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Dad's Taxi Fills The Bus - Florida 2018 - Part 2
Part 2 - A storm in a Mad Hatter’s Tea Cup
Right, let’s get this holiday started.
We have breakfast at the villa, having done a shop at Target yesterday whilst waiting for the Lost Kids to turn up, then all aboard the 15-seater and let’s go to Magic Kingdom.
As a consequence of me not being present at Alamo when the kids finally picked up the bus, I’m not yet on the insurance, so for the next few days I enjoy the luxury of being a passenger, and am able for the first time to take this iconic photo:
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We park up, and it really feels like the holiday has started as we board the tram from the car park to the Transportation Centre, having noted our spot, we’re in the Simba area. Next the monorail, and finally we volunteer our fingerprints and we’re into the Magic Kingdom.
We’ve bought tickets which include the Memory Maker, a service we’ve never made use of before, and by ‘eck we’re going to make the most of it now, given the chance. And you know this bad luck stretch we’ve been having? It ain't over yet ! Our first stop is the photographer in front of the castle, and here we are, all bright eyed, bushy tailed (not yet exhausted from the toil of the parks is what I’m getting at here) and THIS is the best one she took:
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And we were livid.
She took 14 photos of us - groups, couples, boys, girls, you get the idea, and every one was grossly overexposed. We were halfway round the park before we checked on the photos, so couldn’t get another try, and at the time of writing this we haven’t yet all been in front of the castle together again. We are hoping to get another chance though.
This bad start made us slightly paranoid about the official photographers, but after several Disney days we realised it really was bad luck.
Anyway, back to Disney Day 1…….
Granddaughter Miley-Rose is just the right age for meeting princesses and collecting autographs, so this is the main objective to begin. She meets Rapunzel and Tiana, and I happily go with them to meet Goofy, then we hit a few small rides - The Magic Carpets of Aladdin, Dumbo The Flying Elephant, these are all well within my tolerance for thrills. We zap some aliens on Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin, and the resultant ride photo is added to our Memory Maker:
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We split up for a bit, and the braver ones go in the Haunted Mansion and Space Mountain, whereas I head for the Monsters, Inc. Laugh Floor, which I love. If you haven’t seen it, it’s a bit like a stand-up comedy show, with the acts all being animated monsters, but it happens in real time, and whoever the people are animating and voicing the characters, they are really thinking on their feet/tendrils. The way they interact with the audience is so skilful, and their speedy wit is enviable.
We take the little ones on the Prince Charming Regal Carrousel, and Grandson Jonah, who is days away from his third birthday, loves it to bits.
The day is flying by, and we take a break at Cosmic Ray's Starlight Café, where some of the big kids experiment with ordering their lunch using the Mobile App. We come to the conclusion that there is no time difference at all between using the app and walking up to an order point. I should like to note that my bacon cheeseburger was delicious, far better than I was expecting, and the toppings and salad bar really made a difference.
A highlight of the day at Magic Kingdom for us is always the 3pm Parade, so we find a spot big enough for the 15 of us to make camp without blocking the pavement. A family alongside us have sent Dad for takeaway food, and he appears with a tray literally piled high with food. He gets serious grief from his wife for over-ordering, then starts offering portions of fries to nearby families, and Kayleigh thinks it’s Christmas as she gets a whole adult portion of chips (in our speak) to herself!
The Parade has just started to pass us, and I’m snapping away, when the wind suddenly whips up, then an almighty storm hits us from nowhere. Talk about taken by surprise, it’s just Splat and we’re all soaked, people are screaming as the wind blows things around, and the Parade contributors do their very, very “The Show Must Go on” best to keep things running as normal.
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The majority of the watching crowd soon start to run for shelter, but I’m soaked already, and Pentax claim my camera is pretty good at resisting rainwater, so I keep snapping as people scrabble for their ponchos, which neither George or I have
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When the parade has passed us, George and I realise that our family has all run for shelter too, so we leg it to the nearest cover and wait for the rain to subside before we all re-group. Whilst we are trying to squeeze ourselves under a very small shelter we hear an announcement that the parade has been cancelled due to the weather, so even Disney characters have their limits!
When we are all back together again, it is obvious that streams of (wet) people are leaving the park. We use this opportunity to all take a ride on The Many Adventures of Winnie The Pooh, and It appears that we weren’t the only ones suffering from inclement weather - we find that it’s a blustery day in the Hundred Acre Wood too. We are all Pooh Bear fans, especially one year old grandson Maverick, who wants everything in the souvenir shop at the end of the ride.
When we exit the souvenir shop we are met by a very sunny day with blue sky, but we decide that maybe we’ve had enough for today, so we make our way back to the car, via monorail and tram, and go in search of food. On an impulse we pull into Perkins on the 192, and I have to say it was a mixed reaction from the gang. I loved my BBQ chicken sandwich, but others were less impressed. Oh well, lots more places to try over the next 10 days.
I’m getting a long way behind with my reports, there’s so much going on I’m shattered by time we get back to the house! Next installment will be soon, hopefully.
