I thought we coped well with the jet lag this trip but last night proved me wrong. I was tired int he evening and dropped off to sleep at 10 but when Nigel came in from speedway he woke me up and I stayed awake until 1 am and was shattered this morning. He quite rightly made me wake up at 8 in the hopes I would be tired and sleep tonight - we'll see!
I have spent the day being Mrs Laundry lady again and also putting away everything. My task for the rest of this holiday is to do some serious de-cluttering of our home. Serious!
I have another page made with Dawn's amazing new salvaged templates to share with you. I also used her Peace and Frozen collections.
I have a real thing for Frozen and was so pleased that they were again doing all sorts of Frozen things at the parks - most of which were at the Studios. More about that later.
Today I am thankful for
- having my cats relaxed and settled and happy at home.
- sorting stuff
- clean clothes all done
- time to sift through photos.
Now - feel free to skip the next bit - it's holiday round up time!
Tuesday 14th July
We did remarkably well from a jet lag perspective, staying up until 9.30 (which our bodies believed was 2.30 am) and not being awake stupidly early. We knew we would be awake early-ish and so had planned to maximise the opportunities by hitting a park early. We had debated going to the Magic Kingdom in time for the welcome show at 7.40 but in the end decided ‘seen that let’s not bother’. We would get there when we got there.
We were sat breakfast by 7 am and enjoyed the first of many adult bounty platters. The Disney Dine Plan, thrown in as part of our deal, is brilliant. We get two meals and 2 snacks each per day and we added up what we had most days and it came to roughly $48 each per day, totalling an incredible $1344 over the stay. Yes we had possibly paid a little more for the accommodation as the deal was on, but not $1344 more plus it was the convenience of it all. Anyway – I digress. We had the bounty platter which comprises scrambled egg, bacon, sausage, biscuit, hash browns and French toast. We do a good deal as I don’t have the sausage or hash browns and Nigel doesn’t have the biscuit – trading is good!
I wanted to experience the Magic Kingdom as it was intended. When Walt Disney built Disneyland space was so limited that you arrived in the parking lot and it was right there. One of the things he wanted with Disney World was to make the journey part of the adventure, so you didn’t see the park too early. We usually go to the Magic Kingdom one of two ways. Either we take the resort bus or we go to Wilderness Lodge – more on that another day – and take the boat. Today I wanted to do it the way Walt intended. Drive to the TTC (Ticket and Transportation Centre) and then take the boat over to the Magic Kingdom. It is a beautiful trip over and we hadn’t done it for years and years.
We drove under the gateway to the Magic Kingdom which was still a thrill, and then, in glorious sunshine with no humidity, boarded the boat across. The views were lovely as the Poly and the Grand Floridian were bathed in light. I really enjoyed the trip across. And as the parking booth shows - staying on property saves $17 a day parking either because you use the free transport or you don't pay if you take your car in. One of the many many benefits.
As we were still early the Park was relatively quiet.
We had three fast passes booked for the day and figured we would do whatever else there was time for and that we could be bothered to wait for. As it happened we hit at a really good time.
We enjoyed some photo ops down Main Street with Pluto as there was no wait, and then we wandered into Tomorrowland.
The Peoplemover was empty so, just because we could and we hadn’t ever done it (shocking I know) we went for a very pleasant ride. It generated its own breeze, which was welcome, and gave great views over Tomorrowland.
By then it was time for Fast Pass #1 … Space Mountain. I never had any intention of riding this … Nigel loves it … I don’t. I like coasters, but I prefer to enjoy them visually not in total darkness so he headed for Space Mountain and I headed for Carousel of Progress.
Yes I know it is dated and old but it is a classic. It is an original Walt from the World’s Fair and I love it for that. I confess I am also a sucker for the song. I make no apologies for the video.
From there we did Buzz Lightyear Space Ranger spin which we had never done before and was good fun. You can tell from the photo how competitive it was! That look of sheer determination!
I love taking pictures that remind us there ARE quiet spots in the parks - always - you just need to know where to find them ... and when.
Another thing we hadn’t ever done – and will never do again – is the Walt Disney World Speedway. We figured it would be kind of fun – and again just a ten minute wait. It was kind of fun except we couldn’t drive the things. I thought it was just me but Nigel had the same trouble. It just made you over-compensate all the time so it was jerky and bumpy and just not great fun to be honest. Still, if you don’t try you never know.
We sat and listened to Sonny Eclipse with a diet coke whilst we cooled off a little and then headed into new Fantasyland.
There were minimal waits for many things and so we did The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh – which we had only ever done once before. It was very cute and even the line area was cute.
Then we did the Under the Sea Journey of the Little Mermaid which was very pretty and beautifully themed. It was great to do them with no waiting time.
We even did the Carousel – an important ride as it was a carousel that really drove Walt to create the parks – having watched his daughters on a carousel and thought there ought to be a place where children and adults could have fun together.
And – as there was no wait for that either, we had to pop into Mickey’s Philharmagic because it is fabulous – and cool!
It was important to do something serious too – and we had time before our next fast pass – so we caught a show in The Hall of the Presidents – always one well worth doing.
We headed off to Adventure Land as we had a fast pass booked for the Jungle Cruise … one of our favourite rides. It was a great trip with a super guide. I know it is corny as hell – that’s the beauty of it.
We stopped at Aloha Isle and – I am ashamed to say this – we had our first ever dole whip float. Lovely pineapple dole whip and pineapple juice – YUM! It wouldn’t be our last.
We then headed off to what is one of our favourite rides in the park … in fact in the World ... Splash Mountain
We almost …. Yes almost … rode Splash Mountain. We had a fast pass, there was no line, we were at the loading dock before we knew it and then – over the speakers – as we were the very next people to be getting into the boats – came a message that due to some adverse weather coming over they were closing the ride temporarily. We had seen far far worse weather. There were a few Florida black clouds but no rain, no thunder, no lightning. We waited for half an hour before giving up (we were visiting 2 other days anyway) and left. There never was any rain and as we walked away it was blue sky above. However, I know how carefully they do monitor the weather and how they have to ensure safety. Splash is a very long ride and so it took ages to get everyone back to the dock already on the ride (we know … we counted) so they have to be extra careful with weather alerts. It was irritating but we knew it was done with safety in mind.
You may have noticed ... from the photos ... we were also both proudly wearing our 10th visit anniversary pins! YEY!
We headed back on the boat and decided to investigate the marketplace. It was not something we relished as last year it had been carnage down there with the work going on, but we had a $100 gift card to claim so we needed to go to World of Disney to collect it. Last year they had been building the first parking garage. This year they were onto the second. There is construction all around but actually the traffic moves very smoothly and it is essential work to complete this area. We braved the parking garage and – oh my! It became a new favourite. It was beautiful – big wide spaces, all clearly shown on the signs which said how many spaces on each level, how many spaces in each lane and then had green lights over the available spaces. All carparks should be like this. We were impressed. Plentiful free parking. Easy. Clean. Brilliant.
We collected our gift card and then decided to try Wolfgang Puck for dinner. Another firm favourite. The food was delicious – we had fresh baked pizza and carrot cake, all on the dine plan and thoroughly enjoyed it.
By now it was early evening and we were pretty pooped. We had walked over 14000 steps and were a little jet lagged so it was back to our beautiful resort to chill and download photos and relax. What an amazing first day we had had.
A great day in magic kingdom. You did my favourites. Particularly TTA and Carousel of Progress. (Pra-grss as we say it)
Posted by: Bev | July 30, 2015 at 04:51 PM
I just love reading of your adventures in DisneyWorld. When you said: no humidity, I could barely believe it! In Florida? But I guess those lucky days do come around :-) Love your special pins. TEN years! That is so amazing!
Posted by: Barb in AK | July 30, 2015 at 09:04 PM
Gret pic of you both in front of the castle. And not a moment too soon getting Downtown parking sorted, it's always been a PITA. Looking forward to hearing about your non-Disney days LOL
Posted by: dawn | July 31, 2015 at 09:03 PM