They Came With Ma & Pa to Escape Mardi Gras! A February 2020 TR * 7/1 Aulani TR Started & Link Posted

Day 6: Thursday February 27th

After a very nice rest day away from the parks, we were back in full force! We were up incredibly early for a very special event. While planning the trip, DH and I had many discussions of the pros and cons of adding Early Morning Magic Fantasyland to our plans. It seemed like a great way to experience Fantasyland with low crowds, particularly 7 Dwarfs Mine Train and Peter Pan’s Flight, and included breakfast which was nice. But of course, in the way of most things Walt Disney World, it’s pretty pricey for a family of 4. We discussed some ways to cut costs so that we could put away money for the event instead, so that’s why we had decided to take more advantage of our kitchen at the villa by cooking a few meals so we could save on a few in-park meals throughout the week. We were already leaning towards booking it when WDW announced that our dates would be Cinderella themed in celebration of the anniversary of the film, and DD is a big Cinderella fan!

So back to Thursday morning, we were up early, and it was COLD! The temperatures had really dropped, so that early in the morning made for a very cold wait for the bus. Unfortunately, we just missed one as we were heading down the ramp towards the bus stop, and it was a very frustrating wait. It was a long 15 minutes down there in the cold as not 1, but 2 buses came for Fort Wilderness (which NO ONE got on!) before another MK bus came to bring us to the gates. Luckily, it’s a very short drive so we made it there very quickly and in plenty of time for them to let us in. We arrived around 7:30, got our wristbands, and were let in at 7:45 am.


IMG_9055 by disneymom1024, on Flickr​

We had brought a snack-type breakfast for the kids to eat to hold them over because our plan was to do attractions until the park opened to everyone else and do breakfast after that, since it goes until (I think) 10 am.

Cinderella Castle looked especially beautiful as we curved right towards Fantasyland!


We had to wait a few minutes before they let us into the land. It’s a little strange looking at this photo now when the words Social Distancing have been so prevalent the last few months!!


Our first destination was 7 Dwarfs Mine Train, and on the way there, we spotted the Stepsisters & Fairy Godmother! One of the Cinderella-elements of the morning was the roaming characters from the movie.


DD was very excited to finally get to try 7DMT!


We walked straight through the queue and onto the ride!


The verdict was that DD LOVED it!! After her enjoying Big Thunder so much, I wasn’t surprised, but it was so sweet watching her excitement as she experienced it for the first time.


648057760 by disneymom1024, on Flickr


648057772 by disneymom1024, on Flickr


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648057870 by disneymom1024, on Flickr​

Our next biggest priority was Peter Pan’s Flight, since it gets long waits and we had decided not to get a FP for it this time. So we headed across a near empty Fantasyland to get there.


It was a teeny tiny bit disappointing that we didn’t get to experience the full length queue and walk through the Darlings’ nursery, but it was still incredibly nice to be able to walk straight up to a pirate ship and climb on.


After a fun spin around Peter Pan, our next priority was Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh. Along the way, we came across Fairy Godmother, and although she wasn’t staying in one spot for posed photos, DD did get a chance to sneak in for a hug and a photo.


Continued in next post...
 
Day 6 Continued: Thursday February 27th

Then we continued on to Winnie the Pooh. When we arrived at the entrance, though, we found out that it wasn’t operating temporarily. So, why not walk on to 7DMT for a second ride?


The reason there was no photos of DS from the side of DH on this ride is because he had his hood up. Lol Thank goodness for ride photos!


648063155 by disneymom1024, on Flickr


648063326 by disneymom1024, on Flickr​

There wasn’t too much we hadn’t yet had a chance to experience in Fantasyland, so we decided to take advantage of the very short wait to meet Rapunzel & Tiana at Princess Fairytale Hall.


Here’s a few from Photopass.


648064687 by disneymom1024, on Flickr


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I love this one!! Rapunzel is fantastic!


648064793 by disneymom1024, on Flickr


648064796 by disneymom1024, on Flickr


648064989 by disneymom1024, on Flickr​

Then it was time to meet Tiana! I love that she & Rapunzel meet together, they are my two favorite princesses!


We tried to go over to the other side of the Hall to meet Cinderella and Elena, but unsurprisingly, the wait there was longer due to the theme of the event I’m sure. I think it said 15 or 20 minutes, so we decided to give it a try and hope it was a little shorter than what was posted.

DS took this photo of me because of the Fleur de Lis in the background.


P2260764 by disneymom1024, on Flickr​

After waiting there for quite a bit and not moving at all, we decided we didn’t want to waste the rest of our hour in a meet & greet line, so we bailed and hopped on the Carousel instead.


DD got to ride on Cinderella’s horse!


The hour was winding down, and Winnie the Pooh was back up and running so we went over to that next.

Continued in next post...
 
Day 6 Continued: Thursday February 27th


It was just a few minutes before regular park opening, and we discussed what we should do at this point. DS had decided he was going to be brave and give Space Mountain a try this trip now that he was tall enough. So we went over towards Tomorrowland and were held near the Mad Tea Party until the park officially opened. While we were waiting, we got an alert that our first FP for Haunted Mansion had been changed to a Multiple Experiences FP.

Finally, we were allowed over to Tomorrowland and we joined the line for Space Mountain all together until we got to the entrance to get a rider swap for myself and DS to ride later. DH & DS went to ride, and I headed off with DD.


While they were riding Space Mountain, I took DD to try to get on the Peoplemover. But it was down, as I was starting to realize was going to be a pattern for the day! So instead, I decided to take her to Cosmic Ray’s to get a head start on breakfast since DD takes longer to eat.

The way breakfast worked during the event is that it’s a set menu, and they have prepared plates that they hand out to everyone who goes up to the counter. It’s also all-you-care-to-eat, so you can go up for more of any item. The plated breakfast included pancakes, bacon, scrambled eggs, sausage patties, and breakfast potatoes, plus you had a choice of apple juice, orange juice, and I think milk & water. In addition to the plated meal, there was a small buffet area where the toppings station is that included fruits, pastries, cheese, meats, yogurt, and probably a few other items I’m forgetting.

It was a bit tough to navigate everything myself while holding the tray and keeping track of DD, but we managed to get everything we needed and make it to a table without spilling anything.


IMG_9056 by disneymom1024, on Flickr


IMG_9057 by disneymom1024, on Flickr​

After their ride on Space Mountain, DH and DS found us at Cosmic Ray’s and went to get their own breakfasts. DH spotted some Tabasco at the buffet area, which he thought was interesting (it’s a local product made just down the road from us).


IMG_2991 by disneymom1024, on Flickr
​
He also got some pictures of the pastries, which were Cinderella themed in keeping with the event.


IMG_2992 by disneymom1024, on Flickr


IMG_2993 by disneymom1024, on Flickr​

This was our table once everyone was seated with their food, and as you can see it was a LOT! So it made it a little more worth the price to get what was basically a buffet breakfast plus an hour in Fantasyland with everything a walk on.


IMG_2995 by disneymom1024, on Flickr​

We were there eating until about 10:10 am when they were starting to pick everything up. We rolled ourselves out of Cosmic Ray's feeling like we'd had a productive morning and that the extra expense for Early Morning Magic had been money well spent!

UP NEXT: Taking it easy in Tomorrowland
 

I am so happy that you had a good time at this Early Morning Magic event! We were in Magic Kingdom that same day and actually debated whether or not to go to the EMM, and decided against it... now you almost made me regret not going! Haha!
Now I also understand why we waited 15 min at rope drop for Cinderella and Elena... I guess some people were already in line from EMM?
It was a beautiful but really cold morning so I can see why you had the winter hats on!
Looking forward to reading about the rest of your day!
 
I think you morning was money well spent. I love the Cindy pastries. Congrats to your kids on conquering some mountains.
 
I'm glad DD loved SDMT! And I love the pics of her with Fairy Godmother and the princesses!

I'm glad you all enjoyed EMM! Sounds like it was such a fun morning!

Was that DS' first ride on Space?? What did he think??
 
Isabelle12345 said:
I am so happy that you had a good time at this Early Morning Magic event! We were in Magic Kingdom that same day and actually debated whether or not to go to the EMM, and decided against it... now you almost made me regret not going! Haha!
Now I also understand why we waited 15 min at rope drop for Cinderella and Elena... I guess some people were already in line from EMM?
It was a beautiful but really cold morning so I can see why you had the winter hats on!
Looking forward to reading about the rest of your day!
Click to expand...

Oh wow, wouldn't it be funny if you showed up in our pics during the day?! You'll have to let me know if you spot yourself!

YES, that's definitely why the line for Cinderella & Elena was so long! I was surprised it was as long as it was during the event but I guess with it being Cinderella themed there were probably lots of little princesses in their Cinderella dresses that wanted to meet her.

I remember being so incredibly cold waiting for the bus that morning and waiting to get into the park. But I'm also a total wimp in the cold.

vamassey1 said:
I think you morning was money well spent. I love the Cindy pastries. Congrats to your kids on conquering some mountains.
Click to expand...

Pricey as it was, it was a really fun morning and we didn't regret paying for it at all. Just getting to see the kids have a blast on 7DMT was worth it!

missangelalexis said:
I'm glad DD loved SDMT! And I love the pics of her with Fairy Godmother and the princesses!

I'm glad you all enjoyed EMM! Sounds like it was such a fun morning!

Was that DS' first ride on Space?? What did he think??
Click to expand...

I couldn't believe what a little thrill seeker she was this time around. It was really fun getting to do those rides with her.

Yes, it totally was his first ride on Space and I completely glossed over it! I guess I didn't have much in my notes since I wasn't with him. But he was pretty scared going into it, and said it was very fun but a little scary being in the dark.
 
Day 6 Continued: Thursday February 27th

After breakfast, we rolled ourselves out of the restaurant completely stuffed to the gills, and weren’t up for anything too fast or too far of a walk, so we tried the Peoplemover again and found it was working now.


After a leisurely ride on the Peoplemover, DS and I needed to go use our rider swap for Space Mountain before it expired, so we split up again at that point. DH took DD over to do Carousel of Progress while DS and I went to do Space Mountain.


We finished up before they did, so we took a minute to check out the Tron Lightcycle Run ride vehicles they had out for people to test.


IMG_9058 by disneymom1024, on Flickr​

I was a bit bummed that we had missed out on CoP! But DD was skipping and smiling when they met us at the exit once their show had ended. She loved it! It was time for our next FP, which was for a 3rd spin on 7DMT! We had been banking on the kids enjoying the ride a lot, so we thought it’d be fun to pick up a FP for it when we saw it available, even though we knew we’d get to do it during the Early Morning Magic event. The kids were NOT disappointed to ride it again, that’s for sure!


Continued in next post...
 
Day 6 Continued: Thursday February 27th

By this time, Haunted Mansion was operating again, so we decided to use the FP to ride it instead of using it for something else because it had a decently long wait.


I feel like everyone looks equally clueless in their HM ride photos!! Lmao

DD did surprisingly well on this attraction. I found that as long as I held her and whispered in her ear what was about to happen, like when the lights suddenly go out in the stretching room, she did fine with knowing what to expect. She was a bit nervous, but never cried, so that was great. We stopped for a few photos with the Photopass photographer outside of the attraction before moving on.


Our next FP was for the Jungle Cruise, so we wound our way over to Adventureland, but as we came down the ramp to the queue, they were sending people away and saying the ride was down, so we ended up with ANOTHER Multiple Experience FP. We were a little annoyed about this continuing trend, BUT…as it turns out, we were incredibly fortunate that day. The ride had JUST gone down, and we were cursing our luck that we hadn’t gone just a little earlier to use the FP so we wouldn’t have missed the ride, and we were annoyed that we had taken the time to use the other FP at Haunted Mansion instead. However, we found out later on through social media that the reason Jungle Cruise had gone down was because one of the boats had sunk!! I’m sure you all heard about that, and yes, we were not only there that day but could have potentially been on the ride when it happened had we not decided to stop at Haunted Mansion first!!!

We asked the kids what they wanted to use our Multiple Experience FP on instead, and there was a resounding chorus of requests for Big Thunder Mountain again! Before heading to Frontierland, though, DH and I wanted a snack. Not sure how we found the room, but a Dole Whip sounded like the perfect way to make up for the disappointment of having so many issues with rides being down that day (although we should have been celebrating NOT sinking on the Jungle Cruise lol!), so we stopped at Aloha Isle for a pineapple-vanilla swirl in a souvenir tiki bowl.


DH doesn’t request too many photos of himself, but he was wearing a Dole Whip shirt while eating a Dole Whip, so photos must be taken to commemorate!


The kids didn’t love it, so poor DH & I had to finish the whole thing ourselves. Then we went over to Big Thunder.


Feb 2020 06-102 by disneymom1024, on Flickr


Feb 2020 06-103 by disneymom1024, on Flickr


Feb 2020 06-104 by disneymom1024, on Flickr


Feb 2020 06-105 by disneymom1024, on Flickr
To think how much he was crying about riding this the first time we took him through the queue…!!


Feb 2020 06-106 by disneymom1024, on Flickr


Feb 2020 06-107 by disneymom1024, on Flickr


Feb 2020 06-108 by disneymom1024, on Flickr


Feb 2020 06-109 by disneymom1024, on Flickr


Feb 2020 06-110 by disneymom1024, on Flickr


Feb 2020 06-112 by disneymom1024, on Flickr​

We were headed to Animal Kingdom for the afternoon, so while we walked towards the exit, I hopped on the app and booked us a FP for Kilimanjaro Safari, but our primary purpose for the afternoon was to do some more Wilderness Explorer stops with the kids and see Rivers of Light.


So long for now, Magic Kingdom!

UP NEXT: The Wilderness Must Be Explored!
 
Last edited:
The fun morning continued! You all looked so happy and enjoying yourselves!

The HM ride photos are so funny, you all look in the zone!

Wow, glad you didn't end up on the sinking Jungle Cruise boat!
 
I enjoyed reading about your experience with Early Morning Magic. For a family with kids, it seems like a great benefit to be able to knock out those Fantasyland rides. But the cost...ouch. So I was happy to hear that the breakfast sort of made up for the expense.
 
Loving your report so far! :love: It is great to see what rides your children are enjoying, since our 4 year old and 7 year old will probably be fans of the same thing during our trip in November. I am interested to see how the Wilderness Explorer Quest goes in AK!
 
missangelalexis said:
The fun morning continued! You all looked so happy and enjoying yourselves!

The HM ride photos are so funny, you all look in the zone!

Wow, glad you didn't end up on the sinking Jungle Cruise boat!
Click to expand...

This was really a great trip, so we had lots of fun times, for sure! That morning, we were definitely happy and loving life at Disney World!

I wasn't really sure where they took the photo but once we rode, I figured it out. We were NOT prepared for it though. lol I don't think most people are.

Me too!! Could you imagine?!

amazingact21 said:
I enjoyed reading about your experience with Early Morning Magic. For a family with kids, it seems like a great benefit to be able to knock out those Fantasyland rides. But the cost...ouch. So I was happy to hear that the breakfast sort of made up for the expense.
Click to expand...

The cost was tough to swallow, and we definitely couldn't swing it every trip, but it was fun to get to do something different and exclusive. Fantasyland can pose a challenge when it comes to wait times, so it was great getting to do most of those without waiting. DH tried his best to eat his money's worth at breakfast lol

tundra1 said:
Loving your report so far! :love: It is great to see what rides your children are enjoying, since our 4 year old and 7 year old will probably be fans of the same thing during our trip in November. I am interested to see how the Wilderness Explorer Quest goes in AK!
Click to expand...

Thanks so much! With kids it can be so hard to guess how they will react to different rides, but I'm glad it can give you an idea of what your kids may enjoy on your trip!
 
Day 6 Continued: Thursday February 27th

When I left off, we were headed out of MK after a fun morning of Early Morning Magic in Fantasyland and more. We walked over to the bus stop and missed taking the bus that was at the AK stop because it was full so we had to wait for the next one. While on the bus, we were flipping through the kids’ Wilderness Explorer books and realized completing it wasn’t out of the realm of possibility! On previous trips, DS has never been able to complete one fully (although he probably has actually gotten all of the badges over multiple books, we are just terrible at remembering to bring it back to the park with us), so we decided to give it a shot and try to get their books complete. Eventually we made it to AK and went first to Africa to start the Gorilla Falls trail since there are several WE stops there.


We went ahead and used our FP to ride the Safari, which while fun was probably not the best strategy for the afternoon since we had a limited time to complete our goal of getting their badge books completed. But it was nice to get an attraction in for the afternoon.


The Safari was great for active animals, but it ended up taking a little longer than usual. We were pressed for time to get to Rafiki’s Planet Watch because it closes so early, so we hurried over to take the Wildlife Express train.


You can sense our urgency as we hurried past Rafiki.


As was pretty typical of our luck that day, we just missed a train and had to wait for the next one. DD entertained herself by pretending to be an alligator like the bench.


Our entire time at Conservation Station was so hurried that we got no photos! Lol The kids were still having fun, but DH and I were feeling the pressure of hitting this goal. Luckily there are several badge opportunities back there, so we knocked out a bunch at one time before taking the train back.


Continued in Next Post...
 
Day 6 Continued: Thursday February 27th

Our next big chunk of badges came from the Maharajah Jungle Trek in Asia. The trail was closing soon, so we actually had to hurry past most of it just to get the few badges that were available. We did get some photos of my favorite, the tigers!


We talked to another family who was on the trail doing the exact same thing as us, trying to hurry to get their badge books finished before 5 pm when it said WE ended for the day! There were a few more we needed in Asia, and we got a bit turned around looking for one of the stops that was tucked away in a tiny shop. I really felt like we were on the Amazing Race or something the way we were hurrying through the park! :rotfl:


It was about 5 pm by the time we found that WE spot, and I asked the counselor if we had a chance to get our last one or if all of the stations closed up promptly at 5. She asked which one we still needed and told her it was the one at the Boneyard in Dinoland, and she said since it wasn’t one on an animal trail, we had a good chance. So we HUSTLED over to Dinoland as fast as we could, hoping that we wouldn’t have come all this way and done all we had done just to miss out on ONE badge.

We got to Dinoland, entered the Boneyard play area, and pushed toddlers out of the way (just kidding…mostly lol) to get over to the Dig Site for our last badge where…the counselor was still there!!!!


IMG_9060 by disneymom1024, on Flickr​

WE DID IT! The kids completed their Wilderness Explorer books! DS was especially excited because it was not his first time participating.


IMG_2996 by disneymom1024, on Flickr


IMG_2998 by disneymom1024, on Flickr​

After hustling our way through AK all afternoon, we decided we all needed a breather, so DH and I sat and relaxed for a few minutes while DS and DD played in the dig site for a bit.


Around 5:30 we convinced the kids to close up shop at the dig site so we could have some dinner before going to the theater for Rivers of Light. We headed to our old favorite at AK, Restaurantosaurus where we had mobile ordered our food.

UP NEXT: Rivers of Light
 
Lovely early morning in Fantasyland. Getting a big meal does help justify the cost.

I was feeling your stress as the kids tried to get all their badges. This reminded me of the first time we did the Passport in Epcot back in 1999. The area to meet the correct person wasn't as well marked as they are now. I believe we got the last one as we were waiting for Illumination to start.

Great accomplishment for the kids!
 
Omg it really does sound like you were on the Amazing Race! Gotta get those badges! :rotfl2:

But yay I'm glad the mission was a success!

And I don't doubt you needed a rest after that!
 
Looks like a fun morning! A lot of smiles. Jungle Cruise :oops: Yikes. The Dole Whip souvenir dish would be a nice keepsake. We moved our March reservation to Sept. then again to March. As long as they're open, we're going this time!
 
What a productive day you had! Getting so much done at two parks had to be a great feeling.

I'm always kicking around the Early Morning Magic, but have never done it. I think you've convinced me that it is worth the price.
 
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