Disney Trip 2014: Magic Kingdom Day 2

For the third day of our vacation, we were originally planning to take this day off and just hang out at our resort.  But then we signed Daniel up to go on the Keys to the Kingdom tour, a 5 hour backstage tour at Magic Kingdom.  This was a gift to him from us for his birthday.   To go on the tour, he had to have a park ticket for that day.  So a few months ago, I decided to just add another park day for all of us.  After you have purchased 4 days worth of park tickets, it is only $10 more per person per day to add another day.  Why not?  (Disney is really good at convincing you to spend more money!!)

So Daniel left for his tour at 8:00 am, while the girls and I slept in a little bit and hung out at the resort.  We really didn't do too much, but after a few days of being on the go nonstop, we were all ready for some down time.

My original plan for the day had me and the girls eating at the resort food court and then going to Magic Kingdom around 12:30 or so.  But, we ate at the food court the previous evening, and I didn't really want to eat there again.  So I changed the plans for the day!  This day is a great example of how I had a plan, and then I ended up throwing the whole thing out of the window because we just weren't in the mood for what I had planned.  And then it rained later in the day and messed up our plans again!

Instead, we arrived at Magic Kingdom around 11:30.  We had a Fastpass to meet Tinkerbell at 12:40, and I was hoping to just go ahead and wait standby to meet her, since her building is right at the entrance to the park.  But her standby wait was 45 minutes, and we were NOT going to do wait that long.  I decided we would just have to walk back to the front of the park when it was time to use our Fastpass.  So I let the girls pick what they wanted to do first.  They both wanted to ride It's a Small World.  Off to Fantasyland we went!

FYI:  the projected crowd levels for Magic Kingdom on this day were a 3.  And the observed crowd levels were also a 3.  So it was another supposedly quiet day at Magic Kingdom.  However, since we got there at midday, the busiest time of the day, it felt very,very crowded.  There is definitely a big difference in the crowd levels between 9:00 am and noon.

It started to lightly rain on us as we were walking back to It's a Small World.  I quickly parked the stroller and ran with the girls into the ride.  It felt like everyone else in the area did the same, as the queue quickly filled up with people.  I was afraid we would have to wait a long time, but our wait was only 10 minutes.

After finishing the ride, I decided we would just eat lunch at Pinnochio Village Haus since it is right next door, and we could get there without having to go find the stroller and get everyone back in it. I hadn't heard great things about the food, but we weren't really going for gourmet food at this point in the day.  It was 12;00 on the dot.  If I were giving advice to anyone planning a trip, I would say:  don't each lunch during the noon hour, because everyone will be eating lunch then!  Try for 11:00 or 1:30/2:00.  Yet I failed at following my own advice.  As soon as I walked into the super crowded restaurant alone with the girls, I was afraid I had made a big mistake.

We walked to a line on the far left side, where no one was in line to order their food.  (As opposed to the lines in the middle, which were really long.  Why do people always congregate in the middle?)  We got our food surprisingly fast, and I managed to balance it all on a big tray while guiding the girls carefully through the crowded restaurant and searching for an open table.

It was our lucky day!  At Pinnochio Village Haus, there are five tables that overlook the beginning of the It's a Small World ride.  You can eat there and wave at all the boats taking off on the ride.  And as we walked by, one of those tables was open!  What are the chances that one would be open for us, when nearly every table in the whole restaurant was full?  We were super excited, and the girls had so much fun waving at all the boats while we ate.

Next it was time for our Tinker Bell Fastpass.  I was more than happy to skip over the 45 minute wait for this one!  We walked right in to meet Tinker Bell, which made us all very happy!

The skies and the radar were looking very ominous at this point.  It looked like it was going to pour and/or storm at any moment.  Since we were at the front of the park by the train station, I thought we might take a little ride on the train.  Our stroller was huge, and I did not want to take it with us, so I figured we would just ride the train for the full loop, and it would bring us right back to our stroller.  Good idea, right?

Um, no.  It was a very, very bad idea.  We were only on the train a few minutes when we pulled into the Frontierland station.  Then they made an announcement that everyone needed to get off the train.  There was lightning in the area, and the train would no longer be operating.

So now we were stranded without a stroller or a poncho or an umbrella on the other side of the park from our stroller.  With no Daddy to save us!  (He still had about an hour left of his tour).  As we got off the train, I could hear thunder and the skies looked very dark.  I made the girls hurry through Frontierland (they weren't happy about this, but I did NOT want to get stuck with them walking in a  downpour) until we came to the Country Bears Jamboree.  I figured we could watch the show and hopefully the rain would pass quickly.

Everyone in the park must have had the same idea, because there was not an empty seat for that show.  And if you have ever seen the Country Bears show, then you know it isn't a show that is typically full of people!!

When the show was over, we walked outside.  It was not raining.  But it was still thundering, and I could see lightning too.  I decided to make a pit stop for some treats, in case we got caught in a downpour and needed something to cheer us up.  I bought suckers for the girls, and then we started to make our way back to our stroller at the front of the park.

I tried to stay under awnings as much as possible, all while listening to the thunder and seeing the lightning and the dark clouds and just waiting for the rain to pour on us.  My girls deserve huge gold stars for this part of our trip.  They tend to get upset with thunder/lightning, they sometimes complain when they are tired from walking too long, or they may cry when they sense that I am worried about something.  But they did so very good on our whole walk back.  I tried to make it seem like an adventure!  I think the suckers helped.  =)

Here's the amazing part of our story.  Almost an hour after they made us get off the train because of lightning, and it never rained at all during that time.  We walked all the way back to our stroller (and ponchos!) without getting wet.  And then we arrived back at our stroller at the exact same time that Daniel finished his tour.  He had just found the stroller and was on his way to rescue us!

Now it was 2:00, and the rain still looked inevitable.  Daniel had a Fastpass to use at Space Mountain, so we walked (quickly) to Tomorrowland.  The girls and I found a covered area to wait for Daniel, just as it finally started to rain.  It never poured though.  For about 45 minutes, it rained consistently but lightly.  The whole storm that was brewing must have completely blown over us.

It was still raining when Daniel got off Space Mountain, so we opted to ride the People Mover.  Generally, you can just walk on to this ride, but with the rain and many outdoor rides closed, a lot of people were riding the People Mover.  We waited about 10 minutes to get on it.  After that ride, we walked back to Fantasyland and one of the girls favorites:  Dumbo.

By the time we got there and played in the playland, the rain had stopped.  We played, then rode Dumbo again.

Post rain Dumbo Ride

We had a Fastpass to ride the Little Mermaid ride, but Isla did not want to ride it (she was still scared of Ursula).  So Audrey and I went by ourselves.

Then we all stopped for a humongous cinnamon roll at Gaston's Tavern.  It was seriously as big, if not bigger, than Isla's head!  (Although it wasn't all that good...just really big!)  The theming here was fun, as it was just like the movie!

We wanted to try to meet some characters at this point, but we were unable to get in line for the Fairy Godmother or Tiana.  They close off the lines for these characters (who usually only meet for 30-40 minutes at a time, use Kenny the Pirate's character locator to find all character greeting times) really quickly.  So if a character is meeting from 4:00-4:30, and you show up at 4:10.  Chances are their line will already be full.  The key is to get there about 10 minutes before they are scheduled to meet.  It took us a long time to figure it out, after trying to get into closed lines over and over again.

We decided to try Aladdin and Jasmine instead.  We got there at 4:20.  Aladdin and Jasmine were just finishing up a greeting, but then they told us they were scheduled to be back at 4:30.  So Audrey and I got in line.  There was probably at least 15 people in front of us already though, and I knew we were in for a long wait!  However, Audrey was determine to meet them, so I decided that it was worth the wait.  We waited for 32 minutes...by far the longest wait of our entire trip!

While we were waiting, it started raining pretty hard.  Fortunately our part of the line had just moved under the covered portion of the waiting area, so we were able to avoid getting soaked.  Daniel and Isla were nearby, chatting with one of Daniel's friends that works at Disney.  Isla fell asleep in the stroller, so Audrey and I's long wait, gave Daniel a chance to catch up with an old friend.

We stopped to take a picture of me and the girls in front of the castle to document me surviving a half day at Magic Kingdom with the girls by myself!  Nothing went according to plan, but it all turned out okay.  I would say it was a good day still!!

We walked by Tiana to try to get in her line once again, but once again, it was full.  It was just not meant to be with us and Tiana this trip.  Instead we headed back to Town Hall at the front of the park to use our Fastpass to meet the talking Mickey.  This is the only Mickey in all of Disney World who talks, and it was kind of crazy to hear him talking.  He sounded just like the Mickey Mouse you hear in the cartoon.

  Next up:  A monorail ride to the Contemporary Resort for dinner at Chef Mickey's.

Disney Trip 2014: Epcot (Part 2)

Our plan was to hit World Showcase right as they opened at 11:00.  I figured that most people would still be doing all of the rides at the front of the park and wouldn't make there way back to World Showcase until early afternoon.  I was right!  The first half of the World Showcase was nearly empty.  As we made our way around, it gradually started to get busier.  As we were exiting World Showcase, we ran into huge crowds of people heading IN to World Showcase, so our plan to avoid crowds worked really well.

The only problem was that we toured World Showcase right after eating a huge breakfast. We really weren't hungry to eat much of anything at all.  Many people like to "snack" their way around the world, getting various snacks in each country.  We were there during Food and Wine Festival, which means the countries were offering even more food and drink options than normal.  I know our "foodie" friends will be so mad at us, but we did not taste any of the Food and Wine offerings.  We were too full, plus it was hot and we were walking a ton.  I just didn't have much of an appetite the whole trip.

At 11:00, the rope dropped and they allowed us to enter the rest of the World Showcase.  China was the next country, which was perfect because Mulan started meeting there right at 11:00.  Several others must have had the same plan as a small group of us showed up to greet Mulan right as she was coming out.

The next country we visited was Germany.  We stopped in a little toy store and found our first Kidcot station.  Kidcot stations are set up in each country, and they have Duffy the Bear pictures that the kids can color.  The idea is that the kids carry the bear with them through the countries, color a little of their bear in each country, and then get a stamp from each country they visit on the back.  My girls LOVED this!  It's a simple idea, but a lot of fun for the kids.  We got all of the countries except Norway and Mexico (they were closed when we walked through for breakfast) and China (because we forgot!).  

Isla displaying her Duffy the Bear that she was coloring through the World

In Germany, we also stopped at Karmelle-Kuche, a famous shop featuring lots of yummy caramel treats.  We weren't hungry, but we got a bag of caramel corn (it was really good!) and munched on it all day.

Audrey by a fountain in Germany

After Germany, we walked through Italy.  We didn't do much here except take a couple of pictures and find the Kidcot station.

Next up, we stopped in America for the Kidcot station and a bathroom/water break.  

Then, it was on to Japan for a "kakigori" snack, which is Japanese shaved ice.  The girls were a big fan of this treat!

In Morocco, we were hoping to meet Aladdin and Jasmine, but we just missed them and they weren't going to be back for 30 minutes.  I didn't want to wait around for them, so we just colored, got our stamp and moved on to the next country!

Next up was France.  I know there is a lot of good food to be found in France, but we were so full.  I wish we would have stopped at the bakery and at least got something to take back to the resort with us.  But we didn't, so I guess we missed out on the yumminess!

In the United Kingdom, I was hoping that we would be able to meet both Alice and Mary Poppins.  And we managed to meet them both without much wait!  Alice was greeting people right as we arrived at the UK, so we hopped in her line to get an autograph and picture.

We walked through the UK and went through this fun little hedge maze that is in the back (and seems to be totally ignored by everyone else, because it was empty back there!).  Then we found the Kidcot station for more coloring and stamping.

As we were getting ready to leave the United Kingdom,we saw Mary Poppins walking down the street!  So we followed her to her greeting spot to meet her.  The line here formed really quickly, so I'm glad we spotted her when we did.

The last country was Canada.  There wasn't much going on there, and we were getting tired, so we found the Kidcot station and made our way back into the front portion of Epcot, Future World.

Now it was time for a few rides!  I thought Journey into Imagination with Figment would be a nice kid friendly ride.  And it was, until the end of the ride, when the Figment character pulls the plug on something and all the lights go out and you get sprayed in the face with a big puff of air.  It freaked my girls out, they both screamed and Isla started crying  After that, they were not a fan of the Figment ride.  At the end of the ride, there is a little play area, and the girls loved that.  We had to drag them out of there, because I knew there were better things ahead!

It was right around 2:00 at this point, and Daniel had a Fastpass to use for Soarin.  I don't like heights and have issues with motion sickness, so I didn't really want to ride it.  I was hoping I could convince Audrey to be brave enough to give it a try, but she was not interested.  So we sent Daniel on the ride, while we got lunch at the Sunshine Seasons food court.

We loved the Disney dining plan, and we especially loved that we got it for free.  But going through food courts on the dining plan was stressful!  Every time I thought I got the right amount of food to go with the dining plan, and every time the cashier would tell me that I still needed to get more things.  So much food!!  Here is all the food that I got for me and the girls.  Cost for all of this would have been about $35.

The picture doesn't do justice to how big that salad and piece of cake were.  When Daniel finished his ride, I was full and done eating.  So I gave hi the rest of my salad and cake.  When he was finished, we still had both cake and salad leftover!  

Now that we were full (and really tired) and still in the Land Pavilion, we rode Living with the Land.  I thought this would be boring, but it was actually kind of interesting.  It is a boat ride through the greenhouse where Disney grows a lot of the food they serve in their restaurants.  We all enjoyed it.

We headed towards the Seas next to ride the Nemo ride.  It was fun, and both girls liked it.  Although Isla says she didn't like it because she was scared of the shark.  But she acted like she enjoyed the rest of the ride.  After that, we walked through the aquarium, then went to watch Turtle Talk with Crush.  This is an interactive show with Crush from Finding Nemo, and it was really cute.  And pretty impressive how the cartoon character is able to interact with a live audience!  

When we finished Crush, Isla was getting really crabby.  But Audrey really wanted to ride Nemo one more time.  So I took Audrey back on Nemo, while Daniel took Isla for a little walk in the stroller.  We thought she would fall asleep, but she didn't.

We walked on to every ride today with no waits at all.  It was marvelous!!

At this point, we should have just left for the day.  But I wanted to stop at one more place:  Club Cool.  This is a little place run by Coke, where you can try out different sodas from around the world.  Our first mistake was to push our big double stroller into this place.  It was more crowded than I was expecting, and our stroller was hard to maneuver.  

Our second mistake was letting Isla pass her cup to Audrey so Audrey could try it.  Isla dumped her whole cup on Audrey, which led to both of them screaming.  We were THAT family, walking out of the park with two screaming kids.  I was really frustrated at this point, but I tried to remind myself that it was after 4:00.  We had been in the park since 8:30 with no naps or breaks, so they probably had reached their breaking point for the day.  

I did snap this picture on the way out, while the girls were crying and pouting in the stroller.  Good bye Epcot!!

Isla did fall asleep on the way back to the resort.  So we got back, and Daniel and Audrey went swimming.  After Isla woke up, we joined them at the pool.  (I'm going to do a full post on the resort someday, so I will post pool/resort pictures then).  Then we all ate dinner at the food court.  It wasn't all that good, but it was convenient.  Then it was off to bed!  I had contemplated going back out to watch fireworks, but we were all so tired.  Plus I really wasn't in the mood to wait for and get on/off another bus, so we just went to bed.  Maybe when the kids are older we will be able to be night owls and see the fireworks each night!

Next up:  Our second day at Magic Kingdom

Disney Trip 2014: Epcot (Part 1)

For our second full day at Disney, we visited Epcot.

Shortly before we left for our trip, I was able to get a reservation for breakfast at Akershus with the princesses.  I originally had a late lunch reservation there, but I thought we would prefer breakfast.  So I searched and searched daily until I finally found an open time!   Before we left, I redid our touring plan, and the new plan worked out pretty great.

I bought the girls these princess nightgowns to wear for our princess meal.  I was afraid it would be weird for them to run around Epcot in their nightgowns, but I really don't think anyone could tell they were nightgowns.  Plus people wear all kinds of crazy things at Disney; no one was going to look twice at their nightgowns!  I figured the nightgowns would be more comfortable than the typical Disney dress up gowns that are scratchy and hot.  I brought extra clothes in case the girls wanted to change, but they kept their gowns on all day!

Our breakfast reservation was at 9:20 in Norway in the World Pavilion.  The park opened at 9:00.  I wasn't sure if they would let us into the park before opening for our breakfast, but I thought we would give it a try.  We arrived at Epcot around 8:30, and found a line with a sign that said "Breakfast Reservations."  We checked in there, with probably about 15 people already in line.  The lady told us we could go ahead and go in to the park.  50 minutes before our reservation!  

It's really fun to be in a Disney park when it is empty.  It feels like a completely different place.  We got our picture taken in front of the big ball, and then wandered around and explored a little.  Since our reservation wasn't until 9:20 and we were not in a hurry, we decided to send Daniel to Test Track first thing.  (Isla was too short to ride it, and Audrey and I didn't want to ride).  As soon as the park opened, he walked to the ride and was very FIRST in line!  

An empty park!!

While Daniel was riding Test Track, the girls and I went ahead to Norway to wait for him at the restaurant.  The girls found a little pavilion where they could play while we waited.  They were pretending to be princesses.  Isla kept holding her dress out with her hands and twirling around, because she told me "that's what princesses do!"  It was so adorable!

Yet another failed attempt to get a nice picture of the girls in their dresses:

Daniel met up with us right in time for our reservation, so we checked in and after just a brief wait, it was our turn to dine with the princesses.

First, we posed for a picture with Belle.  As a part of our meal, they gave us a printed portrait package with this pose.  We got one 8x10 and four smaller prints as well.   I do wish we could have gotten Isla to cooperate for at least one family picture, but this was about as good as it got!

Then we were seated at our table.  For breakfast, there was a buffet with pastries, muffins, bagels, fresh fruit, and cold cheeses and meats.  Then they brought out a hot plate served family style with eggs, potatoes, bacon and sausage.  We had plenty to eat, and it was all fairly good.  However there was nothing extra special about the food, and it was definitely not worth the $142 bill at the end!  Fortunately, this was covered by our free dining plan, so we did not have to pay for it.  I do think it is the most expensive breakfast I have ever eaten in my life though!  

People don't come to this restaurant for the food though.  It's all about the princesses!  Each princess comes to your table to greet you and give autographs and pose for pictures.  (I don't know how they keep track of what princess has visited what table, but they do a good job keeping track of everyone to make sure all the tables see all the princesses.  We went to four character meals, and every character visited us in a timely manner at each meal.)  At Akershus, they also have a princess parade, where all the kids can go march around the restaurant with the princesses.  The parade started as soon as we sat down at our table.  Audrey almost chickened out, but we convinced her to join in with the parade.

As we enjoyed our meal, the princesses then started to come around to visit.  Snow White was first to see us!  She tried to be sneaky and pose behind Isla for a picture, but Isla could not be tricked.

Next up:  Cinderella.  This was the third time for us to see Cinderella on our trip (and it was only Day 2), but since Isla was wearing a Cinderella dress, she was most excited to see her on this day.  I just don't have any pictures that show her excitement.

Then the princess that Audrey was most excited about:  her twin for the day, Aurora!  And we managed to catch a smile on camera from Isla while Aurora was talking to the girls.  This is how Isla looked every time she was watching the characters, that is until the characters tried to give Isla her own individual attention.  Most characters took the hint that Isla wanted to go unnoticed, and they gave her plenty of space.

Last to visit our table was Ariel.  Ariel didn't quite get the hint from Isla, and she got down next to her to try to chat.  Isla was not a fan.

It was 10:45 when we finished eating and meeting with all the princesses.  The World Showcase at Epcot officially opened, so we decided to hang out for a few minutes until it was open.  Coming up in the next post:  we tour the world (and the rest of Epcot)!