Exploring

The second day of our Disney vacation to celebrate our First Anniversary brought us to the Magic Kingdom.

We took the free bus from the Coronado Resort and to get to the Park.  (You can arrive by boat if you stay at the nearby Grand Floridian or Polynesian (among others).

The Magic Kingdom is the jewel of Disney; it’s amazing, it’s unbelievable, it’s magical.

To get to the magic you need to be prepared to wait in some long lines to get through security if you have a bag with you.  Once you make though security you are taken back in time and place to Main Street USA.

It’s so cute with nostalgic looking, gingerbread ornamented shops, and stores with a little park at the center. All your senses become engrossed with the small train going by, the Barbershop quartet singing, or the caramel shop opening.  It is the head of Main Street where you get the view of the Magic Kingdom.  The one that will have any kid young or old saying “WOW!!” Everyone stops for that photo, you kinda have to.

We walked down Main Street USA looking in all the shops and stores for goodies to eat or trinkets to buy. It was early in the day so we stay away from filling our bellies too soon or have to walk around with  bag all day but we did get ideas for things to buy later.  The castle beckons everyone to go to it, off we went.

We took a bunch of pictures in front of the castle. The gardens and flowers were so beautiful around the castle all just in bloom which was amazing.  Our walk continued up the stairs of the castle, where you have a great view back towards Main Street USA.

With a few thousand steps already under our feet, our bellies began to growl. We stopped off at the Sleepy Hallow Refreshments for breakfast. I got the Belgian waffle and Price got a Funnel Cake. Of course we couldn’t resist topping it off with strawberry sauce and whipped cream. The sweet smell was just so intoxicating. We sat in some shade next to the castle munching on our breakfast right by where a couple had just gotten engaged, magic!

After a short break we checked our map and decided the Pirates of the Caribbean Ride would be our first ride.  The line was short so we didn’t have to use our Magic Bands just yet.

The Pirates of the Caribbean Ride was fun and easy.  For the two of use it was a good start to the day since the seats are made for two.  The ride takes you through all the Pirate movies and a glimpse to key scenes.  Plus you get a short and much needed break from the Orlando Summer heat which had bitten Price early.

Mickey Meltdown Meter – 30%

Our next stop was The Hall of Presidents, which houses a visitor area with historical artifacts along with a huge theater.  The show was about 30 minutes long and very impressive.  The animatronic Presidents were all dressed in historical clothes and all appeared just like you would imagine. Abe’s Hat, Washington’s coat, and Taft’s big belly. There was even a speech by our current president, Barack Obama.

Besides enjoying the show, it gave us a chance to enjoy some AC. I highly suggest stopping here when you need a real break from the heat!

Leaving just makes you wanna walk outside, blow off some fireworks, drape yourself in the American flag and drink a Sam Adams in the bed of a Ford F-150! #Merica!

Still on the west side of the Magic Kingdom we visited the Haunted Mansion. So at this point, we did the castle, pirates, Presidents, and now ghost.  Oh Disney!

The Haunted Mansion was something I did when I was little and always had fun memories of so I was looking forward to doing it again.  The line was extremely long but it moved fairly quickly. Plus there’s fun activities to do outside- like play music on the decorations. \

The haunted House is corny, fun, and sweet.  It was fun to do again after all these years.

After all our morning activities we had to get inside, get well hydrated, and have a real meal. Prior to getting to Disney we made a reservation at Tony’s Town Square Restaurant in Main Street with our Disney Travel agent. She told us about a brand new deal they had that allows you to get a 3 course lunch and get reserved seats for a parade later. Sounded fun to us so we had to do it.

Tony’s is a really nice Italian restaurant, big portions, good food, ice cold water (I’m sure each place has it but Price was drinking as if he was melting from the insides!!!). We enjoyed great service, amazing food (the tuna! omg!) while there. Unfortunately, my tiramisu dessert was frozen. We received our bill with to free passes to see Tinkerbell, which we presume is due to the frozen dessert.

These character interactions usually have very long lines but not with the free pass, we went right to the fronts.

Meeting Tinkerbell was so neat (and a bit silly). The cast member was on point with anything to say to stay in character.

Tink was a great sport saying ‘hi’ to a friend of mine on video. My bud loves Tink so it was so fun to send her that video. ha!

We started to make our way back through Main Street Disney and towards the Castle. Price splayed out on the “lawn” area with a Mickey Meltdown Meter set at about 50% when we noticed people lining up to watched a parade.

We soon discovered it was time for the Festival of Fantasy Parade. We stuck around to see the characters, floats, and musicians for a long time. The parade ended with a fire breathing dragon. (FB live video!)

The next area of the park that we ventured into was Tomorrowland. The sculptures, exhibits, and buildings appear futuristic or sci fi. It’s silly looking but still fun.

We jumped on the People Mover Ride. This allowed us to loop around above Tomorrow Land in the shade. Bliss.

Then we headed over to the Carousel of Progress. It was personally created by Walt Disney for the 1964-65 New York World’s Fair using cutting edge animatronics technology. It is so dated but fun. It shows how life has changed for the average middle class American family since at points in time from 1900, 1920’s, 1940’s, and ‘today’. That today Act looks like it’s in the 80’s? early 90’s? It’s so strange but fun. (Again, more AC!)

We decided to speed things up from the slow pace of the People Mover by heading over to the Tomorrowland Speedway. Accept there was no speed…

I understand that this is for ‘All Ages’ but it’s really for kids, maybe 12 and under, that would get a thrill of driving on a track but this ride is a huge waste of time and space for Disney. The cars were very difficult to maneuver on the guided track, it was impossible to steer without hitting the middle guiderail that would jerk you to your lane and around the track. The other aspect was that pushing the peddles was very difficult. Price said it took all of his 220 lbs to keep the peddle down the whole time, so how could a little kid do it? In Prices opinion, it was the worst thing about Disney.  Mickey Meltdown Meter: 60%

We perked ourselves up with a treat after that lame ride on the Speedway. After all, we couldn’t resist get Mickey shaped ice cream and having the castle in the background.

Towards the northeast corner of the park is the Casey Jr Splash ‘N’ Soak. Sorry kids, the adults need to cool off too. We walked through some sprinklers and cooled off a bit without being drenched the rest of the day.  By this time it was mid afternoon but we still had a lot to see and do.

Near the Splash Park is Under the Sea ~ Journey of The Little Mermaid ride….

This was my dream come true!!!!!! I have always loved The Little Mermaid. So this was something we had to do while at the park. I loved every bit of it from the clam shell ride seat to the music and animatronics.

I mean… come on now!!! Ugh! I loved it.

Early in the morning we made a FastPass+ reservation for Space Mountain with our Magic Bands. Good thing because the line was almost 2 hrs long!! We skipped a majority of the line (to the point when the regular line and fast Pass lines meet) so it was a great use of one of the 3 FastPass+ reservations you get a day.

I was really surprised Price did so well at Space Mountain, as he doesn’t like roller coasters much. Space Mountain is dark, fast, twisty, with lots to laser lights all over. It’s was a blast for me but he was glad that we are not going back any time soon. ha!!!

We needed another cold beverage and I had to have the infamous Dole Whip. We were on a mission for one so we went across from Tomorrowland to Advenureland to get to the Aloha Isle stand. While Price would have used all our food vouchers on Dole Whip, we shared one and moved on with our day.

During our wait at the Haunted Mansion earlier in the day we saw a bunch of people on an island and wondered how would we get to it. Well, we figured it out!!

It was Tom Sawyer’s Island which was accessed by a few boats and docks. Pricer and I waited around a few minutes until we saw a worker and asked if we could go.  There response; “You can now!!” (I assume they were closed for a short while).  We had the entire island to ourselves for about 30 minutes; we wandered the caves, we walked the bridges over and over, we got into all parts of the forts, we sat in the rocking chairs, and no one else was around.  For a short time, we had our own private island at Disney! We had been surrounded by thousands of people for two days so getting away from everything, was really nice.

We used another one of our Fast Pass+ ride reservations for Splash Mountain. Again, really worth it since the line was crazy long.

Thankfully, we ended up in the front seats since you get the biggest splash in those seats when you down the log flume part of the ride.

Our lunch and afternoon treats were so filling that we didn’t want a ‘real’ diner so we opted for using our Snack Credits from our meal plan to grab a Churro and Pretzel from a cart. I didn’t love the churro that much. It was decent but not stellar. But it was still so nice to just hang out with Price and take a moment to reflect on our busy day.

As the sun began to set we started to make our way back to Main Street, USA to get our seats at the Town Square Viewing Area for the Main Street Electrical Parade.

Man, getting reserved seats with our lunch package was so great! We sat right in front for perfect viewing, without being crowded.

Characters and floats of all sizes will lit up for a fun parade around Main Street. Everyone was there from Tink to Snow White to Pete and his Dragon.

Yeah, this might be the best photo of the day!

Everyone was great, but this guy was extra awesome. He saw me taking pictures and ran right up to my and yelled (in character!) so I was able to snap this.

(The Light Parade is moving to Disney Land in October, so be sure to see it while you can!)

There was a little boy waiting for the nightly fireworks who had just had enough and decided that laying down on Main Street was a good idea. To be more specific, he decided that laying on my right foot and looking up at me was perfectly acceptable. I didn’t even have the heart to make him move since I couldn’t blame him at all. If it was acceptable for a 31-year old woman to lay down and whine on Main Street USA, I would have.

Thankfully, the Fireworks show (9pm) was well worth the wait. It was magical to watch it all. The start of the fireworks was awesome with (an illuminated) Tink flying all around The Castle, and then a real life one flying (ziplining) away from The Castle for the fireworks to begin. The Castle gets all lit up with fireworks going boom all around it.

We were so thankful to get back to the room and just collapse in the bed. It was a day filled with lots of miles walked, lots of food eaten, and lots of fun had by both of us.

My feet were beat and Price’s knees were sore from our endless walking, but so worth it!! Mickey Meltdown Meter 70%

And we still had 1 more day to go!!! Next up: Epcot (Experimental Prototype Community Of Tomorrow).