Mouse Trapped - WDW Again !

[Guest]

Wow your organised , have a fab time and i will follow your hols with keen interest , good start guys!

[elliemay]

Great start , cant wait to read more

[Reetser]

Love a live report! Great start with plenty of bubbles on tap

[liverbird]

Great start to your holiday! Have a wonderful time. xx

[cybermum]

Brilliant start!

[Guest]

Day 2

As I write this up I’m sitting here listening to Illuminations – Reflections of Earth on my ipod (the clock radio in the OKW studio has an ipod dock) and I’m enjoying a glass of a wonderful beverage I discovered in Walgreens – Smirnoff with blueberry and lemonade. So if this record becomes somewhat askew you know why! Darrin has gone off for an “almost midnight” swim - it’s 10:45 p.m. local time as write.

The day started at 7:15 a.m. with a leisurely Jacuzzi and swim at the quiet pool at the end of Old Turtle Pond Road (isn’t that a delightful name?) We met a couple called Christina and Bob from Wiltshire and we swam and chatted away in the early morning air as the sun rose over the horizon. Thankfully a blue sky this morning after last night’s deluge. We had an ADR at Chef Mickey’s for 9:10 so once we were organised and dried off we took off in the car. When we get to the Contemporary the security guard is Brian who is originally from Derby U.K. (Geoff is from Derbyshire originally) and he remembered us from 2 years ago! That’s amazing. If you are into quiet breakfast then don’t eat here. Every 20 minutes or so the whole place goes mad as you twirl your napkins to a celebratory dance. Kids love it of course. They lay on a brilliant buffet breakfast and Barbara, our server, kept us in constant supply of fruit juice and coffee. She also spotted our Anniversary badges and brought us a little cupcake with two candles and sprinkles! The gang make their way around the tables and Goofy, Donald, Pluto, Mickey & Minnie all pay us a call. Don’t know why but for once in my life I asked Mickey for an autograph.





By 10:15 a.m. we made our way to the monorail but towards the Ticket & Transportation Centre – so we could check out our tile in the Walk Around the World.



Now a bit of news for you folks – the Skyway bridge that connects the Contemporary to Bay Lake Tower is closed. It seems they aren’t happy about people using it as a means of watching the fireworks in MK at night so instead of it having an uninterrupted view, as it is now, they are fitting opaque glass so you won’t be able to see the show! Spoilsports.

From the TT&C we catch the ferry across Seven Seas Lagoon. We always think it’s the best way to approach the MK park. When we get there it’s all been done over for the Halloween evenings. We stroll through the Main Street shops – far cooler than the 85 degrees outside. The Celebrate Parade is just making its way up towards the castle – they are currently running this 3 times a day. We decide to go and have a sit in the Hall of Presidents and actually get on the front row dead centre. Those animatronics are frighteningly real looking at close quarters. I got a real good shot of Obama. When we get to Splash Mountain we find it closed because of some technical difficulty so we decide to grab Fastpasses anyway and head for Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. The wait time is ten minutes and we get right at the front as the little girl who was allocated that slot doesn’t fancy being that close to the engine. We do a swap with her and her Mom. As we come off the train we discover that Splash has reopened and we are into a log in under 15 minutes. By contrast the Haunted House is running at 40 minutes. And talking of Haunted Mansions – we bought one but you’ll have to wait to see it, as it gets delivered to our resort tomorrow. We lunch at Columbia Harbor House and I have to say this has really gone off. I had the fish basket with fries and it was truly appalling. Darrin had a muffin and a banana that he’d snaffled at breakfast – don’t forget he had bariatric (stomach )surgery in April so can’t each large meals. We stop and watch the stage show for a little while but the sun is unrelentingly hot and dark clouds are forming in the distance.



We plough on and do Pirates of the Caribbean. I swear if one more person uses flash on that ride after being told not to by CMs then they are going to find themselves being drowned in the well as I let the Mayor go free in their stead! Darrin is feeling a little jaded in the heat so we make our way down Main Street to grab a chair up at the station. There’s a band (76 trombones style) who entertain the crowds (small as they are) until it’s time for the 3 o’clock parade. Now then let’s get something sorted once and for all. The parade is shorter than it used to be but it’s not 6 minutes long as some have claimed. We timed it and it’s actually 12 minutes in length. As we were upon the Station balcony we were level with some of the higher characters on the floats. The Fairy Godmother spotted our Anniversary badges and shouted Happy Anniversary and blew us a kiss – all caught on video!



It was nice to see Princess Tiana and Prince Naveen added to the floats. Miss Piggy and Kermit also appear in the parade in a special car.

By 15:50 we are back at Old Key West resort although we paddled rather than drove. As we left the Magic Kingdom area and turned towards Osprey Ridge the heavens opened and, boy, did it rain! We had to run like mad from the car to our room but we still got drenched.
We had an ADR at Whispering Canyon Cafe this evening but got there early so we could have a good nosey around. Instantly we can see where they got the inspiration from for the Grand Californian at Disneyland, California. Modelled on the great hotels of the American National Parks the theming here is beautiful. If you walk down through the grounds to the geyser at the bottom, Bay Lake in the distance makes you feel that you could be in Oregon or Washington State. We particularly checked out the DVC villas and decided it’s somewhere we do want to stay in the future.



So, on to the café. Again, if you are looking for a romantic dinner don’t eat here. (Go to Artists Point instead).The whole place is a madhouse and we loved every minute of it. If you don’t know about the ketchup request………….I’m not telling. They had the kids hold a horse race using hobby horses. The cheering was deafening. Somebody had a birthday and their server sang the birthday song, excrutiatingly off key (deliberately). He then asked for the victim’s mobile phone and proceeded to call somebody in her phonebook telling them it’s was Walt Disney World calling, at which point we all had to shout, whistle and cheer. I just hope her employer wasn’t on the other end of that phone! Food wise Darrin chose the maple and whisky glazed trout.



I had the skillet and managed to eat most of it. Pulled pork, brisket, chicken, ribs, corn on the cob and mashed potato We had the cornbread to go. That’ll be nice with a cuppa in the morning.



And so for today we come full circle. I’ve had another Smirnoff and blueberry and I hear my pillow beckoning. Darrin is back from the pool so it’s time to say nighty night.

p.s. Took a photo of this. Isn’t this the naffest garden gnome you’ve ever seen ? NO! We didn’t buy one!

[Eeyore rocks]

A great day Geoff,

We had a really bad storm while we there last week that knocked out all the tv's at our hotel.

Love the photos with you and Mickey and Darrin with Donald.

[fudgesky]

ohhh I love a "live" trippie, nearly missed it!

Sounds like a fab start Geoff! Breakie with Mickey and Magic Kingdom, how can you go wrong!

x

p.s... quite like that gnome!

[orlandosgr8]

A wonderful day and great photos.

[Guest]

Yep i enjoy that smirnoff too Geoff its fab! Lol