Happy Friday everyone! Hope everyone had a nice week and now you can enjoy the weekend reading trip reports while trying to plan your next Disney trip. A Pretzel costs HOW much now??
8/17 - Day 7(Day 6 of Disney!)
Today was Friday and this was a MK day followed by 1900 Park Fare for dinner. Our Fast Passes were 7DMT, Jungle Cruise and Enchanted Tales with Belle.
So DD was REAL excited to ride Space Mountain so we promised we'd get to the park at opening to make a run for SM. We got up early, got everyone ready and hit the monorail and got to MK right before opening. After the struggle of choosing the line you "think" is faster (it's band, then finger people!), we were in. Extra Magic Hours are the best, Jerry! The best! The nice thing about having the stroller when you're trying to get somewhere in a hurry is just sit the kids down and move quick. Of course I leave DW behind
We follow the crowd, which wasn't much to be honest, and hit Tomorrowland. Park the SUV and DD and I head towards SM while DW and DS make their way onto Buzz. It was only 15 minutes for SM! Took us longer to walk through the queue then to make it on the ride.
She's not blue, she's happy! And already removing her ears in preparation!
She was SO excited to ride this and had no idea what to expect having never seen any videos. She just knew it was a roller coaster and is getting to an age where all she wants to do is ride coasters
As for me, I haven't ridden this since 2016 when DW and I went for our anniversary sans kids. We were excited to ride it again, I had the front car and halfway through the ride I wasn't feeling well and wanted it to end. I turned to DW and she said the same thing. OH no we're getting old! However I was going to suck it up and ride it for DD's sake so I wasn't nervous for myself, just wanted her to enjoy it.
Awkward selfie!
We had the back car which I explained to DD that its much faster to be there than in the front and she was on board.
Now here's where my self-inflicted drama comes in to play. You know where the CM walks by and says make sure you remove your hat? REMOVE YOUR HAT. I looked at her and said of course I will. I did not. This is the LAST picture of my hat
I had decided to record the event in DD's honor. I'm holding my phone tightly hence the weird hand position. As you can see DD is having a blast(off!) already!
Halfway through the ride my hat flew right off. Such a powerless feeling but I couldn't do anything about it. And this wasn't the first time I lost something on SM either. A pair on sunglasses YEARS ago that DW made fun of me for. I should have taken them off! Oh well.
I DID have fun on the ride, didn't get sick like last time. Must have been the back car that helped. As for the video, I uploaded it. However because of the language I didn't post it. It's definitely NSFD. If you would like to see let me know. It's 2 minutes of darkness with "narration."
Anyway, DD LOVED it. She had such a good time. I was a little worried since she couldn't see but she was perfectly fine. Outside of losing my hat, it was fun. We're now going to have to add it to the rotation of FP's.
As for DW and DS, they also had a blast on Buzz, as evidence below clearly shows.
So intense!
Of course, DW laughed at me for my hat.
It's only 8:40am by this point and the Speedway is practically empty so we make our way over there. I had DD while DW had DS. I let DD drive while I did the pedals and as you can see in the picture, DW let DS drive and you can't see him
Look Ma, no hat!
I think that was rougher than SM honestly. She's NOT ready to drive anytime soon that's for sure.
My new hat! It looks like my old one, however the "new" ones has that worn look which the old one didn't have. Either way I was out $24. Funny thing too is that I had just bought a hat at the Character Warehouse for $3. But I didn't want to go the whole day in the sun without a hat. Is this day just about my hat? Why do I keep talking about it?
Now that Hat Debacle 2018 was over, it was time for Pooh. Winnie, the Pooh!
It's fun to try to explain the Heffalumps and Woozles scene. Why isn't that movie on DVD? I would watch it daily as a kid.
Since we were already in Fantasyland, we hit the carousel before our FP's for Enchanted Tales with Belle. If you haven't checked this out, make sure you do. It's not just for girls, they have cool stuff for the boys too.
After being led in all the kids stand up front in Maurice's shop and watch the magic door open! Kudos to Disney for the imagineering on that one.
The kids were fortunate enough to be picked for the show!
DS was Chip!
DS was Philippe!
I love this picture for everyone's different expressions. What's happening here?
The only thing I don't like about this is how low Belle's voice is. She's not mic'd but every time I've seen the show her voice is really hard to hear. They gave us the PhotoPass bookmark at the end but we couldn't find it so this is the best I could do
By this time it's only 9:30 and we haven't eaten yet! We gallop over to Gaston's for a cinnamon roll and a LeFou's brew!
Look at that, a STRAW!
If I could perfect this, I would dip the bottom in the glaze also so it's not just the top. Still, delicious. Oh and I ran down to the cart across from LM for a GIANT Mickey Pretzel which the kids devoured.
Time for Jungle Cruise!
They're just monkeying around. Hey finally got the jump to turn over!
Our skipper was AWESOME. I think her name was Brittany. She had that perfect sarcasm and wit. Immediately called out people for being on their phones, so good.
Next up was Pirates, which is a classic that we all love. EXCEPT for the new red head scene. I'm a fan of the classics and am sad to see it go. I wish they could have done more with the scene but to me it felt rushed so that's what the end result was. Just my opinion
We've gotten to ride so much already and it was only after 10am! DW realized that because it was a Halloween Party night, the crowds were considerably lower. Everything was pretty much a walk on, I think the longest we waited for 30 minutes for a ride. Well, except 7DMT which we already had a FP for.
I check the wait times for BTM and DD and I make our way over there while DS and DW ride the flying carpets. The line wasn't terribly long but it did move slower than expected. That is probably my favorite ride in all of Disney so I was happy to wait. DD loves it too, she's become quite the fan of them! No Splash yet, as it was dead of summer and the lines were REALLY long for that one.
We meet up with DW and DS and DD wants to ride the carpets so grab a quick one and then make our way over to 7DMT. This was DS's first "real" roller coaster since he was tall enough to ride. DD and I get the second row while DW and DS get the third row, however the people in row one backed out so they moved DW and DS up front! DD was upset about this but DW reminded her that it was his first time so it would be special.
Look at that smile! He loved it. Of course we all do. I hate that the picture is so dark. I guess I could have tried to lighten it up but you get the gist.
We picked up lunch at Cosmic Rays yet again, burgers and fries and all that jazz. We weren't really all that hungry but figured the kids should at least eat.
Next up on our ride extravaganza, Dumbo!
After Dumbo we wanted to meet the characters in Pete's Silly Sideshow.
Showing off their muscles like Maui!
Goofy channeling his inner Jane Fonda
Donald!
Daisy! Oh Goody-Goody!
Air Four!
Good interactions all around, everyone got autographs and hugs. Can't ask for much more. If you've never done this before, keep in mind that there are TWO separate lines so you'll have to exit and come back in. It dumps you into the Big Top Souvenirs, which has tasty treats and our favorite slushies!
I'm Liv Morgan!
After a little bit of cool down, it was time to head back to the hotel for a little R&R before dinner at 1900 Park Fare.
Walk through the shops on the way out and DS fell asleep which was nice. Make our way up the monorail ramp and one had just ran through so we had an empty spot. Next one shows up a few minutes later and we get an empty car! And then the doors never closed. Apparently monorail Orange broke down, AGAIN. That had been a theme during the week. Needless to say during that time our empty started to get full. Since we couldn't fold up the stroller due to DS asleep, it takes up a lot of room and I do my best to get it out of the way of people. Here's where the rudeness comes in.
One woman gets in, rudely asks to move the stroller in a tone of "umm, move your stroller?" and then proceeds to sit in the MIDDLE of the bench. I knew immediately she wasn't moving for ANYONE. Sure enough, more people come running and instead of waiting, one family of about 10 AND their double stroller pile into our car. Why couldn't they wait for the next one? So now they jammed their stroller behind sleeping DS, which is now out of our sight and rude woman DID NOT MOVE from her spot. Finally the door closes and while we're moving the children in the other stroller start to take our drinks from ours! The parents didn't notice and we said something to them and we got the "OH we thought they were ours haha" No haha. Watch your children. I'm normally very accommodating, folding the stroller when I can, standing so others can sit. But you can't control other people and it was sad and it definitely put a damper on my day. Outside of losing my hat.
Now that we were off the monorail from Hades, got to the room and cooled off, literally and figuratively. Dinner wasn't for a few hours so we took naps, showers and then off to the Grand Floridian! Looking at a map, we probably could have walked there but we had the car so we rode over and got directed to self parking which turned out to be closer to our hotel than anything.
Here's a map to put it in perspective.
Ridiculous right? Oh well. The parking was free.
Time for dinner!
We LOVE this dinner, the food by far is probably the best buffet on property. Just the assortment of different offerings is great. I WISH I had take pictures of my plate but sadly I didn't, take my word for it. This is a multiple plater so come hungry! I did take pictures of the characters! Oh I failed to mention this dining experience has Cinderella, Prince Charming, Lady Tremaine, Anastasia and Drisella.
It's Prince Zac Efron!
DS: "You pulled me away from my food for ANOTHER picture?"
This is where the character interaction is good. While Charming and Cindy say hello and are very proper, the Stepmother and sisters are hilarious! The improv is too good.
At one point a song came on for the happy couple to dance and they got accosted by the stepsisters!
She may look happy, but that's because she made DD hide her Cinderella doll and use her hands to cover her up on her dress
She even yelled to Lady Tremaine across the room about it.
Good ol Drisella. As you can see she was also not a fan of DD's dress and used her dress to cover it up!
Overall it's really good. DW and I talked about coming back here again but only if the characters didn't come up so we can just enjoy the food
It was a little late and we didn't want to hit the Springs, opting instead to just take our time and walk around GF.
Guaranteed this makes the Christmas card.
Just part of the resort.
Walked through some shops on the way out and took the LONG drive back to the hotel. The store was still open and I saw a shirt I REALLY wanted!
Cool right? Unfortunately they only had Medium and Smalls, neither of which I am. I asked the CM's and she told me that they are discontinuing that shirt and that's all the stock they have left. Man what a shame, such a nice shirt. I was convinced there were more so I told DW to keep an eye out. I took a picture so I could go online back in the room and see what it was going for, which people wanted A LOT. So I passed and just hoped for the best.
All in all, a good day. Outside of course for the hat.
Next up, breakfast at 1900 Park Fare (I KNOW!), getting passport stickers in the World Showcase and dinner at Beaches and Cream!