2014 Holiday Day 3 - Disney Magic Kingdom

So the music started again last night around 9:30pm - worse than the previous night. We made a call to the Front Desk, but I suspect others had too as it stopped pretty quickly afterwards and rather abruptly. Maybe a fellow resident knocked on their door, or maybe Security did! Anyway, today is Magic Kingdom day!

Anyway, we were up early as we had a character breakfast booked at the Crystal Palace restaurant - meeting Winnie The Pooh and friends. We got to the bus stop at 7am where a bus to the Magic Kingdom was waiting! Perfect! No-one else got on and we were soon queuing to get into the Magic Kingdom for breakfast. We were let in about 7:45am and proceeded to the restaurant...

...where we were the first family to be called in. Quite special! We picked food from the ample buffet choice (I started withe sausage and eggs, Clare had an omlette and Matthew went for sausages, a bagel and pastries). Pooh was the first to come to our table and pose for photos, followed by Tigger and Piglet. I also found time for pancakes and strawberries and a couple of pastries - washed down with dome Twinings Decaff English tea. Pleased they had decaff. We had to wait for Eyore for a little while, but he eventually rocked up - complete with his tail and not feeling too gloomy (we asked!).

Around 8:50am, we legged it out of the restaurant and headed for Peter Pan. We thought we might still be one of a few set of guests in the park, but it looked like the turnstyles had opened early so other guests were pouring in. Still, we arrived at Peter Pan and queued for about 4 minutes. It's a bit of a lame ride, but sentimental to a lot of people - Clare included. It's quite nice after a big breakfast!

Next up - a Brewer family favourite. Love it or loathe it - It's A Small World is a classic. This time we literally walked straight on to the ride, which we'd never done before. Cheesy family fun as always - and that catchy song stuck in your head for days afterwards!

We moved along to one of my favourites - Haunted Mansion. Again, minimal queue. Well - no queue - we were first to the mansion doors. We discovered some of the fun things in the queue, like the church organ that spat steam and water when played!. Good fun! The ride was as good as always - not too scary for small ones - and it finished with the classic hitchhiking ghosts on your ride vehicle. You then go past a 'mirror' where the ghosts proceed to cause havoc. We loved the effect this time as the ghosts pulled mine and Clare's heads off then swapped them over! It was hilarious! The new shop is stocked with some good stuff, and we may well head back there later in the holiday for purchases.

Off to another fave next - Jungle Cruise. The terrible jokes and puns ensued on this fun riverboat ride. We had a good tour guide lady, who had a very dry and quick wit, which had us laughing our loud and groaning in equal measure... Trader Sam - the resident heasd-shrinker - has a special - two heads for the price of one... The price, of course, being your own head. Still, you'll come out 'ahead' on the deal (geddit!!!!)....

Heading over to Tomorrowland we hit the Buzz Lightyear Space Ranger ride. Not long into the ride we got stuck for about 5 minutes. Not too long, but we got stuck in the spinning start where the room moves around you at great speed. I had to shut my eyes to stop feeling sick! It wasn't too bad and we enjoyed the shooting of Zurg's forces once we got underway.

Time to change the pace, so we got on the Peoplemover - a nice ride around Tommorrowland and another essential Brewer ride.

So far we had seen little queuing. I think the longest was about 6 minutes in Buzz Lightyear... That was all due to change as we headed to Seven Dwarves Mine Train - a relatively new family coaster. Standby line times were 45 minutes! Luckily, we had booked a Fast Pass Plus and we were on the ride in minutes. We all really enjoyed it. I'm not a coaster fan, but thought it was pretty good. Clare and Matthew loved it. It's nice and smooth - unlike older coasters. Standby time as we left... 85 minutes... Ouch! Poor people in that queue!

We then headed back to Tomorrowland for the Monsters Inc Laughter Show. We hadn't done this before, so didn't know what to expect. Once inside the theatre, various monsters come on stage and interact with the audience to get laughs to power their city. It's all done with computer animation and cameras focusing on people in the audience to interact with. Very clever. It's like the Turtle Talk at Epcot. We all thought it was very funny and will definitely be doing it again.

Then on to another Brewer family classic ride. No trip to Disney would be complete without Carousel of Progress - following an American family through the 1900's, 1920's, 1940's and the future. Another one of those catchy songs to sing along to. Even if you go just for the air conditioning and dark theatre it's worth it. A quick nap is not beyond the realms of possibility.

It was warming up nicely. The sun was out and it was getting hot. Time to cool off and head for Splash Mountain to get absolutely soaked on the big plummet at the end. Another ride we Fast Passed, as the queues can be big for this one. Turned out the standby line was 20 minutes, but as we skipped it and got straight on, it didn't matter.

We still had a little while before our lunch reservation, so we took the boat to Tom Sawyer's Island where Matthew played in the fort and we sat on the rocking chairs watching the steamboat un-dock and head off round the river.

Back in the main park we went to lunch at the Liberty Tree Tavern. We got seated quite quickly (even though we were early) and chose the roast turkey for me, Matthew had the burger and Clare had the daily special of batter cod and chips (fries!). Matthew wanted a plain burger, but it turned up with cheese and bacon. It was replaced, but he wasn't too happy with the burger, and the first time my food turned up it was cold. It was quickly replaced and everyone was full of apologies. The deserts were very good - I really liked the toffee desert I had (which was a treacle tart in essence) and Clare had fruit strudel (which she said was OK) and Matthew had ice cream.

We then walked to where we had Fast Pass viewing area tickets for the 3pm Parade. The floats and characters and dancers were all excellent. I took loads of photos and we all agreed it had been worth waiting for.

And that was it for The Magic Kingdom. We had done loads, and the queues had been minimal. We managed to stay ahead of any significant queues (Peter Pan had trebled in length after we rode it, for example) which meant we did A LOT!

We picked up our hire car and then hit the Springs pool at the hotel for a while. Then it was Jeopardy, Wheel of Fortune and World Series Baseball on Fox before bedtime.

Hopefully without the thumping music soundtrack...