Living the Dream Trip Report: Day 5- Magic Kingdom, Downtown Disney and LOTS of pics!

[BudgieMama]

Apologies now that this is going to be a long one, largely due to the fact that there are loads of photos I want to share from today! Whoops! Sorry!

Today was the day of our much stalked for and highly prized pre-rope drop breakfast at Crystal Palace. Our reservation was for 8.20am, so we were out of our room bright and early, and arrived at the Magic Kingdom by around 7.30am. I was worried we wouldn't know where to go, but check-in was easy to spot, and we joined the line of those waiting to get in for their early breakfasts.

I hadn't been sure how it would work, whether they would let the 8am reservations in first, but we were all let in together at around 7.45am... strolling down Main Street with so few other guests was a dream! Well worth all the hours and hours of stalking for that ADR! I'd definitely go for another one when we go back!

As we didn't need to be at the Crystal Palace right away, we stopped to get a couple of photos. We joined a line for one of the photographers just as the people having their pictures taken got engaged! CUTE! We didn't wait long, but sadly the light isn't great on those photos, so we're not very clear on them. Fortunately, we head further down as I wanted a photo with the Castle and the Partners statue in, and these came out much better... ta dah!

After our photos, it had just turned 8am, so we wandered to Crystal Palace to get ourselves checked in. We had to wait for the desk to "come online" but as we weren't booked in until 8.20am, we were happy to stay at the front of that line rather than join the long one for the open desk! By 8.08am we had checked in, been given a buzzer and taken a seat... and by 8.10am we were being lead to our table! I do think being a couple worked really well for us with our ADRs!

As we were celebrating our anniversary, there were Mickey sparkles all over our table! I wish I had an envelope or something to bring them home in, because they were so cute! The characters weren't too close to us, so we hopped off to grab breakfast before they appeared.

Neither DH or I are good with all you can eat places, mainly because we don't eat a lot (I couldn't believe how much food some people were getting through!). Thankfully, the free dining meant we weren't worrying about how much or little we were getting through. I tried the breakfast lasagne, but it was way too sweet for me! The cooked breakfast was nice, although America needs to get proper bacon sorted! Note my unimpressed face!

I also had my first cup of tea since our flight... another thing they need to sort out. It needs BOILING water, not hot water! Yuck!

After eating, it was time for some friends from the 100 Acre Woods! The waiter was great at telling us who would visit when, so although Tigger was nearest to us when he first came out, he was the last character to visit with us, but as we knew that, we weren't worried we'd been forgotten.

For some reason, Tigger's handler didn't stay with him, so we didn't get a photo with both of us with him

Once the characters had been to visit, our waiter came back with the bill, and a little surprise for us:

Apparently, it was tastier than it looked! I was too full to try it, and as I was wanting to conquer Space Mountain that morning, I thought it was better if I didn't fill myself to bursting at that point in the day! We actually had a fairly early FP+ for it, but I pushed it back to around 2pm for the sake of my stomach!

To be continued...

 

[maclondon]

Wow I'm really tempted to stalk a crystal palace ADR when we are there next year
Also I suppose I can book it for one of the days we are off site too?

 

[BudgieMama]

We had a FP+ for Splash Mountain booked for today too, but as we rode it earlier in the week, and I vowed never again, we swapped it for Winnie the Pooh.

After breakfast, we headed towards Fasntasy Land, as most of the things we hadn't done yet were there, and I had my character fast passes to use later in the morning. We rode Under the Sea, and once we came off it, there was only a 10 minute posted wait at Ariel's Grotto, so we popped in to visit her too. It was probably only a 5 minute wait, and she was very cute!

After we'd done with Ariel, we found a great photographer outside. He was great, and clearly having a lot of fun. He took some of my favourite shots of the week... and had us pose for Magic Shot. I wish he'd told me who would be on it, because I would have looked a LOT more excited, and it turned out to be my very favourite character:

Squeeee! PASCAL!

Next we headed to our Winnie the Pooh FP+... the line had already built quite a bit for this one, and whilst it was cute, I'm glad we didn't wait for it!

We head towards Liberty Square, as DH wanted to ride the River Boat. There was a short line for Haunted Mansion, so we stopped to do that on the way. We then arrived at the Boat just as she was about to sail! Phew! Timed that right!

Once we were done on the River Boat, it was time to head to Princess Fairytale Hall for my meet and greets. DH didn't want to meet the Princesses, so I had scored a FP to meet Rapunzel and Cinderella on his band, and Anna and Elsa on mine. I took both bands and ventured off to meet them.

First up was Rapunzel... I found a lot of the characters to be fairly quick with me, but she was wonderful, which is good as she was the character I most wanted to meet! I got two big hugs, we chatted about ruffians (Maximus keeps them away from MK), and Flynn's attempted at being romantic, and got some great photos!

After Rapunzel, I saw Cinderella again, who was cute again... but as I'd met her the previous day in Epcot, I wasn't so excited... once I was done there, I headed round the other side to use my FP for Anna and Elsa! Yay!

Elsa was very sweet- she was delighted when I told her I was from Arundel in England, and wanted to know if I was the queen! She was very concerned when I told her a duke lived in Arundel Castle, but I assured her he was nothing like the Duke of Weaseltown!

Anna was incredibly cute too! She had the character perfectly!

Once I'd done my meet and greets, I met DH again, and returned his magic band! He decided he was done in MK for the day (we'd planned to do a half day after our early start). We still had a FP for Space Mountain, but I knew he wouldn't want to ride it anyway. We said goodbye, and I mooched around Fantasyland for a bit, before wandering to Tomorrowland, via Main Street.

Somehow, the Move It! Shake It! Celebrate It! Street Party had completely passed me by in the my planning, but I happened to time it just right to grab a quick photo on a quiet Main Street, before stepping to one side to watch the parade pass by! :good vibes

When I looked on the app, I was able to move my FP (now I just needed one) to about 20 minutes time (instead of 90 minutes), so I grabbed a drink, and then hopped on the PeopleMover to cool off (I love the PeopleMover!)

After that, I still had a few minutes to spare, but spotted the same amazing photographer from earlier, and got him to take another couple of shots...

Yay! Tinkerbell!

Then it was time for Space Mountain! WOO HOO! There was a 70 minute posted standby time- I did feel a bit guilty walking past all those people on my way in!

I somehow lost both my badges from my bag (the Anniversary one was in the footwell, so I grabbed it... but the first visit one disappeared into the bowels of Space Mountain!) but I loved it! DH would have hated it (he's not good with coasters in the dark) so I was glad he'd not attempted it!

I stopped at the FP Kiosk by Buzz to grab another FP. The guy nearly cheered when he realised I wanted just one! I opted for Buzz, but had another 90 minute wait and didn't fancy hanging around for that, so swapped it on the App for Town Square Mickey in about 40 minutes time. By the time I'd walked to Town Square, I was able to move my time to 5 minutes time!

The Mickey FP+ was the longest I stood in. It didn't move at all for about 15 minutes... but when I was finally in, it was worth the wait. I was taken into Mickey's dressing room with a family of three (mum, dad and little girl... maybe 18 months old) I loved the whole set up, with Mickey chatting to himself as we waited! Cute!

The little girl freaked out, so they were in and out pretty quick... so there was just me, Mickey, his photographer and his attendant! I understand on some level how the effect works, but hearing him talking is truly magical! I finally met the Big Cheese himself, and got some great photos together!

After that, it was time for me to head back to SSR to catch up with DH!

To be continued (again)... told you today was a long one!!

 

[BudgieMama]

After heading back to SSR, we had a little swim together at the Paddock pool. It was nice, and the slide was cool... although is it bad I'm more scared on a simple water slide than a roller coaster? Something about not being in control! I only did it once!

We decided to go and explore Downtown Disney. We needed to check something with the Concierge (the waiter at Mama Melrose hadn't charged us properly) so we decide to grab the boat across. It was hot hot hot waiting for it, but we didn't wait more than 10 minutes, and it was a cool ride!

We planned to walk from one end to the other, and then back for boat, but the weather conspired against us!

We stopped in a few shops on the way: DH got some amazing fudge on a snack credit that was out of this world, and we looked at t-shirts for him at the Harley Davidson shop (planning to pick it up on the way back). I think his favourite part of the day was sitting on the bikes!

We stopped in the World of Disney to pick up (and then spend most of) our free $100 gift card... I got a nice zip-up hooded jumper, and the rucksack that was on the purchase with purchase offer (it's a nice bag- well worth the $19.99!) I stopped in Basin, and got some solid perfume, and got a free treat from the chocolate shop (name eludes me!)... When I came out of Basin, the rain had started, and boy was it heavy! We sheltered by World of Disney for a good 20 minutes before it died down, and I suggested we head for the Marketplace Co-Operative as I wanted to try and find the Orange Bird tumblers I had seen on the Disney Parks Blog... sadly, they were out of stock! I got an Orange Bird Cushion instead, but I would have preferred the tumblers!

We waited inside for a while, as it was raining and raining hard, before making a run for the bus stop! No way were we walking back to the boat dock in that weather!

We stayed on the bus until The Springs, and head into the Artist's Palette for some dinner (their pepperoni flatbread is delicious!) and an evening stroll back to our room. The storm left us with a beautiful sunset, so that's what I shall leave you with for today!

Well done if you made it all the way to the end!

 

[BudgieMama]

Wow I'm really tempted to stalk a crystal palace ADR when we are there next year
Also I suppose I can book it for one of the days we are off site too?

As long as you have park entry for the day, you are able to go! Just check it's not a morning Extra Magic Hours day, as it doesn't give the same benefit! If you can get 8am, go for it! Well worth it in my mind!

If we'd thought to book it at 180 days out, I probably wouldn't have needed to do all the stalking... only I changed my mind later, and decided I wanted breakfast over dinner. It worked well, as we only wanted a half day in the park that day when it came to it!

 

[maclondon]

As long as you have park entry for the day, you are able to go! Just check it's not a morning Extra Magic Hours day, as it doesn't give the same benefit! If you can get 8am, go for it! Well worth it in my mind!

If we'd thought to book it at 180 days out, I probably wouldn't have needed to do all the stalking... only I changed my mind later, and decided I wanted breakfast over dinner. It worked well, as we only wanted a half day in the park that day when it came to it!

oh ill certainly only book on a non EMH day. I'll be paying too if its an offsite day - may be nice for our final day

mac

 

[Azza1987]

Looks like a great Day BudgieMama!

 

[Chilly]

Fab day and really great photos.