I need to sell a kidney... but I'm going! - Day 5

[Hannikins]

With a 7am breakfast slot we were again up at insane o’clock. But there was one small problem, I just couldn’t move, so we didn’t make it down to breakfast until 7.15am, standards were slipping already! It didn’t really make a difference, the breakfast room was very quiet so we took our time while I devoured 6 pastries (yes. SIX!), several hot choccies and managed to make 4 cheese rolls, which somehow made it into the plastic bag in my bum bag…oops!

Despite carrying the weight of all those pastries we made a brisk exit towards MK, anxious to get there for 8am. We shouldn’t have bothered. It was us and one other English family, the Europeans don’t really ‘do’ mornings it appears!

It was so early it was still dark!



It was worth the pain of an early rise though, we made it to main street before anyone else so we managed to get a few empty main street shots



They were cast members so they don’t count ;P



With so few people to race to the rides we decided to check out the new ghost details around main street. I especially liked the opera singing ghost you can hear opposite Walt’s





They were certainly more ‘disney’ than the pumpkin men, I always found those a little sinister, especially the ones up by the mansion

Firstly we headed to buzz to wake up a little. Being first through the gates we were escorted by a crewman to our ship with an official salute and a cheery ‘welcome space rangers!’

Adam won, as usual.

Next up was Space Mountain, a head banger as usual.



We usually do this a good few times in the morning but I hadn’t built up sufficient roller coaster brain to deal with doing it more than twice so it was on to fantasy land.



still looks amazing in the morning gloom.

I asked Adam to take a piccie of me and the castle, can you spot me…



There’s I am



I wanted this pic for my wall at work but it looks a bit grim. I’ll have to go back with my mickey ears when it’s sunny to do a better one.

First up was the carousel, I know this is just like any other carousel but somehow you just can’t get away with riding one anywhere but at Disney. I LOVED it.



Adam wasn’t so keen teehee :P I don't know what his problem was, I let him sit on a 'manly' horse



It was starting to drizzle a little so we headed over to the teacups and some cover. It was still very quiet so we managed two rounds on this, we got a little queasy.



Still raining we headed to snow white followed by Pinocchio. I really HATE the trees in the snow white ride, they scare me to death. How kids don’t all come off this screaming their heads off I don’t know!


The rain was a little heavy now so we took refuge in the castle.



The park was opening to regular guests, so we had a nosy in the shop.

This was here in 2010, I wonder why nobody has bought it yet?



Once the rain had cleared we decided to head out to visit the studios as they were due to open in 30 minutes. We did stop to visit an old friend though



I think he may have also had some work done for the 20th anniversary, the lighting was certainly better.

We arrived at the studios to find that the gates were already open. Great, that didn’t bode well for the crush queue!

As it happened it wasn’t to bad at 25 minutes so we decided to wait it out.

We ended up waiting with an English family with two young children. The little lad was still recovering for a ride on the parachutes and was a little wary. He kept asking would he get wet, it which his mother’s response was “maybe a little”. She’s also told him it was just going to “twist around a bit”. Somehow I gathered from this that it may have been their first time on crush because “twist around a bit” is the biggest understatement ever used to describe this ride. I wanted to say something, really I did…. But the need to see the aftermath was to great so I kept quiet, I know, I’m evil…

On leaving the ride I made Adam hang around a bit just so I could see how it had gone. Well there they were, all of them wide eyed and stunned, even the dad! The little lads face was brilliant though, full quivering lip and shakes, almost cruel to laugh really. I think he was to shocked to cry and it wasn’t until he was outside in the clear light of day when he started screaming, clearly scared by the experience… we left them to it, character building I say.

Entertainment for the morning over we headed over to toy story playland. The parachutes were down, again (shocker!), so we decided on a few rides on RC Racer



We preferred it at the back, much longer sense of weightlessness we thought.

Next we fitted in a few rides on rock and roller coaster and tower of terror.



On the way out we noticed Armageddon was open, for some reason I thought this was a sit down affair, probably getting confused with similar rides in orlando. Standing was agony! But I still managed to get through the intro bit with Michael Clarke Duncan (RIP) before getting into the ‘set’. Guess who had joined us? Our friends from crush of course! Along with a Spanish family with two young children who started screaming the minute we entered… this was NOT going to be pretty. Sure enough the explosions, wind and fire caused a sufficient level of emotional scaring to both families and we all left in a crowd of tears and screams. Not Disney at it’s most child friendly I’ll admit but fun all the same!

A quick glance at the board showed crush at 15 mins, well it would be rude not to. So we fitted in two rides with crush and squeeze before making for the exits.

We made sort work of the cheese sandwiches on our way over to magic kingdom, not wanting to stop for lunch today.

[Hannikins]

A quick inspection of the boards showed that today was a quiet one





Having done Fantasyland and Discoveryland that morning we headed first to big thunder mountain. Grabbing a fastpass before joining the queue.



We fell into the usual pattern here, riding big thunder mountain, grabbing a fast pass, before heading off to ride something else during the wait. It wasn’t great on the legs all this running around. By 4ish we were pooped. Having not paid for lunch today (naughty naughty!) we headed to the bakery on main street and grabbed a hot drink, cookie and a doughnut. We caught this cute little show on the way



WDW main street bakery this was not, my cookie tasted of absolutely nothing, completely rubbish. I had wanted to try the ‘anniversary’ cake but despite walking into every counter service that afternoon I hadn’t seen it once ☹

Rubbish cookie and vastly over priced hot drinks (ok so it was 3 euros which doesn’t sound bad but it was the nasty stuff you get from hospital waiting rooms for 60p! yuk!) we sat for a while deciding what to do next…. BTM obviously! Can you tell we love this ride?

The park was so quiet today that there was a cast member handing out fast passes instead of you using the machine. I think they do this to run a few off so the time slots change. Anyway, the wait was 60 minutes so we headed to the haunted mansion.

On the way over to adventureland to fill in the rest of the 60 minute wait Adam had a call of nature, so I waited by BTM for him. I noticed the cast member had gone and the machines were back in action. And then I realised, the fast passes I had weren’t from my tickets, the machine had no idea I even HAD the two I carried in my pocket. So quickly I rushed to the machines, feeling ever so slightly naughty… I was about to CHEAT THE SYSTEM, I looked over my shoulder, and grabbed two more fastpasses… for exactly the same time frame as the other 2 I had. Brilliant!

It’s the little things ☺



If the cast member taking the tickets noticed us using the tickets in quick succession she didn’t say anything. The people in the main queue did seem to notice though as we were given some rather steely glares.

By now it was getting on for 7pm and it was starting to go dark. We weren’t watching dreams tonight, instead planning on riding BTM in the dark for as long as possible.

Still using fast passes we managed this a few times, only having to join the main queue a few times. On one of these occasions we were met with our only experience of queue jumpers the whole trip. Chain smoking the whole way through the queue (the fact that the whole place was made of wood didn’t seem to bother them) we quickly identified them as being A: German and B: chavs. I have no idea what the german equivalent is of a chav but the velour tracksuits and all in one hoodie uniforms seem to span across to mainland Europe. No sooner had we reached the main building than they were over the barrier and shooting down the fastpass line, this really is the worst fast pass queue for this. Really they should take the tickets near the stairs as CM’s at loading have no visibility higher up, in fact I’m surprised so few people actually do jump over to be honest.

We had a dinner reservation at 9.30 so we rode BTM in the dark for as long as we dared before making an exit. We headed round the back of the new gardeners hut and realised you got quite a good view from there of dreams, something to consider tomorrow I thought!

We headed back to the hotel to put on something a little smarter before heading over to Hotel New York. We’d stayed here in 2010 so it was nice to visit again. I checked the shop in the lobby to see if they still had the figurine I wanted. Before the trip I told myself that if they still had it, it would be fate and I would buy it. Alas it was sold.

This is it



one day maybe….

We were 30 minutes early so we headed over to the bar to try a cocktail. I had something, which I can’t remember the name of, I think it was liberty bell, it was one of the ones you could only get at Hotel New York though.



Adam has a tendency on these occasions to go wild and order incredibly expensive girlie cocktails. I think it’s safe to say on this occasion he outdid himself



Still he was happy and the “light and colours” cocktail appeared to get lots of admiring glances as it changed colour.





The snacks weren’t bad here either and we gladly finished off all the nuts and olives.

Still a little early but not wishing to drop another week wages on more cocktails we headed over to the Manhattan restaurant.

We checked in and the CM seemed rather puzzled on where to put us, ooo it must be busy I thought, not so, there were 4 other tables seated! I realised later it was because they had already set most of the restaurant up for breakfast! I had heard that there is often live piano music here but alas not tonight.

Our waiter came over and asked if we were on the meal plan. I explained we were but may not use it. This confused him no end, especially the notion of ‘face value’, turns out that means nothing in French so I was really struggling. Eventually we convinced him to give us both menus and that seemed to make more sense to everyone involved!

I had originally wanted to try the gourmet burger on the more expensive set menu but as we were going to Annette’s for lunch tomorrow I decided to give it a miss and stuck with the set menu. Adam on the other hand went with the burger.

To start I had the pumpkin soup with beetroot crisps and chestnut muffins



The chestnut muffins were lovely as were the beetroot crisps, although they were chewy not crispy. The soup was also nice but it was EXACTLY the same as the one from hunter’s grill the night before! Kinda looses it’s ‘specialness’ when you’ve been spooning it out of a vat the night before :/

Adam ordered the "Little Italy" platter described as “a selection of antipasti”



Now we eat A LOT of antipasti, and usually this would be a selection of meats, cheese, olives and sometimes pickled veg.

This is not what he got. EVERY OTHER THING was a pickle vegetable, the only piece of meat being a small piece of ham wrapped around ricotta, which would have been fine, had it not been swimming in oil. There was also a token prawn sitting on some salad, again drowned in oil. Sorry I realise I’m going overboard on this dish, but seriously? Awful!

Luckily the mains were much better!

Adam’s burger was huge!



he’d asked for the sauce on the side so that came in a little pot. Probably for the best, I can see it being rather messy with all that poured over it! He said it was amazing but only managed half.

I ordered the maple syrup glazed chicken.



Again yummy, the chicken being the star of the dish (thankfully!). The only let down was the mash, I love mash, but this was more crush potatoes masquerading as mash, it was so lumpy and dry! Still after some further mashing and mixed with some sauce it was ok.

It was round about now that my eyes started drooping, and I noticed Adam doing the same. We were shattered, there in body but certainly not in mind, and despite the mains being yummy I just wanted my bed!

We managed to get through dessert, although we only really picked at it.

Adam had the crumble



which was more tinned fruit with some crumbs on top. Tart and not good, it needed ice cream, custard, just SOMETHING with it, but instead it came with 3 rather random chocolate chip cookies. Now I don’t know about you but I can’t see how they go with crumble?

I went for the Lemon tart with fruit minestrone.



I ate all the minestrone (diced fruit), but picked at the tart, it was your usual pre prepped variety, again same as the one at the buffet yesterday.

Overall the food was a mixed bag, being one of the more expensive restaurants I was expecting more but only the mains delivered. We would go back next time, we’d just pick different things (the salad looked nice!)

Eyes only half open we paid the extra 9 euros and left, I don’t know now we made it back to our room, but we did…. 7am brekkie tomorrow!

[Guest]

I recognise that Kipling bumbag from somewhere...

Have just caught up with this report due to the countdown (eek!) your food pics look lovely, and I for one loved what you wore to the wedding as that blue is my favourite colour

Looking forward to more - am off to read your others as am wrapped up in bed with a raging cold and the cat.

[Hannikins]

Originally Posted by *Zoe*

I recognise that Kipling bumbag from somewhere...

Have just caught up with this report due to the countdown (eek!) your food pics look lovely, and I for one loved what you wore to the wedding as that blue is my favourite colour

Looking forward to more - am off to read your others as am wrapped up in bed with a raging cold and the cat.

See more...

YES! that's the very same bag! It came in very handy

[Gill635]

Brilliant as always Hannikins

xx

[Hannikins]

Thanks gill, day 6 coming tonight!

[Hannikins]

Day 6 posted http://www.thedibb.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=660476

[orlandosgr8]

Another really great day, shame the evening meal was a bit hit and miss.

[i198g]

A very busy day.

Shame about the bakery on Main Street but Manhattan restaurant looks very nice, along with those cocktails, Adam looks to be enjoying his haha

[lauz]

Wow, you packed loads in!