Tuesday, August 6

My favorite day of vacation – the first full day.

Normally, CP and I would be up early, hitting rope drop at one park or another so that we can get park stuff done and then retreat during the warmer, busier hours of the day. Taking part in the MyMagic+ test turned out to be something of a game changer for us on this trip, however. Since MyMagic+ sort of necessitates that you plan your trip out seven years in advance (well, 60 days, but still), I found myself at home in July scheduling FP+ reservations…not at rope drop. After all, we needed some downtime, so the plan was to sleep in, enjoy some leisurely breakfasts, and then hit the parks later. Not so much later that we’d be suffocated by crowds, but late enough that we could get up after the sunrise.

Of course, on this morning I was for some reason awake at like 6:30, even earlier than I normally have to get up for work. Oh well!  CP woke up soon after, so we decided to just get up and get on with the day. Having learned a horrible lesson about driving to the Magic Kingdom on a previous trip, I convinced CP we ought to take the bus. Which of course meant that we had to wait about half an hour for a bus, and then when it arrived, it was already packed with guests picked up first at Kidani Village. Naturally. So it was a crowded, loud ride to the Magic Kingdom, but at least we didn’t have to deal with the parking lot, tram, ferry, and/or monorail.

Time for fun, right? Well, if we had working MagicBands, we would have been all set to get on with our morning of fun. Instead, when scanning our bands at the RFID turnstiles, the Mickey readers turned blue, not green. Without warning, the Cast Member stationed at our turnstile raised her hand in the air, summoning a team of MagicBand police (or something like that) who circled around us with iPads and iPhones in hand. After futilely scanning our bands a few times, we were directed off to the side to another Cast Member who would try and assess our problem in greater detail. (Note: not now, nor ever, did Cast Members ever suggest we use our RFID APs to enter the parks. They were committed to getting the Bands to work, whether we had to wait around or not.) Said Cast Member was very nice, but very frustrated, and alluded to the fact that the MyMagic+ testing was making her want to cry, each and every day. She also mentioned that one of her fellow Cast Members had recently been punched by a guest angry that his/her MagicBand wouldn’t work. Yikes…this is serious.

Anyway. We stand there for several minutes as she types away on her computer, and then she discovers the problem…since I had set up my My Disney Experience account with annual pass vouchers and not real annual passes, our actual APs were not technically activated yet. (This in spite of a Cast Member at Animal Kingdom Lodge telling me they were active in the system, and no, I would not need to go to guest relations to activate our APs. Sigh.) A few minutes later, her work was done, and we had brand-new RFID APs. When I asked if we should carry the cards around as a backup for our Bands, we were told no, we wouldn’t really need them. (Wrong!)

Since we were already in the park now, we went on our merry way without testing the Bands (or the RFID cards) at the turnstiles again. This would come back to haunt us. For now, though, we proceeded with our vacation. On the docket? Having our traditional first-day lunch at the Magic Kingdom’s Plaza Restaurant, and me visiting my mothership:

COME TO MOMMY. Yes, I literally said that out loud.

Listen, I am out and proud about my love for Starbucks, and I for one welcome our Starbucks overlords to the Disney parks. Main Street Bakery cinnamon rolls? Whatever. The ability to get a real Starbucks without leaving Disney property is maybe the best Disney development I’ve seen in years, which says a lot about a) my Starbucks addiction and b) the somewhat sad state of updates at WDW. But I digress. Our first experience with the MK Starbucks was great – it was more orderly and efficient than my Starbucks at home, and soon we had tasty Valencia refreshers in hand for our walk down Main Street. A total win.

Aaaaaah.

Here’s where I started to give FP+ some preliminary kudos – on this morning, it was easy enough to switch around FP+ reservations, so for reasons I’m not remembering we switched our first FP for Big Thunder to instead ride the Jungle Cruise first. I had also pushed our FPs back to allow us extra time to get to the parks with the bus delays (oh! right – when moving FPs back, I couldn’t get them in the same order. One of the many quirks with FP+ we’d come to experience), so we had some time to kill in New Fantasyland, hopping on Under the Sea.

Seriously, who designed the lighting on this ride? It’s awful.

Cue train ride to Frontierland and walk to the Jungle Cruise. Honestly, we haven’t been on JC in years, so I guess we have to give FP+ props for that. Our skipper was kind of old and really quite boring, but he let a cute little kid named Ben be the honorary skipper, so that was nice.  It was surface of the sun hot outside, so I can’t say this was the most enjoyable jungle voyage I’ve ever had. But hey, we did it.

Young skipper Ben drives the boat.

With time to kill before our Big Thunder FP+ reservation, we decided to pop in on the Tiki Room:

Forgive the iPhone photo, but you’ve been there and know what it looks like, right?

And now it was time to double back in the blinding heat towards Big Thunder. Once there, we were greeted by a 70 minute line, which seemed ridiculous even by August standards. Admittedly I was glad we had a FP+ reservation, and our Bands worked like a charm – we scanned, the readers turned green, and we were on our way. Arriving in the load area we realized the long wait was because they were only running trains on one side, so I have no doubt the 70-minute wait was not overstated. There’s not much I’d wait that long for generally, but especially not in August Florida heat.

So, that’s two FP+ down. So far so good. Keeping up our track record of having the worst touring plans ever, we set out for Main Street on foot, walking through Frontierland and Liberty Square to get us back to the front of the park for our Plaza reservation. With time to kill, we spent some time browsing in Uptown Jewelers, which apparently only sells cheap shoes and accessories now? (Just when I was starting to defend your merchandise, WDW.) Let’s be honest…the merch may be terrible, but we took any and every excuse to stand in spaces with air conditioning.

And then…lunch! We really love the Plaza. The only thing that could have tempered my excitement for Starbucks’ arrival would have been the destruction of the Plaza, instead of the MSB, to make room for it. The Plaza is quaint, tasty, and affordable, and in a park with pretty mediocre food options, it’s our go-to. Of course, I enjoy the Plaza more when they don’t make us wait in 95-degree heat for 20 minutes past our ADR time (for which we were 5-7 minutes early), but what can you do? Double-fist water and soda at a clip that gets you stares from nearby tables, apparently. As always, our meals were good, the hot fudge sundae terrific to share, and the visiting Mayor was vaguely creepy and flirtatious as always. Good to know some things don’t change!

Interestingly, when I went to pay at the Plaza, my room key was rejected for payment – no charging privileges, apparently. Looks like I’d have to make another trip to the front desk! CP paid with her room key and all was well. Very odd.

With that, we were outta there. It was hot and crowded, we were tired, and there’s little in life we take as seriously as long WDW naps. Luckily an Animal Kingdom Lodge bus was waiting for us, and it was empty and cold and just what we needed after a hot MK morning. Back at the resort, we napped, showered, said hello to our friend King Pin at 3pm, and visited the animals on the savannah. I stopped at the front desk to deal with my key issue; apparently when I had been down to get my MagicBand fixed the night before, the CastMember had printed me a new room key to go with it, but hadn’t actually given me the new key – I had the old one. So, I had to have my third room key printed. Problem solved. (For now.)

I know it’s hard to believe, but we were headed off property for dinner, to dine at the Ravenous Pig in Winter Park. It’s been on my to-visit list for over a year, and finally we made a reservation. I’m so glad we did:

Bourbon-glazed pork belly with pistachio butter and cherry-vanilla jam

Organic chicken with summer squash & butter bean succotash,
sweet corn pudding, ancho pepper sauce, and a sesame crisp

The RP old fashioned, complete with bacon-infused vodka and a bacon garnish. I’m over the bacon fad, but have to admit this was fabulous.

The most decadent s’mores dessert I’ve ever had – take that, Prime Time Cafe.

Raspberry frangipane tart with a creme fraiche ice cream – outstanding.

Here’s the thing – as much as I generally love WDW’s signature restaurants, this meal was equal to – if not above  – their quality and came in at roughly half the price. Sure, it’s a half-hour drive off of Disney property, but it was a good reminder for us (and for you) that sometimes it’s worth getting off the reservation. We’ll be back here in December for sure, and probably on each of our future trips to WDW. It was that good.

Stuffed, we piled back into the rental and headed down I-4 toward WDW. Being the gluttons for punishment that we are, we stopped at the Orlando Premium Outlets on I-Drive to see what was new at the Disney outlet. I must admit, I’m typically a fan of the Disney outlets near WDW, but on this night it was impossible not to be blown away by the truly crappy merchandise for sale. It was bad. We didn’t stay long.

Everyone wants a scary Marie Osmond doll, right?

Based on the astounding number of international visitors at the outlet malls – each holding approximately seventeen shopping bags apiece – I think Disney could shut down and Florida would be fine. It was really quite amazing.

Anyway, day’s end. Back to property and to sleep.

MyMagic+ Problems Today: 2. Bands wouldn’t grant entry to the park, and my Keys to the World room key wouldn’t work at lunch – no room charging privileges. Trips to front desk/guest relations: 2. Total trips to front desk/guest relations to date: 3.

FastPass Plus Reservations Used: 2/4. Neither one of us wanted to wait around in the hot park after lunch to use our last two FPs. (Note: in the test phase Magic Kingdom FP+ selection has resulted in a “bonus” fourth FP+ reservation.)

Up next: Searching for a librarian in the wild, resort hopping, and some projectile vomit. (Yum!)