Mike - Two and Two Kids, please Day 9....Magic Kingdom..and about time too!!!!

UK Valerie

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Feb 28, 2002
Two and Two Kids, please Day 9....Magic Kingdom..and about time too!!!!

Blimey, I woke up feeling like a marathon runner who's "hit the wall".....I can't believe we've only been here for 8 days !! It seems like a month but a very wonderful month!! We've never packed so much into a holiday....and today is Magic Kingdom day! It may seem strange to some of you out there that we've only had one day at Disney , but remember that we'd made no plans to see WDW at all , since Emilia was determined she wouldn't go to anything Disney ...until she got converted in the Disney shop in the Florida Mall.
Up we all got ( more or less ) and had a breakfast of scrambled eggs , toast and tea...very British! Into the car , and off to MK we set , as I recall the grin on MY face was so wide it was hurting me!!
We arrived at the MK by 8.30a.m. and there was little traffic, so straight into the car-parks and we parked in Pluto 31...after forgetting where we'd parked in Universal the family had decided that Daddy better write our parking places from then on in...and watched me while I did!! No faith !
It was still quite cool , wish I wasn't facing into the wind with these shorts on....
It's about a mile or so to the TTC ( took me months to figure out what that meant)and straight through onto the monorail platform. Remembering what I'd read somewhere I asked a CM if we could sit in the front with the driver....." Why, certainly sir " he said and off we were led. Mind you , there were so few people on the platform we could have probably driven the train if we'd asked nicely!! Two minutes later we were in the front, having been given some odd glances from the hoi-polloi ...and off we set! Hey, I felt important...
Is it the Contemporary you pass through where you see everyone having breakfast, 'cos I can't remember?
After an all too short journey we pulled up , down the walkways and there in front of us was the MK!!!!! we passed through the entrance with no wait at all, and straight into Main Street, USA. This really felt like our holiday was starting all over again, and any feeling of tiredness just evaporated, even before we began our day the Disney Magic was hitting us! we picked up our map at City Hall then walked to Town Square where we jumped onto a bus ( horse-drawn!). At this point we didn't where it was going, so what! We actually got off at the circular park area just before the Castle stage, already the kids were buzzing, a great start to our day. we were looking at our map when a CM came up and suggested that for our party a good idea would be to head for Tomorrowland for Buzz Lighhtyear and Alien Encounter. So, like obedient little kids off we trotted....First stop was Buzz Lightyear, and straight to the Fastpass machine I went...It was 9.15 and we got FP for 9.30, shows you how quiet it still was! We joined the very small standby queue and were on the ride in 2 minutes flat!! Buzz is like the little brother of MIB at US, it's a great ride for the kids but a bit tame for adults, but hey!! today ,I'm a kid!! The girls won hands down but since the boys were still tired ( eye-strain from driving!) we went straight back for a re-match!! This time our ( the boys ) guns were obviously faulty, and the girls scraped another (hollow ) victory. third time lucky , we hope , so we used our FP ( don't know why, there was no queue) and the boys were full of determination,NO MORE MR.NICE GUY....for some reason me and Callum swapped seats and this had the disastrous effect of ruining our aim......played 3 , lost 3, I've had enough anyway.

While the rest of the family waited for Alien Encounter I zipped up to Space Mountain and got our FPs'. Into Alien Encounter we went , very similar pre-show to Terminator 3-D , but better imho. Then into the theatre , and we were strapped in, this was NOT a good sign. I won't spoil it by telling you what ensues but for the nervous amongst you a spare pair of shorts might be a good idea..... As Callum squeaked afterwards " I don't think I'll go on that again,Dad" Well, if you insist , son ( sigh of relief) . On the way to Space Mountain the kids noticed Tomorrowland Speedway and asked to go on it, plenty of time so no problem, kids. A big mistake , what a total waste of time.....Disney could jusifiably be sued for calling this a speedway...horrible pretendy race cars go at about 5 m.p.h. on atrack , no overtaking..what is the point??? Honestly, if you see a queue here , and you will in peak season, please take my word and avoid this ,it's DREADFUL!!!!!!
Beating Callum around the head for suggesting Speedway we aimed for Space Mountain, We got our extra FP, you know what I mean!!!.. and entered the 3 mile walk that is SM. There was a bit of a queue in the standby area (why do people do this when there's FP ? ) but we got straight on, and off we sped, and I do mean SPED. This ride has some serious turns and being in the dark heightens the experience, I can thoroughly recommend SM if you have an urge to give yourself spinal contusions..... but it must have been pretty good since we went straight back on for more punishment.! BTW we had intended to do The Timekeeper but there were "technical problems " so it didn't happen , a shame because I believe it's really good, oh, well.

Continuing on our anti-clockwise journey next stop was Toontown Fair, now this looked a little bit tame...but let's go for it anyway. The kids decided we would enjoy the delights of Barnstormer at Goofy's...yawn, yawn!!! Hey, I've done Hulk, kids ,get real!
WWhhooaahhh, two minutes later Dad was swallowing his words, almost literally, for a kid's ride this roller-coaster certainly gives it some!! Tres impressive , and a second go please!! Hey, I'm not too proud to admit I'm wrong. After this we did Minnie's Country House then Mickey's ....cuteness personified but none the worse for that, I enjoyed both of 'em. Toontown was the only place with queues of any signifance and that was to get character autographs...the girls joined the queue while me and Callum did Goofy's again. Suitably impressed at meeting Minnie Mouse and getting her autograph, Emilia was beaming as we headed for Fantasyland, and passed the Castle, hey , does the Castle make you realise this IS the magic or what?! Try passing it without taking a photo....
The kids were in charge and next stop was Legend of the Lion King....only a few minutes wait ( our timing was lucky ! ) ...what a great show ! Emilia is a long time fan of Simba and Co. and sat open-mouthed throughout, this was as good as Beauty & Beast at MGM.....After Lion King we (the kids!! ) did Dumbo , much to my surprise , thought it would be uncool at their age. Then on to Small World.....!!! this is one ride that divides families, I thought it was fantastic but the kids threatened to throw themselves into the river if I took them on it again...why???
Blimey, I wonder where their childhood went !
By now it was 12.30 , the time had flown by but my stomach had realised something was amiss!! We chanced our arm at the Castle and went to the "None PS Desk".." We managed to get a table at Liberty Tree Tavern for 1.15 p.m., so trooped off to Liberty Square. We booked FP for 2.30-3.30 at Haunted Mansion, but joined the standby queue , and were in the pre-show in 2 minutes. the pre-show doesn't match up to Tower of Terror which is a similar experience, but the ride itself was top-notch and poor Callum jumped two feet into the air when we got our extra rider near the end!!!! Wow, a nice ride to give you an appetite!
Liberty Tree Tavern was excellent, the kids both had chicken tenders followed by cookies. I had a clam chowder starter and pasta with salmon and cream (yummy !! ) . Juliet ordered the New England Patriot's Dinner.....which essentially was an assault course! Most of a 10-pound turkey was served along with enough veg. to feed an army troop...DW 's eyes said "Help" and she finished up farming turkey to the rest of us . This was a SERIOUS meal...our server was v. good and kept the kids well topped up with soft drinks. This was probably the only time we passed on dessert!, the bill was a very reasonable $ 42 plus tax.

By now it was 2.30 and we decided to forsake our FP for Haunted Mansion and get a front row position for the 3 p.m. parade.We stood about 250 yards from the start of the parade , so that we could leg it once the parade passed us and get a head start for Thunder Mountain. Bang on 3 o' clock the parade started, what a brilliant show! When Aladdin and Princess Jasmine came along they stopped right by us , Aladdin called over one of his guards , said something...then the guard came over to Callum and bellowed "Come here, boy!!" Poor Callum looked around , but tough , it was him !!...Up he got , the guard told him to to dance like a chicken ( he did, bless him ) then rub the lamp!! Then the guard shouted for all the other kids to come and join in...a great time was had by all doing chicken dancing and hopping on one leg. They then returned to their parents, and before they moved off Princess Jasmine looked straight at Callum and blew him a kiss...poor kid, he went scarlet, while dad was wishing HE was 8 years old.
Once the parade passed we legged it to a deserted Thunder Railroad....a brilliant ride by any standard. Great scenery, and a real thrill to boot. We had a second go since there was a negligible queue, then down to Splash Mountain, by now FP time was an hour ahead, so we got ours then queued for 10 minutes to get on . This is really a ride of two halves, cutesy for the first part followed by a serious drop!!! We got suitably soaked, but agreed this was our favourite ride 'til now.To prove it we jumped on again....Since we had forty minutes before our FP kicked in we wanderd down to Pirates of the Caribbean......a great fun ride and pretty faithful to the version on the Playstation game(if you've got a Playstation ! )
Then followed Enchanted Tiki Room....this is so bad it's good...I can't describe it, words couldn't possibly describe this show !!! see it for yourself!...but be prepared to get a stiff neck looking up....
Back to Splash mountain , by now it was 4.40 p.m. and FP were ended , we had ours so in we went, the standby queue was ENORMOUS...make sure you get FP for 4 p.m. or be prepared to wait for about an hour , and this was low season!!! Again , great fun ..even more enhanced by walking past the poor beggars in the queue!
It was 5 p.m. now and we wanted to see the fireworks at 6 p.m. so headed back to secure a spot. We were really fortunate to get a place in the circular garden , the view was unobscured since the garden was in front of us and nobody could stand in our line of view, and we could stand on the seats..So Lucky!!! At 5.40 I went to get hot chocolates and muffins all round, and we were all set! I saw a street vendor selling twirly lights so got two for the kids ...a real bargain at $24 ...!!! Bang on 6 p.m. it started, there was Tinkerbell flying over the MK to "ooh's and aah's"...mainly mine! then the fireworks began. Awesome , this is when it hits you that only Disney can capture your heart in this way, it really is magical .....most of the show was watched through eyes misted with tears of sheer joy....Goodness , I'm becoming a real softy!! Once the show was over we sat and re-lived the event excitedly while the masses left. We gave it 30 minutes to clear then joined the queue for the ferry, so well organised as everything is at Disney. Within 20 minutes we were heading back to Kissimmee, pausing only for KFC's all round. Totally exhausted we were lying semi-conscious when the phone went about 9.30 p.m....it was our American friend Steven asking us how our day had been ( WONDERFUL !!) and reminding us we were meeting at the Booking Office tomorrow at 8.30 p.m. to see Illuminations 2000 from our shared pontoon!!!! It just doesn't get any better than this!!
Day 10 ....Illuminations 2000..a life on the Ocean wave....

Mike
 

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