Day Three: Magic Kingdom

the gates of New Fantasyland

one of the first in line for Enchanted Tales with Belle

Beast's castle

Inside the waiting area of Enchanted Tales which is inside of Belle's home

a little girl we named the "peepee" girl. This poor child had to go to the bathroom so bad she was dancing. Her mom tried to find a bathroom inside but there is none to be had. Her mom refused to go and take her to the bathroom and lose their spot in line. I have no idea if she made it to a bathroom or wet her pants, but she earned a place in the show!

the magic painting that becomes a doorway. this was really cool!

this cast member hands out "roles" to everyone who wants to participate.

Beauty and the Beast is reenacted with all of the kids playing different roles.

peepee girl got a part!

and this was why the mom wouldn't leave, because this was the line for the second show.

Gaston cracked us up!

Voyage of the Little Mermaid

still a sucker for gargoyles, even Disney ones!

I forgot out cute this show is

they did not have all of these fun things to keep kids busy when my kids were small

these "honey pot" walls were wierd

our honey pot cars

hidden behind this wall is a new set of bathrooms. Love the Rapunzel tower!

Chicken and Waffles!

another new part of the park since our last visit

the new Dumbo ride

on my list to try during a future visit

cooling off on the people mover ride through Tomorrowland

Mary Poppins

Celebrate a Dream Come True Parade

Main Street

Peanut Butter and Jelly Cupcake

Grape Jelly inside of the Peanut Butter and Jelly Cupcake

Move It...Shake It...Celebrate It...Street Party

Our dinner spot in the Contemporary Hotel

Sea Salt on the butter...yum

Grilled Beef Tenderloin with Three potato hash

Apple-almond crumb cake with spiced cream, Chocolate ganache-dipped banana mousse cake, and Mississippi mud pie

New York cheesecake with apple-cranberry compote, Butterscotch creme brulee with espresso macaroon, Olive oil-infused chocolate truffle mousse with salted caramel sauce

Wishes

Today was Magic Kingdom day. We arrived in time for rope drop and headed straight to the back of the park. The new Fantasyland section is now open and we were excited to be able to check it out on this trip. We started with a visit to Enchanted Tales With Belle. This is not a ride, but it's an interactive activity with Belle that gives parts to everyone who wants to participate. It is also a photo opportunity for all of those involved in the storytelling. We thought this was a great attraction! We also went to the ride Under the Sea-Journey of the Little Mermaid. We did this twice with a Fast Pass. It is a visually stimulating ride "under the sea" in a Clamshell that tells the story of the Little Mermaid. We rode the Winnie the Pooh ride which is super cute and colorful and then It's a Small World which I really like but just about put me to sleep this time. We were entertained by a little 3 year old who continually asked his daddy about everything he was seeing. His daddy was so patient and explained it all so sweetly. It was endearing. We then walked across the park to Big Thunder Mountain railroad and also pulled a fast pass for it. It was closed the last time we were here so it was great to be able to do it today. This was the ride that Danny lost his wallet on when we came for our honeymoon almost 28 years ago! After the Railroad we rode Pirates of the Caribbean which is a favorite of both of us. We were hungry for lunch and tried out a new place, Sleepy Hollow, where we got chicken and waffles. Christy really enjoyed it, but I wasn't a big fan of the waffle used as bread concept. Both of us felt like the waffle could have been cooked a little longer as it was really soft, but the chicken was delicious! After lunch we rode Big Thunder Mountain railroad again with our fast pass. The line at Haunted Mansion was too long so we wandered back over to Fantasyland and explored the Storybook Circus area which has replaced the old Toontown. We rode Carousel of Progress which was pretty cool. The theater rotates around to view the different stages and is a reproduction of an animatronic show at the 1964-65 World's Fair in the General Electric Pavillion. We rode the People Mover which is basically a slow ride that goes over and through Tomorrowland. It was a great opportunity to relax and cool off a little. We watched the Celebrate a Dream Come True Parade which was great. We were ready for a snack at this point and rode the monorail to the Contemporary resort for a cupcake but they didn't have what we wanted. We pin traded in the hotel and then went back to the Polynesian hotel via the monorail for a cupcake we spotted yesterday. This one was the PB&J. It's a peanut butter cupcake with a light frosting with grape jelly in it. It was absolutely delicious. The staff behind the counter told us yesterday that it was their favorite and now we can see why. We left the Polynesian to go and visit the Grand Floridian which is a beautiful hotel to look around in. We pin traded with this hotel as well before going back to the Magic Kingdom. We were going to do Mickey's Philharmagic but it was closed so we went to the Haunted Mansion instead. It's also a favorite of both of us. We found out that the reason there are no bathrooms AT ALL in Liberty Square was because Liberty Square represents America in the 1780's and there was no running water during that time period. Disney believes in being authentic and that is why there are no bathrooms in Liberty Square. We heard this tidbit of trivia from a cart vendor that gave us directions to the bathroom in another part of the park. We found a spot on the curb to watch the Move It! Shake It! Celebrate It! Street Party was was a really cool "mini" parade around the center circle of the park. It was time for dinner after that and we ate tonight in the Contemporary Hotel at The Wave. Dinner was delicious even though our waiter was a bit too enthusiastic with his attention to our table. He even sang to us when it was time to leave. We seem to attract the wierdos when we come here, but it certainly makes our vacation more interesting. Something to note about the new wireless internet in the parks. The internet tends to be spotty and disconnects frequently. It was most consistent here in Magic Kingdom, but in Animal Kingdom it was totally useless. We think Disney has a long way to go to insure that the new Magic App recently released will work properly with the internet it provides. We ended our day back at Magic Kingdom to watch Wishes, the nighttime fireworks show over the castle. This is my favorite way to end a trip to the Magic Kingdom! Tomorrow is Hollywood Studios. Until then....

Day Two: Animal Kingdom

animals walking everywhere on the Safari can sometimes slow down an vehicle

this female Lion was sunning herself. we never saw the male on this trip

the Zebras are new to the safari

this daddy gorilla had a baby gorilla running around also.

Flame Tree Barbecue...consistently yummy

Ribs and Chicken for both of us...Christy substituted grapes for the coleslaw and I subbed in carrots. That is chocolate mousse in the back

The Nemo show

Polynesian Hotel...Captain Cooks for cupcakes

Christy's Chocolate Beer cupcake. Although the beer taste is subtle, it wasn't all that great of a cupcake.

Chocolate Macademia cupcake

The inside of the Chocolate Macademia cupcake

Expedition Everest in the background

The Safari Parade...my favorite

These puppets are my favorite part of the parade

 Dinner at Portobellos in Downtown Disney...Rolls and Focaccia with olive oil and roasted garlic

Christy's Rock Shrimp on Black Pasta

Bow Tie pasta with chicken, asparagus, and snow peas in a creamy cheese sauce

delicious and rich chocolate cake

Today is our second day and we spent it at Animal Kingdom. We had a lot of fun visiting with a couple and their two kids while at the bus stop. This was their first trip to Disney and they surprised their two little boys at Christmas with a trip announcement. They were just adorable to talk to. We arrived in Animal Kingdom and went straight to the back of the park for the Kilimanjaro Safari. We pulled a fast pass before we got on because we knew we would want to ride it again. The crowds were pretty light today and we didn't stand in line more than 10 minutes to get on. The ride took a lot longer than usual (about 45 minutes) because we ended up stopping and sitting still for awhile. We aren't exactly sure why, but we overheard someone later saying that an animal tried to go under a fence and injured itself. Who knows, but we were able to see a lot of animals anyway. We left the Safari to walk through the Pangani Forest Exploration Trail. We really spent the entire morning like we were at an open concept zoo! After seeing the gorillas, hippos and birds, we used our fast pass and rode the Safari again. We saw even more animals on this trip! The Zebras are here now and they weren't here when we came last May. We were hungry after our Safari and we ate our counter service meal at Flame Tree Barbecue. We ate here in May and it is consistently delicious! We ate lunch early so we could catch the 12:00 show of Nemo. This musical was a favorite of mine last May and I really looked forward to seeing it again. It did not disappoint. I recognized several of the puppeteers and really enjoyed the show. We decided after the show to leave the park and go to the Polynesian Hotel to visit Captain Cooks, a bakery with cupcakes we had not tried. Christy selected a Beer Chocolate cupcake as she is more adventurous than I am. I picked the Chocolate Macadamia. I think we both liked mine better. Christy said hers was okay but not great. I tasted the Beer in the frosting AND the cake, too much for me. We really enjoyed wandering around the Polynesian and doing some pin trading while we were there. We think we are going to have to go back there just to try the PB&J cupcake! We traveled back to the park to make sure that we didn't miss the Jungle Parade this year. Christy managed to sit on a sprinkler head while we were waiting and soaked the back of her pants. She had to stand during the parade with wet pants, but someone riding in the parade did say they liked her new scarf!!! She ended up handing me her pants while in the bathroom and I dried them under the hand dryer. There is way more to do in Animal Kingdom than we chose to do on this trip. We left the park after the parade and went to Downtown Disney because we had a dinner reservation there. We spent a couple of hours pin trading and shopping before we ate dinner at Portobello's. Our dinner was delicious! Christy ate a pasta dish made with black noodles. Not knowing what made them black, we googled it. I do believe that if it had been my dish, I would have lost my appetite when I discovered that the black color came from squid ink!! She said it was good and the squid ink didn't seem to affect the taste at all. We are back in our room and ready for bed. Tomorrow we go to Magic Kingdom. Until then....