34Angels
10-19-2008, 06:32 PM
Magic Kingdom!!!!
Today started off way better than yesterday. We were up at 630, grabbed our stuff and went to check out (they didn?t have express check out) and grab whatever they had for their continental breakfast, which wasn?t much. Their juice machine was broken and they only had very cheap mini donut packages, like the little powdered or chocolate ones from Hostess, except these left a nasty taste in our mouths. Okay, bad luck was still following us, still can only get better! Anyways, we check out and on to Ft Wilderness!!
We get to the check-in for Ft. Wilderness knowing that our campsite wouldn?t be ready as check-in isn?t until 1 pm and it was around 730 am. We get our welcome package with all the activities going on at the Fort as well as a map and the bus routes, all park times as well as Extra Magic Hour days. We finish up with that, grab our stuff and head over to the Outpost to catch a bus to take us to the Magic Kingdom Ferry.
Let me take a moment to explain the transportation around Ft. Wilderness. They have the Outpost, next to the main office and check-in, they have the Settlement, next to the marina and the ferries, Pioneer Hall, Crocket?s Tavern, etc. There are 3 different bus routes within the campgrounds, purple, orange, and yellow. They all go through the middle and make stops at the Meadows Trading Post and you can get to Outpost or Settlement from any route as well. From Settlement you can catch a ferry to either Magic Kingdom or to Wilderness Lodge and the Contemporary resorts. For everything else, you have to go to Outpost and catch yet another bus.
Okay, back to our day. So we leave our car parked in the overflow, jump on a bus going to the Settlement and ride over to the ferries. On the way we stop and an older couple get on. They notice Jake?s shirt, Green Bay Packers (it was Sunday, game day) and gave the thumbs up and said, at least it?s not Detroit! Jake laughed and said, did you see her shirt, yeah, I had a Detroit Lions shirt on, yeah, my team sucks, what can you do? They laughed and we chatted with them for a bit, got in line at the ferry with them, chatted more, rode the ferry together, yep still chatting. We get to Magic Kingdom, we roll through baggage check, get in the gate, and wait for opening ceremonies, yep, made it to my first ever Rope Drop! On the ferry ride I asked Jake what he wanted to do first, thinking he?d say one of the mountains or Peter Pan. Nope, he said, the castle. Okay, I was confused because I figured we?d hit some rides first, but whatever, I just figured he wanted to get my reaction to the castle on the camera since that?s all he?s talked about, that the castle is gonna blow me away. So I just said, sure, castle first, but after we stop at City Hall and get my 1st Visit and Birthday buttons. So we?re in the park and on the way to City Hall, you can?t miss the castle. That castle is like 10 times bigger than Disneyland?s! I even stopped on the way to City Hall to look down the street at it! We get my buttons and Jake wants coffee so we stop and get coffee and juice for me (I didn?t mess with watching my sugar intake, probably should have but I didn?t) and we head down the street to the front of the castle. We get there and I see a sign for show times and start to go over to it, Jake is pulling on my arm telling me to wait a second, I?m like, I want to see the show times. He?s saying hang on. Great, I?m going to turn around and he?s going to have the stupid camera in my face to take a picture (I really, really wanted to get on some of those rides and worry about pics later!).
So I turn around and he? s not holding a camera, he?s holding a ring and he says, ?Will you marry me?? OMG!!!! I was totally not expecting that, I even backed up into the trash can and said, are you serious? Then I started crying and put the ring on. We just stood there for a minute until I quit crying and then he took a pic of me in front of the castle and then a nice lady took a pic of both of us, saw the way we were acting and that I had been crying and asked, did you two just get in engaged? We told her yes and she and her family told us congrats and then we started calling the family. It took 2 calls and a text of a picture of the ring before my mom called me back (she was still sleeping). After about 15 min of phone calls and leaving messages for people to call us back we decided to ride rides. Because I was so flustered from Jake?s proposal and because I was in a new park I was so disoriented and we just wandered around and got in line for the first ride we saw, It?s a Small World. Yes, my first ride was It?s a Small World! LOL
After that we ran over and got fast passes for Space Mountain, decided to ride Buzz and I actually beat Jake! We then rode the TTA, sorry Mynde, we were too busy looking around that we missed the Space Mountain entrance. Funny thing though, we get into Space Mountain and it?s broken and the lights are on. We have pics and video of what it looks like with the lights on, pretty neat! After TTA we head over to Big Thunder and Splash. Yeah, we ended up in the front row of Splash, fun times. We head back over to Space and find out yes it is operating and used our fast passes. Oh, outside of Space we ran into the lady we had chatted with that morning on the bus and ferry so we said hi again and I showed her my ring because she had asked if we were married and then said, oh, sorry, I could have looked and seen there wasn?t a ring. She told us congrats and we laughed about how she was looking for a ring earlier that morning. After we got off Space it was almost 1, time to call the front desk to see if our campsite was ready, nope, they said call back in an hour. Okay, so what to do for an hour? Buy stuff! We got new lanyards and fast pass holders and a couple of new pins. After awhile we decide to head back and I call the campgrounds again, yep site 2001 is ready for us. So we hop on the ferry and head back to the campground.
So we get to our campsite, comfort station close by, well lit area, didn?t even need a flashlight to get to the comfort station. We did drive around the whole loop and we seriously had the smallest campsite. Everyone else had an area for the picnic table, we didn?t, ours was right on the campsite instead of off to the side. Oh well, it was just us and we had enough room for our huge tent and our screened in shelter, 2 mini-fridges, 2 cots and chairs, under the shelter. Inside the tent we had all the luggage, a queen size air mattress and still had lots of room, could probably have fit 2 more people in there with us. The one thing we didn?t like, we were right next to the road and the bus stop, after awhile you got use to it though. Before we started setting up camp I made us some sandwiches as we were starving and ate. After we set up camp we hung out for a bit and just enjoyed the campsite for awhile. We thought about going swimming but because we had to wait an extra hour before getting our campsite we decided to skip it. We made more sandwiches and then headed back over to the Magic Kingdom for Spectro Magic, Wishes, and Extra Magic Hours. We get there in time to grab some Dole Whips and find a spot right in the hub for the parade, we sat there for over an hour. We were kept entertained by a couple of cast members who had a rope and was turning it for kids. Some of those kids can really jump rope! There were a couple of itty bitty little boys that would jump and spin around they were so cute! Anyways, we watched Spectro Magic and since Wishes was right after it we stayed in the hub. After Wishes we rode Big Thunder, man is that an awesome ride at night! We stopped by to see the wait time for Peter Pan, an hour? Fast pass please! We then went and rode Space Mountain and Buzz again (Jake won) went and rode Haunted Mansion and then Pirates stopping on the way to HM to get a cookie and a drink. We headed back to Fantasy land and did Mickey?s Philharmagic and it still wasn?t time for our fast passes. Yep, we were getting on rides very fast, I think Haunted Mansion was the longest wait and it was only 10 min. So I decided I wanted to ride Winnie the Pooh and we wandered around Fantasy land looking for it, we must have walked through there 3 times before I asked someone, we just didn?t walk down far enough. So we ride Pooh and then it was time for Peter Pan. After our trip to Neverland we decided to head back to the campsite, it was a little after 11, still almost a full hour left of EMH but we were beat and had morning EMH for Animal Kingdom in the morning. As we were leaving it started to rain. We pulled out our 2 for $1 ponchos I got at the Dollar Store and we stayed nice and dry. We got back to the campsite around midnight and passed out.
Some final thoughts for the day, over all a very good day, especially the morning!! We got a lot of rides in and made some comparisons to the same rides at Disneyland. Splash Mountain, love the WDW version but like the queue better at DL I really like that you sit side by side at WDW, Haunted Mansion, liked the WDW version better but like DL?s trip from the stretch room to the doom buggies better, not as crowded by the time you get to the doom buggies, Pirates, well, we haven?t seen the new one at DL but if the additions are about the same as WDW, I have to give it to DL, more drops! Buzz, like them both but like DL better because there are more targets, different shapes and you can take the stupid gun off the car! LOL Space Mountain, I like them both, I can?t pick between the two, and Big Thunder, I like WDW?s better, but still like DL's as well. As for Wishes, sorry but Remember Dreams Come True blows Wishes out of the water.
Day 3 Trailer: Face to face with a Yeti, afternoon thunderstorms, and lots of candy!
Still no pics, I'm not very patient tonight! LOL
Today started off way better than yesterday. We were up at 630, grabbed our stuff and went to check out (they didn?t have express check out) and grab whatever they had for their continental breakfast, which wasn?t much. Their juice machine was broken and they only had very cheap mini donut packages, like the little powdered or chocolate ones from Hostess, except these left a nasty taste in our mouths. Okay, bad luck was still following us, still can only get better! Anyways, we check out and on to Ft Wilderness!!
We get to the check-in for Ft. Wilderness knowing that our campsite wouldn?t be ready as check-in isn?t until 1 pm and it was around 730 am. We get our welcome package with all the activities going on at the Fort as well as a map and the bus routes, all park times as well as Extra Magic Hour days. We finish up with that, grab our stuff and head over to the Outpost to catch a bus to take us to the Magic Kingdom Ferry.
Let me take a moment to explain the transportation around Ft. Wilderness. They have the Outpost, next to the main office and check-in, they have the Settlement, next to the marina and the ferries, Pioneer Hall, Crocket?s Tavern, etc. There are 3 different bus routes within the campgrounds, purple, orange, and yellow. They all go through the middle and make stops at the Meadows Trading Post and you can get to Outpost or Settlement from any route as well. From Settlement you can catch a ferry to either Magic Kingdom or to Wilderness Lodge and the Contemporary resorts. For everything else, you have to go to Outpost and catch yet another bus.
Okay, back to our day. So we leave our car parked in the overflow, jump on a bus going to the Settlement and ride over to the ferries. On the way we stop and an older couple get on. They notice Jake?s shirt, Green Bay Packers (it was Sunday, game day) and gave the thumbs up and said, at least it?s not Detroit! Jake laughed and said, did you see her shirt, yeah, I had a Detroit Lions shirt on, yeah, my team sucks, what can you do? They laughed and we chatted with them for a bit, got in line at the ferry with them, chatted more, rode the ferry together, yep still chatting. We get to Magic Kingdom, we roll through baggage check, get in the gate, and wait for opening ceremonies, yep, made it to my first ever Rope Drop! On the ferry ride I asked Jake what he wanted to do first, thinking he?d say one of the mountains or Peter Pan. Nope, he said, the castle. Okay, I was confused because I figured we?d hit some rides first, but whatever, I just figured he wanted to get my reaction to the castle on the camera since that?s all he?s talked about, that the castle is gonna blow me away. So I just said, sure, castle first, but after we stop at City Hall and get my 1st Visit and Birthday buttons. So we?re in the park and on the way to City Hall, you can?t miss the castle. That castle is like 10 times bigger than Disneyland?s! I even stopped on the way to City Hall to look down the street at it! We get my buttons and Jake wants coffee so we stop and get coffee and juice for me (I didn?t mess with watching my sugar intake, probably should have but I didn?t) and we head down the street to the front of the castle. We get there and I see a sign for show times and start to go over to it, Jake is pulling on my arm telling me to wait a second, I?m like, I want to see the show times. He?s saying hang on. Great, I?m going to turn around and he?s going to have the stupid camera in my face to take a picture (I really, really wanted to get on some of those rides and worry about pics later!).
So I turn around and he? s not holding a camera, he?s holding a ring and he says, ?Will you marry me?? OMG!!!! I was totally not expecting that, I even backed up into the trash can and said, are you serious? Then I started crying and put the ring on. We just stood there for a minute until I quit crying and then he took a pic of me in front of the castle and then a nice lady took a pic of both of us, saw the way we were acting and that I had been crying and asked, did you two just get in engaged? We told her yes and she and her family told us congrats and then we started calling the family. It took 2 calls and a text of a picture of the ring before my mom called me back (she was still sleeping). After about 15 min of phone calls and leaving messages for people to call us back we decided to ride rides. Because I was so flustered from Jake?s proposal and because I was in a new park I was so disoriented and we just wandered around and got in line for the first ride we saw, It?s a Small World. Yes, my first ride was It?s a Small World! LOL
After that we ran over and got fast passes for Space Mountain, decided to ride Buzz and I actually beat Jake! We then rode the TTA, sorry Mynde, we were too busy looking around that we missed the Space Mountain entrance. Funny thing though, we get into Space Mountain and it?s broken and the lights are on. We have pics and video of what it looks like with the lights on, pretty neat! After TTA we head over to Big Thunder and Splash. Yeah, we ended up in the front row of Splash, fun times. We head back over to Space and find out yes it is operating and used our fast passes. Oh, outside of Space we ran into the lady we had chatted with that morning on the bus and ferry so we said hi again and I showed her my ring because she had asked if we were married and then said, oh, sorry, I could have looked and seen there wasn?t a ring. She told us congrats and we laughed about how she was looking for a ring earlier that morning. After we got off Space it was almost 1, time to call the front desk to see if our campsite was ready, nope, they said call back in an hour. Okay, so what to do for an hour? Buy stuff! We got new lanyards and fast pass holders and a couple of new pins. After awhile we decide to head back and I call the campgrounds again, yep site 2001 is ready for us. So we hop on the ferry and head back to the campground.
So we get to our campsite, comfort station close by, well lit area, didn?t even need a flashlight to get to the comfort station. We did drive around the whole loop and we seriously had the smallest campsite. Everyone else had an area for the picnic table, we didn?t, ours was right on the campsite instead of off to the side. Oh well, it was just us and we had enough room for our huge tent and our screened in shelter, 2 mini-fridges, 2 cots and chairs, under the shelter. Inside the tent we had all the luggage, a queen size air mattress and still had lots of room, could probably have fit 2 more people in there with us. The one thing we didn?t like, we were right next to the road and the bus stop, after awhile you got use to it though. Before we started setting up camp I made us some sandwiches as we were starving and ate. After we set up camp we hung out for a bit and just enjoyed the campsite for awhile. We thought about going swimming but because we had to wait an extra hour before getting our campsite we decided to skip it. We made more sandwiches and then headed back over to the Magic Kingdom for Spectro Magic, Wishes, and Extra Magic Hours. We get there in time to grab some Dole Whips and find a spot right in the hub for the parade, we sat there for over an hour. We were kept entertained by a couple of cast members who had a rope and was turning it for kids. Some of those kids can really jump rope! There were a couple of itty bitty little boys that would jump and spin around they were so cute! Anyways, we watched Spectro Magic and since Wishes was right after it we stayed in the hub. After Wishes we rode Big Thunder, man is that an awesome ride at night! We stopped by to see the wait time for Peter Pan, an hour? Fast pass please! We then went and rode Space Mountain and Buzz again (Jake won) went and rode Haunted Mansion and then Pirates stopping on the way to HM to get a cookie and a drink. We headed back to Fantasy land and did Mickey?s Philharmagic and it still wasn?t time for our fast passes. Yep, we were getting on rides very fast, I think Haunted Mansion was the longest wait and it was only 10 min. So I decided I wanted to ride Winnie the Pooh and we wandered around Fantasy land looking for it, we must have walked through there 3 times before I asked someone, we just didn?t walk down far enough. So we ride Pooh and then it was time for Peter Pan. After our trip to Neverland we decided to head back to the campsite, it was a little after 11, still almost a full hour left of EMH but we were beat and had morning EMH for Animal Kingdom in the morning. As we were leaving it started to rain. We pulled out our 2 for $1 ponchos I got at the Dollar Store and we stayed nice and dry. We got back to the campsite around midnight and passed out.
Some final thoughts for the day, over all a very good day, especially the morning!! We got a lot of rides in and made some comparisons to the same rides at Disneyland. Splash Mountain, love the WDW version but like the queue better at DL I really like that you sit side by side at WDW, Haunted Mansion, liked the WDW version better but like DL?s trip from the stretch room to the doom buggies better, not as crowded by the time you get to the doom buggies, Pirates, well, we haven?t seen the new one at DL but if the additions are about the same as WDW, I have to give it to DL, more drops! Buzz, like them both but like DL better because there are more targets, different shapes and you can take the stupid gun off the car! LOL Space Mountain, I like them both, I can?t pick between the two, and Big Thunder, I like WDW?s better, but still like DL's as well. As for Wishes, sorry but Remember Dreams Come True blows Wishes out of the water.
Day 3 Trailer: Face to face with a Yeti, afternoon thunderstorms, and lots of candy!
Still no pics, I'm not very patient tonight! LOL