Hiya Everybody!
After leaving the Polynesian, we decided to make a stop back at the Contemporary before heading over to the Magic Kingdom. Tink decided to stay at the hotel because she had been to the Magic Kingdom already and she liked the view from the room (I think it was because she ate too many Mickey waffles!)
Now would be a good time to mention that the week prior to our arrival, Orlando had experienced some uncharacteristically cold weather. We always expect the weather to be a little chillier in January, which is why we have created the 'no water ride' rule, but it was actually in the 20's the week before. (A little aside - once we got to WDW, we noticed almost all of the stores we went into had hats, gloves and scarves prominently displayed. Mickey never misses an opportunity!) So Frank and I had been feverishly checking the 10 day weather forecast prior to our trip. Much to our amazement and delight, the NWS was giving a thumbs up to the Orlando weather for 1/25-30/09. 70's and sunny! Oh boy, oh boy!
The actual weather for this day: Mostly sunny. Tempuratures: Mean: 64 Low: 48 High: 80!
We went downstairs and decided to use one of the unique features of the Contemporary: the walking path to MK. That's right, its the only hotel with this feature (BLT will have this too). It's a remarkably quick walk - from our balcony, it looked a lot farther than it actually is. We arrived at MK after the rope drop and made a beeline to Tomorrowland and Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin. But I stopped to take a quick picture on Main Street (am I the only one that gets teary every time I see this view?):
Not the best time of day, shadow-wise, to take a picture. But it's Main Street, so who cares!
Tomorrowland was empty! We walked right on to Buzz Lightyear. Now, I remembered Karen bragging about her 'perfect' score of 999,999 so I was determined to try my hardest. Unfortunately, I couldn't remember what to shoot at!
I know that Frank studies these things in advance and he would have been prepared, knowing exactly where to get the maximum points. I resigned myself to the fact that I would get trounced and just kept pulling the trigger in my usual clueless way. Who would have guessed that at the end of the ride, I would have
801,900 points, totally pummeling my big brother! (I can't even remember what his score was.) OK, so it wasn't a perfect score, but it was definitely my personal best!
I was slightly light-headed from my totally unexpected victory as we headed over to that Tomorrowland institution: you know it, you love it, it's the Tomorrowland Transporation Authority! I am still astounded that in a place like Disney, with all the high tech rides and attractions, that the TTA still has such a loyal, devoted following! (God help Mickey if he ever tries to remove the TTA!) We headed up the bouncy rubber ramp and were directed to an empty car. I always take the backwards seat. (I think Frank was a little disappointed because the CM wouldn't let him wait for a 'front car'.) So, off we went. Everything was just as I remember it - they are still 'Paging Mr. Morrow - Mr. Tom Morrow'. Why do we still get such a kick out of this? It's just so relaxing. We only did one loop this day, since we had other fish to fry.
We headed over to Fantasyland. Now would be a good time to mention that Mickey's PhilharMagic, my favorite thing in MK, was closed for rehab
. (I love to sit in the front row - that way I really feel like I'm in the movie and I don't have to worry about a freakishly tall guy sitting in front of me (you know who you are!)). Since we were trying to concentrate on things we either hadn't done before or hadn't done in awhile, we went on this ride:
Old fashioned, low tech ride, but still cute. I don't know how scary it was, but I enjoyed it. I have no idea why I have never been on this ride before.
Just in front on Cinderella's Golden Carousel, something caught Frank's eye. He decided to take a shot at a rather famous event:
Oh, wait. Let's get a little closer:
No luck - that sword just wouldn't budge. I guess he just wasn't meant to be king! (Please pardon the interruption: For those of you that have never seen the whole Sword and the Stone ceremony, you should definitely check it out. The kids love it. If you have a big, burly husband, make sure you volunteer him for the show. Just have the camera ready!
)
We passed the rehabbing Mickey's PhilharMagic
and decided we needed to strategize a bit. OK, we would get a Fast Pass for Peter Pan (I HATE that queue, especially when it's hot, which it wasn't this day, but I still hate it. End of mini-rant.) Head over to IASW then to HM and loop back to PPF. (Oh c'mon everybody, admit it - you do this too, right?) Got that? Fast Passes in hand (actually Frank always holds the Fast Passes, otherwise I can't find mine) we made our way to:
A little background: Frank & I are originally from Levittown, LI. We were both little kids in the 60's when our parents took us to the 1964 New York Worlds Fair, which is the first time we rode It's A Small World. So it holds a special nostalgic significance for us. We always go on this ride and we always sing. So we happily boarded our boat, waved good bye to the CM and settled in for our flashback to the 60's
Or so we thought...
Turns out we had 4 totally clueless ladies behind us that had never been on this ride before (how did that happen?) They talked through the whole ride: 'Boy, I'm going to need therapy to get this song out of my head', 'where are all these people from?' 'Why aren't there more American things - shouldn't there be an American section?' Ugh!!! Finally, when we were near the end, you know, the part where all the kids from all the countries are in their native costumes, but all the costumes are white? (It's a small world after all!) They didn't get it. 'No clue. Why are we seeing them all again?' I felt like turning around and saying please tell me where you are from so I can make sure not to go there!
We continued on with our plan. Next stop, Haunted Mansion. But first a stop at my favorite MK bathroom, the one next to Peter Pan. This one is a gem, complete with a ceramic tile ceiling border made up of farm animals:
I made Frank check the men's room and they have them too. I'm guessing nobody notices in there!
Practically no wait for the Haunted Mansion. The place looks great since the rehab and I love the updated Madame Leota and new attic room.
We headed back to Peter Pan's Flight about 5 minutes early but they let us on anyway. This is another fairly low tech ride but it always has a really long queue. Once we were on the ride, I was sorry that I had left Tink back at the hotel, since I think she would have really enjoyed this!
Next, we headed over to Frontierland. I noticed that the Liberty Belle was getting ready to depart. This fit right in with our strategy, since we hadn't done this in a long time. It was such a beautiful day, I got some really great pictures from the boat:
We were starting to get hungry (the Mickey waffles were wearing off) but I convinced Frank to make one more stop in Frontierland: The Country Bear Jamboree! I hadn't seen this in ages! It's still corny and silly, but it still made me laugh. I love the bear that sings 'Blood on the Saddle'! and the lady bear that comes down from the ceiling.
Frank decided that he REALLY wanted a taco salad. But Pecos Bill's was closed for rehab!
So we wandered over to El Pirata Y el Perico, but they no longer sell taco salads! Then I remembered from Karen's last trip that they had really liked the Columbia Harbour House, so we hiked over there. It looked really crowded, but it turns out there were a lot of empty tables upstairs (thanks Karen!) We ended up get some surprisingly tasty chicken fingers - crunchy on the outside and moist on the inside. Yummy.
After lunch, we headed for the mountains, as in Splash and Big Thunder. It seemed to have gotten much more crowded while we were eating. Since we were invoking the 'no water rides' rule, we looked down at BTM. It was about this time when we were hit by our first wave of Brazilians, wearing the same color t-shirt following a flag carrying, elbow digging tour guide. (One of my friends says that if you get behind a Brazilian tour group, a 30 minute wait turns into a 60 minute wait!) We made our escape and quickly headed for the Frontierland entrance to the Walt Disney World Railroad, which had just pulled into the station.
We blissfully rode around the perimeter of MK at a nice leisurely pace. We decided to exit at the Main Street station and head back up Main Street for a little shopping. In the watch store, I identified my next MM watch acquisition but decided to wait until the end of the week when I could use my AP discount at World of Disney.
Finally, we headed back to the monorail (oh, yes, just one stop!) and our gorgeous room for a well deserved snack and nap. We were off to the Hoop Dee Doo Revue that night.
If you made it this far, thanks for reading. This was a long one!
