I Wonder If That's A Dibber... Pt7... Magic Kingdom, a Magic Moment & Crystal Palace

[Dizzy]

Sarah... 40 ... that'll be me
DH Martin... 41... 'I wonder if they're dibbers...dibb, dibb, dibb'
DS Dale... 17... 'This time I cant wait to go'
DD Shannon..10... A Proper Little Madam

DD Lauren... 21... Disney Virgin
DSIL Sion... 23... Deserves a medal


Friday 13th October ... MK & Crystal Palace


We were up a bit late this morning so didn't arrive at MK until 9.09am. We gave Lauren the choice and she decided she wanted to go on the monorail and use the ferry to return at the end of the day. I love the monorail, the ride through the Contemporary and the view of the Castle ... I see that for the first time and I'm like a 5 year old.


The first thing we had to do was queue for Pinocchio and Gepetto, Shannon had met Pinocchio on our last trip so she had a hug and a play with him while Gepetto signed the autograph book, then a hug with Geppetto and we were on our way. There were loads of the characters out but luckily they were ones that Shannon had already seen so we didn't have to spend an hour queuing.

Lauren and Shannon had made Sion promise that he would wear one of the big Goofy hats all day on his last day so our first stop was the Chapeau Hat Shop. We finally found a cap that Dale liked, a black and brown one with a metal plaque on the front so bought that for him and a new hat for Martin. Sion meantime managed to wriggle out of the Goofy hat and finally agreed to the Stitch ears

Shannon meanwhile had disappeared through to Main Street Confectioners and we had no choice but to follow her through...my mouths watering again now. I was looking around and Shannon kept running up to me showing me things. I was telling her to put them back as we couldn't buy anything yet it was to hot we would have to come back at the end of the day when I noticed she was being watched by the ladies behind the counter and they were talking about her... OMG Shannon will you please stop touching everything. A couple of the ladies started to walk towards us... uh oh..
What was I worrying about...this is Disney after all. Before I knew what was happening Shannon had been told that this was her magic moment and whisked off. A trolley was brought out with a marshmallow crispie, melted chocolate and Mickey sprinkles on it, Shannon was dressed in an apron, gloves and a Chef of the Day hat.



Everybody in the shop had to clap as the CM's sang 'You're at the Magic Kingdom
The place where dreams come true
And this is a special time here
Cos this one's just for you'
Shannon then had to decorate her Crispie and they put it in a box and a bag with her hat (which now has pride of place in our kitchen) and gave her a certificate.



A quick photo of Shannon with a couple of her new friends

and a spot of pin trading and we finally got to walk down Main Street, well as far as Uptown Jewelers anyway then Lauren did her disappearing act...this had become a regular feature of our holiday, that girl just cant pass a shop. Of course I cant just go in a shop and not spend myself so I invested in a Trick or Treat Tink pin, a USA Lanyard and a Mickey Uncle Sam medal to hang on the end of it... well I need something to display all of my new pins on.
A right turn across the bridge into Tomorrowland, FP's for Buzz Lightyear for everybody including Martin who had agreed to go on it for the first time and onto Space Mountain which we had no chance of getting him on. I was really disappointed in this ride last time because I had ridden the one at DLP before and it is fantastic, this ride is totally different. This time I enjoyed it a lot more, maybe because I knew what to expect and it couldn't dissapoint me.
A few bottles of coke had to be bought because even though I had bought 24 bottles of water and put them in the freezer at the villa we kept forgetting them and the weather was in the high 80's-early 90's. Oh no, another pin stand...this is getting to be a real bad habit, I can't just walk past and end up buying another set of 4 trading pins.
We get back to Buzz and find we are a FP short which gave Martin the excuse he was looking for not to go on. I offered him my ticket but he wouldn't hear of it. I can't remember who won...so needless to say I didn't. Next on Lauren's list of 'must do's' were Peter Pan and Philharmagic so we headed through to Fantasy Land.
We grabbed FP's for Philharmagic and joined the five minute queue and a ride on Peter Pan's Flight... arrrrrrrrrrr sweet.
This is when I knew I was really starting to feel better ... I was hungry in the middle of the day. We decided to eat something light outside of The Pinocchio Village Haus so we could people watch while we waited for Philharmagic. Philharmagic is one of our favorites and was just as good as we remembered.
Lauren, of course, had to visit Tinkerbell's Treasures... I really was getting worried about their luggage allowance. We finally managed to drag her out after about 30 minutes and we went to see how long the queue was for Haunted Mansion. I was surprised to find it was only 10 minutes so we joined the queue. I think the fact that most of the queues at Disney seem to move constantly makes the queuing seem so much easier.
Next on Lauren and Sions list of 'must do's' were Splash Mountain and Big Thunder Mountain so we walked onto Frontierland. We got FP's for Big Thunder Mountain and joined the 20 minute queue for Splash... I love the animatronics and wow, what a drop. As we walked towards the ride exit my eagle eyes spotted both Year of A Million Dreams pins on one CM...I had asked whether there were any of these pins available to buy when I first started collecting and was told they were only being handed out to certain lucky people. Jackpot... I traded both.
It was time to grab a good spot to watch the parade ... preferably in the shade. We found the perfect spot outside the Country Bear Jamboree, grabbed some more cokes and checked out the CM's pins while we waited.
The wait passed really quickly, first of all there was a high school marching band parading the route and then Jesse, Woody, cowboys and girls and the Cowboy Camp wagon came and parked up in front of us. They got the kids singing cowboy songs and clapping. They then got adults to hold placards with Cacti and mountains on above their heads to be a 'range' and gave the kids hobby horses and they all followed Woody around the 'range' while 'She'll be riding 6 white horses when she comes' played over the tannoy. A quick dance of the Hokey Cokey and they rode off into the wilderness.

[Dizzy]

Shortly before the parade Brer Fox started working his up the parade route, he got to Shannon and pulled her out into the route and danced with her.

A few minutes before the parade started Pocahontas appeared and sat near us to watch the parade with the kids.








After the parade I decided that Shannon and myself needed more tradeable pins so we went in the pin store near to the Jamboree... mistake, I had to be dragged out of the shop. The framed sets in here are lovely and I would quite happily have brought them all home with me.
It was time for our FP for Thunder Mountain so we left Martin minding the bags again. Our ADR for dinner so by the time we had finished on Thunder Mountain we just had time for a slow walk (lol, like we could rush anywhere in that heat) to Crystal Palace.
Crystal Palace may be one of the most expensive of the park restaurants but it is still one of our favorites. The service, atmosphere, character interaction and most of all the food are fantastic. The cheque came to $178.86 + gratuity.
It was finally time for the ride I had been waiting for ... the Jack Sparrow ride, Ooops, sorry, I mean Pirate's of the Carri bean. I couldn't wait to see the new Jack animatronics (as Shannon kept telling her dad) and I wasn't let down. I decided that, no matter what it said about cameras, I was taking the camcorder on with me next time.
Lauren and Sion spent another half an hour in the shops (aaaaaaaaarrrggghh! ). Spectromagic was due to be on twice at 8pm and 10pm so we decided that as (hopefully) most people would be watching the first parade we would give it a miss and get some more rides in. Yeah, I always wanted to ride Big Thunder in the dark. After that Lauren, Sion, Dale and Shannon wanted another go on Splash Mountain but I really didn't want to get wet again now it had cooled down a bit so we sat and had some kid free time while they went on.
By the time they came of it was getting late and we knew we really had to rush to get a decent spot for watching Wishes, unfortunately everybody else seemed to have the same idea and it seemed more crowded than it had all day. Lol, it doesn't help when you turn around and certain people have vanished into shops again.
We ended up with a spot in front of the castle... it was a good view even if we did have to crane our necks a bit. What really annoys me is when there are a lot of young children and everybody sits down and then some idiot stands as soon as the show starts to film the whole thing. I love my home videos but a bit of consideration goes a long way. We got a great view for videoing from Main Street last time and didn't ruin it for the kids. Hope I haven't upset anybody...JMHO. I love Wishes but I do get just a little bit emotional, I even cry when just watching it on the home videos.
It was only when we sat down that we realized just how tired we were ... isn't that always the way. So we decided to stay where we were and wait for Spectromagic. The crowds were terrible anyway with people exiting the park and I really didn't fancy the crush.
Spectromagic, like all of the Disney parades and shows is fantastic...what more can I say. I said we should walk through the shops to get to the exit because it would take so long in the crush outside... what a mistake. I wanted some lockable pin backs but we still had to wait for nearly 40 minutes for Lauren to finish shopping.


It was nearly midnight by the time we got back...just time for quick showers before gratefully falling into bed. Well we did anyway, Lauren and Sion spent most of the night trying to pack everything they had bought over the week and wondering how much they could get charged for extra baggage.

[Claire44]

Ah the photos of Shannon's 'magic moment' are lovely, what a special day for her to remember.

[ambersmom]

Oh i bet Shannon was thrilled, great photos, i love the hat, wouldnt mind one myself, cant wait to show dd tomorrow, she loves cooking

[Villainlover]

wow what a long day! newbies and shopping eh how fantastic getting a 'dream' or whatever they are called in the bakery

thanks for sharing and glad you were feeling a little better

hate that day when you look at the stuff you have to pack and then you look at your case and wish it was a tardis ...

look forward to hearing more thanks for taking the time out to share with us

[Chelle27]

Oh you lucky things. What a fantastic magical day!

[highlander447]

What a great magical moment

[BarryandCaron]

What a lovely 'magical dream' for Shannon, photos are gorgeous.

Sounds like a brilliant place to watch the afternoon parade, must remember that. Glad you were feeling better.

I know it was annoying Lauren and Sion looking in all the shops but I must admit we were the same on our first trip; our friends weren't too happy with us either Mind you, we are still like it

Caron

[kirlie91]

Loving your reports and photos. Shannon looks so happy in all of them, and how lucky was she? Great day

[Bob_and_Dawn]

What a special magical moment. Another great long day.

Thanks

Dawn