OKWe're going when - Day one

[chaffey]

Thursday 20th October
Magic Kingdom and CRT

In all the years of coming to Florida I have never been able to sleep on the first night just like everyone else no doubt. However I have to say that this time I probably had my best first nights sleep ever. A full six hours and only stirring twice to check what the time was, firstly it was 12.30 and then 2.30.

Finally I woke at 4am feeling like I had slept for ages. Paul stirred a little after 4 and was soon wide awake when Olivia came in to find us just after 4. It wasn’t long before Millie joined us as well. With no one able to go back to sleep we decided at 5am it was time to get ready, it’s much better to get up than lay there for a couple of hours trying to go back to sleep right.

Once I was ready I ran a bath for the girls only to be met with do we really need to mum and please don’t wash our hair... After a few moans they were in the bath and were having their hair washed. How cruel am I especially at 5.30 in the morning?

Everyone was ready by 6.45 so we headed over to reception to catch the bus to Magic Kingdom. I have to say it was very weird leaving the apartment in the dark and what can only be described as a little chilly. The walk to reception was no more than five minutes and that allowed for us to stop and look at a couple of lizards that ran out near our feet.

We waited for about 10 minutes for a bus to turn up, luckily the first one to come along was heading to the MK. I kind of guess not many people use the buses at this time of the morning as apart from two others we were the only ones on the bus. We arrived at MK and were standing at the turnstiles by 7.20am. All the Cast Members were wearing their fleecy coats and there we were standing in shorts.



They let us through at about 7.40 and we went and stood in front of the station so we could see the opening ceremony.



Whilst waiting for Mickey to arrive we bumped in to the people we had meet at Gatwick so had a chat with them. It wasn’t long before Mickey and co arrived. The girls looked on in awe as all the characters danced and waved before declaring the park open.





Now I was a little worried about how the girls would be with the characters as when we arrived last time neither of them were that keen on meeting any of them. But having seen their faces light up when they saw Mickey I was a little more confident that they may be ok. Only time would tell.

We headed in to the park with everyone else, some of who decided that every minute waiting in line to get through was a wasted minute and tried to push right to the front. I was more than happy to just go with the flow so I could savour every minute and see the girls joy as we saw the Castle for the first time.



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[Hidden mickey]

it was cold wasn't it! we were there at same time

[chaffey]

We took a slowish walk down Main Street and decided to head straight to Dumbo as we never managed to ride this on our last visit. We waited no more than five minutes before we were laoding. I did have to explain to Olivia that she would have to ride in which ever Dumbo was free instead of demanding what colour she wanted as there were lots of other children that might also want the elephant with the pink blanket. Luckily we managed to get one of her choice so she was one happy bunny.

Both of them loved this ride but wished it was a bit longer. They really wanted to go again but we wanted to get as much done in Fantasy Land before we headed over to CRT for our 9.30 breakfast.



Both girls decided that they wanted to ride Snow White next, obviously forgetting that last time neither of them were that impressed with the scary part. This was basically a walk on and we were soon riding in Happy’s Car. They were both fine right up to the scary part when both of the girls grabbed us and hide only to show their faces again in time to wave goodbye to Dopey on the bridge. Let’s just say neither of them wanted to ride again.

Next we moved on to Winnie the Pooh which I love and everyone else enjoyed as well. The wait was about ten minutes during which the girls made use of the activites on offer and loved the boards where the honey moved if you touched it. They tried to guess who was under all the honey. Kept them entertained and I think they would of been happy to stay there much longer but the line was moving so we had to keep moving on.





Both of the girls giggled as the car started to bounce just like Tigger. All too quickly the ride was over and we were getting off only to head into the shop where from both of them you could hear can we buy this or this. Mean Mummy said that they had to wait until later as I was sure there would be something else they wanted.

Before heading to CRT we decided that we had time to ride Prince Charmings Regal Carrousel. We asked the Cast Member to show us where Cinderella’s horse was but as we got there someone hopped on so they girls rode the horses a couple of rows in front. Maybe next time we will get to ride Cinderella’s Horse.





After riding Olivia had a go at trying to pull the Sword out of the Stone but with no luck. Millie half heartedly had a go but certainly didn’t put as much effort in to it as Olivia did.



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[Milner]

Great read so far.

[chaffey]

The time was just after 9 and everyone was starting to get hungry so we headed over to CRT to see if we could check in. They were more than happy for us to check in and told us to go and get our photo taken with Cinderella. The queue for this was huge and we must of waited a good 15minutes to meet her. But this did give us enough time to find Jac and Gus with just a little help from a friendly cast member.



Now during the whole of our holiday we only meet two abrupt cast members and one of them was here. The photopass lady was certainly not the most welcoming and was very curt with both Millie and Olivia when they were trying to get their autograph books ready. I wouldn’t of minded but there were still at least five families in front of us waiting to have their photos taken. She certainly didn’t have the Disney Magic and her attitude didn’t improve when we finally got to meet Cinders. It was almost as if we were in her way. However there was no way I was going to rush this moment as it was the first character the girls were meeting this holiday and I was not going to let her spoil it for them. Anyway rant over.

As we needed to wait for our name to be called we took a seat and sat taking in all the wonder of the castle. Just before 9.30 we heard our name and soon we were on our way upstairs only for Olivia to fall over. Luckily I was holding her hand so not too much damage was done but a few tears did pursue. I had managed to calm her down as we reached the top of the stairs so she was ready to receive her wand and wishing star. We were shown to our table which was the second row back from the window and made to feel very welcome by our server. It had already been noted that Olivia had a nut allergy so she explained that the chef would be out to see us very soon. The chef who as she described him looked like a big teddy bear soon came to our table and explained that they were more than happy that the food they provided was nut free. Even the cupcakes they gave her for her birthday was nut free.

We started with the fruit salad which both girls helped themselves to before they saw the croissants and cinnamons whirls. And this is where their obsession of cinnamon whirls started. Whilst we were waiting for our breakfasts our server brought a cupcake over so we could celebrate Olivia’s birthday.



The girls then had the childrens breakfast which was cinnamon French toast, scrambled egg and bacon. We had scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage and potatos. Our server took one look at my plate and decided that the egg that was on my plate was pitiful and brought out another plate of eggs which Paul helped himself too. The girls both made a beeline for our sausages and they were soon gone. Our server also brought us some more croissants and cinnamon whirls and asked if we need more cooked breakfast which we all declined.

During our breakfast both girls had great delights in meeting Snow White,



Aurora,




Ariel



and Belle.



Each one of them took the time to read what was written in each of their autograph books and respond appropriately especially Belle. They also took the time to wish Olivia a Happy Birthday. Both girls also joined in with the wishing ceremony and I really hope that whatever they wished for comes true.

Our server was very attentive and kept calling by to make sure we had everything we needed. Towards the end she brought us our bill and I have to say it was very nice knowing that we didn’t have to pay anything. All we did was hand over our KTTW card and 2TS were deducted each and we were soon on our way.

[sarahewoods]

Hi Tracey, a fab start to your day, we were exactly the same on our first day too, everyone was in coats and jeans, and we were freezing in our shorts... lol

Looking forward to your next section xx

[chaffey]

Suitably full we headed outside to the sun which was now warming up a little. As we left both girls spotted the Fairy Godmother and were desperate to have their photo taken with her. Unfortunately the line had closed but we were told to come back at 11.25.



As we had a little time to waste we headed over to Philarmagic which had been one of Millie’s favourites from our last visit. But I was told that I could only go in if I didn’t sing along to the songs. This was a firm hit again and both girls chatted excitedly about it as we left the show. As the time was heading towards 11.15 we decided to walk back over to see if we could meet the Fairy Godmother as we needed to get an autograph book for the characters that were not in the lovely autograph books that Sarah Woods had made them.

As we arrived Lady Tremaine was there so the girls joined the queue but were a little apprehensive as they thought that she may tell them to go tidy. Although she was a little stern and played her character well she could also be seen to have a little smile on her face.



By the time Paul was back with the new autograph books The Fairy Godmother was just coming out so we rejoined the line and both girls were more than happy to go see her by themselves.



Happy that they had seen her we then made our way over to Thunder Mountain which Olivia was desperate to ride as she had been too little last time. Millie was a little worried but we decided if we didn’t talk about it she would just come with us. On the way round into Frontier land we bumped in to Donald Duck so stopped and added his autograph to our collection.



We carried on towards to BTMRR where the queue stated ten minutes. We were soon seated and Millie was starting the, I not sure I want to go. Olivia on the other hand was eager to get going and already had her arms up in the air. Both girls squealed with delight as we went up and down so I declared this a big hit. Olivia of course wanted to ride again!

As we were over in Frontierland we decided to hunt out Woody. As we got there we were told that he was just going to check on all the other toys but would be back out very soon. Olivia wanted to know where Jessie was so I told her how she was busy and I was sure that we would see her another day. She was a little disappointed so you can probably imagine her delight when not only Woody came back out but Jessie came out too. To say she was ecstatic was an understatement. The wait to get to the front was almost unbearable for her. The interaction from both Jessie and Woody was fantastic.



Jessie was beside herself to think that she had her own page in the girls autograph books. She was so excited that she went running off to show Woody! Both girls had a great time meeting both these two characters and had loads of cuddles. Jessie also had a quick look through the autographs books where she saw a picture of Buzz and asked the girls to tell him that she loved him.



With both girls totally ecstatic over their meeting experience we decided to head over to the Haunted Mansion, again Olivia was eager as she was asleep when we went on this last time. Both were a little bit scared in the lift room and at points throughout but a little bit of talking and explanation about what was happening soon got them to forget what they were scared about. Both found the hitch hiking ghosts funny though.

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[Hidden mickey]

ahh that was lovely, glad you didn't let the grumpy photo lady spoil it for you

[chaffey]

We now decided that it was time to visit Adventureland. We tried Pirates but this was having technical difficulties so instead we went and met Pirate Goofy who again was impressed with his own page in the girls autograph book. Through the cast member he also answered the question at the top of his page.



After a cuddle and a kiss of his nose we next head to Jungle Cruises. We decided that we would wait the 20 minutes that was showing until both girls decided they needed a toilet break. So instead we decided to get fastpasses which was only 50minutes away.

After our little break we headed to Aladdin’s Flying Carpets which only had a ten minute wait. Another ride that went down a storm. The girls went round to see if the camel was working but we guessed not as the pavement was dry! After a quick drink break it was time to ride Jungle Cruises. The lady doing the tour was very in character and had us laughing all the way round at her very corny jokes. The girls believed everything she said though!

The time was fast approaching 2.00 and as we had been up since 4am we decided that maybe we should consider heading home for a little break. Olivia though was adamant she wasn’t leaving until she had seen the Castle show. Everytime throughout the day when she heard the fireworks she complained that she had missed another show. So to keep the peace we went and found a space and waited about ten minutes for it to start.





The girls sat mesmerized and truly got into the story line and were more than happy to shout out to help Donald believe that Dreams really do come true.



After the show Paul deemed we didn’t need to see the parade today as we would see it later in the holiday. So with a miserable face as I wanted to see the parade we decided that we would have an ice-cream sandwich from the Main Street Bakery before going to catch the bus. We shared two sandwiches between the four of us and struggled to finish them but what we did eat were so delicious.

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[chaffey]

We made our way through the crowds and noticed that the wait for Mickey and Minnie was only showing five minutes so it would have been rude not to stop and say hi. In actual fact the wait was only as long as the walk to the entrance. We were soon in our little dressing room with Mickey and Minnie and as we were the last in the queue they spent ages with the girls.







As we left I could hear the parade going by but I didn’t stop and headed to number 7 bus stop. The bus turned up almost straight away and the girls insisted that they wanted to sit together which was fine until Paul realised that Olivia had fallen asleep and was in danger of falling off the seat. So a quick swap around and she was snuggled up on the seat with Paul. Getting off the bus with two buggies was entertaining to say the least, I’m only five foot tall and a buggy in each hand can prove difficult to manoeuvre. Paul carried Olivia off whilst Millie was helpful and carried all the bags.

We headed back to the apartment and tried very hard to get the girls to have a sleep but no both of them were running around and insisted they were fine and happily played with the toys I had brought for the plane. With no luck on the sleep front we decided that it was probably a good idea that we went to Publixs for a few essentials. So that’ll be beer (for Paul), water, milk, pepsi max, and crisps:pop:, oh and just to even the balance of naughty stuff we got some grapes too. Total bill was $59.51.

All stocked up we decided that we would head to Wolf Gang Puck express for tea. Parking was a nightmare and we ended up down by Planet Hollywood. This is where we made a mistake and ended up going to the wrong express. Having never used a counter service before we asked

A) If we could use the dining plan there and
B) What could we have.

The lady behind the till looked at us as if we were aliens and had to call a manager over. The manager had to explain how it all worked and how to put everything through the till. The girls shared a kids pepperoni pizza and a cookie and we shared a BBQ chicken adults pizza followed by carrot cake which I believe Paul eat all to himself. However they wouldn’t let us have a bottle of water with the meal so had to pay out of pocket for the girls drink which I am sure wasn’t right but really couldn’t be bothered to argue as we were all quite tired. Once we had all finished we decided to head to the World of Disney stopping at a few shops including the lego store on the way. The girls were in awe again by being in such a large shop which was completely filled with Disney products. Of course the girls wanted everything but I had explained that they only had $20. Millie finally settled on an Alice in Wonderland figure set and Olivia had a Tinkerbelle set. I also picked up a photo album. With both girls happy with their purchases they were eager to get back to the apartment and play and as DTD was extremely busy we decided that it wasn’t a bad idea. The longest part of the journey back was getting out of the car park. We were back home just after 9 and both girls were flat out by 9.30. I followed not long after at 10 and left Paul making the most of the free Wi-Fi that was available at OKW. No doubt he was Dibbing.

Tomorrow - Epcot