Day Two
I had my alarm set for 6:00 AM, and was able to get out of bed at 6:10. Which for me, is good, since at home I'll lay in bed for an hour or so, but that's because at home, I have nothing better to do. Today, I had something ver exciting to do - go to the Magic Kingdom!
I'm always excited the first time I go to MK on every trip. I don't feel completely in Disney until I see the castle. I needed to see the castle.
I went down to Everything Pop for a soda, and to see if there was anything I wanted for breakfast. I'm not a big breakfast eater, and definatly not an egg eater. I settled on a side of potatoes to go with my diet coke. I eat so healthy in Disney, don't I? I mean, so far, I'd eaten onion rings, pigged out at Boma, (three plates is pigging out for me,) fries, and potatoes, as well as tons of soda. Oh well, at least the soda was diet. I promise, I don't eat like this at home.
I was at the bus stop before 8:00, and made it to MK before 8:15. So I had forty-five minutes to kill before the official park opening. As I was waiting at the turnstiles, (at the front of line I might add,) I saw all the little girls going to eat breakfast at CRT, and I realized that this would be the first trip that I hadn't eaten at CRT. Well, I hadn't eaten at CRT my first time in Disney either, but ever since then I had. I got a little upset by that, but not really, since I had dinner at CA Grill that night to look foward to, and I knew I was eating at CRT in a couple months anyway. The joy of having an AP, and being able to take three trips in less then a year's time.
At about 8:30, we, (me, and all the other MK-goers for the day,) were let in the turnstiles, and were allowed as far as the walkway with the
stroller rentals. At 8:50, the train came around and the Main Street song started playing on the loud-speakers. Yep, definatly did not need to bring my cds with me. There was also a multitude of characters, I do love the characters, waving, and greeting everyone to MK for the day.
At 8:55, we were let on to Main Street, and I was able to make my way to the castle to be at Fantasyland for the rope drop.
At exactly 9:00, the rope dropped, and since I was right at the front of the mob, err, crowds, and didn't have any strollers or anything to worry about, I rushed to Dumbo, and was able to get on the first ride of the day with no wait.
Last year I didn't ride Dumbo, I couldn't justify waiting an hour or more to ride something that wasn't that thrilling to me. But, it is somewhat sentimental, and I was glad I got to ride it this time.
After Dumbo, I rode the Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, Peter Pan's Flight, Snow White's Scary Adventures, and It's A Small World, in that order, all with no wait. I also grabbed a Fast Pass for Pooh right before riding it since Pooh is my favorite Fantasyland attraction, and I think it's sooo adorable.
I then walked over to Liberty Square, and since it was close by, and also, had no wait either, rode another favorite of mine, the Haunted Mansion.
It was a little past 10:00 then, so I walked over to Toon Town. I went to the Toon Town Hall of Fame, and they had Belle listed in the Princess Room, (I do not remember those signs saying whose there being there last year,) and I knew she wears her yellow ball gown when she's in Toon Town, which I didn't yet have a picture with her yet of, so I got in the Princess line. I also saw Cinderella and Snow White, all of which I've seen before, so didn't bother with autographs, I mean who needs five, six, even seven autographs of the same character? But I did get my picture taken with all of them. Pictures, you can never have enough of.
After seeing the princesses, the lines for the other two character rooms had grown considerably, so I opted not to wait for either of those. Besides, I still had ten days of vacation left, and was sure to see Mickey, Minnie, and everyone else mutiple times over the next week or so.
Instead, I went to the Toon Town train station to go to Frontierland. There was a train there just as I walked up, so I boarded. Just as the train started to pull away, I saw Pocahontas come out for meets and greets. Drats! I had never seen her before, and she was one I really wanted to meet. Why is it that whenever I'm on the train at Toon Town I see a character I need, and then I don't see them again. The last time I rode the train, which was in 1999, and had been at Toon Town station it had been the seven dwarfs, all seven of them. I did see them at
MNSSHP last year, but they weren't signing there, they were just doing pictures as a group. I'm still upset by the fact that I could of gotten their autographs almost eight years ago now, but didn't because I was one of a group of twelve, and I'm the only one who wanted to get off and get them.
Anyway, so I took the train from Toon Town to Frontierland. I was going to get a Fast Pass for Splash Mt, but the FP machines were closed. It didn't matter, Splash Mt was a walk-on. It was a little chilly that day, so I guess people didn't want to ride.
I then got a Fast Pass for Big Thunder Mt. Railroad, so I could ride it after lunch. It was then after 11:00, (the line for the princesses in Toon Town had eaten up more then half an hour,) and I had a lunch ADR at Liberty Tree Tavern at 11:30, so I started to walk over to that area.
As I was in line to check-in for lunch, some lady cut in front of me, since she had a 11:30 ADR. Huh? So did just about everyone else in the line. Sure, there was some guy at the front of the line making an ADR for that night, but everyone else was checking-in for lunch. She was also kind of rude to the hostess, saying she wanted to be seated in a certain room. Not in a nice way either, like in a "I have to be in this room, don't you dare seat me anywhere else," way. Some people.
Liberty Tree Tavern
This was my first time at Liberty Tree Tavern, and I was anxious to try it, though not as anxious as some of the other places I would also be trying.
I was seated in the George Washington room, which was nice, and away from the crazy lady who was cutting in the check-in line. It was a smaller room from what I could tell, compared to the others.
My server was Nicholas, and he was very attentive, and fast, though I wasn't rushed.
I had memorized the menus on All Ears before going to Disney, and thought I had decided on just getting appetizers. But as I was sitting there, looking at the menu, I realized I was hungry for a sandwich instead.
I had the tri-corner, which was roast beef, swiss cheese, horseradish, coleslaw, and arugula. To me, a roast beef sandwich is not complete without horseradish, so I was glad it was on the sandwich. There was a lot of meat, and a lot of bread. I actually thought the bread was on the dry side, and after eating half the sandwich, (as I was getting full,) started just picking out the roast beef.
The fries that came with the sandwich were fantastic. They were those big-fat steak fries, not those little skinny ones that don't hold up that well when dunking them in ketchup.
Speaking of ketchup, when the sandwich was originally brought out, there was no ketchup. I didn't realize it until after Nicholas had walked away. It wasn't a big deal, I would just grab him the next time he passed by. A couple minutes later, he appeared with a dish of ketchup, like he had read my mind or something.
Overall, I think Liberty Tree Tavern is a nice restaurant, though it is not a must-do for me. I'll probably return there sooner or later. Well, actually I'm eating there for the character dinner in Febuary, but I don't think it would be fair to compare the lunch and dinner, since they are so different.
Magic Kingdom
Lunch went by very quickly. I was out in the park again just after noon. I headed over to Adentureland.
The wait for Pirates of the Caribbean was only ten minutes, so I got in line. I know there's been some flaming for Disney re-doing the ride, but I loved the new additions. But that could be cause I have OCD when it comes to Johnny Depp, especially when it's Johnny Depp as Captain Jack Sparrow.
After exiting the ride I was able to catch most of Captain Jack's Pirate Turtorial. Mmm, Johnny Depp - Jack Sparrow look-alike. I was in heaven.
Anyway, after the show was over, and I was back to my usual state of mind, I walked back over to Frontierland, where I got a second Fast Pass for Big Thunder Mt. Railroad, and used my first, making my wait only five minutes.
I then went to the Frontierland train station, and took the train back to Toon Town, so over the course of the day I did have a round trip on the WDW Railroad, just not at once.
When I got off at Toon Town, I was going to check the characters again, but the lines had gotten really long. There was a mystery character in one of the rooms, so I'll always be curious as to who that was. I just hope I didn't miss anybody really rare.
I went back to Fantasyland, and was able to see one of my favorite WDW attractions; Mickey's Phillarmagic. Which is, by far, my favorite 3D show at Disney. After Phillarmagic, I used the Fast Pass for Pooh I had gotten that morning.
It was around 2:00 then, and I didn't really do anything for the next hour. I did do some window shopping, and had a dole whip. Mmm, dole whips. I walked over to where right where the parade starts, and got a spot there early, around 2:30.
I had wanted to be right in front for the parade, so I had gotten there, like I said, half an hour early. At that point, there was only a couple with a video camera with me right next to the fence, the rest of the area was empty. I was in the little corner section, right next to the crosswalk, near Splash Mt, exactly where the parade starts. It was a great spot, except for the fact that there was no shade.
Anyway, since I had gotten there so early, I was in a great spot for pictures. The CMs kept saying that people had to keep the crosswalk clear, which I was probably about two feet away from. Well, as it got closer and closer to 3:00, more people tried to stand in the crosswalk that the CMs were trying to keep clear, so they started bunching and crowding into the little corner section I was in, and trying to get in front of me. Luckily, since it was just me, I was able to hold my ground, and not get shoved in the back. But, it was annoying to have people trying to get in front of me.
The parade itself was good. The last time I had seen it, it had still been using snowglobes, but I liked the floats better without them. I didn't like the music better however, and preffered the old music.
Since I had been at the start of the parade route, and the whole thing had passed by me first, I was able to walk to Big Thunder Mt Railroad with the parade mob behing me.
The stand-by line was pretty long, and it seemed a lot of people who had viewed the parade had decided to come here next, and started to fill up the queue, and make the line even longer. I was glad a had a Fast Pass.
After riding Big Thunder Mt Railroad, I saw the Enchanted Tiki birds for the first time ever. I'm glad I saw it once, but wouldn't bother to see it again. I never really liked either of the two main characters though, Iago and Zazu.
It was a little after 4:00 then, and I did some window shopping on Main Street. I then also saw the 4:35 showing of Dream Along with Mickey, which was good. I'm in the minority though, and liked Cinderellabration better. I'm a princess girl.
After the show, it was almost 5:00, and I had a 5:40 ADR at California Grill, that I did not want to be late for, so I headed for the park exit and the monorail.
California Grill
Out of all the restaurants I tried for the first time this trip this is one of the ones I was most excited about, even though I had read some semi-negative reviews saying that the service here had been lacking recently, and that the food had gone down in quality. This was not the case, I very much enjoyed my meal.
I checked in at 5:30, and was immediatly escorted upstairs in the elevator to the 15th floor. I thought the check-in desk was a little difficult to find. I didn't see any signs on the 4th floor, and only knew to go to the 2nd floor from reading posts here.
I was seated immediatly after going upstairs, since the restaurant was basically empty, but it filled up pretty fast. As far as the dress code goes, I had worn a nice top, and a pair of capris. I didn't feel out of place at all, as most were dressed in simmilar attire. There were a few who were more dressy, and a few less dressy, and out of the dress code, but most were in business casual, and I was fine with what I had decided to wear.
When I had originally made this ADR I thought that I would be miss viewing Wishes since I had such an early dinner time. But, this was a night that
MVMCP was being held, so Wishes would be showing at 6:00, which I was informed of by the man who sat me, and my server, Laurie.
My server, Laurie, was fabulous. She shared her opinion when I asked for it, and I usually went with it.
I ended up getting a window table, and I asked Laurie if she thought it would be better to stay inside or go out to see Wishes. She said I'd have a good view from my table, and it was chilly that night, probably the coldest night of the trip, so I decided to stay inside, where it was nice and warm.
I ordered butternut squash soup as my appetizer, and for my entree, I ordered a flatbread. I was debating between the duck or black mission fig flatbreads. When I asked Laurie, she said her favorite was the black mission fig, so that's what I ordered.
I was served bread, which I believe was sourdough, which I enjoyed, though I didn't it was anything exceptional.
I was served my soup right before Wishes started. The soup, which was very good, had diced apples, and a mascarpone foam, which complmented it very nicely. It was served very hot, but as I was eating it Wishes started, and I stopped eating, as I was getting distracted by the fireworks. By the time Wishes ended I still had half a bowl of luke-warm soup left, which was still good, even at that temperature. Actually, I usually prefer things luke-warm to piping hot, though I'll get worried if it's luke-warm when I'm served it, since then I have to wonder how long it was sitting in the kitchen. But, since I knew it had only gone warm due to me watching the fireworks instead of eating I wasn't worried. Laurie was right, I did have a good view of Wishes from my seat.
After I finished my soup it was only a few minutes before my flatbread was served. As I mentioned above, I had the black mission fig flatbread, which was topped with; serrano ham, gorgonzola, arugula, and one-thousand flower honey. It was very good, though it was on the sweet side. I like sweet though, so it didn't bother me, I just wasn't expecting it to be that sweet. The fact that there was honey on it should of given me a clue. I was able to eat three-quarters of it, which is more then I ate of most of the other flatbreads I had later in the trip.
While I was eating my flatbread Laurie came around with the dessert menu, explaining that some of the desserts take awhile to make, and assemble. It's a good thing she came around with it as I was still eating my entree, since I ended up ordering one of the time-consuming ones.
I ordered the bananas and butterscotch buzz, which was caramelized bananas and butterscotch custard stack with coffee caramel, cocoa nib, and a piece of fried plantain.
I loved it. Especially the custard part, and the coffee-caramel sauce, which both complemented the bananas very nicely. Banana foster, is one of my all-time favorite desserts, and this reminded me a little of that, so it's no wonder that I enjoyed it.
When I was brought the bill, Laurie had already taken off the DDE discount without checking my card, which saved time, but this was also the only place I didn't show the card. Though I never got ID'ed when using the DDE, except once at Pop, which I thought was wierd, since the only time I got asked for my ID is when I saved about 25 cents. Dinner lasted over an hour and a half, but it seemed to move very quickly.
Day Two - Night
After dinner I was so full, and all I really wanted to do was relax in my room. I would of gone over to Epcot, except it was EMH, and I didn't feel like dealing with crowds, besides I knew I'd be there the next day.
So I took the monorail back over to the Magic Kingdom, and the bus there back to Pop.
There was actually one trip where DH and I really did oversleep. My dad woke us up to ask if we had called a cab because there was one waiting outside for us. 
We got ready SO fast! 
And then there was that trip that DH thought he left his wallet at home... 
Glad to hear you made it on time! 
Waiting for the continuation!
But, anyway, Soarin is still my favorite ride, though I never ride it without a FP unless I'm there at opening.
