so we took a quick walk through his house, and saw Mickey with only a couple of minute wait. We had a short time left until the end of our Pooh fastpass, so we picked one line in the judges tent, and picked Minnie and Chip and Dale, they had a nice short line, thank goodness. As soon as we got to the line, we were let in. Manning the line inside, was Wilnel, the same CM who was manning the line for Sorcerer Mickey the day before. He remembered us, and he was giving my kids some grief about their pins. He was a great CM. Now we had to get back for Pooh, and our fast pass worked like a charm. We bypassed everyone in the 20 minute stand by line, and walked right into our honeypot. This was the first of many times we said fastpass rules!. We were getting really hungry, but Alexa was overdue for her Mad Tea Party dizzy session. Ds and I get our own Tea cup, as we dont like to spin as much as dd and dh. They spin themselves silly LOL. Now it was time to eat, but my rule is always have a fast pass in your hands before you eat. Grabbed one for Buzz, then went to the Plaza Pavillion for lunch. DS was having a hard time eating his pizza due to a loose tooth. He said he couldnt pull it out, but we made him try again and out it came. Of course, I have nothing to put it in, so I empty the breadstick out of its bag, and wrap it in there. Its probably the best smelling tooth, the toothfairy ever picked up. We still had some time left before our fast pass was over, and ds was going to be brave and take his first ride on Space Mountain. He tried a lot of big rides this go round, and liked them all. He liked Space Mountain, but didnt love it like RNR. Off to another personal favorite of mine, the People Mover, oh sorry, TTA. Its such a nice relaxing ride, and there is never a line. I spotted Carousel of Progress as we were exiting the TTA, and my kids have never done this (and I cant remember if I ever had either) so we went in. The concept is amazing to me, the rotating theater that they just keep filling up after the first section moves on. Very cool. As we were waiting to exit the second part, we started to move, then suddenly stopped. A CM, quite sternly, told everyone to remaining seated. About 20 seconds later he did it again. People were laughing as he started telling his story again. A couple of minutes later we started moving, and everyone yelled goodbye to the man in his rocking chair. We moved into the third room, but we missed the first couple of minutes, as we had been in the other room. Everything was fine after that, it was rather amusing. We had to high tail it to Buzz for our fast pass now, again fast pass rules. This was dds first ride, she was leary of the dark and black lights last time. She loved it! She couldnt wait until she could ride it again. Usually we would have probably called it a day by now, but we decided to head to Adventureland instead. We passed through and grabbed fastpasses for Big Thunder. My dd was a little nervous about riding this, but I knew shed love it. The boys saw the line for Splash was only 5 minutes, so they took a ride there first, while dd and I went and visited Jasmine and Genie. We wanted to take dd on Pirates for her first ride, but the line was wayyyyy long. We went back for our Big Thunder ride, and just as we get to the line, the ride goes down, and everyone has to leave. Hmmm, I think we are breaking rides this trip, seems to be a trend. On our way out, we rode the Magic Carpets of Aladdin. Then we decided we need an ice cream break. The parade was starting down Main Street when we got there, so we watched (didnt have much choice, the crowds wouldnt let us get too far). As soon as the last float passed, we bee lined across the street to the ice cream parlor. So did everyone else, but we got there first LOL. Alexa got a kiddie cone, and I got a regular cone. Whoa, big mistake. There was so much ice cream in this thing (and this was a single scoop), it would take me 3 days to eat it LOL. Note to self, get kiddie cone next time. While waiting for everyone else to eat, I asked the guy at the information board if Big Thunder was back up, he said it was, and I could take my fastpasses to City Hall, they would issue me knew ones, since it went down at our fast pass time. I ran down there and got a pass good for any one ride, interesting pass. We walked all the way back to Big Thunder, only to find it was still down. Nice, very good info at the information board LOL. We decided we better make use of the pass anyway, and they let us use it on the Jungle Cruise. We had a great guide, Scott, he was a hoot!!! Now it was after 4, the longest I think weve ever spent in the MK in one shot. We took the bus back to the hotel and went back to our room. Open the door, and look, no boxes! What a surprise. I really did not want to go out to eat tonight, it was getting late (at least for our dinner) and we were tired. I was going to make pasta (we had shipped the pasta ourselves) but the sauce was at Netgrocer. I went to the general store, and lucky for me, they had Prego sauce. The kids have been begging to go the arcade, so we went for a few minutes, then we told them there was air hockey in the Community hall. This was our first visit here, and we had the place all to ourselves. It seemed pretty nice, the free games were cool, and my dd is happy any place she can get popcorn. The have a huge selection of movies, but are never in our room long enough to watch them. We stayed here for a little while, then it was time for baths. Both kids wanted to use our whirlpool, so I put them in their swimsuits and threw them both in. They thought they were the coolest kids on the planet. At least someone enjoyed the whirlpool, I was always too tired to use it.
Me, Erika, 34, Disney obsessed for as long as I can remember
DH, Steve, 36, extremely tolerant of my obsession, loves Disney vacations
DS, Matthew, 10 ½, loves Disney World, tried many new things this trip
DD, Alexa, 7 (almost 8), as Disney crazy as I am
MK today, gotta get up and go!!! This is the only park I worry about getting to by opening time. It always seems we can never get out of the hotel room when I want too. I wanted to be at the bus stop by 8:15. Of course, it was 8:20 before we left the room. Luck was on our side, a bus was waiting when we got there! We were there in plenty of time. The first sight we see is all the Mickey statues, very cool! I dont think I ever saw all 75 of them. This is the first time we ever had to wait outside the gates until 10 minutes prior to opening. They had a little opening ceremony and song and dance, with Mickey pulling up on the train. Have they always done this, and I just never saw it before??? By the time we got through the gates, I figured wed be the last ones to Fantasyland. I was wrong, we walked through the castle and got held at the rope for another few minutes. We were very close to the front. When the rope dropped we were actually made the very first ride on Dumbo. We had never done that before, we were pretty happy! After Dumbo, we headed for Pooh, it wasnt working yet. This seems to happen to us a lot. The CM suggest we grab a fast pass for an hour later and come back, sounded good to me. Next we walked right into Mickeys Philharmagic. I was a little worried about dd, after her previous 3D experience. She jumped every time something flew at us, but she LOVED it. We all loved it, it was absolutely beautiful. I was in awe watching it, especially Aladdin, I swear I could have touched him! Next was another walk-on, Peter Pan, a personal favorite of mine. We hit a Small World, the line was literally, non existent, we got our own boat for the 4 of us. A quick ride on the carousel, then we got in line to see Ariel in the Grotto, this was probably our longest line yet. Probably about 10 minutes. Ariel was not as sweet and friendly as she has been in the past, but my kids didnt notice. Alexa was itching for a ride on the Barnstormer, and Toontown fair had just opened, so we went for a ride. Another walk on, then she just had to do it again. This time we had to wait for about 3 minutes LOL. You get so spoiled by walk-ons. We wanted to see Mickey again, so we took a quick walk through his house, and saw Mickey with only a couple of minute wait. We had a short time left until the end of our Pooh fastpass, so we picked one line in the judges tent, and picked Minnie and Chip and Dale, they had a nice short line, thank goodness. As soon as we got to the line, we were let in. Manning the line inside, was Wilnel, the same CM who was manning the line for Sorcerer Mickey the day before. He remembered us, and he was giving my kids some grief about their pins. He was a great CM. Now we had to get back for Pooh, and our fast pass worked like a charm. We bypassed everyone in the 20 minute stand by line, and walked right into our honeypot. This was the first of many times we said fastpass rules!. We were getting really hungry, but Alexa was overdue for her Mad Tea Party dizzy session. Ds and I get our own Tea cup, as we dont like to spin as much as dd and dh. They spin themselves silly LOL. Now it was time to eat, but my rule is always have a fast pass in your hands before you eat. Grabbed one for Buzz, then went to the Plaza Pavillion for lunch. DS was having a hard time eating his pizza due to a loose tooth. He said he couldnt pull it out, but we made him try again and out it came. Of course, I have nothing to put it in, so I empty the breadstick out of its bag, and wrap it in there. Its probably the best smelling tooth, the toothfairy ever picked up. We still had some time left before our fast pass was over, and ds was going to be brave and take his first ride on Space Mountain. He tried a lot of big rides this go round, and liked them all. He liked Space Mountain, but didnt love it like RNR. Off to another personal favorite of mine, the People Mover, oh sorry, TTA. Its such a nice relaxing ride, and there is never a line. I spotted Carousel of Progress as we were exiting the TTA, and my kids have never done this (and I cant remember if I ever had either) so we went in. The concept is amazing to me, the rotating theater that they just keep filling up after the first section moves on. Very cool. As we were waiting to exit the second part, we started to move, then suddenly stopped. A CM, quite sternly, told everyone to remaining seated. About 20 seconds later he did it again. People were laughing as he started telling his story again. A couple of minutes later we started moving, and everyone yelled goodbye to the man in his rocking chair. We moved into the third room, but we missed the first couple of minutes, as we had been in the other room. Everything was fine after that, it was rather amusing. We had to high tail it to Buzz for our fast pass now, again fast pass rules. This was dds first ride, she was leary of the dark and black lights last time. She loved it! She couldnt wait until she could ride it again. Usually we would have probably called it a day by now, but we decided to head to Adventureland instead. We passed through and grabbed fastpasses for Big Thunder. My dd was a little nervous about riding this, but I knew shed love it. The boys saw the line for Splash was only 5 minutes, so they took a ride there first, while dd and I went and visited Jasmine and Genie. We wanted to take dd on Pirates for her first ride, but the line was wayyyyy long. We went back for our Big Thunder ride, and just as we get to the line, the ride goes down, and everyone has to leave. Hmmm, I think we are breaking rides this trip, seems to be a trend. On our way out, we rode the Magic Carpets of Aladdin. Then we decided we need an ice cream break. The parade was starting down Main Street when we got there, so we watched (didnt have much choice, the crowds wouldnt let us get too far). As soon as the last float passed, we bee lined across the street to the ice cream parlor. So did everyone else, but we got there first LOL. Alexa got a kiddie cone, and I got a regular cone. Whoa, big mistake. There was so much ice cream in this thing (and this was a single scoop), it would take me 3 days to eat it LOL. Note to self, get kiddie cone next time. While waiting for everyone else to eat, I asked the guy at the information board if Big Thunder was back up, he said it was, and I could take my fastpasses to City Hall, they would issue me knew ones, since it went down at our fast pass time. I ran down there and got a pass good for any one ride, interesting pass. We walked all the way back to Big Thunder, only to find it was still down. Nice, very good info at the information board LOL. We decided we better make use of the pass anyway, and they let us use it on the Jungle Cruise. We had a great guide, Scott, he was a hoot!!! Now it was after 4, the longest I think weve ever spent in the MK in one shot. We took the bus back to the hotel and went back to our room. Open the door, and look, no boxes! What a surprise. I really did not want to go out to eat tonight, it was getting late (at least for our dinner) and we were tired. I was going to make pasta (we had shipped the pasta ourselves) but the sauce was at Netgrocer. I went to the general store, and lucky for me, they had Prego sauce. The kids have been begging to go the arcade, so we went for a few minutes, then we told them there was air hockey in the Community hall. This was our first visit here, and we had the place all to ourselves. It seemed pretty nice, the free games were cool, and my dd is happy any place she can get popcorn. The have a huge selection of movies, but are never in our room long enough to watch them. We stayed here for a little while, then it was time for baths. Both kids wanted to use our whirlpool, so I put them in their swimsuits and threw them both in. They thought they were the coolest kids on the planet. At least someone enjoyed the whirlpool, I was always too tired to use it.
