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Old 28 Feb 16, 12:38 PM  
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Scruffette
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Toarin' - August 2015. Day 13 - KTTK Tour, Magic Kingdom, Epcot

Day 13 – Keys to the Kingdom Tour, Magic Kingdom, Boardwalk, Epcot

Lunch at Columbia Harbour House, Dinner at Flying Fish

I woke up this morning with my throat feeling a lot better, but it was clear I had passed this on to Ollie! Oops.

Even though Ollie was now feeling rough, we were still super excited about doing the Keys to the Kingdom tour this morning!

We were on a bus to Magic Kingdom around 7am after our morning routine of hot chocolates and pop tarts. An empty bus!



The bus arrived about 7.40am and we joined the line of people to get into the park. (The park opened at 9am this morning).



A Cast Member came down the line and checked our reservation. There seemed to be lots of people in line, I supposed there are now three breakfast options, as well as tours, and everyone wants those less crowded main street photos.



Our tour was at 8.30am, the earliest tour of the day, so we had plenty of time for photopass photos. We literally stopped at every single photographer on main street! We made a point of asking for magic shots, and got Tinkerball and balloons. The workers were visible doing construction work around the castle again The photographers were pretty good at not getting them in our shots.





We checked in at the Town Square Theatre for the tour. Over the phone I was told to check in at City Hall, but no-one was there. I asked at Guest Services where to check in, and they pointed us in the right direction.



We checked in and got to choose our lunch from the Columbia Harbour House menu. I’m pretty sure the full menu was available, and we both went for Chicken Nuggets. Disney chicken nuggets are superior to all other chicken nuggets, and these were my first Disney nuggets of the trip.

We were given a badge with our names on to wear and a mic pack so we could hear the guide. I found these really awkward to fit on my ear with my glasses, and meant I had to keep fiddling with it throughout the tour. We were also given a bottle of water.

I’m not going to include too much detail about the tour and there will definitely be no spoilers. No photos were allowed during the tour.

Our guide was Megan and there were 20 people in total on the tour. She was very enthusiastic and clearly loved Disney. She had done the college program twice, then worked as a ride operator on Splash Mountain and currently worked in Guest Services at Hollywood Studios. She also does the tour once a week. She encouraged us to ask lots of questions, but made it clear to distinguish between ‘on stage questions’ and those you should ask ‘off stage’. For example, ‘on stage’ if you asked about the wire attached to the castle, she would tell you that Cinderella has a washing line…

Ollie was a little dubious about the tour beforehand. He spends most of the winter backstage at themeparks, so it’s not quite a novelty to him. However, he thoroughly enjoyed the tour as much as I did. There were lots of little details pointed out to us that we noticed throughout the rest of our trip.

The information about the tour states it has a lot of walking. I’d say there was less walking in this tour than we would do in that time normally in the Magic Kingdom. There was a lot of standing whilst listening, but our guide tried to keep us in the shade as much as possible, which was appreciated in the August heat. There were plenty of toilet stops, and I used some of these to ask questions.

We started the tour on Main Street, with Megan pointing out lots of details, and then moved onto Adventureland and rode the Jungle Cruise. Instead of the normal commentary, our guide took over that role. From here we made our first stop backstage, saw the parade float warehouse and got a chance to ask ‘off stage’ questions.

We had an early lunch at Columbia Harbour House, where our meals were waiting for us upstairs (which meant they were slightly cold).
Even so, I enjoyed my Disney nuggets. We both went for soft drinks, which were large, but had to finish them there as we weren’t allowed to take them with us. Had I known, I probably would have got a bottle of water so I could have taken it with me. Our special Keys to the Kingdom tour pins were waiting for us here.

At lunch we were sat with a mother and son also from the uk and had a chat with them about their current and past Disney trips.

From lunch, the next stop was the Haunted Mansion. We were told some information outside, although our guide had to tell others to go away who were trying to listen in! Our ride on the Haunted Mansion was really enjoyable after the information and really made us fall in love with HM this time.

We stopped by Cinderella Castle for some facts and information, and then it was into the Utillidors! I loved all the details on the walls down here.

Afterwards our tour concluded, although Megan stayed around in case anyone had questions.

Overall, I really loved this tour. I’m a bit of a Disney geek, so I knew a few bits of the information already, but a lot of things were new to me. I would definitely recommend this tour.

After the tour, we of course started thinking of food! We split up (to search, not actually) as Ollie wanted another dole whip float and I wanted something from the Plaza Ice Cream Palor.

The line was pretty long in the ice cream parlour, so Ollie was back with his Dole whip around the same time I was done.

Ollie’s dole whip wasn’t as good as the last one. It came out of the machine already a little melted. His advice is to get your dole whips earlier in the day!



I went for the Plaza Ice Cream Sundae ($5.39) Hot Fudge, Whipped Cream, and a Cherry served in a freshly made Waffle Bowl with your choice of two hand-scoops of Ice Cream



I went for mint choc chip and cookies and cream as my flavours. The sundae was amazing! I let Ollie help out as I couldn’t manage it all by myself. Waffle bowls are far superior to normal bowls

We each used a snack credit.

We’d booked some fastpasses for after the tour, so went to use our Seven Dwarfs Mine Train FP, passing Tigger and Pooh on the way.





I enjoyed this ride yet again. I felt like I could feel the swinging more every time. It was pretty subtle but a nice touch to make the coaster a bit different.



Before our Buzz fastpass, we took a ride on the People Mover. When we went through the Space Mountain Section, the lights were on!



It really is quite a tame layout! Also, the tracks look really close together. That must be how they fit it in such a small space.

On the way to Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin, I caught Ollie googling the ride. Obviously, this was to work out how to get extra points. Cheat! He was insistent he wasn’t trying to cheat, he was just intrigued about the ride’s history. A likely story.

As a result, Ollie won this time!

We had planned to watch the Festival of Fantasy parade, but whilst standing at the bottom of Main Street at 3pm, we both decided we were too hot! It had been a busy morning and thought we’d prefer to go back to the resort and freshen up for our Flying Fish Adr at 6pm. I’m pretty sure we managed to find time for a glass of something fruity and alcoholic.

By the time we were back at the resort, we had less than an hour to change and get out again. Our planned route for the evening was to get a bus to Hollywood Studios, and then get the boat across to the Boardwalk.

The bus was pretty speedy to HS and we had time to have some photos taken by the frozen theming outside.



We got on the boat heading to the boardwalk, but as we were in no rush, got off at the swan and dolphin stop and had a walk. To us, this hotel is not-so-affectionately known as the ‘grumpy fish’ hotel!











We made it to Flying Fish just as it was starting to rain, so pretty good timing.

We were treating this meal as my birthday meal, so I wore my happy birthday badge. (My actual birthday was about a month before but we never made it out to celebrate as we were moving house)

The restaurant wasn’t busy, it was still pretty early, so we were shown straight to our table. First impressions were really positive, it seemed calm and relaxed.



To drink I had a mixed berry colada ($8.25).



My drink was really good, I drank it sparingly over the course of the meal.

Ollie had Mackenzie’s Cherry hard cider ($7.75)



Neither of us got ID’ed again.

I don’t particularly remember the bread, but we probably ate most of it!



Our server was really helpful and suggested that as we were on the dining plan, one of us could order the cheese plate as their dessert, but we could share it to start instead. We of course took him up on this idea!

Tasting of worldly Artisinal cheeses ($19)



I forgot to pick up the description of the cheeses unfortunately, along with my personalised birthday menu The goats cheese was my favourite, but the blue cheese was also a hit.

For mains, I asked whether their signature duo was still available. It had been taken off the menu months before our trip, but our server said it was still available on request.
It is a combination of

Char-crusted Angus New York Strip Steak
Roasted Young Carrots, Fingerling Potatoes, Haricot Verts, Foyot Sauce
And Flying Fish Café's Idaho Potato-wrapped Red Snapper
Creamy Leek Fondue, Veal Glace de Viande-Red Wine-Cassis Butter ($49)



This was one of my favourite entrees of the trip. Both components were really good. Our server asked us which we preferred, which was difficult to answer, but I think the steak just edged it. Probably because I would always choose steak over other meats. I can be a bit picky about fish, but really enjoyed the red snapper.

Our server would ask us questions throughout the meal, and we would answer him, but at one point said ‘You’re the quietest people I’ve ever served’. I didn’t quite know what he meant by this, and wasn’t sure whether to be offended or not!

Before we could order dessert, a Happy Birthday crème brulée came out! I was nice and let Ollie share it.



We were pretty stuffed by the time we could actually order dessert, so went for the seasonal sundae ($9) thinking it would be lighter.
Berry-licious Sundae Deluxe
Slow-churned Vanilla Bean Gelato, Medley of fresh Berries, crispy White Chocolate-Pearl Crunch, Chocolate Cigarillos, Mixed Berry Coulis, and Crème Chantilly



It was massive! I enjoyed the white chocolate swirl on the top.
As you can imagine, we were suitably stuffed.

After settling up, we took a (very) slow walk towards the International Gateway at Epcot. It was just getting dark which made for a pretty walk.



It was about 8pm by the time we made it to the World Showcase, so we had enough time to catch O Canada which we had missed the other day. (This was part of Ollie’s plan to convince me to visit Canada. This may or may not be happening in 2017.)



We had to wait a while for the next show, but enjoyed a show with about 10 guests in total! The scenery really was beautiful.

After the show, there wasn’t long before Illuminations was going to start. Keen to watch it from a different viewpoint, we headed over to America. We moved very slightly to hear the music better, but massively jumped when a firework was set off directly in front of us! This happened quite a few times and we were nervous wrecks by the end of it. It was cool to see the globe which started its journey from near us.





Unfortunately, after Illuminations Karamael Kuche was closed My caramel smores treat still wasn’t to be…

There was quite a bit of a wait for the bus. We ended up standing which at least meant I didn’t fall asleep! We could see the Frozen Fireworks being set off on the drive back.

Day 14 - Animal Kingdom and Magic Kingdom

Edited at 04:31 PM.
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Old 28 Feb 16, 01:37 PM  
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Sparksy72
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Your meal at The Flying Fish looks amazing! That is a great tip about sharing the cheese plate to start. What a great day 😊
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Old 28 Feb 16, 09:34 PM  
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Scruffette
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Originally Posted by Sparksy72 View Post
Your meal at The Flying Fish looks amazing! That is a great tip about sharing the cheese plate to start. What a great day 😊
It was one of my favourite meals of the trip. I hope they don't change it too much in the refurb. thanks for reading
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Old 28 Feb 16, 09:51 PM  
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Thanks for sharing!
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Old 28 Feb 16, 09:55 PM  
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Great report, good pictures too! Space mountain looks strange tho with the lights on!
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Old 29 Feb 16, 03:19 PM  
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Scruffette
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Originally Posted by hross42877 View Post
Thanks for sharing!
Thanks for reading

Originally Posted by Queen_Elsa View Post
Great report, good pictures too! Space mountain looks strange tho with the lights on!
It doesn't look quite as scary with the lights on! Thanks for reading
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Old 31 Mar 16, 09:40 AM  
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Glad you enjoyed KTTK! How cool are the utilidors?!

Your meal at Flying Fish looked amazing and love the night photos around Boardwalk and Epcot xx
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Old 3 Apr 16, 07:49 PM  
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Scruffette
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Originally Posted by Redrach1903 View Post
Glad you enjoyed KTTK! How cool are the utilidors?!

Your meal at Flying Fish looked amazing and love the night photos around Boardwalk and Epcot xx
KTTK was one of my favourite mornings of the trip

I would definitely recommend Flying Fish, hopefully it doesn't change to much in the refurb!
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Old 5 Apr 16, 09:43 PM  
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I love the bucket photo! I have it too but I didn't let myself buy it until I had been on the Dream in 2015!
Lovley day and that is the second time I have heard about the Flying fish signature dish-on request- seems popular so strange they don't just leave it on the menu.
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Old 12 Apr 16, 06:46 PM  
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Scruffette
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Originally Posted by Twentyyears View Post
I love the bucket photo! I have it too but I didn't let myself buy it until I had been on the Dream in 2015!
Lovley day and that is the second time I have heard about the Flying fish signature dish-on request- seems popular so strange they don't just leave it on the menu.
I really struggled to find a frame to go with it, but found a nice weathered style wood frame which matches the deck chair.

Thanks for reading
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