The alarms went off about 5:15 and it was kind of a race to get out the door. We hadn’t allowed ourselves a ton of time this morning, knowing that it would be a lengthy day today and an early start tomorrow, meaning every second of sleep counted this morning. But we did it! We were on our way to the bus stop just before 6. Go us!
We were dividing and conquering this morning. Jessie had fewer park days than me, and when she booked, I had a tour scheduled at Animal Kingdom that couldn’t really be moved. So I was sticking with my original park schedule for this morning of Magic Kingdom, and Jessie was headed to Animal Kingdom. Surprisingly, both parks were opening at the same time today.
An Animal Kingdom bus rolled in right after we got to the bus stop so Jessie was off and running quickly. I moved to the Magic Kingdom bus stop and a bus for there came along shortly after. We sat for a few minutes to not be stuck waiting for a long time at the gate before the driver could let me off, and then we were off too. I was on the bus with a Cinderella wrap, so as we pulled away with just me on the bus, the driver said to me “well I guess you get this whole carriage to yourself!”
We still had to hold at the gate for a minute or two before the bus was allowed to make the LONG circle over to the French Quarter bus stop to let me off, but that was fine. The air conditioning was good!
Getting off the bus I was reminded that I always love the lights at Disney at night, and never take enough pictures of Disney after dark. The sun hadn’t come up yet, so everything was lit up beautifully, and crowds were non-existent. So I did some picture taking on my way to the gate. Then I watched the sun rise over the Contemporary as I waited at the tapstyles.
They let us into the park earlier than I was anticipating. I wasn’t racing to any headliner this morning, and crowds were visibly low, so I did some picture taking on my way to the Tomorrowland bridge.
Even with my picture taking, I was in the second row of people at the Tomorrowland bridge…so a great spot. Or so I thought. At 7:25 a higher level cast came out to let us know that…Space Mountain, Buzz Lightyear, and the Peoplemover would all be having delayed openings this morning. Uhhh…
I feel like the truly appropriate action here would have been to drop the rope and start walking us toward Fantasyland to put us on equal footing with those lined up at the bridge closer to Fantasyland. That did not happen. They dropped the rope at 7:30, and we all headed for Fantasyland, because no one is rope dropping Carousel of Progress.
Obviously with essentially only Fantasyland open, even the low crowds this morning were not helping the current opening situation. I ended up starting with the “happiest”...err…longest…cruise in Disney, because that was a walk on. Most other things understandably were not. And obviously it is not necessary to rope drop Small World!
Small World was a bit backed up, and I always forget just how long it really is, so the park had officially opened when I exited. I headed for Frontierland anticipating being able to tackle at least one of the mountains. I was correct.
The line looked more like clumps of constantly moving people than an actual line at Splash Mountain, and it was actually open (woah!), so I hopped in that line first. It was basically a walk on! I ended up in the front row and I am positive that there was a LOT more water on that ride than a year ago. But it was nice to get one more zip-a-dee-do-da in than I had thought I would.
The posted wait time was short next door, so I then hopped in line for the dry cycle on Big Thunder Mountain. Again, almost a walk on. I ended up in the front row here too for the bumpiest ride in the wilderness. At the end of the ride, I heard the guys behind me saying that Big Thunder is “a poor man’s Slinky Dog Dash”. I resisted the urge to turn around and tell them it wasn’t that long ago that a Magic Kingdom ticket cost more than a Hollywood Studios ticket. #disneydork
It was a BEAUTIFUL day, so I did some picture taking as I left Big Thunder.
Then I checked the wait times. Jungle Cruise was posted at less than half an hour. WOAH. I like party day crowds! I made a quick pitstop at one of the best hidden bathrooms in Disney, near Pirates, because always use the hidden bathrooms, and then it was off to Jungle Cruise, where I waited less than 15 minutes for my cruise. It’s been since pre-political correctness (which for this ride WAS needed) that I last rode Jungle Cruise because the waits are always so long. The skipper was great and it was an enjoyable cruise.
After Jungle Cruise, I continued my boat tour of the Magic Kingdom, with Pirates, which was also basically a walk on. As usual as a solo, I was stuck in the back row, so, while I sort of figured out where the picture is taken for this ride finally, I’m not even visiblle in the ride picture. I continue to wonder why they think this one needs a ride picture. Does anyone ever buy this one. Also…didn’t this attraction used to have mist screens with projected images? How long have those been gone?!
It was too early to get dole whip (literally…not open yet), so I headed back toward Liberty Square, stopping for some pictures along the way.
As I walked towards Fantasyland, I noticed that Haunted Mansion was posted as a 13 minute wait which basically means walk on, so I stopped and rode. It was, indeed, a walk on. Here, I learned that I was completely wrong about where the ride photo is taken. Hint…it’s not the end of the ride with the hitchhiking ghosts, despite the add-on to the picture.
In case anyone was wondering about my face…I was texting with Jessie, who was running into some obstacles in Animal Kingdom. She ended up doing a fair amount there in a short amount of time, but…Everest was down all day and Safaris was up and down (how does that ride go down on a sunny day?!), so wait times and just general availability of attractions were a bit tricky.
As I walked toward Fantasyland I mobile ordered breakfast, hit “I’m here” and then speed walked to Friar’s Nook when I immediately got the “order ready” notification. I was a bit surprised by this one; Friar’s Nook had taken an eternity in February. Guess those low crowds are helping!
When I got to Friar’s Nook I had to wait a bit for the world’s slowest mobile order obtainer but pretty soon I had my tots and gravy in hand. This was a delicious (and relatively inexpensive) breakfast snack!
Fueled up for the second half of the morning, I headed deeper into Fantasyland for a spin on the Little Mermaid ride. It was truly a walk-on, even though the park had been open for awhile at this point. This really is one of the better anyone-friendly rides in Disney.
From here, it was off to Philharmagic, where I actually did have to wait, but even that wasn’t long. This is, by far, my favorite 3D show in Disney. So fun.
Then it was time to head toward the dole whip! I did some picture taking and caught a cavalcade along the way. I’ve said it before; I really like the cavalcades.
After the quick cavalcade, it was off to Aloha Isle. They have unfortunately done away with mobile ordering here, but because the park was so not crowded, the wait was short and pretty soon I had the Tropical Serenade in hand. POG juice and coconut dole whip. Fantastic! I know I said this after the February trip, but I sure hope this treat sticks around after the 50th celebration ends.
I realized it was time to do some picture taking down Main Street if I was going to accomplish that before the 12:00 parade started. So Main Street is where I went next.
I worked my way up and down Main Street enjoying the decorations and blown away by the lack of crowds. And then it was off to Tomorrowland for a spin on the People Mover. The wait was fairly short, and then I was able to put my feet up. I almost immediately noticed that there was some new narration. More exciting though, while riding, I got to see them testing Tron!
Once I was back on ground level, I headed back towards Main Street, ducking into Starbucks on the way. I ordered the Oh My Gourd cupcake and regretted it briefly when I found out at pickup that they didn’t have go boxes for them. I had planned to bring it back to the resort. But I ate it there and any regret was gone. It was delicious!
Then I made my way to the bus stop where I found a bus approaching the French Quarter bus stop. We sat for a few minutes, I guess to see if anyone else was coming along, and then it was off to French Quarter.
