Disney Daze - Part Four "A kingdom (re)visited

I've thought a lot about how to write this post about our day in the Magic Kingdom. I was, for years the big Mousehead in our family. You've read in previous posts of my love for Disney parks, music, Pixar, Mickey, the monorail etc. etc. etc. The Disney fan community (heard and seen on many podcasts I listen to) and on Internet discussion boards and fourms talk about folks who "get it" when it comes to the details, hospitality and storylines that drive everything you experience in a Disney park or resort. Up until this trip, despite my personal obsession, I was the only one in my family who "got" Disney. That is no longer the case. Becky and I had many discussions over the cool little things that make living "in the Disney bubble" so enjoyable. I asked her, "so if I had told you this is what it was like, would you have believed me?" "No way", she answered.

What follows is meandering thoughts about our single day in the Magic Kingdom. I had not been there since 1982, Becky had not been there since 1975, and our kids had seen video, but had never been there at all. This will be a long post so I won't be putting up pics. I encourage anyone to visit my trip album at http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=21152&id=100000350462143&l=318cb7cd02 to see pics of everything.

Everybody neat and pretty? Then on with the show...

Disney transportation- We have nothing but positive things to say about the buses, monorails, water taxis etc. at WDW. Why anyone would pay to park, drive with the looney tourists, and miss collecting transportation trading cards is beyond our understanding. We were blessed to be the first stop on the Saratoga Springs bus line. I could see when the park closed that our line for the Saratoga bus was a LOT smaller than the Allstar buses so maybe bringing a car would make sense then. But I doubt it. Buses ran every 25 minutes to all the parks. It was so easy.

We got there at 8am for extra magic hour rope drop as resort guests. We were done with everything around 3pm and had plenty of time to shop, eat, and ride a repeat. We could've rode more repeats but didn't collect any Fast passes as most lines were less than 20 minutes.

I admitted later to choking up a little when we walked under the train station and onto Main Street USA.

Our first ride, the refurbished Space Mountain, thrilled some of us and scared the bajeeberz out of some of us. I rode it twice that day (so did Lydia) but the first time I was in the first seat in the front car. It was VERY dark, and VERY fast (though I know we were only going 28mph--the visual trickery worked). The second time at the end of the day things seemed brighter in there. Becky felt like she was going to die and was mad that I made the ride sound calm to her. I didn't remember it being that intense.

Second was Buzz Lightyear where Becky got the high score for our group shooting Emporer Zurg and his minions at over 40,000. I pulled in a measily 5000 but enjoyed looking at the ride details.

In the first of many character encounters we ran into Stitch in Tomorrowland. We found out the main street bakery sold Divvies (allergy safe) carmel corn and had bought a bag for IZ. Stitch spent most of his time with us trying to steal it. Pretty funny.

Some rides like Space Mountain, Splash Mountain (my favorite this trip), Winnie the Pooh (I hate to admit) , and even the Carousel of Progress really impressed me with the Imagineered details. (My kids still think "Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow" is just as irritating a song as Small World--which we would've skipped even if it hadn't been closed for refurbishment).

Other rides seemed "smaller" to me this time, like when you visit a neighborhood where you grew up and the streets seem tiny. Peter Pan (which still solicited an "oh cool" on the flight over London scene from Nathaniel my ride partner--while Becky was in another ship cracking jokes with our other kids), Pirates, and the Haunted Mansion, three CLASSIC rides, had enjoyable little details and themeing but seemed more nostalgic than thrilling to me. That kind of surprised me.

Another thing that surprised me was my wife's sudden affinity for Disney parades. While I was making every effort to get out of the sun, away from crowds, and under anything providing shade, she said she was ready to get out in the street and start dancing with the characters!! (WOW!) We ended up watching two parades from a distance. And we didn't really have any issues time-wise by enjoying a passing parade. I recommend using the Unofficial Guide touring plans as a basis for what you want to see and modify your plan as you go along. That worked GREAT for us.

We planned on eating at Cinderella's Royal Table for lunch. This was THE BEST thing I think we did the whole trip. You need to reserve it 180 days before your trip and pre-pay, but MAN is it nice!! For those of you, like my wife (and I) who were disappointed as a kid by going THROUGH and not IN the castle (whaaa???), this is your chance to go inside, meet and talk with Cindy, get your picture taken with her, and enjoy FABULOUS food and the BEST service in the Magic Kingdom IMHO. (just TRY and drink all your rootbeer or water before the wait staff is right there with another and a smile--I DARE you!!) After dining on fancy pot roast with mashed potatoes on a pastry puff and chocolate mousse for dessert and interacting with four or five of Cindy's princess friends --who were all clever pros at staying in character no matter what you said to them--we were cooled off, well fed, and refreshed for and afternoon of continued exploration!

My only "FAIL" of the trip was not realizing the weight of the steel barrelled guns at the Frontier shootin' arcade. Most of the ski-bums have never shot anything beyond a Nerf gun and most of them were frustrated when their 17 shots for a buck were up. I'm not certain all of those guns were fully functional either.

One thing I DIDN'T plan on, because I thought it was torn down for the upcoming Fantasyland expansion, was arriving off the WDW Railroad into Mickey's Toontown Fair. This is THE place to meet the Mouse himself and I was really excited to do so after figuring it was a lost cause due to current construction. Classic clips from old-school Disney cartoons play on a big screen in the queue as, group by group, you get ushered in to an unusually still and quiet photo/ interaction area. I'm guessing these cast members have seen every type of reaction possible and the photographers and handlers just stand back and let the moments happen with little or no direction. I was SO glad they hadn't closed this place down yet!

As this winds down, I need to mention one of the last, but also BEST things we experienced at the Magic Kingdom, The Monsters Inc Laugh Floor. This attraction is a comedy club theater were the "script" has live cartoon monster interaction built in. The goal is to make the audience laugh and create "energy" for Monstropolis (or as Roz says, "We MIGHT not have enough power to open the exit doors"). They must pick several people out of the crowd beforehand as they'll put peoples faces up on the big screen as part of the interaction with the performing Monsters.

During the show they have Mike Wazowski's nephew come on screen and tell jokes. He said something like, "I wanna talk to that kid there, in the yellow" Suddenly, there's a spotlight on Isaac and his smiling face is on the big screen. "Hi kid, what's your name?" "Isaac." "Hi Isaac, what grade are you in?" "Second". "OOOh, second grade, the best three years of my life" (laughter). "So Isaac, what do you want to be when you grow up" (at this point I had no clue what he would say) "A fireman" (lots of "awwwws" came from the crowd). I don't even remember the punch line any more I was so proud of him. But it gets better....

We're walking out and a guest in the crowd says, "Excuse me! Is this the little boy who wanted to be a fireman when he grew up?" "Yes this is Isaac" "Well I've been a fireman for 27 years and I want Isaac to have this.." He pulls a pin of Mickey Mouse shaking hands with a fireman off his lanyard and gives it to my son. We were all shocked at his thoughtfulness. Magic. That's what our day was like. It's cliche but it's true. Isaac wore that pin for three days straight and yesterday he asked me, "Dad could I be a drawer (artist) AND a fireman?" I said, "Buddy, you could even be a fireman that DRAWS other firemen!" I love my kids.

We ate late at chef Mickeys that evening (8:55) and had a chance to interact with the fab five in their chef outfits (Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, Donald and Pluto) but the real highlight was the human chef who walked Becky all through the buffet line and told her everything that was safe for Isaac. He also made chicken fingers, salmon and allergen free cupcakes for him. The boy was stuffed!

As kind of a "preview" of our next trip, we decided to take the Magic Kingdom monorail to the Epcot monorail and try and beat the crowds by taking Epcot buses back to Saratoga since that park had already closed. That was nice. The buses were still full and I ended up carrying poor tired (75 pound) IZ from the Magic Kingdom monorail to our resort.

When you check in to Saratoga Springs (which is a Disney Vacation Club "timeshare" resort) they are supposed to say "Welcome home". We certainly felt that way while staying on property and will hopefully return for more adventure. Even Becky has become a Disney park and resort fan.

Nice work Disney. Kudos.