4/12 Magic Kingdom
Since we had accomplished so much earlier in the week with our sons, we opted not to purchase
Genie+ for our second Magic Kingdom Day.
We arrived in time for rope drop and made our way to the Haunted Mansion. We got right into the attraction with minimal wait. Next we headed to Peter Pan and waited only 14 minutes followed by Pirates with a 12 minute wait. For breakfast, we stopped by Sleepy Hollow for a “new to us” treat, the Nutella Fruit Waffle.
We enjoyed this. The waffle was well cooked, the fruit was extremely fresh and who doesn’t love nutella on everything? I’m really glad we finally had a chance to try it, since it appears to be a thing of the past.
Next we rode the Little Mermaid with only a 5 minute wait and then headed to Tomorrowland. As we rode the Peoplemover (after a 3 minute wait), I was struck by the line at the end “Now is the time. Now is the best time to go out and explore tomorrow today.” Hence, the title of this report…Peoplemover is definitely one of our favorite rides and my DH and I try to enjoy the “now” as much as possible.
After our Peoplemover ride we headed to Monsters Inc Laugh Floor. We usually end up skipping this attraction but we had already done so much we decided to stop in. This time though was hilarious, all thanks to a little kid. During the show, one of the monsters asked a little boy and his younger sister to share a joke. I’m pretty sure the little girl asked “Why did the chicken cross the road?” Then, it was her brother’s turn. He couldn’t have been more than 4 or 5 years old. He asked “Why did the squirrel swim on his back?” The monster didn’t know. The boy responded, “To keep his nuts dry.” The entire room erupted with laughter. I suspect the boy didn’t really get the joke but everyone else sure did. It was very funny to see the “Monster” trying to recover and move the show along. It was definitely memorable.
I had purchased an ILL for Tron so we headed there next. I really enjoy this coaster but don’t think I’d ever wait a long time in line for it, since it is such a short ride.
After Tron we walked to the Grand Floridian for a lunch break. We love the Gasparilla Grill and have tried different things each time. This time we ordered two sandwiches to share with fries and a side order of the mac n cheese.
The first sandwich was the Cuban.
It was very tasty. The sandwich had lots of meat, mustard, pickles in delicious pressed bread. The fries were basic shoestring fries but good.
Our other sandwich was the Caprese sandwich.
The tomatoes, basil and mozzarella were fresh and flavorful, served on delicious focaccia bread. This was a great sandwich! The fries were good too.
We also ordered a side of mac n cheese.
This is the second time we’ve had the Gasparilla mac n cheese and it was really, really good. It was creamy and cheesy with well cooked noodles. It seems so simple but truly is one of the best mac n cheeses on property, probably behind Chef Art’s, Steakhouse 71 Lounge and Polite Pig, but definitely up there on the list.
This was a great lunch and a nice break from the park.
We walked back to the Magic Kingdom. We then rode the train and saw Carousel of Progress and Mickey’s Philharmagic. We waited 24 minutes for It’s a Small World, making the mistake of joining the line immediately after the afternoon parade.
We grabbed some ice water at Pinocchio's Village Haus and sat up on the porch doing some people watching before taking one more ride on the Peoplemover with a 14 minute wait.
We then made our way to Liberty Tree Tavern for our dinner reservation. We have had mixed experiences at LTT in the recent past. The first time in 2022 was great, the second time was just okay and the third time was awful. (See my review:
Third Time is not the Charm ) We were hoping for another good experience. Our server was very friendly so it seemed promising.
First she brought us the Declaration salad: Mixed Greens, Apples, Cranberries, and Cheese tossed with our House-made Dressing
Wow! Was this good! We enjoyed the previous version of this salad but the apples, cranberries and cheese took it to another level. This was a huge improvement.
Our server also brought us rolls with herb butter.
These are pretty standard rolls but the recent addition of the herb butter elevated them a little. They were decent and an improvement over the plain ones.
Next our server brought out the Patriots’ Platter: Roasted Turkey, Pot Roast, and Oven-roasted Pork with Herbed Stuffing.
All the meats were very good. The pot roast is our favorite. The stuffing and cranberry sauce were also tasty.
Our meal also came with mashed potatoes and green beans.
The mashed potatoes were creamy and very tasty (we ordered seconds of the potatoes). The green beans were tender crisp and garlicky. We prefer our green beans a little more cooked but that’s just our preference.
The main meal also came with “housemade” mac n cheese.
This wasn’t great. It definitely needed more cheese sauce.
Lastly, our server brought us out dessert, Oooey Gooey Toffee Cake (the real reason we booked this meal).
Sadly this particular one wasn’t as good as previous ones we’ve tried. The toffee cake was hard, stale and thin. We didn’t ask for another because we were too full anyhow.
Liberty Tree Tavern is still a solid option but surprisingly for us it is now second place to our new favorite, Tony’s Town Square. It is no longer a must do, just an occasional do.
After our meal, we made our way back to our hotel.
Total steps: 24687
Up next..another rocket launch from the comfort of our hotel.