Rise and shine!!!! We had to be up EARLY to get to our breakfast at Crystal Palace with Winnie the Pooh and Friends! When I say early, I mean EaRlY!!!!! Considering it was our first morning, we were still on Utah time, so that put us getting up about 430 am Utah time, 630 Florida time. I got myself dressed in the dark, thankful again for the ziploc bags that held all our clothing. Then I got the kids up. They weren't too keen on the idea at first, but once they were up, they were ready to go!
I grabbed the backpack and off we went. It was SO neat walking into the Magic Kingdom and having it almost completely empty. Hardly anyone on MainStreet. We took some pictures in front of the castle, and then went in search of Crystal Palace. I had heard so many wonderful things about this from my new friends on Passporters, A.K.A. the most helpful Disney website in the world, so I was really excited!!
We waited out front a bit and then I went to check in. It was about 30 minutes til our reservation time, but as soon as I checked in, our name was called. Our host Reggie was really nice, and was very helpful later when we needed a bit of assistance. We sat down and waited for Pooh, Tigger, Eyore, and Piglet to come visit us. In between visits we helped ourselves to a yummy breakfast. They have the most scrumptious Puffed French Toast, and the cutest mini waffles shaped like Mickey Mouse's head! Too much fun!!
Yummy food aside, it would take a LOT of convincing to get me to go there again. The character interaction was certainly lacking. Each character was at our table less than 30 seconds. They would hurry and sign the kids books, snap one picture per table and be on their way. For the cost, I certainly expected better. In fact, even without the cost I would STILL expect better.
We finished well before rope drop so we headed up through the castle to the rope at Fantasy Land. The kids were getting anxious, and that 15 minutes was SO hard on them!! We were using a Touring Plan as a guide, so we knew what we were doing first. Dumbo of course!! When the rope dropped, we did Dumbo. We refilled our water and used the single serve KoolAid packs we had brought from home.
The park was practically empty!
We did Peter Pan next, and while it was whimsical, I don't see why people will wait in such a long line for it.
Kyson really enjoyed it though. We grabbed fast passes for that and headed to
Phillar Magic. That show was really cute, and I am glad that Sage was able to see a 3-D that didn't have snakes and lions trying to eat you, or spiders climbing up your legs.
We then went to get in line for the Carousel, the guy working it let everyone off, and I noticed a little boy, MAYBE 2 years old still strapped on a horse. I got the guys attention and pointed out that a little boy was stuck on the horse. He thought I meant the child was mine, and once I assured him he wasn't mine, no one had come to get him and claim him, the guy working didn't know what to do, so the little boy rode again. Hmmm.... call security maybe?
We also did Winnie the Pooh and then headed for the TeaCups. Kyson didn't want to ride and neither did I, so we opted to sit this one out. I guess kids as young as my girls can't ride alone, so I had to ride, and so did Kyson. Once I was trapped on it, Kyson decided it would be SO much fun to spin us as fast as he could. Oh Joyous!! They thought it was hilarious, so I guess my needing to puke was worth it!!!!
We headed back toward Peter Pan and did Small World. I suppose everyone has to do that one at least once. I vaguely remember it from when I was little. I wasn't loving it, but Sage really enjoyed it. Right from the beginning we had a rule that if one person wanted to do something, we all did it, with the exceptions of water rides, as I know Sage HATES getting wet. (the reason we skipped the river ride at Animal Kingdom) That said, by the time our vacation was over, we had done Small World a few more times!!
We did The Haunted Mansion and all the kids were a bit nervous, but wanted to proceed. 4 can't ride together, so Kyson and Aspen were on their own. I knew once we started they would be fine, and I was correct. It turned out to be another favorite!
We grabbed Fast Passes for Big Thunder Mountain Railroad and had about 30 minutes til they were active, so we took the raft to Tom Sawyers Island. I had banged my knee earlier, so I didn't climb everything with the kids, but they ran around while I hang at the slide and I just watched them enjoy it. They all loved it, and while I would normally have never even gone over there, I'm glad our plans had it included. The kids LOVED it and it gave me a minute to regroup and also call Eleanore and check on our dear friend Hannah.
It was time for our FastPasses for BTMRR o off we went. We had to wait about 6 minutes, and that was by far, the longest wit of the day so far. NOT that I'm complaining, I was worried about the record crowds we had heard about the week before, I never imagined 6 minutes would be the longest wait of the day!
When we finished Big Thunder Mountain I was trying to get fastpasses so we could ride it again. Sage was being a bit of a stinker and tried to get the cards out of my hand so she could do it instead. A cast member, Lee, saw this and pulled her aside and talked very nicely to her. He called her "Pooh" in reference to her shirt. When he was done with her, he gave us more fastpasses for BTMRR. Lee would turn out to be on of my kids favorite things about Disney World. It seemed he was always there, showing up at just the right time.
After this we hit the Country Bear Jamboree. I made sure to do this because it is my Mom's favorite attraction and she was disappointed when it was closed at Disneyland when we went in October. I will say now that NEVER again will we do that one. Sage fell asleep, Aspen and Kyson were bored stiff. The jokes went over my head, in fact, they went over everyone under 50's head. Only the Grandparents in the crowd were laughing. I think this is one attraction that they should modernize.
By now it was lunch time, but because we had a large breakfast, we didn't need lunch, so we wandered into AdventureLand and got a DoleWhip on our way out of the park. YUMMY!!!! All I had heard was true!
We went back to the hotel and swam for about an hour. I don't have any pictures because I was in the pool with them. The pool is neat and has a serpent slide. After swimming we napped for about 3 hours.
Back at the park we met Chip and Dale. They were so much fun and beyond thrilled that we knew who was who! They played with the kids so much, and grabbed their autograph books and ran and showed them to everyone in line. It was awesome!!!
We ate Hotdogs at Caseys (I think that's the name) for dinner and then we hit Aladdin's Magic Carpets (which surprisingly is what Sage says is her favorite ride) Pirates of the Caribean, and the Jungle Cruise. On the Jungle Cruise the driver was teasing Kyson til she noticed a teen girl on her cell phone and wouldn't get off it. SO, she grabbed the girls cellphone and called whoever she was talking to back, it was quite funny!
We were leaving Jungle Cruise and went through a breezeway. Who should we run into but Lee? He was roping off the parade route. We walked by, not recognizing him, but he spoke to us and gave us front row parade seating! Woohooo!!!! He chatted with us and another family for about 20 minutes. Kyson noticed the pin Lanyard he wore and asked me where people got them. Lee asked Kyson which one he like best and Kyson showed him. He casually took it off and dropped it in Kyson's lap and then when kyson tried to thank him, he pretended like he has NO idea what Kyson was referring to!!!
The family we sat with was there celebrating their daughters birthday. We had time to kill before the parade, so, of course I had to make a scene. I took the little girl out into the center of the street and yelled to every "Hey everybody its _________ birthday today!!! (everyone claps) Can you all join me in singing ____ Happy birthday? So, everyone did. The little girl thought that was totally cool, and then it was time for Spectro Magic to start!
The Parade was neat and when that was finished the kids were still wide awake. It being 2 hours later there, combined with the nap, we were still good to go. So we went and re-rode everything we had collected fast passes for throughout the morning. (except BTMRR, it was broken)
We also did Toon Town that night. We rode Goofy's barnstormer and met the Princesses. We noticed going in that the lobby was full of boys and men, waiting for the Princesses in their lives to finish meeting the Disney Princesses I am sure. Apparently its rare for the boys to be willing to get pictures and autographs with the Princesses because all three of them commented how neat it was that Kyson wasn't refusing to meet them and get pictures.
Last we met Mickey and Minnie Mouse! Besides this line (which was probably 20 minutes) the longest line of the day was still BTMRR at about 6 minutes, NOT BAD AT ALL! It was after 1 am, but what a perfect way to end the day!
