Originally I had wanted to do Magic Kingdom on Wednesday. It was the extra hours day, much like my birthday last year where Carter and I stayed until midnight, but the hurricane got in the way of that. We didn't figure we'd get all the way through it in half a day, even with the extra time, and too much was outside to risk it, so we had to switch. So much for best laid plans, but once again, I'd be spending my birthday in the Magic Kingdom!
As usual, Jacob wanted to get in some shooting before heading to the park. I was a little annoyed because it always makes it easier to ride the popular stuff when you get there early. It was definitely better this year having our resort's basketball court open--it saved endless walking and transportation time that Craig and Jacob wasted last year--but having it so convenient also meant that it was easier to make a priority. So, we decided Carter and I were going to go to the park without them, get in a little riding, and meet up when they were ready. So, off we went.
Pretty quickly I set up an individual Lightning Lane for Seven Dwarfs Mine Ride since the line was already an hour despite the park only being open to resort guests at that time. For $10 per person, it wasn't that bad and would give us more time to do other things. We had some time to kill before that, though, so we took some pictures before the heat got too oppressive and we were a sweaty mess!
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| Look, my hair is down! That almost never happens on these trips! It didn't last long, of course. |
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| Disney 100 pic #3! |
I had seen somewhere that the train station at the front of the park was a good photo spot. I had never been up there before and actually noticed a picture from there in my parents' pictures from when I was three. So that ended up being one of our first stops!
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| It was quite a cool view and I sort of wished I had my camera with better zoom to catch the castle! |
Carter wanted his picture with the baseball pumpkin scarecrow (which we've done pics with the last two trips) because he plays baseball now!
Aiding in my efforts to have "different" pictures on this trip was that the castle looked different than it did a year ago. All of the 50th celebration decor had been removed, so the castle was back to its basic but beautiful self.
I hadn't really gone up close to it in previous trips, so that was on my list for the day as well.
I had seen this shot (or something like it) in an online group and decided to try it. I'm not sure I ever quite found that angle--they probably had a special lens or something. But not bad aside from those darn lights.
The wait for Space Mountain wasn't too long so we figured we'd start there. Once again I was attempting to get through the day without Genie+ as lines had looked really short at Magic Kingdom other days, and this was a good one to knock off. It was nice to see the store next to Space Mountain (and in front of Tron) open since it was part of all the Tron construction last year. It was actually really nice inside with a lot of cool Tron souvenirs.
Our wait wasn't too bad, maybe 15 minutes, and I probably enjoyed that ride as much as I ever have. It wasn't too jerky and it was early in the day so I was fresh and happy, which may have helped. We had a very smiley on-ride photo!
After that we headed over to Seven Dwarfs for our ride there. It was so nice to skip the line and hop on quickly. It's such a fun coaster. And even cooler was when we came around a corner on the ride where the castle was in view and fireworks went off, presumably for a show. It was perfect timing!
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| Not our ride but I hadn't been able to get a good picture of the ride previously until I found this spot. |
We walked up toward The Little Mermaid. If you recall, I wanted to ride it last year but it was the end of the night and we missed the turn, so we rode Peter Pan instead since Carter had just read it in school. I really wanted to do The Little Mermaid this time. After all, it's arguably my favorite princess movie. Once again I told Carter it was his birthday gift to me, since he wasn't too thrilled about it! We snapped a pic of the Gaston fountain on our way.
The ride was cute. Typical late-20th century Disney stuff with the moving seashell car and iffy animatronics, but cute. I can still sing "Part of That World" from memory, so it was fun to see it in action!
Back out in the park, I couldn't help but snap a photo of the back of the castle and the carousel (which I still haven't actually ridden as an adult, but apparently did as a kid). It is quite a grand roof on there.
We met back up with Craig and Jacob near Haunted Mansion, where we found them sporting matching shirts!
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| We tried to find one for Carter but no luck. |
I always love Haunted Mansion, as it's one of the rides that was most memorable when I was three. I was disappointed that even though we went through the regular queue we didn't get to go past the cool, playable stone organ that Jacob loved when he was five. Our on-ride photos weren't nearly as cute this time, and we ended up having yet another lengthier-than-would-be-ideal delay on the ride. Even still, it's not a ride we'll likely ever skip!
We walked over to Frontierland with a stop at the shooting gallery. We did well, although it appears holding a heavy gun is not good for whatever is wrong with my shoulder/tricep right now. Ouch. We came across a crazy-looking Country Bear as we made our way to Big Thunder Mountain.
It was a bit of a bummer that Splash Mountain wasn't open, because we had a really good time on that ride last year. It was neat to see some of the Tiana features already added, including the water tower with a tiara!
Craig decided to try Big Thunder Mountain this year. Jacob rode it last year and assured him it was doable. Thankfully the line was short!
He ended up liking it aside from his legs banging on the bar a bit. I think he was ready for it to be over since he sounded a little disappointed when we went up yet another hill near the end, but he did well. Oh, and we had yet another stop mid-ride, as they held us for a minute or so on the chain lift in the middle.
Next up was Pirates of the Caribbean, which we all always enjoy. We all got a bit splashed more than expected (as usual) and talked yet again about the quality of the animatronics and how Jack Sparrow was a late addition because the movie was inspired by the ride (not the other way around). We enjoyed it and reminisced in the store about Jacob buying his treasure chest of pirate stuff there 10 years ago.
After that we had to work our way back to Tomorrowland because it was time for Carter and me to ride Tron! Our virtual queue came up, so we only had an hour to get there. We did grab some refreshments on the way--drinks for the boys and Dole Whips for Craig and me--and stopped by the misting tikis near Jungle Cruise to cool off. Alas, the Jungle Cruise line was a bit long so we didn't end up getting to ride that this time. Carter and I got our picture with this Chip and Dale along the way because we were jealous that Craig and Jacob got to meet the real ones!
Tron had toyed with us last year since it was nearly fully built and was even testing during our trip (we saw videos of it on social media but we only saw the outside lights on), but it wasn't going to be open for another six months or more. It looked so neat and I especially loved seeing it close-up from the Tomorrowland Speedway track. We resigned ourselves to not riding it for a few years, not expecting we would be back a year later. Well, fast-forward a year, and here we were, for better or for worse!
It was so cool to see the trains come through the outside portion of the ride. They looked so fast and smooth, and the structure itself was really striking.
We had a bit of a wait outside, initially partly in the sun, and then another bit under cover but still in the heat. Finally we got inside into another queue, and then there was a spot before the last set of queues where I had to put all of our stuff in a (thankfully free) locker. Inside was a world of blue lights and lots of futuristic imagery. I was very happy I watched the movies during my COVID isolation, because it helped me understand what the concept of the ride was, right down to the circles on everyone's back (part of the restraint, but in the movie it's a weapon for one of the games they play). We were actually pleasantly surprised by the restraints, that they weren't the slap-you-on-the-back kind like you get on Avatar Flight of Passage or the Motocoaster at Darien Lake. These were gently controlled by the handlebars.
The ride itself was incredible, but far too short. The initial launch was crazy and super fast, and it launched you right out to the outside area. I'd heard people say that riding at night is better, and I'm sure that's the case because the night lights are dramatic, but I wasn't willing to risk missing the queue entirely just to try to ride it at night. I got in the queue the second my phone clock turned to 7am and still ended up in the 54th boarding group! The next queue starts at 1pm and I was afraid of missing an alarm or being stuck on a ride since the queue runs out in seconds. So, an early ride it was. And anyway, that cool outside part is just short part of the ride. The inside reminded me a lot of Guardians of the Galaxy, with it being dark, full of lights and portal gates, and utilizing the same kind of swooping motions. But it was a lot shorter and Guardians is just more fun and playful in general with their soundtrack. Tron is more of a serious competition! But I loved the ride and I think Carter liked it even more than me! I wish we could have gone on it again, but I decided the Lightning Lane was too pricey for the glorious minute and a half!
While we were on the ride, Craig and Jacob were getting lunch. They also tried to ride the Buzz Lightyear ride, but the whole building was shut down for some reason, and it still wasn't open by the time we came out. So, next up was Tomorrowland Speedway. Just like last year, it started raining while we were waiting in line. Last year we had to pull out the ponchos, but this year, it didn't seem too bad and it actually felt good on a warm day, so we went without and it stopped after a couple minutes. I rode in Jacob's car, and he barely fit! His legs are so long now and he literally had to stand back up in order to reposition himself and get his other leg around the wheel! He did OK, though the people in front of us were SO slow so it was harder to keep control.
I guess Carter did pretty well, though they were annoyed by the slow car, too!
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| Carter driving Craig behind us |
Once the ride was over, the rain really started to come down for a bit. Buzz Lightyear was still closed, so that marked the end of Craig and Jacob's list of rides and they took off for the resort. The rain picked up again so Carter and I picked a spot under cover to figure out lunch. We ended up running across the way to Cosmic Ray's, the same place we ate after the fireworks debacle last year. No footlong chili dog this time, but we did have a really good lunch.
It was still a bit drizzly when we came out, so we worked our way over to the Carousel of Progress. We hadn't ridden that on either of our last two trips, and I decided it was a Disney classic we needed to do. And since we'd done most of our big rides and essentially had time to kill until fireworks, we might as well. Originally I thought we could maybe come back to the resort for a bit, but by this time (about 3pm) I decided that between dinner and transportation, we really only had a couple hours to fill, and we could certainly do that in the park, checking out things we didn't have time to do last year. I'm still not sure why I loved Carousel of Progress so much as a kid, though it is charming. It's a little funny now that you go from the 1900s to the 1920s to the 1940s, and then jump all the way to the turn of the 21st century. When I first saw it, the last scene was a futuristic early 80s vibe and felt a bit more natural of a progression, but now it's so clearly farther along that the jump is weird. Originally the ride was made in the 60s for the World's Fair and that's where it ended, but they've continued to update the last scene from then to now. It's too bad they can't add one more somewhere in the middle! We ended up having to watch the first scene twice because someone (maybe not in our set of seats, but somewhere in the ride) moved enough to reset the show. They tell you you must remain seated for the full 20 minutes, but I guess maybe they should have been more explicit why. I have no clue why it's like that!
Anyway, Carter didn't hate it, so I took that as a win! Next up, since it was still drizzly, we rode the PeopleMover. I don't know what it is about that ride--it just oozes that Disney futuristic outlook and that was probably one of my favorite things about Disney when I went there as a nine-year-old. I sort of still love the idea of a city full of PeopleMovers! In the park it's such a nice rest for your feet with great views, and I think all of the peeks into the other rides are sort of cool! I took it as my opportunity to take an official 45th birthday photo. Despite being super sweaty and all of my makeup having faded, I was still pretty happy with how I looked. Must have been the good day!
As we rode, the clouds behind Tron were looking awfully threatening!
Our ride stopped for less than a minute at one point (probably just someone loading or unloading), so Carter took the opportunity to hop across to my seat so we could take a picture. What can I say, he knows me!
I'm having a little trouble remembering because I didn't take a placeholder photo like I usually do, but I think we were able to ride Buzz Lightyear around this time. I know we ultimately rode it twice and I'm pretty sure this was the first time. It's a shooting game similar to the Toy Story one at Hollywood Studios, but this one is way harder--a laser gun on tiny targets. I beat Carter pretty badly, which was a victory for me because I did terrible last year. He was pretty bummed, but I reminded him how hard it was and that I usually do terrible myself. We were hoping to play again later so he could get another chance.
The rain seemed to have stopped for a bit when we came out, so we headed to the Storybook Circus area to finally ride Dumbo. I hadn't ridden it since Jacob and I did when he was five, and I felt it was a classic Carter needed to do, even if it's one of the less exciting rides there. The line was non-existent, so it worked out well. He liked it, too, probably because he likes anything where he can control our height!
We also rode Barnstormer, the little family coaster with a Goofy aviation theme. We only got to ride it at night last time, so it was nice to see it a bit more clearly in the day. Carter was a bit disappointed with how short it was, and we had both forgotten how the oddly shaped seat back hits your spine just wrong, but we were still glad we did it. We wandered through a cute little water play feature nearby, and then hopped on the train. The train was closed last year due to Tron construction, and I really wanted to ride it this time. It was also helpful because we wanted to go over to Frontierland again, and that was a good way to get there!
The ride was cute as it played off the Tron theming when we went in a tunnel under the ride. We got held up at the main station for a bit, for some reason, but we got this view of the back of the Disney 100.
We eventually continued on toward Frontierland, only to get held up again due to a parade going past the tracks. We couldn't catch a break on this trip, I swear! By the time we got to the station, the short wait we had seen in the app for Big Thunder Mountain had evaporated, so we kept walking. We saw this view of the Splash Mountain/Tiana construction along the way. Looks like they're doing a lot of work to the waterway, too. Pretty sure there used to be a tree in the middle of that island, if I'm seeing my old pictures right. Hopefully next time we make it back it will be up and running!
It was around this time that I sort of messed up getting "pixie dusted" for my birthday. We were trying to find Carter a bathroom and for the first time all trip there wasn't one in sight. We ended up wandering back through to Adventureland because nothing seemed to be close. As we were just about to find one, a cast member asked if I'd like a Dole Whip and went to hand one to me! I was initially super confused and then she mentioned my birthday (I was wearing my button). I actually wasn't really in need of a snack at that moment and didn't want to figure out how to manage it with the imminent bathroom trip, so I gratefully declined. I definitely regretted it afterward, if only because Carter would have loved it. Ugh, my one good pixie dusting chance and I blew it!
We happened to catch a little dance party outside the Country Bear Jamboree, and Carter actually got a little cranky with me at that point because he wanted a picture with Chip and Dale, who were part of it. We were going to see the Country Bear Jamboree show since it was coming up shortly, and we went in to sit in the lobby as the dance party was ending. Carter was convinced we could have made it back out there and grabbed them, but I think they made a rather quick escape after. Oh well.
I hadn't been to the Country Bear Jamboree at least since I was nine. Although I don't think we have photo proof of going to it on that trip, it seems like something we would have done with my grandma. I know I liked it when I was three! I still knew part of the music because of a Disney parks soundtrack tape I had as a tween, so that was fun to hear again. I think Carter was skeptical, but again, the weather wasn't great and we needed to kill time, so why not? The animatronic figures reminded me so much of my beloved Showbiz Pizza Place's Rock-afire Explosion show from when I was a kid. Same kind of figures, similar facial features, and multiple stages of awkwardly animated action. I did some research and it sounds like an early Showbiz version contained similar looking southern bears and was fully based on the Jamboree, so I guess the similarity wasn't just in my head! I loved the talking heads on the wall that continued to respond and move throughout the show!
I can't say this kind of music is my genre, but nostalgia is a fun thing and I was happy we went.
Back out in the park, the weather kept indicating it was going to rain again, so we sort of stuck close to indoor activities. We wandered around the back of the castle and waited our turn to try the sword in the stone. No luck for either of us! Since we were right there and a show was imminent, we decided to try another new one for us, Mickey's Philharmagic. I wasn't entirely sure what it was, but had read about people liking it. And with Carter's love of the viola, why not do something that was vaguely orchestra related? It turned out to be a 3D movie, much like the Muppets show at Hollywood Studios (which we chose not to do this time around). It was fun and Carter picked it as his favorite of the new shows we did. It was essentially Donald Duck clumsily following Mickey's escaped sorcerer hat through a bunch of musical scenes from animated movies like Beauty and the Beast and Aladdin. It had a water splash feature and a lot of stuff popping off the screen. I think Carter probably liked it because he related to the orchestra references. Overall it was really cute, and I truly found myself in awe of the Disney Imagineers who keep coming up with fun concepts like that one and bringing them to life in such whimsically wonderful ways.
When we came back out, it still wasn't raining but was still threatening, so I figured we should take more pictures while we could. I discovered this view last year and still find it stunning.
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| I also love the beanstalk stems growing out of Sir Mickey's on the left |
We wandered through the castle so I could get this shot. It was so pretty up close.
In the tunnel under the castle, there were a bunch of mosaics like this depicting the Cinderella story. They were actually quite stunning.
We also had a good laugh because there was a cast member standing at a door near there--maybe for the restaurant in the castle--and he was singing funny and making farting noises. It seemed sort of out of character in that particular royal spot, but Carter found it hilarious.
By this point it was time to find dinner, so we looked through menus and settled on Sleepy Hollow in Liberty Square. They had a couple different things than we'd been eating, so that was exciting. None of the food at Disney is really bad, but it does get repetitive when you mostly only do quick service. Lots of burgers and fried chicken, a bunch of pizza, and TONS of fries. At this place, Carter got a giant corn dog...
...and I got this tasty spicy chicken waffle taco with broccoli slaw.
It was all really good, although the spice on mine probably set me up for a little problem the next day. It wasn't super hot when I was eating it, but my stomach went a little off by the following morning and (sorry, TMI) its "exit" was a bit hot. That made for a not-so-speedy morning for me, which led to a bigger issue for our resort day. More on that in the next post. But at least I enjoyed it in the moment. We cooled off with our fans as we sat, and couldn't get enough of the cold water we splurged for, since apparently Magic Kingdom water tastes terrible and none of the drinking fountains were very cold.
After dinner we headed back over to Tomorrowland. Carter wanted to ride the Astro Orbiter, but I was nervous again about the weather since that one closes down super quickly when it rains. There was still a chance of storms that I was nervous would ruin fireworks again, and I really thought we were going to wait for the Astro Orbiter only to get up there and have it rain, but miraculously it went fine and we were greeted with this sky when we got up to the platform!
I mean, come ON! Look at that. It really doesn't get much better. I was in absolute awe, practically pinching myself that we had this amazing sky, and seeing it from up above on this particular ride, no less. It was stunning.
Of course, over behind us toward Tron, it looked like this. That cloud was crazy dark and perfectly formed on the bottom. The camera did not do it justice.
I had a moment up there while we waited to ride, just soaking it all in and being immensely grateful that God gave me that moment, despite the COVID, despite the hurricane, despite everything else that could have derailed the trip, that I got this view on top of an already great trip. Had I not been so blissed out and joyful, I probably would have ugly cried because it was one of those moments where you realize you were probably acting like a petulant child, ungrateful, angry, etc., and then God goes and gives you this anyway. Not that I wasn't allowed to be upset when I tested positive--there was so much riding on this trip and so much nearly messed it up that I had every right to be concerned--but had a week-earlier me seen this moment, I don't think she would have believed it.
I tried to take a video while we rode to capture how amazing it was, but the ride was going pretty fast:
The sky continued to evolve as we rode, and this was the last pic I took from up top after the ride.
My other goal besides the fireworks was to get night pictures of Tron with all the lighting. And with that crazy cloud, they looked surreal. Check out the contrast between the cover, Space Mountain, and the dark sky. It looked fake.
The sight of the coaster coming through was so neat and almost surreal.
I posted the picture so you can see the wheels and lights on the structure, but admittedly, it's better with video:
And this was the view back toward that amazing sunset. So much beauty in one spot!
We still had time to kill before the fireworks but didn't just want to sit around in the giant crowd. We noticed that the line for Buzz Lightyear was super short so we did that one again so Carter could redeem himself. Sure enough, he killed me, and we've officially decided that the outside person (second in the car) does way better. I don't know if it's the angle or what, but whoever sat in that spot consistently destroyed the other person, so next time we go back we're going to split up and put Craig and Jacob on the inside spots...haha!
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| Our ride stopped for a bit near the end (yep, again) so I grabbed this quick picture while I could! |
As we came out it was approaching fireworks time. Finding a spot to watch proved challenging. People had been congregating in the best spots for an hour and a half, and every other spot was somehow blocked by trees. I caught this as we walked.
We ended up getting a bit stuck on the wrong side, though I didn't figure that out until things started. Initially this seemed like a good spot.
The initial projections on the castle were fine, but the way the fireworks were shooting off, we were just too far to the side, so they were all blocked by a tree. I should have walked us to the other side, to the spot we tried to get last year before the rain came. I think we would have had better luck over there. But we were in a spot where we were able to sit (ugh, tired feet) so I figured we'd stick it out for a bit. I did get a couple good shots.
Eventually we decided to move to see if we could find anything better, but we kept getting stuck and you can't stop in certain parts of the walkways, which made things even more challenging. I caught this as we walked.
And got this as we found a little spot on Main Street.
We didn't want to be stuck in the crowd when everything ended because we knew it would be a long bus ride home standing up, so we progressively moved further back on Main Street leading up to the finale. We caught a glimpse of flying Tinkerbell, and I got this right before the finale.
And this was the finale...
It was nice to redeem that moment after last year's fireworks disaster with all the rain and barely being able to see anything. We'd had a really good, really fun, really full day, but we were relieved to be heading back to the resort and finally having a day off to rest our feet!
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