snowflakegirl
08-24-2010, 11:18 PM
Day Three - August 6th
Cast: Jen (snowflakegirl), Disney Lover, looking to rediscover the magic after her last, not so great trip.
Joe, Jen's boyfriend, looking to experience the magic of Disney for the first time.
I amazed myself by, yet again, being relaxed enough that I didn't feel the need to push for a pre-park opening arrival. Or maybe it was exhausted enough...
We got a bus all to ourselves around 9:15. When we arrived at the Magic Kingdom we made our way to the Main Street Bakery. I dream about their chocolate croissants. Literally. We got lucky and there was no line when we arrived.
After our delicious breakfast, we took our coffees and made our way through the castle. I wanted Joe to get the opportunity to see the murals and get the experience of walking through the "gate" before the day started.
We made our way from there to Tomorrowland. We saw the talking trash can and watched him interact with people for a little bit (we did see his "handler", but it took a few minutes to find him). We walked over to Space Mountain, intending to grab a fastpass, but the listed wait time was 20 minutes and the return time was a couple hours later. We decided to take our chances with the standby line. We were on and off the ride in under 20! We grabbed a fastpass for Buzz and walked on to Carousel of Progress. I love that ride, and knew I'd be humming along to "it's a great big beautiful tomorrow" for the rest of the trip. After CP we took a trip on the TTA. It was a twofold reason. I love the TTA, but it was also a good resunscreening place! We rode Buzz and I was a little gloating after I won! We grapped Frozen Raspberry Lemonade on our way from Tomorrowland to Fantasyland...It was delicious and exactly what we needed for the hot day it was turning into.
We grabbed fastpasses for Peter Pan, hopped on Snow White, rode Winnie the Pooh and caught a showing of Mickey's Philharmagic (love it!) all by 12:30. Our return time for Peter Pan was 12:45, so we ran over to Splash Mountain, grabbed fastpasses for that (return time 2:45) then headed back to Fantasyland for Peter Pan. I don't know what it is about that ride, but I just *love* it. Seems like magic to me.
After PP we grabbed lunch at Cosmic Ray's because I needed my Sonny Eclipse fix. I love his corniness! After lunch and a little shopping at Mickey's Star Traders, I resunscreened on the TTA and then we were off to ride Splash!
We grabbed a fastpass for Thunder Mountain on our way to Splash. After getting thoroughly soaked on Splash we visited with some Pirates and then we were off for a wild ride through the mine.
We started heading to the front of the park so we could make ouer dinner reservations, grabbing a soda at Casey's on the way. We hopped a bus to the Boardwalk and wandered up and down the Boardwalk for a little while. We checked in to dinner at Kouzzina at 5:30 a little early and were seated immediately. We had planned on dinner at Kouzzina for the lamb burgers. I had read on the boards that it was spicy, but I wasn't worried, we eat spicy food all the time. I was a little disappointed that the main dish of lamb burger was no longer available, but happy to see it on the tasting trio, so I ordered that. Joe had the lamb shank, which was delectable. After trying the lamb burger slider on my plate...I'm kinda happy that the lamb burger main dish was no longer available. Even with the yogurt sauce and the cucumber slice, it was way too spicy. The flavors were good. But too spicy for more than a bite. The patistio and cinnamon stewed chicken, however, were incredible.
After dinner we strolled into the World Showcase. We checked out Canada, then wandered through the UK. Joe got a Bass (his beer of choice) and we wandered through the candy shop. One of the Cast Members commented on Joe's First Visit pin, and then asked where we were visiting from. We said Connecticut, he asked "Where?" We repeated Connecticut, thinking either that he wasn't familiar with the area or that he hadn't heard us. He then said, "No, where in Connecticut." We told him the northwest corner because even people in CT don't always know the northwest corner, why bother telling him the town. He asked where in the northwest corner. Turns out, this young man from England, with his delightful English accent, had lived about 20 minutes from where I live now. He shared that I could find my favorite British candy at my Stop and Shop. Small World!
After England we got a few songs from Off Kilter, which was nice, because I'd never heard them before. Then it was off to France for a Napolean. In Morocco, my favorite country, we shopped for a while and picked up 8 of the hand painted Moroccan tiles and had them shipped home. Joe is a carpenter and he's building me a coffee table with the tiles!
After Morocco we hit Germany and got a glass of the Diva Riesling. I love Rieslings, and this was particularly good. We were planning on sipping our wines while sneaking out of the park during Illuminations hoping to avoid a long line at the buses. As we passed Test Track we saw that there was a 5 minute wait, so we hopped on for the last car of the day.
The line for the buses was fairly lengthy by the time we got there (the whole trip, with only one exception, our bus service either to or from epcot was the worst.). We were back at the hotel by 10:30, picked up a bottle of wine at the Mara, and head back to the room, where, if we were smart, we would have gone to bed given the busy few days we'd had and the lack of sleep starting the trip...But instead, we took a shower, and hopped on a bus to the Magic Kingdom which was having EMH that night. As we were waiting for the bus, a DHS bus pulled up and dropped off a load of passengers, then offered to drive the 5 of us waiting to MK.
There is something so magical about the Magic Kingdom at night, and strolling down Main Street towards the castle at quarter of 12 was sort of incredible. We stopped to get a few pictures taken in front of the castle, and then hit Haunted Mansion, Thunder Mountain, picked up a Dole Whip, and then hit Buzz...I won again, Joe maintains that his gun must have been broken. We strolled around the park and did some window shopping got back to the room around 2:30.
Pedometer count: 14.96 miles.
Cast: Jen (snowflakegirl), Disney Lover, looking to rediscover the magic after her last, not so great trip.
Joe, Jen's boyfriend, looking to experience the magic of Disney for the first time.
I amazed myself by, yet again, being relaxed enough that I didn't feel the need to push for a pre-park opening arrival. Or maybe it was exhausted enough...
We got a bus all to ourselves around 9:15. When we arrived at the Magic Kingdom we made our way to the Main Street Bakery. I dream about their chocolate croissants. Literally. We got lucky and there was no line when we arrived.
After our delicious breakfast, we took our coffees and made our way through the castle. I wanted Joe to get the opportunity to see the murals and get the experience of walking through the "gate" before the day started.
We made our way from there to Tomorrowland. We saw the talking trash can and watched him interact with people for a little bit (we did see his "handler", but it took a few minutes to find him). We walked over to Space Mountain, intending to grab a fastpass, but the listed wait time was 20 minutes and the return time was a couple hours later. We decided to take our chances with the standby line. We were on and off the ride in under 20! We grabbed a fastpass for Buzz and walked on to Carousel of Progress. I love that ride, and knew I'd be humming along to "it's a great big beautiful tomorrow" for the rest of the trip. After CP we took a trip on the TTA. It was a twofold reason. I love the TTA, but it was also a good resunscreening place! We rode Buzz and I was a little gloating after I won! We grapped Frozen Raspberry Lemonade on our way from Tomorrowland to Fantasyland...It was delicious and exactly what we needed for the hot day it was turning into.
We grabbed fastpasses for Peter Pan, hopped on Snow White, rode Winnie the Pooh and caught a showing of Mickey's Philharmagic (love it!) all by 12:30. Our return time for Peter Pan was 12:45, so we ran over to Splash Mountain, grabbed fastpasses for that (return time 2:45) then headed back to Fantasyland for Peter Pan. I don't know what it is about that ride, but I just *love* it. Seems like magic to me.
After PP we grabbed lunch at Cosmic Ray's because I needed my Sonny Eclipse fix. I love his corniness! After lunch and a little shopping at Mickey's Star Traders, I resunscreened on the TTA and then we were off to ride Splash!
We grabbed a fastpass for Thunder Mountain on our way to Splash. After getting thoroughly soaked on Splash we visited with some Pirates and then we were off for a wild ride through the mine.
We started heading to the front of the park so we could make ouer dinner reservations, grabbing a soda at Casey's on the way. We hopped a bus to the Boardwalk and wandered up and down the Boardwalk for a little while. We checked in to dinner at Kouzzina at 5:30 a little early and were seated immediately. We had planned on dinner at Kouzzina for the lamb burgers. I had read on the boards that it was spicy, but I wasn't worried, we eat spicy food all the time. I was a little disappointed that the main dish of lamb burger was no longer available, but happy to see it on the tasting trio, so I ordered that. Joe had the lamb shank, which was delectable. After trying the lamb burger slider on my plate...I'm kinda happy that the lamb burger main dish was no longer available. Even with the yogurt sauce and the cucumber slice, it was way too spicy. The flavors were good. But too spicy for more than a bite. The patistio and cinnamon stewed chicken, however, were incredible.
After dinner we strolled into the World Showcase. We checked out Canada, then wandered through the UK. Joe got a Bass (his beer of choice) and we wandered through the candy shop. One of the Cast Members commented on Joe's First Visit pin, and then asked where we were visiting from. We said Connecticut, he asked "Where?" We repeated Connecticut, thinking either that he wasn't familiar with the area or that he hadn't heard us. He then said, "No, where in Connecticut." We told him the northwest corner because even people in CT don't always know the northwest corner, why bother telling him the town. He asked where in the northwest corner. Turns out, this young man from England, with his delightful English accent, had lived about 20 minutes from where I live now. He shared that I could find my favorite British candy at my Stop and Shop. Small World!
After England we got a few songs from Off Kilter, which was nice, because I'd never heard them before. Then it was off to France for a Napolean. In Morocco, my favorite country, we shopped for a while and picked up 8 of the hand painted Moroccan tiles and had them shipped home. Joe is a carpenter and he's building me a coffee table with the tiles!
After Morocco we hit Germany and got a glass of the Diva Riesling. I love Rieslings, and this was particularly good. We were planning on sipping our wines while sneaking out of the park during Illuminations hoping to avoid a long line at the buses. As we passed Test Track we saw that there was a 5 minute wait, so we hopped on for the last car of the day.
The line for the buses was fairly lengthy by the time we got there (the whole trip, with only one exception, our bus service either to or from epcot was the worst.). We were back at the hotel by 10:30, picked up a bottle of wine at the Mara, and head back to the room, where, if we were smart, we would have gone to bed given the busy few days we'd had and the lack of sleep starting the trip...But instead, we took a shower, and hopped on a bus to the Magic Kingdom which was having EMH that night. As we were waiting for the bus, a DHS bus pulled up and dropped off a load of passengers, then offered to drive the 5 of us waiting to MK.
There is something so magical about the Magic Kingdom at night, and strolling down Main Street towards the castle at quarter of 12 was sort of incredible. We stopped to get a few pictures taken in front of the castle, and then hit Haunted Mansion, Thunder Mountain, picked up a Dole Whip, and then hit Buzz...I won again, Joe maintains that his gun must have been broken. We strolled around the park and did some window shopping got back to the room around 2:30.
Pedometer count: 14.96 miles.