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Old 18 Apr 19, 07:30 AM  
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HelenJNT
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We decided we would walk to the Magic Kingdom from the Contemporary. We’ve only ever gone there by monorail, so it was interesting to do something new.



We made our way to the ground floor, stopping in there to visit the rest rooms in reception. They were very nice, and it struck me (obviously hard as this is the kind of detail I can remember several months on, not important stuff like how much the damn meal cost) that the restrooms had very nice loo roll. All the important facts here.



Reception itself was also really nice, with rugs and big squashy sofas and a colour scheme that immediately made me want to redecorate our house in line with it. Could it be that we were finally starting to fall for the charms of the Contemporary? Same thing happened to us with the Grand Floridian; the first time we visited there, it just made me think of the Titanic, but now we love it.



The walkway to the Magic Kingdom isn’t really signposted – and not going to lie, the air hit us hard after the best part of three hours with unlimited booze - so we had to ask a bell services chap where to find the path. You turn right out of the entrance, cross the road next to the car park, and then basically follow the monorail to the Magic Kingdom concourse.

You’d better believe this was one of the stand-out moments of the holiday, and not for good reason. I felt like a sausage that needed pricking. SO full. We lurched and rolled along the path (not really but it was pretty slow progress). What made it worse was that the humidity which had killed us on the way there had not abated; if anything, it felt worse as we’d spent the past few hours in oblivious air con bliss. Being stuffed full, a bit boozy and walking in hellish humidity do not make for easy bedfellows. I feel icky just thinking about it!

What was excellent was that there is a bag check and scanner along the path, so you don’t have to join the mega queue on arrival at the front of the Magic Kingdom. Another tick in the box for the Contemporary!



I think it was about 2pm by this point and I’d deliberately not booked any fast passes til a little later as I didn’t think we’d want to be lurching around straight after a brunch. And how right I was! The only other time I’m that full is about 14:30 on Christmas Day, and unfortunately we weren’t able to sit on the sofa and have a nap during the Queen’s Speech. So, we did the next best thing, and headed to the Hall of Presidents.

I don’t think we timed this very well as it felt like we waited forever to be let in for the show. Very unlike us, but we both plonked ourselves down on the floor to wait. There may have been groaning – and not the good kind. Rinse your brains out!



George did not approve.

We went in to the show, and Andy fell asleep more or less as soon as it started. I was still a bit scarred by the fact that a few years ago, I saw a hefty bloke wearing a t-shirt with an eagle and the stars & stripes (#USAnumber1) have a proper go at some poor tourist who had had a nap during the show, so I managed to force myself to stay awake as I didn’t fancy a face-off with someone accusing me of a lack of respect – which I suppose would be fair enough. Also, I was really interested to see what the Trump animatronic was going to be like.

They don’t let you take photos in the auditorium, so I don’t have any. But as always with this, especially as it was closed the last two times we visited, it’s more interesting than you think it’s going to be, and if nothing else, it’s good pub quiz research as there are always lesser known Presidents you get reminded of. As for Trump, well, meh. It doesn’t look much like him and I didn’t much care for the applause “he” got either. Nope.

After the show, we were trapped by the exit, as the Festival of Fantasy parade was just passing Liberty Square. We were pretty close so snapped a few photos.













It was still hella humid and you can see the sky was really grey. Once it had passed, we turned left into Fantasyland where we had one of our weirdest Photopass moments – yep, you can now have your picture taken outside the Tangled toilets… Andy was delighted about this, as you can see.





We still had bags of time before our fast passes but felt we could more or less stomach a gentle ride, so headed on over to the Peoplemover. Even though it was during the middle of the parade, the queue to get on was really beastly and it took a while.



I know I keep banging on about the humidity, but it was like the air was so dense and I felt as though I was wearing a fur coat. I scraped my hair up into a bun and enjoyed the breeze of the Peoplemover.



Gasping to be back in the air con, and in the spirit of wanting to do the more sedate attractions, we headed for the Carousel of Progress.



There must have been some kerfuffle when we entered as for some reason Andy and I ended up on separate rows, which cracked me up.



Also meant I could pretend I wasn’t with him, when he commenced snoring in 3…2…1… Or perhaps he wanted some time out from his wife’s sweaty face, I mean, who can blame him, I was minging.

I think if I am going to redecorate the lounge to look like the Contemporary lobby, I definitely want the kitchen from the future… #goals



The doors peeled back to let us out at the end of the show and we were faced with RAIN. Not just a shower but the kind of tropical storm you can only get in Florida. Thank god. The relief was instantaneous, and it had clearly been building all day.



Luckily there is some cover at the Carousel exit so we were able to stand there for 10 minutes or so and just watch people haring past.



Unfortunately, at that point a cast member came and moved us along as we were blocking the exit and the next rotation needed to come out.

I checked the app as it was time for our Seven Dwarves Mine Train fast pass. Alas, due to the weather, it had been cancelled and we had been offered another fast pass of our choosing instead. We were a little annoyed about this as this one had been our only 7DMT fast pass of the trip, so we knew we were going to have to either get up early one day or keep an eye out for a future fast pass (like hens’ teeth, still).

Given that we were in Tomorrowland and were feeling able to ride – finally the brunch had begun to digest, hallelujah –we sprinted across Tomorrowland (as fast as one can sprint after a massive lunch, in a low-ish cut dress and flip-flops, told you, I’m built for comfort, not speed) and checked in for a flight to outer space instead.



The Space Mountain fast pass queue was pretty empty which was a good job as it felt like it took me a while to get there. My flip-flops had turned into slip-slops and I was sliding all over the place and having to grab on to the hand rail whilst walking up the ramps. Embarrassing. Still, the ride was fairly uneventful. No vomit, which is always a bonus – luckily enough for the lady in front of me.



I don’t know why, but there was a temporary exit to the ride. Normally you come out via the shop, but for some reason on this trip, you came out of Space Mountain somewhere on the back side of the building and have to walk round. They’ve put in a little temporary walkway but for some reason, the genius brain behind it, had decided to use wood that had been painted with what looked like black gloss. Perfect in the rain, I’m sure you’ll agree. I nearly slipped over a few times, as there isn’t anything to hold on to – well, apart from the man (who wasn’t my husband - he had gone off ahead of me…typical) I grabbed to break my fall, oops.

Not only is it a walk outside, you have to cross the rail tracks. We were held there for ages as a train was about to pass through, and at this point we were utterly drenched. I was torn between pain due to the mascara cascading into my eyes and smugly pleased that Andy hadn’t made it across the rail tracks and so he was caught up too. Serves him right for leaving me behind. Rain hadn’t even been forecast so we didn’t have an umbrella or our macs with us.



We’d reached the point of no return now – the rain wasn’t letting up and we were soaked to our undies so there was only one thing for it and that was to cancel our remaining fast passes and head to the buses.



Back at the room, we each had a shower and whilst we were deciding what to do, watched some kind of Mickey birthday spectacular on the TV. It wasn’t really doing a lot for us though, it was all bit millennial for us, so we didn’t watch it for long.



The rain was still slamming it down, and we didn’t have any meal reservations or anywhere to be, so we opted to have a night in. We pottered down to the shop to fill up our mugs (more pink Sprite from the freestyle machines) and whilst we weren’t hungry in the slightest, were starting to get a little peckish, so used a couple of snack credits on a cookie for Andy and this Lunchable thing for me.

We went back up to the room and scrolled the TV for a movie, finally ending up with Caddyshack which was perfect as we wanted something funny and that required no brain cells. I always feel disappointed when I read trip reports where people stay in and watch movies of an evening, especially when they’re on site, so I felt bad for this instalment, but the rain really wasn’t conducive to doing much else.

We got into bed, Andy feasted on his nuts, and I got stuck into the Lunchable snack.



What a game changer that turned out to be. Lunchables in the UK are gross crackers, mystery meat and little slices of Dairylea. Like 99% of the snacks in the US, this was worlds apart from the crap they fob us off with and it was delicious. Little tortilla chips, some really zingy salsa which had a bit of poke to it, and my fave – plastic cheese. YES.



That’s it for this day. A really different day for us – we never ever have a late start, spend hours on a meal, a short time in a park and then have the evening in the hotel room. Really alien. Whatever next? Despite all the sogginess, we still had a great time and managed to rack up a few steps.



I hope you’ll join us for the next instalment, where normal service is resumed, and we spend the day at Universal! This can now be found here!

Edited at 02:22 PM.
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