librarygeek
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jan 1, 2011
Magic Kingdom Morning
We were so happy to be waking up in Animal Kingdom Lodge this morning, and not the Detroit airport! We were supposed to meet up with the bachelorette party around 10am in Magic Kingdom. The original plan was for the girls to do Magic Kingdom, and the boys to do Hollywood Studios. However, DH was coming with me just to get in at MK. I have an annual pass but he does not. However, one of my friends that was going to be at the bachelorette party is a cast member and very generously offered to let him in for free with her main gate. So he had to go there first.
We drove over to MK, parked, and then planned to take the monorail over. Well, the monorail wasn't running, so it was the ferry boat for everyone. Well, have you thought about how many people are probably waiting to get over from the parking lot to MK around 9:30am in August? A lot!
Needless to say, it took over an hour to get from AKL to the front gates of MK. In retrospect, just taking the bus would've been a much better option, but we thought it would be easier to take the car since DH planned to go over to Hollywood Studios and there's no direct route from MK to HS. Any way you slice it, it was going to take a long time.
But soon we were on the ferryboat sailing over to MK! I do enjoy the ferry... just usually on the way back or for an afternoon break, not when I'm trying to get over the park!
We met up with my cast member friend and she got DH into the park. However, he started to re-think heading over to Hollywood Studios. For one, he didn't want to spend over an hour to get over to HS after just having spent all that time to come to MK. Plus, he didn't really know any of the guys that were going to be there and was feeling a little uncomfortable. So ultimately he decided to stay with us for a bit with thoughts of going off on his own to give us some girl time. All the other girls said they had no problem with him being there though!
We then found the bride and her group! They had Space Mountain fastpasses to use, so while they were doing that we snuck off to buy her part of the wedding gift we were planning to give - a personalized picture frame. We then grabbed fastpasses for Splash Mountain, since the other girls had some for that afternoon. We all met up again at Pirates. The sign said a 55 minute wait but we figured what the heck, we'll all just hang out. Well, something was super off because we only waited about 10 minutes!
Then we split up again - most of the girls went off to use their Splash fastpasses (which turned out to be earlier than ours), and DH, myself, and two of my friends went off to find something to eat. We passed through New Fantasyland. Every time I'm there, I can't help but check up on the progress of the 7 Dwarfs Mine Coaster! I can't wait for that to open!
DH and I decided to try Be Our Guest for lunch. But they said the wait would be over an hour! So it was off to Cosmic Ray's instead. Our meals were... less than stellar. There will be more details in the dining review, but we were not impressed. However, we got to sit in the room with Sonny Eclipse and I do think that is some pretty fun entertainment for a counter service restaurant!
We then met up with the whole group again to do the Little Mermaid ride. I enjoy the movie, but was never a huge fan. However, for some reason I just adore this ride. I love everything about it, especially the Under the Sea room. And the queue is really fun too!
Next we all split up (again!) so that those of us who already ate could ride Splash Mountain, and those that did Splash already could eat. I'm glad everyone was so flexible and not concerned with staying together the whole time - that's one of the problems with touring with a big group, but this one was so easy! Dani, the bride-to-be, was so easygoing and such a calm bride! She rocks
I'm so happy I got on Splash Mountain, as it's one of my favorite rides in Disney and definitely my favorite in the Magic Kingdom.
I was inspired by one of my new DIS friends, Rob, to actually take my camera on Splash Mountain to get some pictures! I'm kind of pleased with how they turned out. Here's just a few:
I was aiming to get a good picture going just over the top. And I ended up with this:
Which I am absolutely in love with! My friend put her hand up like that for the ride photo, but it came out perfectly centered in my photo with the castle and space mountain right there in the background. I think it's pretty neat!
I think my face in the ride photo is mostly out of fear for protecting my camera, rather than the actual drop
We all met up again for a special character meet and greet, but this time DH went off on his own. He was interested in riding Haunted Mansion. One of the girls at the bachelorette party knew a cast member who is "friends with" a character, and were doing a private meet and greet with us. She said it was probably going to be Aladdin and maybe Jasmine. Who actually showed up turned out to be even better!
To be continued...
We were so happy to be waking up in Animal Kingdom Lodge this morning, and not the Detroit airport! We were supposed to meet up with the bachelorette party around 10am in Magic Kingdom. The original plan was for the girls to do Magic Kingdom, and the boys to do Hollywood Studios. However, DH was coming with me just to get in at MK. I have an annual pass but he does not. However, one of my friends that was going to be at the bachelorette party is a cast member and very generously offered to let him in for free with her main gate. So he had to go there first.
We drove over to MK, parked, and then planned to take the monorail over. Well, the monorail wasn't running, so it was the ferry boat for everyone. Well, have you thought about how many people are probably waiting to get over from the parking lot to MK around 9:30am in August? A lot!
Needless to say, it took over an hour to get from AKL to the front gates of MK. In retrospect, just taking the bus would've been a much better option, but we thought it would be easier to take the car since DH planned to go over to Hollywood Studios and there's no direct route from MK to HS. Any way you slice it, it was going to take a long time.But soon we were on the ferryboat sailing over to MK! I do enjoy the ferry... just usually on the way back or for an afternoon break, not when I'm trying to get over the park!
We met up with my cast member friend and she got DH into the park. However, he started to re-think heading over to Hollywood Studios. For one, he didn't want to spend over an hour to get over to HS after just having spent all that time to come to MK. Plus, he didn't really know any of the guys that were going to be there and was feeling a little uncomfortable. So ultimately he decided to stay with us for a bit with thoughts of going off on his own to give us some girl time. All the other girls said they had no problem with him being there though!
We then found the bride and her group! They had Space Mountain fastpasses to use, so while they were doing that we snuck off to buy her part of the wedding gift we were planning to give - a personalized picture frame. We then grabbed fastpasses for Splash Mountain, since the other girls had some for that afternoon. We all met up again at Pirates. The sign said a 55 minute wait but we figured what the heck, we'll all just hang out. Well, something was super off because we only waited about 10 minutes!
Then we split up again - most of the girls went off to use their Splash fastpasses (which turned out to be earlier than ours), and DH, myself, and two of my friends went off to find something to eat. We passed through New Fantasyland. Every time I'm there, I can't help but check up on the progress of the 7 Dwarfs Mine Coaster! I can't wait for that to open!
DH and I decided to try Be Our Guest for lunch. But they said the wait would be over an hour! So it was off to Cosmic Ray's instead. Our meals were... less than stellar. There will be more details in the dining review, but we were not impressed. However, we got to sit in the room with Sonny Eclipse and I do think that is some pretty fun entertainment for a counter service restaurant!
We then met up with the whole group again to do the Little Mermaid ride. I enjoy the movie, but was never a huge fan. However, for some reason I just adore this ride. I love everything about it, especially the Under the Sea room. And the queue is really fun too!
Next we all split up (again!) so that those of us who already ate could ride Splash Mountain, and those that did Splash already could eat. I'm glad everyone was so flexible and not concerned with staying together the whole time - that's one of the problems with touring with a big group, but this one was so easy! Dani, the bride-to-be, was so easygoing and such a calm bride! She rocks
I'm so happy I got on Splash Mountain, as it's one of my favorite rides in Disney and definitely my favorite in the Magic Kingdom.
I was inspired by one of my new DIS friends, Rob, to actually take my camera on Splash Mountain to get some pictures! I'm kind of pleased with how they turned out. Here's just a few:
I was aiming to get a good picture going just over the top. And I ended up with this:
Which I am absolutely in love with! My friend put her hand up like that for the ride photo, but it came out perfectly centered in my photo with the castle and space mountain right there in the background. I think it's pretty neat!
I think my face in the ride photo is mostly out of fear for protecting my camera, rather than the actual drop
We all met up again for a special character meet and greet, but this time DH went off on his own. He was interested in riding Haunted Mansion. One of the girls at the bachelorette party knew a cast member who is "friends with" a character, and were doing a private meet and greet with us. She said it was probably going to be Aladdin and maybe Jasmine. Who actually showed up turned out to be even better!
To be continued...
That's so sweet and I'm so honoured that you said that you have no idea!! You got some wonderful Splash photos and I LOVE THAT LAST PIC!!!! Like seriously LOVE IT!!!
Again, this is just something I've heard, I can't confirm it. But I found it interesting. And oh yeah... I LOVE THAT LAST PIC!!!!
He knew how much I enjoyed it on my last trip and wanted to make sure I had one this time around! After devouring the citrus swirl we decided to get in one more ride on Buzz Lightyear, since he had fastpasses for it. On the way we stopped for a castle picture. After all, I had pictures with all the other princes - now I needed a picture with my prince!
