"It's an adventure" Day 11: Magic Kingdom

Saturday 21st April

Today was our second day at the Magic Kingdom so we were up at 7:45 and out by 8:45 to be at the gates for park opening.

All through the trip I had been wearing a bum-bag style water bottle holder. I started out by being able to go through the “Guests with no bags” entrance but after a couple of days a security guard at one of the parks noticed it had pockets and said I would have to go through with everybody else that had bags. I had no problem with that and because the pockets are only small and quite flat with nothing in them I generally got through with just a cursory glance. Today however I walked up to the security guard and held the pockets open only to be told “Sir, you have to take it off your waist.” I don’t know if the other guards had not been doing their jobs properly or if this one was a jobsworth but I was quite taken aback although again I had no problem doing what I was asked.

Having got into the park our first stop was Buzz Lightyear which was a walk-on at this early time in the morning. I managed to score 36,200 more by luck than judgement and Dad got 12,900 and I thought that we had both done quite well considering it was a first attempt and we didn’t know any ‘secrets’.

From Buzz we went round to the Laugh Floor Comedy Club where we had about a 5 minute wait for the next show. This is a new attraction for TomorrowLand in the style of Turtle Talk With Crush. The show consists of Mike Wazowski introducing various comedy acts who are trying to make us laugh to fill up their canister and power Monstropolis. There is some audience involvement via large television screens and when you go and see the show for the first time ask if you can be picked as “That guy”, you will enjoy the show so much more. ;)

After the Comedy Club we walked through Fantasyland but as it was quite busy we carried straight on into Frontierland and into Adventureland. Without thinking too much I carried on walking into the queue for Splash Mountain and with only a quick glance at the “This is your final chance to exit” sign we carried on into the loading area. The ride operator asked how many in our party and when I replied “Two” another Cast Member said “I can fit you in here if you like” and showed us into the front row of the next log! Ah well your first ride might as well be your best so we were in the log and away.
As we rounded the first bend we stopped just as a log was coming down the drop and got ABSOLUTELY SOAKED. Now I had seen this happening a few days ago but thought it was at the end of the ride rather than the beginning. I spent most of the ride soaking wet and preparing myself for the big drop at the end so I don’t remember much of it but I think I enjoyed it. In due course we were on our way up the big hill and after a split second stop at the top we were on our way down. My stomach ended up in my mouth, I could barely breathe and I don’t think we got too wet – all in all a great ride and I was glad I had finally done it but resolved never to do it again. Having said that I may well do it next year. As we got to the final bend there was a complete log jam (pun intended) at the unloading area and it took a good couple of minutes for us to get out.

By the time we got to the photo area our photo had disappeared from the preview area but the Cast Member gave us a number for her colleagues to search from and we bought the 8x10.

http://i158.photobucket.com/albums/t...shMountain.jpg

Still with soggy bums we wandered round to Frontierland and went into Country Bear Jamboree. This is a great, fun show and a nice place to dry out. After the bear show we went round and got fast passes for Jungle Cruise and then returned to Pecos Bill Café where this time I had the BBQ Pork sandwich, Dad had the chicken wrap and we had a coke each for a total spend of $20.62.

After eating we went back to Jungle Cruise and as we walked in the fast pass entrance I noticed a woman and her daughter duck under the rope in front of us from the standby entrance. I didn’t say anything and was pleased to see the look on her face when she got to the front and saw the Cast Member checking fast passes. She turned round and I presume either went back to where she had been or ended up at the back of the queue again. Our jungle skipper was quite entertaining and even had to do some improvising at the end where there was another queue for disembarking.

From the jungle we went to the Enchanted Tiki Room where I think the angry Gods freaked out one of the children in front of us but luckily a few cuddles from his Dad calmed him down.

After the bird show we had a stroll through the Swiss Family Robinson Treehouse and then wandered over to Tomorrowland where we went on Carousel of Progress. I really enjoyed this and will definitely be doing it again.
After Carousel we had another ride on TTA to round off the day and after looking around the shops we left the park at 1:35.

We had a short break in the room and then went out again at 2:15. One of the things that I had wanted to do ever since booking the trip last year was to have a ride in the front of the EPCOT monorail and video the whole thing. I had videoed part of the trip from the front 15 years ago and always regretted switching the tape off part of the way round. We got the monorail round to the TTC and after letting three monorails go it was our turn for the front. We had a lovely driver, who was also called David and at the end of the trip he gave us our co-pilots licenses.

We had been talking throughout the trip of having a photo taken for Leave A Legacy so we had that done and then had a look round Art of Disney where we saw a number of pieces that we liked, if only we had somewhere to put them. We then had a look around Mouse Gear and then waited to get a trip in the front of the monorail back to the TTC.

We were back in the room for 4:35 and shortly after we went round to Boardwalk to spend the evening. We walked round past ESPN Club, the Yacht and Beach Club and the Swan and Dolphin before going back to the Boardwalk and stopping off for a funnel cake and root beer each. Funnel cakes are deep fried batter covered in sugar and they are absolutely gorgeous and very filling.
From the Boardwalk we went back to the hotel where at 6:35 we went down to have a look at the pin stall. The bar is on the same floor so we went in for a quick one (as you do) where we had our usual beers then Dad had a Captain’s Mai Tai and I had a Bahama Mama, total bill $32.

At 10:00 we went up to bed tired from another full day.

Tomorrow: “Shall we do the other one now?” Day 12