Our Disney Trip (Day Three): Magic Kingdom (Part 2)

Our second day in Orlando started out much the same as the first. Clear, sunny skies with a high of 70 degrees expected. Since temperatures had reached 71 the day before, we knew it would be another perfect day. I must admit there is a learning curve to the parks. Certain rides have incredibly long waits in the high-traffic season. It is certainly smart to use their fast pass option. You place your admission ticket into a machine of the attraction you want to ride and it spits out a pass with an hour long time slot for you to return and by-pass the line. It took until the second day to really get the hang of it. It certainly saved us a lot of time in line and we found ourselves moving through the rides at a much quicker pace.

The first ride we went to was Space Mountain. Of all the rides at Magic Kingdom, this is the one Adam talked about the most. He was very patient in waiting until the second day to ride it, so it certainly was our priority on day two. Elise was not tall enough to ride, so we also utilized the ride share/ride switch option. When I talked with Adam about the rides, I really encouraged him to ride everything. For years his classmates had talked about their Disney experiences and created a lot of buzz about Space Mountain and Splash Mountain. It was finally Adam's turn to be part of that group of kids and I knew he would regret chickening out at the last minute. I also promised him a "I Rode Space Mountain" t-shirt if he conquered his fear. Fortunately, he did ride it and we had twenty less dollars in our pocket. Again, money well spent. Adam was proud of himself and loved the ride.

What was interesting about this day is that we had a lot of the scarier rides left, which meant that Elise's opinion of "rides" was probably going to change. From there we went to Splash Mountain. It's a water ride with a roller coaster element. There is one incredibly steep drop, which Elise had never experienced. Fortunately, she LOVED it. We couldn't resist buying the print the park offers. We thought our expressions were pretty hysterical. The fact that Elise is tucked down into the seat is pretty hilarious too. She was scared in the moment but had so much fun in the end.

Another highlight for Adam was the Monsters Inc. Laugh Floor. It is an audience participation comedy show. In the opening sequence they flashed Adam up on the jumbo tron screen, which he thought was the most awesome experience.  Out of literally hundreds of people, they singled him out.   They had a "name" for Adam underneath his image, but we don't remember what it said now. He said he was famous in the Disney world now. OK....we'll give him that one. No need to burst his bubble. The show itself was not one of Tony and my favorites but the kids really enjoyed it.

What surprised me most was how busy the Frontierland section was. I couldn't figure out if there was less walkway or what, but since there was only a half dozen rides and shows, it certainly didn't seem like it should be so jam packed. Insanely busy. Truly insane. It was here we enjoyed Elise's first real roller coaster, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad.  Like I said, my daughter was fearless, entirely eager to ride everything she could, including this one. I liken this coaster to our Mine Train with a kick. The four of us had the last two cars in the train, with Tony and Elise riding in the caboose.  Her reaction when it was over? Well, I am saving that for my next pictorial blog. This ride ended up being the most memorable of the day. It deserves it's own blog. Really.

Our big restaurant of this day was the character lunch at Crystal Palace. It was here we ate with Pooh bear, Piglet, Tigger and, my favorite, Eeyore. We had done this lunch with Michael and Brandon 11 years ago and knew it would be fun for our two. We love the 100 acre woods friends. With the efficiency of the princess breakfast, I was sorely disappointed with the lack of coordination with this luncheon. First, I missed Eeyore, which had nothing to do with them, but it really irked me that I was in the buffet line when he donned our table. After Eeyore, Pooh came by in orderly fashion. But then it took what seemed like forever Tigger to come by the table. And Piglet was just missing in action. We were done eating and ready to leave, with my fingers tapping on the table, wondering why he was absent. I suppose I assumed their greetings were done in orderly fashion like the princesses. Not that I wanted to rush through our meals, but we had a lot to do yet, and I did not want to waste any time. Perhaps a server noticed the angst in my face, or heard me kvetching, but finally she asked who we had yet to see. Within 5 minutes, Piglet made his way to our table. Of all the restaurants we dined over the week's time, this was certainly the one I felt lacked the Disney professionalism.

By the end of our second day, we had experienced 35 of the 40 shows and rides (with Cinderella's Carousel being ridden 3 times in the two days. It remained one of her favorites!)  It was also at the end of our first day that I realized that Tony and I had come on this trip with two different expectations. He intended on staying until the parks closed each night. On the other hand, I was content to stay only as late as we had energy. We found ourselves at odds a bit the first night at Magic Kingdom. After 12 hours, I was exhausted and my feet and legs ached. I was ready to go home. He wanted to stay for the parade. In the end, I won out. On the second night, we knew we would stay until the park closed.

By staying, it allowed us to ride Speedway a second time (which Elise drove with me the second time. And can I just say she was a better driver than Adam. It was seriously funny and I joked around with Adam about it later) and ride a few rides that had longer lines earlier in the day. It was also when we finally made our way through Mickey and Minnie's Toontown, which is where Mickey and Minnie stay for character greeting. Much to Tony's chagrin, we waited in line for about 30 minutes to finally meet them. I could not fathom leaving the park without seeing them. I was concerned that our odds of finding them at the other parks would be lessened. Now or never mentality.

The parade was certainly a highlight. We saw a lot of characters we had missed throughout the day. Often times, if I saw a character but we didn't want to stand in line, I'd take a picture from a distance. Sometimes a random child would be in my photograph but a girls got to do what a girls got to do. While I wanted to make character sightings a priority, I also did not want to waste all our time in line either. It was a fair compromise. Anyone who comes to Disney and misses the parade is missing the essence of Disney. It was magical.

Leaving Magic Kingdom, we were exhausted but pleased with how much we had seen and done in two days. After the monorail experience the first day, we opted to ride the ferry back to the parking lot. It was cold and windy, but a lot of fun for the kids. This trip they were experiencing plane rides, subway-type train rides (in the airport between terminals), the monorail and now a ferry. Awesome.