Day 12: Friday, May 7: MK and Breakfast at the Castle
Weather: Another beautiful day, though a little hotter. Temperatures we in the mid 80s in the morning and hit the high 80s in the afternoon. It was not too humid, however. Temperatures dropped into the mid 70s at night.
We are on the monorail at 9:00 headed for MK. We get there just after the rush, which is nice. Our PS for CRT are not until 9:40, so we decide to ride The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh. We all love this ride because we are all Pooh fans. And I was never a Toad fan. But every time I ride Pooh I find myself wondering why this attraction cost so much. Its cute, but very basic. After Pooh, we grabbed FPs for Peter Pan with a FP return time of 10:50 to 11:50 - perfect for after breakfast. CRT was good. Despite our PS and checking in early, we were not seated until after 10:00. It was a while before the princesses came over to our table, which was nice since it gave us a chance to eat our food. The pastries were good, as were the potatoes and waffles. None of us eat scrambled eggs. We were not there for the food, however. We saw Belle, Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty and Snow White. DD was in heaven. The character interaction was just so-so here. But I am pretty forgiving, since the princesses are all face characters and it has to be difficult to smile and look beautiful for three hours straight. Mickey, Pluto and the chip monks have costume heads to hide behind, so they can take a mental break every once and a while. The face characters dont have that luxury. Breakfast lasted about an hour and we were not rushed at all, a point our server made sure we understood. Overall, we gave the experience an A-, a grade that is helped tremendously by the venue and the fact that my DD loves all of the princesses.
After breakfast, we were in our FP window for Pan. So we grabbed FPs for Mickeys PhilarMagic (return time: 12:10 - 1:10), then we went on Peter Pan, one of DDs favorite rides. Next we hit Dumbo (about a 25 minute wait) and the Carrousel (basically a walk on). After TOT, DS was too cool for the Carrousel, so he and I stayed behind. Our PhilarMagic FP window was about 10 minutes away. So we grabbed a quick snack and, while DW, DS, and DD rested, I went over to Frontierland to get two FPs for Splash Mountain and two for BTMR. Note: If you have been following, you have noticed that I do this often where I separate from the rest of the party to get fastpasses in another land. This sounds a little commando, but it really is not. I am a fast walker and I do not mind a brisk walk. It would take three times longer if we all took the FP trip, especially since my kids still use a stroller. Besides, even suggesting that we all walk across the park just to get FPs would be met with instant revolt. So I know better. I guess you could say I am missing quality time with my family. But in return I get quality time with them later at the resort in the pool because less time in line equals more relaxing time later in the day.
When I got back from my FP treck, we hit PhilarMagic. Wow! We all loved it, especially DW and me. Maybe my expectations were lowered by some of the so-so reviews I had read, but it went right into my top-five-list. Grade: "A+". We had some time before DS and I would be hitting the Frontierland mountains (our FPs we not good until 1:35 for BTMR and 1:55 for SM), so we went over to the Tomorrowland Indy Speedway - which is in my bottom-five-list. I do not ever remember liking this when I was a kid. Its loud, smelly, kind of boring and I resent the round-the-clock wait. But, I figured I still owed God for sparring me Barney at Universal Studios (and I was hoping for a similar pass for Playhouse Disney on Saturday), so I sucked it up and took the kids (35 minute wait, which seemed a little shorter). Of course they loved it. I underestimated the how cool they would feel driving a car, even if it only was controlling the steering wheel. I got to ride with DS and got to see firsthand why my auto insurance was going to quadruple in 12 years.
After Indy, we crossed the park to hit Splash and BTMR. RANT: As we crossed Fantasyland, it quickly became apparent that it could easily be called Temporarywallland. Even if we do not count Stich's walls, as we walked counterclockwise through Fantasyland, the Enchanted Grove, Snow White, Small World and the entire back perimeter were either closed or boarded up. I understand that rehabs are necessary, but that is too much for such a small area of the park. END RANT. DS and I used our FPs first for BTMR and then Splash. A blast for him as always. I got the whole, "maybe we shouldn't be in the back car" act on BTMR (despite the fact that he had me specifically ask for it) and the "don't worry Dad, maybe we are going to stop at the top" thing on Splash. As he reveled in my panic, I reminded him that would be unable to find his way back to the hotel, let alone NJ, without me so he had better quit while he is ahead.
After the mountains, it was a little after 2:00, so we grabbed the WDW Railroad back to MainStreet Station and went back to the resort for a swim.
We swam for about a two hours and DS decided he wanted to hit the slide ten times in a row. I was game. If I didnt mention before, the Volcano Pools slide is awesome. But it can be a little breezy when you get to the top of the volcano and have to wait your turn.
But it is worth it. Afterwards, we took the waterlogged brats back to the room for a bath and to get ready for dinner at Ohana.
We had PS for 7:00 at 'Ohana. My brother joined us. We were seated after about 15 minutes. Our server, Dave, was excellent. Very attentive to the kids and insisted they participate in the coconut race. He could tell they were a little tentative at first. Whatever he did, it worked because they had a lot of fun (despite coming in last) and will ask to do it again when we come back on Monday. Dinner was terrific. Everything was moist and delicious. Somehow, we managed to stuff dessert in. The coconut ice cream was to die for. Grade for Ohana: "A".
After dinner, we went back up to our room and watched Wishes from our balcony. This was the first time at the Poly that we actually got our moneys worth out of the Lagoon View. By the end of our stay, we will have watched the fireworks four or five times.
Weather: Another beautiful day, though a little hotter. Temperatures we in the mid 80s in the morning and hit the high 80s in the afternoon. It was not too humid, however. Temperatures dropped into the mid 70s at night.
We are on the monorail at 9:00 headed for MK. We get there just after the rush, which is nice. Our PS for CRT are not until 9:40, so we decide to ride The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh. We all love this ride because we are all Pooh fans. And I was never a Toad fan. But every time I ride Pooh I find myself wondering why this attraction cost so much. Its cute, but very basic. After Pooh, we grabbed FPs for Peter Pan with a FP return time of 10:50 to 11:50 - perfect for after breakfast. CRT was good. Despite our PS and checking in early, we were not seated until after 10:00. It was a while before the princesses came over to our table, which was nice since it gave us a chance to eat our food. The pastries were good, as were the potatoes and waffles. None of us eat scrambled eggs. We were not there for the food, however. We saw Belle, Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty and Snow White. DD was in heaven. The character interaction was just so-so here. But I am pretty forgiving, since the princesses are all face characters and it has to be difficult to smile and look beautiful for three hours straight. Mickey, Pluto and the chip monks have costume heads to hide behind, so they can take a mental break every once and a while. The face characters dont have that luxury. Breakfast lasted about an hour and we were not rushed at all, a point our server made sure we understood. Overall, we gave the experience an A-, a grade that is helped tremendously by the venue and the fact that my DD loves all of the princesses.
After breakfast, we were in our FP window for Pan. So we grabbed FPs for Mickeys PhilarMagic (return time: 12:10 - 1:10), then we went on Peter Pan, one of DDs favorite rides. Next we hit Dumbo (about a 25 minute wait) and the Carrousel (basically a walk on). After TOT, DS was too cool for the Carrousel, so he and I stayed behind. Our PhilarMagic FP window was about 10 minutes away. So we grabbed a quick snack and, while DW, DS, and DD rested, I went over to Frontierland to get two FPs for Splash Mountain and two for BTMR. Note: If you have been following, you have noticed that I do this often where I separate from the rest of the party to get fastpasses in another land. This sounds a little commando, but it really is not. I am a fast walker and I do not mind a brisk walk. It would take three times longer if we all took the FP trip, especially since my kids still use a stroller. Besides, even suggesting that we all walk across the park just to get FPs would be met with instant revolt. So I know better. I guess you could say I am missing quality time with my family. But in return I get quality time with them later at the resort in the pool because less time in line equals more relaxing time later in the day.
When I got back from my FP treck, we hit PhilarMagic. Wow! We all loved it, especially DW and me. Maybe my expectations were lowered by some of the so-so reviews I had read, but it went right into my top-five-list. Grade: "A+". We had some time before DS and I would be hitting the Frontierland mountains (our FPs we not good until 1:35 for BTMR and 1:55 for SM), so we went over to the Tomorrowland Indy Speedway - which is in my bottom-five-list. I do not ever remember liking this when I was a kid. Its loud, smelly, kind of boring and I resent the round-the-clock wait. But, I figured I still owed God for sparring me Barney at Universal Studios (and I was hoping for a similar pass for Playhouse Disney on Saturday), so I sucked it up and took the kids (35 minute wait, which seemed a little shorter). Of course they loved it. I underestimated the how cool they would feel driving a car, even if it only was controlling the steering wheel. I got to ride with DS and got to see firsthand why my auto insurance was going to quadruple in 12 years.
After Indy, we crossed the park to hit Splash and BTMR. RANT: As we crossed Fantasyland, it quickly became apparent that it could easily be called Temporarywallland. Even if we do not count Stich's walls, as we walked counterclockwise through Fantasyland, the Enchanted Grove, Snow White, Small World and the entire back perimeter were either closed or boarded up. I understand that rehabs are necessary, but that is too much for such a small area of the park. END RANT. DS and I used our FPs first for BTMR and then Splash. A blast for him as always. I got the whole, "maybe we shouldn't be in the back car" act on BTMR (despite the fact that he had me specifically ask for it) and the "don't worry Dad, maybe we are going to stop at the top" thing on Splash. As he reveled in my panic, I reminded him that would be unable to find his way back to the hotel, let alone NJ, without me so he had better quit while he is ahead.
After the mountains, it was a little after 2:00, so we grabbed the WDW Railroad back to MainStreet Station and went back to the resort for a swim. We swam for about a two hours and DS decided he wanted to hit the slide ten times in a row. I was game. If I didnt mention before, the Volcano Pools slide is awesome. But it can be a little breezy when you get to the top of the volcano and have to wait your turn.
But it is worth it. Afterwards, we took the waterlogged brats back to the room for a bath and to get ready for dinner at Ohana. We had PS for 7:00 at 'Ohana. My brother joined us. We were seated after about 15 minutes. Our server, Dave, was excellent. Very attentive to the kids and insisted they participate in the coconut race. He could tell they were a little tentative at first. Whatever he did, it worked because they had a lot of fun (despite coming in last) and will ask to do it again when we come back on Monday. Dinner was terrific. Everything was moist and delicious. Somehow, we managed to stuff dessert in. The coconut ice cream was to die for. Grade for Ohana: "A".
After dinner, we went back up to our room and watched Wishes from our balcony. This was the first time at the Poly that we actually got our moneys worth out of the Lagoon View. By the end of our stay, we will have watched the fireworks four or five times.
