Zawadi's Safari To The Magic (Day 7/7)

[Zawadi]

Fri 13 Dec 2013 - Magic Kingdom & Epcot
Check out the date!

At breakfast in the Mara, DW had a second shower when the nozzle came off the soda dispenser. The machine was put back together but the rapid fill was still in timeout mode. A CM reset it and we can now get drinks until Dec 27 even tough we leave tomorrow.

On the way back to the room, I exited the elevators to be almost run over by a mousekeeper pushing a service cart.

It was a touch warmer this morning but we still donned our fleeces as we headed off the the Magic Kingdom around 09:30.

Our plan for the day was. FP+ for Buzz, PotC and BTMRR with a pre-booked Fastpass for a CS lunch at Be Our Guest.

Our first FP+ was Buzz. However, it was walk on! So, on we walked. Not once but twice. The standby line had increased to 30 minutes so we used our FP+, which worked!

As we headed to PotC, we collected a normal FP for the Jingle Cruise. Again, Pirates was walk on, So we did just that. Once we exited the ride we decided to change our FP+. The app on my android based phone hung when downloading the alternative attractions. We asked where the nearest FP+ kiosk was. The kiosks are in the Frontierland Breezeway, which is the cut through from Frontierland to the Treehouse. A CM helped us change our FP+ to Peter Pan later in the afternoon.

The seasonal spin on Jingle Cruise was good. We all know that the CMs on Jungle Cruise can either make or break the ride. Well our CM made it!

Lunch was booked for 12:15. We were still 10 minutes early so had a quick look around the area of Gaston's statue.

The experience in Be Our Guest is surreal to say the least. We had ordered our food when we booked online. Once we checked in we we told to get our cutlery and sodas, find any table and our food would arrive. We found a table towards the back of the ballroom and within 10 minutes a lady butler, pushing a dinner cart, approached our table and severed us our meal. WOW! Our selection consisted of onion soup, turkey sandwich with fries, beef sandwich with fries, a chocolate mousse cupcake and a master's cupcake. And yes, the grey stuff is delicious. Once we had eaten, we had a look around the other two rooms. You can only do this during the lunchtime service.

We left and headed towards BTMRR. We passed the Haunted Mansion, which was still closed due to a problem. A playful spook killed it! The standby line for BTMRR was 60 minutes and we just walked on with our FP+, which again worked first time.

As we left BTMRR we noticed that the the Haunted Mansion was operational so decided to change our Peter Pan FP+ to Haunted Mansion. At the FP+ kiosk a CM asked if we needed any help to which I replied "hopefully not". She watched as I tapped away and said that that the task was done like a pro.

As a time filler we headed back to Fantasyland. We saw guests exiting Philharmagic. We made it through the line before the doors closed for the next show before going on the Haunted Mansion.

It was now that we found the longest line of the day at Aloha Isle, for a Dole Whip Float. We had tried the swirl version at the Poly. last year. This time it was a taste before going to the Dole plantation on Oahu next year.

We finished our Dole Whips as the parade was clearing the hub heading towards Liberty Square. It was now time to say "so long!" to the Magic Kingdom but not before walking through the Emporium to see if Disney had updated its Theme Park music CDs. Nothing new

The Christmas Tree was now in place, after the TV recording last weekend. I wanted a photo, from the balcony of Main Street Station, capturing the tree, Main Street and the Castle. Photo taken. I heard the whistle of #1 Walter E Disney. We just had to take a final trip around the park.

We returned to the AKL, getting off at Kidani for a final look at the baby zebra and giraffe. Our plan for the evening was Biergarten at 19:30 followed by the evening EMH in Epcot. However, as we left Kidani to walk back to Jambo I felt that Biergarten might feel like an anticlimax after the other dinners that we'd had during the week. We decided to ask the concierge if there was space in Sanaa, and to our surprise there was a table at 19:05. We were lucky that since we had made the ADR before the deposit rule was imposed across all restaurants, the late change did not cost us anything.

Back in our room, it was time to start packing Everything that we didn't need that night or tomorrow was loaded into the cases.

We ate in Sanaa, and gave our server the full order without looking at a menu. We both opted for the lamb shank followed by the trio sampler desert.

After diner we went straight to Epcot to use our complimentary FP+s on Soarin'. It was after 21:00 so people were starting to head for Illuminations. The main time board, by Electric Umbrella, showed Soarin' standby as 50 minutes. By the time that we arrived at the ride, standby had dropped to 40 minutes. We presented our bands to the reader and it turned green. OMG! We came off and presented for the second guest relations FP+. However the reader went blue. We showed the CM the confirmation printout and he let us in. This time, when we exited, standby was down to 10 minutes. An opportunity not to be missed so back in for ride 3 of the night. We were so lucky with that last ride because when we exited, standby had increased to 60 minutes again since Illuminations was over.

To end the evening, we went on Nemo and Spaceship Earth before boarding a bus at 23:30 and falling asleep on the way back to AKL.

So, Friday 13th lived up to its expectations of the opposite of normality. Today everything appeared to have worked for us

Day 8/7 to follow...

[ibelieveindisneymagic]

We're big fans of Friday the 13th in our house (DD was born on the 13th)!

Glad to hear it was a better-than-expected day ... I'm impressed with how much you got done without too much waiting.

[yjgirl32]

Another great report. Thanks for sharing.

[badkitty]

Another fun-filled day. How great to have so many walk-ons! Thanks for a great report.

[MississippiDisneyFreak]

Sounds great, thanks for reporting

[faline]

Did they change the rules about visiting the other rooms at Be our Guest? We had dinner there in August and we were encouraged to walk around and visit the other rooms after dinner.

Nice Friday the 13th for you!!