The second day of our trip began with yet another early wake up call, I think this will be a running theme on this trip. Our plan was to check out of the Doubletree, load up our luggage into the car and drive to the Magic Kingdom where we had 8AM breakfast reservations at Crystal Palace. We got our of the hotel pretty quickly and it took us very little time to get over the Contemporary to park (we made lunch reservations so we could use the lot). We walked over to the Magic Kingdom at about twenty minutes before 8AM and there were about eight people in front of us at the entrance for character dining. They told us they were going to open up another one of the entrances and Becca and I were the first to get in that line. We stood there for about ten minutes when they said we could put our tickets through the turnstile. We were the very first two in the park that day it was a really cool experience. They held us just before the train station for a couple of minutes until the park was cleared and we were then permitted to enter Main Street. We were the first people to walk up Main Street and we took some great pictures and video. It was awesome and I recommend everybody make a morning reservation like that so you can get into the park before anyone else.
After we spent some time enjoying the largely people free Main Street and hub area, we check in for our breakfast at the Crystal Palace. This breakfast is a buffet with Winnie the Pooh characters. The food is your typical American fare with the likes of pancakes, waffles, eggs, bacon, sausage, pastries, etc. Let’s just say we really enjoyed our first meal in the “no calorie” zone. After we munched on America’s classic breakfast goodies and took some pictures with the characters (why not we’re there??), we made our way into the castle just moments before rope drop.
While we were waiting the cast members were trying to get us all pumped up and were asking who was going to which attraction and when they asked who was going to Peter Pan Becca and I went crazy. The cast member was all excited and told us to follow her when the rope dropped. As we raced with our new friend to Peter Pan we were met with a bunch of cast members standing outside and cheering with their white gloves and we gave them high fives and cheered along. It was very magical and the energy level was high as we got to be the second and third people to ride Peter Pan, some lady somehow made her way around us.
After our flight over London and around Neverland, we rode Snow White and Winnie the Pooh to complete the Fantasyland dark rides. They really need to add a dark ride or two to keep up with the other Magic Kingdoms around the world. To round our time in Fantasyland we rode It’s a Small World to we could insert that song in our heads for the rest of the day. So, in less than 30 minutes we completed all we wanted to do in Fantasyland. Perfect.
Next, we made our way deep into Frontierland and grabbed Fast Passes (FP’s) for Splash Mountain and jumped on since it was pretty much still a walk on. After we Splash it was already time to get another Fast Pass so we got one for Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. And set off for Adventureland. On our way we ran into our favorite Disney character (which some of you may know), Goofy and we love it when Goofy is themed and here he was “western” Goofy. We took a picture with Goofy and got him excited with our baby goof plush (I know were nuts, get over it!) and my Goofy shirt.
Just down the way from Pirates is the Jungle Cruise and we had a good ride with a decent skipper. After our two week journey through the jungle we needed a little refreshment as it was starting get pretty hot and muggy out and what better place than the Dole Whip stand. We had heard about a new orange flavor Dole Whip that tasted like a dreamcicle. We each got one and while the rumor is true and it was good, it still was not a Dole Whip and I was kind of regretting not just getting a regular pineapple Dole Whip.
After our refreshing break we crossed over into Frontierland and over to Liberty Square to ride Haunted Mansion. Since the latest refurbishment, this is now the best of all the mansions. The surround sound in the stretch room and the endless staircase scene alone propel this version to the top of the list. We continued around the park and ended up in Tomorrowland where with Space Mountain and Tomorrowland Transit Authority (TTA) down for refurbishment there was not much to do. We jumped on Buzz Lightyear where this version is inferior to the one at Disneyland as the guns are attached to the ride vehicle and the scenes and targets are not as detailed.
It was now 1:30PM and we were getting very tired as the two early wake up calls and the travel over from Phoenix began to take its toll and we had to go check into our DVC unit over at Kidani Village at the Animal Kingdom Lodge. Before we left the park we decided to grab some lunch at must stop every Disney World trip, Casey’s Corner. This was where I worked when I was on the college program a couple years ago (Ahem, 13 years ago to be exact). The hot dogs are not as good as they used to be and they give you less fries, but still a good meal and time for me to reminisce about my time there.
After lunch we walked back over to the Contemporary and picked up our car and drove over to Kidani Village. We arrived and parked under the main porte-cochere where a Cast Member said we only had 10 minutes or we’d have to move and I politely told him that there were no spots in the short term parking area so I had no choice. He told me they had to hold my keys and he was not terribly nice about it, not a great start to our “Welcome Home” from DVC. Anyway, we brushed it off and headed into the lobby to get our keys since we checked in online.
This was our first time trying this out, so I wanted to see how it would go. There were no guests waiting at the front desk and we walked right up as I did not see a separate area for online check ins. The girl was very friendly and appeared new to the job and it took a while for her to find our reservation and for a moments or two her and her colleagues thought we might be over in Jambo House (the main Animal Kingdom Lodge building) which we knew was not the case since we specifically booked Kidani since it was the new dedicated DVC section of the resort.
After a couple of minutes she found our reservation and got our check in packet which was waiting in another area. I’m not sure if it was because she was new, but the online check in did not seem to save us any time. We drove around and under the building where they have all the parking and found a spot near our section. We took the elevator up to the fourth floor and then it was a short walk to our room. We booked a studio savannah view room and the first thing we noticed once we got in the room was how it seemed smaller than the one we had back in November over at Jambo house. The bathroom area and hallway seemed a bit bigger, but the bed and sitting area seemed a little cramped. Becca called down to the front desk and inquired as to the size difference and they told us that these rooms are actually ten square feet bigger. They offered to try and move us over to Jambo House if we wanted, but refused as we wanted to check out this part of the new resort.
We quickly unpacked all our stuff and creatively crammed everything into the small storage space afforded us and then took a long look onto the savannah from our patio. There were only a couple of zebras walking around down the way but we knew not to get too upset as we have had a savannah view three times now and new the you have to be patient and the animals we come and go. We did notice that it was a much smaller savannah and the building seemed closer together so the noise reverberated off the buildings making it pretty loud. It seems every time we are out on our balcony we hear lots of people and we don’t remember that so much the last two times.
Not very long after checking out the savannah our bodies informed us it was time for a shut down so we closed the drapes and took a much needed nap. After about and hour and half of deep sleep we awoke to the sounds of people in the hallway (also not a good thing) and started to get ready for our return to the Magic Kingdom. Unfortunately, my stomach was giving me fits (maybe a just bit too much sugar and bad food?) and this slowed us up a bit for a couple of hours in the evening.
We did a little browsing down Main Street and enjoyed one of our favorite times in our favorite park. There is nothing like Main Street at night, so magical (am I overusing that word?) We made the tiring drive back to our home and passed right out to dream of our next exciting adventure at Disney’s Hollywood Studios.
-Dan
After we spent some time enjoying the largely people free Main Street and hub area, we check in for our breakfast at the Crystal Palace. This breakfast is a buffet with Winnie the Pooh characters. The food is your typical American fare with the likes of pancakes, waffles, eggs, bacon, sausage, pastries, etc. Let’s just say we really enjoyed our first meal in the “no calorie” zone. After we munched on America’s classic breakfast goodies and took some pictures with the characters (why not we’re there??), we made our way into the castle just moments before rope drop.
Next, we made our way deep into Frontierland and grabbed Fast Passes (FP’s) for Splash Mountain and jumped on since it was pretty much still a walk on. After we Splash it was already time to get another Fast Pass so we got one for Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. And set off for Adventureland. On our way we ran into our favorite Disney character (which some of you may know), Goofy and we love it when Goofy is themed and here he was “western” Goofy. We took a picture with Goofy and got him excited with our baby goof plush (I know were nuts, get over it!) and my Goofy shirt.
Once inside the Adventureland it was time to take our first turn on Pirate’s of the Caribbean. This version is so short compared to California and Paris and is missing whole scenes and the ones they share are much smaller here. But, I’ll take any Pirates over no Pirates. As we exited the attraction we found a new plush to add to our collection. They now have a Davey Jones themed Goofy (from the Pirates movies). He is so funny with the tentacles around his neck and claw hands and a peg leg. Good stuff.
After our refreshing break we crossed over into Frontierland and over to Liberty Square to ride Haunted Mansion. Since the latest refurbishment, this is now the best of all the mansions. The surround sound in the stretch room and the endless staircase scene alone propel this version to the top of the list. We continued around the park and ended up in Tomorrowland where with Space Mountain and Tomorrowland Transit Authority (TTA) down for refurbishment there was not much to do. We jumped on Buzz Lightyear where this version is inferior to the one at Disneyland as the guns are attached to the ride vehicle and the scenes and targets are not as detailed.
It was now 1:30PM and we were getting very tired as the two early wake up calls and the travel over from Phoenix began to take its toll and we had to go check into our DVC unit over at Kidani Village at the Animal Kingdom Lodge. Before we left the park we decided to grab some lunch at must stop every Disney World trip, Casey’s Corner. This was where I worked when I was on the college program a couple years ago (Ahem, 13 years ago to be exact). The hot dogs are not as good as they used to be and they give you less fries, but still a good meal and time for me to reminisce about my time there.
After lunch we walked back over to the Contemporary and picked up our car and drove over to Kidani Village. We arrived and parked under the main porte-cochere where a Cast Member said we only had 10 minutes or we’d have to move and I politely told him that there were no spots in the short term parking area so I had no choice. He told me they had to hold my keys and he was not terribly nice about it, not a great start to our “Welcome Home” from DVC. Anyway, we brushed it off and headed into the lobby to get our keys since we checked in online.
This was our first time trying this out, so I wanted to see how it would go. There were no guests waiting at the front desk and we walked right up as I did not see a separate area for online check ins. The girl was very friendly and appeared new to the job and it took a while for her to find our reservation and for a moments or two her and her colleagues thought we might be over in Jambo House (the main Animal Kingdom Lodge building) which we knew was not the case since we specifically booked Kidani since it was the new dedicated DVC section of the resort.
After a couple of minutes she found our reservation and got our check in packet which was waiting in another area. I’m not sure if it was because she was new, but the online check in did not seem to save us any time. We drove around and under the building where they have all the parking and found a spot near our section. We took the elevator up to the fourth floor and then it was a short walk to our room. We booked a studio savannah view room and the first thing we noticed once we got in the room was how it seemed smaller than the one we had back in November over at Jambo house. The bathroom area and hallway seemed a bit bigger, but the bed and sitting area seemed a little cramped. Becca called down to the front desk and inquired as to the size difference and they told us that these rooms are actually ten square feet bigger. They offered to try and move us over to Jambo House if we wanted, but refused as we wanted to check out this part of the new resort.
We quickly unpacked all our stuff and creatively crammed everything into the small storage space afforded us and then took a long look onto the savannah from our patio. There were only a couple of zebras walking around down the way but we knew not to get too upset as we have had a savannah view three times now and new the you have to be patient and the animals we come and go. We did notice that it was a much smaller savannah and the building seemed closer together so the noise reverberated off the buildings making it pretty loud. It seems every time we are out on our balcony we hear lots of people and we don’t remember that so much the last two times.
Not very long after checking out the savannah our bodies informed us it was time for a shut down so we closed the drapes and took a much needed nap. After about and hour and half of deep sleep we awoke to the sounds of people in the hallway (also not a good thing) and started to get ready for our return to the Magic Kingdom. Unfortunately, my stomach was giving me fits (maybe a just bit too much sugar and bad food?) and this slowed us up a bit for a couple of hours in the evening.
I did not want to miss the Wishes (fireworks show at the Magic Kingdom) dessert party that we booked. We ended up walking around the park for some time before we finally settled on Cosmic Rays where we shared some chicken nuggets (not so good) and fries. After I responded to my bad stomach with some more crappy food (now who’s boss??) we decided to cash in our Fast Passes for Peter Pan and took in another Fantasyland favorite that we did skip in the morning, Mickey’s Philharmagic. On our way to the dessert party we stopped in a Buzz Lightyear and I got my behind whooped for the second time at the hands of my quick draw wife.
Over at the Tomorrowland Terrace is a blocked off seating area with a perfect view of the castle and the fireworks (Wishes). It was here you can book a table for your party with a buffet style dessert spread to enjoy while you wait. Spectromagic (the nighttime parade) was passing by as we began to over indulge our sweet teeth with all they had to offer. The spread had everything from cheesecake, strawberry shooters, brownies, cupcakes, pistachio crème brulee, chocolate covered strawberries, chocolate moose, tiramisu, canolies, cookies, iced tea, lemonade, and much more. The food was all very good and after several trips to the spread (the plates were small, trust me) we were very satisfied and took it all in before the show started. We enjoyed a very magical showing of Wishes and then just relaxed as they don’t kick you out and they keep the food after the show. So, while most people were jammed pack making their way out of the park we just kind of relaxed and enjoyed the ambiance.
We did a little browsing down Main Street and enjoyed one of our favorite times in our favorite park. There is nothing like Main Street at night, so magical (am I overusing that word?) We made the tiring drive back to our home and passed right out to dream of our next exciting adventure at Disney’s Hollywood Studios.
That’s it for now, more to come soon.
-Dan
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