There's 104 days of summer vacation - Day 10 MK - twice!

[Alison]

Had a bit of a lie in and then headed off to the Magic Kingdom - we took the ferry across for a change. Stephen added his name to the pavement before we went on.


Making his mark by limegreenlife, on Flickr


Stephen by limegreenlife, on Flickr


Beach at the Poly by limegreenlife, on Flickr


Grand Floridian by limegreenlife, on Flickr


General Joe Potter by limegreenlife, on Flickr


On the ferry by limegreenlife, on Flickr


Monorail by limegreenlife, on Flickr

It felt really hot today, much hotter than other days and I started flagging really quickly. The park seemed really busy – the queues weren’t too bad but there just seemed a lot of people around. Being the last weekend before school goes back probably had something to do with it.

We went straight to Tomorrowland, avoiding the hordes standing in the burning sun in front of the castle watching the show and got FP for Space Mountain.
On to the Laugh Floor – Stephen was bit gutted we hadn’t brought the phone to text a joke and requested we return later!

Monsters of Comedy by limegreenlife, on Flickr

We got to be on the big screen – we had ‘Smile! You’re on Monstorvison!” Great show as always – it may be corny, but it is cool and it makes us laugh.

Straight in to Stitch. I skipped this last time and now I remember why. I think this is the most pointless boring attraction, mostly in the dark, with the added ‘feature’ of lots of petrified children whose parents can’t get to them to hug them or put them on their laps because of the stupid harnesses. The cries of some of the kids were heart-rending.


Galactic Federation by limegreenlife, on Flickr

Anyway, enough of that! The boys went and did Space Mountain next and had fun with the green screens while I sat in the shade. When they came back, we spotted corn dogs – Nigel had tried these for the first time on our last trip and had been going on about them ever since, so decided to get one. Not as good as he remembered, though!

(Cont in next post)

[Alison]

We headed over to the castle to take some photos.


Perfect by limegreenlife, on Flickr


Disney time by limegreenlife, on Flickr


Gawwwwwsh! by limegreenlife, on Flickr


Goofin' around by limegreenlife, on Flickr


Chip 'n' Dale by limegreenlife, on Flickr


Down Main Street by limegreenlife, on Flickr


Walt by limegreenlife, on Flickr


One man and his dream by limegreenlife, on Flickr

Picked up some frozen lemonade and then headed off to the Tiki Rooms, which had just recently re-opened.


Tiki god by limegreenlife, on Flickr

This was the show I remembered form my childhood and Stephen said it was way better then the ‘Under New Management’ show – but then he has been brought up as a die-hard Disney fanatic! His favourite bedtime reading is books on Disney Secrets and Hidden Mickeys! Several people around us were not so impressed, however!

Then Pirates (again!) – still trying to get the elusive shot of the skeletons playing chess!


Avast ye lubbers! by limegreenlife, on Flickr


Who's in the barrel? by limegreenlife, on Flickr

We looked at the Haunted Mansion but we were so hot now we decided to leave it for later. Picked up FP for Peter Pan and then headed home via Casey’s where we shared a hot dog meal and some corn dog nuggets.


Mickey balloon by limegreenlife, on Flickr


Dapper Dans by limegreenlife, on Flickr

and then we saw Smokey Miller and had our photo taken with him as we have done every trip – he pointed out that Stephen was getting taller and he was getting fatter!


Smokey Miller by limegreenlife, on Flickr

Had a bit of a chat with Hildegard – she told me to get out of the heat and she would see me at the next Suffragette meeting!


See ya real soon! by limegreenlife, on Flickr

Home now for a rest and a freshen up before our meal at Ohana! There was quite heavy rain as we drove home – glad we had made it out of the parks in time!

(Cont in next post)

[Alison]

The weather had all cleared as we drove back to the TTC. When we got on the tram, the driver announced that we had to take the ferry – the monorail was down due to the lightning storm. We sat looking at each other, thinking, “What lightning storm?” It must have been very localised. We found out later that a power substation had been struck by lightning.

Fortunately, you can walk to the Poly from the TTA so we had a pleasant stroll through the grounds, and I reminisced about the time I stayed here as a child, when it was the Polynesian Village and the only other hotel was the Contemporary! My parents saved like mad for us to have two nights here!

Polynesian resort by limegreenlife, on Flickr


Drummer by limegreenlife, on Flickr


Polynesian waterfall by limegreenlife, on Flickr

It was busy around the restaurant area with a long queue for people waiting for walk-ins but we only had about a 10 minute wait before our buzzer went. We came here four years ago and, to be honest, it was a bit of a flop, as Stephen wouldn’t eat anything, so was a bit worried this time but he was insistent he wanted to try! I was a little dubious when he didn’t like the pineapple-coconut welcome bread and only nibbled on the salad and dumplings but when the chicken wings came, he was hooked! He then proceeded to wolf his way through the food, especially loving the steak and pork, as well as drinking a virgin strawberry daiquiri!


Virgin strawberry daiquiri by limegreenlife, on Flickr

Nigel and I didn’t do too badly either! I loved the bread pudding and the boys were quite happy with ice cream and we left, stuffed and happy, wearing our leis around our necks!


Hidden Mickeys by limegreenlife, on Flickr


Tiki drums by limegreenlife, on Flickr


Polynesian night time by limegreenlife, on Flickr


Aloha! by limegreenlife, on Flickr

The monorail was still down so we headed to the resort boat dock. Unfortunately so did loads of other people so we decided to walk back to the TTC and get the ferry, which was lovely at night.


Seven Seas Lagoon by limegreenlife, on Flickr


Magic Kingdom by night by limegreenlife, on Flickr


Let the Memories Begin! by limegreenlife, on Flickr


Castle at night by limegreenlife, on Flickr

All this took quite a while and the electric parade was almost starting when we arrived. We walked around to Pirates and I finally got the elusive chess photo – yay!


Stalemate by limegreenlife, on Flickr

Had to go to manual focus, though!


Wench Auction by limegreenlife, on Flickr


Here, boy! by limegreenlife, on Flickr


Jailer's dog by limegreenlife, on Flickr

We were stuck here for a bit as the parade blocked off the exit routes, so Stephen did the flying carpets.


Flying Carpets by limegreenlife, on Flickr

(Cont in next post)

[Alison]

We went to the Haunted Mansion. The queue was a bit too long so we went to Peter Pan and used our FP from earlier in the day


In the nursery by limegreenlife, on Flickr

and then went back to Haunted Mansion.


Blushing bride by limegreenlife, on Flickr


Singing busts by limegreenlife, on Flickr


Haunted Mansion by limegreenlife, on Flickr

Walked to Tomorrowland


Tomorrowland by limegreenlife, on Flickr

and the boys rode AstroOrbiters – bit of a squash now Stephen is getting taller!


Astro Orbitors by limegreenlife, on Flickr

We walked slowly back to the entrance of the park, taking photos on the way.


Round and round by limegreenlife, on Flickr


PhilharMagic by limegreenlife, on Flickr


Partners by limegreenlife, on Flickr


It all started with a mouse by limegreenlife, on Flickr


Main Street by night by limegreenlife, on Flickr


Still busy! by limegreenlife, on Flickr

As we reached the exit, we saw a huge crushed mass of humanity – the queue for the ferry as the monorail was still down. They had rolled out CMs to do talks on Disney trivia to entertain the crowds! It just wasn’t shifting – they were rerouting all resort buses to go via the TTA and had all the boats nipping backwards and forwards across the lagoon. We ended up going back to the Poly on the resort boat and walking through again to the TTA. It took us over 2 hours to get home from the time we left the park. Home at 1.30 – lie in tomorrow!

[disney owl]

brilliant photos again, thanks for sharing them

[BevS97]

I'm loving your nighttime photos again. I especially like Tomorrowland and the Poly waterfall.

[Dissie]

I really love your photos. They are brilliant.

[BevS97]

Oh, and how could I forget Astro Orbitors - love the crisp rocket and the blurry background

[sarahewoods]

Wonderful photos, the monorail situation was a nightmare xx

[BevS97]

I know, I know, how many comments am I going to make.

Just looking at my photos and I think we were also in MK this evening, we left right after Wishes, but we would have been on the bus, so avoided the monorail situation thankfully.