So - Catherine and I LOVED our day at WDW. We got up at 6am and were pulling out of the drive-way at exactly 6:59 - RIGHT on time!
After a gas stop we were on I-75N headed to I-4. The drive was easy and after a quick potty break at a Rest Area we were pulling into the Magic Kingdom parking lot.
I pulled through a gate agent on Catherine's side. She had fun rolling down the window and holding up her AP - "pass on through" - Yes SIR!
We parked in PLUTO 14 and were lucky to find a spot on the waiting Tram. I made a friend with the family next to us. They had the stroller I'd recently bought for Emma and I wanted to know their review. well - they had just bought it the day before and hadn't even used it yet themselvs. Well phooey!
Off the tram and up the Monorail ramp we headed. We LOVE to ride in front, but I wanted to just get there, I was not that concerned about it this time. As we got onto the platform people were queued up to load and I noticed nobody in line for the cab. So I asked and
BINGO - we got to ride up front.
Finally the monorail pulled into the station and I am loving the new design they did.
We loaded up and met our captain "tom" and off we went.
We entered MK at 9:05am, just 5min after rope drop - that darned potty break! But it was okay. We had 2 goals this day:
1) See TinkerBelle
2) Pin Trade
We 1st headed down Main Street and were going to hit Buzz since we had time before 10am. A few snaps on Main Street USA
And an idea of how BUSY Tommorland was at opening
On entering Buzz there was a mother taking a pic of her family under the sign. We could have A) stood there and waited B) cut in front of them to get in C) been neighborhly and offered to take a pic of the entire family.
I'm from the South, I chose option C. She was so pleased to be IN a picture. As the family picture taker, I know exactly how it feels to look through vacation photos and have NONE of yourself in them.
We all then headed into Buzz and walked RIGHT in, it was EMPTY. I tried to get a pic of our score but could not.. I beat Cat by 20k points - TAKE THAT 8YO! HA! lol just kidding, I was nicer about it. Love that kid!
Leaving Buzz we met Stitch. There was only 1 family there to see him so we hopped in line.
Catherine really wanted to do the Speedway but it was posted at 20min and we really wanted to be at ToonTown for rope drop. We opted for TeaCups instead.
Does anyone remember a few posts ago where I mentioned we had a late and FUN night the night before yeah... TeaCups was NOT enjoyable. But I love my kid, so of course I did them. Might have exited a bit Green... but I did them. While waiting for our turn (there was no line, we just had to wait for the party in progress to finish) we noticed that ALICE was riding with a very lucky little girl. It was neat to see her on the ride.
Walking a little off and feeling a little green we lined up at Toon Town for rope drop. We were over on the right side (Note: If going to pixies... Stand on the LEFT) But after singning Happy Birthday to everyone and doing the countdown, we were right in.
Catherine and I were the 2nd family to see the Fairies. It was such a magical place, I really did love it!
On leaving I had NO idea how to get out of there. LOL I had to go back in and ask the CM "how do I get out?" she showed me but sweetly said "you can stay forever if you want". Umm OK!
From there we just did a UTurn in the gift shop and lined up for the Princesses. We were 3rd family in line there and were in very quickly to see them.
*apologies.. end of pics. I think I just put the camera away, and left it there*
--editing to add -- When we circled back to get in line for the Princesses, the Fairy line was through the 2nd set of doors. When finishing up with the Princesses the Princesses line was to the 1st set of doors and Fairy line past the 2nd set of doors still.
After the princesses my daredevil wanted to ride Goofy's Barnstormer. So we did a whirl with Goofy! VERY fun! It wasn't busy, we just had to wait for 2 planes total.
I'm still feeling green and wanted some air conditioning. We headed over to Mickey's Phillarmagic. We LOVE this show, it is so good. I spent most of the show watching Catherine. She was so funny - She was leaning and grabbing and jumping.. I love how she still gets SO into it! I hope the magic takes a long time to go away.
Cat's next request... SPLASH! Passing through Fantasy Land, I noticed (not yet 11am):
Dumbo - 20 min
Small World - walk on
Peter Pan - 30 min
Haunted Mansion - 10 min
When we got to Splash it was POSTED 40 min and Thunder was POSTED 30 minutes. FP return for Thunder was 11:30AM (it was just before 11:00). We decided to grab FP for Thunder, stand-by Splash then be ready for Thunder return time.
Well - Splash only took 20 minutes for stand-by. It was no where near the 40 min. We lucked out as a party of 2 and got to skip a few families to fill a log.
The couple in front of us asked Catherine "so is it scary?" She said "no its fun". She requested the right seat knowing she'd get the most wet. She told the gentleman in front of her "you are in the wet spot". Unfortunatly we did not get wet at the one spot where the spray gets you. Oh well.
The ride was great, only 1 short stop (half expected with Splash). Every room we went into the nice couple in front of us (late 50s) kept asking Catherine "is this it?" Finally at the point where it said "DANGER" Cat yells "THIS IS IT!" LOL It was really fun!
So Splash done, it was like 11:25 and we had to wait for our FP time. We sat on the rock by the entrance and the CM just kind of nodded at me, and let us go in a few min early - THANK YOU!!!!
Thunder was a stand-by time of 30 min but it didn't look that bad. With FP we walked right on and got the front row. - Party of two!!
On pulling into the station, the people loading the train were people who walked into the Stand-by line when we walked into the FP line, so Standby was NOT 30 min. GOOD ON THEM! The 50ish couple we met on Splash... waiting to board our train - HI!!!!
After Thunder we got Hot Dogs from the street vendor then Fries from the OTHER vendor, found a spot to eat outside Peco Bills and enjoyed a lunch! It was a nice shaded spot.
when we finished eating it was 12:00 on the dot. We cleaned up and decided to head out of MK. It still was not THAT busy....
Pirates - 10min
Aladdins Carpet - maybe 1 - 2 cycles of the carpets to wait
Jungle Cruise - 30 min
On Main Street we stopped to watch the performers (ya know..the couples on the trolley who dance etc) then exited the park and took the monorail to the TTC.
That concludes the MAGIC KINGDOM portion of our day. Next up... the longest Monorail ride EVER and our 4 1/2 hrs in EPCOT!
For those of you concerned about that day's crowd levels.. here are some notes I took.
Thanks for sharing!!!!!
I call my boys clothes "outfits" too....never thought about it until you said something...lol!! Oh well...my boys were outfits...heehee!!
Sounds like the perfect time and crowd levels....Catherine looks so much bigger than the last pics, did she get a haircut? It looks so cute!!
