coffeecassie
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Jun 17, 2012
Loving your TR so far!
Happy February everyone! And happy Friday! I hope that everyone is doing well and staying warm!!! Let's keep moving along with this trip report. Because we have officially arrived at our first park day!
MAGIC KINGDOM!!!
Every trip that I have any memory of always started off at the Magic Kingdom. That park above all others have such special memories for me. You walk in and you immediately go from a professional mature adult to squealing with delight like a five year old with all of the magical-ness of it all. Yes, that's why it's called the Magic Kingdom. I know. So in the planning of this trip, I insisted that Magic Kingdom be our first park day. Tony really didn't care, so day one was MK. I had tinkered with our FP+ so that our first ride was around 10/10:30. Knowing that we needed to plan plenty of travel time, so we left the room by 8:30. A quick stop at the food court to refill our mugs, and we were waiting for our bus.
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Yes friends, another cold day. Poor Tony was all layered up with a long sleeved shirt, an Under Armour sweatshirt and his Carhart jacket. And the toboggan and gloves from yesterday! You might also notice that he was wearing a "happy birthday" button. Technically it was not his birthday, but since we were celebrating everything, we threw that in also. My button was more all encompassing!
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We waited maybe five minutes before a bus arrived. We got loaded up first and then the rest of the passengers were loaded. This is normal procedure when traveling in an ECV or wheelchair. You get loaded to the bus first and unloaded last. That way there is no chance of running over the toes of the other passengers. And before we knew it, we had arrived at the bus stop for Magic Kingdom. I could tell immediately that the crowds were going to be insane. There were extra magic hours that night and this was race weekend, so things were jammed packed. This made for challenges when there are two people in your party in ECV's. When you ride side-by-side, it takes up quite a bit of room. When Tony is behind me, I cannot see him or talk to him, so that increases the chances of us getting separated. We tried very hard to not bump into people or be in the way, but there were numerous situations where people must have thought we were invisible. Folks would dart in front of us or literally charge into us. I know it was crowded, but just taking 5 seconds to see where you're going can make all the difference in the world. Sorry - rant over. Since I had a bag, we had to go thru that security line. I appreciate that they take the time to look thru bags to ensure safety. They also checked the ECV, including the battery bag on the back. And then I saw this sign and knew I had found my happy place.
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We went through the tunnel and there we were - in the heart of Main Street USA. The holiday decorations were still up and Christmas music was playing (which I could have done without - I wanted regular Main Street USA music). I was soaking everything in, so I sent Tony over to grab a map. He came back and I opened it and found that it was in Japanese (no picture - sorry). I started laughing hysterically and showed the map to Tony and then showed him the front that clearly said it was in Japanese. Since neither one of us have ever been to Japan, we tried again and got an English speaking map. Oh honey, you're so precious.
Our next step was to head down Main Street. If you have read my PTR, you know that our trip that was scheduled with my mom a couple of years ago ended up getting cancelled and in November, 2016, she passed away. Disney was her happy place and although I was determined to not get sad during this trip, she loved rounding the corner and getting that first glimpse of the castle. And I knew that when I first saw it, it would be a difficult moment. And it was. I sat by the entrance to the Emporium and took a minute to remember how much this place meant to her and how much I missed her. It was my only sad moment that day, but not the last one for the trip. After I gathered myself together, I spied my first photo pass photographer!
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We got Memory Maker for this trip. We stopped for tons of pictures, but there were quite a few of them that were just "meh". When we go again, I will probably not do it again. I do like the option of cropping and adding borders. You'll see more of that later. But now that we're here and we've zig-zagged thru the crowd, it was officially time for our first FP+ - Peter Pan's Flight. I just adore this ride. It's such a classic story. The stand by line was around 100 minutes. Seriously people - who waits 100 minutes for a five minute ride? Not me. Our magic bands were scanned and it took about 15 minutes to get up to the ride. I had asked the cast member if the moving walkway could be slowed down. Tony's balance is not the best and I was very worried he would stumble. They were not able to slow it down, but the nice cast member did hold onto both of us as we stepped on to the walkway and into our pirate ship. Once we were in we received our pixie dust and began to fly! No pictures of the ride, but it was as fabulous as I had remembered. When we got off the ride, another cast member offered assistance when we exited. I cannot begin to talk about how nice everyone was during this trip. After the ride, we absolutely had to see the most beautiful bathroom in the world - can we all say "Tangled"?
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Yeah, they are so nice. Tell me again why these are bathrooms and not a ride or show? After this pit stop, I heard music coming from the hub area. I had no clue what it was, but we had nothing but time that day, so we checked it out. It ended up being the end of "Move it/Shake it" parade up to the castle.View attachment 299847
We stayed around for a few minutes watching the show. It was cute, but we were pretty far away and the crowds were deep to try to get closer. I did want to get another castle picture so, we went to one of the picture spots. There was a group there trying to take a picture, so I offered to snap a few for them if they would do the same. It turned out pretty well.
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Up next - Frontierland!
Country bear jamboree is great to rest your feet and have a bit of a laugh. The Christmas show used to be good.
I still enjoy the Country Bear Jamboree, too. I like the corny jokes and songs. It's a feel-good attraction. Plus, I like that it has been around since Walt's time.
Enjoying the updates! And they are coming pretty quickly too. That can't be easy when you work full time.
Enjoying your report!
For future reference, the last I knew, you can substitute the dessert at a counter service for a yogurt or applesauce.
All caught up on your TR! The cold temps do put a damper on things! We were there mid January to get DS set up for his CP. We encountered a couple of record low days for Florida! And while their record lows are heavenly for us Buffalo, NYers, a high of low 50's and lows below freezing are not what we long for in a Florida vacation!!
Glad you liked ASMU. We stay at the values when we want to save $$ and I agree, they are clean and comfortable and the extra $$ is better spent on dinner or shopping!
Loving your TR so far!
I am so behind on this thread but happy to be back catching up. I just finished reading your Homecoming experience. We’ve never managed to make time for Disney Springs but this restaurant looks like a good reason to head there one day. That pecan pie photo is too tempting! I love a good, rich, pecan pie. And the Shine Cake description actually made my jaw drop. Not sure if I would like it either but I’d at least try a bite. I’d probably prefer a rum soaked butter cake but maybe this would surprise me.
Love the purse you chose, too!!! Hope you’re enjoying it.
This post made me cry! Oh my. The love you have for your mom is so evident. I’m so sorry she has passed. I bet she was watching over you on this trip, thrilled that you were in her favorite place.
Tangled bathrooms are the BEST. I wish I could have a Disney Imagineer design a Tangled themed house for me!
The Japanese map incident was funny.
All caught up and looking forward to more installments.
Carlos at CHH sounds like just the sort of CM Walt would have loved. Glad he got a shout out from you.
You know, the same thing happened for my dad. Probably around 20 years ago we were at Disneyland and it got cold, so he bought a hoodie. He still uses it to this day!However, after some time we were able to find a sweatshirt material hoodie jacket. It was the right size and actually fairly cute. Since we've been home, Tony has worn it numerous times.
You know, the same thing happened for my dad. Probably around 20 years ago we were at Disneyland and it got cold, so he bought a hoodie. He still uses it to this day!
Hi Ruthie. Yes the Christmas show at Country Bear show was discontinued quite a while ago.
Band geek? Yup, me too. Playing a bass drum, I marched down Main Street USA in high school. It was my first trip to WDW, and it left a lasting impression!
The meal looked great. It's been some years since we have been to LTT, so glad to hear it was delicious.
Love this report so far! You are hilarious! The Mickey and margarita comment literally had me
We are going to Disney in January next year, so I am very interested in seeing how your trip goes.
LTT looks very yummy. Glad to hear the veggies are tasty since that's what my daughter and I will be eating if we ever go. DH would be in heaven with all that meat.
Love your Mickey pics!
That food at Liberty Tree looks wonderful! We haven't been in years- will have to put it on the list for a future trip! Loved meeting Talking Mickey! The group before us was from another country and Mickey talked to them in their language- I think Spanish. I was so impressed!