Best Birthday Ever! - my (very first) July 2018 trip report

[obisbondgirl]

Fellow Canadian following along!

Welcome! Thanks for reading!

 

[LeiaIsAPrincess2]

Loving your report! Your room upgrade sounds so magical

 

[obisbondgirl]

Loving your report! Your room upgrade sounds so magical

Thank you!

I like your username & kitty profile pic aha.

 

[Newsies]

I'm loving this trip report so much!! You put so much detail into your writing and you're so passionate about all the little things you encountered, you sound like such a fun person to be around!!

 

[obisbondgirl]

I'm loving this trip report so much!! You put so much detail into your writing and you're so passionate about all the little things you encountered, you sound like such a fun person to be around!!

Aww that's really such a nice thing to say! Thank you!!

I was worried I was rambling on aha but I appreciate everyone reading & leaving such nice comments!

Next time I would like to take more pictures aha. More pictures less words will be the goal lol.

 

[obisbondgirl]

Day 2 - Magic Kingdom Extravaganza (Part 1)

Thankfully our new club room was nice and quiet and we were able to get some much needed rest. I feel like I still woke up relatively normal on this day, where as I reverted to my teen years after this and just could not wake up lol. We did a lot of stuff! Amazing stuff but tiring stuff too aha.

Annoyingly things did not get off to a perfect start however. We wanted to take showers before we got going, but the knob that you turn the water on with was just spinning around and around, no water. I decided to just ask the concierge desk outside our room (where Pete had welcomed us yesterday) rather than go down to the lobby. And I've learned from these boards never to call on your in room phone if there's an urgent issue aha.

Unfortunately the CM at the desk was just... in a mood or something? Except we saw him many times after that and he stayed the same. If I'm keeping in the theme of comparing CM's to Disney characters, this guy was like a really... "witchey" Eeyore lol. Which is not really fair to the real Eeyore honestly. This guy's face was very "why even bother" in a constant state of mope, and then you'd try to talk to him and get major attitude. I feel bad cause I'm the kind of person who will always give the benefit of the doubt, but this guy was so consistently jerky through the week that I actually mentioned him by name as being an example of bad service lol when I sent my email thanking all the CM's who had been great to us. Thinking I shouldn't have done that but... this guy shouldn't be in a customer facing position let alone club level, in my opinion anyways.

I mentioned the issue to him and asked what the best way would be to resolve the issue quickly? And he did some typing on his computer and said in his monotone voice "I put a ticket in". I thanked him but re-iterated that we had a very busy day today and we really wanted to get this fixed pronto so we could take showers. Could he flag the ticket as urgent for us in some way? He did this big exasperated sigh as if I was asking him to fix it himself or something "ughhhhhhhhhhhh.... no". Ok so could he tell me how long it would take to get fixed? Now he got cranky "I don't KNOW! Call maintenance". You guys ever seen the movie Christmas Vacation? Where the two yuppies are yelling "I don't KNOW Margot! I don't KNOW Todd!" at each other lolol? That is what this guy reminded me of.

Anyways I was pretty peeved at this point and was aware I was not getting anywhere with this guy so I headed back to the room. It was just a really bizarre conversation because I honestly just wanted to ask him "what is your issue??" lol. I did the dreaded thing and actually called maintenance on the phone. They had just received the ticket that cranky had put in. And yes of course they could flag it as urgent and someone would be right up! Ahhh there you see? Customer service rofl!

There was a knock soon enough and it was a maintenance lady. I kinda wanted to high five her lol, I get excited when I see ladies in male-dominated roles lolol. My mum is super handy where as I am not, so she and the maintenance lady were in the bathroom discussing as she took everything apart. Something got stripped? This is the extent my understanding rofl. She would have to call for the plumber and this might take awhile. Arghhh... well our lunch at Be Our Guest was not till 1:30 at least.

We asked if we could head to the lounge and grab some breakfast while the maintenance lady was working, which she was cool with. This was our first club lounge experience aha.

It's pretty funny cause we were discussing like "do you think the club lounge CM's know we've been upgraded? Or should we like tell them? Are they gonna be staring at us?". So we scurried up to the podium outside the lounge like "Oh um hi! Yeah so we just got upgraded yesterday to club level, and um we've never been here before so... can we just go in or???". And I'm pretty sure it was Lorenzo and he just nodded and said "I bet you were so shocked huh?! I just love seeing people's faces when they get upgraded!". And then he was laughing so hard. Not like at us obviously lol, just probably at our grovelling LOL. But it definitely set the tone. Like we thought it would be really stuffy up there I guess? I really didn't know anything about club level at all other than "it costs a lot and the more you pay the more things you get" rofl. But no, Boardwalk club level at least was super relaxed and fun, definitely not stuffy!

Lorenzo gave us a tour of all the things they had. It was a continental breakfast so no hot items, but they did have hot porridge. There were some cold meats and cheeses, and smoked salmon on little toasts. The rest was bread, bagels, and pastries. We were still pretty timid so I think we just nibbled, by end of trip we were loading our plates lolol.

I admit that my first impressions of the club level lounge were mixed. It reminded me very strongly of the work conferences I have been to rofl. Which for some reason put me off a bit lol. I can't have work seeping into my Disney bubble!! But also I hadn't developed a rapport with the CM's there yet, or tried all of the yummy things. Probably of all the things we did this trip, I miss most going to that lounge each morning aha.

We headed back to the room and there were now three people there, the maintenance lady, her assistant, and the plumber. Oh boy we were worried, might have to just have a stinky day in the Magic Kingdom rofl. We waited a bit, and then ah! The sound of water! Hooray! We thanked the maintenance lady and her team and hastily cleaned up.

I don't know what time it was, but I was in a paranoid state this morning about getting to Be Our Guest on time. All of my prior experience with the Magic Kingdom was that you go to the ticket & transportation centre first and then have to get to Magic Kingdom. And we had to take a bus this time, no quick boat to Epcot aha. So it was going to take like hours to get there in my mind rofl.

We headed for the bus and the wait was uneventful. There weren't very many people waiting which surprised me, but I guess most people going to Magic Kingdom were already there at that point. The bus driver was really nice. I remember him because after he locked my chair in, he started pulling stuff out of his pockets and I was kinda like uh what? lol. But he had this massive stack of like trading cards lol. And he counted them out and every 5th one he set aside. And when he was done he said "that's the full set!" and gave them to me. They were Disney bus trading cards! Like literally all the different buses of Disney World lol, and like facts and stuff on the back. I have to look at them again but there's like "the Nova", "the extended Nova" etc etc etc. And it tells you like how many passengers it holds and stuff rofl. If there's kings and queens of buses then there has to be a court of buses too. This guy is definitely master of buses! At that point I think he had all the sets separated and as people got on the bus he gave the other sets to kids aha.

Remember I still had it in my head that we'd be stopping at the TTC first aha. I saw the Magic Kingdom entrance sign, like where cars pull up to the gate, and assumed we were basically at the TTC. But then we kept going and going and were eventually back out onto normal Disney streets lol. I was thinking oh no did the bus master get lost?? No bus master I have a BOG reservation to get to!!! But you should never doubt the bus master lol. Because he pulled up to a bus shelter just outside the Magic Kingdom entrance! Oh man mum and I were shocked, we by-passed the TTC! Amazing!

We thanked the bus (master) driver and were under the bus shelter now. The rain had stopped. I made the mistake of saying this out loud. Mum said "yes it's all gone..." and there was this massive CRACK! right next to us. We felt this whoosh of heat also. Literally a lightening strike had happened just outside the bus shelter, very very near us. I've never been that close to lightening before, we felt the heat! People were pretty upset and some CM's came and asked if everyone was ok and was anyone hurt. Luckily everyone, including us was ok.

Mum was pretty shaken up though as she has a fear that I'll get struck by lightening as I spend my days rolling about on a metal contraption aha. We waited a bit and after hearing no other thunder we kept going. We hurried under the monorail track and to the security check. Mum and the security person were chatting about the crazy lightening strike when there was another one just behind us! I'm honestly thinking maybe it was the monorail track that was attracting the lightening? Because each time that is where it seemed to hit. It was very weird though because it was cloudy but there was no rain and no like obvious storm either? But now I was a bit spooked honestly.

We were earlier than we expected to be, and mum had been looking to get a hat, so I advised we duck into The Chapeau for a bit and wait out the crazy lightening. Mum did find a hat she really liked, it reminded me of like a 1920's style hat, and it had a little Mickey head brooch on the front that held a red polka dot ribbon (like Minnie's dress) that ran all the way around the hat, in place. It was quite funny because when she put it on, several people who were also shopping said "oh you must get that hat, it looks great on you!" aha, very cute.

Mum had a hat that she didn't need at this point aha. But it did seem much brighter than before so we decided to make our way to Be Our Guest. It was kind of a bummer though because really there's nothing like walking down Main Street that gives you that Disney feeling. But we were pretty scared of the lightening this time, and just hustled our way as fast as we could. Mum did ask if I wanted a picture in front of the castle but I was in full "must go faster" mode lol. That's the great thing about a longer trip though. We were able to come back and have much better experience later on.

We'd planned to go under the castle on our way because also it's not a trip to Magic Kingdom if I haven't seen the beautiful Cinderella mosaics. But it was blocked off so we had to go around. Not sure if the castle is blocked off all through the day for the stage shows? We saw fireworks go off every few hours but I'm not exactly sure what show that is. Still I was pretty bummed because my whole "entrance" into Magic Kingdom did not go as planned lol.

At last we made it to Be Our Guest and I wedged myself under the "rocks" surrounding Beast's castle to keep me out of lightening harm lol. Honestly though our whole walk in there was no thunder or lightening, it really did seem to just be right around the monorail track at the entrance.

I think I will end off here as this is already long. Keep an eye out for Part 2!

 

[obisbondgirl]

Day 2 - Magic Kingdom Extravaganza (Part 2)

Lol the title of this part of the report looks like the title of a hollywood sequal lol.

Last we left off we had made safely it to Be Our Guest. I'd convinced Mum to pre-order our food on our arrival day as I'd heard it helps cut the line. I'd intended to use mobile ordering more this trip but this was the only time I tried it given most of our quick service meals ended up being eaten in the lounge. Not sure if it's just BOG but I wasn't able to pre-order on the app, I had to go onto the Disney site to order.

In any case we checked in and waited a bit outside. The CM called our names and we went in and she scanned our magic bands. She got really excited that we pre-ordered and multiple CM's were shouting "pre-order, we got a pre-order here!" excitedly. Quite funny, I'm glad we could make their day lol. We passed a narrow hallway jammed full of people, I guess that's where you go to order? And a new CM gave us our receipt and told us to head right into the ballroom and find a seat. I'm not sure if we missed out on theming or anything by skipping the order line. But I was honestly really happy we pre-ordered because it just didn't look fun to wait in that line, and we walked right into the ballroom. Which honestly was quite empty and quiet? Totally different than what I was expecting. I wanted to see "out the window" lol so we headed to the back and easily found a seat.

Mum thought it was funny because I was entranced by the magic falling virtual snow ahaha. And I HATE snow with a deep passion, unfortunately I see a lot of the real version back home lol. I tried to take a picture of the window but it didn't turn out.

Skipping a detailed meal review again, I thought this was really good value for what we received. The ballroom was absolutely stunning to me. Like I felt like I was walking into the movie. And it didn't feel like the rowdy theme park meal I was expecting, it was fairly peaceful in there. The food was not amazing but not bad either. It was essentially dressed up cafeteria food. Still this was only slightly more expensive than the two other quick service meals we did eat, and it definitely had the best ambiance. However I am not sure if I would eat here again, as I've now seen what it looks like inside and the food would not make me come back. I'd probably have to come back with someone else who had not been inside aha.

We wandered into the other rooms on our way out. I had posted a thread on the boards before our trip, hoping I would not have to eat in the West Wing lol. It wasn't quite as scary as I thought it would be. I never did hear any thunder while we were in there, and again it really did look (to me) just like the West Wing from the movie. I'm still not sure I would want to eat a meal in here though.

The music room was probably the least interesting room to me, the big draw for me was how much the other rooms looked like the movie. This room was not modeled after the movie but the paintings on the walls were quite pretty I thought.

We took some pictures on our way out of the ballroom and the beautiful mosaic in the lobby, though mine came out a little fuzzy. I'd initially had a Small World fastpass for 3pm but I'd moved it up as we were early. Unfortunately it was now pouring rain so we put our raincoats on and dashed over to Small World. I'd convinced mum that we needed to buy light weight rain coats for our trip, as I really dislike ponchos, they're not made for pushing a wheelchair aha. This was honestly the best decision, I was very pleased with myself. Bought them when Sportchek had a big sale and they worked great all trip!

You may be wondering why on earth would you fastpass Small World aha, I know it is not necessarily beloved aha. But this is my mum's favourite and I really like it too. Both of my parents are first generation Canadians, and my mum is also bilingual. My dad's family is British so I think coming to Canada was maybe a little easier on them, as they spoke the language and the culture is not so different. But coming to Canada from another culture and speaking another language is a big part of my mum's identity, and she says Small World reminds her of that.

For me, I love the "OG" Disney rides because I am always thinking of the Imagineers from back then who were able to achieve so much without the benefit of technology that we have now. Sure you can tell these rides are older, but to me that is part of their charm. Someone carved and painted all those dolls I bet, and somehow got them all to sync up to music lol. I really don't know how they did it but I think it's amazing! And I also strongly support the message behind the ride, I think in today's political climate it is maybe more important than ever!

We exited Small World and unfortunately it was still pouring out. I tried in vain to move up our Haunted Mansion fastpass from 4pm but no luck. I'd heard that rain can be a blessing as it clears out the park, but we didn't experience this, it seemed to make the park busier honestly.

Mum wanted to visit some stores in the Liberty Square/Frontierland section of the park so we headed that way and figured we'd shop until our fastpass came up. We went inside the Christmas shop in Liberty Square first. They had these very large ornaments that were basically snow globe sized, that was a glass dome with Mickey ears, and inside were the icons of all 4 parks (castle, Spaceship Earth, Tree of Life, Tower of Terror). This was the kind of unique Disney merchandise I was looking for! Though honestly I don't intend to hang it on a tree, I'm going to just display it aha. Again I haven't unboxed it yet (I took this week off too and spent it at my parents) so I'll have to upload pictures once I get home and open everything aha.

There were ropes set up outside when we exited the store, I'd forgotten about the 3pm parade. However they kept making announcements that it was delayed. It ended up being delayed for an hour, it was just starting as we tapped in for Haunted Mansion. I think it's kind of annoying that they leave all the ropes up for an hour aha. And the CM's are telling you to get off the road etc. I'm not going to be a jerk to a CM, but also it is a little funny when they tell you to clear the road just after the announcer says it's delayed indefinitely aha.

Mum wanted to go to a kitchen store that she swore was in Frontierland so we headed there next. We couldn't find it it and went into the candy store, where she thought the kitchen store was supposed to be. She chatted with an older CM who said this was indeed a kitchen store a while back but was now a candy store. I thought it was neat that we actually met a CM who knew what we were talking about aha, my poor mum thought she was going crazy. But she wasn't, just a lot had changed in 4+ years.

By now it was getting nearer to 4pm so we headed back to Haunted Mansion. We waited on the side of where the entrance is, and were looking out across a body of water. I think this might be where Tom Sawyer Island is, with the rocking chairs but I'm not sure? The rain had finally stopped thankfully. We could see the parade going across the water so that was kind of neat. We watched it for awhile but then it was 4pm so we decided to head in to Haunted Mansion.

It sounds really dumb but I used to get stressed riding this ride because of the moving walkway lol. I am actually able to walk technically, but I have to use a walker or something where I'm essentially holding myself upright. So as a kid the CM would always ask us, can you walk up to the ride vehicle and we'd just say yes and my dad would help me. But oh my gosh moving walkways. Think of like something that is really hard for you, like you have to use all of your concentration just to do it on normal ground lol. And then someone ups the difficulty and now you have to do it while the ground is moving lol. Ahhh I really don't like them! And now with my mum with me, it's harder for her to bear my weight... So I was pretty apprehensive about this ride. I'd read on the disability forums here that some of the moving walkways can't be stopped like people mover or Peter Pan. But I worked up the courage to at least ask the CM here. And they could stop it! They could stop the walkway and I could board at the exit! Once I got up to the doom buggies that is, no skipping the line. But oh my gosh what a game changer!

It was way, way easier to board at the exit on level ground aha. And now that I didn't have "moving walkway stress" I was able to enjoy the ride so much more! I really liked it aha. It's extremely detailed and each time I rode I noticed new things. Haunted Mansion is now up there with Pirates as my go-to Magic Kingdom rides!

Speaking of, we had a fastpass for Pirates next so we headed there after exiting Haunted Mansion. We browsed the Pirates gift shop but didn't find anything interesting sadly. I used to be able to spend days in here. I have multiple t-shirts, magnets, I have a little snow globe on my desk with the pirates skull inside. During the Beach Club trip I found this Jack Sparrow... statue? Doll? Model? Lol I don't know what to call it but it was about 1.5 times as big as a Barbie doll but much better made, like very strong plastic and an incredibly detailed model, like his coat and the beads in his hair and everything. The whole thing is hard plastic and it doesn't have that creepy uncanny valley doll look, it looks quite real. This is honestly the coolest thing I've ever bought at Disney and I'll never forget carrying it over to my parents and asking "CAN I KEEP IT???" lol. But alas it seemed to again to just be generic stuff in the store, like pirate swords and eye-patches and stuff. Even the t-shirts no longer appealed to me.

We debated trying a Dole Whip or a citrus swirl, neither of which I had ever had at that point lol. But we were getting kind of worn out and really thirsty for just actual water aha. So we sat on this giant circular flower planter bench thing just outside of Pirates and had a drink and waited for our 5pm fastpass. A lady came out and announced that the Jack Sparrow pirate tutorial show was starting soon, and then Gibbs (is it supposed to be Gibbs?) came out the same door right next to us and started the show. So we kinda realized, holy cow Jack is gonna come out right next to us. So we got our cameras ready and snapped pictures of poor Jack as soon as he came out the door. His surprised expression was pretty hilarious. I felt like a TMZ photographer or something lol, ambushing poor Jack.

Our fastpass time was here so we headed onto Pirates. This was another bit of apprehension for me as I definitely remembered the boats being very low, a big step in and out that I was worried I couldn't make without my dad basically lifting me. But I must have remembered it worse than it actually was, the first time was a little tricky but I was a pro at getting in and out after that.

I really love this ride. It really feels so real to me, and again what's amazing is that it's not "new" by any means though they have made changes to it over the years. I don't really remember the ride pre-Jack insertion lol, so it doesn't bother me so much. This was my first time riding after the "red head" upgrade, but I think the timing of our boat was such that I didn't really hear much of her dialogue. Definitely my favourite room is Barbossa's ship attacking the fort. It's probably all optical and sensory illusions but it just feels so real and incredibly grand. I also like peeking up at the drunk pirate's hairy leg as you pass under the bridge lolol.

The original plan was that we would stay in the park and have quick service dinner and then camp out for a good Happily Ever After Spot. However it had rained for a good chunk of our time in the park and we had gotten kind of damp despite our rain gear. Also this park is just always a mad-house, I was getting a little tired of people-dodging. So we decided to head back to the hotel and have dinner and then go back around 8 to get a spot for HEA.

I don't recall the bus back to the Boardwalk so it must have been uneventful aha. We made it back and changed into dry clothes and already felt much better. Pete was on duty at the concierge desk again, I think he must have had the afternoon/evening shift each night aha, so we said hello and chatted about our day. Then we headed for the lounge, our first club lounge dinner! To be continued in Part 3!

 

[dvc at last !]

Wow - I am enjoying reading your TR !

Lots of Pixie Dust. - a great adventure and Club Level !

You are a great writer.

 

[dvc at last !]

I do love your beautiful City. Have been there many times !

We use the Buffalo, NY Airport also.

 

[obisbondgirl]

Wow - I am enjoying reading your TR !

Lots of Pixie Dust. - a great adventure and Club Level !

You are a great writer.

I do love your beautiful City. Have been there many times !

We use the Buffalo, NY Airport also.

Aww thank you so much! Thank you for reading

Glad you have enjoyed visiting! I've actually never flown out or in to Canada aha. Some day I'll have to try it!

 

[Where'sPiglet?]

I'm really enjoying your trip report!

Day 2 - Magic Kingdom Extravaganza (Part 1)

Thankfully our new club room was nice and quiet and we were able to get some much needed rest. I feel like I still woke up relatively normal on this day, where as I reverted to my teen years after this and just could not wake up lol. We did a lot of stuff! Amazing stuff but tiring stuff too aha.

Annoyingly things did not get off to a perfect start however. We wanted to take showers before we got going, but the knob that you turn the water on with was just spinning around and around, no water. I decided to just ask the concierge desk outside our room (where Pete had welcomed us yesterday) rather than go down to the lobby. And I've learned from these boards never to call on your in room phone if there's an urgent issue aha.

Unfortunately the CM at the desk was just... in a mood or something? Except we saw him many times after that and he stayed the same. If I'm keeping in the theme of comparing CM's to Disney characters, this guy was like a really... "witchey" Eeyore lol. Which is not really fair to the real Eeyore honestly. This guy's face was very "why even bother" in a constant state of mope, and then you'd try to talk to him and get major attitude. I feel bad cause I'm the kind of person who will always give the benefit of the doubt, but this guy was so consistently jerky through the week that I actually mentioned him by name as being an example of bad service lol when I sent my email thanking all the CM's who had been great to us. Thinking I shouldn't have done that but... this guy shouldn't be in a customer facing position let alone club level, in my opinion anyways.

I mentioned the issue to him and asked what the best way would be to resolve the issue quickly? And he did some typing on his computer and said in his monotone voice "I put a ticket in". I thanked him but re-iterated that we had a very busy day today and we really wanted to get this fixed pronto so we could take showers. Could he flag the ticket as urgent for us in some way? He did this big exasperated sigh as if I was asking him to fix it himself or something "ughhhhhhhhhhhh.... no". Ok so could he tell me how long it would take to get fixed? Now he got cranky "I don't KNOW! Call maintenance". You guys ever seen the movie Christmas Vacation? Where the two yuppies are yelling "I don't KNOW Margot! I don't KNOW Todd!" at each other lolol? That is what this guy reminded me of.

Anyways I was pretty peeved at this point and was aware I was not getting anywhere with this guy so I headed back to the room. It was just a really bizarre conversation because I honestly just wanted to ask him "what is your issue??" lol. I did the dreaded thing and actually called maintenance on the phone. They had just received the ticket that cranky had put in. And yes of course they could flag it as urgent and someone would be right up! Ahhh there you see? Customer service rofl!

There was a knock soon enough and it was a maintenance lady. I kinda wanted to high five her lol, I get excited when I see ladies in male-dominated roles lolol. My mum is super handy where as I am not, so she and the maintenance lady were in the bathroom discussing as she took everything apart. Something got stripped? This is the extent my understanding rofl. She would have to call for the plumber and this might take awhile. Arghhh... well our lunch at Be Our Guest was not till 1:30 at least.

We asked if we could head to the lounge and grab some breakfast while the maintenance lady was working, which she was cool with. This was our first club lounge experience aha.

It's pretty funny cause we were discussing like "do you think the club lounge CM's know we've been upgraded? Or should we like tell them? Are they gonna be staring at us?". So we scurried up to the podium outside the lounge like "Oh um hi! Yeah so we just got upgraded yesterday to club level, and um we've never been here before so... can we just go in or???". And I'm pretty sure it was Lorenzo and he just nodded and said "I bet you were so shocked huh?! I just love seeing people's faces when they get upgraded!". And then he was laughing so hard. Not like at us obviously lol, just probably at our grovelling LOL. But it definitely set the tone. Like we thought it would be really stuffy up there I guess? I really didn't know anything about club level at all other than "it costs a lot and the more you pay the more things you get" rofl. But no, Boardwalk club level at least was super relaxed and fun, definitely not stuffy!

Lorenzo gave us a tour of all the things they had. It was a continental breakfast so no hot items, but they did have hot porridge. There were some cold meats and cheeses, and smoked salmon on little toasts. The rest was bread, bagels, and pastries. We were still pretty timid so I think we just nibbled, by end of trip we were loading our plates lolol.

I admit that my first impressions of the club level lounge were mixed. It reminded me very strongly of the work conferences I have been to rofl. Which for some reason put me off a bit lol. I can't have work seeping into my Disney bubble!! But also I hadn't developed a rapport with the CM's there yet, or tried all of the yummy things. Probably of all the things we did this trip, I miss most going to that lounge each morning aha.

We headed back to the room and there were now three people there, the maintenance lady, her assistant, and the plumber. Oh boy we were worried, might have to just have a stinky day in the Magic Kingdom rofl. We waited a bit, and then ah! The sound of water! Hooray! We thanked the maintenance lady and her team and hastily cleaned up.

I don't know what time it was, but I was in a paranoid state this morning about getting to Be Our Guest on time. All of my prior experience with the Magic Kingdom was that you go to the ticket & transportation centre first and then have to get to Magic Kingdom. And we had to take a bus this time, no quick boat to Epcot aha. So it was going to take like hours to get there in my mind rofl.

We headed for the bus and the wait was uneventful. There weren't very many people waiting which surprised me, but I guess most people going to Magic Kingdom were already there at that point. The bus driver was really nice. I remember him because after he locked my chair in, he started pulling stuff out of his pockets and I was kinda like uh what? lol. But he had this massive stack of like trading cards lol. And he counted them out and every 5th one he set aside. And when he was done he said "that's the full set!" and gave them to me. They were Disney bus trading cards! Like literally all the different buses of Disney World lol, and like facts and stuff on the back. I have to look at them again but there's like "the Nova", "the extended Nova" etc etc etc. And it tells you like how many passengers it holds and stuff rofl. If there's kings and queens of buses then there has to be a court of buses too. This guy is definitely master of buses! At that point I think he had all the sets separated and as people got on the bus he gave the other sets to kids aha.

Remember I still had it in my head that we'd be stopping at the TTC first aha. I saw the Magic Kingdom entrance sign, like where cars pull up to the gate, and assumed we were basically at the TTC. But then we kept going and going and were eventually back out onto normal Disney streets lol. I was thinking oh no did the bus master get lost?? No bus master I have a BOG reservation to get to!!! But you should never doubt the bus master lol. Because he pulled up to a bus shelter just outside the Magic Kingdom entrance! Oh man mum and I were shocked, we by-passed the TTC! Amazing!

We thanked the bus (master) driver and were under the bus shelter now. The rain had stopped. I made the mistake of saying this out loud. Mum said "yes it's all gone..." and there was this massive CRACK! right next to us. We felt this whoosh of heat also. Literally a lightening strike had happened just outside the bus shelter, very very near us. I've never been that close to lightening before, we felt the heat! People were pretty upset and some CM's came and asked if everyone was ok and was anyone hurt. Luckily everyone, including us was ok.

Mum was pretty shaken up though as she has a fear that I'll get struck by lightening as I spend my days rolling about on a metal contraption aha. We waited a bit and after hearing no other thunder we kept going. We hurried under the monorail track and to the security check. Mum and the security person were chatting about the crazy lightening strike when there was another one just behind us! I'm honestly thinking maybe it was the monorail track that was attracting the lightening? Because each time that is where it seemed to hit. It was very weird though because it was cloudy but there was no rain and no like obvious storm either? But now I was a bit spooked honestly.

We were earlier than we expected to be, and mum had been looking to get a hat, so I advised we duck into The Chapeau for a bit and wait out the crazy lightening. Mum did find a hat she really liked, it reminded me of like a 1920's style hat, and it had a little Mickey head brooch on the front that held a red polka dot ribbon (like Minnie's dress) that ran all the way around the hat, in place. It was quite funny because when she put it on, several people who were also shopping said "oh you must get that hat, it looks great on you!" aha, very cute.

Mum had a hat that she didn't need at this point aha. But it did seem much brighter than before so we decided to make our way to Be Our Guest. It was kind of a bummer though because really there's nothing like walking down Main Street that gives you that Disney feeling. But we were pretty scared of the lightening this time, and just hustled our way as fast as we could. Mum did ask if I wanted a picture in front of the castle but I was in full "must go faster" mode lol. That's the great thing about a longer trip though. We were able to come back and have much better experience later on.

We'd planned to go under the castle on our way because also it's not a trip to Magic Kingdom if I haven't seen the beautiful Cinderella mosaics. But it was blocked off so we had to go around. Not sure if the castle is blocked off all through the day for the stage shows? We saw fireworks go off every few hours but I'm not exactly sure what show that is. Still I was pretty bummed because my whole "entrance" into Magic Kingdom did not go as planned lol.

At last we made it to Be Our Guest and I wedged myself under the "rocks" surrounding Beast's castle to keep me out of lightening harm lol. Honestly though our whole walk in there was no thunder or lightening, it really did seem to just be right around the monorail track at the entrance.

I think I will end off here as this is already long. Keep an eye out for Part 2!

What a frustrating experience with the sprinkler! I'm glad they were able to get it fixed rather quickly, although the response from the guy at the club desk was bizarre.

Somehow I did not know about these transit trading cards. They sound fantastic!

The lightning sounds terrifying! I'm glad everybody was okay. I just got back and my Wunderground app had one of those official National Weather Service alerts and it mentioned lightning can strike 10 miles from a thunderstorm!

 

[obisbondgirl]

I'm really enjoying your trip report!



What a frustrating experience with the sprinkler! I'm glad they were able to get it fixed rather quickly, although the response from the guy at the club desk was bizarre.

Somehow I did not know about these transit trading cards. They sound fantastic!

The lightning sounds terrifying! I'm glad everybody was okay. I just got back and my Wunderground app had one of those official National Weather Service alerts and it mentioned lightning can strike 10 miles from a thunderstorm!

Aha yeah it was odd that the shower was completely broken & they had to call a plumber. Kind of wondering when it was last used!

Yeah the transit cards are neat! I've never seen them before.

And yeah the lightening was really unnerving! Luckily we were under cover each time!

 

[dvc at last !]

When we go to Toronto we drive. We live close enough.
I did fly into/from Montreal once.

I have never seen the Transit Cards either.

We have been stuck under cover during some of those lightening storms. When it rains it pours !

 

[deedeezee]

Enjoying your report! I love a lot of the "old" rides, too, and Small World will always hold a special place in my heart!

 

[jchurch0409]

Following along!

 

[cinderaimee]

Following along! I am really enjoying your TR. We stayed at the BW in 2016 and loved it! What a great surprise to be upgraded to concierge level!

Edit to add: Another Tim Tracker fan here and I love your "King of the Bus" references lol

 

[obisbondgirl]

Day 2 - Magic Kingdom Extravaganza (Part 3)

Sorry to keep you guys hanging aha, long weekend interruptions!

We were headed to the club lounge for our first dinner there, after our afternoon at Magic Kingdom. This time we just walked right in, no grovelling LOL. Pete at the desk had told us it was "noodle night" tonight made me think of like ramen or something lol. But it was more like a noodle stir-fry. Each of the dinners at Boardwalk club level were taken from the menu of one of the Boardwalk restaurants, tonight's was from ESPN. The chef was very energetic, he kept saying "it's a good night! Noodle night! Wooo!" lol. Neither mum and I can remember his name unfortunately, but we did notice his name-tag said he was from Nassau, Bahamas, which my mum and him chatted about. My parents love Nassau and have been many times over the years.

I was still not sure what to think of the lounge so I was mildly concerned I wouldn't be able to last through extra magic hours tonight on a cup of noodles aha. But we went up after to tell the chef it was really good and he said we could have more lol! The ability to get seconds really bumped up my opinion of club level lol, even if it also makes me a pig. There was also.... like sushi'd tuna on a nacho chip which I was concerned about trying aha as I usually just eat all the cooked meat offerings if I go to a sushi place. The "squishiness" of sushi is disturbing to me lol. But the tuna sushi thing was actually really good! I think there is a specific name for it but I can't remember. But it was quite salty which I love lol.

I don't think I had any of the other appetizer things at dinner tonight, we just had the main dishes. We were still very much "lounge newbs" lol.

I was feeling like I needed some coffee, as Magic Kingdom was open till 1am tonight and I wanted to last as long as I could. Back in my uni days this would be no sweat but now that I am an old working woman I routinely fall asleep around 9am on a weeknight lol. I asked one of the lounge CM's if they could make me a coffee with some Baileys, just because I was on vacation aha. She regretfully informed me that the sweet liqueurs like Baileys aren't available until dessert comes out at 8. I said ok no problem, we're heading to catch Happily Ever After but I'll come back another day for my Baileys lol. And she was very concerned and dashed off promising to make me something aha. I really can't say enough about those club level CM's!

This was a bit of a mistake on my part as I was hoping to be at Magic Kingdom around 8, knowing it fills up fast for Happily Ever After. But then the CM came back with my (yummy but very strong) coffee and mum and I started to chat as I sipped it.... and then I looked at my phone and it was 8pm! Ahhh! We dashed back to the room and I put the rest of my coffee in the fridge aha. I ended up drinking some of this each of the next few nights we were up late lol, it got me through!

We got really lucky and the Magic Kingdom bus was just pulling up as we got out of the lobby so we dashed over and made it. We had an uneventful time on the bus and through security, and were walking down Main Street by a little after 8:30 I think.

I was thinking we were super late and the crowd would be backed up Main Street and prepared my mum for this. But as we got there we were able to move freely down the street and kept saying "we're moving!" in awe lol. That is until we got to the hub. Then we hit "the great wall of people". We went left and right and asked every CM about the accessible viewing areas but alas they were all full. One very young looking CM noticed my birthday pin and hurried over to another CM who was guarding a path, and begged her to let us in. I'm really not sure where we ended up as there were so many people, if I could move forward I just kept going until I couldn't anymore. We definitely weren't in a wheelchair section but we ended up dead centre with the castle which was amazing. Even though we were basically in a mosh pit lol, I still found I could see quite well given the castle is quite large. I had a much worse experience in the actual disabled section for the Star Wars fireworks later on.

This was definitely the largest crowd I've ever been in in my life, and I'd say it made me kinda uncomfortable but not panicked. To me it helped that the crowd wasn't like panicked or pushing or something scary like that. It was just we're standing in a sea of people all waiting for the show to start. But my advice would be, if you know that crowds bother you, do everything you can to watch Happily Ever After from another location than in the hub, there are a LOT of people.

I'm not a huge fireworks fan, I like to see "a show" that has fireworks if that makes sense aha. So like Illuminations has the globe effects and Fantasmic is even more of a show, etc. I don't know the last time I saw Wishes, but to me it was just a big fireworks show and I don't remember loving it. Don't hate me! But I absolutely LOVED Happily Ever After! The projection effects were AMAZING, like mind-blowing stuff! My favourite part was when Genie turned into a rocket and blasted off from the top of the central tower, the tower appeared to grow longer! Definitely an optical illusion but it fooled me! Also the evil round robot from the first Incredibles appeared and there were lasers shooting out of it's "eye". And I cried ugly tears when they sang "You Can Fly" and then Tinkerbell flew over us. I remember being a kid and having to squint to see Tink, mum and I both remarked that she seemed "a lot bigger" this time rofl!

One neat thing about being in the crowd was that people really got into the show. Everyone sang along to the newer songs like "How Far I'll Go" which was really cool, like an outdoor concert. I felt old though because it was very obvious the kids were excited to hear the new songs and see Moana, Anna and Elsa, Tiana etc. And I was just amazed to hear "Go the Distance", "Out There", "You'll Be In My Heart" etc. again lol. I was the age of these kids when those movies came out lol! I'm honestly very excited for Disney to release their streaming service, so I can watch all these again. I can never justify paying like $50 each to buy the movies lol but for some reason I'd gladly pay $10 a month to stream them!

After the show we stayed put and let the mega crowd disburse. The music kept going for awhile and the castle changed colours a few times. Shockingly I'd never stuck around here at night, we'd go for the fireworks and then make a run for it. But this was my absolute favourite part of the trip, Magic Kingdgom is stunningly beautiful at night!

I'd decided that we'd go around the park in a circle after the show, starting with Tomorrowland, and hit all the outdoor rides plus our other favourites. I'd never ridden Astro-Orbiter before but I knew it was basically the Aladdin ride from Adventureland just up above Tomorrowland. I figured we'd get a great view of the park lit at night. I wasn't wrong.... but this turned out to be a really bad decision lol. This was the only ride all trip where the line felt longer than the posted time (30 mins). And once I got up there, oh boy, the "spaceships" were way off the ground! I balked and told mum I'd messed up and we couldn't ride, I couldn't get up there. But my mum is not easily deterred and insisted we could do it. I honestly do not know how but I got in lol, although mum was super worried I basically fell in and hurt myself (I did not). And then she had to sit on top of me basically! And the ride majorly tilts as it goes around, we were honestly very afraid we were going to fall out, the "seatbelt" seemed to be in name only. Without a doubt the WORST ride we went on all trip lol and we had some mishaps later on! But I still remember the view of the castle up there aha so it was not a complete loss.

I was not too happy when we managed to escape Astro Orbiter as it was now 10:30! We wasted a massive amount of time fearing for our lives lol. But we'd just have to press on and hope we could fit everything in! We headed out of Tomorrowland and back to the castle which was no longer roped off. Hooray! We walked through and I got to take a look at the beautiful Cinderella mosaics that I'd missed earlier. This was actually better at night, as in the daytime it's super bright outside and dark in that tunnel so you kind of go a bit blind lol. Where as now it was dark out and the tunnel was lit, so it was very easy to see.

We headed into Fantasyland to check the wait time for Seven Dwarfs Mine Train, which I hadn't been able to get a fastpass for, even at 60 days out. It was still 90mins, extra magic hours didn't start till 11, so we said no thanks and headed around to Liberty Square instead. We passed by Small World and Peter Pan, both with 20min waits, and mum asked if I wanted to ride those. I was still panicking that we had a lot of rides to get through and only about 2 hours, so I asked did she want to ride them? And she declined so we passed. I regret not going on Peter Pan though, when ever does it have a 20min wait! There is that pesky moving walkway though...

We made it to Haunted Mansion which I really wanted to go on again after my stellar experience earlier in the day. At this point they were scanning people's bands for EMH and I don't think we waited long at all. We kind of rushed through the queue given it was pretty empty but this is on my "better at night" list even though it's inside. The queue is much creepier at night!

Next we headed to Thunder Mountain. Unfortunately Space Mountain is too hard for me to get in or out of, even with my dad, so I passed on it. And I really hate getting wet so I've never ridden Splash Mountain! So Thunder Mountain was our only mountain of the trip aha.

We had to go up the exit of this one though they did make us wait the posted wait time (20mins). There was another family in front of us who we chatted with, they were staying at Art of Animation, and highly recommended Mine Train. I don't really recall much of this ride lol, I think I was getting sleepy at this point. I don't know that it's any better at night as it didn't seem to make much of an impression on me aha.

We headed down to Pirates after, which was absolutely dead. Like there was no one there aha. The CM's out front just waved us through and didn't bother scanning anyone's band. It was fun as usual but I wouldn't say riding at night was any different than day.

We decided to ride the Aladdin ride to wash away our Astro-Orbiter ordeal, though this was pretty pointless. Not sure what's up with this ride, it was probably the most dull ride I went on all trip. There's little... palms or some kind of short trees all around the ride so we couldn't see anything, and we weren't very high up at all. I'm not even sure the lever in our "camel" was working as despite my best efforts I couldn't feel us going up and down at all. But at least it was easy to get on and off and I felt safe the whole time LOL.

This marked the end of what I had hoped to accomplish for tonight, except for Mine Train. We stopped to check my phone and it was 12:30, so still a half hour till park closure. Did we want to ride Mine Train? I wasn't sure we'd be able to ride it again, even if we came back. I'd had zero luck grabbing a fastpass for it for 2 months...

Yeah we convinced ourselves to do it aha. We went back through the castle so we could take in the mosaics again. I forget what the wait was for Mine Train but it wasn't short. I want to say 40mins? We were pretty done at this point and I'm thinking this affected our enjoyment of the ride a bit aha. I thought it was fun and it was neat how you could feel the cars swaying a bit. But I don't really see what the fuss is about and wouldn't wait the usual wait times of like an hour+.

Once we got off the ride it was about quarter after 1am lol. I was thinking "my brother will be so proud of us!" lol because he's always making fun of me for falling asleep at my usual 9pm. It's not fair because he was still in university and operates on a different time zone than me basically lol.

We took our time heading for the exit. I have heard about "the kiss goodnight" but had completely forgotten about it and hadn't planned to see it. But we had gone back through the castle (for the 3rd time lol!) and as we emerged it started! Ah I'm so happy I got to see it, it's definitely a "Disney bucket list" thing!

We trudged sleepily to the buses after the kiss goodnight, and I'm pretty sure I narrowly avoided falling asleep on the way back to the hotel. It was almost 3am once we turned out the lights!

I just want to say before I end this part of the report, that if you get a chance to take in Magic Kingdom at night, I highly recommend it! They were advertising the After Hours event when we were there which we didn't do, but I imagine it would be even more empty than what we experienced at EMH given it's a ticketed event. I found it much easier to move through the park during EMH as there was much less people, it was cooler and had stopped raining, and most importantly, I don't think I saw a stroller the whole time LOL! Most rides were about 20min waits except for Mine Train. We were so lucky that we had great weather for each of the nights we planned to be out late! I'll never forget standing outside the castle and looking up at the stars... just magical!

 

[obisbondgirl]

Following along!

Following along! I am really enjoying your TR. We stayed at the BW in 2016 and loved it! What a great surprise to be upgraded to concierge level!

Edit to add: Another Tim Tracker fan here and I love your "King of the Bus" references lol

Hi, thanks for reading!

Lol yes I watch Tim Tracker pretty much every day after work, best show on tv LOL! The only time we had an empty bus was the Hollywood bus from Epcot after both parks had closed aha. But as least we were queens one time!

 

[Where'sPiglet?]

I love watching Happily Ever After from the Hub, for the same reason - the crowd reactions really seem to add to the show.

I LOVE Astro Orbiter! Sorry you didn't care for it. I know it's the kind of ride that people either love or hate. I think it might be the fastest spinner and I know it's for sure the highest. You really do feel that tilt!

 

[obisbondgirl]

I love watching Happily Ever After from the Hub, for the same reason - the crowd reactions really seem to add to the show.

I LOVE Astro Orbiter! Sorry you didn't care for it. I know it's the kind of ride that people either love or hate. I think it might be the fastest spinner and I know it's for sure the highest. You really do feel that tilt!

Oh no! Oh ahaha sorry to bash one of your favourites! Unfortunately it was not our cup of tea!