"Party of 12 please" Day 6 and a really magical day

[BevS97]

Thursday, 28th October

we have a grand appointment this morning and we don't want to be late, so we set off early on the bus to Magic Kingdom. On the way in we bump into some characters, so Katie says hello to Timon, and Alice and the Mad Hatter.

as we are walking up Main Street which was decorated in Balloons for the Boston Red Sox winning the world series the previous evening. We decided to have our family photo taken, and got some done in front of the castle. For the last one, the photographer told Katie to hold her hand out so Tinkerbell could sit on it - Katie thought this was fab.

We were meeting everyone outside the castle, so we headed to the back of the castle and waited there. We all gathered and went into Cinderella;s Royal Table for breakfast - you first go into a holding room where the Fairy Godmother is waiting - it was bedlam in this room, people everywhere and the line for the Fairy Godmother was enormous. We had a short wait, and then we were called and taken upstairs. We were shown to 3 tables by the window. The kids had a table, Neil and Natalie had a table, and the rest of us were at a longer table.
The food at Cindys is quite nice, but nothing to rave about, but we saw lots of princesses - including Cinderella and Belle

Mary Poppins, Snow White, Princess Aurora and the Fairy Godmother (downstairs)

After breakfast we were downstairs chatting with the Fairy Godmother, and asking about the Boston Red Sox balloons and she said the team was at WDW, and would be in a victory parade later that day - she expained that the earlier parade had been cancelled as the team had had a little too much 'Bibbidi bobbidi boo' the previous evening while celebrating and hadn't been able to make it!'

After breakfast, MNSN headed out of the park (shopping I think), and we stayed behind with DBJN to hit the rides.

After breakfast we walked down to Belle's Storytime, and James was chosen to play Belle's father in the play

He was the first child to volunteer, and we all thought he was very brave going up and participating.

After James' stage debut, we headed for the tea cups, and those folks that like to spin like mad had a ride, and the adults waited to the side.
We were very excited to spot that Pooh was a walk on, so we dashed over there, only to discover there was no queue because the line was closed. rather disappointing - so we kept on walking through Fantasyland, no Its a Small World this year, which was also disappointing and I'm not keen on those queues for Peter Pan, so we kept on going till we got to the Haunted Mansion. Now, I have never done the Haunted Mansion as Katie can't stand the building let alone the ride, but one of the big benefits of sharing our holiday was potential babysitters. Bev volunteered to get the kids an ice-cream, while Dave, Phil and I got on the ride. I have been on the Disneyland Paris version of this, but was surprised that this one seemed quite different. We were boarded quite quickly and Dave rode in a car alone, and Phil and I shared a car behind him. While we were waiting to set off, a CM wandered up the row of cars trying to startle people. I saw her coming so I was ok, but she snuck up on Dave and made him scream - she was rather pleased with herself, and Phil and I were struck with the giggles

I quite enjoyed the ride ,but I was glad we had left katie outside - she definitely wouldn't have liked it - she is not into ghosts at all, and would have been quite upset. We left the ride humming 'Grim Grinning Ghosts' and headed back to Bev and the kids. They had finished their ice-creams, and Molly was now asleep, so we decided to take a ride on the ferryboat. Unfortunatly, strollers are not allowed onboard, and as Molly was sleeping we didn't want to move her, so Phil, Molly and James decided to stay ashore while we rode. They report that they took a look around the christmas shop and then sat on a bench, and as the boat departed, it sounded a horn and Molly woke up, that's the way it goes isn't it...

On board, we found a spot on the top deck to watch the view (and get dripped on from the steam), and I decided to ring home and let them know we were alive. This seemed a good idea but unfortunately as soon as I got through an announcement came over the tannoy and I couldnt hear a thing - I managed to shout at my Dad, 'We are all fine' and that was the beginning and end of the conversation.
We sailed past indian encampments, and Davy Crocketts fort and returned to land shortly.

Katie and Nicola fancied a trip down Splash Mountain next, so they got their Dad's to take them on their, while Bev, Bev, Molly and James sat in the sun and attempted to take their photo. I think you can just make out the girls in the front row, and Dave and Phil behind.

This was Nic's first ride on Splash and Katie's 2nd (but her first was nearly 3 years ago), so they were both very brave, and declared it wonderful.

After Splash, we headed to one of my favorites, Pirates, and had a little Yo Ho Ho'ing - this was especially good as Molly could come on too, so noone was left holding the baby. We headed back to Pooh next, which was now open, and took Molly on here too, and finished off with Peter Pan (which we had picked up FPs for at some point - I don't understand why that queue get's so long - cute ride but I wouldn't wait over an hour for it). Again, Molly cold ride Peter Pan, so we didn't have to split up.
We realised that we hadn't had any lunch yet, so decided to have an ice-cream. There is a nice ice=cream place just next to the Pooh ride called Mrs Potts Cupboard, so we had hot fudge sundaes, and strawberry shortcake sundaes from there. Molly had a chocolate chip cookie which she seemed to enjoy judging from the state of her face!

After ice-cream it was back to the hotel for a swim,


and I am guessing we ate dinner in the food court - which would mean pasta with red sauce for Katie, and probably chicken alfredo for me (Phil is a bit less predicable and Molly had bits of everyones)

Actually, now Jools has reminded me, we didn't do that at all - we got changed and hopped on a bus to Magic Kingdom. From there we walked along the path to the Contemporary. As we walked over, it started to rain. this was the only rain we saw all holiday. After previous rain experience in Florida we took no chances and all donned ponchos (we had those 99cent disposable ones in the pushchair) - of course, as we were all kitted out in ponchos the rain didn't really amount to much but we were taking no chances.

We made it to the Contemporary and headed up to the bar. I have been here a few times, and really it does nothing for me - the location is superb but I can't see myself ever staying here, it just reminds me of an impersonal business hotel - staying that, I know plenty of people love it. Anyway - we find the Bar, and everyone is enjoying a drink. As well as the regular gang, we are joined by jools and x-file, and bob and dawn plus various family members. We all say hello and catch up, and decide to order some drinks. A quick peruse of the menu and I choose a Godiva cocktail, which eventually arrived ( I can't say service was very good here) - this drink was absolutely gorgeous - so much so that i had finished it in about 30 seconds - I suddenly looked at my glass and thought, oh my god, $7 in 30 seconds, I better not have any more of those or I will have a huge bar bill.
We sat and chatted, and the kids investigated the shops in the Contemporary (I sent Katie off to the shops with her purse - I must have had a drink or two... Saying that, she was quite good and didn't buy anything)

After we'd all caught up, Jools, X-file, Bob and Dawn headed off, and we decided to head round to the Poly for some dinner and to watch the Electrical Water Pagent from the beach. We hopped on the monorail and headed round. Our initial plan was to eat at the Kona Cafe, but the menu there was rather more fancy then we had realised, so instead we headed down to the food court type restaurant for the usual burgers and chicken strips. We had a slight ketchup incident during tea, and James and Katie looked like they'd been victims of an assault, but luckily ketchup washs!
After tea, we headed down to the beach to watch the electric water pagent - I have seen this once as a child, but never watched in since. Unfortunately tonight wasn't to be the night - it came past, but it seemed to be stuck on half a loch ness monster, but it didn't change and eventually we gave up on it and came back inside.
We said goodbye to MNSN who had cleverly left their car at the Poly and the rest of us jumped onto the monorai back to Magic Kingdom and a bus back to the hotel.

[Jools]

Another ghraet report Bev. I love to see the photos.

Didn't you meet with some other Dibbers that night for drinks around the Monorail?

[Guest]

Another good day. What Character was the chap in the middle between Cinderella and Belle? An ugly sister? LOL. More please - Heather

[BevS97]

Oh no Jools - I am so sorry! the last thing in my note book was swim, and I couldn't for the life of me remember what we did in the evening - obviously after we got back frmo the drinks I just went to sleep without taking any notes.

Quite an interesting evening, so i promise an update tonight

[Jools]

don't worry about it Bev. All our days just seem to merge into one when have fabarooney holidays. It must be difficult to sit down later and write about them.

I love your trippies!

[ANGEL]

so lovely having all the pix too bev, its just like being there!

[AlisonB]

Good pic on Splash!

[BevS97]

just bumping cause I added about the drinks around the monorail

[Guest]

really nice pitures again Bev

Suzanne
xxx

[Mike]

thanks again Bev! Where's the group piccy with Tink then?

Mike