A Not So Scary, Very Merry, Solo Trip. Oct/Nov 2017. Day 5 -Magic Kingdom & Monorail Crawl.

[stace&tink]

I was up and out quite early this morning and happy to report the feet weren’t hurting and my leg was also getting better.

I was heading straight to magic kingdom to meet Julie-Anne and Vicki for breakfast. I was first to arrive at Magic Kingdom so killed the time waiting by having some memory maker photos taken. I think the Christmas decorations on the station are my favourite. I do love Halloween too though.

Soon enough they were there (JA actually saw me having the pics taken) and we entered the kingdom of magic. We had a little bit of time before our breakfast reservation so took a very leisurely stroll up Main Street, taking plenty of pics along the way, also had a walk through the emporium.

I was so desperate to buy all of these but resisted.

We even lucked out and has a beautiful rainbow to picture too.

Breakfast was at Crystal Palace, this was and still remains to be my favourite Character breakfast. The food was great (the cinnamon bites being my favourite – omg if you’re going you must try these. They were so amazing), the characters were great and so was the company. We never felt rushed, we sat in there for what seemed like ages just chatting away, some of the characters came past a 2nd time and gave us attention again. I loved it and this will always be a must do on any trip for me.

From breakfast I can’t exactly remember the order of the day. I think we went to fantasyland first and met Goofy and Donald.

We also went on the little mermaid ride and 7 Dwarfs mine train with a fast pass. Both very good rides. I love the ‘under the sea’ section of the little mermaid ride. JA and Vicki were in the shell next to me and caught me dancing haha. The 7 drawfs ride is just great fun, I wish it was longer.

We had some more photo pass pics taken by the little mermaid ride. They are some of my fave pics of the holiday. When we had finished the group of girls next in line asked the photographer for the same "cute" poses. lol.

We rode Space Mountain and buzz light years space ranger blast….sorry I’m not allowed to post the picture from Buzz, but I can tell you I kicked Julie-Annes butt.

It would appear none of us knew exactly where the camera was on space mountain lol.

We couldn’t ride Splash Mountain this trip, much to Julie-Annes disapproval. This is her fave ride and she was beyond gutted that it was down for refurb.

We did stop in the shop by Splash Mountain though to try to ease the pain. JA bought herself a very cute mug, then we sat and waited in the cute rocking chairs while Vicki (AKA shopaholic) mooched around. It was here that I realised I have a love for relaxing in a rocking chair. I had no idea how relaxing it was.

Next was Thunder mountain. By far my fave ride in Magic Kingdom still. So much fun. It was starting to cload over and look like it was going to rain while we were on this ride but Vicki assured me no rain was coming! Lol.

After we’d been on Thunder Mountain Vicki was ready to leave so she made her way out of the park and JA and I carried on. We wanted to see Festival of Fantasy before we left.

We had a little time still before we were thinking of parking up for the parade so decided to go on the Liberty Square Riverboat. We got a standing spot right up top and guess what… it rained and we had no cover. Vicki you lied! Hahaha. Luckily it was only a tiny bit of drizzle and really didn’t last long. I remember JA and I having a bit of a heart to heart while we were sailing around tom sawyer island. Discussing our bad luck with men and what we both want out of life etc. I’m sure I’ve already mentioned that JA was there for me during my hardest times and its so nice having a friend I can be totally honest with about my feelings and not feel like I’m being judged.

Anyways… our trip on the riverboat was lovely and peaceful and relaxing. I did realise though that I didn’t even see half of Tom Sawyer Island when I visited. I know I cut my visit short because of my fall but didn’t realised quite how much I’d missed.

We decided it was now probably time we parked up for a good spot for the parade. I am only happy if I’m at the front with no people blocking my pictures.

We sat down in frontier land and then decided we wanted dole whips. We didn’t want to both leave our spot but both wanted to use quick service credits and of course we couldn’t use one anothers magic bands. So… JA sat and kept our spot and I went to go get our pineapple lushness using 2 snacks off my plan (JA would get one of my snacks another day – all cool). The queue looked massive when I arrived and I almost didn’t even bother joining it but I’m glad I did as it moved so fast I was being served in no time.

Once Dole whips were in hand I made a quick exit and walked as fast as I could back to JA. One because I didn’t want them to melt too much and two because crowds were building for the parade and I wanted to get sat down and just relax.

As always I thoroughly enjoyed my dole whip as did Julie-Anne – another must do on every trip.

The parade was fab. We both sat singing along and waving at our favourite characters as they passed by. Whoever says Disney is just for kids really have no idea how the magic just sucks you in when you’re there. When I see Tink or Belle or Mickey or whoever… as far as I’m concerned I’m meeting the real deal. Even though of course I know the truth. Lol.

Once the final float passed we made our way to the exit…and then saw most of it again haha. Then we left. Said our see you laters as we would be meeting back up this evening and made our way to our resorts.

Back at the resort I made a facetime call home, chilled out in the room for a bit and then got myself ready to go back out. I was meeting Kylie in reception at 5.45pm to catch an uber over to the Poly for the start of our monorail crawl. We decided an Uber would be easier (and much quicker) than the Disney transport. We had planned to pay one way each for Uber (knowing we’d be doing the same to get home tonight) but Kylie was having issues with her app. So I booked and paid for both ways and she bought me one of my cocktails.

I absolutely loved the Poly from the second we arrived and think along with the Animal Kingdom Lodge this is my other lotto win resort.

We took a few pictures and then JA and Vicki arrived. This was the first time Kylie met them so they all did their hugs and hellos. It was so great that we all got on. Kylie had been having a rough day today (I don’t think she is as content on her own as I can be) so she was really happy to be with good company for the evening.

We were making our first stop of the night, the Tambu lounge. Unfortunately it was packed inside so we sat out in the Ohana reservation waiting area. You could see the pool and lake and magic kingdom though from where we were sitting and it was lush. I fell in love with what I saw of this resort.

I ordered the Lapu Lapu cocktail. Mainly for the photo opportunity lol. I had no idea if I’d like it but again I was pleasantly surprised. It was very close to being too strong for me but I didn’t hate it. Kylie ordered the same and I cannot remember what JA and Vicki had. *really wishing I’d taken notes*

We were sitting and chatting all sorts with our drinks for a while before we suddenly remembered we were going to get food here too. Every bar me wanted the infamous ohana bread and butter pudding. I HATE bananas so this was a big no go for me. I was after the pulled pork nachos.

Now, I though these were going to be a starter size/not too big….oh my days! My bowl full could have fed us all. JA and Vicki also got a bowl to share.

We wasted so much! I was even offering mine to a guy sat opposite me who kept eyeing them up but he was declining my offer. I think he and his family were waiting to be seated in Ohana.

These are the leftovers!

We settled our bill – stuffed. And made our way out to the monorail to head to out next chosen destination. Mizners Lounge at the grand Floridian.

We asked a nice gentleman to take a picture of us all together in the lobby as we arrived, He was very helpful and actually got a decent picture of the 4 of us together. (I have asked randoms to take pictures in the past and they nearly always turn out terrible).
Grand Floridian is another beautiful resort however I must admit I would still choose The Poly or Animal Kingdom lodge over it if I had the money.

Mizners Lounge was very relaxing, and I loved how you could hear the band playing all their Disney numbers. I’ve never done anything like this on past Disney holidays and it made me think just how much more their actually is to a Disney holiday outside of the parks. We were all very content.

I didn’t have an alcoholic beverage here as there wasn’t anything on the menu I thought I would like. So I had a pepsi, Kylie had a cosmopolitan, I can’t remember what JA and Vicki had, but I remember JA didn’t like hers as I offered to pour some of my pepsi into it to weaken it haha. If I remember correctly all the ladies said their drinks were quite strong so I’m glad I didn’t order anything.
Some spicy nut things were put on the table to snack on too…I don’t think any of us were too keen. The atmosphere in here was lovely and after a while we were all feeling maybe too relaxed to move so we ended up dragging ourselves up eventually to move on.

On our way out we made a toilet stop and hung around in the lobby for a bit watching/listening to the band.

Final stop of the night was the Outer Rim at the Contemporary. Now… I really don’t want to upset or offend anyone but I really don’t get the hype around this resort. It does absolutely nothing for me.
I did however, get to have my Magical Star cocktail here. This is the main one I had been wanting to try all night. Of course purely because it looks so pretty! Haha. It actually tasted great too though and was my favourite drink of the night and I have kept the glow cube and occasionally use it at home. I have no ideas what the other drinks ordered here were…

We all got very comfy here and our long days were starting to take their toll. We were all ready for bed. Before leaving the resort we did have a look around the shops. It was lovely to see some different merchandise. Some of the stuff here I’d never seen before. I didn’t buy anything though. I believe Vicki got some Christmas decorations.

It was another uber back “home” (we had debated walking to MK and getting a bus but decided against it as the park had been shut well over an hour by now so probably would have been a wasted walk) we were super tired anyway and just wanted to get back quickly. The driver and Kylie chatted football the whole journey so I sat with my eyes shut looking forward to climbing into bed! Soon enough we were back at POP and parted ways to our rooms. I can’t remember exactly what time it was but it was very late and I literally changed, brushed teeth and hit the sheets.

Another really great day. I was having the best holiday.

[disneydaft70]

I loved this day, especially the MK part, Crystal Palace was fab! My poor fat ankles suffered though...and you didn’t crop me either! *tut*

Happy happy memories ❤️ xx

[Goldia]

It sounds like a fab day, followed by a nice relaxing evening with your friends. The photo of you all at GF is lovely.

[LoopyDisney7]

Sounds like a fab day!

I'm really enjoying your TR - can't wait for you to upload another day

[Archie14]

Another good day Stacey, you all seemed to have a great time. Next time we go definitely doing a tour of the Disney hotels, been saying that the last 2 trips! Would love to see the band playing at the GF and want to go to WL. Looking forward to the rest of your trip. Thanks for sharing ☺️

[DisneyDreamer81]

We did a monorail crawl on our last trip and it was so much fun I loved the atmosphere in Mizner's too - so relaxing!

Sounds like another fab day!

[Taffy1959]

Good DH at MK and you all look like you enjoyed your monorail bar crawl, I wouldn't mind doing that myself

[mick]

A great day
Joan

[collybird]

That’s my park bag for next trip too! I was playing around with my holiday stuff the other day (yes, I know I don’t go for six months haha) and I noticed the tag said the glitter can rub off onto your clothes, did you have any problems with this?

Your nachos look great! I’ve wanted to try the pulled pork ones for a while but never plucked up the courage, I’m scared they might be a little too out there for me.

How gorgeous do you all look in that picture at the Grand Floridian!?

[margyloveswdw]

Ooh, those Nachos look lovely - I do love a good plate of Nachos

Another fab day - you certainly seem to have hit on the perfect amount of park time and relax time