I cant believe so many days have passed since my last post. I thought Id whip my whole trip report off in just a week or so, but somehow I've managed to fill my days with dozens of things besides trip report writing.
When we last left off, we had toured our room and now it was time to head out to a park. On the way out, we stopped in the lobby to get my husbands magic band fixed up. The interesting thing was that when the CM checked into our account he said neither of our bands had been set up, so it was odd that mine had worked at all.
Since we had used our time when they were cleaning our room to head down to the Marketplace to pick up some mugs, I was hopeful that the transaction on my magic band didn't go through, but no such luck they got the charge for our mugs associated with our account, as it should be.
We had an emergency exit door located right beside our room door, so while we were talking to the CM we asked him if we could use the emergency exit as a regular way out of the hotel, being hopeful that it had the power to be a secret exit that would transport us close to the buses or something like that. The CM looked at the floor plan and said we shouldnt use that exit because it would lead us out through a backstage cast area where a manager or security would question why we were there. This just made me more curious about what we would see at the end of the exit stairs. (We would find out soon enough!)
Once the band was fixed up we hopped on a bus and made our way over to the Magic Kingdom. While I love staying near Epcot, it is hard to imagine a trip to WDW without heading over to MK on our first day.
Here is our first glimpse at the castle for this trip.
We had plans for dinner, so we didnt have much time to spare, and we headed straight over to the left side of the park. We had Fast Passes for Peter Pan and Haunted Mansion, but first we had to board the boat at Its a Small World. While IASW is in no way our favourite ride, it is always our first ride. I think that tradition began back in 2004 when I insisted we would be riding IASW, and we did it first as the boys wanted to get it over with. So in the same spirit of lets get it over with, we always ride IASW first.
The photo hint from my last post was taken looking down into the waters of IASW. People throw a lot of coin into that water!
Next up we used our Fast Pass for Peter Pan. I love this ride! Ive only been on it a few times, but I really like it. It is a charming ride through the world of Peter Pan. The queue for this ride may be one of the worst at WDW (hot and just plain boring), so I highly recommend only riding Peter Pan if you have a Fast Pass or the stand by line is surprisingly short.
After PP, it was across the street to the place that is most special for our family.
We all LOVE Haunted Mansion and ride it over and over on every trip. While we had a Fast Pass for later on, we bailed on that idea and just waited in the stand by line which worked better for our dinner reservations.
Here are a couple of shots taken while working our way through the HM queue.
Now it was time to leave the park and board a boat to dinner. We love the boat rides to the resorts at WDW and will look for any excuse to ride on one. Tonights excuse was a dinner at the Grand Floridian.
Narcoossees to be precise.
Dinner at Narcoossees was amazing! One of my favourite Disney dining experiences. We started with a shrimp cocktail and then I had scallops with pasta and Mr. JanetMom had the tuna with rice. Everything about the place makes for an amazing dinner the service was perfect, the food incredible, the room is so nice and the view is outstanding.
After dinner we took a stroll around the resort and decided to return to the BC via Epcot, starting with the monorail from the GF. We were cutting it close as Epcot would soon be closed. We werent sure what we would do if Epcot was closed when we got there, but we knew we would figure it out. We did arrive after park closing, but they were still letting people in. There wasnt anything open to stop at, so we just walked through Epcot, straight back to the BC.
Back at the hotel we were pleased to see our luggage had arrived so we did a quick unpack, went down to the Marketplace for a quick drink and then it was time for some sleep. (Briefly!)
This was the night of the annoying fire alarm, and at 12:30 am we awoke to an alarm telling us to get out. We didnt panic as we live in a high-rise building so we are used to the occasional fire alarm. At home it would be unlikely that we would even leave our apartment, but in a strange hotel we felt it best to get up and get out. We werent in too big a hurry so we did take the time to get dressed and protect our fellow vacationers from seeing us in our pj finest. While we looked around the room to decide what to bring with us, we didnt even think of what we had put in the safe, which was our passports. So we fled the building leaving behind our most important travel document.
Public Service Announcement #1 If travelling internationally to WDW and there is a fire alarm, grab your passport on your way out of the room.
This was our chance to see where that emergency exit led. As promised, it took us out through a backstage area, and out to the front of the hotel. It wasnt a quick exit though because someone who was trying to be nice and polite, decided to hold the stairwell door for everyone on the third floor to enter the stairwell before he and the others from the floors above were able to proceed. While this was polite, it was a very bad and possibly dangerous idea.
PSA #2 When evacuating a multi-floor building, it is safest to alternate a couple of people from the stairwell to pass, and then a couple of people from the entering floor, then a couple of people from the stairwell etc. When someone holds the door for everyone from one of the floors to enter the stairwell, they cause a backlog for all the floors above. This can cause panic as the upper floors dont feel they are able to vacate the building. If everyone alternates, everyone feels like they are moving towards the exit calmly.
Sadly the evacuation on the front of the building wasnt as entertaining as it was on the back of the building. We didnt run into any other DISers and we didnt hear NinjaMom calling my name. We kept ourselves amused by walking around and seeing all the bleary eyed travelers, many who decided to just lay down on the sidewalk and catch a bit more sleep before we were able to head back in to the hotel. I did feel sorry for the parents of small children who looked exhausted as they carried their bundled up children out of the hotel.
Soon enough we were able to return to the building and were back in bed to get some sleep before we had to wake up in just a few short hours.
Well thats enough for today
heres a hint at whats to come next.
Laughed when I read your directions to your room and the fact that you did the decent thing and took photos while your husband was locked out 
OK I will just sit here and keep checking to see where you went next 
All I can think of is popcorn though that may be just because I'm starving right now 
