Park #4 Magic Kingdom.
Good thing I got here early! Even at 7:15am, there was a crowd building up for breakfast reservations. Still, with my long legs and knowledge of the park layout I managed to be the first to check in at CRT and among the first to be seated.
This was my first time trying the character breakfast here since the restaurant was called King Stefan's Banquet Hall. The last two times were lunch in 2005 (when it was just a lunch, and nothing else) and the Villain's Soiree in 2014 (the one and only year they ever did it). I had read numerous bad reviews of late about how rushed the experience was, about the bad food, etc and my meal here was the total opposite. First, I got a window seat, so it was cool to look over Fantasyland despite the morning fog obscuring some of the view. Then the food came out and it was not at all poor tasting and cooked exactly the way I wanted (probably because I was, again, among the first to order any). Then the characters came around and they gave me both a wand and a sword (which I thought were just for little kids, but I guess they figured I wanted to play the role of "fairy knight" too, lol) and at no point did I ever feel ignored or dismissed when it came to either drinks or photos. My server was a pro who had been working there since the King Stefan days and we talked about that too and she always knew when to top off my orange juice and check back on me without myself having to ask. You couldn't ask for better service. I also splurged on the white chocolate glass slipper dessert (extra $), and it was worth it too. This was easily the best meal of my trip and lived up to any expectation I might have had. This restaurant and The Haunted Mansion are my favourite things about Florida's Magic Kingdom when compared to DLR or DLP and knowing that it's still "magical" all these years later, I will be coming back for sure.
After breakfast the park filled up with crowds pretty quickly. So much so, that I was not able to do every attraction I wanted. I did manage to see:
Pirates of the Caribbean (x2), Mickey's PhilharMagic, Carousel of Progress, Hall of Presidents, Country Bear Jamboree, Enchanted Tiki Room, The Haunted Mansion (x2), Splash Mountain (FP+) and Big Thunder Mountain (FP+)
So it wasn't a total bust. My frustrations with the behaviour of some guests have been expressed in other threads, so I'll stick to the positives here. Most amusing to me was that 45+ years later those Bears still get a laugh and often times on these things it's the adults that have more fun than the kids. My Pirates boat the second time was all adult riders too. I'm not sure if kids are really into MK the way I was, but at least there's still an audience that likes the older style Disney entertainment. CoP also has more charm in one act than all of Universal Studios Florida combined.
Trying to get lunch was a disaster, though. Even after 1:30pm it was long lines everywhere (even for mobile order pick-up) and no TS locations were accepting walk ins. As a last minute resort I made a reservation for Tonys on the MDE app, not really thinking it was the best choice for either food or money. I could not have been more wrong.
I had to wait until 2:30pm to be seated, but it was outside on the patio and that was a big deal to me as someone who would have to go fly back to ice and snow that night. I didn't order much, but my server deliberately took her time so that I could watch the parade from my seat, which I wasn't expecting at all, but completely made the meal all the more memorable. I also know people are really not big on the food here, but I found it better than average, and I was just happy to finally sit down, get some lunch and enjoy the Disney sun and entertainment. Sadly I had to leave the park around 4pm to catch ME back to the airport, but it would have been hard to find a better way to end my short getaway to WDW.
Final thoughts in next post
