Part 5, Thursday July 22...Happy Anniversary(with pictures)

[CamColt]

Just got back from a Magical trip to the World. Our Cast consists of Myself, the planner and Disney Commando, DH, doesnt care what we do, my Mother, who has come on a few trips with us now and always loves what I have planned, Cameron 7 and Colton 4. This was their 7th & 6th trips respectively so they have a good grasp of the place. I wont go into dining reviews here as I posted them on the Restaurant Board. I also went into more detail about the resorts on the Resort Board.

Thursday
Today was mine and DH’s 9th anniversary, and we were looking forward to our night out, but first it was on to Extra Magic Hour at Magic Kingdom. We hopped a monorail nice and early and were at MK by 7:30. We were the first ones in line at the far left turnstile. We have never been that close!

Upon opening we went straight to the Speedway. Our kids love this ride, but the wait is always pure torture for us. The line moves so slow and usually only 1 lane is open. This bugs DH to no extent so I figured instead of our usual dash to Dumbo we would get this one over first. We only waited a couple minutes to ride so that was great. But the downfall was that now when we went to Dumbo we had about a 20 minute wait there. We usually just walk on it during EMH. I'll note here that this was the most crowded I have ever seen EMH in the MK. In the past (even during Christmas week) we have walked on all those little rides in Fantasyland but this time most had 20 minute waits. After Dumbo, it was just about time for Mickeys Philharmagic to start so we jumped in there with about a 5-10 minute wait. What a great show that is! We then went to wait in the line for Peter Pan and DH went to Pooh to get FPs. He returned saying that ride had closed, but just reopened so there wasn’t a wait. So instead of waiting 20 minutes at PP, we got FPs there went to ride Pooh with a 5-10 minute wait. We also took a spin on the Carrousel with no wait before heading to breakfast at the Bakeshop at 9:45. While we weren’t doing as good as we usually do at EMH here, things were under control.

We finished eating at 10:25, and since it was our FP time for Peter Pan, DH went to Buzz to get more FPs. On our way to Peter Pan, we stopped at the Tea Cups. These were also broken earlier, but were now working. We had a 10-20 minute wait here, rode, then finally made it back to PP to ride that.

Next it was on to Tomorrowland to ride 2 of the kids favorites, Tomorrowland Transit Authority and Buzz Lightyear. Ill say it again here, the park was very crowded now. Walking through the walkways was getting tough. We were headed to Toontown next so we took the little path that goes along the train tracks to escape the crowds. Here we did Goofys Barnstormer with just a short 5 minute wait, which was surprising considering how other things were going. We then sat down for some water and to make a phone call home. Colt was the only one really interested in walking through Mickey’s & Minnies’ Houses at this point so DH took him for a quick walk through there. We’ve done them enough in the past that I didnt feel I was missing anything and I think Cam felt that way too.

We had gotten FPs for Splash Mt earlier, but our return time wasn’t until 1:20. We didn’t really want to hang around that long so we gave them away, grabbed a quick Dole Whip for lunch, and exited the MK by 1:00. It was now time to cool off and relax with some frozen drinks by the pool. Ahhhhhh.

But, before we knew it we had to head back to our room to start getting the kids ready for the night. DM was taking them to MGM for dinner at Sci Fi and their PS was at 6:00. After dinner they had thought about going miniature golfing. The went to Fantasia Gardens and by the time they got there and checked in, the CM told them it would be over an hour wait. It was about 8:00 then and DM figured if that was the case she wouldn’t have them back in bed until after 11:00 so she decided against it. Instead they went back to the Poly and spent some time in the arcade which was plenty fun for the kids.

Meanwhile, DH & I had PS for Yachtsman Steakhouse at 7:00. We left the Poly around 6:00 and took the monorail to MK. We actually had a funny story here. We were the only ones on the monorail platform when a group of about 25, older(50+) people, came out of nowhere and basically surrounded us. To top it off they didn’t speak English at all except for 1 leader guy who was asking the CM questions, then relaying the answers to the group. It just struck us as odd that they came and stood on every side of us. We felt like we had been swallowed up by them. It was tough to keep from laughing. When the monorail came, the CM working there waved DH and I through the group letting us on first. We didn’t need to be on first but I thought it was nice of the CM to notice what had happened.

Anyway, back to our night. We then took a bus from MK to Yacht Club and arrived about 6:40, with plenty of time to spare. Here we had the most amazing meal!!! We finished by 8:00 and were on our way.

Since we were done so early we headed over to Epcot and walked around World Showcase until we thought we would have a good view of Illuminations. We chose near Italy. We were surprised that as late as 8:30(and probably after) there were still plenty of spaces along the railings to the water. So after hanging out a while we got to see Illuminations. While I do enjoy this show, I much prefer Fantasmic or Wishes to it. I know a lot of people think Illuminations is the best show, but I just see it as a fireworks show. I’m still convinced I’m not seeing something that other people see here.

After Illuminations we walked over to the Boardwalk to hit Jellyrolls. As much as I like staying in the MK area, I have to say, the Epcot area is so convenient, with everything in walking distance. We really like it over there. Jellyrolls was a lot of fun. For those that don’t know, it’s a dueling piano/singalong type bar. DH and I had been there once before when we had a night alone in WDW. Knowing we were having another night alone on this trip, there was no doubt of where we would be going after dinner.

We had a great time there, but decided to call it a night after only a couple hours of drinks and song. After all, we knew we had a couple of Mountains to conquer in the morning. When leaving, for some reason we walked to the Swan and caught a cab from there. I don’t know why we didn’t get one at the BW, but I was just following DH.

My traditional picture of DSs and I on Dumbo...I dont think we will fit much longer

DH & I on our way to dinner

Dinner

Our surprise dessert

Illuminations

 

[mchames]

....and I've never seen it that crowded!!!!!

We usually go to WDW in the "off-season" so we're a bit spoiled, but this was a madhouse. I was expecting crowds, but I've never seen an early entry like this. We got to the gates at about 7:25 (thanks to a great boat captain that took my family and another family over from the WL on a training run since we were at the dock at 7:05 and the boats didn't officially start running until 7:30).

We were in a great position to get in the park, right by the ropes. My DH was going to get the stroller (we bought a pass) and I was going to take the girls (DD4 and DD6) directly to Dumbo. Just as the rope dropped DD4 decided she HAD TO GO POTTY and it just couldn't wait until AFTER Dumbo! LOL!!! So, that "quick" potty stop put us in a 15-20 minute wait for Dumbo instead of the usual walk-on.

We did the carousel and Peter Pan, both with waits of about 10-15 minutes and got in line for Pooh. Pooh broke down while we were in line. We waited about 5-10 minutes to see if it would be operating again soon. They decided they needed to shut down Pooh and gave those of us in line "anytime fastpasses" to use anytime that day once Pooh was up and running.

It was now a few minutes before 9am and we wanted o get FP for Splash. DD6 had been dying to ride and DD4 was going to get to ride for the first time. This was the first time I ever experienced "rope drop" and the mad dash to Frontierland and I plan on NEVER doing it again. We waited about 15-20 minutes for Splash and then got FP to ride again later. DD4 enjoyed her first ride on Splash, but once was enough so DD6 and DH rode two more times later that morning with the 4 FPs.

We were also able to ride Barnstormer with about a 5 minute wait, tea cups and Pooh before we decided to leave at about 12:30. We had planned on having dinner at the Kona Cafe, but decided to see if we could do lunch instead. We stopped at Guest Services changed our dinner PS to lunch and made a dinner PS at Marrakesh in Morrocco instead and headed over to the Poly.

We have always done EMH at the MK and have been able to accomplish a lot in a short time, in the summertime I think the day after EMH is a better strategy. We went back to MK Friday morning and the park was almost empty. We were able to do so much more in a shorter amount of time than we did the day before.

We probably spent time together in line and didn't even know it. I would have been the one with the two little girls chanting "HOT, CROWDED, MUST HAVE PATIENCE!" a little mantra we practiced before taking our first July trip.

Mary

 

[Minniespal]

Great report ~ Thanx for sharing.

Thanx for more great pix ~ What a lovely family.