Back ... to the other side of the park. A March 2020 TR (updated with Final Thoughts x2 - 2/14/2021)

[amyjoq]

Hi ... it’s been awhile ... I believe at the beginning of the report my goal was to actually finish the report. While it may have looked like I abandoned yet another report ... I’m back!
Where have I been? Teaching. We have been fortunate enough to have been in person all of first semester. When COVID numbers grew in our district we put in place a mask mandate. This is my 7th year teaching and I’ve never been so mentally tired. We are currently on winter break and I’m recharging - reading - spending time with family and friends responsibly - listening to podcasts - all the relaxing things. Thought I’d jump back in for our final day.

Final Day - Magic Kingdom

I have found that I enjoy ending our trips at MK. Since our trips are few and far between, it’s like the grand finale.

We had a loose plan - I was getting better at the ‘loose’ part every day - and since our early morning plan working out so well at AK, we’d thought we’d try it again with SDMT ... only because we had an ADR at Be Our Guest before the park officially opened but that’s neither here nor there.
Once again I woke my family for the relaxing rush out the door to the bus stop just outside our room - we stopped at the car to grab a few drinks out of the cooler. Not as long of a wait this morning - didn’t have to squeeze the ole butt cheeks to make our ADR on time today - must be the last day MK magic.


This was on our bus - thought it was super cute.



We walked into a fairly quite park - walking down Main Street (tearing up as I saw the castle - fam teasing me - same story different trip. I wasn’t able to take my usual favorite photos of the castle as there was zero water in the more and huge cranes in its place.

But I did snap this beaut


(Sorry for the sideways glance ... I refuse to edit these to landscape as I haven’t printed them yet - yes, I still print ... and scrapbook - our vacation photos - don’t ask what day I’m on for that project ... }

We rounded around castle and made our way to Be Our Guest. This is another first for us and as Beauty and the Beast fans .. we were all pretty excited.

In line with the rest of the common folk:


Waiting inside was not bad - especially with all the details to admire.


This guy wasn’t quite awake yet ...


Found a Hidden Mickey:


Ordering went pretty smooth for us first timers - CMs were very patient and kind with everyone.
Haley and I shared a breakfast plate since our meal came with pastries - we ordered 2 Feast a la Gaston which was scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage, roasted potatoes and fresh fruit. Very tasty - not grand but did the trick.
Presentation is everything darling.


We sat in the main ballroom. I must not have been on my photo game this morning - didn’t take food pics, didn’t take proper pics of the Castle - didn’t get the full ballroom ‘it’s snowing’ pics ... I’m ashamed. Only one thing to do ... WE MIST GO BACK!
Funny story about the snow - an older couple was sitting next to us, wrapping up their meal, and the lady - whose back was to the windows - finally turned around and saw the snow. As they were waking by she commented on it in awe and he deadpan said ‘It’s been doing that the whole time.’

My one and only ballroom picture:


Here is where our new found brilliance came into play ... as we were wrapping up I noticed we still had less than 20 minutes till the park opened. We made a bee line for SDMT which I was not able to secure a FP for ... at all that day ... and we WALKED ON. Disney Pixie Dust for the win again!
Empty Fantasyland walking on ... very crowded Fantasyland walking off the ride. That concludes my streak of perfect timing.



Next up ... more Firsts in Fantasyland.

 

[amyjoq]

HAPPY NEW YEAR!
Here’s wishing lots of magic this year!

Final Day - Part 2 - Magic Kingdom

After SDMT we walked out into a very crowded Fantasyland. We had two FP that morning - Peter Pan and Big Thunder Mountain. It was barely 9am so we took our time hitting rides we’ve never ... even when Haley was 5 ... take a ride on. Another day of firsts.

First up - The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh. Wait time was a walk on - even with the crowds - pretty darn cute - not everything I pictured as my class reads Kingdom Keepers but I took some key pics for this years group.





We strolled up to Under the Sea with The Little Mermaid. After following the empty path (no idea where the crowds went) into an equally empty stroller parking area, we made a u-turn and took the correct path up to the ride.

This is another first for us - we still had plenty of time to make our Peter Pan FP so we headed in with another walk on.





After using our FP for Peter Pan we made our way over to Gastons because it’s Gaston... duh.



Haley did some more shopping - this time taking note of items she might buy later - first time for everything.

We headed out - making our way to another first - Big Thunder Mountain - on our way we passed these two but unlike Edna Mode on Monday, Haley wasn’t into character meets today.



We had till 11 to use our BTM FP and Haley wanted to experience one attraction we hadn’t done since she was 5 ... Mickey’s PhilharMagic. The doors were open for the next show so we slid into a relatively center seat. We all enjoyed the AC and graphics - we found a hidden Mickey as well.



We had to pass by the greatest themed restroom area in all the land ... pictures were as necessary as using the facilities themselves.





We left the crowds of Fantasyland and walked towards Liberty Square. For being around 10:30, we had gotten quite a bit done. One attractionI was not able to secure a FP for saddened me - I really enjoyed Haunted Mansion during our last trip, it has a key scene in Kingdom Keepers and we pause to experience the stretching room through YouTube each year. My hopes were high till I saw the CMs and the ropes.

Being from Missouri - once again I had to be shown Haunted Mansion was closed - I wouldn’t just listen to the CM’s kindly pointing me away from HM. Taking a pic made me look a bit less looney... just a bit.



The bears were out greeting people as we strolled past Country Bear Jamboree - we were on a mission now - to get to BTM.

Up next: A roller coaster we’ve never experienced.

 

[amyjoq]

Final Day - Part 4 - Magic Kingdom

As we left Fantasyland we entered regular crowd levels it seemed but still decent ride lines. We were headed to BTM for the very first time. I should have named this report ‘The trip of roller coasters’.

We walked through Liberty Square after the sad sad news that HM was down. We had never walked around the river way to get over to BTM - we never needed to before as Haley never wanted to ride before. Usually we would walk through the short cuts. We thought about riding the riverboat over but kept on walking, enjoying the atmosphere.



The County Bear Jamboree bears were out wondering amongst the common folk. I was disappointed they had discontinued the Muppets show in MK - it had been on my must see list for awhile.

We had a FP for BTM and this time I did not ride alone! Not with Haley or Jason but not alone! That was exciting. We liked the ride - will definitely ride again - as I had all the feels thinking of the characters experience on the ride in Kingdom Keepers... so released the T-Rex stayed in his place.



The ride Haley still did not want to ride ... I don’t blame her, it would have been cold after getting wet.



We had some time before we needed to leave for our lunch ADR so we headed back across the park to Tomorrowland to take a slow easy ride on the PeopleMover.




Happiness all in one shot here - LOL.

Our lunch ADR was for Whispering Canyon Cafe over at Fort Wilderness Lodge. We were taking a boat as transportation and I’m glad we gave ourselves plenty of time ... we had to wait quite awhile.







This was the most fun meal we’ve had to date. We were pretty boring for the CMs serving, I’m sure - when we whitnessed an entire family bring ketchup after ketchup bottle to another table, Jason pointed his finger at Haley and said ‘Don’t even think of asking for ketchup!’

spoiler alert ... spoiler alert ... skip this next section if you’d rather be surprised...

It was quite entertaining to witness various size water glasses being deleted as well as a table cloth size bib for the Dad of another table.
It was hard for me to order with a new dairy allergy (it would be easier now that I know more limits) but the food was really good.

Haley and I both had the All You Care To Enjoy Signature Skillet we should have shared and Jason had the Chopped Bison Burger. We had a pioneer Chocolate Cake for desert which was so rich I couldn’t finish.


After our meal we made our way back to MK for an exciting evening with truly magical seats for fireworks. Stay tuned ...

 

[amyjoq]

Final Day - Part 5 - Magic Kingdom

We had left off just having a late lunch at Whispering Canyon Cafe at Wilderness Lodge.

We had taken a boat as our mode of transportation to WL so we thought that was the best choice for the return trip.

Our wait was minimal and y’all ... we crossed over a highway while on water! Not sure how I missed this on the trip to WL or the small fact that we drove under this water bridge back on day two in our taxi.



Having ridden SDMT that morning, we swapped out our afternoon FP for Pirates of the Caribbean. We headed that way first.



As you can see, the crowds were a bit thicker this afternoon. We enjoyed the ride, sat in front row and being our 2nd time ever riding this ride, I was a bit more relaxed this time, not waiting to get wet, and could take in all the scenes. In 2015 I was the only one to walk away wet... as with tradition, I was the only one to walk away wet.

We sat through an entertaining performance at the Tiki Tiki Room then headed over towards SDMT. My nephew had declared that the ice cream across from SDMT entrance is the best - even better than his favorite at Silver Dollar City in Branson, MO.

He was right about Flights of Passage the day before so we headed that way. Jason and Haley declared the ice cream really good. I was still in experimenting stage of my mild dairy allergy and only took a few bites of theirs.

We were making our way to the other side of the park for the last time this trip. We had some first to experience over in Tomorrowland.

We snagged a FP for Buzz Lightyear, not only was it a first for us, Haley wanted to ride alone. She did pretty good - especially after facing us during one turn her dad had to show her how to rotate her car. LOL - she was so mad. Full of concentration:



We then jumped in line just in time to sit through a performance at Monsters Inc Laugh Floor, sitting a few seats way from ‘That Guy’ and running into him for the next half hour. I’m sure he was tired of that joke.

We couldn’t end our week without racing each other on the Tomorrowland Speadway.





March 2020 Tron progress


We left the track winners - at least against Jason - and headed over to Carossel of Progress. Another first and on my must do list of Walts originals.

Haley looked through a gift shop we ran by as we headed towards the facilities. Lots of journals and Legos but she had other purchases in mind so we moved on to a Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow.



Jason thought is was a nice, cool place to take a nap (even though he watched every scene), Haley and I enjoyed looking at all the details. Definitely one to do again next time.

We made our way back towards Main Street when Haley noticed the popcorn bin was ‘Steamboat Willie’ so stopped at that cart for popcorn and a snack.

Haley had a few items in mind to purchase along main street and I needed a few pins and a new lanyard for school. Haley got an apron for when she paints and a pin.



We then went to the ear shop by the entrance and Haley got some really cute UP ears. We were heading out and I stopped in my tracks - we hadn’t gotten a pic of us with the Castle - NOT okay! The train station platform was empty so we hopped up there for a family selfie ... and that’s when magic happened...

continued in next post...

 

[amyjoq]

continued from previous post...

We took our favorite family photo - I’ve hung this photo and posted this photo everywhere.



It was 6:30 and a gentleman beside us was settling in - he told us it was the best place for fireworks. If we stayed, we’d have front row viewing. I looked at Jason and that’s when MAGIC happened... he shrugged his shoulders and said ‘You’re writing this story.’ Eeeeeek!

We hadn’t stayed for any fireworks at any park since our one and only failed attempt when Haley was 5 - she didn’t like the noises.

We had awhile to wait so while Jason held our spot, we went down and took some pics with this guy and gal:





We went back to the platform, enjoyed a high school marching band and people watching. After all that time ... it was time... and I only teared up one time (if you add all the times together).











Then it was over. I turned around and was shocked by the amount of people who had filed in behind us. We waited patiently, headed down the stairs, and walked out for our final sleep at Coronado Springs.

Up next - wrap up of our third trip.

 

[Paulaparm]

Hi! Just found this today
Also read your first trip report. It was funny when I came back to this one and saw a much older Haley! Sounds like you had a great time

 

[amyjoq]

Final Thoughts:

Just moments ago I finished our memory albums from this trip. Like this trip report - they are the first ‘complete’ albums. I have an album for each previous trip - neither one is fully complete

The Outsides:

I drew a lot of inspiration from a few online classes on Scrapbook.com and everything I used was from the Simple Stories ‘Say Cheese’ lines (I think there are 4 now).
I wanted smaller albums - these are 6x8 - with multiple interactive pages. I didn’t plan on 2 albums but as I completed days 1 and 2 it was very clear.
Album 1 opening page:


Various Interactive Pages:








Album 2








Continued in next post:

 

[amyjoq]

Continued from previous post:









We all have our favorites, as a family we all are in agreement with the following:

• Flights of Passage
• Breakfast at Ohana
• Slinky Dog Dash

Must do’s next time:

• Port Orleans French Quarter
• Chef Mickey’s
• Expedition Everest
• Big Thunder Mountain
• Flights of Passage
• Breakfast at Ohana
• Fly instead of Drive

Thank you to all who followed along. I’ve enjoyed sharing my story. Maybe I’ll get to share another one soon

 

[Hubie]

Hi,

Really nice report and great pictures -- especially of Pandora. We're headed back in November and may have to have breakfast at Ohana based on your recommendation.