Day 4:
How to visit the magic kingdom during peak season. Little did we know (we knew it would be busy) but the park would hit stage 2 closings today.
Wake up call for 6am and out the door with snacks and kids whining at 6:30. First bus arrives at 6:45 (I hate buses), but we are at the park at 7:00 just after EMH rope drop. First stop space fastpass and buzz ride with no wait.
Our next stop was the Indy cars, this ride is so annoying but the kids love it. There was no line but it still took us a good 10-15 mins to get to a car. They had a single lane open..ugh! Stupid, but Lily got to drive and enjoyed it.
From there we went directly to Fantasyland to ride Pooh and Dumbo. This was our first time riding Pooh since they added the interactive queue. It was cool, although there was no line so we didn't get to play very long. The honey screens are neat for a few seconds, if you wipe all the honey off they have hidden images behind the honey.
During this time we are collecting fastpasses by the handfuls. Some Peter Pan which spit out Philharmagic bonus fastpasses, do people really need those? Jumped on Small World because my wife must ride it every trip. I think the kids enjoy it also, has turned into a so bad its good ride for us.
After some time in Fantasyland we ran over to Splash and Big Thunder. Big Thunder was walk on, so we grabbed fastpasses and rode both Big Thunder and Splash. At this point we have only been in the park a little over an hour. We have fastpasses for several rides and finished the major attractions at least once already. 7am EMH is awesome.
We decide to hit pirates, but its down so we go on the jungle cruise. The posted time was 30 mins. I timed it and we were on a boat in exactly 5 mins flat.
We hang around and drive the shrunken neds boats and ride aladdins magic carpets a couple times while I run for more fastpasses on Big Thunder. We run into some friends that are here at the same time and gather up for some rides on Big Thunder and Splash again.
The girls all get into one car ahead of us and decide they have to ride with their hands up the entire time.
Starting to get busy now, really busy. So we begin to look for the lesser attractions to keep up occupied. We take a walk through the Treehouse, haven't done that in years. There is an actual wait to get in even if it is only 5 mins....still...c'mon man!
we use up some fastpasses and ride space mtn and grab more to ride again later. Time to get out of here and head for the exit. We had to wait in line to exit because they only had one gate open for people leaving, all 5 of us that were actually leaving. As we are on the bus back, people are lined up on the road and turning around since the park was at stage 2 closing.
We come back and take a nap and grab lunch in our room. Since we have dinner plans at Libery Tree we get up and head back to the park. Closings are over and the park is still packed, but not nearly as bad as it was before. We make our way down mainstreet and since the parade is about to start we find a spot to watch, might as well since you can't move anyway.
This is about the only parade I car to see anymore. The kids are the same way and don't really care for the parades much. We are off to use fastpasses for rides on buzz, splash, space, philharmagic, big thunder. The lines are crazy. Small world is backed up out of the queue area and down to almost the haunted mansion. Haunted mansion is backed up into frontierland. Glad I'm not waiting in those lines, eek.
No problems getting into Liberty Tree and we have a great meal hanging out and relaxing. Liberty Tree gets a bad rap, but we enjoy it.
Earlier in the day Trace had his photo taken on Dumbo with his grumpy stocking cap on. They mentioned he might make into the magic, memories and you show so we stayed to watch. I'm glad we did, while we didn't see him in the show, it was very cool. The projections and effects are amazing. After the show a couple more rides and my wife headed out with the two younger kids. Trace and I stayed for a few more rides, space mountain, buzz lightyear.
That was the first ride, we went again and I still beat him. I did tell him some of the high score targets so it was at least closer this time.
Our last ride for the night was stitch, while not a very good ride in my opinion, it does hold some great memories for us. Trace and I rode it several times when he was just old enough to stay out late. The two of us spent several late nights at the MK and he loves that ride. I always think of it and the times we spent just the two of us touring the magic kingdom.
Pretty short report for such a crazy day, we spent well over 12 hour total in the park and rode all the rides we wanted. The big attractions we hit 2-3 times each. While the park was as busy as it gets, with a good plan and patience we had a fantastic time. Tomorrow, a quiet day at downtown disney and shopping. If you think the parks are nuts, try the florida mall...YUK.
Snagged another set of TSM fastpasses. After TSM we were off to muppets, a family favorite. No line here either and it was still pretty early. Stopped off for a sweet dolphin Tattoo, for Lily not me, then off to ride Star Tours again. Such a great ride now that it changes every trip. I think this time we hit Hoth and the Boba Fett battle. Crowds have picked up, but lines (other than TSM) are under 20 mins. As we are heading out we of course have to take the speeder photos.
If I'm up for it I'll update a day or two today. If not I'll work on it at work Monday!
