Day 5: Magic Kingdom

Magic Kingdom Pictures

   After heading out of the Beach Club we headed over to the parking lot at the Transportation and ticket Center, took the ferry over to the Magic Kingdom and headed in. Our first stop was at the firehouse. I wanted to try out Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom with Ari. We got three packs of cards and one key card to share (which is what identifies you at each stop in the game). Our first stop is Fantasyland so we headed over there for the Carousel. Ari loves riding this at the mall, but she completely flipped out here, so I had to take her off while Amande and Lily rode. Ari and I played Sorcerers while we waited.
   The game is simple and mostly about exploring the parks. You get a map with the locations of all the portals (hidden screen) throughout the park. You are given a specific location to go (designated by a land and a symbol. We started at Fantasyland, the shield symbol). At each location there is a Sorcerers game symbol on the ground (the SotMK symbol, not the location specific symbol). You put your key card up to the lock and stand on the symbol. A story segment will play and then you battle a villain (Ursula in our case) with your cards. You hold up the spell card you want to use and it will cast the spell. It uses hidden cameras to see which card you are using. After an attack or two, you get to move on to the next portal. There are five portals per land and when you reach the fifth one, you can defeat the villain. Ari and I played as a team. I would find the portals and use the key card to activate it and Ari would stand on the symbol and cast the spell. She loved helping out and seeing what the cards would do. Once we defeated Ursula, we were told to move on to Main Street. We stopped there for now as we wanted to move on to more rides.
   Our next ride of the day was Peter Pan. As we expected there was a good line (30 monutes) so we decided to take Ari in her stroller. This is where out worked out the best. There is a separate line here for wheelchairs (which is what they considered Ari stroller thanks to the tag given to us by Guess Relations). We only ended up waiting about 10 minutes for the ride which I just carried Ari on to after we got to the moving floor. Also, this was one of the only few rides where they couldn't slow down the floor for Amanda and the cast member couldn't grasp the idea that she needed help, so I helped her on before getting Ari settled. I've always helped her on these types of floors (she hated these and the spinning type like they have on log flumes) so it wasn't a real issue. It was just the one ride where they seemed least willing to help and the least understanding of the situation. Moving on, we got on the pirate ship and took off. Peter Pan is one of Ari's favorites so she loved the ride. Lily rode with my parents and didn't seem to care one way or the other. It was probably just too dark for her to see much.
   Since "Small World" was right across the way, we hit there next. Both kids loved it. They didn't know which way to look there was so much for them to see. The whole ride was spent watching them try to see everything. Then of course there was a large back log of boats waiting to disembark, so we ended up sitting in the last room listening to the song for 5 plus minutes while the boats slowly moved towards the exit.
   Next we headed towards Liberty Square. On the way we passed by some construction where the Skyway building used to be. There were some new buildings and in the back was Rapunzel's tower! I had kind of seen it one of the nights we were there, but only slightly as it was late and it's not being illuminated yet. Ari was overjoyed as she loves Rapunzel. She was Rapunzel for Halloween and even brought her dress to wear at Disney, which she would do on Friday.
   We cut back towards the hub and made our way across the park to New Fantasyland and Storybook Circus. The Circus portion was closing at 3:00 and we wanted to get that finished. Ari didn't want to go on Dumbo and the wait was listed at 40 minutes so Amanda didn't take Lily either. We headed over to the Barnstormer and took Ari on her first roller coaster ride! She did great and she loved it, even though she was a little scared. Unfortunately though, her back isn't up to riding anything bigger than that. Up next we let the kids splash around in the Casey Jr. Splash and Soak area since the temperature was in the 80s at this point. Neither one got too wet, but wad fun dodging the spitting camels and monkeys with squirting flowers, along with all of the other water hazards there.
   Since we hadn't seen Daisy anywhere yet we went over to Pete's Silly Sideshow. We saw Daisy Fortuna and Minnie Magnifique. We ended up not going into the other line as we had seen Donald and Goofy several other times, although we could see them while waiting on the other side. Their costumes were great.
   Since we were doing meet and greets, we decided to hit Ariel's Grotto next. We had to leave Lily's stroller barked back in Storybook Circus since there were too many camera from all the media and no stroller parking left. After about a 20 minute wait and Ari almost falling asleep, she got to have a nice conversation with Ariel and teach her about hippos, which Ariel really got in to. So after a nice long chat, we headed over to Be Our Guest restaurant since lunch is counter service and there was no way we were getting dinner reservations. It turns out that it was closed to the general public for the day. Media only. Tomorrow too. The only two days we would be in the park for lunch. So after all the build up we ended up not even getting a look at the restaurant since the only two days we were there for lunch, we weren't allowed in. So back to Gaston's Tavern for a Lefou's Brew and then all the way back to the stroller.
   Next up we headed back to Liberty Square where we had left off and hit the haunted mansion. It was looking as good as ever. I personally enjoyed the additions to the queue. Ari loved playing with the instruments on the tombs. We did take her in her stroller for this as the wait was long enough. It's a bit rough getting set up for this. It there wasn't much of a wait, I'd probably carry her but it was worth the hassle to make sure she didn't tire out. The new hitchhiking ghost scene was impressive but didn't seem to line up quite right with us, but I don't think most people would have noticed. I just tend to get really picky with such things.
   Next we went to the Country Bears, which broke down during the show before our's. So we left and headed over to Splash Mountain. It was only a 15 minute wait, so we did the rider swap (Two of us go and the other two got instant Fast Passes for when they returned. Do this whenever you can if you are going with kids and don't have someone who isn't riding). My parents went on and we follows after they got back. The ride broke down three times while we were on it, each only for a short time. The laughing place was a joke, pardon the pun. None of the effects were working. No jumping fountain, no turtles on geysers, nothing peeking at you from the ceiling. This ride needs some help. A lot of people seemed to notice this which means it's really getting bad. Most guests don't notice a few things not working. We still had a good time and we'll have out ride pic up soon. Just waiting for them to find one more Epcot pic before I download the whole collection. 
   Next the kids and my parents rested while Amanda and I went on Big Thunder RR. Everything looks great although I do miss the shaking boulders near the end. You can just tell that something is supposed to be there.  It's still as bumpy as ever and still as fun as always. When we were done, we decided to head back to the Country Bears in the hopes of finishing off Frontierland. It was open and as you can see I got plenty of pictures. The cuts they made were a bit jarring, but nothing horrible. Toe only thing I really missed was a lot of the banter coming from Melvin, Buff and Max. They kept Blood on the Saddle and Momma Don't Whoop Little Buford so I was happy.
   We tried to take the train back to Main Street, but that was closed as well. We didn't get a straight answer as to why but it seemed likely that is was because of the media events related to the closing of Storybook Circus. Whatever the reason we had to walk back to the entrance and I hit a couple of Sorcerer of the Magic Kingdom locations on the way out. Ari had fun watching the portals. Our new villain was Cruela. We would continue with it tomorrow. At this point, all the rides we still wanted to hit were in Adventureland and Tomorrowland (which we hadn't even set foot into yet) other than one ride. Winnie the Pooh was the only thing left in Fantasyland (other than the Be Our Guest Restaurant) that we still wanted to get to.