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Thread: Dad's Taxi's..... - Part 7 - The Day We Nearly Walked the Plank

  1. #1
    Florida Chatterbox Dads_Taxi's Avatar
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    Dad's Taxi's..... - Part 7 - The Day We Nearly Walked the Plank

    2.6.2012,

    Part 7 – The Day We Nearly Walked The Plank

    Saturday morning we laze by the pool, and decide today’s the day we’ll go to Celebration. We reluctantly leave the poolside and head for the Market Street Cafe in Celebration, where we have been very impressed on a previous trip.

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    And we’re not disappointed. Everything about this place is lovely, the food, the setting, the service

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    I don’t even grumble about the automatic gratuity on the bill, for a change.

    Next destination is Magic Kingdom, and we’re keen to get there in time for the 3pm parade, and time is ticking by, however the kids are keen to do our own Abbey Road re-enactment whilst at Celebration, and I have to say it’s not going well:

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    A few minutes later I snap this whilst the girls are setting themselves up for a better version

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    And we decide it’s the winner, but Ringo must have been on a day off.

    Hurry hurry, Parade starts soon. It’s a short journey from Celebration to the Magic Kingdom car park, then a swift tram ride to the “Transportation Centre”, then a whole lot of disappointment when we discover no monorails are running at all. Oh heck, it’ll have to be the ferry boat. It’s MANY years since we last took the Ferry Boat, and we don’t know what did it but one of our girls is seriously spooked by boats so we avoid them at all costs. So 10 of us have a fun trip on the boat, and one of us sits very quietly looking pale but knowing it’s the only way she’ll get there.

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    And here’s the picture limit for this post, Read on below.......

    Dave.


  2. #2
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    Of course, if you had plenty of time no one would have thought to do an 'Abbey Road' re creation. Will read on to find out if you made the parade.


  3. #3
    Florida Chatterbox Dads_Taxi's Avatar
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    Part 7 Continued

    ........Part 7 Continued


    We walk through the gates bang on 3pm and the parade is just starting. The first couple of floats have passed us, we can see Mickey in the distance, but we catch the rest of the gang.

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    Then I go in search of restrooms, and when I come out, I’ve been abandoned. I’m rather baffled as to where I can have mislaid quite so many people, but eventually I find Jack, our eldest, who tells me that word went out that whilst the parade is on no-one goes to visit Mickey and Minnie, so our gang had shot off to meet them. And so they did:

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    But a little bit of me became rather sceptical at this point – hadn’t we seen Mickey at the front of the parade as we ran into the park? Does he have a stunt-double for the parade? Hmm.

    They briefly emerge to tell me their next stop is the Princesses, so I stay in the sun and leave them to it.

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    And then once we had re-grouped, we take the compulsory Main Street USA photo:

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    We have realised by now that today is Gay Day at Magic Kingdom. We’ve no problem with this at all, but we’re trying to work out if this is making the park busier or quieter? Certainly it is making it more colourful. The official uniform of the Gay Day delegates is RED. And I’ve put that in caps because we’re not talking about token red socks, we’re talking LOTS of red. The park is a sea of red, and we feel quite drab by comparison.

    It’s a lovely day, queues aren’t too bad and we enjoy the rides and the shows, and the occasional diet coke. However, we embark on the Pirates of the Caribbean ride, and all’s going well for a fair while, when we suddenly come to a stop behind a couple of other similar vessels, as if we’ve all dropped anchor. Not so much a Yo-Ho-Ho, as an Oh-Oh. Slowly but surely, all the boats behind us catch up with us, until we resemble a flotilla surrounded by scurvy Pirates. It’s quite dark, and the animatronic pirates will insist on singing the same songs over and over and over and.... , you get the gist. Eventually, thankfully, the music stops and they come clean with an announcement that the ride is broken. Then a couple of real pirates turn up, and it looks like we’re about to walk the plank!!

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    It takes them so long to clear one boat by this method that they give up in favour of pushing the other boats to a narrow section of the ride, so we wait for some more wader-wearing pirates to pull the boats backwards to a point where we can step ashore, and we’re escorted through an emergency exit to the back of the ride, and back in to the park, where we’re presented with a fast pass for any ride as compensation for our delay.
    Oh my goodness, I’ve hit the picture limit again, scroll on to Part 7C, I promise it won’t go on much longer now!


    Last edited by Dads_Taxi; 19-06-2012 at 07:03.
    Dave.


  4. #4
    Florida Chatterbox Dads_Taxi's Avatar
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    Part 7C !

    Part 7 Continued, Continued....

    Night falls, and we find a spot to watch the Main Street Electrical Parade. I’m surprised to see that Pete’s Dragon features in this, I doubt that a very large percentage of the audience have ever heard of it. Pete’s Dragon was one of the very first films I rented on VHS tape, which would have been around 1981 I think. It hasn’t really become a Disney classic.

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    There are so many amazing floats it’s hard to pick which photos to post here, but I think this one’s cute:

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    After the parade we reposition to the front of the castle to get a good spot for the Wishes firework show, and we’re surprised to discover the pre-show-show; “Magic, Memories and You”. This is amazing. If you haven’t seen it, I’m going to find it hard to describe, but basically there are a series of projections onto the castle, set to music. Because it is dark, and the castle is a neutral grey colour, the only things you see are the projected images, and so the castle seems to change colour, change shape, and even lift-off at one point. It is quite incredible to watch. In addition to scenes involving popular Disney characters, photos of guests taken on the day are also featured, although it’s difficult to spot yourself! There’s quite a good article on the Inside The Magic website, but I doubt I’m allowed to mention it here. If you search for “magic memories and you show projected onto castle at Disney magic kingdom” like I did, using a popular search engine, you should find it. Their photos are much better than mine.

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    That picture doesn’t really do the technology justice; it’s very cool when things are moving in time to the music.

    Coincidentally, a couple of days later George spots exactly the same effects have been used at the Jubilee concert where Buckingham Palace has had scenes projected onto it, totally changing the look of the Palace. The example we saw was Buckingham Palace transformed into a row of terraced houses during Madness’s “Our House”. If you saw it you’ll know what I’m waffling on about.

    Immediately after the Memories light show, we’re treated to the most excellent Wishes firework display, and as always it is breath-taking. There’s a few dollars going fizz-pop-bang there.

    The day culminates in a midnight visit to McDonalds on the 192. It’s chaos in there, but eventually we get our food and pop and agree it’s been another great day.

    The holiday is half way over, we’ve done a lot, but there’s still stuff left to do. If I can remember what it was I’ll let you know !

    Photos of the Wishes Spectacular can’t do it justice, but I’ll round off this rather lengthy tome with a couple of our best attempts.

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    Last edited by Dads_Taxi; 19-06-2012 at 07:04.
    Dave.


  5. #5
    Florida Expert kitch50's Avatar
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    Fab trip reports Dave, I wish I was there.....
    Wendy


  6. #6
    Florida Chatterbox
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    Another great report, thank you for the Florida fix. It must take some time remembering and writing what you done each day.

    Look forward to reading more reports.


  7. #7
    Florida Junior
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    Love your trip reports!! Feels like I'm really there!!!
    melanie morrison


  8. #8
    Gold 5 Star Member eagleydo's Avatar
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    Brilliant report, loving the pictures. [bowwave]
    Jan


  9. #9
    Florida Expert reemur's Avatar
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    Fab report
    Really enjoy reading them
    Enjoy the rest of your stay
    Carol


  10. #10
    Florida Chatterbox DisneyPrincess's Avatar
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    Another brilliant report - cant wait for the next installment!


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