(with the corrected dates in the title...DOH :hammer: )
July 2 - First Day Of Magic
Alarm and wake up call at about 7am, Kris showers, we sleep a little more. All dressed and over to Everything Pop for breakfast. Prices were not that bad, at least we thought so. The "adult" breakfast platter was only like 6 or 7 dollars.
Back into the truck and into the lot at the Magic Kingdom. Tram to TTC, Monorail to MK. We got through bag check and the turnstiles with a couple minutes to spare before the Mgic Kingdom Welcome show at the train station.
Here come the tears already...
In we go, straight to our first view of Cindella Castle...more tears and big goofy smiles...
We head up Main Street into Tomorrowland and get on eline for Stitch (5 minute wait). To tell you the truth, it was fun. No, the story isn't spectacular, and no, the animation isn't the best, but it is a well-done attraction that probably isn't getting as much credit as it deserves.
Lisi and Kris then went on Space Mountain. I still have not been able to get myself on that ride, but I swear, one day I will.
Off to Buzz where I completely destroyed Elise and Kris
(OK, only by 100,000 points, but I still won.)
Lisi and Kris both went onto the Indy Speedway, I had no interest. PLus, I wanted to look around in a store while I still had the chance before Elise chased me out because she was buying me a gift.
Into Fantasyland....
Fastpass for Peter Pan, then standby on its a small world. We thought the new "look" was really nice. However, the newer boats with less leg room...
. If I didn't know any better I would have stood up in the boat to get rid of the pain in my legs. I'm a big guy, but the old boats were ok for me. Halfway through this ride I just wanted it to end.
Then we used our Peter Pan FP, after which we headed to PhilharMagic. We literally walked right into the theater.
At this point it was only a little past 11am, we had knocked off a lot of attractions. We decided it was time for an early lunch, our first meal on the Disney Dining Plan, at the Columbia Harbour House. The food here was very good. However, my wife was disappointed that the only dessert choice was apple pie, which she does not eat. She felt it was a wasted dessert...oh well.
It was during lunch that Lisi and I remembered about the VMK in park quests. So, we planned to go on the Haunted Mansion, then make our way to the Main Street Cinema for our quests. HM is one of my favorite attractions, and was great as usual. I rode with Kris to show him the hidden Mickeys.
We picked up our quests and were reminded about the VMK Insider Tour that you could go on if you completed all 3 (Frontierland, Fantasyland and Adventureland). We took a little time in the nice cool air to create some "Born in Park" characters, then off on our quests.
First, Fantasyland, and the most difficult question, because (as we were told), the designers decided to play a little joke. From here we caught Share a Dream Come Tru from one of the paths to the side of the castle stage. After that, we went into Frontierland and answered most of the questions. Back into Fantasyland for a re-count, then into VMK Central to turn in the Fantasyland quest, one question wrong (yes, that one :brick: ).
We decided to leave the quests for now and head to Epcot and our priority seat (I know the name has changed, but I can't stop calling it this) at Le Cellier.
After a nice monorail ride, we looked for and took picutres of our 2 Leave a Legacy tiles. On the way to the World Showcase, we checked out the Art of Disney. Lisi is looking for the new Disney cross-stitch sets, and the whole trip was only able to find one
.
Crossing the bridge into WS, the sky started to open up, and by the time we reached Canada and Le Cellier, we were SOAKED. The great CMs here gave us each a handful of napkins and a "raining out there, ay?" :lol: . Truth be told, we heard this about 3 or 4 times from different people, it was rather amusing.
OK, so this is where we prove to Kris that the dining plan is well worth the money we paid. No alcohol, the bill would have been about $200. Kris had pan-seared scallops, while Lisi and I had the Cheddar Cheese Soup. I had maple BBQ glazed filet mignon, Kris and Lisi had Surf and Turf. We all had the Chef's Signature Dessert Plate. Kris siad that this was THE BEST meal he has ever had in HIS LIFE. Folks, if you get a steak here, get medium rare, you can cut it with a butter knife. Cream cheese mahed potatoes, wow!
An absolutely amazing meal!
As we walked out, the host at the door asked what we had, to which we answered "everything" in unison. We were also informed that Le Cellier was just voted the best restaurant on WDW Property. If true, I can definitely see why.
Walking back to the monorail, and I noticed EVERYTHING started to hurt. This is bad. Combine some perhap not-broken-in-enough shoes that were wet, along with soaked clothing, but my feet were in bad shape, along with other rubbing areas. I was starting to drag.
BUT, I moved ahead....in the face of pain....
We monorailed it back to the MK and headed for Adventureland for our quest. While I got a drank (yay snacks on the meal plan). Lisi and Kris did the Swiss Family Treehouse for the answers to some questions. We all rode the Jungle Cruise (very cool in the dark), then onto Pirate of the Caribbean for more answers.
We headed back to VMK Central and turned in our first finished quest (Adventureland) and got our prizes. From there, we staked out our spots for Wishes.
We had never seen Wishes, why? On the choir trip to WDW last spring, we had to leave the MK before the nighttime shows because of perfomances early the next day
.
Oh well, we finally saw it, more tears. Disney does it again! What a piece of work. Seeing it in person (as opposed to online) is amazing!
We waited for Spectromagic's late showing, and as it started, a, *ahem*, gentleman with a camera decided to step in front of our view . So, I just very nicely used the fact that I am a large, scary looking man, to get him to move :drevil: . Spectro, was great as usual. This is one of my favorites, a must see every trip.
Well, we lingered a bit, walked through some stores then made for the car.
Back at Pop, showers, then bed. Unfortunately, I didn't fall asleep until about 2am (pain).
5 hours later, alarm and wake-up call at 7am....but thats for another installment...
(To Be Continued...)
July 2 - First Day Of Magic
Alarm and wake up call at about 7am, Kris showers, we sleep a little more. All dressed and over to Everything Pop for breakfast. Prices were not that bad, at least we thought so. The "adult" breakfast platter was only like 6 or 7 dollars.
Back into the truck and into the lot at the Magic Kingdom. Tram to TTC, Monorail to MK. We got through bag check and the turnstiles with a couple minutes to spare before the Mgic Kingdom Welcome show at the train station.
Here come the tears already...
In we go, straight to our first view of Cindella Castle...more tears and big goofy smiles...
We head up Main Street into Tomorrowland and get on eline for Stitch (5 minute wait). To tell you the truth, it was fun. No, the story isn't spectacular, and no, the animation isn't the best, but it is a well-done attraction that probably isn't getting as much credit as it deserves.
Lisi and Kris then went on Space Mountain. I still have not been able to get myself on that ride, but I swear, one day I will.
Off to Buzz where I completely destroyed Elise and Kris
(OK, only by 100,000 points, but I still won.)Lisi and Kris both went onto the Indy Speedway, I had no interest. PLus, I wanted to look around in a store while I still had the chance before Elise chased me out because she was buying me a gift.
Into Fantasyland....
Fastpass for Peter Pan, then standby on its a small world. We thought the new "look" was really nice. However, the newer boats with less leg room...
. If I didn't know any better I would have stood up in the boat to get rid of the pain in my legs. I'm a big guy, but the old boats were ok for me. Halfway through this ride I just wanted it to end.Then we used our Peter Pan FP, after which we headed to PhilharMagic. We literally walked right into the theater.
At this point it was only a little past 11am, we had knocked off a lot of attractions. We decided it was time for an early lunch, our first meal on the Disney Dining Plan, at the Columbia Harbour House. The food here was very good. However, my wife was disappointed that the only dessert choice was apple pie, which she does not eat. She felt it was a wasted dessert...oh well.
It was during lunch that Lisi and I remembered about the VMK in park quests. So, we planned to go on the Haunted Mansion, then make our way to the Main Street Cinema for our quests. HM is one of my favorite attractions, and was great as usual. I rode with Kris to show him the hidden Mickeys.
We picked up our quests and were reminded about the VMK Insider Tour that you could go on if you completed all 3 (Frontierland, Fantasyland and Adventureland). We took a little time in the nice cool air to create some "Born in Park" characters, then off on our quests.
First, Fantasyland, and the most difficult question, because (as we were told), the designers decided to play a little joke. From here we caught Share a Dream Come Tru from one of the paths to the side of the castle stage. After that, we went into Frontierland and answered most of the questions. Back into Fantasyland for a re-count, then into VMK Central to turn in the Fantasyland quest, one question wrong (yes, that one :brick: ).
We decided to leave the quests for now and head to Epcot and our priority seat (I know the name has changed, but I can't stop calling it this) at Le Cellier.
After a nice monorail ride, we looked for and took picutres of our 2 Leave a Legacy tiles. On the way to the World Showcase, we checked out the Art of Disney. Lisi is looking for the new Disney cross-stitch sets, and the whole trip was only able to find one
.Crossing the bridge into WS, the sky started to open up, and by the time we reached Canada and Le Cellier, we were SOAKED. The great CMs here gave us each a handful of napkins and a "raining out there, ay?" :lol: . Truth be told, we heard this about 3 or 4 times from different people, it was rather amusing.
OK, so this is where we prove to Kris that the dining plan is well worth the money we paid. No alcohol, the bill would have been about $200. Kris had pan-seared scallops, while Lisi and I had the Cheddar Cheese Soup. I had maple BBQ glazed filet mignon, Kris and Lisi had Surf and Turf. We all had the Chef's Signature Dessert Plate. Kris siad that this was THE BEST meal he has ever had in HIS LIFE. Folks, if you get a steak here, get medium rare, you can cut it with a butter knife. Cream cheese mahed potatoes, wow!
An absolutely amazing meal!
As we walked out, the host at the door asked what we had, to which we answered "everything" in unison. We were also informed that Le Cellier was just voted the best restaurant on WDW Property. If true, I can definitely see why.
Walking back to the monorail, and I noticed EVERYTHING started to hurt. This is bad. Combine some perhap not-broken-in-enough shoes that were wet, along with soaked clothing, but my feet were in bad shape, along with other rubbing areas. I was starting to drag.
BUT, I moved ahead....in the face of pain....
We monorailed it back to the MK and headed for Adventureland for our quest. While I got a drank (yay snacks on the meal plan). Lisi and Kris did the Swiss Family Treehouse for the answers to some questions. We all rode the Jungle Cruise (very cool in the dark), then onto Pirate of the Caribbean for more answers.
We headed back to VMK Central and turned in our first finished quest (Adventureland) and got our prizes. From there, we staked out our spots for Wishes.
We had never seen Wishes, why? On the choir trip to WDW last spring, we had to leave the MK before the nighttime shows because of perfomances early the next day
.Oh well, we finally saw it, more tears. Disney does it again! What a piece of work. Seeing it in person (as opposed to online) is amazing!
We waited for Spectromagic's late showing, and as it started, a, *ahem*, gentleman with a camera decided to step in front of our view
. So, I just very nicely used the fact that I am a large, scary looking man, to get him to move :drevil: . Spectro, was great as usual. This is one of my favorites, a must see every trip.Well, we lingered a bit, walked through some stores then made for the car.
Back at Pop, showers, then bed. Unfortunately, I didn't fall asleep until about 2am (pain).
5 hours later, alarm and wake-up call at 7am....but thats for another installment...
(To Be Continued...)
