Araminta18
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Mar 11, 2016
A Beastly Dinner
Monday February 11th (part 2)
Monday February 11th (part 2)
We raced off Splash Mountain, anxious to see if we'd be in time to see the Festival of Fantasy parade, specifically Malificent! I forgot about the crowds that line up for the parade, but! Our luck continued! We managed to squeeze onto the bridge in front of Splash Mountain and had one float before Malificent appeared. I thought she was at the end of the parade, so I was even more excited and relieved that we made it in time. Also, that float is fantastic! I didn't get a picture of the fire-breathing, but even without fire, it's an impressive float. So glad she's back, and that we got to see her.
Mom and I stayed for the rest of the parade. Disney really does a great job with those floats; Mom agreed.
We continued our whirlwind tour of all the rides, heading through Adventureland to Aladdin's Magic Carpets. I'd gotten a fastpass for the Jungle Cruise, but we had a little bit of time and Aladdin didn't really have a wait, so why not.
We tried to get the camel to spit on us (since we were a bit hot) but no dice. Still fun!
Afterwards it was time for Jungle Cruise! We had a really good, enthusiastic skipper, which was great fun. I really do love this ride, bad jokes and all. It was also kind of fun to see real ducks camped out on the animatronic alligators--you didn't know Disney keeps the ducks on payroll to add verisimilitude to the rides, did you?
After Jungle Cruise, we had about an hour before our 5 pm ADR at Be Our Guest. I wanted to do some shopping/browsing at the Emporium, but on our way from the Jungle Cruise to Main Street USA, we decided to stop and walk through the Swiss Family Robinson treehouse. I remember Mom showing me the movie when I was a kid, so it was fun to go through it with her. Neither of the other people I've walked through it with have seen the movie, so that made it extra fun.
Nothing in the Emporium caught our eye, really, so I played a portal or two of Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom just for kicks and to show Mom. I was assigned to the portals on Main Street, so that made it convenient. I didn't win, but oh well. I'll just have to go back and keep playing.
We then wandered up to Be Our Guest restaurant, and who did we find? A photopass photographer!
I really do love this castle. And Mom's reaction to Lumiere.
We checked in and got called inside almost immediately. Benefits of eating early I guess--they haven't yet had time to get behind schedule! We were seated in the Ballroom, in a table right next to the main walkway between all three rooms. Not too bad, though I think next time I'll request the library, if only for the quieter atmosphere! I do love the Ballroom but it is nothing if not noisy and a bit chaotic.
First off was the bread service. When Be Our Guest switched to the prix fixe menu they still used the same bread from the a la carte menu, but said that new bread would be coming. Apparently, it's here! It was delicious. We ate it all.
Mom got the salad and I got the charcuterie plate. The salad was fresh and light and really good. My charcuterie plate was not plated very neatly, but was still delicious. They also had a little card that explained what everything was on the plate, which I appreciated. They didn't have that last time. Normally I just eat it all without having any idea what it is, but I knew this time!
For the entree, we both got the steak, and it was delicious. Cooked perfectly, super tender...yum. Mom got on me a bit for not eating all my vegetables...I guess some things never change!
So, the benefit of being right on that main walkway is that the Beast walks right by you on his way to and from his study to meet people, and he actually stopped and gave Mom a hug! I've never seen him interact with guests as he walks through, so that was really neat. Mom got into it too, which was nice. I told her he stopped for her birthday, but I don't think there was any way he could have known. More pixie dust I guess!
Then dessert!
That macaron is my favorite--with the fresh raspberries...yum. Mom didn't like the grey stuff; she thought it was too sweet.
Which made it all the more ironic when the waiter came by with a lovely birthday surprise for Mom. A card signed by Belle and the Beast and a plate of grey stuff!
He even lit a candle for her to blow out!
Despite her not liking the grey stuff, she loved the thought and the attention. Don't worry, it didn't go to waste--I ate it!
Dinner finished, we got to meet the Beast with very little wait. He wasn't really into interacting--just a picture and done. Sometimes when I meet the Beast he's much more effusive and interactive, but tonight not so much. Made me really glad Mom had a great interactin with the Beast earlier as he walked by!
And of course, we had to get a picture with the mural on our way out.
And my favorite gargoyle!
It was about 6:30 then, so I pulled up the app and saw that there was an available fastpass for Little Mermaid, so we headed that way. We ran into another photographer!
Isn't the castle so pretty all lit up? I love the lighting of the castles at dusk.
I thought using a fastpass at Little Mermaid wouldn't really be necessary--I've never seen it ever have a line. But it did tonight! Dunno why. It wasn't a long line, but we did end up waiting about 5 minutes or so. See?
But I put the time in line to good use and got us a Space Mountain fastpass! Boom.
Luckily this time the fastpass line was significantly shorter.
Not sure what's going on with our faces in the pictures....but we were definitely having fun! Again, Mom complained about it being too dark for her to see what was coming next--I couldn't convince her that it was a feature, not a bug.
Our plan was to hit Buzz Lightyear after Space, 'cause there were tons of fastpasses available, but lots of other people had the same idea--the fastpass line was using the extended queue. It was like a solid 20 minute wait--in the fastpass line! So we bailed and decided to head to the hub to watch the fireworks, since they were supposed to start in about half hour.
We got to the hub right as Once Upon a Time was starting--happy coincidence! We ended up finding a good spot on the bridge into the hub from Fantasyland, perched on the railing around some grass/planters stuff. It was a great spot! Slightly off-center, but not too bad at all.
We decided after Once Upon a Time to just wait there for the fireworks. I was really happy we got such a good spot; I wanted Mom to have a good spot for the fireworks and even thought about booking the dessert party, but this worked out great.
Waiting for the fireworks!
Mom killing time while waiting...I took this while perched up high on the fence.
Then, fireworks time! I enjoyed watching it but again was having fun with the new camera on my phone:
The guy with his daughter on his shoulders was a bit irritating, but hey, still not too bad. And Happily Ever After...gets me right in the feels. I love (so much!) that they use Hercules and Mulan and Hunchback and Tarzan.
The park was closed at that point, so we waited about 10 or 15 minutes for the initial rush of the crowds to clear out. Then we headed through the bypass out of the park. Disney is remarkably efficient--there are just SO MANY PEOPLE and yet it was all smooth and efficient and easy and within 20 minutes or so we were on a bus. Crazy impressive.
We were headed to our home for the next 3 nights: All Star Music! I thought I'd done online check in but we never got a room ready text, so we had to check in at the front desk, where we found out we got "upgraded"! I put it in quotes because we'd booked a standard room, but got upgraded to a family suite. But a family suite only includes one real bed, and the other beds are pullouts. It did have two bathrooms, but I clearly wasn't thinking or I would have asked to go back to a standard room with two beds. Oh well. Still neat to experience a different type of room. Though I think these rooms really need to be renovated...
Bedroom:
Kitchenette:
The room was fine: it was nice having the little kitchenette and the two bathrooms, and even having the two rooms. But that pull out bed...while it wasn't uncomfortable, it was SO SQUEAKY. SO LOUD. Like, every time I rolled over and moved it squeaked loudly. And the mattress was very thin, so in some spots I could feel the bars underneath the mattress. Despite that though, I slept better here than in the other resorts, though that may just have been cumulative tiredness!
We thought about switching, but decided it wasn't worth the hassle. I would have preferred a standard room, but this was a fun experience.Anyways, that was our Magic Kingdom day! Mom's first time, full of magic and pixie dust. We had a lovely day.
Fun with Metrics:
Steps walked: 22966 or 9.8 miles
Ride Count: 16 (Soarin, Haunted Mansion, Pirates, SDMT x2, Winnie the Pooh, Space Mountain x2, Peter Pan, Splash x2, Big Thunder, Aladdin, Jungle Cruise, Swiss Family Robinson, Little Mermaid)
and you've inspired me to actually try the refresh method next time I'm there.
I really like Navi River Journey, but especially if you're able to ride it after Flight of Passage, it makes it a nice calming fun ride. And the Shaman--love that animatronic!
