Two Disney Nerds go coast to coast – A June WDW & DL trip report - day 11 - no bad moody

[lumosq102]

Day 10 is here
index is here



Tuesday 19 June 2018

This morning I slowly woke a little before 6am, put the coffee pot on and then scurried out to the balcony with Herc the camera to find another glorious sunrise. Please pardon the photo spam that follows – believe it or not this is just a fraction of the photos I took… I have issues!







They seemed to be testing projections on the castle in the early dawn light, which I found endlessly fascinating







I adore the lanterns around the path at the Poly – so pretty









that blue







We ate breakfast in the room this morning, a quick bowl of cereal, before walking over to the TTC to take the monorail to Magic Kingdom for rope drop. We were taking it a little easier this trip as we had made each other the promise that we would not try and rope drop Seven Dwarfs Mine Train. That is the easiest way to start your day in the Magic Kingdom in a severely bad mood. Instead, we arrived onto Main Street at 8:45 and took a slow stroll up towards the castle.



We found a free photopass photographer for a quick photo in front of the castle:



Before we set ourselves up for our rope drop plans. As I mentioned earlier, the plan was NOT to rope drop SDMT. For that you need to be in place at that rope by 8:15 at the latest for 9am park open, and then deal with the hoards pushing and running, ramming with buggies, as they head to the queue area. The amount of bad moods that rope drop has started… and enough was enough. We had a fp for it for later in the day anyway.

Instead we decided we would do something that we had not done before – walk through the castle at rope drop and head to Peter Pan first instead. It had the additional benefit of meaning that we would get to see the welcome show too.

Early morning castle shot – is there ever a bad time for a castle photo?



We had a pretty good view, well, until the show started and suddenly the view wasn’t quite as clear. So it goes…

Good morning Mickey!



He’s such a gent















We walked on up through the castle once the Fairy Godmother opened the park and headed towards Peter Pan. I felt terrible for the amount of people heading to SDMT from this direction – they would be behind all of the people heading up from the entrance between Fantasyland and Tomorrowland. We were not exactly beating down the hoards to get to Peter Pan!



We always try and go through the standby line for Peter Pan at least once a trip, since the refurb its just so darned pretty! We’d normally come over after leaving SDMT, but it was much more restful to head straight here.













The only other people in line were people like me – holding up proceedings for photos!



The line was over in moments and we were soon soaring to Neverland in our own pirate ship, getting minimal usable photos, as usual…



We were back in Fantasyland at 9:15 where it felt like the park was ours – how often do you see this area just this quiet?



Barely a soul in sight. Bliss.



Frontierland was looking gorgeous too:





anyone else miss Chip and Dale meeting here? They were so cute in their little western ensembles



Happy R





I’ve mentioned it before, I’ll no doubt mention it again, this bridge is one of my favourite places in Magic Kingdom. Just look at that view.



Sigh

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The plan was to ride Big Thunder and Splash Mountain, but in one of the recurring themes of the holiday (the second was our regular emails telling us that Space Mountain was down), Splash was down and it didn’t look like it would be up anytime soon. Bother. So we headed on to Big Thunder for a trip on the wildest ride in the wilderness









The queue ended up being about 20 minutes long – the perils of having only 1 ride open in this corner of the park, everyone that would have been on Splash was here instead.

I’ve always been oddly fond of this prop in the line – Lytum and Hyde explosives. I’m a simple gal with simple humour…





The car pulling in had literally 4 people on it, so we must have all arrived at the line about the same time – clearly it was a different story just a few minutes ago



Still, the silly signs in the line was keeping us entertained







GOAT!



(Yes, we’re those annoying people who yell goat. Sorry)

We headed away from Frontierland and back towards Fantasyland, thinking we would hop on Haunted Mansion next. On the way I stopped off at the refreshment cart for a coke as I was parched and in need of a sugar boost. The tills were not working however, but instead of sending me away I was given the drink for free. Huzzah! Unexpected pixie dust, with credit to Disney’s ever ailing IT systems.



By the time we reached Haunted Mansion we were reaping the perils of the longer than anticipated wait at Big Thunder – it was 10am and the line was over 30 minutes. If we had waited here we would have thrown off the rest of our morning. We’ll be back later…



We took my Haunted Mansion free coke onto Small World instead, which was still a walk on. Huzzah!



(and yes – that manicure was long since dead. RIP manicure).

Ready for a little Small World spam?







Do you see the doll dangling down in the centre of the Eiffel Tower? That’s Mary Blair herself, well, in doll form anyway













Gotta love the hippo





















Suitably relaxed after our trip around the world with singing dolls, we pottered around the shops in Fantasyland for a moment before our first fastpass was due to open up. We were due to head over to pirates this morning, but since we were terribly grumpy about Pirates after our incident on day 9 we had switched it out for a trip around 100 Acre Wood with Pooh Bear. We still had a little wait however and the shops were not compelling us (someone notify the press!) but we were in need of a little A/C and a sit down – where better to head in such circumstances than PhilharMagic?



We both adore PhilharMagic and it has the benefit of generally being pretty chilled (literally and figuratively), so we hopped in like and enjoyed a little wait sat in the foyer as the last show had just gone in. The show was as marvellous as always, I always love seeing people’s delight in spotting Donald crash into the wall at the back of the theatre. Its adorable.



I had seen a Small World throw in Disneyland and forgotten to pick it up, so was delighted to find it in the store here. I decided against picking it up now as we still had a lot to do before going back to the hotel – heavens knows why I didn’t just get it shipped to the hotel? Anyway, I walked away. Again. We’ll see how that plays out for me.





Our fastpass for Winnie the Pooh was open so we headed on over. I was having continued issues with taking photos on dark rides today so no Pooh Bear spam for you to deal with!



As we headed out of the ride, moaning about Pooh’s pour treatment of Piglet no doubt, we realised we had received an email about our next fastpass of the day – Space Mountain was down. Bother.



We decided to take advantage of the free time in our schedule and head on down to Main Street for a much needed coffee.

R seems to be going the wrong way here (part 3,000,001 in my series of R wanders off and into shot)





We considered getting a snack whilst we were here, but neither of us have any interest in Starbucks food outside of the breakfast sandwiches, so we skipped and just got a coffee each. Cold brew with vanilla sweet cream of course, and where else would we settle in to enjoy them than here?



Our beloved Centre Street

Yum.

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We were both quite keen on a snack however, so once our coffees were consumed we headed out on a mission to find something light to eat.



R decided she wanted ice-cream, I wanted popcorn, so to Tomorrowland it was!



R went with her forever favourite ice-cream sundae from Auntie Gravities. Doesn’t look that delicious?



I was a little more boring and grabbed a portion of popcorn from a cart in Tomorrowland. We took our snacks and headed to our second favourite place to chill and eat in Magic Kingdom - watching Sonny Eclipse in Cosmic Ray’s.



We were rested, caffeinated, fuelled with sugary and salty goodness and Space Mountain was still down, however our third fastpass was now ready to go – time to ride through the mines.









Happy Kirstys







I love that these animatronics made it over from Snow White’s Scary Adventures, they’re adorable.






We checked the wait times when we left the ride to discover that Space Mountain had reopened – fantastic! Back to Tomorrowland it was to head into Space.



I was extra delighted to be given my favourite seat – I prefer the front seat, R prefers the very back, so we sit accordingly depending on which rocket we are sent to.

Once we were back on earth we were sent out the weird rear entrance where we could see the early work being done on TRONstruction. Its come so far since we were there, but we found it utterly fascinating to get such a close up view.





And then getting to walk over the train tracks? We were both geeking out massively.



Back in Tomorrowland proper the Incredible Summer activities were well under way with Elastagirl travelling around the area in a weird superhero version of the pope mobile



With all the back and forth between Fantasyland and Tomorrowland, it was suddenly 1:45pm, pretty much scorchingly hot and still over an hour from the parade kicking off. We decided to head into the Carousel of Progress - of course, there was no line, and we had yet to make a show this trip. What better way to spend 30 minutes in a super hot and increasingly busy park?























the ever suffering Sarah





She married a moron



Next up – Peoplemover!

What better way to round out our chilled Tomorrowland afternoon?







Still hate those tacky incredible summer banners on the bridge



By the time we disembarked the Peoplemover it was heading towards 2:40pm – high time for us to be finding a spot for the parade. If it was cooler, or we wanted a spot on Main Street we would have been running very late. As it was we didn’t manage to get our spot near the a/c in Liberty Square, but we did get our “usual” spot over from Sleepy Hollow. We took a seat on the ground and were soon joined by the Main Street Orchestra marching through



I always find it really weird when Haunted Mansion cast members are doing parade control – like they shouldn’t be so far from the Mansion.

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The parade arrives in Liberty Square at 3:10-ish. As usual – prepare thyself for Festival of Fantasy spam



































No Ulf!













The smoulder!

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There was a large Scottish group next to us who were pretty lively, but they just about lost it when the Brave unit made it to our area, they were a delight (if a little loud! )



Phantom thumbs up!

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I adore this parade.

We were, however, melting. Can we move the parade back to 2pm please? That short lived time was just perfect.

We walked straight into the Christmas Shop to get a quick hit of A/C before scarpering over to the Emporium where we found this super cute display with Mickey, Minnie and Pluto.





Adorable.

We found a fridge with bottled drinks (you get 20% off if you buy them in a store if you are DVC / have an AP), slumped against a wall and drank! We needed to replace some fluids we lost under the hot parade sun…

As we came out of the end of the emporium we found that the very end of the parade was just heading backstage



Bye Mickey!

It was time to depart Magic Kingdom for the day. We had dining reservations to get to. We had a little wait for a boat at the dock, but we were soon heading over Seven Seas Lagoon to Bay Lake





See you later Magic Kingdom!





We were eating at Trails End for dinner. Well, a very early dinner – when it comes to buffets we’re crazy people and like to go with the first seating (before little germy grabby hands have had their fingers near my meal, essentially), so our reservation was at 4.30pm.

We were a little early, so we nipped to the ladies and then just pulled up a chair and enjoyed the late afternoon sun in Fort Wilderness – it was bliss.

Once we were inside, look how quiet the restaurant was! We were the second table seated.





The cutest salt and pepper shakers



Drinks! Coke for me, iced tea for R.



R’s first plate – she is clearly very pleased with those rolls! Plenty of the chicken too, which is apparently fantastic.



My first plate



Essentially, salads, mac n cheese and a happy trip to the baked potato bar. Every buffet should have a baked potato bar!

No further photos as we were too busy stuffing our faces!

Its such a great restaurant, delicious and hearty food, and at such a good price (23.99 per person if memory serves).

We met this lovely fellow on our way out of the restaurant



then made a new birdy friend at the boat dock



The view from the boat – love those moss laden trees



So long River Country, strange to think this is nothing but rubble now.











We hopped on the monorail at the Contemporary and walked back to our room from the TTA, arriving back at our resort at 6:45pm.

The little girl in this photo just sums up Disney for me – just pure, unadulterated joy.



The original plan for this evening was to head to Epcot which was open until 11am with EMH. We had a change of heart however and decided to take advantage of our gorgeous resort and just chill for the evening instead.


I mean, look at it:



It was glorious.

We freshened up and headed out again, heading to the Trader Sam’s Grog Grotto terrace. We both prefer the outside bar to the inside space. Its easier to get a table, has a lovely chilled vibe and there is just something magical about sitting outside at the Poly as the sun starts to set. Its truly lovely.



We were continuing in our effort to drink around the menu and collect all of the mugs. Today’s drink was the Nautilus, one that is recommended for 2 to share, so perfect! It’s a delicious drink, doesn’t skimp on the rum… and R and I may have put this away very quickly indeed.



the sky was looking glorious



After finishing our drink and picking up our souvenir vessel (as there is no way I can call that thing a mug) we wandered back towards our room with the plan being to watch Happily Ever After from the balcony



Our sunset along the way was just magical

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The plan was to head back out again for a little late night swim in the quiet pool after the fireworks, so we put our suits and coverups on, and then headed on our to watch the fireworks.



We got very lucky and found ourselves watching the Electrical Water Pageant ahead of the fireworks right from our balcony.















The lights were starting to glow from Magic Kingdom, it looked glorious.





Unfortunately you can’t get the audio on the in room TV like you can if you have a room looking out at the Magic Kingdom at the Contemporary, but we could here it from the beach, and just getting to watch the fireworks from our rom was just bliss.























































Fireworks over, we closed the balcony door and dashed down to the pool to enjoy a little late night swim before the pool closed at 10:30pm. The weather had been gorgeous all day, and with an overnight low of 22 degrees it was the perfect temperature to just float in the pool and watch the night sky and soak our aching bones in the hot tub. Bliss!

Day 12 is here

[Goosey-Lucy]

What a great day you had! The Poly is just beautiful isn’t it 😍

[lumosq102]

Originally Posted by Goosey-Lucy

What a great day you had! The Poly is just beautiful isn’t it 😍

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It was a wonderful day - thank you

And yes, the Poly is just gorgeous. Its all the foliage, it has such a wonderful sense of place.

Thank you so much for reading along

[aqualiv]

Your photos are amazing and they have made me want to stay at the poly even more!