January 8th. Things are always better at the Magic Kingdom, more rides, smaller distances. Once again everyone was ready to go on time. We parked and the nice monorail drivers seemed to hold the monorail for us while MC and I caught up with the rest of the crowd. We made it in time to see the opening of the gates. Off to Space Mountain, while Gma, MC and I rode Buzz Lightyear and the TTA. Then we all gathered together and rode Buzz again. We went over to the Speedway and the kids got to ride, first time in years that we have not had to pass up this ride because of onerous waits. We did the Carousel of Progress, what fun, we love this attraction, we have the song memorized and sang all the way through. We saw Timekeeper for the first time in ages, too. But had to go back three years to 2000 to make our trips further back in time and then to the future. Sad that these two rides are probably in a swansong. See them before it is too late.
We proceeded to Fantasyland, rode Pooh, much better than the DL version, then Peter Pan and Small World. We saw the new 3-D Mickey movie, really fun, the best 3-D yet, but I must admit I missed the live performers of Lion King.
We went to the Haunted Mansion and took a bathroom-Mickey-Bar break. While we sat in front of the Mansion a really charming young servant CM from the ride, played with my mother. I wrote down his name, and have misplaced it. He really made my mom feel special, teasing her and paying a lot of attention to her. Rode the HM, my favorite. I never get tired of this one and everyone enjoyed it. Then over to Splash and Thunder Mtn, MC and Gma sat these out. It was great to ride both of these with little wait, but we were all pretty cold from getting a good dousing on Splash. Took a lunch break at Pecos Bills. The place was packed since not much was open in this sector. This restaurant is impossible to get the trays of food and a wheelchair through. Then we rode Pirates and raced back to shop for Buzz stuff, take Buzz again (Rack is a Buzz Lightyear addict) and ride the TTA with all. We got caught in the parade crowd as we tried to get out to get hats personalized on Main Street. This took forever. Bad planning to make it there just as the parade finished. If I had known it would take so long, I would have tried to get the kids hair cut at the Main Street Barber Shop, something we always do, but due to our slow speed this trip, had not worked in. (The kids looked very shaggy by the end of the trip). The kids bought a couple of pins. Looked for the locking pin backs here while we waited, but seems the whole of WDW was out.
We left on the monorail, retrieved our car and went to Animal Kingdom Lodge. We arrived early enough to look around a bit. We had a great dinner at Boma, sitting at the Africa table, a large free-form wood table. Nice service (again, the slip of paper with the CM is lost). Love the food and wine here, but alas, my favorite, the smoked tomato soup is gone. MC and Rack finally got enough to eat. Gma sat on a bench and held Whistler while he slept and the rest of us went out and talked with the CM out at the Savannah and used her night spotting scope to look at the animals. Then back to Pop and bed. You cant have a bad day at the Magic Kingdom and you cant have a bad meal at Boma. A great WDW day.
Carla
We proceeded to Fantasyland, rode Pooh, much better than the DL version, then Peter Pan and Small World. We saw the new 3-D Mickey movie, really fun, the best 3-D yet, but I must admit I missed the live performers of Lion King.
We went to the Haunted Mansion and took a bathroom-Mickey-Bar break. While we sat in front of the Mansion a really charming young servant CM from the ride, played with my mother. I wrote down his name, and have misplaced it. He really made my mom feel special, teasing her and paying a lot of attention to her. Rode the HM, my favorite. I never get tired of this one and everyone enjoyed it. Then over to Splash and Thunder Mtn, MC and Gma sat these out. It was great to ride both of these with little wait, but we were all pretty cold from getting a good dousing on Splash. Took a lunch break at Pecos Bills. The place was packed since not much was open in this sector. This restaurant is impossible to get the trays of food and a wheelchair through. Then we rode Pirates and raced back to shop for Buzz stuff, take Buzz again (Rack is a Buzz Lightyear addict) and ride the TTA with all. We got caught in the parade crowd as we tried to get out to get hats personalized on Main Street. This took forever. Bad planning to make it there just as the parade finished. If I had known it would take so long, I would have tried to get the kids hair cut at the Main Street Barber Shop, something we always do, but due to our slow speed this trip, had not worked in. (The kids looked very shaggy by the end of the trip). The kids bought a couple of pins. Looked for the locking pin backs here while we waited, but seems the whole of WDW was out.
We left on the monorail, retrieved our car and went to Animal Kingdom Lodge. We arrived early enough to look around a bit. We had a great dinner at Boma, sitting at the Africa table, a large free-form wood table. Nice service (again, the slip of paper with the CM is lost). Love the food and wine here, but alas, my favorite, the smoked tomato soup is gone. MC and Rack finally got enough to eat. Gma sat on a bench and held Whistler while he slept and the rest of us went out and talked with the CM out at the Savannah and used her night spotting scope to look at the animals. Then back to Pop and bed. You cant have a bad day at the Magic Kingdom and you cant have a bad meal at Boma. A great WDW day.
Carla
