Part 2- Day 1
My first official day at the World started a bit late, after a really late (4:30am!) bedtime the night before. Mickey called to wake me up at 10:10, and I actually managed to get out the door at 10:30! Being out of the room in less than a half hour was a trend that would NOT continue for the rest of the trip, but this particular morning, I was ready to go! I skipped breakfast in favor of getting right to the parks. I had decided upon Animal Kingdom as my first park of the vacation, hoping to hit it while I was excited and my feet were fresh. I usually don’t get there until about the third day of vacation, so by then my feet are hurting, and its just not the same. I waited at the AK stop at the main bus stop, feeling a little odd about being by myself. A bus pulled up, but it was for Magic Kingdom. I decided MK sounded pretty good at the time, so I “cheated” on my plans, and hopped on. MK just seems to have some “magical” way of drawing me there first thing every time!
After the short bus ride to the Magic Kingdom, I encountered the now rather well-known baggage checks outside the turnstiles. I would hate to be the security guy who stands there and yells “No bags, no purses can go this way.. If you have no bags and no purses, you can come right through here..”, and then have to stop at least one person every 30 seconds because they had a bag! The security check was quick, they just had me unzip all the pockets on my backpack, and move things around so they could see the bottom. Frankly I don’t think its really all that effective of a process, as someone could just sneak a weapon into the park in their shoe…but I suppose it makes the general population feel more secure. My next stop was Guest Services, to get my MVMCP ticket. They had mailed it out over 2 weeks before I left, but the ticket had still not arrived by the day I left, so I called WDW, and they said that all I had to do was stop by guest services, and they would print one out for me. The line was about 15 minutes long, but I was glad to get the “dirty work” done before ever setting foot in a park.
MVMCP ticket in hand (well, okay, it was really in my back pocket..) I was ready to hit the Kingdom! Its such a great moment when you emerge from under the train station, and Main Street comes into view.
I’d learn more about how Walt planned this out later in the week, but for the time being, I just drank in the view. I started on the right side of Main St., and was determined to take my time and see everything I wanted to. I worked my way through the shops, and started a list of things I wanted to buy in the back of my notebook, noting the item and where it was located (I didn’t want to lug everything I bought through three different resort changes, and planned to save the shopping for one of my last days). I took a seat outside one of the shops to catch up on my notes of things to buy, and noticed the piano lesson window was right above me! If you’ve never heard of it, there’s a window on the little side street of Main St. (That’s Center St., right?) that advertises dance, singing, and piano lessons. If you catch it at just the right time, you can hear the lessons going on inside. It was a great surprise to stumble upon without even trying! On my way towards the end of Main St. there was one of those CM’s taking photos of people with the castle in the background- I stopped and asked him to take mine, and made a mental note to check on them later.
By the time I was done with Main St., I was ready to tackle the park, so I made my way over to Liberty Square. On the way to the Mansion, I was passing by the Hall of Presidents, and noticed that the wait was only 5 minutes before the next show started. I then noticed a VERY good looking CM working there, complete in his colonial costume, and was an instant history buff, slipping into the building with a lot of excitement. The show ended up being a lot different than I had expected it- I never even knew there was a movie portion- but it was really a lot better than I had expected too! I’d love to see it from the front row, to get a better view of the audio-animatronics. I bet the people in charge of updating this attraction pray that the current president gets re-elected, eeh?
After I left the H of P, I crossed the street to the Christmas shop, and was flooded by about 34935 ornaments I would love to have, as well as a few that I wanted to get for my Ornament Exchange person! I found a piglet one that would be perfect for her, and noted it in the back of my notebook for later purchase. I noticed a little girl decorating the tree in there, and found out that they chose one child to decorate the tree each day, with a basket of ornaments, and they put a sign up that says “Tree decorated by..” with the child’s name. It was so cute that I snapped a picture of the girl decorating it.
I somehow managed to wander from here to Fantasyland, and walked along looking for a ride with a short line to cool off on. Of course, there was Small World! It had a 5 minute wait posted, but was actually a walk-on. When I came to the guy who inquired how many were in my party, and I told him just one, he gave me a look comparable to what I would have expected if I’d told him “Me, 6 camels, and a hippo”. I ended up in the back of my little pink “Good ship Small World”, which turned out to be a great spot for photo taking. Well, let me rephrase that- it was a good spot for attempted photo taking- I could hardly get any to come out right! You know… It’s a world of laughter…People say that that ride brainwashes you… A world of tears…and manipulates your mind through that song.. It’s a world of hope.. But really, I don’t think it affected me at all..And a world of fears… Psh, brainwashed by a ride, what an urban legend… It’s a small world after all! I was surprised to see an empty Coke bottle floating in the middle of the ride, somewhere around Norway, but noticed that when my boat got back, a CM was hopping on the next one with a long grabby-stick-sort of thing, which I would assume was for catching that rebel bottle. (Months later, I’m sure the empty bottle was from a failed attempt at bottling the famous Small World Water to sell it on the black market of Disney Drinking water!!! Where would I be without the DIS to answer these questions!?) One interesting thing I noticed this time is that there is some form of sun or moon in every country or area! Pretty nifty. The big spinning sun still freaks me out- I’m convinced that with the combination of that and the music, they’re somehow convincing you that you want to go on over to the Emporium next and buy lots and lots of pretty things! Yes.. Emporium.. I will hand them my room card…. ::snaps out of it:: And, I apologize in advance to all (two of..) you die hard Small World fanatics, but I really think it could use a tiny little bit of updating. I know most of the appeal is… well, I don’t know what to call it! But this time through it reminded me of those projects kids make in grade school with glitter and glue… I noticed that some of the dolls hair was dusty, and it could just use a little more attention. I’m not sure exactly what they could change without changing TOO much.. it just needs… something.
After Small World, I really wanted to relax and write down a few notes for my trip report at my favorite spot in Fantasyland -the balcony on the outside of the Pinocchio Village Haus restaurant, but when I went inside to check, I found the stairs leading up to be roped off :( In search of shade and seating, I decided to go see the Legend of the Lion king, which I’ve never seen before. I got there about 5 minutes before the show started, and found it quite crowded. Just a minute later, they started letting people into the pre-show area, and I found myself about 20 feet from the back of the area, completely surrounded by shoulder-to-shoulder people. It was SO hot and crowded in there, and I couldn’t see a thing, partially because some guy about ten feet in front of me had put his kid up on his shoulders and was blocking the view bigtime. Now, I’m not claustrophobic usually, but it was so hot and packed in there, I wanted out, but there wasn’t really a way out (just an emergency exit), so I squeezed my way back to the very back by the doors we had entered from. My view was pretty much the same, but there was actually room to breathe. About 5 minutes later, they opened the main seating area, and the theater ended up not being very crowded. I’d hate to see the pre-show area on a crowded day!! It was such a relief to get to a seat in the theater where I wasn’t completely sardined with people invading my “bubble” ;-) The actual show was pretty cute, but a lot of kids started screaming and crying when Simba’s dad died (they had a dead lion puppet on stage! Can you say emotional damage?), some of which continued through most of the rest of the show. I’d give the attraction about a 5 out of 10 overall- it has the potential to be really good, put the whole way they handled the pre-show really put me off, and I think it was a little much for kids in some areas. But hey, you’ve gotta love Lion King music! Some people say they like this lion king show as much as the one at Animal Kingdom, but I don’t even see how you can compare! I may have just hit it at a bad time, which could have really effected my opinion though. I really think they should just eliminate the pre-show- its mostly just clips from the movie, and seems to be a lot of hassle for nothing. (Heh, a few months later Disney eliminated the whole attraction, it seems!)
On the way from the show back to the castle, I realized that Fantasyland really has this draining effect on me, even if I’m not really doing anything! I went to the castle to go through the shop inside, which is one of my favorite gift shops in WDW. They had a really cute fairy jewelry box that I wanted to get for my friend Kelly (of DFW Airport fame!), but it was pretty expensive, so I passed (Sorry, Kelly!) Once I came back to Main Street, people were already lining up for the parade, and it wasn’t even 2! I decided to check on the pictures I had taken earlier that day (they weren’t very good, so I skipped em), and stop in the Emporium to look around a while, and then hopped on the ferry over to WL to rest for a while, as I really wasn’t in the mood to go all the way back to Riverside at the time. I was really wishing at this time that I already had my room at the WL, because its so much convenient to go back to from MK when you need a break. I couldn’t quite decide what to do to kill time until MVMCP, as it was only about 2:45, and I wasn’t planning to be there until almost 7. I stopped in Roaring forks and got a brownie, which I took up to the sitting area by the fireplace on the 4th floor, and just killed a little over an hour sitting there soaking up the lodge and writing down a few notes. It reminded me how much I adore the lodge, and made me very excited to be staying there later that week!
After resting up at WL, I decided to just go back to Riverside to have some dinner and hang out for a while. After getting off the bus, I took the long way back to my room, walking past almost all of the Alligator Bayou buildings on my way (Um, I did that on purpose, really! I mean it! Okay, wrong bus stop.) Frankly, they look mostly the same to me ;) I went down to Colonel’s Cottonmill and picked up some breadsticks and a mug. One of the bad parts of Riverside is that, as far as I have explored, there are really NO buildings close to the lobby and restaurants. Even the closest ones are a pretty good walk. Now while this isn’t too big of a deal first thing in the morning, when you’re ready for breakfast and will do anything it takes to conquer anything between you and food, at night when you’ve been in the parks for around 700 hours that day, you’re tired, your feet hurt, and you are carrying a tray of food in one hand, and your mug, key, and day’s purchases in the other, the added walking distance feels a lot more evident (I did get really good at unlocking the door while holding a tray full of food and a handful of stuff though, thankyouverymuch.) Back in the room I relaxed, ate, and watched TV until a little after six. As I was walking towards the bus stop to catch a bus to the MK, my phone rang, but when I answered, I couldn’t hear anyone talking. I called Dan Murphy, assuming it had been him, since we were supposed to meet up at MVMCP. It ended up that it wasn’t Dan, though! A few minutes later they called again, and it was Nate (of NASTEE Trip Report fame) calling to see if I wanted to join his group for Illuminations that night. It sounded like a lot of fun, but I already had plans for MVMCP, so I had to decline.
Right as I hopped in line for the turnstiles at MK, a band came out and started playing Christmas music! It was a great touch. Then, right as I entered Main Street, “snow” started drifting down from above! What magic!
I called Dan, who said he was over by Pirates with the DIS group, so I set off in that direction. My mental map was totally thrown off at night and with the new Aladdin ride being thrown in, and I couldn’t find Pirates! Luckily, a CM pointed me in the right direction, and I saw Dan inside the photo area, where people were getting their free MVMCP family photos taken. He gestured for me to come on over, so I stepped over the chain to talk to him. The photo guy said I needed to get a card, so I went back to the beginning of the line to get one, but the CM there got kind of rude with me, asking if I had just tried to cut in line. I said I hadn’t, that I had just gone over to talk to someone who was waiting for me. He asked me the person’s name, and where he was from, and then gave me a card. I don’t know if he was being serious or not, but he came across as really rude and very un-Disney! I hopped back in line for the photos, and Dan & I got one taken together. (I received it in the mail about a week after I got home. I do wish they had a different background though)
Our photo session complete, we decided to ride Pirates since we were right there. There was absolutely no line- gotta love MVMCP! ;) We chatted for most of the ride, so I wasn’t really paying attention to much, but Dan did point out the HM at the very end. Pretty cool!
Next we went to ride Splash, and I have to tell you, I have NEVER gotten this wet on Splash! We sat in the front, and I literally got water up my nose! We’re talking monsoon here! Typhoon! Hurricane! MUCH water! Okay, I guess you get the point. Looking like drowned rats, we took a moment to recover (I was squeezing water out of my braids!), and decide where to go next. We decided upon Haunted Mansion, where Dan showed me the window that Emily (Master Gracey’s bride—more about that on the Keys Tour day!) had jumped/fallen. I’d never seen it before, so it was great that he showed me! We got stuck for a minute, right there where you are descending backwards, or “Dying”, as they call it, giving Dan a chance to try to get a good picture of the window, which I don’t think ended up coming out right.
After exiting the ride, we were determined to find the wedding ring, so Dan used the light of his camera to search the ground, and we found it! Woohoo! As we got back to Liberty Square, the parade was just starting, so we joined the crowd to watch it. While we were waiting for it to start, we heard someone yell “DAN MURPHY!” A Dis-er was passing by, and just wanted to say hi (I don’t remember who it was now- Sorry!!) The fireworks weren’t long afterwards, so we found a bench by the Liberty Tree Tavern, which Dan informed me was a better place to watch them, because they are actually set off quite a ways behind the castle, even though they look like they are right behind them from the front. It was really neat being that close to where they were going off, and we had a great, not crowded view! The end of the fireworks is different for MVMCP- they set them off all the way around the perimeter of the park, so if you look up, you are surrounded by red and green fireworks! It’s a really neat effect!!
Our next stop was Buzz Lightyear, as it seemed that Buzz needed us to save the world from certain peril, and we were up to the job! Dan beat me by a long shot.. my gun must have been broken! ;-) We saved the world from Zurg anyway, despite my terrible aim!
Next we were off to Fantasyland, where we caught Pooh, Small World, Pan, and Snow White, all within a very short amount of time! While we were waiting in line for Pooh, we heard people yell “DAN MURPHY!” It seemed a group of DIS-ers was right behind us! (I'm so sorry, I don’t remember who all was there!) They warned us that they had been “Stuck in Pooh!” for quite a while, but we were brave! A little while later while in line for Pan, we once again heard “DAN MURPHY!”, and found DIS-ers again, a bit ahead of us in line! I was starting to feel like I was traveling with a celebrity ;-) Well, believe it or not, as we went back behind the castle to take some pictures of Cinderella’s Royal Carriage that was parked there, what did we hear? “DAN MURPHY!” There we saw Leota, PandyPaws, TVT, Judy From Boise, and some others (My memory is fading in my old age!)
Dan snapped this photo of me in front of the carriage
Noticing we had time for one more attraction, we set off for Aladdin, Stopping for our free cookies and hot chocolate on the way- Yum!) where Dan got to control the up-and-down-ness of the carpet, and I controlled the tilt. This is such a cute ride! I’m biased, of course, because I love camels and there are two big gold ones outside!
It was now 12:15, so we went to our bus stops and said our goodbyes. All-in-all, the MVMCP was pretty neat! With my AP discount, it was $33, which isn’t too bad, as a usual e-night is about $10 or $15, but here you get the extra parade and fireworks, the souvenir photo, and the cookies and hot chocolate. Getting to see the snow on main street was neat, too! I’ll probably go back for another MVMCP, but its not something to be really upset about having to miss- all you really miss is the parade and the special fireworks, which you can see from the GF or Poly beach.
When I got back to the resort, it was absolutely EMPTY as I strolled along the riverside to my room, which was kind of eerie! I fell asleep quickly, exhausted from my first day in WDW, with plans to attack the Animal Kingdom the next day!