Day 10: Wednesday, May 5: Magic Kingdom
Weather: Beautiful all day. Low 80s all day. Low 70s at night.
We grabbed breakfast at the concierge lounge. The selection included bagels, various pastries, donuts, cold and hot cereals, fruit, juice, coffee and tea. We were on the monorail by 8:20 and, despite a monorail breakdown at the GF, we got to the entrance to see the Magic Kingdom Welcome. This was a cute ceremony and worth getting there early for. After getting a stroller (the longest line we would wait in all day), we went straight to Frontierland. When we get there, I notice Splash Mountain is open, despite reports that it was supposed to have a delayed opening until noon for painting. We grabbed two FPs for BTMR and two for Splash Mountain (I get two and two because I am pretty sure DD is not going to dig these rides). Then we hop on the standby line for BTMR and we are all aboard in five minutes. DD was not crazy about it; DS loved it and would take me on it about ten times before the trip is over. After BTMR, DS and I jumped right on the standby line for SM, which also had a posted five minute wait. When we got off SM, we hung out for a little while, since our BTMR FP window was approaching (9:50 - 10:50). DS and I use our two FPs and hop on BTMR again. As I have said, DS takes a lot of pleasure in my fear of roller coasters. Our Splash Mountain FPs still have a while (11:15 - 12:15), so we go to Adventureland and hit POTC (walk on) and the Enchanted Tiki Room (no wait). POTC is my personal favorite and DDs too (but that's not going to last, as she got some new favorites by the end of the trip). The kids loved the Tiki Room and recognized the song from somewhere because they knew it. At this point, DS and I go use our FPs for Splash, while DD and DW ride Aladdins Magic Carpets (10 minute wait). It's not even 12:00.
If that sounds rushed, it wasn't at all. FP was awesome. We didn't wait more than a couple of minutes for anything. And we used the down time waiting for some of the FPs to shop and just soak in Frontierland and Adventureland, two of my favorite places in WDW. But we have zig zagged a little and have gone from atrraction to attraction. DW has a look on like she is wondering whether we are about to embark on another attraction marathon. That's when I drop it on her: we are done for today.
I tell DW that we can go back to the Poly to relax. The kids are psyched because they know that means swimming, plus I tell them that we come back tonight for dinner with Minnie Mouse. DW doesn't believe it because we still have soles on our sneakers and there is still daylight left.
On our way to the exit, we grabbed hotdogs at Caseys and sat outside to enjoy the day. Caseys has good hotdogs and a great fixin bar. (Grade: "B+"). The kids met Rafiki at the entrance to Adventureland on the way out and then a ton of characters at the end of MainStreet. We were in the pool by 1:30. The Volcano pool rocks. DS loved the slide and DD just loves the water period. After about an hour and a half, we went back to shower off and get ready to return to MK for dinner
We had 5:30 PS for Liberty Tree Tavern, one of our favorite restaurants in WDW. We got to MK a little before 5:00. We hopped on the WDW Railroad and rode over to Frontierland. WE picked up a stroller at the Frontierland station by just showing our receipt from earlier in the day. Before checking in at LTT, we grabbed FPs for the Haunter Mansion, which gave us a perfect return window of 6:05 to 7:05. Dinner was fantastic. Minnie, Pluto, Chip & Dale, and Meeko were there. We were placed in side room again and the character interaction was completely unrushed and pretty fun. We saw most of the characters twice. I always here knocks on the food at LTT and it had been several years since we were there so I was a little weary. The food, served family style, was outstanding. Is it Victoria & Alberts? Of course not. But it is very, very good and there is plenty of it (Grade: "A").
After dinner, we used our FPs for the Haunted Mansion. The kids really loved this attraction after seeing the movie. It was not, however, the most comfortable ride. When we got up to the Doom Buggies, the CM asked us how many and we said four. The CM put all four of us in one Doom Buggy. We are not very big people, but we were still very uncomfortable. I can only assume that the CM thought we wanted to ride together. After HM, we went down into Adventureland to ride Jungle Cruise. It was around 8:00 and there was only a 15 minute wait. But I was not getting on that ride until it was dark or close to it. I have always wanted to ride it at night. We had a good 30 minutes until dark and my natives quickly got restless. They wanted to ride, not wait. So I dug in my heels, and then caved in and had to buy all three a stuffed animal to pacify them. Was it worth it? I dont know. JC was cool at night. But its cool in the day too. We had an awesome captain, whose name I cannot remember right now(next trip I am going to write down names). After JC, we secured a spot on the Adventureland side of the hub to watch Wishes. It was pretty crowded, but we got a good spot. I was dispatched for ice cream at the Plazas parlor. I was dying for a milkshake and shocked to see they dont serve them. Oh well, I will get one back at Capt. Cooks at the Poly. So I just got a couple of cups of ice cream for the kids. I barely made it back in time for Wishes (9:00). Wishes was just as good as everyone has said - truly moving (Grade: "A+"). We made it out of MK pretty quickly and we were back at the resort around 10:00. I stopped at Capt. Cooks only to realize it is no longer an ice cream parlor.
It has been transformed into a food court. And, to make matters worse, they dont serve milkshakes. 
Mr. Eisner, if you are reading this, and I know that you frequent these boards, please return Capt Cooks back to it original ice cream parlor form. I know everyone wants you to expand the parks and develop more attractions. Ignore them. Just bring back Capt. Cooks. Thank you.
Weather: Beautiful all day. Low 80s all day. Low 70s at night.
We grabbed breakfast at the concierge lounge. The selection included bagels, various pastries, donuts, cold and hot cereals, fruit, juice, coffee and tea. We were on the monorail by 8:20 and, despite a monorail breakdown at the GF, we got to the entrance to see the Magic Kingdom Welcome. This was a cute ceremony and worth getting there early for. After getting a stroller (the longest line we would wait in all day), we went straight to Frontierland. When we get there, I notice Splash Mountain is open, despite reports that it was supposed to have a delayed opening until noon for painting. We grabbed two FPs for BTMR and two for Splash Mountain (I get two and two because I am pretty sure DD is not going to dig these rides). Then we hop on the standby line for BTMR and we are all aboard in five minutes. DD was not crazy about it; DS loved it and would take me on it about ten times before the trip is over. After BTMR, DS and I jumped right on the standby line for SM, which also had a posted five minute wait. When we got off SM, we hung out for a little while, since our BTMR FP window was approaching (9:50 - 10:50). DS and I use our two FPs and hop on BTMR again. As I have said, DS takes a lot of pleasure in my fear of roller coasters. Our Splash Mountain FPs still have a while (11:15 - 12:15), so we go to Adventureland and hit POTC (walk on) and the Enchanted Tiki Room (no wait). POTC is my personal favorite and DDs too (but that's not going to last, as she got some new favorites by the end of the trip). The kids loved the Tiki Room and recognized the song from somewhere because they knew it. At this point, DS and I go use our FPs for Splash, while DD and DW ride Aladdins Magic Carpets (10 minute wait). It's not even 12:00.
If that sounds rushed, it wasn't at all. FP was awesome. We didn't wait more than a couple of minutes for anything. And we used the down time waiting for some of the FPs to shop and just soak in Frontierland and Adventureland, two of my favorite places in WDW. But we have zig zagged a little and have gone from atrraction to attraction. DW has a look on like she is wondering whether we are about to embark on another attraction marathon. That's when I drop it on her: we are done for today.
I tell DW that we can go back to the Poly to relax. The kids are psyched because they know that means swimming, plus I tell them that we come back tonight for dinner with Minnie Mouse. DW doesn't believe it because we still have soles on our sneakers and there is still daylight left. On our way to the exit, we grabbed hotdogs at Caseys and sat outside to enjoy the day. Caseys has good hotdogs and a great fixin bar. (Grade: "B+"). The kids met Rafiki at the entrance to Adventureland on the way out and then a ton of characters at the end of MainStreet. We were in the pool by 1:30. The Volcano pool rocks. DS loved the slide and DD just loves the water period. After about an hour and a half, we went back to shower off and get ready to return to MK for dinner
We had 5:30 PS for Liberty Tree Tavern, one of our favorite restaurants in WDW. We got to MK a little before 5:00. We hopped on the WDW Railroad and rode over to Frontierland. WE picked up a stroller at the Frontierland station by just showing our receipt from earlier in the day. Before checking in at LTT, we grabbed FPs for the Haunter Mansion, which gave us a perfect return window of 6:05 to 7:05. Dinner was fantastic. Minnie, Pluto, Chip & Dale, and Meeko were there. We were placed in side room again and the character interaction was completely unrushed and pretty fun. We saw most of the characters twice. I always here knocks on the food at LTT and it had been several years since we were there so I was a little weary. The food, served family style, was outstanding. Is it Victoria & Alberts? Of course not. But it is very, very good and there is plenty of it (Grade: "A").
After dinner, we used our FPs for the Haunted Mansion. The kids really loved this attraction after seeing the movie. It was not, however, the most comfortable ride. When we got up to the Doom Buggies, the CM asked us how many and we said four. The CM put all four of us in one Doom Buggy. We are not very big people, but we were still very uncomfortable. I can only assume that the CM thought we wanted to ride together. After HM, we went down into Adventureland to ride Jungle Cruise. It was around 8:00 and there was only a 15 minute wait. But I was not getting on that ride until it was dark or close to it. I have always wanted to ride it at night. We had a good 30 minutes until dark and my natives quickly got restless. They wanted to ride, not wait. So I dug in my heels, and then caved in and had to buy all three a stuffed animal to pacify them. Was it worth it? I dont know. JC was cool at night. But its cool in the day too. We had an awesome captain, whose name I cannot remember right now(next trip I am going to write down names). After JC, we secured a spot on the Adventureland side of the hub to watch Wishes. It was pretty crowded, but we got a good spot. I was dispatched for ice cream at the Plazas parlor. I was dying for a milkshake and shocked to see they dont serve them. Oh well, I will get one back at Capt. Cooks at the Poly. So I just got a couple of cups of ice cream for the kids. I barely made it back in time for Wishes (9:00). Wishes was just as good as everyone has said - truly moving (Grade: "A+"). We made it out of MK pretty quickly and we were back at the resort around 10:00. I stopped at Capt. Cooks only to realize it is no longer an ice cream parlor.
It has been transformed into a food court. And, to make matters worse, they dont serve milkshakes. Mr. Eisner, if you are reading this, and I know that you frequent these boards, please return Capt Cooks back to it original ice cream parlor form. I know everyone wants you to expand the parks and develop more attractions. Ignore them. Just bring back Capt. Cooks. Thank you.
