Disney 2013: Day 5 – Magic Kingdom (Part 1)

Ready for a completely different approach to tackling the Magic Kingdom? Some of this was by design and some of it just happened, but it all resulted in an amazing day.

Adding to our list of new experiences, I finally arrived at the Magic Kingdom in time to see the opening ceremony at the train station. It’s a perfect way to start the day off. Also cool: greeting the Mayor on the way down Main Street once we got into the park. The top thing on our list for this day was to meet Merida so we made a beeline to her meet and greet. This area has a bit of a weird vibe to it since it was previously Rapunzel’s meet and greet area and still has the lanterns from her theming. Other than that, the area looks awesome. There are plenty of great touches taken directly from the movie.

As was the trend all through this trip, our interactions with face characters were magical. Before meeting Merida, Cassidy had asked the cast member running the line why there was an arrow up in the lights. The cast member said that it was a stray arrow that Merida had shot, but that she tells everyone that it was one of her brothers. So, Cassidy had to ask Merida how that arrow got there and Merida said that it was indeed one of her brothers. Since Cass was wearing her Ariel ears, it led to a conversation about how silly it is to brush your hair with a fork and how Merida could never do that with her hair. This started Cass and Jenne on cloud 9 for the day and the rest was just icing on the cake.

Our next stop was Princess Fairytale Hall to see Rapunzel. The hall is beautiful, but this is a new attraction and still has its kinks to work out. This one has a problem with FastPasses. Instead of mixing regular riders and FastPass holders like they do on normal rides, once someone with a FastPass shows up, they go right to the front of the line even if it means that the standby line doesn’t move for 15 minutes (which did happen while we were waiting). Enough of the negative because this was another awesome experience.

Rapunzel came over to us and signed Cassidy’s autograph book before heading back to the area lit for pictures. Right away, Rapunzel  noticed that Cassidy’s hair was dyed purple. Being an artist herself, Rapunzel loved this and said that she would have to do the same to her hair (and she would need a lot of paint). She then started scheming with Cassidy over what color they should make Show White’s hair. All of this was after another great encounter with a family with matching shirts from Missouri that had Rapunzel thinking that everyone living there wore those shirts and asking for one for her and Pascal. Extremely magical. Snow White was cool as well, but there’s no way that she could match the awesome experience we had just had.

It was now around 11:30. We were running about 30 minutes behind my tentative schedule due to the long wait to see Rapunzel, but it wasn’t a big deal. We had already tackled the two main things on our to-do list and had a ton of time left since we were sticking around for Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party.

We made the short trek from Old Fantasyland to New Fantasyland and jumped in line for Be Our Guest. I wasn’t able to get reservations, but we just wanted to eat there and quick service at lunch provided the perfect opportunity. The line moved so quickly that I didn’t even notice how long we were waiting, but it wasn’t very long at all. Jenne had an umbrella to shade her from the sun and we had a great morning to talk about that helped make the time fly.

What makes the line move so quickly is the technology that they employ at this restaurant. You place your order at a touch screen kiosk and then tap your MagicBand or a magic “rose” and go and find a seat. 5 minutes later, your food is magically delivered to your table. It’s amazing what Disney has done with this restaurant. Even the soda fountains are beautiful.

We were lucky enough to snag a table in the West Wing which is by far the best room in the restaurant. This is the room where Beast kept the enchanted rose from his curse. As you dine, a petal will occasionally fall from the rose, lightning will flash, thunder will boom, and the portrait of the prince will briefly transform into the Beast.

I had a yummy roast beef sandwich with horseradish sauce for my meal followed up by a very nice chocolate cream puff. All of the food looked great for a quick service restaurant. The prices are a little higher than the other quick service restaurants, but it is worth it for the ambiance. Like most people do, once we were finished eating, we made sure to check out the other rooms in the restaurant.

The ballroom is huge and beautiful. None of my pictures of the room itself came out that well so I’ll show you a picture of the chandeliers and beautiful ceiling. The picture doesn’t do the ceiling justice. There are painted angels laying on clouds. I didn’t notice it, but I’ve read a lot about this room being very loud because of the size and all of the hard surfaces. What I did notice is that if you look out the ballroom windows you’ll see that it is snowing outside.There are just so many amazing touches that you’ll find in the restaurant, I can’t possibly touch on all of them.

The final room is the Rose Garden. This room is not open for dinner service from what I hear. This room is also not one that you’ll see in the movie. The Imagineers put this room in so that they could show the other characters as well as what Belle and Beast have been up to since getting married. In the middle of this room you’ll find a giant clock/music box with a giant rotating sculpture of Belle and Beast dancing on the top of it. All along the walls of the room are paintings of Belle, Beast, and the other residents of the castle. Can someone explain to me why Beast is still a beast in Disney and why all of the servants are still plates and candelabras?

It wasn’t a conscious decision, but I guess the next part of our day was to walk off our lunch. I underestimated the distance from Be Our Guest to Splash Mountain, but that’s where our next FastPass was and so that’s the direction we set off in. I think I remember getting on Splash Mountain at 12:48, but it was all a bit of a blur. The bridge leading to Splash Mountain is always a pain to cross and this time was no different. Right before I left the ladies to go on the ride, Cass tripped over a stepstool that she didn’t see at a water fountain and scraped up her knee a little bit. With the crowd in the area, it made the whole process of getting Cass somewhere to get ice for her leg and getting Jenne somewhere that she could sit was a lot more difficult than it should have been. From what I saw, Cass didn’t react that badly to the injury, but for the rest of her trip her knees looked like she had been whacked pretty good. Thanks to my FastPass, I walked right on to Splash Mountain which is good because it’s a long ride. I hate making Jenne and Cass wait when I go on a ride by myself even though they don’t mind. Cass had deliberated taking her first ride on Splash Mountain, but she decided that this trip wouldn’t be that time.

Since there was still lunch to be walked off, our next stop was back at the Haunted Mansion. I’m not sure why, but over the past two trips Cassidy has developed a severe fear of the Haunted Mansion. We ended up skipping it completely on our last trip and weren’t going to do that again on this trip. I told Cass that she could sit with me, close her eyes, and ignore the ride, but she still had a small meltdown ride before we got on the Doombuggys. I’m not one to force Cass to do things that she doesn’t want to, but I thought this would be just a little resistance and then she’d be alright, but that was far from the case and we felt terrible about making her go on the ride. Jenne and I both loved it as kids and thought that she’d enjoy it as well. Maybe when she’s older, we’ll see.

You know what makes a theme park really fun? Themed bathrooms. I’m being serious here. Disney could have plunked boring buildings here, but these Rapunzel themed bathrooms are awesome. You’ve got Rapunzel’s paintings at the ladies room and a bunch of wanted posters at the mens room. There are lanterns hanging overhead and if you look closely you’ll see Flynn’s satchel and Rapunzel’s frying pan. My favorite themed bathroom is still the men’s room in Hogsmead because you can hear Moaning Myrtle in there, but these bathrooms are a close second. Once we were done at the bathroom, we took a quick ride on “it’s a small world” because it was there.

Our next FastPass for the day was a bonus FastPass that was automatically assigned to us for Under the Sea – Journey of The Little Mermaid. This ride shows you just how far Disney has come with audio-animatronics. You are up close to the characters on this ride and you don’t see any seams or anything like that. Ariel doesn’t wear a heck of a lot of clothes, but her animatronic looks better than ones where they were able to hide seams under clothing. We got a chance to check out this ride in extreme details because it kept stopping every couple of minutes. Before too long we were mocking Sebastian’s message that would play when the ride would stop and start up again because he obviously wasn’t doing a good job of things. The ride is good and in the tradition of Disney dark rides of the past like Peter Pan, it just retells the story from the movie.

Once our ride was finished, we backtracked through New Fantasyland a little bit to take some pictures. Gaston’s Tavern was high up on Jenne’s list of places to visit so we stopped there to try LeFou’s Brew. I thought it was alright, but Jenne loved it. The theming in the tavern was great. Just like the song says, there are antlers as decorations all over the place. One room has a dart board, but none of the darts have been thrown anywhere near the board. Somehow, Gaston still managed to win. The other room has a giant fireplace, giant chair and enormous portrait of Gaston. We hung out here for a little while Jenne recovered. A cast member noticed that she was looking a little off and came back with a cup of ice to help her cool off.

Since the wait time was only 15 minutes, we jumped in line to meet Ariel in her Grotto. This is a cool themed meet and greet area. The rooms are lit by some sort of weird luminescent slugs and there’s a little box next to Ariel’s chair that kids can open and see some of her thingamabobs. Cass decided that she was going to get her Ariel ears autographed which made a cool souvenir even cooler.

Our final FastPass for the day was for Dumbo. I was glad that we saved the time waiting in line, but I was a little disappointed that we didn’t get to check out the new waiting area. There are places for kids to climb, slide, and play. There are also places for adults to sit and relax in a nice air-conditioned space. You’re given a pager upon entering the space and when it is your turn to ride, your pager goes off. It’s a whole new way of waiting in line. We had no line though and were able to walk right onto the ride. Even though there are two Dumbo rides now, it seemed like the ride time was really short; shorter than any of the other spinner rides. You’d think that with two copies of the ride they’d be able to extend the ride time a little, but it’s still just 90 seconds. Now I’m really happy that we didn’t have to wait in line.

The Storybook Circus also includes old favorite The Barnstormer, Casey Jr. Splash ‘N’ Soak Station, and Pete’s Silly Sideshow where you can meet Minnie, Daisy, Donald, and Goofy in circus attire. We cooled off for a little while at the Soak Station and were about to hop on The Barnstormer when we noticed that it was stuck on the incline of the first hill. They were very slowly evacuating people from the ride, but climbing out of the ride car on an incline wasn’t easy, especially for the little ones on the ride and getting down the narrow staircase on the hill didn’t look any easier. So, our new plan was going to meet Daisy and Minnie at the Sideshow. A little shopping came after that with some pin trading and pressed penny acquisitions. When that was done, The Barnstormer was back up and running so we hopped in line. Cass loves these kiddie coasters which gives me a lot of hope that she’ll soon be accompanying me on all of the thrill rides.

We hit a few more rides as we made our way back towards the front of the park. We all took a ride on the Mad Tea Party since it was walk on at that point. We also did a lap on the Tomorrowland Speedway. I took care of the gas and Cassidy took the wheel which resulted in a very bumpy ride as we bounced from one side of the track to the other. Jenne was in the car behind us and got to witness the carnage. I wouldn’t be upset if Cassidy wanted to ride by herself on our next visit.

At this point, there was another surprise that was about to be sprung on Cassidy so we had to start that in motion. Jenne’s sister Patrice was arriving at the park for the Not So Scary Halloween Party and so we made our way to the front of the park to get ready and to meet her. Last time we were here for MNSSHP, we picked up our bracelets near City Hall and so we made our way to the front of the park. Turns out that they were giving out bracelets at the Rose Garden near Tomorrowland and right outside of Adventureland. So, we made our way back up a crowded Main Street and picked up our wristbands.

Jenne split off from us to go and meet her sister while Cass and I made our way back up Main Street to head to the Firehouse where we could pick up our special Halloween card for Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom. There was just one little hiccup along the way, we were quickly approaching Jenne’s sister who had stopped to text Jenne. I had to make a quick decision of whether to pass by Patrice or to spring the surprise right then. Given that Cassidy is ridiculously perceptive, I didn’t want to pass by and have Cass pick her out of the crowd so we walked up to her and I asked Cassidy is she knew which character that person was dressed up as. Cass quickly recognized her aunt and gave her a huge hug. Jenne was only about 10 seconds behind us and soon was joining in on the happiness.

This post is already pretty long, so I’ll tackle the Halloween Party in part 2.