Finally I decided it was time to head over to the MK, so I walked down to the boat dock and waited just a few moments, since the boat was approaching. It was another enjoyable ride.
I do love the boats.
The park was going to have EMH's that evening, and would then be open until 3 am. I was originally contemplating just staying for the whole thing, since I had a 5:35 am DME pick up... why not? But I did need to work on the plane and had a couple of conference calls to jump on as soon as the plane landed, so I really didn't feel that was the best strategy afterall. So common sense won out, and I decided I would leave just as soon as the fireworks were over. This would be the first night of the new Summer Nightastic! activities, and the new "Nightastic!" fireworks show at 10 pm. I didn't want to miss that. And of course, at 9 pm was my favorite Disney parade - the reason I HAD to be in the MK this evening... the Main Street Electrical Parade.
I enjoyed heading up Main Street, and quickly turned in to Adventureland. I had just missed POTC the previous day, and did want to enjoy that. But I had no real plan of action, so I just kind of wandered. This was my first stop. I hadn't been inside of it for a number of years.
But I hoped I wouldn't be disturbing the Robinsons... but then, they never do seem to be home when visitors come to call.
Huh. Not sure why.
After the arduous climb, and I got to come back down again. That was fun. Really. Not because of coming down, but rather because of the adorable little boy who kept stopping every 5-10 ft saying, "here daddy" and then posing against the rope bannister for his picture to be taken. The dad was so embarrassed and seemed to be flustered because he was making me go slowly, but I assured him it was no trouble. It was sweet. And I loved watching the little boy's face each time he would smile for the camera. It was so funny. Each and every smile was different, and just very cute. He was probably 3 or 4 - and it just made me smile and chuckle out loud. That dad, must have gotten about 50 pics on the way down those stairs. Too cute.
But yes, after that ardous climb, I just HAD to stop and get one of these little beauties. Yummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm!!!
I then enjoyed POTC, and walked over to check out the FP distribution for Splash Mountain. It was so very hot, I really wanted to get wet. Thankfully I had my handy dandy, immediate FP card from the
DVC gathering over at BLT a few hours earlier. I got one immediate, and one regular FP (for about an hour and a half later), and quickly got into the FP line. The standby line said 60 minutes. I literally walked the entire length of the FP queue all the way up up you give the CM your pass without meeting another FP holder. Then I practically walked right on the ride. It was great. Gotta love those immediate FPs! I ended up in the back row. Got wet, but not drenched. It felt nice.
I then walked over and thought about Big Thunder, but the standby was 45. No. Rode it yesterday. Move on. Headed over towards my favorite - the HM. The stated time was 15, but I was inside the stretching room in less than 10.
It was a close call getting out of that attic, let me tell you, and thankfully I didn't become #1,000. They're still at 999 happy haunts there in Liberty Square!
Since I hadn't yet been inside Fantasyland, and did want to visit Mickey's Philharmagic (I just love that one) I figured, why not? So I turned left and then realized, oh yeah, I'm gonna fly to Neverland today. Normally, unless I'm there for an EMH Morning, or we just happen to be picked by the "dream squad" to skip to the head of the line as we were back during the 2 Years of Millions of Dreams... we just avoid the 60,90,120 minute wait that tends to build for this fun but entirely too short little dark ride called Peter Pan's Flight. I love it, but not with those ridiculous wait times. So I used another immediate FP, and bingo, was on the ride in 2 minutes. Again - I love it!
While it's certainly not my favorite, and I DEFINITELY prefer the original found out in Anaheim, CA vs. the shortened and scaled down version found in Florida... I did decide I would take a spin on the "happiest cruise that ever sailed" - It's a Small World. Not so much for the dolls, or the music...but for the a/c! I really was wishing, ney longing for, the 18 minute version that
Disneyland has. 18 minutes of glorious a/c would have been nice. Oh well. I settled for 10. It still was nice, even if the song got stuck in my head for the next half an hour.
I decided I was hungry, and since I was right there, decided Village Haus was the place for me. Following my meal, I explored the north side of FL, enjoying the new wall running pretty much from Village Haus all the way over to the little entrance road up into Toontown Fair. Here are a few pics. The murals were pretty much in front of where the new stuff will be, with nice little scrolly-type signs talking about each new area of the coming "Fantasyland Forest"
The not very old Pooh's Playful Spot has been removed, but they did save the tree and move it over next to the queue for the Winnie the Pooh ride. I think it definitely works better there for the scenic value than it ever did across the esplanade in the rushed play area that they had put in on the former 20K Leagues site.
I then enjoyed Mickey's Philharmagic, and these views of the castle as I began to get ready to move down into Main Street to stake out my spot for the parade. It started at 9, I knew I wanted to have a place by 8 at the latest, but probably 7:45 ish. It was now about 7.
Throughout the day I had been texting another DIS buddy that I was hoping to meet up with, this time from the VWL Groupies thread. We'd messaged back and forth in the days prior to the trip, and agreed to meet up for the parade. I stopped in at the ice cream parlor and got myself a dish and some ice water, and then proceeded to move about half way down MS, finding a prime spot in front of Uptown Jewelers, and planted my self and spread out some stuff claiming space for DLI (Allison), and her family. They had just finished dinner and were working their way over to the MK themselves. We had agreed to meet up around 8 pm. Now it was just time to sit and wait for that glorious parade to begin.
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