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E. Cosgrove
 United Kingdom
5850 Posts
Joined: 26 Apr 2004
Status: offline |  Posted - 05 Apr 2005 : 22:22:40  
| March 26th
Whenever I visit Orlando I have a different theme park as my "favourite", but ask anybody to talk about WDW and they will talk about MK. That's why we were all so excited about today, especially Kitty and Nic. Perhaps that's also the reason why we were organised enough to be up, out and parking in Daisy Duck before 9am 
" Mind the step,watch your heads, sit children to the middle...driver, we're clear" and we were off to the ticket and transportation centre.
We decided that whilst the weather was nice we would take the boat over to MK and return on the monorail later. Once on board we realised just how hot and humid it was today, we were in for a thunderstorm for sure...good job we had brought our ponchos from yesterday, all tucked up in a single back pack Stu would need to buy one if it rained as he had missed out on this, the most essential of purchases The girls were amazed at that fanatstic view of Cinderellas Castle across the lake.
When we arrived at the entrance the lines seemed quite long but moved very quickly, even those where people were having their bags checked.
We glanced up main street but we knew that if we started to wander up there we would never get very far, the draw of the shops would be too great, so we hopped on board the train to Frontierland.
We went straight to Splash Mountain and although the wait was only 20 mins we decided to get fast passes and went hot foot to Big Thunder Mountain Railroad,also showing a 20 min wait.
I have ridden this attraction many times but this time looked at it with different eyes. Last summer we went to Yellowstone and saw for ourselves the gushing guyesers, we visited the Dinosaur National Monument in Utah and saw the dinosaur fossils embedded in the rocks, and here they were perfectly replicated in WDW!! The attention to detail is superb.
We had great fun on this ride whooping and hollering and generally behaving like little kids, arms raised high in the air, it was over all too fast.
When we left and wandered over to splash Mountain we still had 10 mins before we could use our fast passes, so it gave us time to watch The paddle steamer on the "river" and wander in the souvenier shop.
Splash mountain is one of my favourite Disney rides and I urged Kitty and Nic to listen to Brer Rabbits story...it all adds to the fun
Whenever we went up a small incline they would ask "Is this it?" but no we were only decending into the "Laughin Place" The final drop was as good as ever and the photographs showed the evidence that only James "ducked". We all had our share of being wet ( practice for tomorow)
We left splash Mountain singing "zippedy doo dah" and with the intention of going to "the Haunted Mansion for fast passes, Nick mentioned the possibility of visiting Country Bear Jamboree  We passed on that one
The weather seemed less oppressive, but I swear I felt the odd spot of rain
When we reached the Haunted Mansion the fast pass was not in operation but the wait was only 15 mins and we soon found ourselves inside. Natalie, who is scared of her own shadow, was clinging to James even though she knew what to expect. Nic was also apprehensive but we kept reassuring her that this was Disney and it was for kids!
The detail on this ride is fantastic, I'm sure I notice something different every time!
Next on to The Hall of Presidents, I love this nearly as much as I love The Great American Adventure in Epcot, but it's not everyone's cup of tea and i think there could have been a couple of bored individuals, although no one was admitting to it.
James and Nat decided to spend some time on their own as Nat wanted to do loads of stuff in Fantasyland that she thought might bore the menfolk, so we left them with arrangements to meet at the castle moat at 4.30.
We wandered over to the Christmas Shop where Kitty and Nic nearly came to blows as they both wanted to buy their Mum the same Christmas decoration. They were both in a strop with each other so it was fortunate that the only tables we could find at linchtime were at oposite ends of the restaurant....gave them time to cool off
We ate at the counter service restaurant opposite the entrance to the Liberty Belle Steamer, the name escapes me, but my chicked strips were yummy
Whilst inside we caught glimpses of people wandering past wearing ponchos so we knew that the weather had broken, sure enough when we came to leave the rain was coming down in stair rods so it was on with the ponchos once more!! As James and Nat hadn't taken their's with them there was one for Stu, I only hoped they had the common sense to buy another one!
The rain had the effect of dampening not only our feet but also our spirits and as we wandered through Fantasyland we were very half hearted about things. The area was full of families and strollers all trying to keep dry, it was difficult to know who was sheltering and who was queueing, so we gave the area a wide berth and headed off to Adventureland and Pirates of the Carribean. We didn't see how long the wait was as we entered, but this ride often has a long line and we were hoping it would give us the opportunity to keep dry for a while. Would you believe we were at the front in about 15 minsThis has never been one of my favourite rides....it doesn't do anything!!!
As we entered the shop at the end of the ride we could see it was still raining but patches of bright sky were beginning to appear and within 5 mins the sun was causing steam to rise from the wet floor
Nobody seemed inclined to do The Jungle Cruise, again one of my least favourite rides, so we headed off to tomorrowland and fast passes for Space Mountain. Once these were safely obtained it was....wait for it...The carousel of Progress!!! Being heavily into nostalgia I love this attraction, as does Sophie. The menfolk saw it as a good excuse to get a quick 40 winks and because it got stuck we had to do "4th of July" twice. All together now, "there's a brand new beautiful tomorrow, shing at the end of every day......... Sorry, couldn't resist it
Just to be even more silly we boarded the Tomorrowland Transit Authority ( ex Wedway people mover) and sang our way around the most genteel of all rides
Helen and the girls wanted to ride Buzz Light year but it's a bit spinny for me, and it was almost time to meet up with James so we passed on this one. Nick and Jonathon wandered off to the arcade whilst Stu sat on a bench. David and I tootled off to the castle to meet up with N&J who were waiting for us, they hadn't finished all they wanted to do so we arranged to meet them at 7.30 to watch the parade and went back to the others. All present and correct we lined up to watch stitches great escape, it was the longest queue of the day and to my mind not worth the wait...next time I'll give it a miss.
It was a sort of "Alien" for kids and I didn't like that when it was there either
Time to use our Space Mountain Fastpasses. This ride was much better than I remembered it, it seemed really fast. We all enjoyed it so much that we picked up further fast passes as we left.
Somebody half heartedly mentioned food, but nobody was really hungry, so we decided that an Ice cream from the ice cream parlour on Main St was in order.
Whilst walking across the Castle courtyard we caught the new "Cinderellabration", this was lovely, with all the favourite Disney heroines. Needless to say the men were bored rigid, but it's a great one for Mums and their daughters.
Ice cream and a wander around the Main St shops and it was time to meet up with James and Nat. We got an excellent spot for viewing the parade just in front of Hall of Presidents, and having just put away an ice cream we had coffee and apple pie whilst waiting for the parade.
The girls bought those luminous things to wear around their necks and Nat wore hers around her head Pochahontas style. Spectro Magic was just that..... Magical. Nat had not seen it before and thoroughly enjoyed it, Nic cried the whole way thro, it made her so emotional!!
If you have never seen this parade, take the time to find a good spot and watch it, you will not be disappointed.
Next we moved down in front of the Castle to see the Wishes Fireworks........I'm lost for words ( now there's a first)
Amazing , awesome, fantastic, moving WOW WOW WOW!!!!! I loved them, as did the whole party, only Nat had seen them before so it was a first for most of us
The only thing left to do now was to ride Space Mountain again. Not everyone wanted to do this, so the Hobdays went off to do more shopping whilst Myself, David, Nick, Nic,James and Nat had one final ride, aperfect way to end the day.
We had to dodge the second parade on the way out and I just about remembered to call at the package collection to pick up my earlier shopping.
The journey home was quick and we were home in just over 10 mins, we got stopped by security as we entered the community as we had been on several evenings, always the same security guard, always the same question "are you checking in?" Obviously doesn't have much of a memory for faces
The Hobdays were already home and showered, they had an early start tomorrow as it was Sophies last day and they were planning to have her check in at Down Town Disney by 8am
Better get to bed, another whirlwind day tomorrow at IOA and good weather forecast |
Liz
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chrizzy100
 USA
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Joined: 26 May 2003
Status: offline | Posted - 06 Apr 2005 : 13:23:40
| | Nice to see someone else who loves The Hall of Presidents....each time I go I watch a different figure.....my daughter when I got her to come in with me after years of asking.....could not get over how the figures move all the time..... | | Report this post to a moderator | goto top of page |
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eagleydo
 United Kingdom
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Status: offline | Posted - 06 Apr 2005 : 20:45:32
| | Great reports, really enjoying them. Wishes is fantastic, isn't it. I filmed it and will have to watch again.I loved spectromagic parade, this for me is the best one of all. |
Jan | | Report this post to a moderator | goto top of page |
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E. Cosgrove
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E. Cosgrove
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Status: offline | Posted - 10 Apr 2005 : 19:43:10
| quote:
Originally posted by E. Cosgrove
It takes me about an hour to write a trip report so it will probably be Tues, on my day off, before I get the chance to do another one. I haven't given up....promise
I need to complete them before I forget what happened. the next one will be very eventful
Now you've got us all on the edge of the seat with anticipation Liz. |
Sarah
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The Hobgrove's hit Orlando! Part 6
