I dont believe I just had to retype all of this!!!
~~~ FIRST DAY AT MK ~~~~~
I ended up waking up around 8 am to the sound of howling wind. It didnt bother me though. Growing up aas a kid in Florida I used to think hurricanes were fun. Warped huh? Now as a mom they were not maybe fun but I was not exactly scared of the hurricane's as much as I was of a direct hit and having to leave. Anyway I realized that we completly overslept! So much for planning to be at rope drop on our first day. I realized that this trip was going to just go the way it was going to go and as soon as I let go I might actually be able to have some fun. But I tell you it hurt soooo bad to put away my perfectly planned notebook! I hd it all waorked out to perfection. Best parks on certain days , the best routes to take etc . The best laid plans....
So I got up in a bit of a panic.. Every minute we took to get ready was a minute we would lose! I was not a morning person but I really wanted us to take advantage of the morning hours. Note to self: In the event of a hurricane crowds will NOT be a problem! lol I worried for nothing!
So I wake up the kids and they were all sleepy eyed but so excited. My mom is and was up ( she gets up at 4 am every morning) and she was still deciding if she wanted to go or not( since 4 am). I am acting all calm but I am thinking " LETS GO NOW!" . I mean I drove this far to go to my favorite place and it was about to pour down rain and god knows what else.... I was losing patience. About 12 pm..... yes 12 pm I said " Okay I am going you can stay" . I was patient a very long time dont you think? lol Also know this was a
MNSSHP day and the park closed at 7 pm that night.
My mom decides to go but makes sure to add she sure hopes she doesnt regret it and really hope's it wont rain. I mean cmon... It is going to rain! Look outside. The sky was black as night at 12 pm! It kind of seemed adventerous to the kids and I. We didnt mind getting wet . I think I secretly hoped it would.. heheh My mom could find her way back!
So we arrive! I always like to take a picture at the front on our first day. My mom shocked me by saying " C'mon already , lets get inside" . Oh no she didnt! I remember thinking .... Magic Kingdom is a big place it would be a shame to lose track of her.
I look all weird here.. MEH
So .. and I kid you not .. as soon as we walk under the pass through the gate the sky open's up. And I mean POUR'S down rain like bucket's being dumped on your head. Forget the poncho's it was not going to happen in time. We tried but we ended up just sealing our soaking wet clothes in plastic which made it much worse. I tore mind off with wild abandon and looked back at my mother's contorted and displeased face and with a smile said headed toward the castle. She was the only one that cared. I was over it... And as usual the sight of the castle with the stormy skies and rain coming down looked as beautiful as always and caused a lump to well up in my throat.
The very small small amount of people in attendance that day it seemd like all decided to hide in the castle . So that route was out. I could hear my mom yelling " Where are we going? We gotta get out of this! " My husband chuckled how the wicked witch melts in the rain. lol ( Not so she could hear of course)
I couldnt think.. I froze .. Where do we go? Think quick. I decided on small world. Why? I dont know . Turned out to be a bad idea. It made us really cold!
We ended up in a boat with a couple who were visiting from England. We asked them if they were staying through the hurricane and they replied that yes they felt safe at Disney and wouldnt dream of leaving. I loved their sense of adventure. They were also hardcore Disney'ers as well and its always nice to find a kindred soul in a world of non Disney tolerant people. I wanted them to adopt me.
Now as you would figure as soon as we got off the ride shivering terribly the sun was out. What?!!! How?!! It lasted long enough to soak us and freeze us. I hope the crowds didnt come back. Next up the carousel . Oh why oh why does the carousel ever have to stop. I could go around for hours just taking it all in. I immediatly locate Cinderella's horse. My daughter was so happy . It was something we just found out about and were looking foward to finding it. We actually were able to ride it many times that trip. Right next to it we saw the prince's .
Now thats a handsome prince.
Next up was Snow White's scary adventure. It had been years since I rode this ride but I do remember it scaring me silly. I am soooo upset they took out the window with the evil queen looking out . They removed her during a remodel some years back and it was one of the best things about the ride. Does anyone remember her? Walking up to the ride if you looked up at the window with the curtain and waited patiently a few minutes the curtains would open and you would see the pretty version of the evil queen looking out. She looked so real it would freak me out because you didnt expect it.
Then we hit Winnie the Pooh. My mom and sister loved this ride and the effects really wowed them. My little guy didnt like the dream sequence because he thought Winnie the Pooh was hurt . Poor guy. She we had to tell him when to look and not look. Of course we had to stop by Pooh's thoughtful spot as we walked by .
Teacups were next and my mom skipped this one . We broke into groups . Non spinners with non spinner and spinners with me!
I recorded the funniest video ever on this ride . I might post it at some point. In my teacup I have all 3 kids and my oldest boy who normally hates to spin decided he wanted to but only because his youngest said he didnt want to. You get me? In other words if it will annoy or upset my brother even though I dont even want to do it , bring it on! The video I got out of it was hysterical.
Bathroom break was next and as you can imagine bathroom breaks with a group of 7 people ( 2 of whom dont want to lose sight of u for a sec ( mom and sister))
is always a adventure. We headed over to the bathrooms in Toontown. We were now hot , soaking wet, and very uncomfortable. Boy that hurricane moved by us fast. I wished it would come back as I would rather be wet wet then humid and damp. The bathroom stop turned into a hour long stop because my mom wanted to sit and we had to dry the kids up a bit. We had this toilet that kept flushing over and over and wouldnt stop anytime my sister went near it. It was really funny.
Next order of business was to get our first Mickey bars of the trip. The heat was kicking in and with the humidity the chocolate just slide right off the moment you unwrapped it! As you can see in the pics!
lol After the consumption of Mickey bars it was..... back to the bathroom to wash up. We were now soaking wet and covered in chocolate . lol But at this point we lost all care. My mom couldnt eat icecream and she wanted to get a bite so we headed over to Cosmic Ray's ( because she told me if we went to Columbia Harbor she was not walking back over to do the things we missed!) Umm okay.. Eat Cosmic Ray's then!
It was getting really late at this point and I was getting a bit anxious we had only done a few rides and not even completly covered any land and we had 3 hours left before MNSSHP. I was hoping we could get everyone fed and happy quickly.
I have to tell you I was not happy with our service or the management at Cosmic Rays . It was the ONLy place the whole trip I could complain about though. The food was terrible. But worse even still was the way management handled my very simple dietary request ( it was actually only a question) . I was really upset. But as it went thank goodness the rest of our dining experiences were great.
We sat outside and son preceeded to feed the birds more than himself. I would tell him to stop because but everytime I turned around he just couldnt help hmself and had to feed another one another fry! Then the teenager's tried to see if the bird was a cannibel and would eat his own kind so they offered a tiny piece of chicken. lol He did take it yes. But I think he only ate the breading. This stop was a big waste of our money and time . But as I was sitting there trying convince everyone to hurry and eat their unedible food I realized that it really didnt matter. I was so happy to be there and just take in the moment.
My son had reminded us that we hadnt donw his favorite yet , Indy Raceway. So off we go. My sister paired up with my oldest and she was a little nervous about his potential driving skills. Check out herface in the pic below! lol
Now as you remember my sister has a Princess audition coming up in a few days . As long as the hurricane stays away that is. She decides that she would like to go meet them and learn a thing or two. On a side note I have a friend who is a " very good friend " of many princess's including Cinderella and has traveled globally and so on. So she gave me quite a bit of info to give to my aspiring princess sister.
So my boys decided that they would NOt be going in for this one. They didnt want girl marks. Girl marks are lipstick kisses that they leave on your face . They also had a crush on Belle but after being teased they now refused to see her and said that " Girls are stupid" . So they went off to shop with dad and grandma. I went in with the girls. We were second in line which gave my sister just enough time to study a bit. We were most impressed by Aurora's dainty laugh and beauty. She made the girls laugh by commenting how she was sure all the princes were chasing after them that day. Cinderella seemed most ackward with the teen's and a bit shy. Belle made nice flowing conversation with the girls. We took some wonderful pics. I have to tell you that stepping back in time that was a very special moment for me. I loved seeing the girls forget about being " teenager's" for a moment . Its like the little girls in all of us came out and I left in tears . I hid them! But they were there . I had to stop in the hall before we went out into the store and wipe them away.
I came out into the store to find the boys hitting up the Mr Potato head section. My mom was filling a suprise box for the boys as well of misc items. The girls did some shopping and them we headed out into the bright sunlight again.
We headed over to the Buzz ride . My littlest guy is not in this pic because as soon as the ride ended he had to go check out the store at the end. He is a BIG Toy Story fan and so excited to see if they had a new Buzz and Woody . Which they didnt really. I wish they would update some of the merchandise more often.
Then after that we went on a ride that set the tone for the rest of the short day we had left. Tomorrow land transit authority ( aka people mover) . We all love this ride . Its relaxing right? Well we get on and my mom is sitting facing backwards and you know how the ride speeds up a bit after you take off? Well my mom freaked out! lol!!! She is like "WHAT is this? Did you trick me? Is this scary?!" lol I cant tell you how hard I laughed. But it got even better. We entered the part where you go through space mountain and my mom starting yelling ( thank goodness we were the only ones on our train) . " YOU TOOK US ON SPACE MOUNTAIN!" I had to explain to her that no... I did not take you on space mountain this goes through a few different areas and that is one but we are NOT ON Space Mountain. Next thing you know we are about out of there when the ride stops. Inside the darkness still and still inside Space Mountain my sister starts to get upset. we were stuck for about 7 minutes. As we finally picked up again she said to me " I will NEVER ride that ride again!" lol ( Did she? You will find out) . Before we were off it did get suck again. Now to make things worse when we all loaded up into our 2 carts ( half of us in one half in another) we didnt see that out train was not part of the one they got in . So we ended up getting split up. Looking nehind me on a bend I see them in the other train stuck inside the dark tunnel behind us. I hear someone behind me is not happy. Ugh another 5 minutes stuck. Not sure I wanted to go on this again either!
We get off and it started sprinkling again a bit . My mom refused to wear sneakers and wore leather flip flops and they gave her a blister that resembled a ww2 wound. Our time was now very short and we had not hit haunted mansion yet. CMONNNNN MOM LETS GO! Mom is hobbeling behind me dramatically and I am walking ahead full force . I am NOt leaving without Haunted Mansion , Pirates , Thunder , and Jungle Cruise. NOT NOT NOT... The spoiled little kid in me came out. It was going to go my way now!
My sister who is old enough to know better was terrified of doing the haunted mansion. Kudos to my mom for making her. My mom loves it as well. So all of us girls went in and we had to hold my 17 year old sisters hand! lol She did like it though .
Next we hobbeled on over to Thunder Mountain. We knew better than to ask my mom or sister on this one. So my daughter and I went on . Well here is where the TTA came back to haunt us. We got stuck on the ride in of all place the part where you are in the cave going up toward the top. Now what makes this so bad is the fact that you cant see the opening and you are on a angle so you feel a bit closed in. You cant see the light at the end of the tunnel ( no pun intended) and it can be a bit much after 5 minutes or 10 . Also we got hit from behind by the next train coming in! Major whiplash. I was so shocked I looked beind me at the people to behind me to ask did that really just happen?! Before the ride ended we stopped again. I was so worried another train would hit us again I braced my daughters head. It didnt happen again but it sure had me scared. I meant to complain. I should have but its not something I really do. I dont know what happened but I will never forget it! My sister will now officially never ride it! lol
With less than a hour left and a horde of MNSSHP people coming in we had to hurry. We needed to hit Pirates and jungle cruise. Pirates will always be one of my favorites. I love looking up at the sky in there . Its one of the rides where the enviorment is totally submersive and you can really believe you are there. The smells , the mist , everything. I love it! ( On another side note as a kid growing up I remember my grandfather would sit me on his lap and tell me of our ancestors that were pirates and I never believed him but I loved the stories . I found out a few years back the stories were true and everytime I go in there I think of him and his stories.)
Jungle Cruise again one of my faves. I just wish I could live in this world all the time. Riding all these older rides reminds me of being a kid and how I would just dream of running away and live in the castle! lol hey they have a apartment now for me !
We decided to head out as it was officially 7 and our bodies had quite enough . We took our sore pathetic overtired not yet trip recovered selfs to publix and remembered yet another reason why we wanted to move back to Florida. Publix fried chicken.. Need I say more?
Next was home , pool , eat , and sleep. What would tomorrow hold? Would hurricane Ike a cat 5 turn away leaving us to enjoy our much needed vacation or would we be turning around and driving home 1000 miles after only 1 day at Disney?
Eagerly waiting for the next installment!
My mom kept saying she hoped it didnt rain and I was saying that rain or not we were going to MK period! 
Can't wait to read more of your trip report
So happy to see your TR back on track big time
....fabby job, thoroughly enjoying it
