That was one expensive holiday!: Day 9 – KTTK Tour and Fantasmic

wickesy

<font color=royalblue>Tomorrow, tomorrow, I love y
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We were booked on the 9:00 Keys to the Kingdom tour this morning and had to check in at 8:30 so we were up at 6:45 and left the room about an hour later.

We parked up in Minnie 36 and arrived at the Magic Kingdom turnstiles at 8:15 and walked through the one that was open for dining reservations with nobody checking that we were actually entitled to be entering the park before it opened. We checked in for the tour and were given our name tags and a menu to choose our included lunch at the Columbia Harbour House. I chose the Anchors Aweigh (tuna sandwich) and Dad had the Starboard Deck (ham sandwich). While we were waiting for the tour to start I took some pictures of a (relatively) empty Main Street U.S.A. and the Roy & Minnie statue.

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At 9:00 our tour guide, Jamie from Canada, handed out ear pieces so that we could hear him easily without having to crowd around him and the tour began. We learnt a lot about the small details in the park that we might otherwise miss and also a few secrets, like the reason for the drop in Pirates of the Caribbean, which I won’t reveal here.

I won’t say anything more about the tour as I think it is better experienced than read about but I would highly recommend it if you would like to know more about the story behind the parks.

The tour finished at around 2:00 whereupon we left the park and returned to the car. Next stop was the Hess gas station on the way out of the parking lot where we put $30 worth of petrol in the car which filled it to about ¾ full as I had let the petrol run very low.

From there we went back to the hotel for a short break before going out for dinner at Hollywood Studios and Fantasmic later this evening.

We were back out at 4:45 and after parking in Film 23 we were in Hollywood Studios by 5:20 where we went straight round to Hollywood & Vine to check in for our 5:30 reservation. We were seated within a few minutes and met our server, Maria, who took our drinks order and signed our ticket for priority seats at Fantasmic. Dad and I both started off with a plate of salad and then made another trip to the buffet for a main course of various goodies before finishing off with an ice cream each.

After stuffing our faces we waddled round to Muppetvision 3D where we had a short wait to get in for the pre-show and then enjoyed the main film, as we always do. After Muppets we made our way round to Oscar’s and after showing our tickets were allowed in to the amphitheatre for Fantasmic, taking our seats at around 7:30.

We enjoyed the show and once it was over we had little trouble getting out of the park so we were back in the room by 9:40 after noticing that the signs back to Animal Kingdom Lodge had brought us back a different way to the way we had come.

We were in bed by 10:00 with a change of plan meaning that we will be making a return trip to Magic Kingdom tomorrow rather than later in the week.

Tomorrow: Day 10 - Magic Kingdom
 
Glad you enjoyed the tour, I would love to do that someday:thumbsup2
 
the tour sounds great,I have to wait till the kids are older:goodvibes
 

It was considerate of you not to give away the content of the Keys to the Kingdom tour, but glad to hear a little of the mechanics of the tour. The format has obviously been changed since I took the tour 9 or 10 years ago. For one thing, I think it was only about 3 hours long when we took it and there definitely wasn't a lunch involved. Though we enjoyed our experience very much, I have to think that it's been improved by a more leisurely pace, the lunch break, and that ear piece you mentioned making it easier to hear the guide in crowded areas. (I imagine the CMs consider that an improvement and appreciate not having to speak at full volume for hours on end.)


I must say that you and your dad seem the most compatible of travel buddies.
 
Glad you enjoyed the KTTK Tour it sounds very interesting.x.
 
Another great day. :thumbsup2

i am glad you didn't give any spoilers to the tour, I really want to do that one day but don't think we will be able to fit it in this year....guess it's just another reason to go back. :rolleyes1
 
Great day, would you recommend the Fantasmic package?

If there is only one showing of Fantasmic, or if you don't want to go to the later one (sometimes Fantasmic is on at 8:30 and 10:00) then yes. If you can get to the later show then it probably isn't necessary.

Fantasmic seems to fill up quite quickly, quite early so the separate entrance for those on the package is worth it in my view.
 
The tour sounds great and I really enjoyed the fantasmic package both at the Brown Derby and mama melrose


susan
 
Glad you enjoyed KTTK, we loved it. We didn't get to find out about the drop in Pirates - but my DH has just read about that in the book he is reading (Realityland), otherwise I would have been PM'ing you to find out! I love your pictures of Main Street, I have never seen it that empty.

Laur's princess:
 
the tour sounds great,I have to wait till the kids are older:goodvibes

Me too! Good on you for keeping Disney's secrets - much as I would have loved to know!

I love Fantasmic, but the one time we had the Fantasmic package at Mama Melroses the show was rained off, so I never got to go through the 'secret entrance'!

Sara. :)
 
Nice to hear about something different to do, that tour sounds really interesting.
 
Glad you liked the tour. I think its a must do for the family and I when we finally head back to WDW
 












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