Disney Day 6

Thursday morning dawned cold and rainy, but we were still on the boat to Magic Kingdom before 8:00 because we had an 8:55 date with some princesses. Though we were in a hurry, the kids still took the time to walk through a deep puddle in order to get their feet totally soaked.

We actually got to the park early enough to take advantage of the extra magic hour during which only Disney resort guests can enter. Between the cold, the rain, and the Extra Magic, the place was deserted and we were able to walk on to Buzz Light Year, Dumbo, and Winnie the Pooh.

It was then time for breakfast inside Cinderella’s castle. We waited in the first floor waiting area until the castle’s namesake princess arrived. There was a short queue until we had our turn. Ella was resplendent in her wet blue sweat jacket topped with her worn out Cinderella pajamas.

The next stop was the Royal Dining Room (I may be making that name up) for the breakfast part of the breakfast. For the Lords and Ladies there was sausage, bacon, eggs, and a fruit-topped stuffed French toast thing. The princes and princesses were served bacon, eggs, and French toast sticks. It was all you care to enjoy too, and I enjoyed it all, especially the bacon and the French toast thing.

During this meal, each table was visited by Belle, Snow Wine, Fairy Godmother, and Jasmine. It was during this stage of the meal that Alex’s #1 thrill of the trip occurred in the bare midriff form of Princess Jasmine. First was the standard autograph signing and picture posing:

Next he went in for the BIG HUG, nearly knocking Jasmine over, and not letting go for an embarrassingly long time.

When he finally disengaged, she called him back to tell him a secret. The secret she delivered was a big smackeroo on his cheek that left him with a giant grin and a bright red badge of honor.

It had stopped raining by the time breakfast was done, but there were still no crowds to speak of. We caught a show of Mickey’s Philharmagic, which in my opinion is the best of the 3-D movies. Next we walked onto to first Peter Pan and then Small World. The latter of these has not aged well, and one can only remember that it was a big deal for people at 1964 World’s Fair, but 43 years later I think the only reason it is still running is for nostalgia.

It was then off to Adventureland where we met up with Oma, Opa, and Captain Jack Sparrow. Cap’n Jack and one of his henchmen put on a sidewalk show in which Alex was chosen to learn to sword fight. This was a fun bonus diversion, especially since the guy who played Jack was so authentic he could have been Johnny Depp.

Of course we then had to on the Pirates of the Caribbean ride, since the Yo Ho Yo Ho song was now fresh in our minds. Next up was two spins on the Magic Carpet ride (I can’t believe it is not Dumbo) followed some stair work at the Swiss Family Robinson Tree House. The final attraction in Adventureland was the Jungle Cruise which seemed especially lame after the Safari in Animal Kingdom. Even the kids could tell the animals were fake.

Tommorrowland was next. For me, no trip to Disney is complete without a spin around the Carousel of Progress, and since rumor has it that this ride will soon be dismantled, I did not want to miss this chance. I realize this ride is not as awe inspiring as it once was, and the 2000ish scene is a mix between an outdated past (laser discs and 4x3 TV’s) and a future that will never be (voice controlled ovens)but I enjoy it nonetheless. I have grand plans in my own mind about how it should be updated (change it to show 1900, 1950, 2000, and 2050), but I’ll save this topic for a SoapBox. Even so, we all left the theater singing about a Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow.

After Opa armed Alex with a Space Ranger ray gun, Tomorrowland Transit Authority was our next diversion. I remember this ride vividly from 1977 because, while we were on it, my brother Tom told me it was actually Space Mountain, which terrified me. It was less scary this time, and I resisted the urge to play the same trick on my kids. From the TTA we spotted the Tomorrowland Indy Speedway, so that was up next, and then it was on to Mickey’s Toontown Fair to ride The Barnstormer at Goofy’s Wiseacre Farm. At this point in the trip, a roller coaster hardly even phased the kids , though Shelley reported getting jostled a good bit (I generously gave my spot to Opa so I could take pictures). Opa and Oma bought Ella the Minnie Mouse she’d had her eyes on for a while, then we parted ways and left them to their own devices.

A short train ride took us back to the front of the park. Here we accidently caught the Disney Dreams Come True Parade, which was one of the top two parades we’d seen on this trip. Ella was more interested in playing with Minnie Mouse while Alex concentrated on shooting all the bad guys and many of the other guests with his ray gun. The parade served as good farewell to theme park portion of the trip.

In the evening we watched the Magic Kingdom fireworks from the Fort Wilderness beach, which actually provides a fairly decent vantage point for the show. They even pipe in the music. The only downside was that the ducks (not Duck Brown) were aggressively trying to separate the kids from their jelly beans. We carted to the pizza place for some pizza to go, which we enjoyed back in the cabin.