Mermaid Hair Don't Care - Austin and POFQ - August 17th 2018 - Day 1 - MK

[mermaidhair]

Hi everyone.

Thanks for reading along so far. Let's get on with our first full day at WDW

The index is here if you want to catch up.

As I mentioned in the last part, EMH was starting at 7am, so I think we knew it was going to be challenging to make it! I think we had set the alarm for 6 and I'm pretty sure we showered the night before to save time in the morning, but between suncreaming us all and trying to get the boys to eat some cereal for breakfast, we didn't leave the room quite as early as I had hoped. Incidentally, after all of my careful planning and bringing Shreddies from home, Luke still refused to eat them for the whole holiday! It was a good thing my Instacart order had included croissants, but I was beginning to get a bit worried by the lack of protein he had consumed since arriving in the US!

I don't think we had to wait too long for a bus, and by now Peter had worked out the stroller (by speaking to some people who he noticed had the same brand) so we were lugging it along too! I think it was about 7:45 when we entered MK and first order of the day was some Photopass shots with the castle.





We were really pleased with how these turned out - Photopass being included in UK Ultimate tickets really is an amazing deal!

It still wasn't quite 8am when we made it up to the Hub, as I remember we had to scan a magic band to continue on to Fantasyland. It was amazingly quiet back there!



Our first ride was Dumbo, which we got on with no wait at all. We all enjoyed it and seemed to take loads of photos!







We then jumped on Barnstormer, which I think we might have stayed on for two goes as it was so quiet, but it was really a bit tame for our adrenaline junkies! I probably should have done it before we had our first 7DMT experience!

We then headed over to the Carousel, such a shame it had/has? that cover on it, but we enjoyed experiencing another of the classics.





I went in to get some waters at Gaston's, and apparently Peter was enjoying the theming of the area as he did a little video (for some reason Gaston is his favourite Disney character!) so I've taken some stills from that.





I also took this cute one of Sean flexing his muscles Gaston style!



We requested a DAS return time for 7DMT before heading up to Enchanted Tales with Belle, but they were having technical difficulties and it wasn't open yet. So instead we started the Sorcerors of the Magic Kingdom game that we had picked up cards for the previous day. Sean has a little video of this on his channel:



It was then time for our second ride on 7DMT, which was fast becoming our favourite MK ride (not that we had been on that many yet!) I managed not to ruin it by putting my arms up this time, and my husband was very kind and didn't get back at me by doing it himself



The little scene at the end while you are waiting to unload with the animatronics from the original ride is lovely. Again I have included a few shots from Peter's video of this - Luke may be an adrenaline junkie for the fast rides, but he was covering his eyes when he saw the witch!





Enchanted Tales with Belle had opened by this point, and we had just missed a show so had a bit of a wait outside, but again we really enjoyed all of the theming - the attention to detail at Disney is just incredible.





After a 10 or 15 minute wait, it was time to go in, and my careful choice of clothing to fit the planned attractions for the day paid off, as Sean was chosen to play Chip We really enjoyed this - I was glad I hadn't looked at spoilers for this ride so all the technology seemed really clever to me!







Luke hadn't wanted to participate in the show, but he sat good as gold during it, and then Peter took him up for a photo at the end...but I think the truth is he was much more interested in the animatronic Lumiere than Belle



As I missed out on a photo with Belle, I decided to have a go at being a Princess myself by posing outside the loos



The Alice Meet and Greet was supposed to have started by now, so we walked over towards the Teacups to try and find her, but there was no sign. Somehow I was then lured onto Mad Tea Party, in spite of teacups being my most disliked ride ever and the plan had definitely said I would be sitting this one out! Peter wasn't quite as cruel to me as he has been on these spinning rides in the past so I got through without puking!

I needed a Cheshire Cat Tail and Frozen Raspberry Lemonade (2 x snack credits) to recover. Apologies for these rubbish photos! I am so embarrassed we shared these two items between the four of us, but I was determined to try as many snacks as possible, and still seemed in denial about ending up with extras at this point! Also, in my defence, we did have an early lunch booked at BOG, so I wanted to make sure we were hungry for that





There was still no sign of Alice, so we got a DAS return time for Cinderella and Elena, and while we were waiting hopped on It's a Small World, which only had a wait of 10 minutes or so. Incidentally, we were definitely seeing the impact of this being a MNSSHP day, particularly in the morning, MK seemed so quiet.

We all enjoyed this, though I'm glad my children are at the age where once is enough! My poor sister had to take my then two year old niece on it repeatedly and I can see how that song would definitely grate on you after a while!

It was then time for Cinderella and Elena. I've got to admit Cinderella was a bit disappointing, and seemed to have become rather stuck up since marrying Prince Charming But Elena was lovely and Sean had a really sweet interaction with her, in spite of us never having watched her show









Finally, it was 10.40 and time for our first FP of the day for Peter Pan's Flight, which we did enjoy but I don't think I'd have been pleased if we'd had to wait long for it! I then wanted to watch Mickey's Royal Friendship Faire at 11, which I really enjoyed, though it was incredibly hot standing there watching it close to the hottest part of the day, so I dread to think how the performers feel!







I was really pleased to get a selfie with Flynn



Luke had escaped the stroller halfway through the show, and Peter followed him. They ended up having some more castle photos taken, and were just a little too late to end up with the fireworks for the show in the background!



Continued below.

[mermaidhair]

It was then time to leg it straight to our long awaited lunch at BOG! We had pre-ordered, so didn't have to wait long at all. I was also delighted to get a table right by one of the windows with falling snow in the Grand Ballroom. I think Luke was obviously overheated as he spent nearly the whole time in there lying on the marble windowsill!

We had ordered 3 QS meals to share between the four of us (obviously Luke only ate the fries ).

DH: Carved Turkey Sandwich
DS1: Croque Monsieur
Me: Braised Pork (which is the only one I photographed)



I actually never usually eat pork, but I was intrigued by this and kept hearing good reviews - I really enjoyed it. Sean barely ate any of his sandwich, so I have a feeling I ate a fair bit of it too!

We also used 2 snack credits for a Master's Cupcake and a Lemon Meringue Cupcake, but again I am laughing at being such a tightwad with the credits as they really weren't big enough to share!





I'm not going to lie...I really didn't find the grey stuff in any way delicious! It was incredibly average in my opinion!







The boys did enjoy the Lemon Meringue one, so it was a thumbs up from them!

Peter seemed to have an epic photo session with Luke by the mosaic on the way out, while Sean and I were in the loo. I had to sift through about 20 photos to get this one. We really did seem to be a bit photo crazy the first day, and then rely on the Photopass for most other days!



We then headed over to Frontierland for our FP on Big Thunder Mountain, requesting a DAS return time for Haunted Mansion on the way. Unfortunately I hadn't been paying close attention to my phone, as after walking all the way over there in the heat of the midday sun, we discovered it was down

So we walked all the way back to Haunted Mansion, which we enjoyed but the boys were basically terrified! I don't think we'll be getting on that next time!

At some point Sean and I also had this photo outside the Tangled toilets. You know it's your first full day at Disney when you're so impressed by the theming of the loos that you take photos outside them



BTM still wasn't back up, so we headed to the Country Bear Jamboree to get out of the heat for a minute. I also used mobile ordering to grab a sneaky Dole Whip Float (1 snack credit) and nipped through the passageway to pick it up before the show started.



This snack got a big thumbs up from all of us, and I definitely should have got two! The show itself is a nice way to escape the heat, but also not the best MK has to offer, though a lot better than the Enchanted Tiki Room, which we experienced another day!

It must have been 13:50 by now as we headed straight to our Splash Mountain FP. We all absolutely loved this, and got to see a bit of the parade during the slower outdoor parts but sadly it was bye bye to Peter's hat in the deluge of water at the bottom of the big drop!



BTM still wasn't back up, and we really hadn't been meant to stay at the park for quite this long, so we decided to head back stopping at the Town Square Theater on the way out to meet Tinker Bell with our replacement FP.

This was a fantastic meet. Luke really interacted with Tink, which brought a tear to our eyes. He was a little obsessed with prodding her wings, but I think she had guessed about his needs so she was really understanding. It was a lovely end to an action packed day!





We enjoyed a nice family swim back at the hotel. I had hoped Luke would stick to the splash area as it would be easier to keep him under control, but once he had experienced the big slide once, he wouldn't leave it! The pool was like a bath, funnily enough our niece in Texas, who has a summer job as a lifeguard, had told us they get complaints if the pool where she works is too warm, but I hope nobody does that at Disney as it was such a nice change for us!

We then got ready to go into Disney Springs for dinner. The boat ride from POFQ is so beautiful, though Luke was a bit of a handful during it!







We also got to see an Amphicar in the water, so that was cool!



I wanted to use mobile ordering for D-Luxe Burger as it was a Friday night and I heard it got really busy, but I was having a lot of issues with the WiFi and the MDE app and it wasn't as stress-free as I had hoped. We also found DS a bit difficult to navigate, so it took a little while to find the restaurant.

However it was all worth it in the end, especially as I got an alcoholic milkshake - yummy!

Peter had a Barbecue Burger (no cheese) and a Bud Light:


Sean and Luke shared the Secret Menu option of Chicken Nuggets and Fries with a Birthday Cake flavour milkshake - I had hoped Luke might eat these nuggets as they looked more like we had at home, but sadly I was too optimistic





I had a Diablo Burger and a Godiva Chocolate and Strawberry Malt Gelato Shake!





We also shared the snack credit portion of fries:



This was a really nice meal, and with all of those alcoholic milkshakes included, amazing value on the QSDP.

I had grand plans of us staying to enjoy the entertainment, but we were all exhausted, and it was just so crowded that it would have been hard to manage Luke. So after picking up our $200 gift card from World of Disney we headed to the boats.

Unfortunately that beautiful ride we had experienced on the way was not to be repeated, as about halfway back the engine conked out I obviously tried to pretend I was calm for the boys, but it was so dark and I was just panicking about what would happen if another boat came from either direction at full pelt and didn't see us! Luckily the radios obviously prevent that from happening, and it wasn't that long before a speed boat came along to tow us back to French Quarter - phew! So that was a bit of drama for the end of the day

I assume we all slept well after that hot and hectic day, but I haven't written anything about that in the notes!

I hope you enjoyed reading, thank you for taking the time. I'll be back next week with Day 2! Bye for now!

[katnav]

What a great first full day. You got so much done! Will be reading the rest with interest as we go this August so nice to See how much you got done in a day.

[LottiesLot]

Great day! I must confess I preferred the tiki room to the country bears!