Day 7 PM Party 2 Magic Kingdom (Thursday, 3/19):
Just noticed the date typo in my previous post.
Dinner - We arrived at Be Our Guest very hot, sweaty, and angry after having to find DS on TSI and run like the wind to get to our 4:20pm ADR on time. We didn't wait long after arriving, maybe 5-10min, before being paged. We were seated in the coveted West Wing. It was full or blocked off when we had lunch on our previous trip, so we had sat in the main ballroom. The West Wing is really cool. DH and I decided we needed a glass of champagne after the TSII. DH and I split the French Onion Soup. It was a little salty, which French Onion soup can be, but it was very good. It definitely had the melted cheese and bread. I think it was supposed to be a crouton, but if it sits at all, it ends up bread, which was fine. I had the Sautéed Shrimp & Scallops. I was worried that it would be heavy, but it wasn't. It was good. The seasoning and sauce were tasty but didn't overpower the seafood and was not too salty. The seafood was also not overcooked to death. Instead of being a very creamy sauce, it was more of a really light butter sauce with broth and maybe white wine. The puff pastry absorbed some of the sauce; otherwise, it would not have been very flavorful. DH was going to get a the Braised Pork, which he had for lunch on our last trip; however, the server talked him into the Thyme-scented Port Rack Chop. It was bigger than he really wanted. He liked it, but it wasn't much different from a regular pork chop. It wasn't very flavorful. However, the Au Gratin Macaroni made up for the pork chop. He preferred the Braised Pork though overall. DS had a steak and ate all of it, except for the vegetables. We skipped dessert, because we were doing the Wishes Dessert Party later. The meal, champagne, and air-conditioning helped ease the anger from the previous TSII.
During dinner, I had rejiggered the FP+ that I had gotten. Since DS had run off, we decided to cancel the Space Mountain and Buzz FP+. We had already ridden earlier in the day anyway. I switched the SM FP+ for the teacups, since they looked like they had a bit of a line all day. I was keeping the Jungle Cruise one, because I was going to be damned to miss my opportunity to ride it in the dark for the first time.
Teacups - We hopped on the next turn and had a good time as usual. I love the teacups and always have to do them at least once. DH and DS don't like them as much as I do, so we usually only end up riding them once. It's not as much fun to ride by yourself, because I can't get the cup spinning really fast by myself.
Peoplemover - We still hadn't done the Peoplemover or Carousel of Progress, two of our other favorite rides. So we headed over there. There was a bit of a line, but it was constantly moving, less than 10min. The Peoplemover is so nice and relaxing and brings back good memories.
Carousel of Progress - We all love this one, and DS knows the entire song by heart. This is another nice attraction to do in the heat, and darn it, it's just silly and fun. It was more crowded than I am used to seeing it. I wonder if the t-shirts they released in the last year have given it some publicity and awareness.
Liberty Square Riverboat - This is also one of our favorites. I usually remember when we get on that I haven't taken any pictures. So most of our MK pictures end up being on the boat or of attractions taken from the boat. It was getting cloudy and a little dark as a storm was slowly approaching.
Memento Mori - I had to go look at the new Haunted Mansion gift shop. I have seen the stuff online, and I was even wearing my purple, glow-in-the-dark Madame Leota shirt that I bought from
Disney Store.com. I overheard the CMs talking to each other about it, wondering where I had bought it
There was some neat stuff that I hadn't seen online, but nothing really popped out as a I gotta have. They had these cool photographs that looked kind of like lenticulars. You could get a portrait of yourself taken there, and they would do some treatment to it. When you looked at the picture at certain angles or walked past it, it made the person look dead or maybe a little like a ghost. It's hard to explain. They were pretty cool, and they said it only took about 10min. Unfortunately, I looked pretty hideous at that point and didn't really need any special effects to make me look like the walking dead, so I passed on this trip.
We walked around Liberty Square looking for the Hall of Presidents and Riverboat penny presses without any luck. We did find the Haunted Mansion one though. We still had some more pressed pennies to get, so we headed back toward Adventureland and then cut over to Frontierland. We looked and never found the BMTRR pressed penny. It was supposed to be in the Splash Mountain photo area or gift shop. Oh well, I guess next time on that one too.
WDW Railroad - We hadn't ridden it yet and had missed it on our last trip. We don't necessarily use it for transportation; we like to take a round trip on it. As we were waiting for the next train, the skies opened up and started pouring. Luckily, we were undercover, and we had gotten in line before the rain. Because now the great hordes started heading for whatever cover they could find, which turned out to be the railroad queue at Frontierland. We luckily managed to find a spot. Well, we thought it was lucky, but something really stunk near us. After some stops, it went away, so maybe it was someone. The train was great as usual, and the magic hour/dusk lighting gave everything a special glow. As we went by the new Storybook Circus part of Fantasyland, we realized we had never gotten back there. It was under construction on our first trip, and our last trip was too short to have time. Plus, there really aren't any rides for us; it's mainly for little kids. Next time we vowed to go, partly because I had read there are good cupcakes back there. The sun was setting as we passed through the Main Street Station. We could see the sun setting behind the Contemporary. It was very pretty and magical. We got off at Frontierland, where we started.
Jungle Cruise - It was dark now, and time for us to ride Jungle Cruise in the dark. The SB line wasn't bad, but I was glad we had an FP+ anyway. It has an entirely different feel at night. I liked it. I think I will always try to ride it in the dark from now on.
Shopping - We did a little shopping at Pirates and then headed back to Main Street and the Emporium. DH was trying to find a vintage Piglet for one of the women on his Meals on Wheels route. She has a vintage Pooh but no Piglet. We didn't find it at the Emporium, but we found a cute Mickey Skywalker and Goofy Vader t-shirt for DS. Main Street was starting to get packed, because MSEP would be starting soon. We headed toward Tomorrowland for the dessert party. First, we had to find DS some light up toy. He had wanted some the previous night at Epcot and DHS, but we said he couldn't have the specific things that he wanted. One looked like we were going to keep getting hit by it. The other made bubbles, which we had no good way of getting home, and it wasn't any different than the ones at Target at home. We finally found a vendor. DS hemmed and hawed but finally settled on the Mickey glove light up stick/wand/light saber. We made a pit stop on our way to the Dessert Party line. We had some time, so I muscled my way back through the crowd to get a pressed penny from the Main Street Railroad Station. I coudn't find the machine and asked a CM. He showed me where they were and then gave me a smushed penny. He said that he likes to smush pennies on the railroad tracks. He sometimes gives them to visitors. He said it's not a regular thing and that they are not for sale. I thanked him generously and said that DS would love it. I got my pressed pennies and headed back to Tomorrowland. Luck would have it that the back way, behind the Main Street shops was open. I wish I had taken that to get up here, instead of swimming up stream like a salmon.
Wishes Dessert Party - This was our first time to do this. We did the Illuminations Dessert Party on our last visit. The line was long and took forever. DH and DS were still in it when I got back from going to the Main St. Station. We finally got seated and actually had a good table with asome view of the castle. There were no tables in front of us, but we were not right up against the railing. There were more desserts than the Illuminations party but no Mickey ice cream bars, just vanilla ice cream with toppings. In addition to desserts, they had fruit and drinks. I was very excited to see the POG and eventually probably drank 4 or 5 small glasses. I even mixed it with the iced tea once. I enjoyed the desserts, but many of them were very sweet. They looked very pretty though. It had started pouring rain outside right after MSEP. I think they moved the Wishes FP+ area into the Tomorrowland Terrace. It was packed with upset looking people, who were glaring at our food and tables. DS wanted to see the Castle show, so we told him to politely go up to the railing. People had already started hogging spots at the railing and some had even put chairs there when the CMs were specifically and constantly telling people not to do so. DS went up to a small empty spot, when a grown man that was taking up 2-3 spots at the railing glares at him and nudges him a bit. It wasn't rough and was barely a nudge; DS didn't really notice. Otherwise, I would have thrown that excuse for a human being over the railing and into the water. The guy had his arms bent at the elbow and spread out across the railing, I guess to block spots. He did get his bony elbow pretty close to DS's head a few times. At one point, he started yelling to his spouse all the way across the seating area. Apparently, no one had stayed at their table, and the CMs had cleared it. They were throwing a hissy fit and yelling at each other and waving arms. I don't get it. The desserts were still out; go get more and don't leave your table. We eventually had to get up once the fireworks started in order to see. It was still raining, so you couldn't stand just anywhere without getting wet. DS was standing out from the roof with a poncho on watching the fireworks. That's my boy
All through the fireworks, people were getting pushy and constantly complaining. I never could see them that well, but I am short and didn't want to get wet. Ultimately, it was nice to do it once. However, it wasn't worth it for us. We don't spend much time staking out a spot and have always found decent spots less 30 minutes before it starts, sometimes right before it starts. We also decided that we liked the Illuminations Party better. The desserts catered more to adults. The champagne was nice, and the view was great. There are chairs at Illuminations, just tall tables and maybe a railing to lean against. However, we ended up not sitting very long anyway. DS did like the desserts at Wishes better though. Also, the guests and CMs were all so friendly, happy, and helpful at Illuminations; whereas, the guests were grumpy and rude at Wishes. The CMs at Wishes looked harried, tired, and over-worked.
We were exhausted after the fireworks and just wanted to get back to POR. We got to the bus stop, and there was a huge line. We waited for two buses to come to see how far apart they were, ~10 min, and to see about how many people were fitting on each. We roughly estimated that it was going to take us close to an hour, 4 or 5 more buses, before we would get back. We decided to walk to the Contemporary and get a cab. The walk was pretty short. We had to wait for a cab, because there was a line of people who were also waiting for cabs. However, we still got back to POR in less than 30 minutes from when we left the MK bus stop. Plus, DS got to use the bathroom and sleep on a bench in the port cochere at the Contemporary. It was a good decision. We all crashed hard that night.