DAY 4 CONCLUSION....
So we left last time with a plan for our MK EMH.
Here's some more pics of the castle and surroundings soon after arriving...
Here's a shot looking over the little stream from the bridge by the Crystal Palace:
So here's a little bit of trivia, since I mentioned the Crystal Palace. I could be wrong, but when we were in Buxton, England for the festival, we were told that the building behind the opera house was the original that Disney modeled the Crystal Palace after. Perhaps if there are experts reading, someone can let me know if that's really true. But I thought it was kind of cool!
Our plan was to ride some rides first - we'd catch the later parade.
We rode Pirates - several times. Like I said before, I think we just have a real nostalgic connection to this particular ride. We love it! So after three times on Pirates, we were off to Haunted Mansion. And no wait! Gotta love it. Perhaps all that rain kept a lot of people from heading out this particular night. I didn't care what the reason - we were having little to no waits on all the rides we wanted to get on!
It was also nice to be moving at "our" pace. We don't like to stroll. Just not the way we work. Now, my dad's pretty good at keeping up, but my mom and grandmother.... not so much. So now that it was just Brian and I, we were making very good time!
It was also nice just to be walking around MK at night. There's just something more magical about it at night, when everything's lit up and sparkly.
After riding some of our must-do's, we headed toward Fantasyland. They already had ropes up for the Wishes.
I have to say that it's a little sad (to me) that you can't be closer to the castle for the fireworks. I mean, I understand that the Wishes show shoots off those bursts of...well, whatever you call them...firework-type cannon shots... over the castle and they need to worry about safety.
But my favorite memory of my first trip to Disney when I was 8, was standing next to the castle, watching fireworks, and listening to "When You Wish Upon a Star" playing through the air. I will never forget that moment. That's when that little 8 year old girl fell in love with Disney World; and has loved it ever since. That song to this day always tears me up a little. (I'm getting a little glassy-eyed just thinking about it now!)
We decided since Wishes was less than half an hour away, that we would get a spot right by the rope to watch. Here's a shot of the castle looking all cool in dark colors:
Now, I know there are people that just love Wishes. And I do always love a good fireworks show. BUT, I kind of feel like the soundtrack to Wishes is, well, just a little too cheesy. I'm not big on cheesy children's choruses and am not a fan of the running dialogue over the music ("I wish...") That's why I like Illuminations better - more focus on the music telling the story. But I was excited to see the fireworks up close. Here are some shots:
After Wishes, we decided to mosey towards Main Street for the second Spectro Magic Parade. But first - a quick stop by Mickey's Philharmagic! (Such fun!) Then we went to get a parade viewing spot. We got a nice spot along Main Street on the bridge approaching the castle.
Looking up to the castle:
I do like the parade. I'll admit that I miss "The Main Street Electrical Light Parade!" from my childhood years. (I can still hear that synthesizer music in my head!) But this one is also a lot of fun. Here are some shots from the parade:
After the parade went past us, we decided to head to Frontier Land and ride Big Thunder a few times. But here is where we made a tactical error. Oh yes, even someone who's been going to the World for 24 years can still goof - especially when tired.
We walked into Adventureland, which was empty and still, with the plan to cross over into Frontier Land. Well.....the parade still had to finish going through there and we had NO way to cut across. We SHOULD have cut into Fantasy Land and crossed above, but alas, it was too late.
We walked back to the end of the parade, now coming out of Liberty Square, and walked behind the tail end, so we could loop back around to get up to Big Thunder.
We made it with little problems, and got in line! The line was not long, and we waited maybe 5 minutes. After riding once, we of course wanted to ride again.
We saw the ride monitor stopping a girl trying to get in line who did not have an EMH bracelet. (oooh!) He asked her if she was staying in a Disney resort - she said no - he told her the park was actually closed to non-disney resort guests and turned her away. Do people really not get the whole EMH concept, or do they choose to try and cheat the system anyway? I'm sure it's a combination of both.
Anyway, we rode again; and again.
At this point it was getting REALLY late. We weren't doing morning EMH the next day, but were still planning on getting up early, so we decided to officially call it a day. We headed back to Beach Club tired, but so happy!
I'm taking mental notes for next year's trip!)
DOH!
