brownie's Disney World Weekend Trip Saturday
My alarm went off at 6am and I got up and got ready. I made sure Curt was awake so he didn't miss his bus to the airport and made it out the door by 6:30am.
I drove to the Transportation & Ticket Center, where I was the second car in the lot. After parking, I walked over to the Polynesian Resort to try Tonga Toast at Captain Cook's. It was good. I think the banana-stuffed french toast from Boatwright's (when they used to serve breakfast) was better. It may have been the particular piece I had; there just wasn't a lot of awesome banana gooiness inside.
After breakfast, I hopped on the monorail at the Polynesian and took it to the Magic Kingdom. It was weird being the 5th or 6th person in line at the turnstiles. After getting through the turnstiles, I stayed to the right to wait for the Magic Kingdom to open. I was a little too close to have a good view of the opening show but I could see enough of it.
I headed to Space Mountain when the Magic Kingdom opened at 8am. I ended up in the first train on the left-hand side. After riding Space Mountain, I walked onto Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin where I ended up with a score of 101,900.
I headed over to Adventureland and walked onto the Jungle Cruise. There were only 6-7 of us on the boat. After the Jungle Cruise, I walked onto Pirates of the Caribbean where I was the only person in my boat.
The Magic Kingdom was not busy from 8am-9am, but as I went to leave just before 9am, it was starting to get busier. I took the monorail to the Transportation & Ticket Center and then hopped onto the Epcot monorail. I went around to the far bag check to avoid the lines at the bag check by where you exit from the monorail. I was in Epcot by 9:15am and headed over to the Land to get a Fastpass for Soarin'.
After getting my Fastpass for Soarin', I walked over to the east side to ride Test Track. I used the single rider line and didn't have to wait more than 5 minutes. Riding Test Track was a priority for me since it will be undergoing some changes soon.
After Test Track, I went on Mission: SPACE (orange). I had to wait about 35 minutes for Mission: SPACE (the green side had a much shorter wait but I wanted the full experience).
I headed back over to the west side and rode the clamshells at the Seas with Nemo & Friends. They did a nice job with projecting the animation in the water. I didn't explore the pavilion after riding into it.
I went and rode Spaceship Earth before heading over to the Land to use my Fastpass for Soarin'. I was able to move ahead in the Fastpass line when they asked for a single rider.
After Soarin', I rode Living with the Land. The wait in line took longer than I expected so I ended up having to hurry over to the Italy pavilion when I was done to make my 12:45 advance dining reservation at Via Napoli.
I checked in at Via Napoli and was seated within a couple minutes. I had an individual Piccante (sausage) pizza and a mug of Moretti lager. The pizza was just as good as the first time I ate at Via Napoli. For dessert I had the Torta Di Sarena (apple cake). It was good.
After lunch, I stayed in World Showcase. I headed to Norway where I rode the Maelstrom and the rode the Gran Fiesta Tour Starring the Three Caballeros in Mexico.
I backtracked around World Showcase after riding the Gran Fiesta Tour and caught the 4:30pm showing of the American Adventure. I headed over to Canada to see Off Kilter perform at 5:30pm. I've never watched them perform before and really enjoyed it. If you haven't seen Off Kilter perform, I recommend taking some time to do so. I enjoyed them enough that I went into the trading post in Canada and bought their Live Tracks CD, which was recommended by the cast member at the register.
I decided it was time for dinner so I headed to the Rose & Crown Pub. I had a Golden and an English Bulldog, which were both excellent. I even talked a couple others into trying the English Bulldog. It's a sausage covered with mashed potatoes, bacon, and cheese in a bun. It's excellent and I'm looking forward to going back again!
After dinner, I caught the 7pm performance of the British Revolution. I enjoyed their performance. The British Invasion were okay; I liked the British Revolution a lot more.
I headed over to Test Track where I had about a 30 minute in the single rider line. Test Track actually ran out of Fastpasses before Soarin' did.
After riding Test Track for the last time (in its current version) I headed over to Germany to get a hot pretzel, which is one of our family traditions. I then headed over to the Future World side of the bridge that connects World Showcase to Future World to watch Illuminations. It's not the best place to watch Illuminations, although the Earth globes looks a lot better from a distance. I wanted to get a jump on the crowds headed to the monorail when Illuminations was over.
After Illuminations, I took the monorail to the Transportation & Ticket Center and from there to the Magic Kingdom. I made it to the end of Main Street by Casey's just before Wishes began. It's a great place to watch Wishes. Tinkerbell did not make her flight; it might have been due to the wind.
After Wishes, I grabbed a double scoop of Mint Chocolate Chip ice cream from the Plaza Ice Cream Parlor. I may never get an ice cream cone from there again. The cast member handing orders to people was slow. My cone was done and seating on the counter before they had finished making everything for the people in front of me. I hadn't walked more than 20 feet before my cone was dripping all over. I ended up throwing it out.
I headed over to Fantasyland to ride Snow White's Scary Adventure one last time before it's gone. I then waited in line 45 minutes for Peter Pan's Flight. It's a good ride but I don't think it's worth that long of a wait to me. I probably won't ride it in the future if the wait is that long.
After Peter Pan's Flight, I walked onto it's a small world. I was in the last row of my boat and there was a family in the row in front of me; the front end of our boat was riding a little high.
I headed over to the Haunted Mansion which was shut down. I hung around since the cast member said they might be re-opening it shortly. They did, about 5 minutes later. I really enjoyed the enhancements they made. I was given a white beard by my hitchhiking ghost.
I went to check out Storybook Circus. It looks good from what I could see in the dark. The Fantasyland Station bathrooms are nice (I had to check them out after listening to the INTERCOT Insider Live.) I rode the Barnstormer; I really like the new theming elements.
I headed over to Tomorrowland and went on the Carousel of Progress, which may be the first time I've experienced that attraction. 12:30am probably wasn't the best time to go on it, though. It was cool to experience it.
After the Carousel of Progress was finished, I headed out of the Magic Kingdom (12:55am). I caught the monorail to the Transportation & Ticket Center and drove back to Pop Century. I was in bed around 2am, after I made sure I had everything packed up to head home. My alarm was set for 6am again!
