We did our early morning wake up, eating pop-tarts, cereal and cheese at 6ish am just to catch that bus to the MK from the Dolphin.
We arrived to MK 30 plus minutes prior to the Early Entry Opening. We went more to the left gates and amazingly these lines were much, much thinner. I got teary about the opening, just like our first day at MK. I guess I'm remembering my own childhood wishes to go to Disneyland (I'm dating myself)
We headed over to Fantasyland, going over by way of the Mad Tea Party ride. Now, if this had been our first day at MK, I would have spoiled this magic, I fear. As we neared the teacups, Tweedledum and Tweedledee were beckoning us over. One of them, I can't tell them apart, frankly, took my daughter by the hand and the CM at the ride, (the ride was vacant)explained that one of them wanted to take our daughter on the ride. How wonderful and special that was. She went of course. Like I said on the first day, I could actually imagine me sizzling with the program we set up and insisting we decline this or something. OR I would have gone with this impromtu offer and complained the rest of the day if we were behind schedule. Instead, armed with support and reassurance that everyone would be happy even if we did not get to everything on our list and knowing already in consultation with my husband the day before what might be some attractions we might skip in order to stay with a certain flow or timing that would be best for our family, I just smiled and cherished the opportunity. It was "magical". The CM told us that he'd been working that ride since January and had never seen a character select a child to ride on the ride with him/her. We felt fortunate.
We went to Dumbo next. It was first on our list and we were on the third load, hardly a wait at all. We stepped right up to Peter Pan's Flight. My daughter was Tinkerbell in the preschool rendition of the musical, you may recall from previous day reports. My daughter was not too interested in doing the Pooh ride again, even though we had planned on that. We went over to the Speedway in Tomorrowland instead. The wait was about 15 minutes. My daughter and husband went together in one car and I went in another behind them, snapping spontaneous poses of them. My daughter reported, "I couldn't reach the pedal, so Daddy did that for me, but I turned the wheel" Such a proud 5 year old moment. Such memories.
We had about a five minute wait at Buzz Lightyear. We all managed to pack into one car, with my daughter and husband having their shooting showdown. I just turned us. I tried to cooperate with my daughter's requests, not that a five year old had a strategy. She was not that interested in the ride. I thought there was a chance that she would want to repeat this one.
We had planned to do the TTA, but our Family Magic Tour on our special events around MK day included a fun ride on this with our guide, Mitch. My family decided to pass on a second ride for this trip.
We went over to the Magic Carpets of Aladdin. My husband and daughter rode this one twice. It was not a bad ride, about 5 -10 minutes each time. We were early for the Enchanted Tiki Birds show. It opened at 10, so we had our snack/water/bathroom break. My husband and I thought that the Tiki show was cute and funny.
We had a PS for 11:30 am at Crystal Palace, we had about 50 minutes. (I guess we were no longer wasting time trying to locate attractions, etc, hence the few things we cut out was, in hindsight, not necessary). We decided to go on the WDW Railroad. It was a nice peaceful respite. My daughter seemed quite pleased, but as we reviewed our trip later, she claimed the railroad was boring.
We got to the Palace a little early and my daughter found more of those Mickey Mouse shaped sequins on the floor and went about collecting. Finally, the hostess noticed and offered her some new ones. I think we could have skipped all the souvenirs, these little confetti-like Mickeys would were treasures to her.
We met Tigger, Eeyore, and Piglet, but our timing was off with going up to the buffet and Pooh's circulations. My daughter got into a snit-fit and nearly refused to eat until Pooh came by. The various CMs promised to arrange a meeting. A couple of failed attempts went by and then came the parade. My daughter refused to go, even when the waitress was practically handing her to Pooh. I tried to stay reasonable, but was wondering what got into her that she was being so obstenate. Was is overstimulation, exhaustion or was she just plain accustomed to getting her way (an only child) more times than not? What was the optimal mother's response? I chose to be silently pissed while remaining loyal to her cause. I sought the staff's help and finally, we were allowed to wait in the center area until Pooh came by. He seemed to be in the same mood as my daughter, showing little finisse for this child's "tragedy". Just as we headed back to the table and now my daughter was refusing dessert as well, Pooh came by anyway. He gave her some more half-hearted attention and we left. I decided not to rub it in.
We had better luck existing the park and getting to the bus. Our strategy was to ask along the way, having already been tutored by our early entry bus driver. On our way out of the park, I learned what this hand-stamping was about. We were lucky that there had been no problems on any other day with evening park re-entries. We were in the room about 2:15 pm. I was recommending a nap for our 5 year old, but she was too busy playing with her growing ensemble of Disney stuffed animals. I was glad that I had brought the extra empty suitcase. My husband and I reviewed our evening MK plan. He snored away while I puttered about.
We left about 4 pm. There was hardly any traffic. There was no wait at the gate either. Our plan had been to eat at Cosmic Rays and then go to a 6 pm Storytime with Belle, but on this particular day, there was no 6 pm show, but a 5:05 one. We had decided to drop it, but we ended up working it in.
What happened was that the Cinderella's...Surprise show was just starting up as we were passing by, so my daughter atop her father's shoulders, enjoyed watching that along with us. It was actually 5:05 and we were walking by the location for the Belle Storytime event, so we took seats. We had planned, you see, to go straight to Toontown and then eat at Cosmic Ray's prior to taking seats for the evening's special events. The Cinderella show was lovely for my daughter. She loved seeing all the characters and watch them interact. The Storytime with Belle was a more small, in some ways more intimate setting. It was cute to see the children act out Belle's story. Afterwards, my daughter decided to opt out of the autograph line in favor of spending more time at Toontown.
It looked like it might rain. My husband is a weather-watching enthusiast and can judge imminent weather by the clouds. We was giving us about an hour or 1 1/2 hour prior to the rain. By the time we got to Toontown, he upped it to 30 mins to 1 hour.
We went to visit Minnie's house. It was cute. My daughter liked the furniture in the living room and the funny kitchen equipment. We went to the Hall of Fame, but being newcomers, missed the lines. It just looked like a huge store up our entry. So, we were to Mickey's house directly because the clouds were gathering and we wanted our moment there with the mouse to be without the mad rain rush. We got a family photo opt with Mickey. We inquired then about the other characters and learned about how we had overlooked the lines for the characters. We went into the Storybook lines. It was about a 20 minute wait. We saw Cinderella (again), then Suzy and Perla. The rain was holding off. Now my husband was saying if it comes at all, it would come in the next hour. So, we went on Barnstormer. I rode solo again and he rode with the child. She loved it so much, she insisted on a second time. Since we had ample time, despite the looming cloud covering, they enjoyed it and I snapped pictures as they flew by. Our daughter glanced at Donald's boat and said, "I'm hungry. Let's go eat." It was about 6:20 pm. So, we headed down to Cosmic Ray's.
My husband looked up at the clouds and said it would either pour within the next 20 minutes or it would completely pass over. While we ate, he nodded as it looked so omnious and then when we finished, he told me that it looked like it would pass completely. There was hope that there'd be no fireworks complications, in other words.
We had never heard Sonny's act before. We got a kick out of the jokes. We ordered too much food. I should have watched more closely as people on the boards discussed those hot dogs. We wasted food, sad to say.
We strolled on over to our pre-selected spot for the parade and fireworks. We knew the key feature for our daughter would be Tinkerbell's flight. So, Len had advised us to position ourselves on "the right side of the street near the central hub of Magic Kingdom, between the end of Main Street adn Cinderella's castle, where there is the large circle. We faced the castle and parked ourselves on the bend on the right side of the street beten Tomorrowland and the end of Main Street. We also knew that given the various Grad Nights and a Corporate party one night that week as well in Magic Kingdom, that there was likely to be a crowd as these special events had meant early park closings and no firework shows on those days. We figured more people would have to flock to the remaining days when there would be these shows. I've nothing to compare it to, but I wondered if the crowd was more like the crowd during peak period.
We enjoyed conversing with people also seated on the sidewalk around us. We shared some glow-in-the-dark necklaces that we brought (we had extra) with some other little girls. People were so friendly around us. We amused ourselves as we waited. As the lights dimmed and the castle basked in various colors of the spectrum, we started feeling the excitement. We had our daughter practice tracking the wire that Tinkerbell would use countless times.
We were very pleased when the bands began to march in our circle. Suddenly, there were those floats and lights. It was much better in person than in the the guidebooks or even websites. It was dazzling and fanciful. I'm an old Fantasia fan. I loved seeing those Ostrich Ballerinas.
When it was over, there was a mass movement toward the Castle and it also seemed apparent that some people were leaving. Tinkerbell started to fly, my daughter said, "Look! I see her, Mommy. Oh! She's really green!" I was pleased that she was as visible as she was and that my daughter did not miss the spectacle. The firework show was beautiful. I liked it more than Illuminations. This was stupendous. To imagine that we have the technology to make one color explode in the middle of another and that the light would endure so long in those forms. Then, of course, I'm a sucker for that sort of naive narrative, too. So, I was a little teary.
I held onto the stroller handle so as not to separate too much as we swarmed towards the exits after the show. My family was prepared for the slowest exit and an impossibly long wait for the bus. But, it really was not that bad. We lucked out with the bus and we were back to our room by 11:30. My daughter fell asleep the minute we said while among the throngs existing, "It's OK. You can go to sleep. We're watching you and we'll be sure to tuck you into bed." She slept in her father's arms as we manuvered onto the bus. We all were glad to hit those heavenly beds after seeing the warm glow of those little chocolates (turn down service) -- just to make us feel a little pampered before we put our heads on the pillow.
What a special way to end the night.
KIS
When it was over
We arrived to MK 30 plus minutes prior to the Early Entry Opening. We went more to the left gates and amazingly these lines were much, much thinner. I got teary about the opening, just like our first day at MK. I guess I'm remembering my own childhood wishes to go to Disneyland (I'm dating myself)
We headed over to Fantasyland, going over by way of the Mad Tea Party ride. Now, if this had been our first day at MK, I would have spoiled this magic, I fear. As we neared the teacups, Tweedledum and Tweedledee were beckoning us over. One of them, I can't tell them apart, frankly, took my daughter by the hand and the CM at the ride, (the ride was vacant)explained that one of them wanted to take our daughter on the ride. How wonderful and special that was. She went of course. Like I said on the first day, I could actually imagine me sizzling with the program we set up and insisting we decline this or something. OR I would have gone with this impromtu offer and complained the rest of the day if we were behind schedule. Instead, armed with support and reassurance that everyone would be happy even if we did not get to everything on our list and knowing already in consultation with my husband the day before what might be some attractions we might skip in order to stay with a certain flow or timing that would be best for our family, I just smiled and cherished the opportunity. It was "magical". The CM told us that he'd been working that ride since January and had never seen a character select a child to ride on the ride with him/her. We felt fortunate.
We went to Dumbo next. It was first on our list and we were on the third load, hardly a wait at all. We stepped right up to Peter Pan's Flight. My daughter was Tinkerbell in the preschool rendition of the musical, you may recall from previous day reports. My daughter was not too interested in doing the Pooh ride again, even though we had planned on that. We went over to the Speedway in Tomorrowland instead. The wait was about 15 minutes. My daughter and husband went together in one car and I went in another behind them, snapping spontaneous poses of them. My daughter reported, "I couldn't reach the pedal, so Daddy did that for me, but I turned the wheel" Such a proud 5 year old moment. Such memories.
We had about a five minute wait at Buzz Lightyear. We all managed to pack into one car, with my daughter and husband having their shooting showdown. I just turned us. I tried to cooperate with my daughter's requests, not that a five year old had a strategy. She was not that interested in the ride. I thought there was a chance that she would want to repeat this one.
We had planned to do the TTA, but our Family Magic Tour on our special events around MK day included a fun ride on this with our guide, Mitch. My family decided to pass on a second ride for this trip.
We went over to the Magic Carpets of Aladdin. My husband and daughter rode this one twice. It was not a bad ride, about 5 -10 minutes each time. We were early for the Enchanted Tiki Birds show. It opened at 10, so we had our snack/water/bathroom break. My husband and I thought that the Tiki show was cute and funny.
We had a PS for 11:30 am at Crystal Palace, we had about 50 minutes. (I guess we were no longer wasting time trying to locate attractions, etc, hence the few things we cut out was, in hindsight, not necessary). We decided to go on the WDW Railroad. It was a nice peaceful respite. My daughter seemed quite pleased, but as we reviewed our trip later, she claimed the railroad was boring.
We got to the Palace a little early and my daughter found more of those Mickey Mouse shaped sequins on the floor and went about collecting. Finally, the hostess noticed and offered her some new ones. I think we could have skipped all the souvenirs, these little confetti-like Mickeys would were treasures to her.
We met Tigger, Eeyore, and Piglet, but our timing was off with going up to the buffet and Pooh's circulations. My daughter got into a snit-fit and nearly refused to eat until Pooh came by. The various CMs promised to arrange a meeting. A couple of failed attempts went by and then came the parade. My daughter refused to go, even when the waitress was practically handing her to Pooh. I tried to stay reasonable, but was wondering what got into her that she was being so obstenate. Was is overstimulation, exhaustion or was she just plain accustomed to getting her way (an only child) more times than not? What was the optimal mother's response? I chose to be silently pissed while remaining loyal to her cause. I sought the staff's help and finally, we were allowed to wait in the center area until Pooh came by. He seemed to be in the same mood as my daughter, showing little finisse for this child's "tragedy". Just as we headed back to the table and now my daughter was refusing dessert as well, Pooh came by anyway. He gave her some more half-hearted attention and we left. I decided not to rub it in.
We had better luck existing the park and getting to the bus. Our strategy was to ask along the way, having already been tutored by our early entry bus driver. On our way out of the park, I learned what this hand-stamping was about. We were lucky that there had been no problems on any other day with evening park re-entries. We were in the room about 2:15 pm. I was recommending a nap for our 5 year old, but she was too busy playing with her growing ensemble of Disney stuffed animals. I was glad that I had brought the extra empty suitcase. My husband and I reviewed our evening MK plan. He snored away while I puttered about.
We left about 4 pm. There was hardly any traffic. There was no wait at the gate either. Our plan had been to eat at Cosmic Rays and then go to a 6 pm Storytime with Belle, but on this particular day, there was no 6 pm show, but a 5:05 one. We had decided to drop it, but we ended up working it in.
What happened was that the Cinderella's...Surprise show was just starting up as we were passing by, so my daughter atop her father's shoulders, enjoyed watching that along with us. It was actually 5:05 and we were walking by the location for the Belle Storytime event, so we took seats. We had planned, you see, to go straight to Toontown and then eat at Cosmic Ray's prior to taking seats for the evening's special events. The Cinderella show was lovely for my daughter. She loved seeing all the characters and watch them interact. The Storytime with Belle was a more small, in some ways more intimate setting. It was cute to see the children act out Belle's story. Afterwards, my daughter decided to opt out of the autograph line in favor of spending more time at Toontown.
It looked like it might rain. My husband is a weather-watching enthusiast and can judge imminent weather by the clouds. We was giving us about an hour or 1 1/2 hour prior to the rain. By the time we got to Toontown, he upped it to 30 mins to 1 hour.
We went to visit Minnie's house. It was cute. My daughter liked the furniture in the living room and the funny kitchen equipment. We went to the Hall of Fame, but being newcomers, missed the lines. It just looked like a huge store up our entry. So, we were to Mickey's house directly because the clouds were gathering and we wanted our moment there with the mouse to be without the mad rain rush. We got a family photo opt with Mickey. We inquired then about the other characters and learned about how we had overlooked the lines for the characters. We went into the Storybook lines. It was about a 20 minute wait. We saw Cinderella (again), then Suzy and Perla. The rain was holding off. Now my husband was saying if it comes at all, it would come in the next hour. So, we went on Barnstormer. I rode solo again and he rode with the child. She loved it so much, she insisted on a second time. Since we had ample time, despite the looming cloud covering, they enjoyed it and I snapped pictures as they flew by. Our daughter glanced at Donald's boat and said, "I'm hungry. Let's go eat." It was about 6:20 pm. So, we headed down to Cosmic Ray's.
My husband looked up at the clouds and said it would either pour within the next 20 minutes or it would completely pass over. While we ate, he nodded as it looked so omnious and then when we finished, he told me that it looked like it would pass completely. There was hope that there'd be no fireworks complications, in other words.
We had never heard Sonny's act before. We got a kick out of the jokes. We ordered too much food. I should have watched more closely as people on the boards discussed those hot dogs. We wasted food, sad to say.
We strolled on over to our pre-selected spot for the parade and fireworks. We knew the key feature for our daughter would be Tinkerbell's flight. So, Len had advised us to position ourselves on "the right side of the street near the central hub of Magic Kingdom, between the end of Main Street adn Cinderella's castle, where there is the large circle. We faced the castle and parked ourselves on the bend on the right side of the street beten Tomorrowland and the end of Main Street. We also knew that given the various Grad Nights and a Corporate party one night that week as well in Magic Kingdom, that there was likely to be a crowd as these special events had meant early park closings and no firework shows on those days. We figured more people would have to flock to the remaining days when there would be these shows. I've nothing to compare it to, but I wondered if the crowd was more like the crowd during peak period.
We enjoyed conversing with people also seated on the sidewalk around us. We shared some glow-in-the-dark necklaces that we brought (we had extra) with some other little girls. People were so friendly around us. We amused ourselves as we waited. As the lights dimmed and the castle basked in various colors of the spectrum, we started feeling the excitement. We had our daughter practice tracking the wire that Tinkerbell would use countless times.
We were very pleased when the bands began to march in our circle. Suddenly, there were those floats and lights. It was much better in person than in the the guidebooks or even websites. It was dazzling and fanciful. I'm an old Fantasia fan. I loved seeing those Ostrich Ballerinas.
When it was over, there was a mass movement toward the Castle and it also seemed apparent that some people were leaving. Tinkerbell started to fly, my daughter said, "Look! I see her, Mommy. Oh! She's really green!" I was pleased that she was as visible as she was and that my daughter did not miss the spectacle. The firework show was beautiful. I liked it more than Illuminations. This was stupendous. To imagine that we have the technology to make one color explode in the middle of another and that the light would endure so long in those forms. Then, of course, I'm a sucker for that sort of naive narrative, too. So, I was a little teary.
I held onto the stroller handle so as not to separate too much as we swarmed towards the exits after the show. My family was prepared for the slowest exit and an impossibly long wait for the bus. But, it really was not that bad. We lucked out with the bus and we were back to our room by 11:30. My daughter fell asleep the minute we said while among the throngs existing, "It's OK. You can go to sleep. We're watching you and we'll be sure to tuck you into bed." She slept in her father's arms as we manuvered onto the bus. We all were glad to hit those heavenly beds after seeing the warm glow of those little chocolates (turn down service) -- just to make us feel a little pampered before we put our heads on the pillow.
What a special way to end the night.
KIS
When it was over
