Walt Disney World - Day 1 - Magic Kingdom

We had a character breakfast at 1900 Park Fare at the Grand Floridian so we had to figure out right away how to navigate the bus system that gets you everywhere at Disneyworld. The first day was a little complicated. We did figure it out though. 

We were on the Dining Plan ...way too much food. We ended up with 2 extra counter services and an extra table service...mostly because Don left a day earlier than we did and they wouldn't let me modify the plan when I made our reservations to show him for 6 days and the rest of us for 7 days. Oh well. Moving on.... Anyway, I used the dining plan Table Service options for character meals each time. Kids loved it and we saw loads of characters that way.

1900 Park Fare does an Alice/Mad Hatter/Mary Poppins breakfast then for lunch and dinner it is Cinderella/Prince Charming/Step-mother/Step-sisters. We got two extra characters at breakfast -- Pooh and Tigger. That was fun! H is all about characters and autographs just like her mommy. N and Don are the ride guys. It works our pretty well. 

I always take a pre-decorated autograph book. This year I only decorated for pages I KNEW we would see characters for -- those I knew we would see at character meals. For the rest, I took 4x6 slips of paper and a clipboard to collect autographs. The characters always LOVE to see their pages all decorated and ready for them. 

When I made the reservations I was sure to tell them it was N's 6th birthday. At Park Fare they made special (microphoned) announcements of each person celebrating a birthday and asked everyone to sing along. I was into it because it was N's birthday. If it wasn't his birthday I probably would have been less interested. Look at the stinkin' cute cupcake they brought him! Those sprinkles are Mickey heads.

 

They also brought him a crown and a special laminated 1900 Park Fare placemat. Here is the birthday boy -- not his best photo but I'll keep him. 

After breakfast we hopped back on the monorail and head for Magic Kingdom. Of course we missed the rope drop so folks were already in the parks. Oh well. It was NOT busy so we were walking onto most of the rides or minimal waits. 

We went first to Fantasyland. Here is where my WDW and Disneyland comparisons will begin (I've been promising). Really...Magic Kingdom and Disneyland are nearly identical in layout so I didn't feel too lost while I was there. 

We rode the teacups first. Biggest differences are the designs on the cups -- in Disneyland they follow the suits on the cards (hearts, spades and stuff) and WDW has weird designs. WDW has the covering (ramada) over the ride. There isn't one at Disneyland. Mostly in the open with some tree cover. I LOVED that Alice was hanging out there and they seem to have her there regularly. Not as easy to find her at Disneyland. 

Dumbo was next on our list. We know that line can get out of hand so we went on it early. Ride is the same except Disneyland has water in the well of the ride and WDW is dry. AND Disneyland hands out black plastic feathers and WDW hands out colored plastic cards. Remember from the movie that Dumbo held that feather in his trunk? He didn't hold a plastic color coded card. I'm just sayin' ....

The kids posed in Casey Jr. train prop. There is an actual ride at Disneyland for this. 

From here, we went to Toontown. It is WAY smaller than Disneyland's Toontown and is very narrow. The layout makes it very easy to get clogged up with people coming and going. Don and N went on the barnstormer while H and I went to the Tink line. It said 60 minutes and the princess line said 30 minutes. My feet said "UGH!" We skipped the princess line since we had a dinner with them later in the week.

We waited closer to 45 minutes and they took us in in small groups and sprinkled us with pixie dust to shrink us (she just waved a wand over our heads) to fairy size. Then opened the door to....ANOTHER QUEUE for the fairy wait! This one had cute props along the walls and light features that made it look like the fairies were flying around. 

I had read there were supposed to be 4 fairies there but we only got two: Tink and Fawn. 

After coming out of there, Don paged me and told me that they had stormed the barn many times and N LOVED it. Told me to hustle because there was an area near the trains in Toontown that was loaded with characters.

When we got there we saw Meeko from Pocahontas, Robin Hood, Friar Tuck, Marie (Aristocats), Baloo, and Dopey. Rafiki was there also but he has a pretty permanent queue in Adventureland near the bridge so we skipped over him and we skipped over Pluto knowing we'd see him at a dinner. 8 characters in one location! 

Next we tried out some Tomorrowland stuff. Kids wanted to skip the Indy car thing (it's Autopia in Disneyland). Fine. We've done that ride a zillion times in Disneyland. Got to Tomorrowland and got in line for the Buzz ride. WDW Buzz ride seriously pales in comparison to the Disneyland one. First off, in Disneyland the blasters are smaller and more compact AND they come out of the holster so you can hold them and move them around to get your shots. This ride was really limiting. I only rode it once. N loves this ride at Disneyland -- one of his favorites. Also, in Disneyland you can e-mail photos of yourself on the ride. At WDW...it was a paid photo only. I did like the photo props outside the ride. 

Stitch ride was next. They don't have this at Disneyland so I was really looking forward to a new ride. YUCK!!! Stay away. Stay far away from this ride. It was awful. You get put into a simulator, plunged into darkness and they blast air at you to feel like Stitch is breathing stinky breath on you and tapping you with his appendages. It was horrible. Stitch spits water at you which N hated. Young kids crying all through it. It was a horrible ride. Really awful. Did I mention, it was terrible?

I had planned to have lunch at Cosmic Ray's as so many folks recommended but N would have none of it and went into meltdown over wanting macaroni on his birthday. Ugh. What can you do? So, I was directed to the nearest macaroni at the Pinocchio restaurant back in Fantasyland. I had an awesome Chicken salad with delicious grape tomatoes and some little mozzarella balls. Delicious! Great choice even if it was tantrum influenced. 

After lunch we went on Small World. I definitely like the Disneyland one better. It is beautiful outside and there is a clock where little characters march out every 15 minutes or so. They decorate it at Christmas time and light it up at night. WDW has the covering over it...the heat I guess. Not bad to get in an out. Not many long lines. I can only imagine what this ride looks like and how clogged up it gets on busy park days. There is not that much space but Disney is great at "THE LINE" feature. I've always joked they should change the name to DisneyLine instead of land. The ride is basically the same. DH was thrilled to see that Israel was represented with a chupah. In Disneyland there is just a "shalom" sign.

Some different things. Disneyland has a whole mermaid thing going and you get bubbles dropped on you at one point. Same mind-numbing song though. Ha ha ha.

Next...Ariel's Grotto. Disneyland has a grotto but it is not as cool as WDW. LOVED the water play area. Super cool. It was perfect for the kids to cool off in a bit. Ariel was seriously not cute though...LONG wait. At least there was the wall to sit on and rest your feet.

Next we strolled over and walked right onto Haunted Mansion. Seriously a bit scarier than the one we usually see with Jack Skellington at Christmas time. I haven't been on the ride since I was a kid when it wasn't decorated for Christmas. The woman with the ax who cut off all the heads of her husbands...geez...I mean, I'm sure she was completely justified...but eek! The ax was a little scary and some of the things she said were too. All in good fun though. 

Strolled through frontierland a teeny bit and met Frontier Donald. 

Went back toward the castle and watched the Dreams Come True show. Really great show. Loads of characters and action. Fun fun fun!

My biggest problem with this was the characters all had blinking eyes and of course they kept closing their eyes every time I snapped a photo. Lots of Mickey and Donald blinking photos. Bummer.

Then it was time for our dinner reservation at Crystal Palace. Loads of people waiting and we had to wait too...even with ressies. Hmph and a hairflip!

Pooh was there too but we never got to see him because it too so long for him to get around. We saw him at breakfast so it was not a big deal. There was a little parade around the dining room that the kids enjoyed. N tripped and was almost trampled by Pooh -- close call. They brought out another birthday cupcake for N. He shared it with his sister. Of course, it came out after they had already gone up and gotten desserts so they were both pretty full and it was pretty much wasted. So much wasted food. Ack!

We got out just in time for the Wishes fireworks show and found a spot near the restaurant to sit and watch. My photos are not great so I'll spare you. 

Then we left the park and headed to the bus back to our hotel. Holy cow...what a zoo. Long line and we ended up standing I think after all day. Poor aching feet. 

Back to our room and baths/showers for the kids and sleep time.