Here Now! first WDW family holiday - Day 2 part 1 Magic Kingdom

[scottishnellie]

Well today was to be our first BIG Disney day, with the kids first visit to Magic Kingdom and a one night stay at a Disney Hotel.

I woke at 4:30am so at least that was a bit later than yesterday so had a cup of tea and got stuck in to day 1s trip report. Kieran woke at 6:20 which after his falling asleep in the Indian meant he had slept for a total of 9hrs, plus his 2hr nap in the afternoon so he was bright eyed, bushy tailed and very excited to get going. I woke the others at 7am thinking a quick shower and we would be ready to get out the door, hoping to make rope drop. 2 crucial mistakes there. Not enough time for everyone to get ready and assuming rope drop was when the park opened at 9. Anyway, we left at 7:45 and drove to All Star Sports Resort, arriving at 8:10. We parked at check in parking and went to reception. Simple check in and got our all important Magic Bands. I had booked this one night through Disney Direct months ago and it cost £89. By the time I counted the cost of 4 Magic Bands I would have bought anyway plus 2 days parking I felt it was worth it to experience onsite. Although our room was ready, we asked if we could leave the car in check in parking rather than move round to Surfs Up where our room was as we really wanted to get on to the park. They confirmed that was fine and off we went. We waited no more than 5 minutes for a bus to MK but is was mobbed so had to stand all the way. Arrived at the park at 8:50. I got off and started looking for a ferry/monorail. Doh! I had not realised the buses took you straight to the gate! Through bag check and away we went. This is also when I realised rope drop is earlier than park opening. Rookie mistake! I can hear all the seasoned Dibbers groaning from here! Never mind. We plan at least 2 more MK visits so maybe another morning.

We headed out on to main street and it was heaving already. Got a wee photo of the kids with castle in the background and also stopped for a couple of photopass pics as we have got memory maker. Must look at that later when I have time so see if the photos have stored. We had a FP for Buzz at 9:20 so worked our way to tomorrowland to find it was a walk on. I therefore logged in to MDE and changed that FP to one for space mountain for the same time. Went on buzz and as it still walk on we just went straight back on again. Kids loved this and it was a nice start to the rides.

Crossed over to space mountain which showed a 10m wait so out came the phone and I changed that FP again to one in the afternoon for splash mountain. Onto space mountain which Kieran absolutely loved! The kids squealed and laughed all the way round and loved checking their ride photos at the end. Again, we came off and walked straight back on.

After this we headed for a loo break. Our next FP was SDMT at 10:45 so since it was only 9:45 we let the kids choose a couple of things. Hannah chose the Astro Orbitor so away we went. 15m wait and had I realised what it was I probably would have talked her out of it! However, Kieran sitting in front of our space ship loved it, pulling the lever and shouting "up into space" and "now we must return to earth" on the way back down. Easy pleased that boy!

We then went round to the speedway which was a 20m wait. Hannah drove Kevin and Kieran drove me. As we went round, Kieran steering left to right and swinging me back and forth I could not help thinking I had chosen the wrong child to ride with. That was until we got off and Kevin said he thought Hannah had jerked his neck with all the banging left to right, so apparently she was even worse. God help us when we need to teach these 2 to drive!

It was now 10:50 so we headed to use our Seven Dwarves Mine Train FP. The ride time was 60m and the queue was snaking for miles. We headed through and straight on. Loved this ride. All the wee touches from the film and loved how smooth it felt. One day we will Q for it though to experience all the other effects I know we missed by skipping the line. By now it was 11:15 and both kids were hungry so would not be able to wait until our Be Our Guest reservation at 12:50. Hannah and I left Kevin and Kieran sitting in the shade and headed off to get them something to eat. Went to Pinnochio Village Haus and got them chicken nuggets and fries to share with a drink each and some water for us. If I find the receipt I will post a photo. Sat in the shade and finished these. Our next FP was for Big Thunder Mountain over in Frontierland. As we had barely touched Fantasyland I tried to see if I could move this to later but not available. So we wandered over there to use it, arriving a bit early so taking some time to try on silly hats in the wee shop first. We all loved BTM and again the Q time for this was 45m so glad we had the FP.

Afterwards we headed back to Fantasyland so we would be in the right place for our BOG reservation. At this point we were really struggling with the heat, especially Kieran, and I was annoyed with myself that after buying those chilly towel things I had left them back at the villa. I had got those as I knew Kieran would struggle with the heat. We resorted to filling bottles from the water fountains and pouring them over his head to keep him cool.
Back in Fantasyland we had 25m to kill before BOG so queued up and had a go on Prince Charmings Regal Carousel. As we got off the skies darkened and huge spots of rain started to fall so we hurried our way to BOG. Arrived and straight in. I had considered pre-ordering our food when we were at home but by now I was glad we had not, as the kids earlier snack meant they were less hungry than usual. We were directed to a till to place our order with a server rather than use the touch screens. I order pulled pork for me, a turkey sandwich for Kevin, Kids cheese toastie for Hannah and Kieran only wanted a pudding so he got a strawberry cupcake. Hannah ordered the chocolate mouse puff and I had the lemon one.

After ordering we were told to "go find a clean table for 4, place your rose and receipt on your table and your server will find you". Ok. Well we walked into the main hall and my heart sank. It was mobbed, it sounded (and looked) like a school canteen and there were people standing everywhere holding plastic roses looking for seats. We tried the west wing which being smaller and quieter would have been the best place to sit but no seats there either. We tried the other room where Kevin spotted a family leaving so went to blag their table. We still had to wait a long time for someone to come and clean it. The kids headed off to the loo with Kevin and while they were gone the food arrived. The food itself was delicious so no complaints there but the experience was rubbish. Yes, the place is beautifully decorated, but the hassle to get a table, and watching others all around you then doing the same while you are eating was just horrible. It did not feel clean or organised at all. At one point I counted 7 families standing around just our little area looking for tables clutching their plastic roses. We had this booked again for later in the holiday but will be cancelling that now. I was so disappointed. I had thought it would be something special but it was a complete let down.

When we headed back out the rain had stopped and it was scorching again. We decided to get the railroad round from Fantasyland to Frontierland for our 3pm FP for splash mountain, but as we had some time to kill and we were struggling with the heat, we had a cool down in Casey Juniors splash n soak. We also had a go on Goofys barnstormer – how uncomfortable are those seatbacks?! Ow!

We went on the railroad and round to Frontierland arriving with 10m to spare until our FP for Splash mountain so just sat in the shade. This was probably our favourite ride of the day. Completely flagging now we decided it was time to head back to the hotel so we headed back out and found our bus

To be continued in part 2 later

[Jake71]

So much done and it's only part one, I so love Magic Kingdom and that will be my only disappointment about staying onsite - that we don't cross over on the boat and watch the castle coming into sight, but I'm sure I'll cope! Sounds like you are all having a great time, despite the heat.

[Megandllsmum]

Wow what a busy day but sounds like so much fun. Shame about BOG.
Your post about tomorrowland speedway made me chuckle, we both let the kids drive us round. . , I still get twinges in my neck now lol.
Hope you enjoyed all star sports we loved it, looking forward to reading part two later, have a great day today xx

[mick]

A great start for your first day at MK

Joan

[Guest]

Sounds like a real busy day but lots of fun, shame about BOG though, I have read a similar comment before , i'm so glad we decided not to bother, looking forward to part two

[spectrolee]

Love reading your updates, thanks for sharing

[Guest]

Just to be pedantic the rope drop show is at 8:48 if park opening is at 9. Rope drop itself, where CMs remove the ropes to the lands, is precisely at 9 hence the name.

[Guest]

Still remember my first time at MK as an adult and probably something I will never forget, great report but more pics please...

[scottishnellie]

Originally Posted by MickeyM

Still remember my first time at MK as an adult and probably something I will never forget, great report but more pics please...

See more...

I know

Problem is we are using a Go-Pro and an SLR as our main photo resources so I need to try to remember to then take photos with my iphone as those as the only ones I have the facility to transfer onto the report. I dont have a card reader to move the SLR photos and hubby wont sort and edit his Go-Pro ones on a daily basis for me to add those.

Day 3 in HS has more photos and I will try to remember more food pics.

[gerryc]

Sound like yous are having a great time,same thnk happened with us at BOG, tried it but wouldn't return.