Saturday, June 2
Magic Kingdom
Everyone had to get up nice and early this morning. Jacqueline's BBB was at 8:05. Although I had bought Mickey waffles at Walmart, there wasn't time to cook and eat them. Breakfast was pop tarts. Jacqueline put on her red Elena dress (which I had come dangerously close to forgetting to pack) and we all loaded up in the Rogue and headed to the TTC.
Once we got parked, we had to decide how to get to the Magic Kingdom. I had heard the boats were slowest, and we were on a schedule. So we headed to the monorail station only to be told the monorails weren't running yet. We were directed to a bus.
Now that Main Street is open before the regular opening time (which was 8:00 today,) getting to pre-opening dining and BBB reservations is a much more complicated matter. Our destination was the castle, but we were sent on a route that took us away from the castle and through Liberty Square for a bit before finally finding ourselves entering the castle - through the back this time. One of the Fairy Godmothers in training announced that the Welcome Show was about to begin, but it was time for our appointment. Since Jacqueline already had her dress, the makeover was a quicker and simpler process, not to mention less expensive. But they again did a fabulous job. The princess looked perfect.
The park was incredibly busy today, so if not for my fastpass selections, it's not likely we would have gotten to do much of anything we liked. We had plenty of time until our first fastpass for Space Mountain, so we asked Jacqueline if she wanted to meet the princesses at Fairy Tale Hall (allowing us to free up two fast passes) but she didn't want to. I think we rode the carousel and the Mad Tea Party next (Julie sitting out the teacups of course.) We watched Philharmagic for the first time too. I didn't know much about it, but I really enjoyed it.
Then it was time to head for Tomorrowland. Three of us (guess which three) rode Space Mountain. I still love it. When we got out, Jacqueline announced she had left her glasses in the little pouch. A nearby castmember (I think his name was Jose) overheard and asked me if I happened to remember the car number, which it just so happens I did. He then sent us down to a certain area. When we got there, another castmember had found the glasses. Crisis averted. Julie bought a Mickey lanyard for work. We hadn't spent much time in Tomorrowland during our last trip, so I was glad we concentrated a little more on this area today. After a casual ride on the People Mover, I wanted to ride Astro Orbiters, but no one else did, so they waited for me. It was fun, basically Dumbo a little higher off the ground.
​
For lunch, we went to Pinocchio's Village Haus. I had tried to use the new mobile ordering feature on the MDE app, but the server wasn't connecting or something. So we went in and ordered the old fashioned way. The flatbread pizza was good.
At some point during our wanderings in or near Tomorrowland, we stopped at a Photopass photographer spot and posed for a few family shots. We were told to pose in the last one, as if reacting to something. I thought this would be a magic shot, but nothing "magical" appeared in the final shot; we are reacting to nothing. This may have been an error, not sure. (I added the Magic Kingdom border myself.)
When it was time for the next fastpass, we headed back to Fantasy Land. Jacqueline got to meet Cinderella (from whom she had already gotten an autograph at Akershus in 2015) and Elena, who was clearly impressed by her little doppel-ganger. The wait time for the other half of the Hall was around 20 minutes, so we decided to go ahead and meet Rapunzel and Tiana today, allowing me to cancel the fastpass for Tuesday and keep checking for 7DMT (which I never could get, but oh well, I tried.) Rapunzel looked through Jacqueline's autograph book and seemed impressed by her collection. Tiana was a doll and even showed a few dance moves to her guest. Two more princess autographs.
Next, Jacqueline and I rode Dumbo (complete with the playtime waiting room experience) while Jordan did some shopping with Mom. Then all four of us rode Goofy's Barnstormers, which reminded me a bit of the Mini Mine Train at Six Flags.
During one of our trips from Main Street to the Hub, we were stopped because a high school marching band was coming through. It wasn't Jordan's band, but they were from Texas. Cleveland, Texas, to be exact. I was not at all familiar with that town. Texas is a BIG place, after all. A Google Map search later revealed it was down in the vicinity of Houston.
At one point, we wanted ice cream, so we headed back to Main Street to find the famous ice cream parlor. But the line was far too long. So we settled for Auntie Gravity's. Jacqueline accidentally spilled some on her dress (thankfully it came out in the wash.) Then it was finally time for our fastpass to Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin. Julie was worried about the word "spin" in the name but was grateful that you don't spin on this ride unless you choose to. I liked the visuals on the ride, but the "gaming" element of it has been done better elsewhere.
Jacqueline wanted to watch the Monsters Inc. Laugh Floor show. We had already seen it before, but anything that offered a few minutes of air conditioning sounded good. Then, I suggested trying the Carousel of Progress. It was cloudy and starting to sprinkle, another good reason to choose an indoor attraction. We felt like the only family in the room who didn't have all the lyrics to "Big Bright Beautiful Tomorrow" memorized. After the 1900's bit was over, we heard a loud noise from under the floor. Then the same sequence began again. I think we were supposed to rotate to a different stage or something, but it wasn't happening. We were stuck watching the 1900's sequence seven times. We were all doomed to learn that stupid song (along with every word of the dialogue) whether we wanted to or not. We were warned not to leave the ride a few times, then they said to wait for an attendant to help us off. I don't know what they were worried about. The problem was clearly that the ride wasn't moving. Anyway, when we got off, we decided it was time to call it a day. We rode the monorail back to the TTC.
Dinner was turkey sandwiches at the condo. We took it easy the rest of the evening and just soaked up the A/C in the condo.
​
