So let me first start out by saying I had no idea I was going to Disney World for Valentines Day weekend! It was all a birthday/valentines day surprise from my parents!
Dad and I were driving home from work on Friday at about 3:00. Dad told me not to make any plans for Saturday because a school booked us in on Saturday because we had no other available dates left open (We produce shows for schools.) I was like "ok, cool." because I would get paid and stuff. I believed him too! The sound system was packed in the back and everything! We would have had to drive through Columbia to go back home so I ask dad why we don't just stay a night in Columbia and Dad says mom wanted to come with us and we would see a show in Georgia late that night. SO! We drive all the way back home, pick mom up, and then we drive all the way back down. I fell asleep, and when my parents woke me up, we were past Columbia in Hampton County! What's so great about Hampton? Absolutely NOTHING! Except for the fact that that's where my girlfriend lives! We pulled in at a gas station and my GF Tori, her mom and brother were all sitting there and I was like "Wait... Tori's here? What's going on?" My mom was recording as well. She told us that we're not going to work.. "YOU TWO ARE GOING TO DISNEY WORLD!!"
I felt like I was in those "WDW surprise videos" which I technically was. So we drove to Jacksonville that night after Tori put her stuff in the van!(She thought she was going to her grandmother's)
So the first day in WDW was Valentines Day. We went to Animal Kingdom, got there at about around 9:00 A.M. Mom and Dad waited for about 45 minutes to get our tickets while Tori and I explored in the Rainforest Cafe and booked dining reservations there for later.
Tip: If you're getting your tickets at Animal Kingdom with kids, let one adult stay in line and the other take the kids into the Rainforest Cafe shop/outdoor area. Tori and I spent good amount of time goofing around in there!
Eventually, we got our tickets and headed into the parks. Luckily I knew how to work FP+ so we had 3 fastpasses for the day. (Festival of the Lion King and Kilimanjaro Safaris were completely out of fastpasses, if anyone was interested to see if any attraction didn't have any left available.)
The first thing we did was just kind of do our own thing... And after actually coming back to this park years later, I still stand by my thoughts of saying this is a giant zoo with about 6 or 8 attractions. The sad part was that none of the animals were outside. There were just a bunch of empty exhibits. (It was a little cold.) But we walked around some of the tiny trails and caves at the beginning of the park's entrance. The park was pretty PACKED. The first attraction we went to was It's Tough to Be a Bug.
One thing I should mention: Tori HATED big rides and coasters. So she thought this was going to be a roller coaster and I picked on her saying that it was a drop zone. I dragged her through the line and when we got to the theatre, I got a pretty hard sucker punch
I should feel bad, but we do that to each other all the time.
It's Tough to be a Bug was a lot of fun. Although, Tori ducked down when the spiders came out so she didn't get stung. I personally thought it was a little hard to hear the film. It's like the audio was set very softly, which really annoyed me because of course everyone was screaming and laughing throughout the whole thing. It was hard to hear what was going on. Also another small thing that bugged me (heheh) was Flik's AA mouth not moving that much. But for a first timer like Tori, she doesn't notice these things and really enjoyed it!
The next thing we did was Finding Nemo: The Musical. Being a theatre guy, I obviously have to see it! Especially considering the fact that people from Avenue Q actually worked with Disney on this show! It really is just a remarkable as I remembered it being! And it was a full house. There were a lot of fastpass people there, but I would have found that completely pointless. It's a giant auditorium, and Tori and I got perfect seats in the middle.
Tip: Don't book Fastpasses for shows and fireworks... Except maybe Festival of the Lion King.
After that, we went to Conservation Station. The train ride was pretty pointless. Except for actually taking us there. Actually.. Conservation Station as a whole was completely pointless. Unless you're a little kid! Chip & Dale were there doing a fun little dance show with the little kids. The little kids could go brush the goats with brushes.. and there's basically a museum. Other than that, WHAT.. IS.. THE.. POINT!? It's not the actual area that bugs me. It's great for little kids! It's the fact that you have to ride a train to get to this! You cannot walk. There's no other option. So we had to wait for the train to escape this place! Highly wouldn't recommend going here unless your child really likes to pet goats.. Or if you're a teenager like me. Although, there was a neat animal collage wall that was a very nice background for a picture
After Conserboring station, we went to see Flights of Wonder. It's still better than I remember it being! I mean, it's not outstanding or the best thing in the park... It's a bird show! But, it's actually quite funny. The wilderness tour guide being afraid of birds and all, it's a very amusing show. I'd recommend it if you're tired, passing time over, or are merely interested to see it. It's a great little show! After the show, the lady asked the audience to stay if they wanted to help.. There was a new bird that they're training to be apart of the show. Sadly, Tori and I had to meet back up with mom and dad at Rainforest Cafe for lunch.
Rainforest cafe was packed! We ate at around 2:30. The food was better than it usually is. Maybe it's the actual food I ordered. I ordered the Chicken Parmesan.. The spaghetti part wasn't all that great, but I did really like the chicken. They actually put TWO chicken parmesans on your plate, so I couldn't finish it all. I also shared with my dad's nachos. The nachos are listed as an appetizer, but they're the size of a decent meal.
After we ate, we just kinda walked around the park until it was time to ride DINOSAUR. It didn't take a lot to get Tori on this ride, because all I said about it was that it's a dark ride that goes back in time to take a dinosaur back to present time. She was like "oh, cool!" so we rode it, and she had a BLAST! Although she complained a little bit for not telling her it was a thrill ride. It was very amusing. All of the effects (that usually work) were working during the ride! It was great!
Basically, for the rest of the entire day at AK, there wasn't much to do. So we walked and sat and talked until it was time to ride Primeval Whirl with the use of our fastpasses. This was the first roller coaster I got Tori to ride.. It was a LOT of fun!
After that, we headed our way over to ride Kilimanjaro Safaris, which was only a 50 minute wait that late in the day as opposed to the 110 minute wait that morning. Tori was a little disappointed.. It was a cold day, so I'm guessing that's why there weren't that many animals out. Our tour guide was also really soft and kind of boring. Every time she talked, it was like listening to someone try to whisper, but not doing the "whisper" sound. Just kinda meh.
We tried to head over to see Festival of the Lion King's last show, but we missed it. So that's the only big thing we didn't do. The night, we had fastpasses for Mount Everest. But I literally could not get Tori on that ride at all, which didn't bother me. I've ridden it plenty of times. So we left the park at around 7:30, 30 minutes before park closing.. (By the way, it was too cold to ride Kali River Rapids.)
Animal Kingdom is alright. That is, if you're more of a scenic slow moving person that doesn't mind more of looking at atmosphere and animals rather than ride a boat load of rides. I left the park feeling "meh" like I usually do leaving there. But Tori loved it!
TIP: Animal Kingdom is packed during morning through lunch hours.. But in the evening, it's basically EMPTY. Expedition Everest only had a 20 minute wait at 7:00 PM that night. If you want to use this as a half day park, use it as an evening park.
The next day, Sunday, we went to Magic Kingdom! The wait for the trams were ridiculous so we walked to the TTC. We rode the monorail to the park.
The first thing we headed over to was Jungle Cruise. It was a walk on that morning. I'm sorry, I really don't care if this ride is a classic or not.. It is just really pathetic. None of the average guests that were around us were amused by the jokes. Now don't get me wrong, I actually enjoyed the jokes! But the first thing our tour guide person said was "Welcome to Jungle Cruise! I'll be your tour guide.. If you enjoy the ride feel free to ride again, although I highly wouldn't recommend it..--" Is this an actual line they can say? Or is that just the cast member.. And I know our cast member wasn't the only one with the soft, very un-energetic sarcastic voice. I could hear the other boats as the left with the same kind of tour guide except for ONE really energetic tour guide. Ours didn't happen to be that tour guide. Although, I did enjoy his monotone sarcastic humor at points. "This gun is really loud so kids, cover your ears... Bang." xD The ride was okay. I just think it's kind of.. Well.. Okay. The crowds were okay at 8:00 AM in the morning, but the park was completely PACKED from about 12:00 PM till 11:00 PM.
The second thing we did was Splash Mountain. Which was shocking after the fact that I couldn't get Tori to ride Mount Everest the other day. She told me that she felt guilty for not riding Everest and she thought I was disappointed. Which I wasn't, but at least that got her on the big rides today! Which she LOVED! Splash Mountain was in GREAT shape that morning, by the way! It was a little cool, and it was a 10 minute walk-on. But you don't get that wet on the ride anyways. Everything worked great and I was honestly kind of impressed. The only thing that was a bit annoying were the backed-up logs next to the small waterfall, the end of the ride, and right before the laughing place drop.
After Splash, I was going to take her to ride Pirates... But it was closed for the entire first half of the day. We checked back on it constantly. So instead, we headed over to the Enchanted Tiki Room. I'm going to be honest again here, it was very.. Very.. BOOOOOORIING. Not only for me, but Tori (Who is the PERFECT example of a first time park guest, just to get a better visual) defined the attraction exactly this was: "That was boring and weird.. But I liked the Tiki Room song!" I told her that it used to have Iago and Zazu take over the show and she said "Whaaat?! That sounds so cool! Why don't they still have that?" and I explained that it caught on fire and that the annoying Disney extremists wanted the original show back. She was not impressed! Truth be told, I liked Iago and Zazu's show better too.. At least it was a little entertaining. Also, the flowers and totem poles don't every move their mouths properly. And there animatronic clicking and hissing from the birds is over the top annoying to listen to.
After that, I took her to see the Country Bear Jamboree. It was in pretty good condition. Tori and I being from South Carolina, Tori perfectly defined the show as "South Carolina - The Musical."
The show is what it is. There's always a chuckle at Big Al, The three B's song, and "Momma don't whoop little Buford".. The only thing that annoyed me were the loud squeaks and clicks from the "three heads" on the side wall. They could fix that..
We then headed over to Tomorrowland. By now, the park is packed. But it was a BEAUTIFUL day! Perfect weather! We didn't have a miserable time at all that day.. We just enjoyed it for what it was! Stitch's Great Escape said it was a 25 minute wait... But I'm not sure why. You walk right up to the doors as usual. There was a malfunction during the pre-show portion.. The captain Robot thingy's left arm was having a really bad spaz attack. It looked like he was having a muscle spasm on his left arm the entire time.. It was quite disturbing! They had BOTH theaters in operation! It was the first time I've ever been into the theatre on the right side instead of the left. And believe it or not, the entire attraction was full. There was a LOT of screaming and laughing. And everyone actually seemed to enjoy the attraction.. So now I'm not alone on this attraction! It must just be the people of these forums that don't care for it. Tori said she thought it was hilarious, but only did not like the chili dog part.
We then went to Laugh Floor Comedy Club! Being a large show, I knew we would get in despite the long line. It ran quite well. I understand now what people on these forums were saying when they said Monsters University was put into the show.. But.. It really wasn't. There's a few cameos and a backdrop for Mike's nephew or son or whatever. But that's about it! The show is exactly the same as it always has been! It was funny, Tori enjoyed it.
We then waited 15 minutes to ride Peoplemover.. Yes.. You heard me right. 15 minutes. For peoplemover! The park was that crowded!!! It was relaxing.. I'm guessing Space Mountain was broken down at the time because the lights were on. Which was AWESOME!! Tori got to see Space Mountain with the lights on and didn't have to be afraid of the ride because she could see there were no steep drops. So that was a pleasant experience.
We headed over to watch Carousel of Progress.. Now I'm REALLY sorry for bashing the classics.. But watching this made me CRINGE!! I LOVE this show to death!! But it is so.. so.. SO embarrassing to watch! It is SO outdated.. The animatronics are CREEPY to watch. It needs a MASSIVE refurb! The show itself is fine.. But the background music is a LOT louder than the actual character voices, so you couldn't understand them when they talked. The pictures covering the revolving set pieces onstage must be faded or something, because you can see RIGHT THROUGH them.. Changing and everything. Tori defined it as "Creepy, but kind of interesting. Even though I couldn't hear what they were saying a lot of the time." It's really a good interesting show, and the theatre was packed to every seat! But what does it take from Disney to get this up to show quality?
We then walked over to Tomorrowland Terrace for lunch! It was pleasant.. and easy to find a seat. It's basically the outdoor version of Sonny Eclipse, but with less people.
TIP: If it's open during your trip and you just want a counter-service restaurant, I would highly recommend Tomorrowland Terrace. It's a nice view of the castle, and I also highly recommend the chicken alfredo.
We then used our fastpasses for Space Mountain. The fastpass line was honestly pretty long at the loading station. The standby line went to the left side while the fastpass went to the right side. So that was convenient for us. I also rode in the very front which was pretty exciting! Tori screamed with excitement the whole time! :3
Next, we headed over to the Little Mermaid ride, but I forgot it was closed for the refurbishment. Which really disappointed me because I love that ride and wanted Tori to ride it! So we went to Mickey's Philharmagic! I now understand why they have that extra queue line in the lobby part of the building.. It was actually quite full! She LOVED it! Everything was working great and THANK THE LORD THE AUDIO WAS QUITE LOUD AND DECENT FOR A CHANGE!!!
Next, we waited an hour and a half for The Haunted Mansion. We didn't mind the wait. It was a very nice day! I thought the layout for extending the Haunted Mansion queue line was pretty neat, on that dock next to the Riverboat! The ride was great, as usual.
The more I see guests literally try to destroy the interactive elements, the more I wonder why Disney puts them in! Teenagers were BEATING the books that pop in and out in the HM queue line.. Little kids were basically trying to DESTROY everything in the Winnie the Pooh line! Literally they beat on everything VERY HARD! I am personally against the interactive queue lines. I can't imagine what will happen to the projector in Peter Pan's line eventually!
Back on topic.. We headed over to the Hall of Presidents. It was kind of shocking to see that large theatre half full, honestly! The show is in GREAT shape! It's very impressive! Even Tori was impressed! That's all can be said about it. It's in great shape, and it's a great escape from the crowds.
We later used our fastpasses for Thunder Mountain, which was shockingly long at 110 Minutes... Splash Mountain was 50 minutes by that time. The ride was great, though I wish the "cave in" effects were working, I always liked that hill climb. I love this coaster! It was great!
We then caught up with my parents at the Main Street train station. Mary Poppins and a Penguin were walking around on their own up there so I got myself a selfie with them!
We then rode the train back to Frontierland. Walked over to Fantasyland and waited 35 minutes for Winnie the Pooh. It is what it is. It's a decent ride. Then we waited 25 minutes for It's a Small World. Simply because you can't take a first-timer to MK without going on it! Tori said "never.....Again.."
Then we use our fastpasses for Peter Pan's Flight! I REAAALLYY wanted to see the new queue line! But I ALSO didn't want to way "120 minutes" just look at it! It was RIDICULOUS! We rode it, it's exactly what I remembered. Just kind of okay, outdated and very short. Tori loved the ride! But when I asked her if she would wait more than 60 minutes for it, she replied by saying "I wouldn't want to wait 15 minutes for it! It's too short."
We obviously didn't ride the mine train coaster.. It was the longest queue line wait time for anything in the park. 160 minutes was the highest I saw it go to.
That night, we went to ride Buzz Light Year Spaceranger Spin! The line went to the outside, but it moved relatively fast. It was fun! I do think they should upgrade the big screen's picture.. That's been overly blurry ever since I was a little kid.
TIP: Don't get discouraged by the wait time posted for Buzz Lightyear. It moves fast.)
We made our way over to Pirates of the Caribbean one last time to see if it was open.. IT WAS!! The catch? It was a 60 minute wait time posted! Actually, it was a 75 minute wait. It felt like forever, but we had basically done everything else in the park. I remember I made a comment about either having the old AA style for this ride, or the new AA style. I think I would prefer the new AA style. I know I know it's a classic blah blah blah.. But the new Jack Sparrow AA and the AA for the pirate on that ship was quite impressive while all of the other AAs are just kinda.. Meh.. Definitely not believable.. Mouths barely move a lot of the time.. It just feels kind of awkward and outdated. Otherwise, the ride seemed to work pretty nicely.
We ate supper at Sonny Eclipse.. Ate a BBQ sammich. It was pretty good!
Finally, that night, we saw the projection show on the castle and then the fireworks! We had great seats right up and in front of the castle. I say "seats" because everyone in the front was sitting down on the concrete. Which was so nice for us!
Instead of immediately leaving after the fireworks like most people do, (the park doesn't close until 1:00 AM, the fireworks were at 10:00 PM..) we decided to pass some crowd time on Carousel of Progress just to escape the crowds and not have to fight as many on the way out. We left the park during the middle of the second projection show. The monorail had an enormous line, but the ferry boat was a walk on, so we rode the boat back last night!
Overall, it was a GREAT trip! Crowds are definitely not a problem if you know what you're doing!
Dad and I were driving home from work on Friday at about 3:00. Dad told me not to make any plans for Saturday because a school booked us in on Saturday because we had no other available dates left open (We produce shows for schools.) I was like "ok, cool." because I would get paid and stuff. I believed him too! The sound system was packed in the back and everything! We would have had to drive through Columbia to go back home so I ask dad why we don't just stay a night in Columbia and Dad says mom wanted to come with us and we would see a show in Georgia late that night. SO! We drive all the way back home, pick mom up, and then we drive all the way back down. I fell asleep, and when my parents woke me up, we were past Columbia in Hampton County! What's so great about Hampton? Absolutely NOTHING! Except for the fact that that's where my girlfriend lives! We pulled in at a gas station and my GF Tori, her mom and brother were all sitting there and I was like "Wait... Tori's here? What's going on?" My mom was recording as well. She told us that we're not going to work.. "YOU TWO ARE GOING TO DISNEY WORLD!!"
I felt like I was in those "WDW surprise videos" which I technically was. So we drove to Jacksonville that night after Tori put her stuff in the van!(She thought she was going to her grandmother's)
So the first day in WDW was Valentines Day. We went to Animal Kingdom, got there at about around 9:00 A.M. Mom and Dad waited for about 45 minutes to get our tickets while Tori and I explored in the Rainforest Cafe and booked dining reservations there for later.
Tip: If you're getting your tickets at Animal Kingdom with kids, let one adult stay in line and the other take the kids into the Rainforest Cafe shop/outdoor area. Tori and I spent good amount of time goofing around in there!
Eventually, we got our tickets and headed into the parks. Luckily I knew how to work FP+ so we had 3 fastpasses for the day. (Festival of the Lion King and Kilimanjaro Safaris were completely out of fastpasses, if anyone was interested to see if any attraction didn't have any left available.)
The first thing we did was just kind of do our own thing... And after actually coming back to this park years later, I still stand by my thoughts of saying this is a giant zoo with about 6 or 8 attractions. The sad part was that none of the animals were outside. There were just a bunch of empty exhibits. (It was a little cold.) But we walked around some of the tiny trails and caves at the beginning of the park's entrance. The park was pretty PACKED. The first attraction we went to was It's Tough to Be a Bug.
One thing I should mention: Tori HATED big rides and coasters. So she thought this was going to be a roller coaster and I picked on her saying that it was a drop zone. I dragged her through the line and when we got to the theatre, I got a pretty hard sucker punch
I should feel bad, but we do that to each other all the time. It's Tough to be a Bug was a lot of fun. Although, Tori ducked down when the spiders came out so she didn't get stung. I personally thought it was a little hard to hear the film. It's like the audio was set very softly, which really annoyed me because of course everyone was screaming and laughing throughout the whole thing. It was hard to hear what was going on. Also another small thing that bugged me (heheh) was Flik's AA mouth not moving that much. But for a first timer like Tori, she doesn't notice these things and really enjoyed it!
The next thing we did was Finding Nemo: The Musical. Being a theatre guy, I obviously have to see it! Especially considering the fact that people from Avenue Q actually worked with Disney on this show! It really is just a remarkable as I remembered it being! And it was a full house. There were a lot of fastpass people there, but I would have found that completely pointless. It's a giant auditorium, and Tori and I got perfect seats in the middle.
Tip: Don't book Fastpasses for shows and fireworks... Except maybe Festival of the Lion King.
After that, we went to Conservation Station. The train ride was pretty pointless. Except for actually taking us there. Actually.. Conservation Station as a whole was completely pointless. Unless you're a little kid! Chip & Dale were there doing a fun little dance show with the little kids. The little kids could go brush the goats with brushes.. and there's basically a museum. Other than that, WHAT.. IS.. THE.. POINT!? It's not the actual area that bugs me. It's great for little kids! It's the fact that you have to ride a train to get to this! You cannot walk. There's no other option. So we had to wait for the train to escape this place! Highly wouldn't recommend going here unless your child really likes to pet goats.. Or if you're a teenager like me. Although, there was a neat animal collage wall that was a very nice background for a picture
After Conserboring station, we went to see Flights of Wonder. It's still better than I remember it being! I mean, it's not outstanding or the best thing in the park... It's a bird show! But, it's actually quite funny. The wilderness tour guide being afraid of birds and all, it's a very amusing show. I'd recommend it if you're tired, passing time over, or are merely interested to see it. It's a great little show!
After the show, the lady asked the audience to stay if they wanted to help.. There was a new bird that they're training to be apart of the show. Sadly, Tori and I had to meet back up with mom and dad at Rainforest Cafe for lunch.Rainforest cafe was packed! We ate at around 2:30. The food was better than it usually is. Maybe it's the actual food I ordered. I ordered the Chicken Parmesan.. The spaghetti part wasn't all that great, but I did really like the chicken. They actually put TWO chicken parmesans on your plate, so I couldn't finish it all. I also shared with my dad's nachos. The nachos are listed as an appetizer, but they're the size of a decent meal.
After we ate, we just kinda walked around the park until it was time to ride DINOSAUR. It didn't take a lot to get Tori on this ride, because all I said about it was that it's a dark ride that goes back in time to take a dinosaur back to present time. She was like "oh, cool!" so we rode it, and she had a BLAST! Although she complained a little bit for not telling her it was a thrill ride. It was very amusing. All of the effects (that usually work) were working during the ride! It was great!
Basically, for the rest of the entire day at AK, there wasn't much to do. So we walked and sat and talked until it was time to ride Primeval Whirl with the use of our fastpasses. This was the first roller coaster I got Tori to ride.. It was a LOT of fun!
After that, we headed our way over to ride Kilimanjaro Safaris, which was only a 50 minute wait that late in the day as opposed to the 110 minute wait that morning. Tori was a little disappointed.. It was a cold day, so I'm guessing that's why there weren't that many animals out. Our tour guide was also really soft and kind of boring. Every time she talked, it was like listening to someone try to whisper, but not doing the "whisper" sound. Just kinda meh.
We tried to head over to see Festival of the Lion King's last show, but we missed it. So that's the only big thing we didn't do. The night, we had fastpasses for Mount Everest. But I literally could not get Tori on that ride at all, which didn't bother me. I've ridden it plenty of times. So we left the park at around 7:30, 30 minutes before park closing.. (By the way, it was too cold to ride Kali River Rapids.)
Animal Kingdom is alright. That is, if you're more of a scenic slow moving person that doesn't mind more of looking at atmosphere and animals rather than ride a boat load of rides. I left the park feeling "meh" like I usually do leaving there. But Tori loved it!
TIP: Animal Kingdom is packed during morning through lunch hours.. But in the evening, it's basically EMPTY. Expedition Everest only had a 20 minute wait at 7:00 PM that night. If you want to use this as a half day park, use it as an evening park.
The next day, Sunday, we went to Magic Kingdom! The wait for the trams were ridiculous so we walked to the TTC. We rode the monorail to the park.
The first thing we headed over to was Jungle Cruise. It was a walk on that morning. I'm sorry, I really don't care if this ride is a classic or not.. It is just really pathetic. None of the average guests that were around us were amused by the jokes. Now don't get me wrong, I actually enjoyed the jokes! But the first thing our tour guide person said was "Welcome to Jungle Cruise! I'll be your tour guide.. If you enjoy the ride feel free to ride again, although I highly wouldn't recommend it..--" Is this an actual line they can say? Or is that just the cast member.. And I know our cast member wasn't the only one with the soft, very un-energetic sarcastic voice. I could hear the other boats as the left with the same kind of tour guide except for ONE really energetic tour guide. Ours didn't happen to be that tour guide. Although, I did enjoy his monotone sarcastic humor at points. "This gun is really loud so kids, cover your ears... Bang." xD The ride was okay. I just think it's kind of.. Well.. Okay. The crowds were okay at 8:00 AM in the morning, but the park was completely PACKED from about 12:00 PM till 11:00 PM.
The second thing we did was Splash Mountain. Which was shocking after the fact that I couldn't get Tori to ride Mount Everest the other day. She told me that she felt guilty for not riding Everest and she thought I was disappointed. Which I wasn't, but at least that got her on the big rides today! Which she LOVED! Splash Mountain was in GREAT shape that morning, by the way! It was a little cool, and it was a 10 minute walk-on. But you don't get that wet on the ride anyways. Everything worked great and I was honestly kind of impressed. The only thing that was a bit annoying were the backed-up logs next to the small waterfall, the end of the ride, and right before the laughing place drop.
After Splash, I was going to take her to ride Pirates... But it was closed for the entire first half of the day. We checked back on it constantly. So instead, we headed over to the Enchanted Tiki Room. I'm going to be honest again here, it was very.. Very.. BOOOOOORIING. Not only for me, but Tori (Who is the PERFECT example of a first time park guest, just to get a better visual) defined the attraction exactly this was: "That was boring and weird.. But I liked the Tiki Room song!" I told her that it used to have Iago and Zazu take over the show and she said "Whaaat?! That sounds so cool! Why don't they still have that?" and I explained that it caught on fire and that the annoying Disney extremists wanted the original show back. She was not impressed! Truth be told, I liked Iago and Zazu's show better too.. At least it was a little entertaining. Also, the flowers and totem poles don't every move their mouths properly. And there animatronic clicking and hissing from the birds is over the top annoying to listen to.
After that, I took her to see the Country Bear Jamboree. It was in pretty good condition. Tori and I being from South Carolina, Tori perfectly defined the show as "South Carolina - The Musical."
The show is what it is. There's always a chuckle at Big Al, The three B's song, and "Momma don't whoop little Buford".. The only thing that annoyed me were the loud squeaks and clicks from the "three heads" on the side wall. They could fix that..We then headed over to Tomorrowland. By now, the park is packed. But it was a BEAUTIFUL day! Perfect weather! We didn't have a miserable time at all that day.. We just enjoyed it for what it was! Stitch's Great Escape said it was a 25 minute wait... But I'm not sure why. You walk right up to the doors as usual. There was a malfunction during the pre-show portion.. The captain Robot thingy's left arm was having a really bad spaz attack. It looked like he was having a muscle spasm on his left arm the entire time.. It was quite disturbing! They had BOTH theaters in operation! It was the first time I've ever been into the theatre on the right side instead of the left. And believe it or not, the entire attraction was full. There was a LOT of screaming and laughing. And everyone actually seemed to enjoy the attraction.. So now I'm not alone on this attraction! It must just be the people of these forums that don't care for it. Tori said she thought it was hilarious, but only did not like the chili dog part.
We then went to Laugh Floor Comedy Club! Being a large show, I knew we would get in despite the long line. It ran quite well. I understand now what people on these forums were saying when they said Monsters University was put into the show.. But.. It really wasn't. There's a few cameos and a backdrop for Mike's nephew or son or whatever. But that's about it! The show is exactly the same as it always has been! It was funny, Tori enjoyed it.
We then waited 15 minutes to ride Peoplemover.. Yes.. You heard me right. 15 minutes. For peoplemover! The park was that crowded!!! It was relaxing.. I'm guessing Space Mountain was broken down at the time because the lights were on. Which was AWESOME!! Tori got to see Space Mountain with the lights on and didn't have to be afraid of the ride because she could see there were no steep drops. So that was a pleasant experience.
We headed over to watch Carousel of Progress.. Now I'm REALLY sorry for bashing the classics.. But watching this made me CRINGE!! I LOVE this show to death!! But it is so.. so.. SO embarrassing to watch! It is SO outdated.. The animatronics are CREEPY to watch. It needs a MASSIVE refurb! The show itself is fine.. But the background music is a LOT louder than the actual character voices, so you couldn't understand them when they talked. The pictures covering the revolving set pieces onstage must be faded or something, because you can see RIGHT THROUGH them.. Changing and everything. Tori defined it as "Creepy, but kind of interesting. Even though I couldn't hear what they were saying a lot of the time." It's really a good interesting show, and the theatre was packed to every seat! But what does it take from Disney to get this up to show quality?
We then walked over to Tomorrowland Terrace for lunch! It was pleasant.. and easy to find a seat. It's basically the outdoor version of Sonny Eclipse, but with less people.
TIP: If it's open during your trip and you just want a counter-service restaurant, I would highly recommend Tomorrowland Terrace. It's a nice view of the castle, and I also highly recommend the chicken alfredo.
We then used our fastpasses for Space Mountain. The fastpass line was honestly pretty long at the loading station. The standby line went to the left side while the fastpass went to the right side. So that was convenient for us. I also rode in the very front which was pretty exciting! Tori screamed with excitement the whole time! :3
Next, we headed over to the Little Mermaid ride, but I forgot it was closed for the refurbishment. Which really disappointed me because I love that ride and wanted Tori to ride it! So we went to Mickey's Philharmagic! I now understand why they have that extra queue line in the lobby part of the building.. It was actually quite full! She LOVED it! Everything was working great and THANK THE LORD THE AUDIO WAS QUITE LOUD AND DECENT FOR A CHANGE!!!
Next, we waited an hour and a half for The Haunted Mansion. We didn't mind the wait. It was a very nice day! I thought the layout for extending the Haunted Mansion queue line was pretty neat, on that dock next to the Riverboat! The ride was great, as usual.
The more I see guests literally try to destroy the interactive elements, the more I wonder why Disney puts them in! Teenagers were BEATING the books that pop in and out in the HM queue line.. Little kids were basically trying to DESTROY everything in the Winnie the Pooh line! Literally they beat on everything VERY HARD! I am personally against the interactive queue lines. I can't imagine what will happen to the projector in Peter Pan's line eventually!
Back on topic.. We headed over to the Hall of Presidents. It was kind of shocking to see that large theatre half full, honestly! The show is in GREAT shape! It's very impressive! Even Tori was impressed! That's all can be said about it. It's in great shape, and it's a great escape from the crowds.
We later used our fastpasses for Thunder Mountain, which was shockingly long at 110 Minutes... Splash Mountain was 50 minutes by that time. The ride was great, though I wish the "cave in" effects were working, I always liked that hill climb. I love this coaster! It was great!
We then caught up with my parents at the Main Street train station. Mary Poppins and a Penguin were walking around on their own up there so I got myself a selfie with them!
We then rode the train back to Frontierland. Walked over to Fantasyland and waited 35 minutes for Winnie the Pooh. It is what it is. It's a decent ride. Then we waited 25 minutes for It's a Small World. Simply because you can't take a first-timer to MK without going on it! Tori said "never.....Again.."
Then we use our fastpasses for Peter Pan's Flight! I REAAALLYY wanted to see the new queue line! But I ALSO didn't want to way "120 minutes" just look at it! It was RIDICULOUS! We rode it, it's exactly what I remembered. Just kind of okay, outdated and very short. Tori loved the ride! But when I asked her if she would wait more than 60 minutes for it, she replied by saying "I wouldn't want to wait 15 minutes for it! It's too short."
We obviously didn't ride the mine train coaster.. It was the longest queue line wait time for anything in the park. 160 minutes was the highest I saw it go to.
That night, we went to ride Buzz Light Year Spaceranger Spin! The line went to the outside, but it moved relatively fast. It was fun! I do think they should upgrade the big screen's picture.. That's been overly blurry ever since I was a little kid.
TIP: Don't get discouraged by the wait time posted for Buzz Lightyear. It moves fast.)
We made our way over to Pirates of the Caribbean one last time to see if it was open.. IT WAS!! The catch? It was a 60 minute wait time posted! Actually, it was a 75 minute wait. It felt like forever, but we had basically done everything else in the park. I remember I made a comment about either having the old AA style for this ride, or the new AA style. I think I would prefer the new AA style. I know I know it's a classic blah blah blah.. But the new Jack Sparrow AA and the AA for the pirate on that ship was quite impressive while all of the other AAs are just kinda.. Meh.. Definitely not believable.. Mouths barely move a lot of the time.. It just feels kind of awkward and outdated. Otherwise, the ride seemed to work pretty nicely.
We ate supper at Sonny Eclipse.. Ate a BBQ sammich. It was pretty good!
Finally, that night, we saw the projection show on the castle and then the fireworks! We had great seats right up and in front of the castle. I say "seats" because everyone in the front was sitting down on the concrete. Which was so nice for us!
Instead of immediately leaving after the fireworks like most people do, (the park doesn't close until 1:00 AM, the fireworks were at 10:00 PM..) we decided to pass some crowd time on Carousel of Progress just to escape the crowds and not have to fight as many on the way out. We left the park during the middle of the second projection show. The monorail had an enormous line, but the ferry boat was a walk on, so we rode the boat back last night!
Overall, it was a GREAT trip! Crowds are definitely not a problem if you know what you're doing!
