Travel

The Magic Kingdom, Day 1

Maybe having to rethink our plans from Epcot was a good thing because we find ourselves awake at the crack of dawn. We've got our room packed up, the car loaded and we check out of our room as we're boarding the bus to go to the Magic Kingdom. (We're moving to the Port Orleans Riverside later in the day so we'll ride the bus back here and drive over there.)

We're in the Magic Kingdom before “Rope Drop” which is pretty neat in itself. (Officially known as "Let The Magic Begin".) There's something to be said about being in the park before it officially opens. There are areas you can go to, but not everywhere. We rode the Trolley back to the entrance to Adventureland and got to visit with a very nice “local” who gave us some great pointers. (Take the time to talk to people – learning from others is half the fun!) We line up with a lot of other people waiting for the ropes to drop and the park to open. I can't see him, but I can hear Mickey welcoming everyone to the Magic Kingdom. I had a serious flashback to being a little girl at Disneyland with my parents and experiencing the cast members carrying the ropes down Main Street as Mickey welcomed you to his park. I hadn't remembered that until I heard that welcome from him again. It was such a surreal moment to be flashing back to my childhood and experiencing it with my own children. Probably one of my best Disney World memories to date.

The ropes are down, the crowds are running and the madness ensues! I'm not stressing – I've over-planned this day so we're golden. Ha…we'll see how long that lasts, right? Everyone is rushing towards Splash Mountain, but not us. We're going in the same general direction, but we've got Fast Passes for about an hour after the park opens for that one so when the crowd goes right, we go left. (Great piece of advice I picked up from someone: If the crowds are going one direction, go the opposite. Seems simple, but it works amazingly well.) Let them fight for Splash Mountain, we just walked right onto Pirates of the Caribbean without even a minute wait. Boom!

After Pirates and taking our time wandering through the gift store at the end of the ride, we head towards Splash Mountain. We're a little early, but we can people watch along the way. Wait…why are the people coming back this way grumbling? Why do I not hear screams of excitement and terror? Why is there no log flume tumbling down the mountain? UGH!!!!! Splash Mountain is having technical difficulties and is shut down until this afternoon. (Remember what I said about having an airtight plan? Ha ha! That didn't last long.)

We would learn something the next day that we didn't know and didn't ask about at this point. If you have a Fast Pass for a ride and something like this happens, you can use that Fast Pass at any point during the day. So once it's up and running, your Fast Pass will still be valid even though you'll be outside your time frame. We didn't know and would actually end up selecting another Fast Pass a little bit later instead.

By now, we're getting ‘a little rumbly in the tumbly' so we grab some breakfast from Sleepy Hollow. Mickey Waffles! Yes!!!! Buyer beware – when the menu says “Sweet & Spicy Chicken Waffle Sandwich”? That means HOT!!! Yikes! I like heat, but I'm pretty sure I was breathing fire for at least 2 hours afterwards!

After we finish eating, the kids have to take a potty break. I'm sitting there waiting (Dad took them) and I had a bit of a “fan girl” moment when Mary Poppins and Bert walked out of a side door. I was the first one in line to meet them and get my picture taken, too. They were such amazing characters – truly a great experience. Bert leaned over at one point and told me “There seems to be a gentleman following you. Do you need me to alert security?” I told him that because I had a couple of children with him, it probably wouldn't be necessary to alert security but if that changed I would let him know. I'm a grown woman, I know they're not the real Mary Poppins and Bert, but there was something so magical about that moment that I couldn't help but wonder. The magic truly is real there.

Off to the castle to watch the end of one of their live performances with lots of singing and dancing characters. (Mickey's Royal Friendship Faire) That wasn't really in the plans, but gosh… when you see something like that happening, you kind of have to stop and watch don't you? I'm sure it's in the rules.

Off to Fantasyland! Naturally, the first thing we have to ride is Prince Charming's Carousel (my husband is absolutely nuts about carousel's and rides them anytime he gets a chance). So while he and the boys are riding I work on swapping out our Fast Pass after checking the app and seeing there's no update for Splash Mountain. I trade those for Small World since it's always a wait to get on that one. (No, the kids weren't thrilled over that either!)

After the carousel we use our Fast Passes for Peter Pan. Now, can someone explain this to me? The ride is a good ride. It's fun, it's nostalgic, but WHY is the line always so long? Why do I need a Fast Pass to get on this thing in under 2 hours? I don't get it. I have never understood that, but it's the truth. You will stand in that line for 2 hours without a Fast Pass – it's nuts!

We have a little time before our next Fast Pass (Haunted Mansion) so we go ride the Riverboat. While waiting to get on the boat we met a rather strange man that I think really believed he was a cast member from Pirates of the Caribbean. He had as much of a costume as they'd let him wear in the park and the rest that they made him remove was in his satchel (he made sure to show us and tell us how they made him take part of his costume off). We met a lot of really interesting people on this trip, but he was a different kind of interesting – a kids-don't-tell-him-anything-personal kind of interesting. I think he was harmless, just odd. Definitely memorable!

Back to the Haunted Mansion. Even with a Fast Pass, we waited about 30 minutes to get in. (The standby line was insane!) I couldn't believe how different it was from Disneyland. It's not just different on the outside, but at least half of the inside is noticeably different too. Honestly, I'm not sure which I like better. Regardless, it's a classic and one of my favorites.

While we wandered around, we got some snacks and people watched. One of the coolest things happened though when we had stopped to snack, there was a skywriter writing in the sky above Rapunzel's Tower. We had so much fun just sitting there watching him write. By the time it was done, there was a smiley face and “Jesus Loves You” in the sky. Cool, huh?

I have to say I wasn't sure about Small World. The line was inside. That just seemed weird to me. Part of the charm, for me, has always been standing outside in the blistering sun, in a slow moving line watching the tick tocking of the clock face. It's something silly, but I love that so being in a building waiting in the queue was weird. There's also a restaurant that overlooks the line queues so instead of being the “watchers” we became the “watched”. Ha ha! The fun, the charm, the sweetness of the ride is as it should be though. I loved it. I wish I'd had my camera in my hand when we came to the end though. They scan your magic band when you go on the ride so it validates your fast pass and when you get to the end of the ride on the “Good bye, Adios, etc.” sign? It said Thank you for visiting Kim. I was like “WHOA DID YOU SEE THAT? THEY SAID THANK YOU TO ME!!!” (Everyone in the building may or may not have heard that.) It was cool, what can I say?

By this point we're getting into the hottest part of the day (still over 100) so we head back to our car at the Caribbean Beach. We have another day at the Magic Kingdom and we got in nearly half of things we want to do done today so it seems like a good time to bug out. We bid a fond adieu to the Caribbean Beach Resort, our fun Pirate Room and the Spyglass Grill and head to Port Orleans.

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