Magic Kingdom
Day 2 - August 11, 2002
July 13, 2003

Magic Kingdom
Breakfast in Cinderella's Castle
Boardwalk Meet!
 Princesses
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Today is Early Entry (I know Extra Magic Hour, but I still like EE!) at the Magic Kingdom.  Everyone up and ready to catch the 7:30 MK boat.  As we walked down to the pier, we saw an armadillo(!) digging around in the bushes on the way.  He seemed to be unafraid of people, but I could not get a picture.  As soon as I took my camera out of the bag it fogged right up.  It was pretty humid, and he A/C in the room had cooled the camera down too much.  Maybe next time!  He was really cool.  I wonder if Disney brought him in here.  I would not be surprised. 

The boat arrived promptly at 7:30 and was standing room only be the time we left.  It was dedicated to the WL - so they KNEW it would be packed this EE morning!  Short lines at the security tables and a few minute way and we went in just a few minutes before 8:00am.  There were huge lines all the way across the gates - it was the busiest EE I've ever seen.  Riding DumboWe headed right to Fantasyland and waited about 10 minutes for Dumbo and then the same for Pooh.  Next - off to Neverland with Peter Pan.  Just made it because the line was HUGE by the time we finished this one.  Made the mistake of letting the girls pick Small World next.   This ride can be left to later and it takes up quite a bit of valuable EE time.  With how busy it was this morning we should have headed to some other more busy rides.  And to boot, I missed it!  I had to run back to the stroller and Kristen thought I said to go ride Small World without me.  NOT that big a problem, but the A/C would have been nice!  I can always plug my ears if I have to!  ;-) 

It provided a valuable lesson though.  I won't always be so quick to judge parents who force kids to ride when they obviously don't want to.  While waiting (forever) for Kristen and the girls to return, I saw two (separate) little girls screaming about going on this ride.  The parents nicely talked to them and still it was 'no way'.  So they picked the up and carried them on.  While I would never force the girls to do something REALLY scary - sometimes parents DO know best and have to make a parental decision.  Some children are afraid of everything and would never ride a thing if the parents didn't drag them along.  The first little screamer was all smiles when they came back - and I even hear her talking about all the dolls.  So, I have to defer that some parents are helping their scared children to expand their horizons and try new things.  Of course, this flies out the window on the REALLY scary rides.  We'd never force the girls to go on Tower of Terror, or Alien Terrorestrial!   Even Snow white is a stretch.  Very dark and scary for the littles!Castle Pose

After Small World we hit the Carousel and Snow White.  Maddy doesn't typically like Snow White, but wanted to ride.  She just covered her eyes during the scary parts!  :-)  It was now 9am, and Maddy was DYING to ride Splash Mountain.  We headed that direction and it was a ZOO.  The line looked like it had to be two hours long so we grabbed fast passes to use after breakfast.  Went over to Big Thunder railroad and it was broken down with NO available up time schedule.  Phooey.  Backtracked into Adventureland (through the Frontierland walkway) to ride the Magic Carpets.    No line at all. 

 OK, time to make way to the Castle for breakfast with the princesses.  We arrived a few minutes early and ended up being called before even visiting the Fairy Godmother in the lobby.  Girls with CinderellaWe were all very hungry (It was 9:45 and we had not even had a snack!)  Breakfast was delicious (it really WAS good this time) and the girls even both had seconds.  Had a great table near the windows and even saw Hook chase Peter Pan by during the first Cinderella Surprise show.  Princesses in attendance included Aurora (Maddy's favorite), Snow White, Cinderella, Belle and Mary Poppins.   Girls with Snow WhiteThey all seemed a bit rushed today, but were very nice and the girls enjoyed seeing them very much  (Well, between mouthfuls of bacon and french toast sticks!)  Why they give 4 year olds a breakfast food that  comes with syrup when they will be spending the hour hugging princesses is beyond me! :-)  I'm hoping I got Maddy's hands clean in time!  

VERY fat and happy we headed off to squeek in our fast pass time on Splash Mountain.  Grabbed another FP for Big Thunder Railroad that had a return time of 12:55 (it was just after 11am!)  More backtracking will be required!  Off to Splash Mountain and it was a walk on with Fast Pass.  We must have passed at least 2000 hot, cranky standby riders to get to the head of the line.    I would NEVER do this ride without fast pass.  Well we had at least an hour and a half before we could return for Big Thunder so off to Adventureland.  Pirates has wonderfully cool wait, so I was willing to stand in THAT line, but it was still only a 10 minute wait.  We hit the left side, and it looked like it was shorter than the right side.  Can't really tell for sure...

Brinn and Jasmine Maddy was getting tired, and we had never done the Hall of Presidents, so we decided to head there  (Good - A/C!  - It actually isn't THAT bad heat wise - or else I'm getting a bit used to it, but the humidity is a killer today.  No one wanted to do Tiki birds, the Jungle Cruise OR the treehouse!  Madison and JasmineStopped in the Agrabah shops for a couple new pins and found out that Jasmine was posing for pictures on the other side of the Magic Carpet ride.  Turned out to be Jasmine, Aladdin AND Genie.  Brinn was very excited but Maddy was a bit put off by Genie in her overtired state.  So we ended up with separate pictures. 

OK, off to Hall of Presidents.  Both Kristen and Brinn were looking forward to this one this year.  We had never done it, and with Brinn now in school her interest was strong.  She loved it, and paid very good attention all the way through.  Maddy fell asleep.  :-)  But I think this was more a tired thing than it was a boring thing.  the show was very welldone, and the Animatronic Presidents were wonderful.  Brinn was asking, "Are those REALLY machines?".  I'm glad we worked it in this year! 

Maddy woke up as I was carrying her out - and in a GOOD mood.  That short nap really helped her out.   OK, finally time for Big Thunder Railroad.  This family favorite HAD to be worked in today!  So off we went across the park one more time.   There was about a 60 minute wait (!), but Fast Pass got us on in less than 5 minutes.  have I mentioned that I LOVE Fast Pass?  :-)  Everyone was thrilled with our train ride, except the fact that we couldn't go again!  :-)  We'll be back to MK several more times this trip and will hit it again for sure!

Now it was time to get everyone back to the resort before someone had a meltdown!  Nap time for the kids and mom, and Trip report time for dad.  The boat to WL was standing there waiting for us as we exited the park.  (LOVE that!) so the trip back was quick and painless.

Yesterday was starting to catch up with the girls.  They napped a little over two hours until it was time for us to head out for dinner.  We were meeting AlicaG at the Micro brewery there (forgot the name already!) for dinner before the meet at 7pm.  Alicia was down at the Boardwalk to try it out before her family makes a decsion to join DVC or not.  But that is her trip report, so I can't say too much more! :-) 

Using the free valet parking (remember to tip!) for DVC members is a nice time saving perk (not to mention leg saving!) I called down about 10 minutes before we got to the valet area and the car is ready and waiting for us.  Off to the Boardwalk, and use the valet parking there as well.  They are very friendly and efficent and we are quickly headed into the Boardwalk lobby for the first time.  It was very pretty in there and Kristen and I agreed we need to try it on a future trip.  The resort is beautiful, the pool looks like great fun, there is a nice community center with lots of fun activities and some of the boardwalk/lake views look fantastic. 

We got to the restaurant right on time and Alicia was there shortly after us.  It was great to finally get to meet her!  We got our table and proceeded to talk like old friends!  It was great!  I'll leave all Alicia's trip details for her trip report, but it was great just talking about our trips, families and getting o know one another.  The girls really took to Alicia (they tend to be a bit shy around new people), and were showing off treasures and telling her a few stories.  :-)  Alicia had made each of them a head scarf (sorry Alicia - I have no idea what women call these!) with their names and Jasmine on Brinn's and Aurora on Maddy's!  The girls loved them and had to wear them right away! 

Everyone at the meetAfter dinner it was time for the meet.  The Belle View room was very nice, and while the ladies used the powder room Dennis and Jenine arrived.  Dennis and I recognized each other pretty quickly.  It was great to finally meet them!  The girls all came back and we introduced all around.  Alicia had already meet Dennis and Jenine on a previous trip.  Into the bar area and we found DisneyPam.   More introductions and hellos all around.  :-)  Pam took us out onto the balcony seating area where CelebrationMom and her family were waiting for everyone to arrive.  Pinoch (hope I spelled that right!) showed up soon, followed by Roodad!  :-)  It was a wonderful meet and we all tried to talk to everyone around the group.  I forgot all about pictures until we were going out the door, so I only ended up with a quick group shot (Kristen volunteered as photographer).  From left to right: AliciaG, Tagrel, Dennis and Jenine in back standing, Roodad sitting, DisneyPam in back of Pinoch and her family.

The meet was great fun, but the girls were getting restless (they were actually pretty good for about an hour) but I had promised a bit of Boardwalk time, including playing a game.  Didn't win any prizes but they enjoyed trying.  And at $3.00 per game we didn't try too much!  :-)

We walked around - the kids really enjoyed the mixed up mirrors that changed their look.  We all got quite a laugh out of some of them.  :-)  We did some shopping and then AlicaG gave us a call on the cell phone.  After Kristen and I decided that we wanted to stay here sometime - we asked to see her room.  She met us on the boardwalk and we walked over onto the bridge toward Epcot to first watch Illuminations.  We could see all the higher fireworks and just barely hear the music.  It was fun to catch them this way.  Back to the Boardwalk for a quick tour of the pool area and off to Alicia's room.  Once we got to the room there was a bit of a problem though.  The keycard would not open the door.  upon closer inspection we saw that it was NOT Alicia's card!  The waitress at the Belle View had switched it with another patrons!   I quickly asked if Alica wanted to go buy anything, but it really wasn't funny!   Someone had her card and could start charging as well.  At least her room number was not on the card so they couldn't get in her room too easily.  Off to the front desk to straighten all this out.  It was pretty late so we decided to head on back to the WL.  Said our goodbyes and headed out to get the car.  While we waited for Valet to retrieve the car Kristen ran back inside to make sure Alicia had gotten everything straightened out.  There were a couple of mixed up charges on the card, but that was it.  She would have to straighten those out, but no longer had to worry about the other card still being active.  Drove back to the resort and settled down for a good nights sleep.  Tomorrow - Typhoon Lagoon!


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