Kippa-Dee-Do-Dah
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Jan 29, 2018
Chapter 6: Aug. 21 (Part 1): "There's a great big beautiful tomorrow..."
On Aug. 20, we spent a nice, long, HOT day at HS. We basically fell into bed - Hubs and Rex were just soooo tired from her flight getting in late the night before. So we had planned to spend our second park day, Aug. 21, sleeping in a little bit in order to recover.
We ended up with a schedule of two park days, 1 resort day, 2 park days, 1 resort day, etc. We planned to sleep in this day, and hit our first FP at 11:50 am, do all of Tomorrowland, and stay for fireworks that night. Best of all, we were going to eat dinner at 'Ohana!
We got up around 9:30 am, got ready, took our dose of preemptive pain meds, and headed to our car. Yes, I know, we're not supposed to drive to the MK. It's so hard to not get in your car when you can see it from your room though! Since we had a stroller with us we just really didn't want to deal with folding it up on the bus. (So, you know, we folded it up on the tram at the parking lot instead.) But, at least we didn't have to stand on a crowded bus. We checked my directions carefully this time, and left the room sometime before 11 am.
We got parked and fortunately, a tram came rather quickly. I can't remember exactly where we parked but I think it was in the Peter Pan lot. The kids were excited because they didn't want us to be in the Villains lot, because Villains are scary. We got to the TTC and went through security - I LOVE that they've now split up security for the MK at different entry points. Then we went up and got on the monorail. We were all SO excited!!!
Finally we exited the monorail and saw this beauty:
We stopped to take some pictures in front of the train station....
And marveled at the fact that Halloween decorations were already out!
It was the middle of August.
It was 90+ degrees out.
And kids were still out of school for the summer.
Who do you think you are, Disney? You're not Hobby Lobby, so stop disrespecting summer!
I'm probably just a little biased because we just finished our first year (and winter) living in Minnesota, where Frozen, I mean "winter", lasts for 7+ months out of the year. We'd only been in shorts since June (and as I'm writing this, it's now in the low 60's), so I was trying to hang on to the season as long as I could. Also, I vastly prefer the Christmas decorations to Halloween, especially because our first trip to DLR was at Thanksgiving during the Diamond Celebration. So I'm basically spoiled for life now.
I did like this guy, though!
We meandered along Main Street, just getting our bearings, taking photos, and noticing the differences between the WDW and DLR Main Streets. It was amazing that it felt both familiar and different at the same time. The castle is obviously so huge, but I didn't personally care for the stage in front - has that always been there? The Hub was HUGE - definitely way bigger than at DLR. I did like how the paths to each Land were more separated than DLR (although, the downside is that it meant more walking!)
We hit the Hub around the time that the Move it, Shake it Dance Party came out, so we stopped to shake our tail feathers for a few minutes...
Yeah, I'd post a picture of it, but I have my dignity, so no thanks.
Our first FP was for 7 Dwarves at 11:50, so we headed straight there and got on. We couldn't get Rex a FP with us, so she headed to the Storybook Circus area to meet Daisy and Minnie. Boo was super excited to ride it, while Bubs was ruined for anything resembling a "fast" ride after the trauma from SDD the day before. We asked him to give it a try, which he did, and he proceeded to scream again the whole time.
He was happy after it was over though.
The rest of us loved it, including Boo! (And then when I asked if she would ride it again with me later, she emphatically said no. So there's that.)
After that, we rode the teacups, since Rex can't ride those. Then we headed to Tomorrowland - we planned to spend the rest of the day doing this land. We wanted to check out the Tomorrowland Expo, as we thought it would be something like Star Wars Launch Bay - everything inside, stuff to look at, characters to meet, etc. It ended up being a dance party, a photo opportunity without characters, a couple of walls for taking photos, and the characters riding around on floats. A little disappointing because Bubs really wanted to meet Mr. Incredible, but they did love the dance party.
After the dance party, we got some lunch. And by lunch, I mean Mickey ice cream bars.
We had planned to have a snack lunch since our 'Ohana reservation was at 4 pm, but the kids asked for ice cream. And as parents, we wanted to set a good example....so we all got ice cream. 
I was good and got a fruit bar. I knew bread pudding was in my future!
After "lunch", we had reached the point of just needing to sit down, so we went on Carousel of Progress. I wasn't sure the kids would "get" it, but you can probably guess which part they caught on to...
"There's a great big beautiful tomorrow, shining at the end of every day!"
Are we the only ones who would just randomly sing that, as loud as we could, for the rest of our vacation? #noshame
I really enjoyed seeing the transformation of the kitchens over the decades - probably because I watch way too much HGTV. To the point, where when it got to the "modern day" (*cough the 90's with flat-screened tv's *cough), my husband whispered to me that he knew I hated that it was an open floorpan.
After sitting in the glory that is air conditioning, we went to the Speedway for our FP. We had a FP for 1:05 pm, while we were able to get Rex a FP for 12:30 pm, so we could all ride together. It's one of the "filler" rides for me - I think it was more exciting as a kid before I could drive. Now that I can, I found the stop and go and backups annoying. But the kids loved it, and we got them their driver's license, so now they have one from each coast! And after that, we went to the PeopleMover.
Y'all. I literally had no idea what this ride was. It turned out to be one of our favorites because: 1) hardly a line, 2) sitting down for a loooong time, 3) going through A/C, 4) view of Tomorrowland and the Hub, and 5) views of the insides rides and the original plan for EPCOT. Well done, random ride that many people forget about!
The view of the Speedway was really cool, since we'd just ridden it. We all got off the ride feeling so refreshed and thinking PeopleMover was quite the hidden gem!
We had time before our Buzz FP, so we went to Monster's Laugh Floor. We all really enjoyed it, but I think I'd skip it if I didn't have the kids with me. It was really cute though, even though our joke didn't get chosen. Rex did end up on the screen though!
That would be Rex's red shirt behind the woman in green. Boo's shirt is the blurry white thing next to her - we tried to convince her to lean into her auntie to be on the screen but she wasn't having it. Rex made sure she was nice and um, "modest", when she realized the camera was on her!
After that, we headed straight to Buzz. Our FP window opened at 2:30, but the time on a picture on my phone shows that we were in line for Monster's then. So we hurried over to ride it - it's one of our kids' favorites and must-do's. We needed to leave the MK by 3:30, so I think we ended up getting on the ride at about 3 pm.
Am I the only one that checks off rides on the park map as we go? It helps me so much. Well as it turned out, by the time we finished with Buzz, we had done everything we wanted to do in Tomorrowland! Rex had a Space Mountain FP for after dinner, and Hubs and I had decided to skip it on this trip since neither kid was going to ride it. And Astro Orbiter didn't appeal to the kids (they've ridden it at DLR, with Aunt Rex, and I think it made us all too dizzy.) So we actually completed a land! We felt so proud of ourselves!
.....and then, the moment was over, because it was 3:30, and time to head to the Poly. So we booked it out of Tomorrowland, down Main Street (the Dapper Dans were performing and I soooo wanted to stop and listen!), and out to the monorail.
And so began the journey to get Banana's Foster's Bread Pudding.
(to be continued...)
On Aug. 20, we spent a nice, long, HOT day at HS. We basically fell into bed - Hubs and Rex were just soooo tired from her flight getting in late the night before. So we had planned to spend our second park day, Aug. 21, sleeping in a little bit in order to recover.
We ended up with a schedule of two park days, 1 resort day, 2 park days, 1 resort day, etc. We planned to sleep in this day, and hit our first FP at 11:50 am, do all of Tomorrowland, and stay for fireworks that night. Best of all, we were going to eat dinner at 'Ohana!
We got up around 9:30 am, got ready, took our dose of preemptive pain meds, and headed to our car. Yes, I know, we're not supposed to drive to the MK. It's so hard to not get in your car when you can see it from your room though! Since we had a stroller with us we just really didn't want to deal with folding it up on the bus. (So, you know, we folded it up on the tram at the parking lot instead.) But, at least we didn't have to stand on a crowded bus. We checked my directions carefully this time, and left the room sometime before 11 am.
We got parked and fortunately, a tram came rather quickly. I can't remember exactly where we parked but I think it was in the Peter Pan lot. The kids were excited because they didn't want us to be in the Villains lot, because Villains are scary. We got to the TTC and went through security - I LOVE that they've now split up security for the MK at different entry points. Then we went up and got on the monorail. We were all SO excited!!!
Finally we exited the monorail and saw this beauty:
We stopped to take some pictures in front of the train station....
And marveled at the fact that Halloween decorations were already out!
It was the middle of August.
It was 90+ degrees out.
And kids were still out of school for the summer.
Who do you think you are, Disney? You're not Hobby Lobby, so stop disrespecting summer!
I'm probably just a little biased because we just finished our first year (and winter) living in Minnesota, where Frozen, I mean "winter", lasts for 7+ months out of the year. We'd only been in shorts since June (and as I'm writing this, it's now in the low 60's), so I was trying to hang on to the season as long as I could. Also, I vastly prefer the Christmas decorations to Halloween, especially because our first trip to DLR was at Thanksgiving during the Diamond Celebration. So I'm basically spoiled for life now.
I did like this guy, though!
We meandered along Main Street, just getting our bearings, taking photos, and noticing the differences between the WDW and DLR Main Streets. It was amazing that it felt both familiar and different at the same time. The castle is obviously so huge, but I didn't personally care for the stage in front - has that always been there? The Hub was HUGE - definitely way bigger than at DLR. I did like how the paths to each Land were more separated than DLR (although, the downside is that it meant more walking!)
We hit the Hub around the time that the Move it, Shake it Dance Party came out, so we stopped to shake our tail feathers for a few minutes...
Yeah, I'd post a picture of it, but I have my dignity, so no thanks.
Our first FP was for 7 Dwarves at 11:50, so we headed straight there and got on. We couldn't get Rex a FP with us, so she headed to the Storybook Circus area to meet Daisy and Minnie. Boo was super excited to ride it, while Bubs was ruined for anything resembling a "fast" ride after the trauma from SDD the day before. We asked him to give it a try, which he did, and he proceeded to scream again the whole time.
He was happy after it was over though.
The rest of us loved it, including Boo! (And then when I asked if she would ride it again with me later, she emphatically said no. So there's that.)After that, we rode the teacups, since Rex can't ride those. Then we headed to Tomorrowland - we planned to spend the rest of the day doing this land. We wanted to check out the Tomorrowland Expo, as we thought it would be something like Star Wars Launch Bay - everything inside, stuff to look at, characters to meet, etc. It ended up being a dance party, a photo opportunity without characters, a couple of walls for taking photos, and the characters riding around on floats. A little disappointing because Bubs really wanted to meet Mr. Incredible, but they did love the dance party.
After the dance party, we got some lunch. And by lunch, I mean Mickey ice cream bars.
We had planned to have a snack lunch since our 'Ohana reservation was at 4 pm, but the kids asked for ice cream. And as parents, we wanted to set a good example....so we all got ice cream. I was good and got a fruit bar. I knew bread pudding was in my future!
After "lunch", we had reached the point of just needing to sit down, so we went on Carousel of Progress. I wasn't sure the kids would "get" it, but you can probably guess which part they caught on to...
"There's a great big beautiful tomorrow, shining at the end of every day!"
Are we the only ones who would just randomly sing that, as loud as we could, for the rest of our vacation? #noshame
I really enjoyed seeing the transformation of the kitchens over the decades - probably because I watch way too much HGTV. To the point, where when it got to the "modern day" (*cough the 90's with flat-screened tv's *cough), my husband whispered to me that he knew I hated that it was an open floorpan.
After sitting in the glory that is air conditioning, we went to the Speedway for our FP. We had a FP for 1:05 pm, while we were able to get Rex a FP for 12:30 pm, so we could all ride together. It's one of the "filler" rides for me - I think it was more exciting as a kid before I could drive. Now that I can, I found the stop and go and backups annoying. But the kids loved it, and we got them their driver's license, so now they have one from each coast! And after that, we went to the PeopleMover.
Y'all. I literally had no idea what this ride was. It turned out to be one of our favorites because: 1) hardly a line, 2) sitting down for a loooong time, 3) going through A/C, 4) view of Tomorrowland and the Hub, and 5) views of the insides rides and the original plan for EPCOT. Well done, random ride that many people forget about!
The view of the Speedway was really cool, since we'd just ridden it. We all got off the ride feeling so refreshed and thinking PeopleMover was quite the hidden gem!
We had time before our Buzz FP, so we went to Monster's Laugh Floor. We all really enjoyed it, but I think I'd skip it if I didn't have the kids with me. It was really cute though, even though our joke didn't get chosen. Rex did end up on the screen though!
That would be Rex's red shirt behind the woman in green. Boo's shirt is the blurry white thing next to her - we tried to convince her to lean into her auntie to be on the screen but she wasn't having it. Rex made sure she was nice and um, "modest", when she realized the camera was on her!
After that, we headed straight to Buzz. Our FP window opened at 2:30, but the time on a picture on my phone shows that we were in line for Monster's then. So we hurried over to ride it - it's one of our kids' favorites and must-do's. We needed to leave the MK by 3:30, so I think we ended up getting on the ride at about 3 pm.
Am I the only one that checks off rides on the park map as we go? It helps me so much. Well as it turned out, by the time we finished with Buzz, we had done everything we wanted to do in Tomorrowland! Rex had a Space Mountain FP for after dinner, and Hubs and I had decided to skip it on this trip since neither kid was going to ride it. And Astro Orbiter didn't appeal to the kids (they've ridden it at DLR, with Aunt Rex, and I think it made us all too dizzy.) So we actually completed a land! We felt so proud of ourselves!
.....and then, the moment was over, because it was 3:30, and time to head to the Poly. So we booked it out of Tomorrowland, down Main Street (the Dapper Dans were performing and I soooo wanted to stop and listen!), and out to the monorail.
And so began the journey to get Banana's Foster's Bread Pudding.
(to be continued...)
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haha
Sorry Elsa I don't like your winter. Where did you leave before? I may have missed this if you mentioned it. I have lived in NH most of my life. I did spend 2 school years (Came home in the summers to NH) in VA teaching and in college I did the Disney College Program and advanced internship. I'm curious how the adjustment to the summer heat was for your family. Summer is the only time I have not been to FL. Both my programs were in the spring and were finished in June before it got too hot. 
Story on Disboard: Guest at Magic Kingdom struck by lightning revealed to have been wearing a stolen poncho at time of death. Family of deceased barred for life from Disney parks. 
You all look so gorgeous!
