"The Only Way Is Epcot" Jul/Aug 18 Day 1 Magic Kingdom

[mouselover22]

After hours clock watching 2am, 3am, 4am you know how it is, we was all awake at 5:15am enjoying a cup of Tetley tea and biscuits brought from home. I enjoyed my cuppa watching the sunrise

I then set about applying mine & the boys suncream, I sprayed them with Banana Boat and applied cream to our faces. Once we had dried off enough we all got dressed and left the villa at 6:20am.

As we were about to get in the car Andy noticed that the front bumper had a slight dent and huge scrap We didn't notice this at the airport as it is on underneath of the bumper so not visible when looking straight on at the car. We obviously wasn't happy but i was even more worried that we would be charged for the damage as it wasn't highlighted there was any damage to the bumper on the paperwork we had signed. We knew we hadn't hit anything yesterday when we drove from the airport and the car had been on the drive all night. There was nothing we could do at 6:20am, so i said i would call Avis when we got back to the villa later.

Cruising down the 192

Driving down the 192 we soon sought out breakfast and there was only one destination

Our favourite breakfast place and tradition for us on our first day

We were among the first customers of the day and swiftly ordered drinks. I had hot tea, Andy had coffee, Thomas had milk and Oliver had diet coke This would only be allowed on holiday!

For food we ordered;

Me - Build Your Own Breakfast with scrambled eggs, hash brown, sausage and chocolate chip pancakes
Andy - Bacon Omelette with a side of hash brown

Thomas & Oliver both had the breakfast sampler, one with sunny side up eggs and one with scrambled eggs, both with buttermilk pancakes

Delicious

I am always very surprised at how much the boys eat somewhere like this, they can easily eat double what i can. Where do they put it?

After breakfast we piled back in the car and drove to the first park of the holiday, which has to be Magic Kingdom We arrived in Disney World at 8:10am

The best sign in the world

We caught the tram to the T&TC, went through security and then caught the monorail. We were at the tapstiles, tapping in at 8:50am

Were here

There is no happier feeling then walking down main street with your family. That wave of joy and euphoria washed over me as i kept thinking about all the wonderful things we were going to do in the next 3 weeks

First on the agenda was to head to City Hall and acquire a DAS pass for Thomas. Thomas has autism, so the assistance of a DAS pass is greatly appreciated and relieves quite a bit of apprehension and anxiety for Thomas. We then proceeded to walk all the way up main street, through the castle in to Fantasyland

Thomas first wanted a return time for SDMT as they queue was already 70mins. After he had acquired that we noticed the queue time for Princess Fairytale Hall was 5 mins and as a big fan of Rapunzel, I managed to convince all the men in the party to come in and meet her and Tiana I was a little bit saddened this year to see the boys starting to get a little hesitant when meeting characters. It's just their age as they are at secondary school now

Tiana spoke to boys about food, i think beignets were mentioned

Then my favourite princess, she was very taken with my tangled ears. I asked her where her handsome man was today, and she said he was off with Maximus somewhere

After leaving the Fairytale Hall we walked round the corner and went on Winnie Poo as it was still early and the queue time was only 5 minutes.

My boys still can’t resist this wall

Our honeypot

When we got off our return time for SDMT was open, so we went on via the fastpass queue. This ride is a family favourite, we love trying to rock our mine cart from side to side and sing along with the seven dwarfs in the cave…Heigh Ho……

When we came off the ride refreshments were in order and there was only one place we were heading, Gaston’s Tavern

We shared a Le Fou’s brew $6.17 between the 4 of us and 4 free iced waters. We (mostly me) love a Le Fou’s brew, it is a bit sickly but I'm a big fan of any apple drink but one if definitely enough to share between us.

Posing

Next up as we were right there i suggested we go on Voyage of the Little Mermaid as again it was a 5 min queue. We all happily boarded our clam shells and enjoyed our visit under the sea. As we came out of the ride i noticed Ariel’s grotto only had a 5 minute wait so i really pushed my luck this morning and made everyone get in the queue for another princess meet The boys were not willing to have a photo with Ariel but i convinced (made ) them in the end

Looking a bit awkward

Our 1st fastpass was booked between 10-11am for splash mountain so we headed over in the direction of Frontierland. I must say that at this time we still couldn't believe how quite it was here today. Here are some photo’s we took walking toward Frontierland.

Hot and hazy but no crowds!

This is the first time we have been Florida in the summer school holidays as up until now we used to visit in May and we were a little bit anxious as to how much busier it would be in the summer. Well, i can honestly say that for the duration of our holiday the Disney parks were not as busy as we have experienced in May! There may have been more rainfall but this in no way hampered or spoiled our holiday. I would have no hesitation in recommending Florida in the summer holidays.

As we were walking past Haunted Mansion we were astounded to see that also had a wait time of 10 mins so we walked in. We've never been through the normal queuing area before so pleased we got to see it and read all the little ditties

We then carried on round to Splash Mountain to use our fastpass.

I find the fastpass line for this ride really uncomfortable as you have to literally walk right along next to the regular stand by line. You can literally feel daggers looking at you as you walk past

First ride on Splash Mountain this year, excited!

We then tried to use our 2nd FP of the day which was for Big Thunder Mountain, however, the ride was down and had been all morning We knew we could use the FP on any other ride but we decided to hold on for a while and we really wanted to ride BTM.

So we walked back through Fantasyland and we all decided to go and watch PhilharMagic. I think i would be distraught if this attraction was to ever close! We all love it and have our favourite parts, mine is the Lion King segment It’s also a chance to go and cool off in the air con for 20 minutes as I'm sure i don't need to tell you in July it is very hot!

I must admit i always have a little tear in my eye at the end of this show.

Thomas decided he wanted to ride Peter Pan, so he went and spoke to a the cast member and got a return time for later. Feeling a little peckish we decided to hunt down a snack that was on our “To Do List’ this year and that was a Cheshire Cat Tail

Look at that sky!

It did not disappoint! It is basically a warm pain au chocolat with icing drizzled on top. Winner

Yummy

All of sudden i realised i hadn't had my all time favourite Disney food yet and it was already 12:42pm. So we quickly popped in to Cosmic Rays and ordered a couple of portions of chicken nuggets and fries. I think i could live on these for the whole 3 weeks And I’ve just realised we ate dessert before lunch, epic fail!

After lunch we hopped on the People Mover as it was right there and to let our food go down a little bit.

Whilst on the People Mover i checked the app to see that BTM was still down So we went back to Fantasyland to ride Peter Pan, just as we got under cover it started spitting with rain. We boarded our pirate ships and sailed the skies over London, i don't think Andy was impressed as he see’s it everyday

As we tried to exit Peter Pan everyone was taking cover, as in typical Floridian style it was lashing it down. We donned our poncho’s and set off for our 3rd fastpass of the day Space Mountain. This is my favourite ride in MK, it gives me the giggles and reminds me of an old cat & mouse ride you used to get at the fun fair.

When we came off we decided to give BTM one last try and slowly walked towards Frontierland, but it was still down. They had just put up the rope for the parade so as it was dry the boys got an ice cream and we bagged a spot at the front of the rope

Now i’d already said we would be sitting on the right hand side for the parade as this is the side Flynn Rider is on the Rapunzel float and last year i had been on the left side and missed him
Soon it was 3pm and the music started, it wasn't long until we got our first glimpse of the parade.

My strategic planning of sitting on the right paid off as Flynn Rider noticed my Rapunzel ears He pointed to them and waved….life made!

I love watching Andy and the boys waving at the characters as they go past

While the parade was on i could see BTM going round behind us and people actually on it! So as soon as the parade went past we made a bee line for BTM and so did everyone else in Frontierland
Now as it had been down all day the fastpass line snaked all the way back to Splash Mountain The boys initially didn't want to wait but i said give it a minute and see how far we move. As soon as i said it the fastpass line started moving really quickly, no one knows how to handle long lines better than Disney. We absolutely loved our first ride through the wilderness and were chuffed we got to ride it in the end.

We decided to leave the park now as we had already been here longer than expected on the first day. As we walked back down main street, we got some dishevelled photo’s on the way out

Those blue things around the boys necks are cooling towels, and oh my goodness they were brilliant. You just soak them in cold water and put them in fridge overnight. Then when you put them on you just shake the towel and the air that passes through the micro holes instantly turns icy cold. Such a welcome relief on the back of your neck.

I quickly nipped in to Uptown Jewelers to look at the Dooney & Bourke bags and made my first purchase of the holiday

One happy wife

Andy admiring the art work

We left MK at 4:10pm, destination Walmart to stock up on some supplies. On the way we made a quick pit stop at Wawa as i had promised the boys a slushy on the way home. For those who don't know the big American gas stations have self serve freestyle drinks and slushy machines for crazy cheap prices. The boys both got a medium (which is big enough) slushy for $1.39! Oliver choose Coke and Thomas choose Cherry flavour.

As we went in Walmart i saw these Umbrella bags, what a brilliant idea!

Minions

The English aisle

We got the usual supplies of water, beer, lays, chip ahoy’s, fabric softner, cereals, croissants, oreo’s, bread, jam, eggs, orange juice, fruit, foil, sausage patties, pancakes, maple syrup and Banana Boat because its so unbelievably cheap here compared to back home.

On the way back to villa we grabbed some dinner as we were all starving! Once again i have made a trip report fail here as i forgot to photograph the food. I can only assume this was due to being hangry and tired. For quickness and convenience we stopped at Chick-fil-A. I can’t tell you exactly what we had but it would of been a combination of the below

Those waffle fries are heavenly

Back at the villa we unpacked the shopping and i put some washing on. The boys spent the evening in the pool and we sat and had a drink. Andy had a few beers and I had a cup of tea as i was completely shattered and didn't fancy an alcoholic drink.

I don’t think i got past the first page of my book

I also made a quick call to Avis customer services about the car and informed them of the damage. I explained the airport did not seem to be aware of the damage and that i wanted to exchange the car. The advisor was very helpful and suggested we go to any Avis car rental office and swap the car over. Perfect. However, this did not happen as you will see tomorrow!

We were all tucked up in bed by 9:27pm

Tomorrow we get to see the new Toy Story Land

Thank you for reading

[Jannyjan]

I would just like to confirm that dessert before dinner while on holiday is IN NO WAY a parenting fail.

[Rescuer]

Great first day.

A Dooney and a wave from Flynn Rider on the same day, can it get any better?

[mouselover22]

Originally Posted by Jannyjan

I would just like to confirm that dessert before dinner while on holiday is IN NO WAY a parenting fail.

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Ha ha Thank you for that reassurance

Originally Posted by Rescuer

Great first day.

A Dooney and a wave from Flynn Rider on the same day, can it get any better?

See more...

Absolutely... Best Day Ever!

Thanks for reading

[Palm trees]

What a fantastic first day, it looks like you all had a great time

[Goldia]

I love your ears! It was a really early start and I can't believe you managed to keep going so long.

How on earth did you get your boys to meet the princesses? Mine won't go near them!

It seems like you had an absolutely fabulous first day at MK.

[Mad Hatters]

What a great first day. You managed to get on lots in Magic kingdom.

The Cheshire Cat tails are so yummy aren’t they?

[Diz]

Just found your trippie and read the first 3. Excellent read really enjoying. I commented on your pre trippie as we were there same time. Forgot to check your countdown before typing this reply to see when you are off this year! Looking forward to the rest and a new pre trip report

[mouselover22]

Originally Posted by Palm trees

What a fantastic first day, it looks like you all had a great time

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We really did have a magical day Thank you for reading along

Originally Posted by Goldia

I love your ears! It was a really early start and I can't believe you managed to keep going so long.

How on earth did you get your boys to meet the princesses? Mine won't go near them!

It seems like you had an absolutely fabulous first day at MK.

See more...

Hi Abby,

Ahh thank you, my Rapunzel ears are my favourite

It really did take some persuading and I’m sure if the wait time had been more than 5 minutes, I would have lost the battle

[mouselover22]

Originally Posted by Mad Hatters

What a great first day. You managed to get on lots in Magic kingdom.

The Cheshire Cat tails are so yummy aren’t they?

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Looking back, yes we had a very productive morning. We didn’t plan on seeing the parade, so that was a bonus on our first day

Ummm those tails are amazing! Warm, chocolatey heaven I think they are ranked as our #1 favourite Disney snack.

Originally Posted by Diz

Just found your trippie and read the first 3. Excellent read really enjoying. I commented on your pre trippie as we were there same time. Forgot to check your countdown before typing this reply to see when you are off this year! Looking forward to the rest and a new pre trip report

See more...

Hi, ahh I’m glad your enjoying it Thanks for reading along.

I hope you had a magical holiday too?

My countdown is ticking along, so I’m desperately trying to get the next days typed up

Oooh, I’ve just noticed we have similar countdowns again and we are also staying at the French Quarter