Its Christmas Eve!
Where am I going to be???
At the Magic Kingdom, of course!
I could think of no better place in the world to be on this day. Id awoken at 2:00 am to the sounds of workers power washing the boardwalk below. I shut the balcony door and fell back asleep and awoke again just before my alarm.
Oh-my-gosh can I tell you how comfortable this bed is? Ive heard that people steal things from hotel rooms do you think anyone would notice if I pack up the bed and take it with me?
I finally am able to force myself out of (in my opinion) such luxurious comfort and quickly get ready for the day.
It's a little before 7:00 am and with my brand new Mickey Santa cap firmly place on my head; I arrive to the Boardwalk bus stop. A few families are already waiting as I plop down on a bench and begin my wait for a bus. The EPCOT resorts are known to have the
worst bus service on property.
Thats unfair if you ask me theyre all deluxe resorts. Shouldn't the deluxe resorts have the
best bus service?
Regardless if it is the best or the worst, it was only a few minutes before I spied a Magic Kingdom bus heading my way.
Surprisingly, I was the only person to get on the bus. The bus driver looked around in confusion; first at the families still gathered at the bus stop that were now glaring in jealousy at me as theyd been waiting at the stop longer than I, yet I was the one leaving first. (I tell you, I received a lot of jealous glares on this trip!
) Then the driver looked at me.
Youre the only one going to the Magic Kingdom?
I shrug, I guess so
With a shake of his head he shuts the door and off we go. I sat quietly on my solo trip to the Magic Kingdom, enjoying the peace as I knew it wouldn't last for long. There were more people around once we arrived at the park. It was an 8:00 am EMH that morning and Im second in line to put in my ticket.
To pass the time I take pictures of myself with my iphone (because thats what you do when youre solo you take pictures of yourself. It passes time.
Really
)
Finally, I get a good shot of me in my Mickey Santa hat and quickly e-mail it off, bragging to those back home (
especially co-workers that didnt take the day off and were at work) of where I was at.
Im sometimes mean like that.
They let us thru the turnstyles early and we all race ....... to a screeching halt to a rope at the train station. I can hear the opening ceremony performed above me in my current position underneath the train station and I chatted with the people around me.
Thats what you do when youre solo; you strike up conversations with others or you just unintentionally eavesdrop on their conversation and wind up joining in when you find something to say.
Either way, you just talk to others. A lot. It helps to pass the time. Really, it does.
Any of you considering a future solo trip - be taking notes here:
1) Take lots of self-photos (even if you delete them all) It can be amusing
2) Butt into others conversations and make new friends.
The family to the right of me had an accent so I questioned where they were from. Apparently, they all lived in the United States but the parents were originally from England.. or Nottingham according to the Dad. Maybe thats why I was having some trouble placing their accent? the kids accents were probably a mixture of their parents English accents combined with the American accent that they heard everyday.
I mention that my brother in-law is from Stratford-upon-Avon to which the Dad admits thats the area that hes actually from (maybe he just thought I, being an American, would recognize Nottingham more? That whole Robin Hood thing you know?) Actually, my brother in-law grew up in Wellsbourne - which is in the area of Stratford
but technicalities.... you know?
Rope Drop. Do you ever feel sorry for the CMs that do it? Seriously, theyre staring at a mass of people that want in to the park
now. I wonder if they ever fear for their lives? I never had to do a rope drop as a CM, but I often did parade duty.
Everyone takes off in another mad dash towards Tomorrowland and Fantasyland.........
except for me. A photopass photographer is standing in front of the Christmas tree! Im determined to get as many photopass pictures as possible this trip with the hope that at least three of them turn out. If I get five good ones Im doing great! So, I hand my card over to the lonely looking photographer and stand grinning with my back to a massive tree.
....ok, so I didn't like how the photo in front of the tree turned out so I'm posting
this photopass photo instead. See? This is why you take a lot of photos.
I take back my photopass card.
Thank you! Merry Christmas!
And off I race towards Tomorrowland
.... only to come to an abrupt stop behind everyone else that had made a mad dash towards the land moments ago.
Apparently, theres a second rope drop today. Ha! I had some pictures taken and am
still in the front of the line as we all power walk like mad, trying not to over take those waaay too slow CMs in the lead, towards Space Mountain.
My intention: grab a FP and then jump into the standby line. Reality: I was to the right side of the group. The FP machines were to my left. I was swept into the stand-by line without a choice. No worry, Id grab a fastpass upon my exit.
I love the Star Tunnel (they better not change that this year during the refurb). I have the music downloaded on my ipod. It is one of the most soothing sounds. If the entire queue was made up of that one section; I wouldnt have as much of a problem with waiting in a long line for the ride. Unfortunately, I barley get to hear any of music as Im quickly swept by the crowd on down to load. Im on the ride in seconds.
I had veered to my right side upon the line split. I almost always go right. I'm still trying to figure out which side is better but that's hard to do when I constantly ride only the right side track.
After a mad dash through space, Im back on earth and grabbing a fast pass for later. Originally I planned to do Buzz Lightyear next
but you know what? I stink at those games. Toy Story Mania
Buzz Lightyear
5 yr olds are seriously kicking my butt at them so Im skipping it. Im not going to blast my heart out in my best effort only to see that the score of the kid sitting in front of me is three times mine. Humph!
Instead, I grab a cream cheese pretzel from The Lunching Pad (ever tried one? Soooooooooo good. I'm drooling here. I really want one. Right Now.) and am off to the teacups to look for Alice and the Mad Hatter. I really wanted a picture with them.
Alas, they are no shows. Im standing there, disappointed and looking dejectedly at the area that you can often times find them, when I hear the perfect English accent:
Look! Its the teacup ride. I
love the teacup ride!
I turn and see a family walking in my direction, their young daughter that looked to be around eight and dressed as a princess, dancing out ahead of them in excitement. How cute. Now when she turns 18 she needs to apply to Disney for a job as Alice. Oh wait! Alice already works at Disney as herself... I mean, the little girl needs to apply as ..
eh......
She just needs to apply.
(I had fun one night on the bus back from the MK. Two men were discussing about who plays Mickey. I looked at them all innocently, What do you mean
who plays Mickey? Mickey plays Mickey! They grinned at me and finally got it.)
Still standing in front of the teacups, I thought for a moment to hop into the line, and then decided against it. I walked over to Mickeys Philihar Magic instead where I quickly encountered a problem: my pretzel.
The CM stared at me.
I stared back.
Youre not going to let me take this inside, are you?
He slowly shook his head no. A solemn look was on his face.
*sigh*
Stepping back, I shoved as much as much of the pretzel down as I could. It really was wrong of me to gobble such a yummy treat as fast as I did. I would love to have one right now they are so darn
good. Oh, wait! I already said that. But I do. They're good.
Finally finished, I enter the line for my favorite Disney show.
In case you wondered not that many, if any, of you have - here is a list of my favorites:
Favorite show: Mickeys Philihar Magic
Favorite coaster: Big Thunder Railroad Mountain (with RnR a
very close second.)
Favorite themed ride: Tower of Terror
Favorite thrill ride: Mission Space orange side, of course
Favorite nostalgic ride: Cinderellas Carousel
Favorite ride period: TTA == yes, that is too a ride!
This show is
amazing. (
Disneyland is missing out on this one!) It is one of the most amazing things that I have ever seen and it is seriously making me a Donald Duck fan. Ive never been that big on Donald until now. I really wanted something cute from the gift shop that pertained to both the show and Donald on this trip, but I could never find anything that I liked. In 2006 there was a t-shirt that I loved. Of course I didnt buy it then. Of course they no longer sell it.
Of course.
I made my way back to the teacups once again in my futile attempts to find Alice and the Mad Hatter.
*sigh*
No luck so I wondered, via Tomorrowland and the hub...
wait for the trolley to pass...
say 'hi' to the statues....
.... pictures taken, I go over to await rope drop for Adventureland, Frontierland and Liberty Square as it was now nearing 9:00.
Theres another mad dash that Im swept away in but I finally make it, in one piece, to Big Thunder Railroad Mountain.
Its too early to get another fast pass so I hit the stand-by line. (Apparently the fast pass return times for the WDW ride are no where near as quick as the ones for the DL ride, as per Hounds latest Disneyland trip report. Whats up with that???) As I walk non-stop through the queue, I realize that Im following the family that I chatted with at the train station (the one with the English parents) up the ramp but they dont notice me.
Im pretty much right on the train without having to stop. Im assigned to the last row. (Woo-hoo! My favorite!)
Next to me a Mom, Dad and teenage daughter are all planning to sit in the same row on the same train together.
I guess the Dad finally realizes that itd be a *very* tight squeeze as he asks me if I mind him sitting with me. Nope, dont mind. Hop on over.
And we ride:
Heres the thing about this ride and me: I cant stay in my seat.
Seriously.
I slide all over the place. When Im solo on the ride, it doesnt matter which side of the row I start out in because by the time we pull back into unload Im usually on the opposite side.
I warn the father of this fact. It didnt help that he had a bit more of a stomach than I do. The lap bar didnt come even near to being in my lap to help hold me in. Sure enough, the ride starts and Im practically in the mans lap. Im clinging on to my side as hard as I can, well, one handed I am, the other hand has the camera because I'm a dork that takes pictures on rides, desperately attempting to stay put. Im not all that successful.
Sadly, the ride was over. It's too short of a trip. The father seemed to have a great sense of humor
the mother and daughter seemed much quieter. I wished them all a good day, a Merry Christmas and off to the Haunted Mansion I found myself walking.
Im standing in line at load, just after the stretching room, and were at a standstill. The ride just went 101; the ghosts are up to no good.
A CM goes over to reset so everything will begin moving once again. I can't recall what the conversation was about, but I yelled out a snarky remark to the CM to no avail. My voice never carries well. The intended person never hears me pathetically attempting to be funny
just those people standing near to me giving me pitying looks at my idiotic retorts.
*sigh*
I was the wanna be class clown in school but never the class clown. Really, I was too shy to be the class clown. But all of those (in my opinion) funny, witty retorts were inside my head. Really, they were.
Oh well.
I left the ride without becoming the 100th ghost and head over to Toon Town. Im in time for rope drop
.......that will occur in fifteen minutes.
More waiting. Id hoped that theyd open a little early. Per the DIS (this great source of all things Disney) theyd quietly opened up a little early on some days when the park was expected to be busy.
Well, its Christmas Eve. Its going to be busy. But they didnt drop the rope until 10:00 and I followed the CM assigned to lead the way to see the fairies.
It was well organized. They had a person assigned for the coaster, for the fairies and for Mickey. They let everyone know who you should follow for what and which side of the crowd you needed to be on. I raced with the majority of the crowd to the Town Fair Tent (is that what its called or am I making up a name here?) and had maybe a 5 10 minute wait before I was let in. They handed out pixie sized photo pass cards (very cute) and the waiting area was really nicely done.
I dont know who any of the fairies are but Tink. I havent read the books nor do I have children to read the books to.
Im clueless.
The CM that led me into the room, and held me back for a moment to let the people in front of me finish up with the first fairy, was having fun working his job. He asked me where I flew in from and I informed him Dallas. He looked puzzled and went on about how that was a long flight and he kept looking for my wings. We were in a discussion of how I lost my wings during the long journey when the first fairy was ready to meet with me.
She wore a yellow dress.
Thats all that I can tell you about her.
Up next was Tink.
I forewarned her that a five year old would be meeting her later in the week and the most important question said five year old had is how one gets wings. She wants wings. Tink looked confused and explained that one is born with wings.
Good luck with explaining that to a five year old that desperately wants wings.
Onto the last fairy is she a garden fairy? Is there such a thing? We had an interesting conversation about her job.
It was so interesting that I can no longer remember a word of it.
Well, hey, if Im meeting characters I might as well go and say hi to the 'Big Cheese' himself. I made my way over to the Judges Tent and into the huuuuge line that went with it.
Surprisingly, the line moved fast. When I joined the line, it was almost out the door but it hardly seemed to take any time at all to reach the front of it. I chatted with a lovely extended family from Mississippi. That family never seemed to end. I didnt realize it, but when I joined the line I accidently cut into the middle of them. I was speaking with a few in front of me and suddenly more from behind me joined in. Confused I looked around exactly
how many of you are there? They just grinned and told me to move in front of them as there was only one of me. I chatted with them for the remainder of time in line; their trip was coming to an end while mine had just begun.
Quick meet with Mickey and Minnie both.
Mickey loved my ears and went on about them. He was probably tired of seeing all of the Minnie Santa ears that filled the park. Well, the
Mickey Santa hat
was better.
That why I usually drive....or take lotsa lotsa XANAX!
Lovely pics!!
Did you know that Disney went to Atlantic City to study their boardwalk in the planning stages before they built it? It does remind me of Cape May and NJ shore. I've never seen the inside of the rooms though. Just walked around there.
That's hilarious.....Dolce, you crack me up.
You found me...well, you found someone close to who you described above (take out the mega-rich part -- although I'm working on that 
So, here I am, drifting along, listing to the soothing music when
