Friday, April 27

Rope drop converts we are, and so we were up with the alarm at 6:45 this morning.

Early morning at the BoardWalk

We weren’t particularly well-rested, but we were too excited to sleep. ( felt like this kid!) Once dressed, we stopped by the club level lounge for a snack, even though we’d be eating breakfast at the Polynesian in about an hour (I was determined to get our money’s worth from club level, can you tell?) After some fruit and a bit of coffee, we headed to the car and drove to the Transportation and Ticket Center. Arriving as early as we did, we parked in the first row of the Heroes section, and had a quick walk to the Polynesian. The grounds looked and smelled beautiful, even more verdant than when we had stayed there in December.

Upon arriving at Kona Cafe we were seated promptly, and had an attentive and amiable server named Eric.  Diverging from my normal order of Tonga Toast I instead ordered the Macadamia Nut Pineapple Pancakes, and CP ordered the 2 Eggs Your Way. These were washed down with (of course) a press pot of delicious, delicious Kona coffee. The food was served quickly (Kona wasn’t terribly busy at 7:45 am), and soon we were on our way to the Monorail. I wish I had a picture of the HUMONGOUS diamond ring one fellow Monorail passenger was sporting. Wow.

We arrived at the Magic Kingdom and joined a sizable rope drop crowd. We watched the tail end of the opening show, and then ambled up Main Street, not in any particular hurry.  We headed straight through Cinderella’s Castle and to the new areas of Fantasyland.

Construction of the Snow White mine train in Fantasyland.

I was determined to ride the “new” Dumbo, but as has been the case on our last two trips, the ride was down – does the Universe not want me to ride Dumbo? We checked out the new Barnstormer, the rail road station (complete with what I would argue are the nicest bathrooms in the Magic Kingdom, if you care about that sort of thing), and the beginnings of the Snow White mine train ride.

Next it was off to Liberty Square for a ride on the Haunted Mansion, an old favorite. With no crowds to fight I took my time photographing the new-ish queue, playing around with the fisheye lens I had purchased before this trip.

Fun with new lens.

Spooky.

After the Mansion we headed to the newly reopened Sunshine Tree Terrace to take a gander at the return of the Orange Bird, and then it was off to Pirates. Now, the line at Pirates looked long, but knowing it’s a continuously loading ride I wasn’t too worried. Perhaps we should have been. The line was mobbed with cheerleaders, dance teams,

Reopened and beautiful!

groups of YES program students, and school trip groups. So much screaming, so many flash photos, so much chaos – not our best ride on Pirates, that’s for sure.  The only way to cure such stress? A citrus swirl!

Ah, yes, the infamous (on the internet at least) citrus swirl, a cult favorite now back at the Magic Kingdom. We split one and sat in the shade, people watching, and found the snack very much to our liking.  Rested and refreshed, we were off to Tomorrowland for a quick spin on the TTA. It’s like we never left Pirates: the TTA stopped twice for several minutes due to unruly high schoolers standing up and horsing around the ride. The good news? I FINALLY GOT TO SEE SPACE MOUNTAIN WITH THE LIGHTS ON!%#!%#@#%@! But I was not excited about this. Nope. Not At All.

ACHIEVEMENT UNLOCKED.

After the TTA we decided to try to ride the Carousel of Progress, a classic WDW attraction that for some reason I have never, ever been on. Like Space Mountain CoP was down, too – clearly, this was not a banner day for rides.  Since this short trip was just to give us a quick fix, we didn’t sweat it – we’ll be back in September – so we headed back to Main Street to browse the stores. We then ran over to the Contemporary to take a rest, make a bathroom stop, browse, and make some phone calls, and then we returned to the Magic Kingdom for our

Lizardmouth.

traditional first-MK-day Plaza lunch.

Back in December I had a grilled chicken sandwich at the Plaza that I just raved about, so I decided to have that again. CP branched out and tried the strawberry chicken salad, and her entree was clearly the winner – my sandwich was chewy, tough, and not very good. After lunch we decided to forgo our tea at the Grand Floridian and just head back to the BoardWalk to rest before dinner with my aunt and cousin. On the way we made an impulsive decision to take the train all the way around the park; this was a great decision, save the very smelly, deodorant-less people seated upwind of us. Once back at the front of the park we hopped on the resort monorail, and then ended up stuck at the Contemporary stop for nearly 15 minutes while a different monorail made a track change. Again, not a day for rides.

Back at the BoardWalk we made a stop in the club level lounge for some snacks (white chocolate pretzels, Goldfish crackers, Swedish fish, and soda), and then we headed back to the room to nap and watch tv. At five, we went back to the lounge to check out the BoardWalk’s club level offerings for evening appetizers, and it was probably at this moment that my love for the BoardWalk (and for club level at the BoardWalk in particular) was cemented. The offerings were FANTASTIC – miles above what was offered at the Polynesian. There was a standard selection of crudite and dips, several cheeses, smoked salmon canapes, a duck/couscous salad, asian slaw, a mozzarella and tomato salad, spanakopita, and pork skewers. There was also a delicious peanut butter and jelly cake and apples and caramel for the kids, but I’d say the adults enjoyed the cake equally if not more than the children in attendance. I had a Sam Adams and CP continued to enjoy the endless free soda. Club level, aaaaaah.

Satisfied, we headed out to the actual BoardWalk to browse the shops and kill some time before my aunt and cousin arrived. While shopping we spotted an adorable adult lady and her husband; the wife had not one but TWO Duffys strapped to her fanny pack (a Mr. Duffy and a Mrs. Duffy, to be precise), and we watched as the couple went to dinner at the Flying Fish, Duffys proudly displayed.  Shortly thereafter we met by aunt and cousin in the lobby, and headed to the club level lounge to show them around and have a glass of wine before dinner.

Up, up, and away…

Soon we arrived at Downtown Disney, and found Planet Hollywood to have a line nearly 200 people deep – cheer teams, I was informed. (CRAZY.)  We checked in at Ragland Road, and killed time browsing the RR shop. We were soon seated in the back of the restaurant, in a quiet room far from the step dancers and live band. Unnervingly, we were seated by an overage Tinkerbell – let’s just say the girl was well beyond puberty. I order a gin and tonic, CP gets a Terrapin Hopsecutioner, my cousin sticks with water (and she just turned 21!), and my aunt has a Riseling.  Three of us order the Cashel salad while my cousin orders the SS Beefy. She also decides to start with calamari, but then can hardly finish it because of the tiny tempura octopi – when I ask why she won’t eat them, she replies “but they have legs!”  In all a good meal, if a bit pricey for what we ordered.

Not pictured: smokers, drunk people, screaming children, other reasons I don’t typically venture to the West Side.

The four of us kill a little time browsing the West Side of Downtown Disney, and then head back to the BoardWalk for desserts and cordials in the Lounge. This is where we are introduced formally to Lorenzo, possibly the best Disney Cast Member I’ve ever encountered. He gets CP and me fresh (real!) coffee, sends us on our way with full bottles of Evian for the room, and – best of all – gives us a private tour of the Sonora vice-presidential suite. He regales us with stories of his time working at Disney (including stories of misbehaving celebrities; looking at you, certain Full House star…), and we all head back to our room, happy.  We spend a few minutes watching Wishes from our balcony and watching a magician perform on the BoardWalk, and my aunt and cousin then depart for their resort. An amazing day, a great night, and by this point I’m full-on in love with the BoardWalk. Swoon.

Some pictures of the Sonora Suite: