Saturday, May 25
2:00 a.m.
This is when the "3 hours of sleep before spending 24 hours in a theme park" really started to kick in. Aye. Seriously. I have almost no pictures from these hours. So tired!
We all got back together, and were all pretty hungry. We heard that there was hot breakfast food at Casey's Corner, so we headed there. By this point the "Up All Night" dance party was in full swing at the castle. We were more interested in rides, but it looked like fun if you're into that sort of thing.
Casey's indeed had a ton of breakfast stuff, but not too much for vegetarians like me and Dylan. Taylor and Caleb got their food and sat at a table outside while I went to go find food elsewhere - Dylan did the same, but split up from me. I headed down Main Street, looking for anything - all I could find was ice cream and popcorn. Again, the thing about MK being great for incredible junk snacks but not snacks of substance. Of course I should have thought to go inside the Emporium and just get something packaged (like nuts or crackers or something), but my brain wasn't all there at 2 am, to be honest. I ended up getting popcorn.
BUT I also had a secret hidden agenda in walking down Main Street: check on the characters. The street was almost empty by now, nowhere near the crowds from the post-fireworks trauma. Unfortunately Mickey and Minnie had a standby wait of 75 minutes, and our Fastpasses were expired.
BUT, Chip and Dale in their pajamas at City Hall had a relatively short wait. The others wouldn't care if I met the chipmunks without them, as they're not huge character fans anyway. I just had to be quick so that I didn't slow down our touring. The line was short-ish, but Chip and Dale happened to be on their break when I got in line. After about 7 minutes of waiting without them coming out, I gave up and walked away out of consideration for the rest of the group.
Turns out I could have stayed in line for quite a while, because the others were so worn out that we didn't move from our Casey's Corner table for a good 45 more minutes. We just sat there looking at each other without saying a word, and everyone was completely fine with that. We were so tired!
Sometime in the middle of that, Dylan left to go get food. I assumed he was just going inside Casey's, and got a little worried when he didn't come back for a while, especially since all our phones were dead. About 30 minutes and somewhat-frantic-big-brother-mindset kick-in later, he returned and said he went to Gaston's Tavern. What??! Well, ok, as long as you're back!
We finally decided to move and continue our checklist: just a few more attractions and we'd have done everything in the park! We headed back to Tomorrowland (seemed like our second home lol). Mike and Sulley were meeting in their college gear - we opted not to meet them. Monsters, Inc. the movie was playing on the Club 626 stage... fun idea if you needed rest. On any ordinary night, though, I would never give up theme park time to watch a movie, though! (But then again, I did just spend a solid hour sitting at a table doing nothing, so I can't really talk.
)
Astro Orbiter was so much fun at nighttime - I probably hadn't ridden that in 10 years. Stitch was good, too. I never rode Alien Encounter so I can't compare it to that, but my whole family was nuts about Stitch when his movie first came out, so we'll always be big fans of his (though I do get why some people aren't). As we waited to enter the building, we decided one of the worst CM jobs must be the person who stands outside Stitch's Great Escape, as you have to hear him say "Nala queesta!!!" literally every 20 seconds.
Next up, Tomorrowland Speedway. Wheeeee.
We passed by the Hundred Acre Wood gang in Fantasyland - all 4 of them together (Pooh, Tigger, Piglet, and Eeyore) with hardly a wait. Taylor stopped and said, "Oh, look! All 4 of them! I love Winnie the Pooh!" I asked if she wanted to stop, but she said no. I probably should have asked 1 more time because I have a feeling she really *did* want to stop, but didn't want to hold everyone up. We rode Pooh's ride. Yay.
Time check: 5:15
We had to pick and choose what we wanted to do with the time we had left - we realized probably wouldn't get to everything. BUT the list of what we didn't do was very short: Buzz Lightyear, Mad Tea Party, Small World, Swiss Family Treehouse. Everything else we did. Not bad!
We went to Small World, but it had already closed for the night/morning/day/whatever. Same thing with Haunted Mansion and Little Mermaid (but we had ridden those earlier so it was ok.) There were some ANGRY guests outside the Haunted Mansion. The poor Cast Member standing outside had to be the bearer of bad news, saying that the ride had already closed. When they countered that with, "But the park is open until 6!," he replied, "Yes, but that really means that everyone must be off the ride by 6." Caleb and I looked at each other - we both knew good and well that the Golden Rule of Theme Park Law is that you can enter any attraction's line up until closing time - as long as you are in line by closing time, you are good to ride. Obviously we knew things were different for the 24-hour day, and we understood that some rides needed some downtime to be prepared in time for the next day's operating day. But those people outside the Haunted Mansion sure didn't get it. I felt so sorry for the CM, they were getting pretty miffed.
With the bittersweet realization that we had 30 minutes left in the Magic Kingdom---we did it!!... but, it's almost time to leave---we headed back to Fantasyland. We decided our final rides would be the carrousel and Mickey's PhilharMagic - something I had secretly hoped would be our final attractions all day long, as that is tradition for my family. PhilharMagic embodies so well what Walt Disney World and The Walt Disney Company itself is all about, and is my all-time favorite thing in WDW. It
usually is a perfect final attraction for a Disney trip. But when you are deadbeat tired, those comfy chairs are a little too comfy. I honestly have no recollection of the
Lion King scene whatsoever. I was dozing off bigtime.
We exited the building, and... well, I'm sure I don't need to describe the feeling we had to anyone on this website. You all know that feeling exactly. When your visit to this magical place has come to an end - the celebration of quality time well spent, but hesitance to leave its protection.
Time check: 5:45
The Up All Night dance party was still kickin' in the Hub, so we decided to park it there for the remaining 15 minutes, knowing we didn't have enough time to squeeze in another attraction and not wanting to exit the park until 6am officially struck! A quick note about the characters included in the dance party - Goofy, Donald, Daisy, Pluto, and Stitch. I love that, so much. Like I said, I am a huge Stitch fan, and grew up with Stitch being everywhere in Disney marketing, including the forefront of most publicity items right along with Mickey and friends. I don't know if y'all remember that too, but (in a way very similar to Roger Rabbit in the '90s) Stitch used to be EVERYWHERE, having as much prominence as Mickey's crew and often appearing right with them, among them, as if he belonged in their world, and I've always associated him that way. In recent years, he's been understandably degraded as his popularity waned, and I was thrilled to see him back with Mickey's pals for the dance party. I don't know if Disney put that much thinking and analysis into it as I did, but it made me smile.
In 2012's 24-hour day, there had been no closing fanfare. Today's Times Guide said there would be the Kiss Goodnight at 5:55, so that was exciting, but it was the same thing that happens every night (where the Castle sparkles and there is a closing audio announcement). Because I did not expect anything to happen, when Dylan asked if he could go to the bathroom and meet us back at the Hub, I said yes. I hesitated. I really did. All our phones were busted, and I knew if anything happened for Park Closing and we were to move, we'd never find each other. But I said yes anyway.
And then it was to everyone's great surprise when the dance party DJ told everyone to "Follow the characters to Town Square for a special surprise!"
CRAP. DYLAN'S NOT BACK YET. At this point I had to choose between being a good big brother and experiencing a once-in-a-lifetime Disney nerd moment. I knew it would be difficult to find Dylan, and he'd have no idea where we went, BUT we would find each other eventually, so I said screw the whole thing and we followed those characters. I wasn't missing this!
The characters hopped aboard a Move It Shake It parade float and Parade music (I think from Paris?) played on the loudspeakers the song from
The Tigger Movie, "Your Heart Will Lead You Home" (but it was a very upbeat version, not the slow Kenny Loggins version lol). It was then that it really hit me how special of an experience this whole day had been. I can't tell you how many times I've sat from home during a Disney special event, looking at all the photos, videos, and tweets coming in during and after it wishing I could be there. And now I
was there, at one of them!
Artsy shot of a random stranger's head, but retains artistic value because of the logo on the shirt that labels the photo's setting. See what marvelous thinking went into this picture?
JK, it was lucky and I just thought of that. But you believed me.
We got to Town Square, along with everyone else, and the dance party characters (along with Mickey, Minnie, Chip, and Dale!!) ascended to the train station balcony. Again, really wish my parents knew about the live webcam because this moment would have been awesome. As the characters took their places, I spotted Dylan trying to find us near the Chapeau. I scurried over and fetched him, then returned to our spot right near the flagpole. I kind of knew what might happen... and was not disappointed when it did. They were going to sing the Mickey Mouse Club goodbye song.
"Now's the time to say goodbye
to all our company..."
Let me tell you, it was kinda hard not to get a little misty-eyed. It was such an incredible experience, and now it was time to leave it all.
"M-I-C
See ya real soon!
K-E-Y
Why? Because we like you!
M-O-U-S-E"
A Cast Member said on a microphone right after that (politely, but still) that there was nothing else left and that the event was over. Translation: Get out of the park so we can clean up all your cap and get this place ready to open in less than 3 hours.
As we exited, Caleb looked at his watch - 5:55. They really wanted us out of there! The CM said that Mickey and Minnie would wave goodbye on the other side of the train station. They did so, but only very briefly.
It was then we realized the ingenious plan for traffic flow to get everyone out of the park as quickly as possible. We thought back to how everything had happened... all of the major rides closed early, forcing you to either ride the smaller attractions or go to the dance party. Most people probably picked dance party, conveniently located right in the center of the park. Then there was the goodbye ceremony, which of course wasn't at the castle, but at the very front of the park, meaning if you wanted to see it, you had to walk quickly to the exit. And what hardcore Disney fan isn't going to want to see the special closing? THEN, to really make sure you were out, OF COURSE Mickey and Minnie waved goodbye on the OPPOSITE side, so you had to exit the park to get a good picture of them. And OF COURSE they didn't stay out long, so you rushed to get a good picture but really couldn't and then were already out of the park so you had no choice but to leave. Brilliant. They got us good!
(BTW they didn't even wait until we left to take down the Monstrous All-Nighter banner, CMs were taking that thing down right in front of us as we walked away lol.)
So, alas, our magical day had come to an end. No one spoke a word on the way back to the Days Inn.... in fact, Taylor, Dylan, and I were all asleep before we even left Disney property. Caleb said he was really tired driving, but at no point were we ever of him falling asleep at the wheel. Bravo, Caleb!
The #Disney24 part of our trip may have been over, but the visit to Orlando wasn't quite over yet. There was still one last bit of fun to be had.
There are nuts at some snack carts -- they're sugared, but the protein balances that out a bit. But I agree that the MK is woefully short of non-sugary snacks. I usually bring a bag of (non-sweetened) roasted nuts for that reason.
Several other guests tried to get it working too, and none of us succeeded. Kind of a bummer that there was absolutely no way to get any sort of drink on the entire island!
) and it was nice to just sit down for an extended period of time without having to move haha.
Had we known this, I'm not sure what we would have done. We definitely would have stayed at the Polynesian a while long, and I really don't like to even think that that might have scared us away from going back to the park altogether. But we didn't know about any of that, and so we timed our return so that we could take the ferry boat across Seven Seas Lagoon during Wishes. Another new vantage point!
). We were there for a launch, but it was so cloudy that my hubby, who drove over to Cape Canaveral, barely got a shot of it before it disappeared; no way could I see anything from Orlando. *sigh*
It would be quite the walk to the Grand Floridian, though -- almost twice as far as the Contemporary. I think they don't run it across less because of the canals and more because they don't want to mess up the access road below the monorail and that building and dock right opposite the end of the path to nowhere. They'd also have to do a lot of landscaping; it's a much more isolated area than other paths from various resorts to the parks or (in the case of Saratoga Springs) to Downtown Disney. Those other paths would mostly be landscaped anyhow.
Honestly, if we had known what was ahead of us, we would have been better off finding a bench and plopping ourselves down for a good 45 minutes, and I'm not even exaggerating.
But I just had to let it go because I knew there was absolutely nothing anyone could do about it. 
This was my first time seeing the mermaids and I must say they are underwhelming. We almost didn't notice them. I feel like Disney would have been better off just putting them there without saying anything - then guests could be like, "Ooh, look mermaids, neat!" if they happen to see them. Instead, they advertised it as a big hullabaloo and it leaves you wondering, "Oh, that's it?" Also - what the heck, why is Blackbeard still on the water screen and not Davy Jones? I like Pirates 4 ok, but Blackbeard is just not that great of a villain. Grrr I'm Blackbeard, I act scary but I'm really not. 
Anyway. Soapbox over.
