Day 5 - Wednesday, May 30th - Magic Kingdom Day (Official!)
Headed to the bus stop and caught a bus immediately at 7:45 am (non early entry day). The sign on the bus still wasn't working, but at least we had learned to keep one member of the party posted near where the bus stopped to ask where the bus was going. Two or three times we got the answer "Look on the Sign (on the side of the bus)", at which point I wanted to say "So you're going nowhere since your sign is blank". But I resisted the sarcastic urges rising inside of me and simply told them the sign wasn't working at which point they would get out and look for themselves just on the odd chance that my eyes for some reason could not see the destination that was surely listed there. After going through that nearly every day, one bus driver (on our last day there) finally explained what was going on with the new system. It seems to me that would be very easy for the drivers to tell people but they weren't. Maybe they didn't want to draw attention to a new system just in case it messed up. I don't know.
We waited for the opening ceremony to begin and when it did we were thrilled to see Clarabelle Cow and Horace Horsecollar as part of the park opening!
The grounds are so beautiful and well groomed!
Nicolas decided to wear his Goofy hat on this day. He had a single goal for the entire day (seperate from the goal of riding every ride he could, of course). Back when we were planning this vacation he had made a picture of Goofy. He forgot to bring it with him the day we went to MGM and he actually got Goofy's autograph. So he had brought the picture with him today and his goal was to get Goofy to sign it. He was very focused on that.
We got into the park right around 9:00 and Angie and Nicolas headed for Dumbo while I ran over to Space Mountain for FPs. Space Mountain was down and they weren't handing out FPs so I went back to meet up with Angie and Nicolas. Nicolas and I rode the Speedway while Angie went to get FPs for Pooh.
Every year Nicolas is dying to drive but this year he said he wanted me to drive. I couldn't talk him into it. I guess he just wanted to enjoy the day without the pressure of running into the metal strip placed onto the ground. I don't know!
We went to the Monster Laugh Factory (which was great!), we rode Buzz, and then headed to the TTA. They were up and running at Space Mountain when we were on the TTA, but we already had a FP time for Pooh, and the stand by line was pretty long so we thought we would wait until a FP time opened up (big mistake!). We rode Peter Pan and then made our FP for Pooh. It was pretty humorous on the Pooh ride. They put us in the back seat of a honey pot with an older couple in the front. They made a huge show of saluting Mr. Toad giving the deed to Owl as we came through the doors and I thought that was funny. I always look for the picture but I have never saluted. I thought it was very cute. Paying homage to history. Very nice!
Sorry about not having a picture of Mr. Toad and the deed. I was so shocked by the salute that I let the moment slip.
We headed over to Cosmic Ray's for lunch. Burgers for Angie and I, Nicolas had chicken nuggets and applesauce ($24). I was a little freaked out by Sonny Eclipse's eyebrow.
It stayed that way the entire time though it would occasionaly move with his facial expressions.
We ran over to ride Haunted Mansion....
...where we had to get a picture of the wedding ring imbedded in the ground!
We ran over to get FPs for Space Mountain and found out they were down again! Now we were kicking ourselves for not riding earlier. Nicolas and I ran over and hopped on the TTA to see what was going on in Space Mountain. This time all the lights were on though we couldn't see anyone actually working on the ride....
......still pretty neat to see what it looks like in the light!
We got FPs for Mickey's Philharmagic and then rode Small World (Nicolas LOVES this ride). We made our FPs for Philharmagic then ran back over to check on Space Mountain (still down). We stopped for a minute to get some ice cream and then headed across the park....
....where I picked up FPs for the Jungle Cruise while Angie and Nicolas rode Aladdin's Carpets. We went to the Enchanted Tiki Room and the Country Bear Jamboree. It had been a number of years since we had watched the Bears and I remembered why at the end. Does that one bear singing about blood and all of that get on anyone else's nerves. That last number where they are all singing and trying to drown out the old bear gives me a headache. It will be a number of years more before we see that again. Anywhoo.....We rode Pirates where Angie had to get a hat.....
....she had been talking about that hat since the first day and she wasn't to be denied!
We went to Splash Mountain for FPs and then back to Jungle Cruise for our ride. We had a guy named Ian Rightguard who talked waaaayyyy to fast, couldn't understand a word he was saying. We hopped on the train to Toontown Fair where Nicolas was dying to see Mickey and to find Goofy to show him his picture and get it autographed!
We got in to see Mickey pretty easily....
....where the whole family swarmed around him! We went to the Tent to see who was there and what do you know.....Goofy was there! Nicolas was very excited. We had to wait nearly thirty minutes but Goofy was great and well worth it!
We also got to see Chip and Dale (who, we reminded them, had seen Nicolas two days ago at Garden Grille.......oh,........oh, yeah!) and Cinderella.
We toured Minnie's House......
Just guess where he gets his looks from!!!!!!!
.......then we headed over to the Carosel of Progress (which is one of our favorites!)
Space Mountain was still down (darn us for not riding when we had the chance!) so back across the park we went....
I have to take a picture every time we cross in front of it!
........to pick up FPs for Big Thunder Mountain (which aggrevates Nicolas when I call it the runaway train - it's BIG THUNDER MOUNTAIN RAILROAD DAD!) We had dinner at Pecos Bills (BBQ Sandwich for me, Taco Salad and Chili for Angie, and Chicken Nuggets and Applesauce for Nicolas). We rode Splash Mountain (FP) and then rode Big Thunder (FP).....
.......and then headed for the exit. We got back to CBR fairly quickly and headed for the pool for an hour or two of swimming before bed. We had accomplished our goal of the day of getting Goofy's autograph. The only ride at the whole of WDW that we wanted to ride and didn't get to was Space Mountain! We didn't ride it on Saturday night because we figured we would ride it on Wednesday, but it was not to be. I guess the anticipation will have to build doubly for that ride when we return next time!
In the next episode.........
The missing Duck caper at Animal Kingdom. Plus, Nicolas performs in a major show!
Later!
I am really enjoying this report! Love those Goofy ears- and that first pic of Angie (with Goofy hat) yes I did think it was your son, for a second!
Next year..... I'm finding it for sure!!
Can't believe SM was down the whole time!!!
