Category Archives: The Magic Kingdom
Florida 2017 post seven
This will be the last Florida Post for this year as it covers Thursday and Friday.
Thursday – we had a slight hiccup, after leaving Dennys for the Magic Kingdom we discovered that Simon had forgotton to pick up his painkillers before leaving the Villa, as the first ride was just for me, Simon didn’t fancy riding Space Mountain, he dropped me off at The Magic Kingdom car park and went back to the Villa. It was very odd riding the tram, going through Security and riding the monorail by myself, also I had never bothered to memorise where everything was – I didn’t need to, Simon had it all under control. So I had to pick up a map, I knew the general area just not exactly where it was.
By the time I got over to Space Mountain, I had a text message from Simon saying he was just leaving the Villa, so by the time I had gone through Space Mountain and been on the ride, it wasn’t as bad a Simon thought it would be, for one thing it wasn’t totally in the dark and it didn’t jerk you around like Expedition Everest, Simon was on the Tram going to the ticket and transportation hub. I looked round the gift shop and then started to make my way up to Main Street to meet Simon, but got waylaid at the the Castle, I realised that standing slightly back I could get some very good pictures of it, and as I was playing with my camera the Friendship faire started, and I got some really good photos of that and a small video.
Simon caught up with me at the Castle and we went on splash mountain and seven dwarves mine train.
Back to Red Lobster for dinner.
Friday we had an early start, we had our final fast passes started at 11:30 – 12:30 we needed to finish packing, drop our suitcases at early check in which is at Disney Springs get over to Dennys for breakfast then get in to The Magic Kingdom and over to Big Thunder Mountain Railroad before 12:30. We managed it with 5 minutes to spare, we got lucky at early check in, we arrived with a two family’s in front of us by the time we left there was about ten waiting.
After Big Thunder Mountain railroad we went on Splash Mountain, I think that the water level might have been a bit higher than normal as we got soaked…. there was also some sort of technical glitch as we were coming to the end of the ride the boats stoped and the lights came up, we were waiting a couple of minutes before it started again.
Our final ride of the holiday was Peter Pan’s Flight which for one reason or another we had not gone on this holiday, it was as magical as ever.
We had a Lobster Roll at the Habour house around 3pm and left the park at around 4:30pm getting to the carpark just before 5pm, after changing into our ‘flight’ clothes we drove to the airport handed the car back and got through security with plenty of time to spare.
Florida 2017 post 4
Thursday was May 4th so we decided to do all things Star Wars which of course meant Hollywood Studios, since knocking the backlot down there hasn’t been as much to look at, while we wait for Toy Story land and Star Wars land. We did Star Tours and watched a short video on what Star Wars meant to the people now making the films. Listening to these people makes me realise that the Star Wars is now in the hands of people who watched and loved the movies so much that it shaped who they wanted to be and what they wanted to do with their lives.
We met friends from home for dinner which was at Mama Melrose’s Ristorante Italiano, we were taken to our table by what looked like the oldest waitress in the park. I recommend the restaurant the food was very good and reasonable. After dinner we went to see Star Wars: A Galactic Spectacular this is fireworks, music and video clips from the films, the video is projected onto the Chinese Theater (great movie ride) and surrounding buildings.
Friday we were back in the Magic Kingdom and watched the parade and Mickey’s Royal Friendship Faire, this is on the stage infront of the Castle, and involves Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Daisy and Goofy, apparently they have been across the Walt Disney lands looking for new friends, who each come out and do a song, Tiana and Naveen are first then Tangled’s Flynn Rider and Rupunzel, with a couple of their ruffians, and to top it off we have the ‘special guests’ from Arendelle Olaf, Elsa and Anna. Elsa of course does Let It Go.
Then they all come out and reprise the opening song.
Cheese Cake Factory for dinner, which looks nothing like the Cheese Cake Factory on The Big Bang Theory, it looks better and has much more interesting food, Simon had Fried Catfish which he said was delicious and I had Chicken and Shrimp Gumbo which was also delicious. We took Cheesecake to go.
Saturday we had put aside for Shopping we went to the Primium Outlets, Simon went into the Adidas shop looking for shorts, but couldn’t find any he liked, but in the Nike shop he found exactly what he was looking for. We went to the Fossil shop where I limited myself to one handbag 😦 . We also went to the the Northface shop which had 50% off the already discounted prices, Gap and UGG. I’m not sure if they always have a sale on or just when we go over there.
More Soon….
Florida 2017 post one
Hi, as this is the third year running we’ve gone to Florida for our big holiday of the year, you probably won’t get one post per day, phew, you are probably thinking.
The flight was bumpy but uneventful, first time out of the North Terminal at Gatwick and I must say compared to the South Terminal it was looking a little tired and on a lot of different levels and stairs not slopes, what were you thinking, North Terminal Architect?
Getting out of MCO took longer than expected due to refurbishment, it seemed that no sooner had you got to the end of one queue you joined another.
The villa is in Highlands Reserve and to be honest after the two Villas at Providence, it was a bit of a let down, if this had been our first Florida Villa it would have been, this is all right, pity about the slow internet, but Providence has spoilt us. It didn’t help that when we got here they were still cleaning it even though we were later than expected, it looks like it is someone’s home. (Alison you are right – white all the way) it is very off putting to be confronted by other peoples taste in crockery and plastic plants.
Enough about that lets get on to the good stuff.
Magic Kingdom:- not a lot can be said that hasn’t been said before but we had fast passes for Big Thunder Mountain Railroad which might be my favourite, and Spash Mountain close second. We also had Seven Dwarves Minetrain but that was for later.
After Splash Mountain we came back to the Villa for an hour before going to Red Lobster – yum and going back to Magic Kingdom, this year we are determined to do all the late night stuff starting with Wishes, which is the 9pm firework display, 9pm might not sound late but Florida is 5 hours behind the UK so from our point of view it is at 2am.
Seven dwarves mine train
Some general photos of the park
Tomorrow land looks really good at night even though it looks like it stepped out of the Jetsons
After wishes they project stories on to the Castle.
More later
Day 13
We had a really early start today, we needed to be out of the Villa by 10 O’Clock, but also Simon had booked a fast pass for Cinderella and Rupunzel between 11 and 12. We needed to drop our bags off at early checkin at Disney Springs, so we actually left the Villa at 9:05.
We drove up to Disney Springs, dropped the bags off with the Virgin rep, Simon was smug because he had weighed all the suitcases and knew they were under the luggage allowance, whereas the people in front of us had to do some juggling between their suitcases. We then spent a little time trying to get out of the car park in the end Simon found a lorry which looked like it knew where it was going.
We arrived in plenty of time to see Cinderella and Rupunzel,
then we got lucky outside and had our pictures taken with Fairy Godmother who was lovely,
we got accosted by a Lady in waiting walking across the courtyard.
For breakfast we went to Gaston’s and had a warm Cinnamon bun (which wasn’t warm) which was a little dry but quite nice, a fruit cup between us and two cups of coffee which weren’t very nice.
Then to ride Big thunder railroad for the final time 😦 and splash Mountain before going to Columbus Harbour for a Lobster Roll, we had one last walk round before getting in the car and driving to the Airport.
Day 11 and 12
Day 11
We spent today in the magic kingdom, we bought the last of the gifts, and rode Big Thunder Mountain Railroad again.
Day 12
Day 12 was about finishing up our holiday, usually we don’t queue for anything but Tigger and Winnie the Pooh arrived at their photo spot as we walked past, so we decided to wait for them, I’m assuming that because of the thickness of the suits and the heat they were only allowed out for 15 minutes at a time. Half way into the line they went off either to cool off or change for another set of Tigger and Winnie the Pooh.
Aladdin and Friends
After the success of waiting for Tigger and Winnie the Pooh we decided to try our luck with Jasmine and Aladdin
Ariel
We had a fast pass for Ariel in her grotto
Day 6, Shopping and Wishes
Not much to share for day 6, we decided to take it easy, so we went to the Premium Outlet to go shopping and we had a couple of late Fast Passes, so we had the afternoon off and went over to the magic Kingdom to do The Haunted Mansion and Seven Dwarves Mine Train, we also had a very nice Lobster Roll from Columbia Harbour House which was surprisingly good value.
The Haunted Mansion wasn’t quite what either of us expected, Simon thought it was just a walk round thing, and I thought it would be a Ghost Train with things jumping out at you. There were lots of visual effects and some animatronics, but no Jumping out at you.
We also caught a glimpse of the electrical parade
Simon had read somewhere that if you can’t get fast passes for Wishes one of the best places to see it was from the ticket and transportation hub, this had the added bonus that once it finished you were on the carpark side rather than having to catch the ferry/monorail with all the other people.
Florida 2016
Back in Florida this year, after enjoying last year so much we couldn’t wait to get back. After the atrocious weather back in the UK, the Florida sunshine is lovely and gives me a chance to wear a lot of my recently made clothes.
We arrived two hours later than expected which rather scuppered Simons plans for Crab legs at the Red Lobster for the first evening, so we settled for a trip to the Publix and a Papa Johns Pizza, which has a delicious barbecue base that we can’t get from Papa Johns in the UK.
Our first full day (Sunday 1st May) was taken up in the morning with the mundane, registering with the Villa people and talking to the Virgin rep about changing our hire car. After a quick trip back to the Airport to change the car, never hire a Jeep, Simon is very happy now with a Toyota we rushed over to The Magic Kingdom, our first Fast Pass ran out at 13:30 we made it with minutes to spare.
With Big Thunder Mountain out of the way, we could now relax, have a little walk round and enjoy the sunshine, before heading back over to Splash Mountain.
We had lunch at Casey’s Corner, which was packed and where we made a rookie mistake and ordered the larger meal instead of the normal meal, needless to say neither of us managed to finish our meal, the chips (fries) were delicious.
After Splash mountain, which was a great at last year, but appeared to be a good deal wetter, I spent the next hour with a very damp bum 🙂
We also did Peter Pan’s Flight which was quite magical, and I think that we will have to ride it again as there were a couple of bits we didn’t see properly, it was a bit daunting getting on to the ride as the cars don’t stop, so you have to juggle with the moving walk way and the moving car and my total lack of coordination.
Peter Pan’s Flight the cars are suspended from the top, one of the cast members sprinkles pixie dust on the safety Bar which then lowered its self. Then it takes you on a flight across London and then on to Neverland, where you can see the Mermaids and the Indian camp, Pan fighting Captain Hook and Hook fighting with the Crocodile, my words aren’t really doing it justice.
Saturday, Magic Kingdom
We decided to have a lazy morning before heading out to The Magic Kingdom in the afternoon.
The two rides we had Fast passes for were, Pirates of the Caribbean and Thunder Mountain rail road.
Pirates of the Carribean, was another animatronics ride, before we got on the boat we were warned that we would get wet, we did get slightly damp but nothing as to what I expected.
The other ride was Big Thunder Mountain which was a roller coaster type ride, which was brilliant, we went up there first time to discover it was closed for some reason, the man on the rope line was very helpful, and said it shouldn’t be out for more than about 2 hours and our fast passes would work up until the park closed.
We went off to kill some time by having an ice cream, by the time we had queued up for that and eaten it the ride was open and we hiked all the way back up there.
It was Worth the wait and Simon enjoyed it as well.
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