Park Day Six: Magic Kingdom (cont’d)
Working our way back to Frontierland, I couldn’t help but be impressed with my FP foresight. I had set out our daily plans months ago and just happened to put Splash on our hottest MK day of the trip! Unfortunately, the FP line was backed up well past the tap points when we got there, but the line moved quickly. We were in the extended FP line at 12:13 and our ride photo is 12:32, so not too bad.
Now, before I show you that delightful ride photo, let’s turn back to April of 2007. I was preparing to graduate college and, among various sources of entertainment, I read the webcomic XKCD regularly. Upon seeing the comic Chess Photo and the responses readers sent in (
https://xkcd.com/chesscoaster/), I decided I wanted one of my own. However, being too cheap to buy roller coaster photos, I had never had the chance to make my dream a reality. In the meantime, goofy ride photos have essentially become the norm, but I want to be clear that this nonsense was in the plan long before everyone started making it a game to do silly poses as a group. Additionally, since none of the girls could ride alone, Hubby and I had to stage it being in two different rows on the log.
That, my friends, is chutes and ladders being played on Splash Mountain while my kids attempt to hold on for dear life. I’m pretty sure A screaming her head off while I actively ignore her is the best part. When we got off, the girls all said they didn’t like the ride because their butts got wet. Honestly, we didn’t get very wet at all and they dried off quickly in the heat. What they didn’t like was that they had psyched themselves out watching while we were walking over: they braced themselves for every little fake out drop leading up to the real deal. There were no tears, just some grumbling about being wet.
Since brunch had gone faster than expected, we had time to sneak over to the 1pm Mickey’s Royal Friendship Faire before we needed to use our next FP. Personally, I was glad to be a bit wet because standing out waiting in that sun wasn’t pleasant.
It was a cute show but probably not worth trying to fit into a shorter or hotter trip. If we were melting when it was only mid 80s and low humidity, it has to be sweltering during the summer months. After the show, we headed over to use our third FP of the day, and one that I was most skeptical about. The girls, despite thinking that they like “spooky” things, don’t do well with being scared. This Halloween, they asked to see the decorations for sale in every store we went to. They got a kick out of the little witches that cackled and such but, when confronted with the genuinely creepy stuff at Spirit Halloween, they refused to go near any of the touch-activated displays. I had shown them Haunted Mansion on YouTube and they all said they wanted to give it a try. After discussing it with Hubby, we opted to skip the Stretching Room. I didn’t want that to set them off before they managed to get on the ride.
We tapped in at 1:30pm to a moderate FP line. While we waited, I was able to pick up a 2:30pm Buzz FP for everyone. In order to skip the stretching room, you just tell the CM ushering people in that you want to do so. She had us stand to the side, handed us a card, and sent us through a side door. The hallway we were in had two doors, one that was marked for CMs only and one that was an exit. We didn’t want to exit, so we tried knocking on the CM door to see if we were missing something. They told us to go ahead through the exit, make a left back into the ride, and there would be someone there to hand the card to. One would think that could be printed on the card, perhaps with a little map, or that the exit sign could also say “Skip Stretching Room Here”. Maybe they don’t have enough people opting out for it to be worth the trouble.
We went as instructed and found ourselves shoving in with everyone else to get loaded onto our dune buggies at 1:43pm. I rode with A, while Hubby had B and C. We made it a game to find as many spooky things as we could and all three of them had a blast. I’m still not sure how it would have gone if we had done the stretching room and generally treated the ride more seriously: it’s something to work up to.
After the ride, I was thinking we could check out the Liberty Belle or Tom Sawyer Island but the kids were thinking they wanted to swim. Our next priority wasn’t until the 5:45pm Move It, Shake It parade, so we followed their lead and headed for the buses. We were at the bus stop at 2:08pm and, after a moderate wait, found ourselves in the room getting changed at 2:44pm.
After hanging at the pool a while, no one wanted a real lunch but everyone was in the mood for a heavy snack. We opted to get a couple of Mickey pretzels as well as a QS credit of a pretzel dog and a roller coaster meltdown. The kids demolished the pretzels, and I’m always a fan of a sugary blended beverage, but the pretzel dog was a bust. It is listed as coming with Dijon mustard which I assumed would be on the side to dip. Instead, it seemed that a hefty portion of mustard was slathered on before the hot dog was wrapped by the pretzel, to the point that it was nearly inedible. I’m not one to waste food, but it was bad enough that I unwrapped the thing and wiped off as much of the mustard as possible before I could eat it.
Snack consumed, we were hitting the point where we would need to start heading out of the pool if we wanted to make it back for the last Move It, Shake It parade of the day. The girls were still having a blast, though, so they opted to keep swimming, even if it meant we wouldn’t be able to fit the parade into our last trip day. About 5pm, when the shivering began in earnest, I pulled everyone out of the pool and headed up to the room. We were all five showered, dressed, and back out the door at 5:34pm, which has to be a family record. We were at the bus stop at 5:38pm, moving at 5:55pm, and found ourselves in a moderately backed up FP line at 6:22pm. This time, I insisted that I ride with only one kid so that I’d have a chance to operate my own weapon
Our mission was complete at 6:45pm and it was time to snag a spot for the 8pm Happily Ever After. Based on research here, we headed for a spot in the garden in front of Casey’s. Unfortunately, I’ve been seeing reports that this is being used as a reserved area many nights, just like it’s Plaza counterpart is roped off for the dessert party. It’s a great spot if it’s open, though. While there were a few families already staking out spots, there was still plenty of room for us to park the strollers and the kids to sit and play in the faux grass while I made a QS run. Everyone except B was down for nachos from Pecos Bill, so I mobile ordered two, pork and chicken, marked that I was ready to pick up, and set off across the park, this time with A as she wanted to help.
While I appreciated the thought, navigating the toppings bar at Pecos Bill was definitely harder with her in tow. It didn’t help that one side was out of cheese, while the other was out of salsa, so everyone was confusedly moving back and forth between the two areas trying to dress their meals. Then, there was the walk back to the hub with a five-year-old carrying a tray of food. Since my hands were full, I couldn’t keep one on her, so I just had to keep reminding her to stay close to me, look where she was going, and hold the tray straight. We made it back unscathed and spill-free, even if it cost me a couple of gray hairs. Just in the time that it took to get our food, the area was starting to fill up, but everyone still had room to sit and eat. I had hoped that, upon seeing the nachos, B would be swayed, but she was still full tilt about wanting mac and cheese. After snagging a couple bites for myself, I put in my next mobile order for the night, this time the snack credit mac and cheese from Columbia Harbor House, and headed out again. The food was ready when I got there but navigating the growing crowds in the hub was slowing me down. By the time I delivered B her dish (which she barely touched, because of course) and gulped down the remaining nachos, it was already 7:30pm.
The plan was to grab snack credit sundaes from Plaza Ice Cream Parlour, but the line just looked too long. Instead, I opted to grab Mickey bars and ice cream sandwiches from one of the carts in the hub. I hopped in line and started seeing what single FPs I could pick up in
MDE. The park close had been bumped to 10pm and Hubby and I had talked about him possibly taking the girls back to the room while I enjoyed a couple hours of solo park time. Since all five of us had admission that day, and I had the backup card tickets, I was trying to see if I could line up a bunch of good FPs to bang through in the last hour of operation. I had PotC, HM, the Mickey meet, and BTMRR when I realized that my line really wasn’t moving at all. It turns out, despite the CMs telling people that the line formed against the wall, the family in front of me on the wall was not actually in the line, so the line sort of veered off away from me. Of course, in the five minutes I was staring at my phone, the line had grown considerably so I was now hopping into it much further back.
Once I started anxiously clock watching, it felt like we were barely inching ahead. Each register had one CM ringing people up while another one grabbed everything from the order, so it wasn’t their fault. It just seemed like every guest had no idea what the cart served (there are photo menus, people) or were entirely unsure as to who wanted what. Case in point, at 7:56pm, I had only one family left ahead of me. When the “grabbing” CM came over to get their order, they asked her to explain how the dining plan credits worked! Guys, the fireworks start in four minutes, is now really the time? I hopped past them to the CM running the register and everyone kind of looked at me for a second like I’d cut the line. I confirmed that they weren’t actually ready to order, which the agreed, and gave the cash register CM my order (2 Mickey Bars, 2 Mickey sandwiches on four snack credits, please). I was out of there long before the understood how many snacks they were entitled to.
I squeezed my way back in with the rest of the family and distributed the treats just as Happily Ever After was starting. We had a pretty good view, all things considered. There were a few trees and light posts in our line of sight, but we could see the projections with only minor obstructions. The kids were able to stand up in their stroller seats and see everything, plus the folks behind them were psyched that we weren’t playing the shoulder kid game. The show was gorgeous, as you all know, and the castle projections were unlike anything I had seen before. It’s was a great way to end a great day in MK.
When the show was over, Hubby asked if I was going to do my solo tour, but I decided against it. The kids were barely maintaining consciousness and it didn’t seem worth 90 minutes of park time to send him off to tackle the buses with three exhausted kids and a double stroller. We did opt to stay for Once Upon a Time, though, in order to allow the first wave of fireworks crowds and their subsequent bus lines to dissipate. We walked upstream of the masses and found a great spot smack dab in the middle of the hub. In the meantime, the girls finally succumbed.
I hadn’t read much about OuaT. I knew it was a show on the castle where Mrs. Potts told bedtime stories, but that’s about it. The projections were incredible! The effects of making the castle look like it was moving and transforming were so real. It didn’t hurt that, with the kids asleep and the crowds dissipated, Hubby and I were able to sit on the ground and watch instead of craning our necks and wiping up ice cream faces.
We headed out and ended up with perfect bus timing. The Boardwalk bus was only half full and loading right when we walked up. The girls weren’t stirring, so it was a bit of a production carrying them each up to seats before breaking down the strollers. Hubby ended up with both strollers while the girls slept on me for the ride back. They stayed asleep for the whole process of unloading, getting back to the room, and transitioning to bed. I don’t think my girls have slept in a stroller since they aged out of their infant seats, but Disney had finally wiped them out! It had wiped the adults out, too, if we’re being honest. Neither of us stayed up much later than the kids before we crashed as well.
We managed to get a lot done on our third day in MK, but there was still a lot that we missed. Our pre-travel itinerary for this day left it low key, including a late entry and an early exit. Then, over the course of the trip, I kept loading up the itinerary with things we missed and it turned into a RD-to-fireworks parkstorming kind of day. Reality landed somewhere in the middle. Some of what we missed (Swiss Family Treehouse, Tom Sawyer Island, CoP) would have been nice if the weather had been cooler, but we were fine to miss in favor of pool time. On the other hand, I had to push Move It, Shake It and Peoplemover into our fourth park day as we had now managed to miss them twice each on earlier itineraries. We got to enjoy 6 rides, 2 hilarious characters, 3 shows, a poolside afternoon, and a brunch in the Hundred Acre Woods.
I know every Disney vacation (heck, every vacation!) has it's rough points, but the reason you bring kids to Disney World is because it can be so magical and cause such happy moments. Even if the kids forget some of them, the parents don't! I'm thrilled you had many of those moments!
Love it!
