Tag Archives: magic kingdom

Rope Drop? You should know better by now: October Trip, Day 9

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A beautiful day at Downtown Disney.

So, yeah, if you haven’t realized this by now, we’re not really morning people if we can help it. Another beautiful day, one which we slept through until 10am.  After Mickey waffles, hot chocolate/coffee mix and showers, we departed for Downtown Disney around noon. The first item on our agenda was a stop at the Days of Christmas store to buy a Toy Story Christmas ornament,  and then we visited the Pin Traders for some pins, Basin for a free hand treatment and the purchase of some soap to take home, and World of Disney to purchase a Stitch magnet for our fridge, and some chocolate coconut Mickey candies to bring back to my office.  Our shopping trip complete, we decided to wait for a bus to Port Orleans to transfer over to Epcot, but a crazy yelling mom at the bus stop made us feel so uncomfortable we decided to walk over to Saratoga Springs instead. We got lucky and quickly caught an Epcot bus at the Congress Park stop, and soon we were at Epcot.

Our first stop was Club Cool to see if I could finally get my hands on some Mezzo Mix, which luckily was readily available this day.  Twenty or so tiny cups later, and feeling like maybe we hadn’t enjoyed Test Track the first thirty times we’d ridden it this trip, we headed there to scope out the single rider line, which at 20 minutes was too long for our taste. We instead took another bathroom break at the Odyssey building, and headed to La Cantina de San Angel, the new quick-service restaurant in Mexico to have some chips and guacamole and margaritas while sitting on the water.

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All I Want Is An Ice Cream Cone: October Trip, Day 8

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Another 9:30 morning and another trip to the Mara for yogurt parfait and…a Mickey waffle! O sweet Mickey waffle, how I love you!

I think the heat and walking of our trip, coupled with CP’s cold, left her (and me!) feeling pretty tired by this point. Instead of heading right out to a park, we decided to lay low and watch some tv, and left for the Magic Kingdom around noon. After another long, chaotic bus ride, we headed down Main Street to Fantasyland, where we grabbed Fast Passes for Peter Pan, and then headed to Tomorrowland to ride…the Speedway.

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October Trip: Day 6

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Tuesday, October 12.

With CP still feeling under the weather and both of us considerably more tired than at the beginning of our trip, we slept in today until 8:45. After some cereal, yogurt parfait, and hot chocolate/coffee mix we headed to the bus stop around 10am. Our Magic Kingdom bus arrived quickly and took us equally fast to the entrance of the park, so we were on the train to Frontierland in no time.

All decked out for Halloween...

Our first stop of the day was Splash Mountain, whose wait was only 5 minutes and which in reality was nearly a walk-on. Our fast queue experience was marred only by the presence of the line-cutting grandma in front of us, but we both had forgotten about that after the intense soaking we received at the end of the ride. Naturally, our next stop was Big Thunder, which advertised a wait of 20 minutes and the promise of drying ourselves off in wind. Being wise in the ways of Disney Math™ we figured the line was really much shorter than 20 minutes, and indeed, we waited maybe 5 minutes to board. The kid behind us was apprehensive to ride for the first time, but by the end of her first ride through the wilderness, she was clapping and giddy, thrilled with herself that she had liked it.  Next up was a walk through Frontierland and Liberty Square for another ride on Space Mountain, during which we confirmed that the left track is truly much smoother than the right side.

With lunch time approaching and hunger fast settling in, we decided the proper course of action was a tide-me-over snack at the Confectionary before heading to Downtown Disney for a real lunch.   While munching on chocolate-covered pretzel rods we watched Pluto interact with children young and old, and then we headed for the exit to grab a boat to the Wilderness Lodge, which CP had never seen, and where we could catch a bus to Downtown Disney.  We took a bathroom break in the very peaceful lobby of the Wilderness Lodge villas, wandered the grounds, and then caught a bus to Downtown Disney, where we went to the lovely Earl of Sandwich for a lunch of Caprese sandwiches while watching the day’s parade of crazily adorned BBB girls.

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October Trip: Day 5

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Columbus Day was – you guessed it – another bright and sunny day in Central Florida. On this morning we were up at a decent hour and at the gates of Hollywood Studios shortly after rope drop.  Walking through the gates we noticed that the park seemed blessedly free of crowds, but we were soon to find out this was nothing but a mirage.

Thinking we might actually be able to ride Toy Story Mania! without a huge wait, we wandered over to Pixar Place in no particular hurry. When we got there, however, I gasped a bit – the standby line was already at 50 minutes (it was maybe 9:15am at this point?), and the Fast Pass line extended all the way back to the animation courtyard.  Not feeling inclined to deal with either line, we opted instead to visit Starring Rolls for breakfast, and enjoyed muffins and coffee while watching similarly naïve hoards of people make their way to Pixar Place.  Eventually we too headed back that way, and secured Fast Passes to ride between 1:05-2:05 p.m. Not too shabby.

They're watching you spend 2 hours in line...

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October Extravaganza: Day 3

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Saturday morning, October 9th, was yet another beautiful sunny morning in Central Florida. We both got up around 7:45, went to the Mara for hot chocolate/coffee and some cereal. Today we were at the bus stop by 9:10a.m., easily caught a bus, and in a matter of minutes were at the gates to the Animal Kingdom.

Oh hai, Everest!

Walking briskly to beat the slowpokes and picture-takers, we arrived at Expedition Everest, which boasted only a 10 minute wait. After riding together we entered the single rider line and walked right back on, securing Fast Passes for later.

With Expedition Everest behind us, we leisurely walked toward the Africa section of the park, and took the train to Rafiki’s Planet Watch, an area I admit we visited because of…the petting zoo. Yes, I am twelve! Or maybe four. In any case, we both were eager to see some goats and such.

As a bonus we watched some veterinarians perform an ingrown toe surgery on a tiny, tiny bird.    We petted some goats. We did some learnin’ about nature.  We saw some sheep.  This is the stuff of exhilarating trip reports!

My idea of a good time...the petting zoo.

Anyway, soon we were back on the train, a bit peckish and in need of a decent cup of coffee after a couple days of nothing but Nescafe.  While heading through Asia, we ran into Devine, who really is mesmerizing to watch.  Eventually we ended up at the Royal Anandapur Tea Company where we each had chai and a muffin/cinnamon roll.  We sat and ate in this tiny hut overlooking the water, and once finished headed back to Expedition Everest to ride again with our Fast Passes.  By this time the lines were long enough to preclude even another run-through via the single rider line, so we headed out of the park, browsing the shops as we went. A quick bus ride and we were back at the Animal Kingdom Lodge.

How hot must Devine be under all those leaves?!

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10 Days in October: Day 2

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Good morning, Florida!

Against the advice of all pundits we slept in this morning – after all, we had endured a lengthy travel day and a late check-in. We’d survive.

First on the agenda this morning was a trip to the lobby to get the park tickets we’d purchased through Undercover Tourist added to our room keys.  Then it was off to the Mara, the Animal Kingdom Lodge’s quick-service food location.  We purchased refillable mugs, made a concoction of coffee and hot chocolate (about the only way to suffer through the Nescafe that Disney sadly insists upon selling throughout WDW), and grabbed a couple muffins to eat while we got dressed.  By 9:30, it was off to the bus stop.

Hello, soul-crushing bus line!

This is the point at which we want to cue the sound of a record scratch. All feelings of first-day giddiness came to a screeching halt upon seeing the bus line. Isn’t this supposed to be the low season, I thought?  We joined the masses and felt a surge of hope when the Magic Kingdom bus pulled up, but those good feelings were quickly dashed by the line-cutters and those who legitimately had waited longer than us who then piled on and quickly filled the bus. Eventually we squeezed onto the second Magic Kingdom bus – does know one know what “move back” means? It’s really easy to tell that most people don’t use buses regularly outside of their Disney vacations – commuter etiquette was not in play this October morning.

In any case, we finally got moving and were let off outside the Magic Kingdom by 10:45 a.m. So, our first Disney morning wasn’t off to the quickest of starts, but hey, we were finally there, right?

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