'Going the Distance' June 2017 - Day 9 - Magic Kingdom, Crystal Palace, Disney Springs, Blaze Pizza

[H_C-2017]

Sunday 18th June

Day 9

'Going the Distance - June 2017


We (I) got up today at 6:45 to make the morning brew and was greeted by this sight on the patio as I was waiting for the kettle to boil.

I’m not ashamed to admit that I have so many photos of this view at varying points of the day, although I think this one is one of my favourites.

We had the usual breakfast of muffin/toast with peanut butter from our Target Supplies and were heading off towards to TTC by 8:00. We arrived at 8:20 – love how close the villa was to Disney, the location was perfect.

It was another lovely sunny morning. I really feel that the weather really improved after our first few days at Universal where the afternoon rain shower seemed to last from 2-7pm every day.

We decided to do the ferry and were boarding Richard F. Irvine by 08:25 and set off just before half past.

It’s such an exciting experience watching the castle get closer I got Chris to get a photo with the castle in the background. I was sporting my Winnie the Pooh ears today as we were having breakfast at Crystal Palace and I love a good bit of coordination.

We had some photos taken outside with Main St. Station in the background as we didn’t get any there on Thursday as we were keen to get into the park before opening and looked like sweaty messes on the way out

It was still only 08:45 when we passed under and headed into the park. I love the quote on the arches on the way in. I feel like everyone has this photo in their collection.

We walked up Main Street and found ourselves a spot on the hub near the Pinocchio statue and the fountain to watch the opening show. We didn’t have any desire to watch from up close as we didn’t want to be that close to anyone and we intended to hang around on main street and watch the trolley show before breakfast.
I love these photos of the fountain with the castle in the background
I couldn’t get over how photogenic everything was.

At 08:55 the opening show started. I was so upset that I would not get to see the original opening show with the train outside but I guess it means less of a crush as there is more space in front of the castle and having over an hour of time when guests can start buying things is never going to be a bad thing for Disney

The ‘new’ opening show is still cute though and I thought the fairy godmother on the balcony was such a lovely touch. We were glad that we weren’t battling with the crowds trying to do a three way split to each area of the park.

We held back after the show had finished as our breakfast reservation wasn’t until 9:30 and I fancied watching the trolley show beforehand. We just spent 15 minutes on Main Street taking in the sights and popping into the shops again. I was restrained and didn’t buy anything It was nice to have some time to just take it all in. The atmosphere on Main Street in the morning is lovely, not too busy as everyone coming in was heading towards rides at a quick pace. Or in the case of these lucky people, being transported up Main Street by trolley whilst being serenaded by the Dapper Dans.

The trolley show started at 9:20 and it was lovely. The costumes are lush and I adore the trolley song – I used to love Judy Garland when I was younger and know loads of her movies and songs.

This put us nicely on time to check in for our Crystal Palace breakfast reservation. We checked in at 9:30 and had around a ten minute wait which gave me time to do some more posing and to admire the ducks sat relaxing. Where better place to be a duck than at Disney.

We were called in and seated at 9:40. We were starving at this point so were very glad when our waitress said that we had time to head up to the buffet before the characters we due round. We ordered coffee, orange (me) and chocolate milk (Chris) for drinks and made our way to the food.

It was so light and airy in there. The décor is lovely. I loved the topiary in the centre.

I took some photos of the buffet, there was an excellent selection and we were pleased that it all was quite hot as some buffets tend to let their food go colder.

My first plate was photogenic. The rest were not, never looks too appetizing on photos when it's all piled up. I think we had a few plates each Greedy!

It took about 1 hr 20 mins for all the characters to come round. The characters loved my Winnie themed ears.

I sent this photo ^ to my parents and my mum commented on how happy Chris looked :P I had to remind her that he had just been fed and that was probably why.

The bill was $68 + tip - not cheap but the food was great and the characters were so cute. The children doing the parade looked so happy I can see why it is popular with families.

It was nearly 11am when we left and we decided to just have a wander and perhaps go into the Christmas shop at liberty square as we didn’t go in last time. We were trying to let our food settle as we had eaten far too much and any rides right now were likely to have induced vomiting.

I will never get bored of this view

I spotted the silhouette cart near the Christmas shop and decided to get one done. I have one at home already from when I was 3 which was done in Canada and I thought they would look good next to each other.

It’s $10 for the actual Silhouette and then I paid $9.95 for the frame. With tax the total was $21.25 which is a great price for a souvenir at Disney I think. It didn’t take long to do but the result is amazing. We arranged to pick it up later so we didn’t have to carry it but I will insert a photo of it here alongside my younger self.

The first one is dated 1997 and this new one is 2017 so 20 years apart which is really nice.

We had quick look round the Christmas shop where I refrained from buying anything. We were planning a shopping day later in the week at Disney Springs so I was saving myself for that

We had fastpasses based in Tomorrowland so headed in that direction via the wishing well for yet more photos, you can never have too many photos – although between us both, excluding the photopass ones we had over 5000!

Chris looked a bit clapped out on his photo

Our first port of call was the People Mover. Our space mountain fastpass had actually opened up but 1) The ride was down and 2) we were still on the full side and hoped that 15 mins or so would do the trick and deflate the stomachs slightly.

Such a great way to relax and take in the sights, plus there was a fantastic breeze going on. I can see why so many people like it. It ticked the box for us in terms of a good post food ride!

Space mountain was up and running by 11:45 so that was our next stop. Our stomachs were feeling slightly better at this point although my spine certainly didn’t by the end of it! I liked the ride but it was one of the worst ones for the harsh turns and braking. I was sure glad we waited for our food to settle.

We then went on the speedway which was around at 10 minute wait with fast passes. I felt that we planned everything quite well with our fastpasses etc as it never felt that we waited a terribly long time for anything really.

I drove in front of Chris which I’m sure he was thrilled about. He didn’t bump into me much though so I can’t have been that slow.

After the speedway we popped onto the Counsel of Progress. I think we needed a sit down and aircon by this point. It’s a lovely ride in itself, very cheesy which is right up my street. Chris loves anything with animatronics so it was a thumbs up from him. The amount of people on their phones on Facebook etc was crazy, I think they were just there for the aircon. Quite a long ride, must have been around 20+ mins as when we came off it was nearly 1pm.

Astro Orbiter was next up, we waited around 20 mins in the end which was a little over the estimated time but our fastpass for Buzz weren’t open yet. This ride didn’t do wonders for my hair I have to say. It’s also quite short but fine for a quick ride and it has good views.

Fast passes for Buzz opened up at 13:20 so that was our next stop. Oh my god I was awful at this. I didn’t even make a note of my score it was that bad. I don’t even have an excuse I was just rubbish

^ I'm concentrating as well but I was still useless.

We then decided to re-fill our popcorn bucket, there was a family of ducks waiting for people to drop their popcorn

We then also purchased a drink at the Cheshire cat café where we sat for a while. I rang my mum and dad to give them an update on how our holiday was going. Have to say I loved all the slushy drinks you can get at Disney. I also brought all the straws home Think our ‘break’ ended up being like 30 mins long but I think we appreciated the rest.

We couldn't miss a go on the teacups seeing as we were so close.

I used to hate tea cup style rides when I was younger as I felt so sick but I seem to be okay now I’m older Chris took his job very seriously and put serious effort into his tea cup spinning.

We then decided that we would go on the Carousel, wander round to pick up my silhouette and head out of the park.

I love Carousels, I always remember my dad taking me on them when I was younger if we went to Blackpool or Southport for the day.

Fantasyland was looking lovely in the sunshine. It honestly makes my heart ache looking at all of my photos and remembering how much of an amazing time we had.

I nipped into the tangled toilets again because they are just the best

We decided that we would go to Disney Springs for the evening to have a look round all the shops. It was just past 3pm when we left Magic Kingdom and we jumped on a resort monorail to the Grand Floridian to have a nosy around the hotel and then jump on a bus to Disney Springs.

This is just hotel goals isn’t it. Unfortunately unless I win the lottery I think a two week stay here is slightly out of our reach

The décor is lovely, and we were in time to see a princess parade with all the kids led by Cinderella and Prince Charming.

The band were playing and it was such a lovely atmosphere although quite busy. We took lots of photos and I had one taken on the staircase, pretending I was staying there and it was my grand entrance

We then made our way to the bus stops to wait for a Disney Springs bus. These lovely wedding carriages/cars were outside, very fairytale-esque – I know lots of weddings happen at the Grand Floridian.

Speaking of weddings, we bumped into this guy! Who is famous in the Disney Wedding circle. He was lovely and we spent some time chatting to him about his job and he asked us about England etc.

In the end it was nearly 4pm when we made it onto a bus. The screen kept refreshing saying the bus was due in 5 minutes. When we did get on our way we discovered the traffic was awful and then the rain came pouring down. Luckily when we made it off the bus at Disney Springs (at 4:45!) it had stopped raining although everything still looked a little wet.

We started by heading to places I knew I wanted to buy things; Sephora and Basin. In Sephora I spent a small fortune. It’s so easy to get carried away in there! In Basin I bought a gift for one of my friends as I missed her birthday whilst I was away.

^ Chris thought this was hilarious.

Ouch

We then literally got lost in World of Disney. I think I moved into one of the other rooms and left Chris behind and then struggled to find him I actually didn’t buy anything as we had another Disney Springs day planned and I wanted to spread my spending out (and not have too many bags to carry).

Chris can’t go past a Lego store without going in so that was our next stop. He really wanted the Saturn V rocket which was fairly new but they were sold out. He ended up getting it back home in the end which certainly saved suitcase space.

It was 6:30 and we were getting hungry. Blaze Pizza was on the agenda so we walked through the ‘new’ bit to get there. I have to say I really like the look of Disney Springs. It’s busy and I can imagine that maybe it looks abit more ‘high end’ than it used to but I think it looks lovely.

I have very poor notes about what was actually on our pizzas but can take a guess and say I have Jalapenos, pepper, red onion, spicy sausage/meatball and pepperoni on mine. Chris’s looks similar bar the pepper as he is not keen on peppers. I had some kind of mango drink and Chris had a soda I think. Very tasty and very good value at $26.94 for 2 pizzas and 2 drinks.

(mine)

(Chris's)

We also arrived at the right time as the queue was mental once we had sat down to eat.

We were feeling abit full and tired by this point so decided to have a look in a few final shops: World of Disney (again ) and the Christmas shop. I bought one of the big baubles shaped like a mickey head with gold glitter outlining of each park. I don’t have a photo as they wrapped it up good in the shop – it was $25 if I remember correctly.

No more photos tonight. We went back to the villa and got in the hot tub for a while before going to bed. Very exiting


Steps 16,596
Distance 12km.

Thanks for reading! And sorry for the delay - it's taking me so long to write this up.


Day 10 isHERE!

[LostPrincess]

I love your outfit! Looks like it was a really good day and you got a good chunk of Magic Kingdom done. I'm glad Chris pulled his weight on the teacups! I love the silhouettes, what a great idea to put it with your one from 1997.

Looking forward to the next one

[Goldia]

What a fab day. It sounds like a lovely morning watching the trolley show and having a mooch before breakfast. All your photos are great. I really liked the Pinocchio shot.

[H_C-2017]

Originally Posted by LostPrincess

I love your outfit! Looks like it was a really good day and you got a good chunk of Magic Kingdom done. I'm glad Chris pulled his weight on the teacups! I love the silhouettes, what a great idea to put it with your one from 1997.

Looking forward to the next one

See more...

Thanks for reading we felt that we covered quite a lot really although even with a month I think you could still find things to do on Disney! I miss it so much.

Originally Posted by Goldia

What a fab day. It sounds like a lovely morning watching the trolley show and having a mooch before breakfast. All your photos are great. I really liked the Pinocchio shot.

See more...

Thanks for following. It was nice to have a morning where we didn't have to rush too much, lovely to just take in the atmosphere sometimes. The Pinocchio shot is one of my favourites.

[MrsSilverStar]

That read as a lovely chilled day but still with plenty packed in. Great photos!

[H_C-2017]

Originally Posted by MrsSilverStar

That read as a lovely chilled day but still with plenty packed in. Great photos!

See more...

Thank you for reading
It was a lovely day, bit more relaxed which was nice. It can be difficult to balance getting things done with feeling like you are not rushing around! Didn’t quite appreciate it until we were actually there how tiring it all would be!

[collybird]

The silhouettes together look lovely, such a nice idea.

[H_C-2017]

Originally Posted by collybird

The silhouettes together look lovely, such a nice idea.

See more...

Thanks for reading! I think they are really well priced souvenirs really.

[a11mark]

Im a sucker of getting up early and watching the sun rise too. we love the christmas shop, every time we go in and spend a fortune for our disney christmas tree