4/11 - A somewhat poorly planned day at Magic Kingdom
So, you've seen those shirts that say "I'm only a morning person when I'm at Disney"? I should get one of those, because that's SO ME. But guys, this was MAGIC KINGDOM DAY!
We got up (SOMEONE took a little longer than I had planned), I put on my lazy Belle disneybound, and went to the bus stop where we had to wait a whole FIVE MINUTES for a bus! Woe is me! As I said, we were able to walk onto a bus almost every time we needed one. I think this was our longest wait, but I didn't really mind.
So, mistake number 1: we didn't get up for EMH. We were so tired the night before that I hadn't considered how getting to the park "late" would affect our plan. By the time we arrived, it was almost 9:00 and the wait time for Space Mountain was already at an 60+ minutes. We had FP+ for Peter Pan at around 9:20, so we couldn't go get in line for Space Mountain or we had a high likelihood of missing our Peter Pan FP. I noticed the Dapper Dans were supposed to be performing at 9:00, though, so we tried to find them. Unfortunately, we missed seeing them perform and watched them ride up Main Street in the fire truck instead. I was kind of bummed, but I knew we could try to make a show in the afternoon instead. So we poked around in some shops until it was time to head to Peter Pan. This was a ride I had never been on (that I can remember...) and it was kind of fun! I had heard of the popularity of the ride, and my favorite part was definitely the beginning, where it feels like you're flying higher and higher over London. Admittedly, Peter Pan was never my favorite Disney movie, but I'm glad I got to experience the ride and am DOUBLY glad we had a FastPass. I think if we had actually waited in line, I would have been disappointed.
From there, we decided to hop on the carousel, because it's such a classic and quick ride. While I was waiting in line, I poked through my TimeHop app and noticed a coincidence: we had been at Magic Kingdom exactly four years ago that day! I had a Facebook post where I had lamented the fact that our honeymoon was almost over, and my husband had said "our honeymoon is forever!" It was such a sweet reminder that I teared up right there in line! I felt so lucky to be right back in the same park, continuing our honeymoon four years later!
At this point, Space Mountain's wait time was unreal (120+ minutes) and I knew we wouldn't be riding it that day. It's not my favorite ride, as I much prefer the
Disneyland version, so we decided to head to Splash Mountain instead. We took a detour to the hub grass first!
When we got to Splash Mountain, the standby wait time said 55 minutes. I didn't mind waiting an hour, especially since I knew the line would get longer as the day got hotter, so we got in line. This time, DH was handed the same type of card on a lanyard to gauge the wait time! This was evidently a good thing, since it took us about 75 minutes to get through the line. I just love the theming in the queue and the ride itself, though, and we played a little Pokemon Go while we waited, so the wait went by fairly quickly. I hardly got wet, but there was a mom with her two kids who got SOAKED, and they laughed all the way back to the beginning of the ride! They were such a joy to ride with!
By now, we were hungry, but we had lunch reservations in just a short while. We decided to go grab a Mickey pretzel (because everything tastes better when it's Mickey shaped!). We got a little pixie dust at the kiosk when we were handed TWO pretzels! I realized after we had both tucked in that we should have probably tried to give the second one away, because the whole point of ordering one was to split it so we wouldn't spoil our lunch. Oh well! It was delicious, and the perfect snack to eat while we watched the Festival of Fantasy parade. We had a pretty good view considering we walked up at the last minute, and I LOVED the parade! I had seen pictures online, but they didn't do justice to the fantastic costuming and the DRAGON! Holy buckets, Maleficent was awesome! I almost wanted to follow the parade so I could keep watching the dancing briars and the fire-breathing mechano-dragon. Instead, we killed a little time in shops and went to lunch at Liberty Tree Tavern.
We hadn't eaten here before, but I was impressed with both the service and the food! We ordered the patriot's platter, and everything was SO GOOD. We only got the one platter, since we had just eaten pretzels, and more importantly because we wanted to save room for dessert, but that pot roast sure had me thinking second thoughts about ordering another helping! And the ooey gooey toffee cake was excellent! The only drawback was the family who was getting up to leave as our lunch was served, who decided it would be a good idea to spray down their kids with sunscreen before heading back outside. Really? You're spraying that stuff in the middle of the restaurant?
We shopped in Memento Mori for probably the third time until it was almost time for the Muppets Great Moments in American History show to start. I enjoyed the show quite a bit, though we stood in a spot that made it impossible to see Sam the Eagle. Even so, I love the gang and the show was a lot of fun. We saw the one about the Declaration of Independence. After that, I knew I wanted to head back toward Main Street to see the Dapper Dans. As was becoming a common theme for the day, we had too little time between planned things to wait in long lines, but too much to just go and see what we wanted to see. So we dallied around on Main Street, watching a glass blowing demonstration and trying on tiaras (again)...until it was time! I got a front row spot to see my favorite barber shop quartet! The crowd was smaller than I expected, but it was kind of nice because it was a more intimate show. I just think they're so fun and it was one of the highlights of my day!
By now, the food had settled in our tummies and we were a little sleepy. So where do you go when you're sleepy in the middle of the day in Magic Kingdom?
The Hall of Presidents The Carousel of Progress! I actually hadn't seen the CoP in probably about 13 years, so I watched the whole show, but DH definitely nodded off for a bit. Once we got out, we had about 30 minutes until our Seven Dwarfs FPs. I was sort of at a loss for things to do, since once again we didn't have time (or at this point, energy) to wait in a long line for anything in the meantime. So we sat in the shade against the Carousel of Progress ramps and watched the #Incredibles dance party from afar.
After 7DMT, we decided to go wait in line for Haunted Mansion even though we had a FP coming up. We were able to wait in line for 45 minutes, ride it, and then get back in the FP line and ride it again right away! It's one of my favorite rides in the whole park, and I was definitely glad we got to do it twice in a row. The only thing about Fastpasses is you don't get to experience all the details in the queue, so we got the best of both worlds this way!
I snagged a PotC FP right after we got out of HM, so to kill time in between, we decided to go find some dole whips! We lucked out and got a table in the very corner of the seating area at Aloha Isle. We were able to sit and savor our treat in the shade and people watch a bit. Some of the annoyance of my poor planning melted away as I realized we were getting to take our time and enjoy the park. I felt better after that. Dole whips are magic!
After our Pirates ride, it was close-ish-but-not-close-enough to time to check in for our Be Our Guest reservation. We took our time exploring the details in Fantasyland, which was still partially under construction during our last visit. Then, it was finally time to check in. After a short wait, I got the text that our table was ready, and we were lead into the grand ballroom. We sat at aaaaalmost the exact same table as exactly four years prior, which I mentioned to our waiter. He was very sweet and offered to move us to the table behind us to recreate the magic, but we laughed and told him it was fine. We were once again seated on the far end of the room against the wall, so we had a fantastic view of the whole room and the giant windows. This was another "OMG Disney is so magical" experience for me. Beauty and the Beast is my favorite movie, and I'm so impressed with the theming at BOG that I just couldn't stop staring at the dining room! Our food was better than I expected. I had a good meal there on our honeymoon, but I had heard so many stories about the food being mediocre that I was concerned the quality had gone down. I thoroughly enjoyed my chicken, and DH cleared his plate of braised beef, though he did say it was a tad salty. We ordered dessert (an orange chocolate eclair for me, a lemon meringue cupcake for him), and we also got complimentary grey stuff, since we were celebrating our anniversary! My eclair was surprisingly light, and the balance of orange to chocolate was PERFECT. DH's cupcake was quite messy, but he enjoyed it. I think mine was better, though. As for the grey stuff, the dish we got last time had a much more impressive presentation, but the serving we got this time was a little bigger and FAR creamier!
After dinner, we got to meet Beast, who was a very cordial host, and it was fun to chat with everyone in line. I got many compliments on my rose necklace. Then people would notice the color of my tank top and say, "oh, you're Belle!"
We decided to cut out after dinner since it had been a long day. Wishes was tempting, but I knew we would have the chance to see it at least one more time before we left. We could've gone to get in line for a more popular ride, since the lines were a little shorter, but we just didn't have it in us. We went to board our bus, which ended up being a big, comfy charter bus! We got back to our room, unwound with some TV time, and got ready for bed. Tomorrow was Animal Kingdom, and I was SO EXCITED!
