brownie
11-06-2012, 10:53 AM
Friday, October 26, 2012
While the rest of my family awaited the 6am wake-up call from Stitch & Mickey, I was up at 5:20am to workout before the INTERCOT 15 Pop-Art 5K Fun Run at 6am. It had rained overnight was not raining as I headed over to Petals Pool Bar. I was joined by INTERCOTee JSparrow and we commenced the run at 6am. We ran around some of Pop Century before running around Hourglass Lake to Art of Animation. The interior courtyard areas at Art of Animation are themed really well and I really like the sketchpad stairwells. We ran back over the bridge to Pop Century and concluded the run at about 6:35am.
Sharon was up & ready, I got ready, then we got Justin & Mark up and ready. We grabbed some coffee from Everything Pop and drove to the Transportation & Ticket Center. After parking, we took a short tram ride and then walked over to the Polynesian. We had Tonga Toast for breakfast at Captain Cook's at about 8:30am. Justin & Mark were not adventurous, though; Justin had a Mickey waffle and Mark had the breakfast sandwich.
We finished up breakfast and rode the monorail to the Magic Kingdom at 8:50am. We were inside the Magic Kingdom at about 9:00am.
We walked onto the Jungle Cruise at 9:10am and then walked onto Pirates of the Caribbean at 9:25am. The new mermaid projections were okay and Sharon never noticed them.
At 9:38am and 9:48am we walked onto Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. Justin has always complained about riding roller coasters and has not wanted to ride them, but he was the one who wanted to ride it again.
At 10:01am, Sharon, Mark, and I walked onto Splash Mountain. Apparently Justin's new found love of thrills only goes so far, although he had ridden Splash Mountain before.
At 10:33am we had a short wait to ride Space Mountain, which Justin rode for the first time and really liked. We rode it again at 10:55am before heading over to Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin where I didn't do very well on. Our guns seems to be shooting slower.
We originally had lunch reservations at T-REX but I had switched it to Tony's Town Square on Thursday. We checked in at Tony's at 11:40am. Lunch was good. I had the chicken parmigiana, Sharon had zucchini fries, a house salad, and the soup of the day (I can't remember what it was), Justin had the margherita pizza, and Mark had spaghetti. Lunch was good; we've had good food and service the couple times we've eaten at Tony's Town Square.
After lunch, we took a bus back to Pop Century for a swim and a nap. We got in line for the Magic Kingdom bus at about 4pm and had to wait quite a while for the bus (2-3 buses came for the other parks while we waited). We arrived back at the Magic Kingdom at about 5:15pm and headed over to Cosmic Ray's for dinner after getting our Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party wristbands and bags. It wasn't crowded and we were able to snag a table with a good view of Sonny Eclipse. Sharon & I had grilled chicken sandwiches. Mark & Justin had hot dogs.
After dinner, we had a short wait to ride Space Mountain at 6:18pm. After riding Space Mountain we walked over to Storybook Circus and Justin & Mark rode the Barnstormer. I think they've done a nice job with the theming around the area. It was almost 7pm when they got off the Barnstormer, so we waited at the entrance to the trick-or-treat trail by the train station in Storybook Circus. At 7pm the trail opened up and we walked it collecting our candy along the way. After the trail we hit several more trick-or-treat spots on our way from Tomorrowland to "it's a small world' in Fantasyland.
At 7:30pm, we joined the INTERCOT 15 group for a ride on "it's a small world." It was cool to see our group filling up the queue line! We also found out that New Fantasyland was supposed to be open for Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party guests (thank you Figment!).
After our ride on "it's a small world" we went and explored New Fantasyland. We rode Under the Sea~Journey of the Little Mermaid first (7:50pm). It has a long but well-themed queue line. I like the little crabs that bring items out. If the item doesn't match, you point at it and the crab takes it away. We all enjoyed the ride, though I wish they had done more with the battle at the end.
We then grabbed some LeFou's Brews from Gaston's Tavern. It was okay; I think butterbeer at the Wizarding World of Harry Potter is better.
After tossing down our brews, we got into line for Enchanted Tales with Belle at 8:35pm. There's a lot of detail in Maurice's Cottage and the mirror effect going into the castle is cool. We ended up in a group with John, Patricia, & Figment!. John and I were selected as Belle's knights and Mark was selected to be the Beast. It was neat to be part of the story with Belle. The only thing I was disappointed with was I didn't get to see the Lumiere audioanimatronic during the show; as a knight I was up in front to the side.
After we got out of the Beast's Castle, we headed to the rose garden to watch Happy HalloWishes with the INTERCOT gang at 9:00pm. We enjoyed the show.
When the show was over, we slowly made our way over to the Haunted Mansion; we ended up getting in line for it at 10:00pm. We went through the new graveyard queue. It's cool so if you haven't had a chance to experience it, you should do so.
After we got out of the Haunted Mansion, we mad dashed to Frontierland to try to meet up for the INTERCOT parade meet for the 10:30pm Boo to You parade. We didn't quite make it; we ended up across the street from the Frontierland Shootin' Arcade and we missed the Headless Horseman, which I really wanted to see. We did enjoy the parade, well almost all of us. Justin didn't really want to see it so he sort of hung back.
When the parade was over, we made one last trip around Big Thunder Mountain Railroad (about 10:55pm). We then made our way through the shops that were supposed to have Halloween party merchandise, but they were out of pretty much everything. We grabbed some pretzels from the Launching Pad and then headed out of the Magic Kingdom at about midnight.
We took the monorail back to the Transportation & Ticket Center, hopped on the Villains tram to get back to our car, and then drove back to Pop Century to try to get some sleep before another early day on Saturday.
While the rest of my family awaited the 6am wake-up call from Stitch & Mickey, I was up at 5:20am to workout before the INTERCOT 15 Pop-Art 5K Fun Run at 6am. It had rained overnight was not raining as I headed over to Petals Pool Bar. I was joined by INTERCOTee JSparrow and we commenced the run at 6am. We ran around some of Pop Century before running around Hourglass Lake to Art of Animation. The interior courtyard areas at Art of Animation are themed really well and I really like the sketchpad stairwells. We ran back over the bridge to Pop Century and concluded the run at about 6:35am.
Sharon was up & ready, I got ready, then we got Justin & Mark up and ready. We grabbed some coffee from Everything Pop and drove to the Transportation & Ticket Center. After parking, we took a short tram ride and then walked over to the Polynesian. We had Tonga Toast for breakfast at Captain Cook's at about 8:30am. Justin & Mark were not adventurous, though; Justin had a Mickey waffle and Mark had the breakfast sandwich.
We finished up breakfast and rode the monorail to the Magic Kingdom at 8:50am. We were inside the Magic Kingdom at about 9:00am.
We walked onto the Jungle Cruise at 9:10am and then walked onto Pirates of the Caribbean at 9:25am. The new mermaid projections were okay and Sharon never noticed them.
At 9:38am and 9:48am we walked onto Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. Justin has always complained about riding roller coasters and has not wanted to ride them, but he was the one who wanted to ride it again.
At 10:01am, Sharon, Mark, and I walked onto Splash Mountain. Apparently Justin's new found love of thrills only goes so far, although he had ridden Splash Mountain before.
At 10:33am we had a short wait to ride Space Mountain, which Justin rode for the first time and really liked. We rode it again at 10:55am before heading over to Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin where I didn't do very well on. Our guns seems to be shooting slower.
We originally had lunch reservations at T-REX but I had switched it to Tony's Town Square on Thursday. We checked in at Tony's at 11:40am. Lunch was good. I had the chicken parmigiana, Sharon had zucchini fries, a house salad, and the soup of the day (I can't remember what it was), Justin had the margherita pizza, and Mark had spaghetti. Lunch was good; we've had good food and service the couple times we've eaten at Tony's Town Square.
After lunch, we took a bus back to Pop Century for a swim and a nap. We got in line for the Magic Kingdom bus at about 4pm and had to wait quite a while for the bus (2-3 buses came for the other parks while we waited). We arrived back at the Magic Kingdom at about 5:15pm and headed over to Cosmic Ray's for dinner after getting our Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party wristbands and bags. It wasn't crowded and we were able to snag a table with a good view of Sonny Eclipse. Sharon & I had grilled chicken sandwiches. Mark & Justin had hot dogs.
After dinner, we had a short wait to ride Space Mountain at 6:18pm. After riding Space Mountain we walked over to Storybook Circus and Justin & Mark rode the Barnstormer. I think they've done a nice job with the theming around the area. It was almost 7pm when they got off the Barnstormer, so we waited at the entrance to the trick-or-treat trail by the train station in Storybook Circus. At 7pm the trail opened up and we walked it collecting our candy along the way. After the trail we hit several more trick-or-treat spots on our way from Tomorrowland to "it's a small world' in Fantasyland.
At 7:30pm, we joined the INTERCOT 15 group for a ride on "it's a small world." It was cool to see our group filling up the queue line! We also found out that New Fantasyland was supposed to be open for Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party guests (thank you Figment!).
After our ride on "it's a small world" we went and explored New Fantasyland. We rode Under the Sea~Journey of the Little Mermaid first (7:50pm). It has a long but well-themed queue line. I like the little crabs that bring items out. If the item doesn't match, you point at it and the crab takes it away. We all enjoyed the ride, though I wish they had done more with the battle at the end.
We then grabbed some LeFou's Brews from Gaston's Tavern. It was okay; I think butterbeer at the Wizarding World of Harry Potter is better.
After tossing down our brews, we got into line for Enchanted Tales with Belle at 8:35pm. There's a lot of detail in Maurice's Cottage and the mirror effect going into the castle is cool. We ended up in a group with John, Patricia, & Figment!. John and I were selected as Belle's knights and Mark was selected to be the Beast. It was neat to be part of the story with Belle. The only thing I was disappointed with was I didn't get to see the Lumiere audioanimatronic during the show; as a knight I was up in front to the side.
After we got out of the Beast's Castle, we headed to the rose garden to watch Happy HalloWishes with the INTERCOT gang at 9:00pm. We enjoyed the show.
When the show was over, we slowly made our way over to the Haunted Mansion; we ended up getting in line for it at 10:00pm. We went through the new graveyard queue. It's cool so if you haven't had a chance to experience it, you should do so.
After we got out of the Haunted Mansion, we mad dashed to Frontierland to try to meet up for the INTERCOT parade meet for the 10:30pm Boo to You parade. We didn't quite make it; we ended up across the street from the Frontierland Shootin' Arcade and we missed the Headless Horseman, which I really wanted to see. We did enjoy the parade, well almost all of us. Justin didn't really want to see it so he sort of hung back.
When the parade was over, we made one last trip around Big Thunder Mountain Railroad (about 10:55pm). We then made our way through the shops that were supposed to have Halloween party merchandise, but they were out of pretty much everything. We grabbed some pretzels from the Launching Pad and then headed out of the Magic Kingdom at about midnight.
We took the monorail back to the Transportation & Ticket Center, hopped on the Villains tram to get back to our car, and then drove back to Pop Century to try to get some sleep before another early day on Saturday.