Day 6. Let's do Disney!
Over the years we've beaten a well worn path to the theme parks and tend not to visit very often but we had decided Lesley could not visit Florida without seeing Mickey and had opted to have one park hopping day. I was very keen to take the girls to the Wishes Desserts Party, [msntongue]having done it in the summer I thought it was worth the price for the view of the fireworks alone, however, the only dates with availability were those during MVMCP, so the Christmas Party it was with another full day to look forward to later in the holiday.Our day was planned with military precision, breakfast, sunbeds, late lunch on the way to MK arriving at the park between 4 and 5![msnwink]
The weather was glorious, possibly the warmest of the holiday so far, although not according to the weather channel, and it was hard to drag ourselves inside when the time came. We went to Logan's for lunch and although it wouldn't have been my choice I was pleasantly surprised. Even more so by the check!
We set off for MK with full stomachs, layers of clothing in case the evening got cold ( which as it turned out were unnecessary) and a sense of anticipation.
We were lucky to park right at the end of a row and hopped on to a tram advising Lesley to suspend any sense of reality and get into "Disney mode".
Apart from the massive queue at the bag check it was remarkably quiet and we headed to guest services for a first visit badge for Lesley which we made her wear all evening. [msneek]We ambled up Main St taking photos of all the decorations and walked clockwise into Adventureland which has always been my least favourite "land". It's been many years since I walked straight onto Pirates of the Carribbean without queuing but that was the flavour of the evening except for a couple of very short waits at some attractions.
Having witnessed Jack Sparrow raping and pillaging we moved into Frontierland. Helen and Gez declined Splash Mountain but Lesley and I were game, although why on earth I took the risk of getting soaked through on a dark November Evening when I never bother in the hot June sunshine is anyone's guess, fortunately I remained relatively dry.........Lesley was not so lucky![msnsad]
Thunder mountain saw us absolutely hysterical with laughter as we whooped and hollered our way around, we were behaving like silly teenagers! By the time we had finished the ride it was dark and as we wandered back on to the main concourse of Frontierland the castle was visible in all its glory and was truly breathtaking declrated by thousands of tiny white lights it looked as if it was made of crystal! After we visited The Haunted Mansion, the time had reached 7pm and the park was closed to the general public, but open to those with tickets for MVMCP, though with wristbands obscured by long sleeved T shirts and jackets I'm not really sure how they worked out who was who!
We did have to show them when we collected our cookies and cocoa, both of which were far too sweet for my liking.[msnsad]
Of course, we had to do, "it's a small world" to sing our way around the ride and afterwards around the park, then there was just time to do Mickeys Philharmagic and the Tomorrowland Transit Authority's People Mover before it was time to make our way to the Tomorrowland Terrace and the fireworks dessert party.
Another wristband and we were shown to our table. The desserts were delicious, huge chocolate covered strawberries, miniature mango smoothie "shots", tiramisu, peanut butter desserts, the list was endless, fortunately our stomachs were not or else we would have been sick.
I do have two small complaints though, the tea and coffee were barely warm and our 8.50pm allotted time left us feeling a bit rushed as people started making their way to the viewing rail just after 9pm in order to secure a good spot for The Celebrate the Magic presentation at 9.15.
We managed to find a space along the rail and stood back to enjoy the spectacular performance which is every bit as good as The usual show of the Magic The Memories and You. Watching the castle turn into a giant poinsettia and the next be covered on candy canes and Christmas baubles was very original.[msnoo]
The fireworks that followed were equally as good as Wishes, set to Christmas songs and with a finale in the red and green colours of the season.
At the culmination of the display we decided to stake out a spot for the second parade of the evening, by this time there were very few children around and it seemed strange to see MK with a predominantly adult population. We chose to sit outside Sleepy Hollow refreshments and enjoy a somewhat warmer cup of coffee, from here we had a totally unobstructed view of the bridge over which the parade would pass.
I have to say I was somewhat disappointed with the parade itself, we are so used to seeing the brightly lit floats and characters of The Main St Electrical Parade that although the floats were brightly lit it was difficult to follow the dancers and skaters who passed in between and some lights on their costumes would have improved the appearance no end. We followed the final float carrying Santa down onto Main St where the brighter lights certainly enhanced the experience and the snow blowers and music made it all seem very Christmassy............very surreal on a still pleasantly warm evening!
The line was not too long and we were soon on the monorail, straight on to the tram and once again we appreciated being the last car on the row nearest to the tram stop, perfect planning.
It was gone midnight when we finally arrived home and we have planned a quiet day for tomorrow!
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