Just The Four Of Us - Onsite at OKW - Day 8 - Disney Springs, Magic Kingdom, Cali Grill & Fireworks

[Kidd McFluff]

Today was to be our shopping day and we were planning to hit Disney Springs to have a good look around. We woke at about 8:00 this morning and for once we were all well rested. No 5 am leaf blowers this morning and the buses had been fairly quiet too. We were all showered and dressed by 8:40. Kirsten and I put together some fruit and waffles for breakfast and once we’d had a coffee and a bite to eat we were ready to hit the shops.

Our fast passes were booked for the Magic Kingdom at 3pm so we had plenty of time to mooch about before we hit the rides. Day bags were packed and we headed out to our bus stop. Again we were lucky and were on the way to Disney Springs within a few minutes. It was another hot day in Orlando but we were getting used to the heat and humidity and taking it in our stride. We arrived at Disney Springs and had a look around the high end shops. It was nice to potter about with no fixed agenda and we had fun browsing the designer labels and trying on a few bits and bobs.
We found plenty that we liked but sadly not enough to part with our money for. We got some great ideas for things to check out back home and it was lovely to be able to wander about without rushing. Dylan was particularly impressed with the pin display in the small Disney store.

After an hour or so shopping we decided that it was time to check out the Coca Cola store. We’d heard about the rooftop bar and were keen to try some of the sodas from around the world.
What a great shop! I’m not generally into brand labels for the sake of them but Coca Cola have really created something interesting here. Lots of retro styling and great art all over the place. We picked up quite a few things here for the kitchen back home including a great Warhol style bottle opener and a retro Coke T-shirt for Isla. Lip balms and hairbands were added to the basket along with some sweets and other random utensils all with the famous logo. With our shopping desires sated for the time being Isla and I went up to the rooftop bar to check out the view. Dylan and Kirsten however wanted to meet the Coca Cola bear and so disappeared into the bears grotto to find him.

Dylan and Kirsten soon joined us on the roof and we joined the queue to grab some drinks. We’d heard on the Dibb that you can get a sampler tray of drinks from around the world. We ordered a couple of glass bottles of full fat Coke and the sampler tray. (16 different varieties of coke from all over the world). I also ordered an Inca Cola cocktail for the grown-ups to try.

We found ourselves a table and brought all of the drinks over. The Inca Cola cocktail was good, like Mountain Dew but with a kick to it. You can’t beat an old-school glass bottle of full fat Coke and the 16 samples were a veritable cornucopia of tastes. Everything from delicious to absolutely disgusting.

We decided that our favorites were the Inca Cola (non-alcoholic version) and the Mango Fanta. The prize for the worlds most disgusting soft drink goes to Beverly. The photo’s below give an idea of just how awful it was.

(I thought it might be nice with gin but we were clutching a straws there... pun intended).

Drinking over, we headed off to find The Lefty Shop. Isla is left handed and has a good friend back home who is a lefty too. Dylan was keen to go back to the Disney Store so Kirsten took him off to buy the aforementioned Stitch plushy and Isla and I continued on to The Lefty Store.

We had a good look around. It’s only a small stall but it’s packed with cool left-handed things. Mugs, books, pens, scissors, rulers, tape measures, can openers, pencils, note pads, T-shirts and fridge magnets etc. Isla was so excited to see so much ‘useful stuff’ and somehow managed to get me to buy her pretty much one of everything. She was over the moon with her new things and it was hugs and kisses for Daddy for the rest of the day…Nice!

With the lefty shopping completed we walked back to the Disney Store where we soon found Dylan and Kirsten with Dylan’s new Stitch plushy. He’d gone for a small one so that he still had a few dollars left for pin badges later. The number of toys was growing and the kids still had a few dollars to spend. It was beginning to look like we might need another suitcase to get all of the goodies home! We hung around the entrance to the Disney Store while the kids dodged the huge Stitch spitting at them. (? ).

We were all keen to get over the Magic Kingdom for our fast passes and some ice cream so it was a quick march across Disney Springs to the bus stop, only interrupted by an impromptu light sabre fight with Dylan on the way. (Disney Springs was quiet so being chased about by Dylan wielding his new light sabre wasn’t disturbing anyone – Isla and Kirsten disowned us none the less and we soon had to stop mucking about and go find them).

We grabbed the bus back to Old Key West and stowed our new purchases in the room. Park bags were packed and after a quick look at the weather forecast (high chance of rain) ponchos and spare clothes were added. A quick packet of crisps and some fruit for all of us and then back to the bus stop. It was, so far a beautiful day with a slight breeze and bright sunshine, we’d been lucky with the weather so far and were all developing lovely Florida tans. We’d seen only one small rain shower at Epcot and of course the epic rain of yesterday but we had not so far been soaked during the day.


We arrived at the Magic Kingdom at about 2:30pm and took a stroll down Main Street. The Plaza Ice Cream Parlour was our destination and we arrived just in time to get a table outside for the 3pm parade. This place is brilliant. Just about everything on the menu can be bought with a snack credit and the portions are huge. We ordered four sundaes and tucked into these little beauties while we watched the parade go by.

With the parade finished and the ice cream eaten we waddled through Frontier Land for our Splash Mountain fast pass. Clouds had appeared in the blue sky and the wind had picked up a bit too. There were plenty of people looking at the sky and checking their phones so we did likewise. The weather forecast was predicting heavy rain and so with only a few minutes left on our fast-pass window we joined the queue to go and see Brer Rabbit and his friends.

Splash Mountain was great fun as ever. Isla and Dylan sat together for this one so Kirsten and I enjoyed the rare chance to ride together. I love this ride, especially all of the animatronics as you float around the beginning and end of the trip. The splash drops are fun but for me it’s more about the theming than the adrenaline on this one. As we left the ride we noticed that it had become very dark outside. A quick look out of the door confirmed our suspicions…it was hammering it down. Isla and Dylan took the opportunity to swap some pins with the cast members and bought some huge lolly-pops to take home as presents for their school friends.

We grabbed the ponchos from our bag were soon ready to brave the elements. We had a few spares in the bag (bulk order from Ebay) so took pity on a chap who was trying to buy some in the shop for his wife and little boy. They had decided to shelter in the shop until the rain blew over but were going to miss their fast pass for some ride or another if they didn’t get going soon. Disney were selling poncho’s for $12 each so he was understandably hesitant to spend $36 Dollars.

I handed him three of our 79p ponchos and helped sprinkle a little Disney Magic Dust. Frowns turned upside down and they were poncho’d up and heading off into the rain to get to their fast pass. We decided to brave the elements too and we took a walk over to the Haunted House for our next fast-pass ride. The rain was coming down hard but the Ponchos held up and we didn’t get too wet.

By the time we reached The Haunted Mansion and got undercover it was pouring with rain and everyone had taken cover wherever possible. We soon had thunder and lightening to accompany the rain but we were feeling very smug with ourselves as we were expecting the rain to have stopped by the time we were off the ride.

Alas, no sooner had we begun to bask in our smugness than the dreaded announcement came over the tannoy… ‘The Haunted Mansion is closed for safely reasons due to the storm’. We were told to leave the queue and head back out into the rain. Free fast-pass were given out as we exited the ride and so after a short conference decided that Buzz Lightyears Space Ranger Spin was lots of fun and more importantly it would be dry.

We sheltered with the crowds for a while to see if the rain would calm-down but it was not a fun experience. People were getting grumpy, there were tears from children who’d missed their ride and of course there were crowds of people trying to take cover in a small area. Tempers were fraying all around us with people moaning about the ride being shut. (would they really want to risk hot flaming electrified death to get on the Haunted Mansion? Is the ride that good?).

Just as we had re-donned our ponchos and were about to squelch our way over to Tomorrow Land Dylan yelled as he was hit from behind by someone driving a pushchair into his legs. He was forced out of the way as ‘Mr Entitled’ and his family pushed their way through the throng and on their merry way. Dylan was not best-pleased and neither were the rest of the Clan. As we picked Dylan up and brushed him down ‘Mr Entitled’ was striding off with his family in tow. There was a fury of tutting and hurumphing from the people around us but unfortunately he was oblivious or immune to it all.


***Side Note***
What is it with people turning into idiots when there’s a crowd or a queue? It’s not confined to Disney but seems to be magnified here. We were surprised by the number of people we watched who were blatantly queue jumping or trying to blag their way into the fast-pass lines...

Some were bold…We definitely booked a fast pass for this time’ says the hapless blagger at the Flights of Passage fast-pass entrance. ‘No’ says the polite but firm Cast Member, ‘You’ve booked fast passes for Dinosaur, Everest and Jungle Cruise but not for this ride’.

Others were sneaky…We saw a few people simply nipping across to the fast pass queue once they were through the entrance and into the standby line. A couple of people were turned back when their magic bands failed to scan just as they were getting onto Rock & Rollercoaster.

On rides like Everest, Space Ranger Spin and Big Thunder Mountain we saw quite a few people who were simply pushing their way down the standby queue by telling everyone ‘My daughter is ahead in the queue’. (Good for her!)

Most annoying though were the people pushing past us or into us because they were obviously more important than anyone else in the park! I lost count of the number of people who would barge past with an ‘Excuse me!’ or actually nudge one of us out of the way as they made their way to the till or the bar or even just around the parks when it got a bit busy.

Is it just me or should the phrase ‘Excuse me’ have a ‘please’ on the end? And should you perhaps then wait for a response before pushing you and your family past me?

(I’ve just re-read this side note and it makes me sound at least 200 years old ‘kids these days…no respect!’ Just for the record… I’m 42)

Once Dylan had regained his composure we headed for Tomorrow Land and Space Ranger Spin. This was great fun as ever and by the time we had finished the ride and got our photos the sun had come out again. We grabbed a couple of Cokes from Aunty Gravities and then popped into the toilets to change into dryer and smarter clothes. Dinner this evening was at the California Grill so we had spruced up a bit with collars on our shirts and smart shorts. With only half an hour until our booking we left Magic Kingdom and took a stroll in the sunshine over to Contemporary Resort. We arrived just in time and were checked in and shown to the lift. Derek, the lift attendant then had a Fortnite dance-off with Dylan as we shot up to the top floor. On arrival in the restaurant we were led to our table and settled in to enjoy the view.

We had been given a booth table facing Main Street and the Castle. You could clearly see Space Mountain and the People Mover from our table. We were all impressed with the view and were excited to be in such a lovely spot for our meal. We ordered up some drinks, a nice Chablis for Kirsten and a brilliant little Chilli Spiced Margarita for me. The Kids ordered raspberry & cherry mocktails which were apparently delicious too.

Our server was lovely, Jean helped us with the menu and went through all of the options for me and my food intolerances. She then helped Isla and Dylan pointing out anything that might be too spicy or strong flavoured. We chose Fillet Mignion with beans and spiced potato fries for me (It’s not on the menu but the chef sorted me out with this as is was onion/garlic/gluten free), Black Grouper with ≈≈≈≈ake mushrooms and a lime and coconut sauce for Kirsten and both Isla and Dylan had the Seafood Spaghetti which was packed full of crab, shrimp, octopus, muscles and lobster.

This was by far the best food we had been served all holiday. It was all excellent and very tasty. My steak was superb, perfectly cooked and beautifully tender, Kirstens Thai inspired black grouper was also cooked to perfection served with a subtly spiced sauce and vegetable curry. Isla and Dylan were both pleased with the seafood spaghetti, a huge portion with loads of seafood in a creamy sauce. We really enjoyed our meals, Jean was very attentive and suggested some great wines to go with our food. She popped back to see us a couple of times during our meal to make sure we were happy but otherwise left us to it.

By the time we came to order puddings it was just the children that had room for more. Dylan had been looking forward to the Sushi pudding all week and ordered it without a seconds hesitation. This was essentially rice crispy squares moulded into shape with jelly sweets on top, served with chocolate ‘soy sauce’ for dipping. Dylan had great fun eating the sushi with the chop sticks provided said it tasted ‘just fine’.

Isla went for the Warm Valrhona Chocolate Cake with chocolate panna cotta, cream and pecan clusters. This looked great and tasted great too according to Isla.

We had finished our deserts by around 7pm and so we paid the bill ($85 but this included the two extra glasses of wine along with a tip). We all agreed that it had been well worth the DDP credits to eat at the California Grill and as we left we were reminded to keep hold of our receipts to get access to the balcony later this evening for the fireworks….As if we’d forget!
We headed back to the Magic Kingdon with a real spring in our steps. We’d had a great meal in lovely surroundings and were all very excited about our return trip later in the evening. We were straight into the park as bag check and security were done as we left the Contemporary’s grounds. Isla and Dylan played in the bubbles from the concession stand at the entrance to Main Street as Kirsten and I tried to figure out where Peter Pan’s Flight was located.

We levered the kids away from the bubbles eventually (another case of the simple things being the most fun) and walked down Main Street as the sun was setting. It’s a lovely time of the evening with a quieter park and slower pace to things. Dylan was in fine fettle and demanded a photo with the castle in the background. If you look closely he’s holding a tiny Mickey on a stick from his cocktail at dinner. (He said it was the closest thing to getting a helium balloon he could find as we refused to buy him one….Poor neglected urchin that he is!)

We made our way past the castle and over to Peter Pans Flight. We had high expectations of this ride as it was a hard one to book a fast pass for and had some great reviews. Flying over the streets of London sounded like fun. We scanned our magic bands and were soon sat on the ride and off into the magical world of Peter Pan. I’ll not spoil the surprise for those who’ve not done this ride but we were all pretty disappointed by this ride. OK so it was cute to see the theming but the ride was a bit jerky and the effects didn’t come anywhere near the other rides we’d been on. Maybe the rave reviews are a nostalgia thing but this ride wasn’t worth the fast-pass in our opinion. (Other opinions are available).

The sun had gone down by the time we had left Peter Pans Flight and Kirsten was in need of some pain killers. She had what felt like the beginnings of a migraine so we made for the nearest shop and got some Advil.

We also picked up a cool Mickey Sabre for Isla. She had been jealous of Dylans new Light Sabre but not keen on parting with $30. With Isla leading the way through the park, we headed down to the exit with a detour through the shop son Main Street. We browsed the shops and picked up a few bags of sweets and trail mix from the sweetshops with our snack credits. It was getting close to 9pm so we made for the exit gates and hot footed it back over to the California Grill with Isla’s new sabre lighting up with way.

After showing our receipt for dinner to the reception desk we were back in the lift with Derek and another Fortnite dance-off later we were back in the bar at California Grill and soon ushered out onto the balcony. I had expected the balcony to be crowded and although we were sharing it with a wedding party there was plenty of room for everyone to get a good view. (no pushing and shoving here, it was all very polite thankyou). We were told that the fireworks would start in 5 minutes so I nipped to the bar for a couple of cocktails. (pretty sure it was a Sidecar and the usual Margarita). I made it back from the bar just in time and we settled in to watch the fireworks. This was a real treat, the music from Main Street was piped onto the balcony and the view was great.

We all Ooh’d and Arrh’d at the appropriate moments and although I took a couple of pictures, I didn’t fall into the trap of watching the entire show through the back of a phone. It was lovely to have such a magnificent view without having to camp out for hours before the show and great to be able to sip a cocktail in comfort while we watched.

Once the show was over, we made our way down to the lobby in the lift (another dance off with Derek) and then back over to Magic Kingdom on the Mono-rail this time to catch the bus ‘home’ to Old Key West.

It was almost 11pm by the time we made it back to our room so it was straight to bed for the children and then once they were sleeping (10 seconds later) I popped over to the pool for a quick swim to stretch my aching muscles. After a few lengths in the pool I joined the guys from Late Night Laundry Club(see yesterdays post) in the hot tub for a quick beer. I was back to the room by 11:45 and joined Kirsten on the balcony for the nightly cocktail. We planned for our day tomorrow and hit the sack after a few minutes. It had been a long day and packed with loads of fun and experiences. We were all shattered but no-one lost their sense of humour today and even Kirstens potential migraine had been averted by the painkillers. All in all a great day all round. We were both asleep before the first round of 'Just a Minute' was over.

Blizzard Beach and Animal Kingdom tomorrow. Really looking forward to our long awaited return visit to Yak & Yeti.

[tiggerstail]

That picture of the trumpster almost made me switch off but I persevered 😄
Totally agree about the “excuse me” while pushing past you people... those words are meant to be polite not just used for arrogant behaviour. And the fast pass jumpers were ridiculous this year.

Love your write ups though

[Goldia]

That was nice of you to hand out ponchos, I'm sure they were appreciated.

Those ice cream sundaes all looked fab and great that you managed to eat them while the parade went by.

[Minnie Mum]

Lovely day. Impressed you made it back to CG for fireworks- we never have😣
Totally agree with “excuse me pls”🤬

Enjoying reading along. We are staying at OKW in Aug and it nice to read about the resort. Was worries about room location but you sound in a great location 😊

[bootsie]

We also saw loads of people trying to blag their way into fast pass queues so annoying! Great report!

[jothp]

The food in Cali Grill looked yummy and it gave you a spectacular view of the fireworks. I think this one might have to go on the list for next time. A shame about the rain earlier on in the day but luckily you were prepared with ponchos.

[GezzasGem]

Good tip re the eBay ponchos! May have a scout round for some before we go 👍