darthmacho
08-26-2010, 10:30 PM
Date: August 16, 2010
Location: The Magic Kingdom
The Cast:
DM: Me, Darth Macho, Celebrating Our 12th Anniversary. (Belatedly)
DW: Dear Wife, The Queen, Celebrating Our 12th Anniversary. (Belatedly)
DD1: Princess, 9yo, Celebrating 1st Visit (That she'll remember. She was just 2yo on her actual first visit.)
DD2: Princess, 6yo, Celebrating 1st Visit (She was born mysteriously 9 months after our last visit…)
Breakfast with Pooh:pooh:
Wakeup call was at 6, which is early for my night owls (my wife and girls aren't morning people like me) and we managed to get to the bus stop by 7, and before we knew it we were off to Magic Kingdom! Once again, I could hardly believe it and I felt elated when I laid eyes on the train station and heard the entrance music. We got past the gate and got some unbelievable pictures of the girls in their matching dresses on a virtually empty Main Street, and some pictures of all of us with the help of the photo pass photographers.
(On a side note, I like the new system where you approach the photographers with your card. I swear back in 2003, I was trying to escape them because they were aggressively pursuing us. This year we racked up 120 pro pictures, and we hope to get them all on CD for just $150. I think that's a decent price. The only thing that went wrong was that our family picture with Mickey and Minnie from the Judge's Tent never showed up on the card. That would have been one to frame. Oh well. At least we got one with the girls on our own camera.)
Meanwhile, we continued what will be a tradition started on our last trip, which was eating breakfast at Crystal Palace before the park opens, and heading off into the park while the general public was still trying to get through security. If this is the way we start our vacation every time, I would not be disappointed.
Breakfast began with a visit from Winnie the Pooh, which I felt was a very appropriate way to start things off. We had just gotten back from the buffet, so we were all settled with food and drink when he arrived. He was wonderful with the kids. Tigger showed up shortly after him since the restaurant was still mostly empty. We didn't wait too long for Piglet either, but we had to wait well past our time for Eeyore to show up. For some reason he was moving a lot more slowly, and almost all the tables were full at this point. The general public was already streaming into the park when we finally got to the end. Our stay was also prolonged by a Pooh-rade, and the girls led our side with Tigger and Piglet. Seeing them in that parade was a classic WDW moment, and worth the wait.
As for the food, it was standard WDW breakfast fare. Good, but nothing too exotic or unusual. The highlight, of course was the Mickey waffles, which were delicious and cooked to perfection. I also liked the hash, which contained ham, onion and green pepper…mmmmmm.
There was some Mickey confetti on our table, which was the only recognition we got for our celebration, which was just fine with me.
Our waiter wasn't terrible, but if I had to describe him, I'd say was rather apathetic.
Once we got all of our autographs, pictures, and paid the bill (haha) we were off to Fantasyland a little later than I had planned, but still in high spirits.
Dumbo or Bust :dumbo:
Our plan, of course, was to get on Dumbo right away, but despite advertising a 2 minute wait, we were in line for about 20, and fearing that the rest of the park was filling up fast. Also, as we all know, the wait was a hot one. I think if they put this ride in an air conditioned tent like they plan, it would be a great idea. The only thing missing will be that classic castle view. We finally got on, and the girls sat together and were thrilled. My wife and I crammed into a Dumbo right behind them, so we got to watch them as they twirled. Our elephant refused to fly high when we moved the joystick. Ride breakdowns would become somewhat of a theme of the day, unfortunately. On the bright side, we had ridden Dumbo, which is officially the first ride both my daughters ever rode in WDW. (DD1 rode it first in 2003.)
Our first ride under our belt, we moved on to Pooh, which advertized a 20 minute wait, but I'm sure we were on within 10, which was great. The girls loved that ride, as I do too. My favorite scene is the flood because I love the way everything looks like it is floating and that the rain is hitting the water. Very simple, but cool effects. Another simple but cool one is the heffalump with her trunk in the honey which appears to be very sticky (bungee cords!).
Next was Peter Pan, which showed a 25 minute wait, but again we were on in about 15, I'd say. Another classic ride that the kids loved, and we were pleasantly surprised that the queue area was adequately air conditioned, even though it was outside. We still needed some cold water afterwards, so we grabbed some water with our snack credits before heading off to Frontierland.
Ride Breakdowns
As we headed for Frontierland, I was struggling to decide whether to get FP for Splash or Thunder, and jump in the line for the other. I figured the wait times would sort that out for us, but the decision was made for us when we found out that Thunder was down, and Splash had a less than 30 minute wait, so we got FP for Thunder with the hope that it would be back up, and jumped into the line for Splash. I was so excited for the kids to see this, my favorite attraction in Magic Kingdom, and despite all of the hype, it exceeded their expectations, and it turned out to be DD1's favorite in ALL the parks. We had a great ride, but juuuuuust before we pulled into the dock, the ride shut down and we were stuck there for ten minutes as they tried to get it going again. With so much to do ahead of us, it was an excruciating wait, but it worked out for the best when we got free fastpasses as we exited for our troubles! With FP's for Splash and Thunder in our pocket, we headed for another favorite of mine, Haunted Mansion, which I knew the kids would love too. We got on in just 10 minutes, but we had two breakdowns on that ride, but both were short, and didn't ruin the experience for us.
This was the first time we had seen the new additions to the ride, the Floating Leota, and the new area where the bride was hanging out. Both were good additions and helped an old favorite seem refreshed. It's without a doubt one of the best rides ever made, and I was so happy to see it again! I wasn't sure if DD2 would be a little frightened by it, but she wasn't at all, which was great. Kids these days are so jaded, almost nothing scares them.
After HM, we were off to Adventureland, where we would experience yet another delay…
But I'll leave that for next time…
Stay tuned for: Day 2, Part 2: (Untitled)
Location: The Magic Kingdom
The Cast:
DM: Me, Darth Macho, Celebrating Our 12th Anniversary. (Belatedly)
DW: Dear Wife, The Queen, Celebrating Our 12th Anniversary. (Belatedly)
DD1: Princess, 9yo, Celebrating 1st Visit (That she'll remember. She was just 2yo on her actual first visit.)
DD2: Princess, 6yo, Celebrating 1st Visit (She was born mysteriously 9 months after our last visit…)
Breakfast with Pooh:pooh:
Wakeup call was at 6, which is early for my night owls (my wife and girls aren't morning people like me) and we managed to get to the bus stop by 7, and before we knew it we were off to Magic Kingdom! Once again, I could hardly believe it and I felt elated when I laid eyes on the train station and heard the entrance music. We got past the gate and got some unbelievable pictures of the girls in their matching dresses on a virtually empty Main Street, and some pictures of all of us with the help of the photo pass photographers.
(On a side note, I like the new system where you approach the photographers with your card. I swear back in 2003, I was trying to escape them because they were aggressively pursuing us. This year we racked up 120 pro pictures, and we hope to get them all on CD for just $150. I think that's a decent price. The only thing that went wrong was that our family picture with Mickey and Minnie from the Judge's Tent never showed up on the card. That would have been one to frame. Oh well. At least we got one with the girls on our own camera.)
Meanwhile, we continued what will be a tradition started on our last trip, which was eating breakfast at Crystal Palace before the park opens, and heading off into the park while the general public was still trying to get through security. If this is the way we start our vacation every time, I would not be disappointed.
Breakfast began with a visit from Winnie the Pooh, which I felt was a very appropriate way to start things off. We had just gotten back from the buffet, so we were all settled with food and drink when he arrived. He was wonderful with the kids. Tigger showed up shortly after him since the restaurant was still mostly empty. We didn't wait too long for Piglet either, but we had to wait well past our time for Eeyore to show up. For some reason he was moving a lot more slowly, and almost all the tables were full at this point. The general public was already streaming into the park when we finally got to the end. Our stay was also prolonged by a Pooh-rade, and the girls led our side with Tigger and Piglet. Seeing them in that parade was a classic WDW moment, and worth the wait.
As for the food, it was standard WDW breakfast fare. Good, but nothing too exotic or unusual. The highlight, of course was the Mickey waffles, which were delicious and cooked to perfection. I also liked the hash, which contained ham, onion and green pepper…mmmmmm.
There was some Mickey confetti on our table, which was the only recognition we got for our celebration, which was just fine with me.
Our waiter wasn't terrible, but if I had to describe him, I'd say was rather apathetic.
Once we got all of our autographs, pictures, and paid the bill (haha) we were off to Fantasyland a little later than I had planned, but still in high spirits.
Dumbo or Bust :dumbo:
Our plan, of course, was to get on Dumbo right away, but despite advertising a 2 minute wait, we were in line for about 20, and fearing that the rest of the park was filling up fast. Also, as we all know, the wait was a hot one. I think if they put this ride in an air conditioned tent like they plan, it would be a great idea. The only thing missing will be that classic castle view. We finally got on, and the girls sat together and were thrilled. My wife and I crammed into a Dumbo right behind them, so we got to watch them as they twirled. Our elephant refused to fly high when we moved the joystick. Ride breakdowns would become somewhat of a theme of the day, unfortunately. On the bright side, we had ridden Dumbo, which is officially the first ride both my daughters ever rode in WDW. (DD1 rode it first in 2003.)
Our first ride under our belt, we moved on to Pooh, which advertized a 20 minute wait, but I'm sure we were on within 10, which was great. The girls loved that ride, as I do too. My favorite scene is the flood because I love the way everything looks like it is floating and that the rain is hitting the water. Very simple, but cool effects. Another simple but cool one is the heffalump with her trunk in the honey which appears to be very sticky (bungee cords!).
Next was Peter Pan, which showed a 25 minute wait, but again we were on in about 15, I'd say. Another classic ride that the kids loved, and we were pleasantly surprised that the queue area was adequately air conditioned, even though it was outside. We still needed some cold water afterwards, so we grabbed some water with our snack credits before heading off to Frontierland.
Ride Breakdowns
As we headed for Frontierland, I was struggling to decide whether to get FP for Splash or Thunder, and jump in the line for the other. I figured the wait times would sort that out for us, but the decision was made for us when we found out that Thunder was down, and Splash had a less than 30 minute wait, so we got FP for Thunder with the hope that it would be back up, and jumped into the line for Splash. I was so excited for the kids to see this, my favorite attraction in Magic Kingdom, and despite all of the hype, it exceeded their expectations, and it turned out to be DD1's favorite in ALL the parks. We had a great ride, but juuuuuust before we pulled into the dock, the ride shut down and we were stuck there for ten minutes as they tried to get it going again. With so much to do ahead of us, it was an excruciating wait, but it worked out for the best when we got free fastpasses as we exited for our troubles! With FP's for Splash and Thunder in our pocket, we headed for another favorite of mine, Haunted Mansion, which I knew the kids would love too. We got on in just 10 minutes, but we had two breakdowns on that ride, but both were short, and didn't ruin the experience for us.
This was the first time we had seen the new additions to the ride, the Floating Leota, and the new area where the bride was hanging out. Both were good additions and helped an old favorite seem refreshed. It's without a doubt one of the best rides ever made, and I was so happy to see it again! I wasn't sure if DD2 would be a little frightened by it, but she wasn't at all, which was great. Kids these days are so jaded, almost nothing scares them.
After HM, we were off to Adventureland, where we would experience yet another delay…
But I'll leave that for next time…
Stay tuned for: Day 2, Part 2: (Untitled)