That's what I'm hoping for one week from today. It'll be Halloween day, and my birthday, and our first day in the Magic Kingdom.
It's Extra Magic Hours, so I'm hoping to get to the park at about opening to have a little bit of time before we need to meet out Keys to the Kingdom Tour group a City Hall at 8:45 am. I'm very excited for this tour. I've been backstage, and even in the utilidors, before but John and Lisa haven't and none of us have experienced this tour before. As I understand it, we get to see backstage and the utilidors, the parade storage/staging area and ride a couple attractions with the tour guide's commentary. I have purposely kept myself a bit vague on details because I want to be surprised.
We get lunch on the tour and it finishes about 2:30 or 3 so I'm hoping that leaves us time to catch the Festival of Fantasy Parade, which we've never seen. I have FastPass+ for Jungle Cruise as well in case the parade doesn't pan out. I've also made FastPass+ reservations for Seven Dwarfs Mine Train and Dumbo in the early evening before MNSSHP begins at 7 pm.
We'll catch rides and shows and see all we can see until the fireworks and the late parade, which I hope to catch at the beginning in Frontierland so we can hop on Splash Mountain afterwards because I just love that ride at night. We'll close the place out and catch the midnight performance of the Hocus Pocus Villains show before zombie-ing ourselves home to rest up for......
Epcot Food and Wine Day!
Showing posts with label Frontierland. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Frontierland. Show all posts
Monday, October 24, 2016
Wednesday, September 28, 2016
31 Days: Wordless Wednesday, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad
Photos Courtesy of the Lovely and Talented Lisa P. Stites
Monday, August 1, 2016
89 Days: Disney Steam Train Memories
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| Not the Lilly Belle, but her brother locomotive |
That moment when the steam train pulls into the station above you and a pile of Disney characters emerge to sing and dance the park open for the day was my son's very first Disney experience and the look on his face is something I will never forget. John was going on three years old at the time and was completely enthralled by the spectacle. I'm pretty sure we've not seen the Magic Kingdom rope drop since that day. Hmmmmmm.......
We enjoy the steam train ride around the park, usually taking at lest one full round trip each visit just for the ride. It's also a fun way to skip from land to land, and nice way to get off your feet. You also end up interacting with other guests more than we are wont to do usually. Once, while on a trip on the lovely Miss Lisa's birthday, she was wearing her tiara. Because, well, it's Disney and her birthday, so why not? Another woman on the train admired it and immediately asked her husband why SHE didn't have one, and asked Lisa where she got it. Lisa had bought it a few weeks before at a renaissance festival and not in the park, so hubby was off the hook, at least briefly.
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| We like the front and back of the trains |
We also saw one of the strangest guest behaviors on the train. Somewhere between Frontierland and the Toon Town station (I think it was Mickey's Toontown Fair at the time), a man apparently dropped his cell phone from the train. We heard a loud ruckus from the back of train and turned to see that the man had jumped off, retrieved his phone, and was running to catch up and jump back on. This did not please the conductor dude one bit. The train stopped, the man was collected, and he was met by security at the next station. We sort of hung around to rubber neck and see how the situation was resolved. Looked to us like the guy's young, huge-eyed daughter in a princess dress saved him from being ejected from the park. That entire trip featured some weird, bad guest behavior. Even saw a fight almost break out waiting for the evening parade. Nutso stuff.
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| These guys would rather you not jump off mid-trip :-) |
Wednesday, March 2, 2016
Disney Memories
Walt Disney World's marketing slogan this year is something along the lines of "Memories Are Made Here." Wait, it's for Disney Parks in general and it's "Unforgettable Happens Here" (I just Googled it). It's tough to quibble with that. My mind is full of Disney moments. I remember River Country vividly, along with 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea, the Skyway and Mr. Toad's Wild Ride. That last one, Mr. Toad, came up the other day on a car ride home from Durham after seeing The Lion King musical (which was unbelievable, by the way.) We were talking about past trips, about what were some of our best times, and Lisa and I went back to this one night in 1993 that will be hard to beat for Disney Magic.
The trip was pretty great all around. It was a graduation gift to Lisa and I from my parents. We stayed in Fort Wilderness in a cabin with Lisa and I, my mom and dad, and my sister, then about 13. We spent a lot of time together all five of us, but sometimes Lisa and I struck out on our own. This night we'd stayed in the Magic Kingdom after the rest of my family left and we planned to "close out" the park. Boy did we.
I don't remember the entire evening vividly, but the incredible part began during the later of the two runnings of the Main Street Electrical Parade (or maybe it was SpectroMagic then, but I think it was MSEP). We hadn't planned to watch the parade, instead using the opportunity presented by everyone else watching the parade to ride Splash Mountain with very little wait. We were happily surprised to find that we had a great view of the parade from the higher portions of Splash Mountain! It looked incredible from that vantage point, and wonderfully new and different from the usual ground-level viewing. We hadn't planned our ride to coincide with the parade passing through Frontierland - I don't know if we could have - but it worked out that way and it was magic.
Well, that had us on a high. We cruised around Frontierland congratulating ourselves on how awesome we were to have such a great experience. Truth be told, Lisa and I do A LOT of congratulating ourselves on our awesomeness. Is that wrong? Anyhow, as the park closing time neared we found ourselves in Fantasyland, willfully as far from the entrance as we could get. We were in no hurry and wanted to be in the Magic Kingdom as long as we could, if I remember our thinking correctly. Attractions began closing off lines and we figured we might have one shot at one more ride, so we headed to Mr. Toad, because it was one of my favorites and Lisa loves me.
We squeezed into line as some of the last passengers and as the cars came around......Wait, let me stop here and explain a few things. I loved Mr. Toad because it was kind of hokey. It was a glorious, unapologetic, in-your-face kind of hokey. Part of the fun was that the cars were named for characters from the Wind in the Willows stories. It was fun waiting to see, and counting cars and people in front of you as you neared the front of the queue, which character's car you'd get. The crown jewel of course was Mr. Toad's car. It seemed harder to get. Maybe there was only one named for Mr. Toad? I don't know. But anyhow, there we were nearing the loading place and I was counting people and looking at the cars emerge ready to load and.....and....there it was. Mr. Toad. And we got it.
I of coarse, being the cool-as-a-cucumber person I am, let out with an exuberant and very loud, "IT'S MR. TOAD!!!!" Lisa was charmed. The cast member loading cars, who's likely been at her post for many hours and was quite ready to go home, was completely confused and a bit shocked at my outburst. Lisa gave her a "it's ok, he's just like that" look and off we went for what would turn out to be our very last ride through Toad Hall. Hated to see Mr. Toad's Wild Ride go, but what a way to end it.
So, after riding Mr. Toad's very own motor car through the very gates of Hell themselves (what, you didn't think Satan made an appearance in Disney World?), we followed the last of the stragglers down Main Street USA and out of the Magic Kingdom. More self-congratulating was happening. We were on such a high there was no way we were ready for this night to end. So instead of hopping on a boat for Fort Wilderness, we got on the monorail headed to the Polynesian and the Kona Cafe in search of ice cream sundaes.
Sundaes were acquired and eaten. Magic was re-lived. Much laughing and talking happened. Then it occurred to us that as magical as Walt Disney World was, it was unlikely they'd run boats from the Poly to Fort Wilderness 24 hours a day. We headed down to the docks and caught what turned out to be the last launch back to the Fort. Turns out that night they ran until 2 am. It WAS 2 am. This deposited us at the front of Fort Wilderness where we were lucky enough to find one of the internal buses waiting. We were the only passengers on the very last bus of the night. The driver, looking as tired as the Mr. Toad attendant, asked us what site were staying at and took us straight there, right to the door of our cabin, rather than to the bus stop near-by. Disney cast members are the best, even at zero dark freakin' thirty in August.
The family was sound asleep, as one might expect at 2:30 am, and we snuck in and bedded down without waking anyone up. Being only 22 years old and crazy in love and happy, we were up and at 'em with bounces in our steps early the next morning for breakfast with the whole crew.
Best. Night. Ever.
So far :-)
The trip was pretty great all around. It was a graduation gift to Lisa and I from my parents. We stayed in Fort Wilderness in a cabin with Lisa and I, my mom and dad, and my sister, then about 13. We spent a lot of time together all five of us, but sometimes Lisa and I struck out on our own. This night we'd stayed in the Magic Kingdom after the rest of my family left and we planned to "close out" the park. Boy did we.
I don't remember the entire evening vividly, but the incredible part began during the later of the two runnings of the Main Street Electrical Parade (or maybe it was SpectroMagic then, but I think it was MSEP). We hadn't planned to watch the parade, instead using the opportunity presented by everyone else watching the parade to ride Splash Mountain with very little wait. We were happily surprised to find that we had a great view of the parade from the higher portions of Splash Mountain! It looked incredible from that vantage point, and wonderfully new and different from the usual ground-level viewing. We hadn't planned our ride to coincide with the parade passing through Frontierland - I don't know if we could have - but it worked out that way and it was magic.
Well, that had us on a high. We cruised around Frontierland congratulating ourselves on how awesome we were to have such a great experience. Truth be told, Lisa and I do A LOT of congratulating ourselves on our awesomeness. Is that wrong? Anyhow, as the park closing time neared we found ourselves in Fantasyland, willfully as far from the entrance as we could get. We were in no hurry and wanted to be in the Magic Kingdom as long as we could, if I remember our thinking correctly. Attractions began closing off lines and we figured we might have one shot at one more ride, so we headed to Mr. Toad, because it was one of my favorites and Lisa loves me.
We squeezed into line as some of the last passengers and as the cars came around......Wait, let me stop here and explain a few things. I loved Mr. Toad because it was kind of hokey. It was a glorious, unapologetic, in-your-face kind of hokey. Part of the fun was that the cars were named for characters from the Wind in the Willows stories. It was fun waiting to see, and counting cars and people in front of you as you neared the front of the queue, which character's car you'd get. The crown jewel of course was Mr. Toad's car. It seemed harder to get. Maybe there was only one named for Mr. Toad? I don't know. But anyhow, there we were nearing the loading place and I was counting people and looking at the cars emerge ready to load and.....and....there it was. Mr. Toad. And we got it.
I of coarse, being the cool-as-a-cucumber person I am, let out with an exuberant and very loud, "IT'S MR. TOAD!!!!" Lisa was charmed. The cast member loading cars, who's likely been at her post for many hours and was quite ready to go home, was completely confused and a bit shocked at my outburst. Lisa gave her a "it's ok, he's just like that" look and off we went for what would turn out to be our very last ride through Toad Hall. Hated to see Mr. Toad's Wild Ride go, but what a way to end it.
So, after riding Mr. Toad's very own motor car through the very gates of Hell themselves (what, you didn't think Satan made an appearance in Disney World?), we followed the last of the stragglers down Main Street USA and out of the Magic Kingdom. More self-congratulating was happening. We were on such a high there was no way we were ready for this night to end. So instead of hopping on a boat for Fort Wilderness, we got on the monorail headed to the Polynesian and the Kona Cafe in search of ice cream sundaes.
Sundaes were acquired and eaten. Magic was re-lived. Much laughing and talking happened. Then it occurred to us that as magical as Walt Disney World was, it was unlikely they'd run boats from the Poly to Fort Wilderness 24 hours a day. We headed down to the docks and caught what turned out to be the last launch back to the Fort. Turns out that night they ran until 2 am. It WAS 2 am. This deposited us at the front of Fort Wilderness where we were lucky enough to find one of the internal buses waiting. We were the only passengers on the very last bus of the night. The driver, looking as tired as the Mr. Toad attendant, asked us what site were staying at and took us straight there, right to the door of our cabin, rather than to the bus stop near-by. Disney cast members are the best, even at zero dark freakin' thirty in August.
The family was sound asleep, as one might expect at 2:30 am, and we snuck in and bedded down without waking anyone up. Being only 22 years old and crazy in love and happy, we were up and at 'em with bounces in our steps early the next morning for breakfast with the whole crew.
Best. Night. Ever.
So far :-)
Wednesday, April 9, 2014
Refuting The Top 13 Reasons Not To Go To Disney, Part 5
So I'm happily looking at my Facebook newsfeed the other day and one of
those "Sponsored" things is up there. It's from a site called Viral
Travel (which sounds like a bad idea on the face of it) and is entitled 13 Reasons Not To Go To Disney.
Of course I bite. Sue me. So its about what I expect, the same things
we Disney fans expect from you non-Disney fans-- crowds, expense,
capitalism, yadda yadda yadda. The thing is, many of these criticisms
are true to a large extent, but avoidable. I hate to see people get
spoiled on the Disney I love because they go about the whole experience
unprepared logistically or mentally for the realities of the place. I
figured just for kicks to take the 13 reasons one by one (or two by two) and try to
explain why they don't keep ME from the Magic. This part four, part one is here, two here, three here, and four here.
6. The Food Is Insanely Expensive
Anyone else notice a trend here? Everything is "insane" it seems. I wonder about that...
And just for the record, hot dogs are $7.79 with fries at Casey's Corner in the Magic Kingdom or $5.25 from a cart in either Storybrook Circus or Frontierland. Been to a ball game lately? I challenge you to find a cheaper hot dog at a major league ballpark.
Yes, food in the Disney parks is not as inexpensive as you could find outside the parks. But ALL theme parks are like that. And the circus. And the fair. And concerts. And sporting events. Anywhere you are a captive audience, you will be charged more for food. Welcome to capitalism.
One of the reasons we love Disney, though, is the food. Sure you can get burgers and dogs and mac-n-cheese, but you can also eat sushi and baklava and dole whips and Hawaiian barbeque and wiener schnitzel and creme brulee and pretty much anything else you can imagine. You can eat these things in a pagoda or a fish tank or with Winnie the Pooh or Cinderella. You can listen to your wedding song played on a ukulele while drinking a fruity rum concoction from a pineapple then watch the Magic Kingdom fireworks from your table while you finish your meal with bread pudding.
I'll just say that our last trip both the Lapu Lapu (the aforementioned pineapple drink) and breakfast lasagna
were life-changing experiences.
Disney isn't about an $8 hotdog, even if that was the price. It's about having experiences you can't have in the real world, and for our family many of these experiences involve food.
Oh, and if you love food as much as we do, look into the Disney Dining Plan. This is basically pre-paying for your meals during your trip. You get, with our favorite option, a snack (we use this for breakfast usually), a counter service meal and a table service meal for each day of your trip. It's a good deal if you are foodies and tend to clean your plate. But it is worth a whole post, or series of posts, on its own.
6. The Food Is Insanely Expensive
You know it’s bad when movie theater concessions look like a bargain in comparison. Have you ever paid $8 for a hot dog? At Disneyland you can have that privilege.
Anyone else notice a trend here? Everything is "insane" it seems. I wonder about that...
And just for the record, hot dogs are $7.79 with fries at Casey's Corner in the Magic Kingdom or $5.25 from a cart in either Storybrook Circus or Frontierland. Been to a ball game lately? I challenge you to find a cheaper hot dog at a major league ballpark.
Yes, food in the Disney parks is not as inexpensive as you could find outside the parks. But ALL theme parks are like that. And the circus. And the fair. And concerts. And sporting events. Anywhere you are a captive audience, you will be charged more for food. Welcome to capitalism.
 |
| The Lapu Lapu |
I'll just say that our last trip both the Lapu Lapu (the aforementioned pineapple drink) and breakfast lasagna
were life-changing experiences.
Disney isn't about an $8 hotdog, even if that was the price. It's about having experiences you can't have in the real world, and for our family many of these experiences involve food.
Oh, and if you love food as much as we do, look into the Disney Dining Plan. This is basically pre-paying for your meals during your trip. You get, with our favorite option, a snack (we use this for breakfast usually), a counter service meal and a table service meal for each day of your trip. It's a good deal if you are foodies and tend to clean your plate. But it is worth a whole post, or series of posts, on its own.
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