Magic Kingdom

When last we left them, Steve and Laura had spent most of the day enjoying the magic of the movies at the Disney-MGM Studios. We catch up with them as they leave the park.

After we left the Disney-MGM Studios, we drove over to the Magic Kingdom parking lot and parked in the Dopey section. I know this because the Cast Member on the tram kept saying, "You people parked in the Dopey section. You are all Dopey people! Dopey, Dopey, Dopey, Dopey, Dopey!" I think he had just a little too much fun with that. But we did remember where we parked, so I guess it served a purpose. After riding the always-fun Monorail over to the Magic Kingdom, we ent through the turnstiles and found ourselves on Main Street.

Walking down Main Street, U.S.A.

Once again, we were hungry, so we went over to Pecos Bill's, one of my favorite Magic Kingdom eating spots. It was still raining a bit, so we found a nice indoor table to enjoy our meal. After we had finished eating our burgers, we went over to visit the Pirates of the Caribbean, who were up to their usual pillaging and plundering. But we noticed some changes this time around. The biggest improvement was in the sound - everything was much louder, making it much easier to hear. Laura heard several bits of dialogue she said she hadn't heard before. The lighting also seemed to be improved. This all made for a very nice trip.

The starting time for the SpectroMagic parade was approaching, so much of the park was clearing out. We used the opportunity to see the Jungle Cruise, just because there was absolutely no line. In fact, our skipper waited quite a while so that the boat wouldn't be empty; it was still only half full, and several of the boats behind us went through empty. When we were about to see the backside of water, one of the other skippers was doing the "dead skipper" thing, laying over the front of his boat as if he had been shot. Either our skipper didn't notice it, or she decided to ignore it. Still taking advantage of the lack of lines, we rode the new Magic Carpets of Aladdin. I don't generally like these spinner-type rides, but once again, if you don't have to wait for them, they aren't that bad. We had a whole carpet to ourselves, so Laura took the front to control the height while I took the back to control the tilt. Seems like it was over pretty quickly, but it was still a nice diversion, and we can say we did something new on this trip. We checked out the Dole Whip stand, but it was closed, so we decided to make our way back down Main Street, to get out before the crowd that was waiting to see the fireworks. We rode the Monorail back around to the Transportation and Ticket Center, and then got to see the fireworks as we were riding the tram back to the Dopey section. Then we got in our car and went back to the hotel.

The Magic Carpets of Aladdin.

The next morning, after our usual routine of eating from the continental breakfast and watching some early morning television, we arrived at the Transportation and Ticket Center parking lot around 10:00. We rode the tram up to the TTC and took a quick trip on Monorail Yellow over to the Magic Kingdom. As we first walked in, the Rhythm Rascals were performing just outside of the west tunnel under the train station. As we walked up Main Street, enjoying the area music as always, we noticed that here the photographers would just hold up a picture of a generic couple; at the other parks they would ask you to stop and pose for a picture, but here they just waited until you asked them. We saw two of the draft horses pulling the trolleys down the street, marveling at how much larger they are than our horses back home.

The Partners statue at the Hub

We went over to Frontierland to check out the wait times for Big Thunder Mountain and Splash Mountain. We got a Fastpass for Big Thunder, since that is Laura's favorite ride, but that prevented us from getting a Fastpass for Splash Mountain. We went next to see the Haunted Mansion, another one we never miss. Like the Pirates of the Caribbean the day before, this one had louder sound and improved lighting, making for an even better experience. The standby wait time outside was quite short, which makes me wonder if this attraction really needed Fastpass. Fastpass works great for things like Big Thunder Mountain, but we have never used it at the Haunted Mansion, just because the standby wait is short. We then spent some time looking around in the shops around Frontierland before going back over to Big Thunder Mountain for our Fastpass time. As one would expect, the Fastpasses worked great, and we were on the ride in a matter of minutes. And once again, we survived the ride aboard a runaway mine train, bravely making it back to the station. Laura reminded me once again as we exited that this was her favorite attraction. We then caught the train at the Frontierland station, riding the Roger Broggie around to the Main Street station. From there, we rode Monorail Black on the local route to the Transportation and Ticket Center, after a brief stop for those disembarking at the Contemporary Resort. I guess it was because of the time of day, but everyone leaving the Magic Kingdom had to take the local monorail instead of the express monorail; I have seen them do this before, so I assume it is standard practice.

Continued

We Were Started By A Mouse Too!  •  When In Cyberspace ... Disney Link Directory  •  

  •  Purchase Walt Disney World Tickets here - DISNEY TICKETS via DWTickets.com  •  

  •  Receive discounts on ORLANDO VACATION HOMES near Disney World from OrlandoVacation.com  •