JULY 6TH PART FIVE: In Which We Ride Teacups, Cars, Honeypots, and Elephants
After dinner, we headed outside and walked right onto a waiting Magic Kingdom bus. It was becoming increasingly obvious that Disney decided to schedule their buses based entirely upon when they expected my family to need one. Were that important.
The ride was uneventful. Well, uneventful except for when the Mickey Mouse Club March started playing as we pulled into MK. When that happened, I turned into one giant goosebump. The music + Bus Voice Guy + being at the Magic Kingdom gets me every time.
The Train Station!
Zip-a-dee-doo-dah was playing in the background, so I sort of half-skipped, half-marched through the tunnel and onto Main Street because thats how I roll.
I thought these plants were pretty.
THE CASTLE! MAIN STREET! TONS OF PEOPLE!
Actually the crowds werent all that terrible. It was an EMH night in July so there were definitely people there, but it wasnt as bad as it had been during previous trips. My personal space bubble was pleased.
We hung a right at the hub and headed to Tomorrowland in the hope of snagging some Space Mountain Fastpasses.
Lucky for us, FP were still available. I think they were for like 9:50 to 10:50 or something IDK. This trip report is low on actual details, but high on ridiculous, largely irrelevant commentary.
With the FP safely secured in Dads wallet, we headed back toward Fantasyland. The Mad Tea Party had a short wait, so we decided to hop in line.
That short wait turned out to be more of an average-sized wait because something happened to keep the ride from running. The giant tea pot blocked much of our view of the action, but a group of CMs were standing around one of the cups and discussing something. We figured there might have been a protein spill and I was really hoping that a Custodial CM would fly in on a mop like it was a Nimbus 2000 or something, but no luck. I guess there wasnt anything to clean up.
After the mystery issue was resolved, we waited one cycle more, and then it was time to ride. As you all know, selecting a teacup can get intense. Its not quite Walmart on Black Friday, but its close.
Theres even a bit of strategy involved if you want to secure the fastest spinning cup.
While everyone else is just standing in line staring aimlessly at whatever, youve gotta get down to business and let out your inner teacup talent scout. Im talking full-on staring down each and every cup until youve singled out the fastest, most spinny oversized piece of drinkware. Obviously speed varies a bit based on whos doing the spinning, which is why its important to scout multiple ride cycles. The best cup will make itself known.
Unfortunately, my days of teacup scouting are long gone. I just cant handle crazy spinning anymore. The Mad Tea Party is basically the gymnastics of theme park rides. Youre forced to retire young.
Anyway, now that Im over the hill, I just pray that I wont get trampled and take the first available cup.
This time, the first available cup was pink.
The death glare a little girl shot me as I sat down showed that this was clearly a mistake.
Oops.
No more pink cups for us retirees. Got it. Lesson learned.
After our tea party, we decided to do the Tomorrowland Speedway. I know that its really stupid and should probably be ripped out and replaced with something more
tomorrow, but we always have a great time. My complete inability to steer one of those little cars never fails to bring the laughs.
Here, have some atmospheric waiting-in-line photos:
I love that view.
Mom and I rode together so she could capture my skills on video so that we could laugh at them whenever we want. Unfortunately, my camera ate the footage. This was disappointing. It was a real gem of a drive. I was in tears from laughing so hard.
Next up, we decided to visit our friends in the 100 Acre Wood.
We skipped Pooh the year before, so this was our first time seeing the new queue. Its adorable!
I mean, just look how Rabbit spells cabbage:
Whats not to love?
When I saw Eeyores house, I immediately dropped down on all fours and crawled in. Take that, everyone-who-whines-about-how-the-new-interactive-queues-are-ruining-WDW-because-they-dont-have-anything-for-adults-to-do! This 22 year old had a ball.
Then I saw this and got super disappointed:
I get seriously annoyed when people cant bother to properly dispose of their trash. Like, I highly doubt those two water bottles were weighing someone down
so much that they absolutely had to leave them right there in the bushes or else their arms would fall off or something.
Though, if that was the case, I totally understand the decision.
Two bottles in the bushes are better than two bottles AND two arms (and a heck of a lot of blood).
Moving on
Sunset over New Fantasyland!
Life needs more of these signs pointing me in the direction of food:
Pooh is much better than I am at describing food.
We spent FOREVER waiting at the point where Standby merges with FP. By the time we made it to the honeypots, my back was so stiff that I really thought I was going to snap right in half when I sat down. It was definitely one of those Oh this is why we always use FP experiences.
After everyone gathered together to say Hooray, we exited through the gift shop, I fell in love with an Eeyore pillow pet, and then I took a picture with some dwarfs.
[EDIT: I have no idea why this picture isn't showing up properly. Hmmmm]
The pictures terrible, but Im posting it just in case you need a visual reference for one of my most brilliant ideas ever: Once the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train opens, Disney should sell dwarf hats. I mean, they sell hats/crowns for like every other character, so why not the dwarfs? Id be all about a purple Dopey hat. And theyd be great for family photos! Its a genius idea and everyone should bow before me in recognition of the fact that I am clearly the smartest, most hat-related innovative Disney fan.
Seriously, Disney, if you need a Hat Idea Thinker-Upper, Im willing to move to Orlando just as long as Unlimited Mickey Rice Krispy Treats are part of my contract.
Since the sun was down, I decided it was time to go check out Storybook Circus! As soon as I saw pictures, I knew I wanted my first experience with the new Dumbo to be at night. It looked absolutely gorgeous in the pictures and, in person, it didnt disappoint.
I didnt take a lot of pictures because I was more focused on absorbing the experience through my own eyes and not a camera, but I managed to take a few.
Thats part of the new indoor queue. The playground (which was adorable and not at all deserving of all the bitterness it brought out within the Disney fan community) is off to the right. There were a few kids in there playing when we walked by.
Because there was no line, we didnt have to do the pager thing. They just sent us right outside to the NEW new Dumbo (as opposed to the REPAINTED new Dumbo). Hooray for getting to fly in the other direction!
Heres Dumbo in action:
As you might remember from my last trip report, Im kind of obsessed with the way Disney is kind of obsessed with the pink/teal color combination. When I found out that theres now a pink/teal Dumbo, I swore Id ride it, even if it meant pushing small children out of my way. There was like barely anyone there, so it didnt come to that, but I was mentally prepared. I was Miss Hannigan and I was not afraid to dole out a few hard knocks.
Anyway, heres the most beautiful Dumbo to ever Dumbo from the inside:
Here are Dad and Katie in their pink/orange Dumbo:
New Dumbo is just as thrilling as old Dumbo, by which I mean its almost too thrilling for me. Im not good with heights or flying. I really enjoy things like the ground and being on it. But if I fly Dumbo up to the highest point as soon as we take off and keep it there until the ride brings us back down, I survive. I get that weird I cant tell if this is super fun or super terrifying feeling in my stomach, but I survive lol.
You walk under this sign (w/a spinning Timothy Mouse) as you exit.
I think the Believe & Soar tagline is adorably appropriate.
Could you see the pool from your room or were you more toward the playground?
