Mickey, Me & Our Big 4-0: Day 11 - MK 40th Anniversary

[wickesy]

Today was the point of the whole trip - the 40th anniversary celebrations at Magic Kingdom. We knew it was going to be busy so we were up at 6:30 and out by 7:20.

We got to the transportation and ticket centre and I saw something that I have never seen before - there were roped off queueing areas for both the monorail and the ferry, just the same as you would get at an attraction - it was obvious they were expecting a LOT of guests this morning.

We were directed over to the ferry and by 8:00 we were through the turnstiles where they were handing out special badges.

By 8:30 the area between the turnstiles and the train station was jam packed.

The rope drop ceremony began at 8:45 and once that had finished the rope dropped and we were on our way in, stopping on the way to pick up a special guide map.

We made our way up to the hub and took up a spot to the right of the castle to wait for the parade. At about 9:30 the ceremony at the castle started with the Main Street Philharmonic Orchestra and at 9:45 the parade of characters came past.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0TFR1UzHnqw

Continued in next post

 

[wickesy]

The characters made their way up to the castle and there were a couple of speeches, followed by the Dapper Dans singing When You Wish Upon A Star and a few fireworks were let off.

After the presentation we walked round to Uptown Jewellers in Main Street, which was one of the shops selling special merchandise, but it seemed everyone else had the same idea so we ended up walking round to Liberty Square Market where we sat and had a drink and watched the world go by for a while.

After a time we walked round to Fantasyland and went in Philharmagic then walked back to Main Street and as it was crowded I decided to leave the park and wander over to the Contemporary Resort.

There was a special t-shirt on sale today and I had overheard somebody saying that they had all sold out but I saw some on the racks in the Contemporary Resort gift shop - unfortunately they only had 2 sizes available, and neither of them were mine. I decided to try and get one online instead so I fired up the web on my phone but they were out of stock on the website as well.

Next we decided to hop on the monorail and go over to the Polynesian Resort and once we got there I saw the elusive t-shirts in their gift shop as well - unfortunately they only had the women's shirts and not the men's. After a wander round we got back on the monorail and headed over to the Grand Floridian, where they didn't have any shirts at all, but we did stop off in their counter service restaurant for a drink and a cookie each.

By now it was getting on for about 2:30 so we headed back to the BWV for a rest for a couple of hours before our evening ADR.

At about 5:30 we headed back over to the Contemporary Resort for our 6:15 reservation at The Wave. We were seated after about 10 minutes and Dad had onion soup followed by curried vegetable stew and I had black bean chilli followed by salmon.

We left the restaurant at about 7:15 and headed back over to Magic Kingdom where we found a spot just off the hub for the first Main Street Electrical Parade. We couldn't really see anything so we decided to stay for the second parade but moved in front of the castle for the Magic, Memories and You show. This was the first time I had seen the show and I loved the way the projections made it look like the 'bricks' in the castle were moving and how it changed colour.

After the show we stayed where we were and watched Wishes, which had perimeter fireworks tonight to mark the special occasion.

Continued in next post

 

[wickesy]

After Wishes we moved back to the curb and sat to wait for the second Main Street Electrical Parade.

After the parade we made our way back over to the Contemporary Resort to pick up the car and started to drive back to BWV. As the wine and dine half-marathon was on some of the roads were closed and unfortunately I missed the first detour sign so we ended up going on a wide diversion up and down the 192 and into the EPCOT parking lot before finally finding our way back to BWV and arriving about 11:45. We were straight to bed ready for a morning at Animal Kingdom and a DIBB meet in the afternoon.

Day 12

 

[miss_bell]

I'm loving your trip report. I love the special guide map for the 40th Anniversary and the badge, can't wait for more.

 

[irongirlof12]

What an amazing day and such great photos

 

[DISWolves]

What a great day!.....Would have loved to have been there.
Not so sure about the crowds though. Did M.K. on 4th July once.......Never again!

 

[SusanEllen]

I never see photos of the Main Street Electrical Parade that I don't hear (and hum) the Baroque Hoedown. Your pictures conjured the Magic and now that song will be with me all day.

 

[Chilly]

The park map looks great.

 

[DisFanJen]

I so wish I could have made it for MK's 40th but the finances (and DVC points) wouldn't allow it.

 

[2Tiggies]

What a great day!.....Would have loved to have been there.
Not so sure about the crowds though. Did M.K. on 4th July once.......Never again!

We purposely avoided MK and Epcot that day although I must admit, after our early dinner ADR I was very close to heading out to MK for the fireworks but decided against it.

Some inside stats for you: They were expecting 40,000 guests. There were over 60,000. I actually went to check first whether the park had closed to capacity which wasn't impossible based on the fact that DHS and AK were practically empty!! But those crowd photos posted above are reminders of the kind of capacity we dealt with on our Easter trips and I decided to give it a miss.

So glad you had a good time. Did you guys not arrange a DIS meet that day, or did you change it?

 

[wickesy]

Some inside stats for you: They were expecting 40,000 guests. There were over 60,000.

So glad you had a good time. Did you guys not arrange a DIS meet that day, or did you change it?

I was quite surprised how 'uncrowded' it felt actually. Even when we left at around midday and when we came back at 7pm for the fireworks it didn't seem that bad.

There was a DIS meet sort of planned but because none of us knew what was going to be going on that day I think it kind of fizzled out. Once the parade and speeches had been announced I was more interested in those any way, but it would have been nice to share that with others - maybe we could have done if Disney had given a bit more notice.

 

[jockey]

Lovely day

 

[florida sun]

What a fabulous day, I would have loved to have been there for the 40th celebrations, maybe I will make the 50th