Luceboy and Samboy - The halloweenies - Day 3, Magic Kingdom

[nanasamboy]

Days 1&2 - Pre-travel and travel days

We both woke at up at 4am, Luce fell back asleep and I dozed before waking up at 5am and chatted to my sister and wrote up some notes. Luce woke up properly at 5.45 and I had another shower because the one last night wasn't enough to wash away the grimy travelling feeling. I got dressed, made a cup of coffee (accompanied by the chocolate digestives I put in my handluggage - I am so grateful to past me) and did the last of my prepping - hair, make up etc. I always make a load of effort on the first day and gradually get lazier haha.

We caught the bus to Magic Kingdom at 7.07 and arrived at 7.30. I grabbed an autograph book and pen in the stroller shop right at the front of the park. We took loads of photos with the photopass photographers and made the most of a very quiet park.

New favourite picture ever! Wet paint signs and all!

Werrrrrrrk!

Our plan was to head straight for the Haunted Mansion, but as the Poohbear ride only had a 5 min queue we went on that first. Luce had never ridden it before and was adorable, jumping and ooh-ing and ahh-ing at all the right times. Then we headed to the Haunted Mansion, as it was a walk on. We had fun playing in the queue, as Luce had only ever fastpassed it. I always think a FP for HM is a bit of a waste, as the queues are usually short and always fun. I learned later in the trip, that this was a mistake!

Hah, I take a photo of this every time!

When you try and show your love for the Mansion and end up looking like you're eating an invisible sandwich

Thats a bit better!

After we rode, we went in Momento Mori. Always an uh-oh moment! I bought two pairs of socks (on offer, 2 pairs for $20) a super cute musical snowglobe that plays Grim Grinning Ghosts (I think was either $34.99 or 39.99) and 4 postcard size prints at $4.99 each. Oops - I had a really small budget as I hadn’t had time to save up for spending money and had already spent over my daily budget, just on Haunted Mansion stuff. I was a bad influence and encouraged Luce to buy one of the HM Dooney & Bourke tote bags. It really was beautiful and I convinced her it was pretty much free as the Disney giftcard she got with the booking covered a lot of it.

I pinched this picture! Credit

We got our purchases sent back to the resort and headed to Adventureland to ride the Jungle Cruise. On the way, we saw Aladdin and Jasmine so joined their queue instead for our first character meet of the trip. They were both really fun and talked about all the henna tattoos they wanted to get - I recommended Jasmine get a giant Raja on her back haha.

It was coming up to our reservation time for Be Our Guest, so headed to Fantasyland. I still want to call it New Fantasyland - anyone else? The carousel had no queue, so we had a quick spin before breakfast. I couldn’t believe how really hot and swampy it was already - it wasn’t even half 9 yet! What was it going to be like by midday?!

#carouselfie

We walked over to BoG to check in and I got told off by the cast member for being bossy and checking in with Luce’s name, when I wasn’t Luce. She was only teasing, but I was like “alright lady! I have control issues, ok!?” We didn’t have to wait outside for very long, but we had a little bit of a queue inside, on the way to the order points. When we got to the front, I asked to see a cast member rather than use the automated kiosk, so I could ask about my annoying special food.

This was my second time having breakfast at Be Our Guest and my second time where the cast members had no idea what I was talking about when it came to the vegan items on the menu. The cast member had to go and get someone else to help and I said I knew allergy waffles were on the menu, along with Erin McKenna breads. They weren’t entirely sure, but tapped something into the order that I think they hoped would work. We took our rose and went to find a seat. I told Luce to pick wherever she wanted to sit, as it was her first visit. She picked the West Wing and we went to find an empty table. All the tables that didn’t have people sat at them were dirty, but we picked one anyway as there was someone bussing the tables just across from us. I nipped off to the loo and when I returned, the table still wasn’t clear. Luce went off to take some pictures and I tried to catch the eye of someone to get our table cleared. Everyone was dashing about and I still hadn’t managed to get anyone to clear our table when our food came. The server went and asked the busser to clear it and they both apologised. I wondered whether they thought we’d just finished our food and were sat there like lemons? Either way, they should have cleared the table! My waffles came and had a little side of fruit and some maple syrup. Yay! They were dry last time and not enjoyable! Luce ordered the croque madame, which also came with a side of fruit, and a master’s cupcake so she could try the grey stuff. The server returned with two plates of pastries and we both had the same ones. They obviously weren’t the allergy friendly pastries, so I asked the server. And he said “yes, this is the nut free pastries”. I (politely!) explained that the order at the front was for a vegan meal, not a nut allergy and he looked a bit confused. I told him about the Erin McKenna breads that are often available and he said he’d go ask the kitchen. A minute or two later, he came back with a little plate with 3 slices on for me. Yay! I was so hungry and had almost finished my waffles. I had a slice of each of lemon, cinnamon toastie and chocolate and they were all really good. I had a black coffee and a minute maid lemonade too, but had tummy ache from drinking too much cold pop.

Luce enjoyed her food, especially the cupcake. But it’s a lot of food for one person - I never understand why Disney restaurants plate up the same amount of food for one or two people, as they do for a big family! I’m a greedy guts, so managed, but four pastries as well as a main meal is a lot for a little Luce (or most people!). Once we were done, we scanned our magic bands, grabbed another lemonade on the way out. It was a pretty good breakfast, but I think I’m done with Be Our Guest now to be honest. I wasn’t a fan when we had dinner there on our honeymoon, the food wasn’t great but I enjoyed the atmosphere and meeting the Beast. I gave it another try April last year and wasn’t a fan again. We did dinner and breakfast and both were an underwhelming experience. I agree it’s a good use of a quick service credit if you go for breakfast, as you still get to explore the three dining rooms. But I never enjoy the food enough to want to go again and it’s a bit of a stressful atmosphere. It’s jam packed, really noisy and pretty much any way you walk, you get cut up by servers with those bloody serving carts. I know I sound a right miserable toad, just I never really get why people love it so much there. But Luce liked it and that’s the main thing

On the way out, we looked to see if Gaston was out and he was! We went over to join the line but a CM told us the line was closed and to come back in 20 minutes. We checked the MDE app and could see Journey of the Little Mermaid only had a 10 minute wait, so went there to ride while we waited for Gaston’s line to open again. When we got there, it was actually 20 minutes but we waited anyway for something to do and somewhere cool to hide from the heat. The ride was cute as always and an enjoyable way to enjoy some air conditioning. We headed back to see what Gaston was up to. Again, the grumpy cast member was standing at the end of the queue and told us we needed to be quicker off the mark and get there at least 10 minutes before the advertised time. Alright, party pooper!

We checked the MDE app to look at wait times and Donald and Goofy at Pete’s Silly Sideshow only had 10 minutes, so we headed there next. The queue went quickly and we both went up separately. I took some selfies, because of course

Donald had a big show off because of Luce’s Mickey outfit and threw himself on the ground in a tantrum. It was so funny and cute. He’s always such a drama queen! He did the same on our first ever visit as kids - he took mine and my sister’s Minnie and Mickey hats off and threw them on the floor. Minnie saw what he was doing, came over, put our hats back on and gave us both kisses. Such a wonderful, vivid memory (I think that’s when you could meet Mickey, Minnie, Donald and Goofy all in the same area)

How is she always so adorable!?

I love the Goof!

Getting told off by Donald!

So flippin' cute!

N'awww!

[nanasamboy]

Continued

The queue for Minnie and Daisy was only 20 minutes when we finished, so joined that queue next. We had fun and took some great pictures with the sassiest queens around

We fancied a bit of a chill by this point, so walked down to the train station to do a loop of the park. The train was there, but they’d stopped letting people on. So we decided to head over to Frontierland as our FP for Big Thunder Mountain would open in 10 minutes. We chanced a glance at how long the standby for dwarves was as the park was so quiet, but it was 110 mins. Nope!

As we walked by the Princess Fairytale Hall, wait for Punzie and Tiana was only 20 mins. We had a quick chat and decided to cancel our ADR at The Plaza as neither of us were going to be hungry enough for a full meal at 3pm. We fancied trying the quick service place at our resort, as we both wanted beignets! We couldn't cancel it via the app so we decided to swing by after our princess meet to see if we could cancel it. Rapunzel was quite possibly the cutest Punzie I've ever seen. Tiana seemed a bit over it but was sweet and fun and asked had I kissed some frogs to find my prince. I said I had, but wasn’t sure if he was a prince haha! I told her we were going to go try some of her delicious beignets and she said I should, even though I didn’t need them for man-catchin’!

Admiring the paintings on our arms

#STILLalwaysblinkinginphotos

Oh great, my eyes are open but I'm not looking at the camera *shakes head*

Afterwards, we walked over to The Plaza and cancelled our reservation. It was just over an hour to our reservation, so we checked whether we’d be able to cancel. If they said no, we’d just go get some fries and a drink and honour our reservation. They were fine about cancelling it though - huzzah! We finally headed over to ride Big Thunder Mountain. Yay! It was as fun as ever and I managed not to squish Luce We walked through Adventureland and I spotted a cast member with a cactus hoopla game. She was giving out stickers to people who played, so we waited to have a go too. I was terrible and didn’t hook even one rope hoop on the cactus, but I didn’t care as I’d earned myself a cowboy Mickey sticker! Woo! Luce was much better than me and hooked one, and almost got a few more too. Her attempt won her a yellow Mickey straw and a sticker. We were both a little peckish and stopped at a food cart to get a popcorn for me and a frozen lemonade tub for Luce. Mmmm popcorn!

Cute little pumpkins!

I love the halloween decorations!

Bellies happy, we went to the Town Square Theatre to go meet Mickey. Meeting talking Mickey is always a treat, especially when you get to spend half an hour waiting in the delightful air conditioning It was super fun and he sang his name as he signed our books - always love that

Mickey admiring Luce's outfit

M-I-C-K-E-Y-M-O-U-S-E

We headed across Town Square to the fire station to start a new game of Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom. We picked up a pack of cards and a map each and as we left the fire station, the parade was just coming around by the Town Square Theatre. So we stopped by the Roy and Minnie bench and watched the parade come by. We had an unobstructed view for once and even though neither of us had planned to stop and see it this trip, we enjoyed it.

[nanasamboy]

Continued

We had a quick look in the hat shop as Luce wanted to find the Darth Vader helmet with Mickey ears on, but no luck. Next we popped into Starbucks to get some drinks. I tried my first berry hibiscus cooler - it was tasty! Luce had one of the iced teas (I can’t remember which, she had so many!). I suggested we go and #hubgrassandchill and sit down to enjoy our icy drinks. As we walked onto the grass, two photopass photographers saw us coming and said “oh look! They’ve brought us drinks! How nice!” so I dramatically proffered my drink. They told me to hold my pose and started snapping pictures. Impromptu photo shoot! As they’d been standing in a relatively empty hub grass section, they spent a while chatting with us and took our pictures. They were both lovely and you know you’ve got a fun photographer when they lie on the floor to take pictures and ask you to do a moody face so they “can make you look arty”

Moody face

#hubgrassandchill

Once we’d finished chatting to the photographers and drinking our giant icy beverages, we made a move towards Tomorrowland, to use our Space Mountain fastpass. After the world’s longest walk through queue (Seriously, why is it so long for the fastpass queue?!), we jumped into our space ship and off we went. I forgot how much this ride sucks! I hadn’t ridden it on our last trip, but had ridden Disneyland and Disneyland Paris’ versions and boy, are they smoother! I swear Space Mountain didn’t used to be so rickety and clackety? It’s still a really fun rollercoaster, but I really didn’t enjoy it. So much so, that when I got off I cancelled my fastpasses that Luce had booked for it, over the rest of the week. It really set off my motion sickness (I think the combination of being jiggled about and not being able to see where you’re going) and I felt awful. My motion sickness seems to get worse every year and now I have a mental list of rides I need to avoid.

Still enjoying it at this point... about 10 seconds in haha!

At 3.30, it quickly went dark and cloudy and it started to rain. (I know, how are we only at 3.30?! We’ve done so much already on this day!) We scurried over to the Peoplemover to get away from the drizzle and, quite frankly, we’d been in Magic Kingdom long enough to have been on the Peoplemover by now! There wasn’t much of a queue, as most people seemed to have run to the Laugh Floor or Space Mountain. As we were waiting to get to the loading area, a cart containing a single passenger of an orange traffic cone went by. I guessed this was there to ensure cast members didn’t seat people in this cart, but instead I imagined that the cone was having a relaxing ride to break up a busy day in MK. Because that’s not crazy! Made me chuckle though

It made me laugh, anyway!

After an enjoyable whizz around Tomorrowland, we hopped off and decided what else to do. By this point, I felt super sick and wanted to sit down somewhere cool. As we were near the Monsters Inc Laugh Floor, and as it only had a 10 minute wait, we did that next. The queue was a bit longer than 10 minutes but I was grateful to be out of the heat and able to sit down soon, as I felt heinous. As we queued, we could see out of the windows that it was tipping down outside. Weh. The show was funnier than I remember it being previously, but I guess a lot of that depends on how funny the jokes are that are sent in (is that real? Are they really the text in jokes?) and how responsive the audience are when they are picked out.

We had a fastpass for the Jungle Cruise, so we held my rain jacket aloft over both of our heads and headed towards Adventureland. When we got to the Jungle Cruise, there was a bit of hubbub around the entrance. We went over to see what was going on and a CM told us that the ride was closed as there was a risk of lightning. They explained that all boat rides on property had this rule applied and they didn’t know whether it would open again today. A minute or two later an email came through to say our fastpass had been cancelled and changed to a multiple experience pass. As we were near Pirates of the Caribbean, we decided to use the FP and skip the queue. Luce had never ridden this properly, as the one time she went on it, the ride broke down and she was stuck on it for (I think!) 45 minutes. I was glad to see the redhead in her current state for one last time and got excited about seeing her re-imagined as a badass pirate

Luce looks utterly enthralled haha! Can't even see me

It was still raining when we got out, so we moseyed on over to the Enchanted Tiki Room. It’s one of my favourites and another that Luce hadn’t seen before! We picked an empty row right in the back, which was a good shout as we didn’t need to crane our necks to see anything After being serenaded by the birds that sing words and the flowers that croon, we decided to make a start on Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom, although I didn’t make a note of where our start point was. Just across from the Tiki Room, we spotted Moana doing a meet and greet. We excitedly joined the queue and shuffled along a few feet at a time for 25 minutes. As we got closer to the front of the queue, a cast member shouted “we WILL be checking wristbands!” What the what?! The people in front of us turned and asked if we had wristbands. We said that no we didn’t and that the cast member at the entrance to the queue said nothing to anyone about wristbands. They said it wasn’t fair if we’d queued all this time and wouldn’t be allowed to meet Moana. As we got closer to the CM, she asked to see our wristbands. We asked what wristbands and explained that the cast member had said nothing to us about wristbands as we entered the queue and that we’d waited 30 minutes and at no point had we seen or heard anything about wristbands. It turned out that Moana was a Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party exclusive meet and no party meet and greet, so no wristbands meant no meet. The cast member said that a few people had been allowed into the queue and that she’d have a word with the guy at the front. And that was it, we had to leave the queue. I was so mad and disappointed. I understand that meeting Moana is an experience reserved for party guests, but you’d think, considering they’d had a few people not be informed about wristbands, that they’d let the ones that made it to the front of the queue have a really quick hello and a picture. And then make sure nobody else was allowed into the line without showing their wristband. Ah well, half hour wasted. At least we got to enjoy looking at all the Halloween costumes coming by while we waited and it had stopped raining.

We chanced the Jungle Cruise as we were right next to the queue entrance. It was open and only a 15 minute wait now, yay! And even better - we waited for less than 5 minutes (ahead of a really bloody marvellous Winnifred Sanderson - MNSSHP is so much fun!). Our skipper was really funny, but I don’t know whether I was sat too far at the front of the boat, whether the speakers weren’t loud enough or whether I’m going deaf. But I can never hear them as clearly or as loudly as I’d like. After marvelling at the backside of water, we finally started the first few portals on our Sorcerers quest. For some reason, Luce’s band wouldn’t work. So I didn’t play too long as it’s no fun just standing and watching. It was getting late now and nearer to the 7pm close time, as it was a party night. We’d planned to visit Trader Sam’s Grog Grotto at the Poly, as I’d never been there before and we both fancied getting a fun souvenir tiki mug. So we headed past a sea of people heading in in costume and got to the resort monorail just in time to jump on one before it left. Por favor manténgase alejado de las puertas!

A short ride later, we were disembarking at the Polynesian. And I was super excited as it’s one of my favourite resorts - it’s so beautiful! We headed straight to Trader Sam’s and were told on our way in, that it would be around a 45 minute wait for a table and that we could head straight outside to the Tiki Terrace and be able to order from the same menu with no wait. As cool as the bar is, it was tiny and I didn’t fancy waiting that long and neither did Luce. So we headed straight out to the Terrace, which was busy but we found a table. It was a lovely warm evening, so it was pleasant sitting out on the terrace. As I don’t drink, I picked a Schweitzer Falls (I had to after the Jungle Cruise, right?!) which was tropical juices and Sam’s Gorilla Grog topped with Sprite. Luce went for the same as well and our drinks were brought over quickly.

We were both tired by this point, so weren’t keen to hang around too long. The drink was super tasty and necked mine pretty quickly as it was cold and refreshing. I munched on the pineapple wedge that was stuck on the rim and perused the menu to see what else was on offer. Luce couldn’t finish her drink as she said it was too sour for her, so I gladly glugged the last half of hers too. We waved to our server that we wanted the bill and she brought it over, I think a little surprised that our visit was so brief. We paid and tipped and I called at the bar on the way out, as when I’d stood up I’d had the brainwave that they may have the hitchhiking ghosts tiki mugs again this year. Genius! Well done, brain! Although the bar staff said they didn’t know whether they’d get them in this year and apologised. And of course, they appeared a day or two after I got home. Typical! We had a little wander around the shops in the hotel and I stopped by the floral display in the lobby as there was a photopass photographer and I had a matching outfit

We got the monorail back to Magic Kingdom and then the bus back to POFQ. When we arrived, we picked up our refillable mugs from the shop and activated them, then went to Sassagoula Floatworks to check out the food. I’d heard about the amazing vegan burgers they served here so headed to the burger counter first. It was pretty amazing to have a full food court with different types of food, as in Old Key West I’m used to just having the one spot with one basic, small menu. Luce wasn’t particularly hungry yet, so just ordered a beignet sundae. I ordered the vegan burger and was handed a buzzer, so while I waited I went to the dessert counter, ordered a vegan beignet sundae (eeee!) and picked up a second buzzer. Luce headed to pay and fill up her mug and I stood around between the two counters, waiting for my food. It took quite a while and I was pooped by this point, but it was worth the wait! Once I got my food, I went to pay and looked for Luce. I couldn’t see her anywhere and started to panic a bit (yay anxiety disorders!) I did a few laps of the food court and looked everywhere. I grabbed my phone out of my bag and called her - she’d gone back to the room before her ice cream melted. Sensible! Feeling silly for panicking, I filled my mug with Mr Pibb and I headed back to the room to munch my food. I put my pjs on, got into bed and had my burger and fries first.

*tummy grumbles*

It was amazing! It was so much food and I didn’t know if I’d have room for the sundae too. So after the burger, I put the fries to one side and started on the sundae. I’d been so excited about trying this, but I was disappointed The beignets tasted kind of plasticy and artificial. The ice cream was nice, so I finished that, but only ate 2 of the 3 beignets (mainly because I didn’t want to waste them after waiting so long for them!). I went back to the fries, as they were so good but I was so stuffed. But because I am a champ, I managed to finished them all *flexes muscles* Luce enjoyed her sundae, but couldn’t finish it either. Full as eggs, we got into bed around 10 pm and were asleep by half past.

Why does my hair only look this good when I'm about to go to sleep?!

It was a really great first day! It felt really relaxed and chilled, even though we got loads done! We’d walked over 10 miles as well, so we really did get around the park.

Tomorrow is Epcot! If you’ve made it this far, thanks for reading
Sam x

[Stardust5]

Great first day, you managed to get so much done! Very unfair about the Moana meet and greet.

[Goldia]

Goodness me, what an amazing first day, you must have been shattered by the end of it. Looking forward to the next update.

[nanasamboy]

Originally Posted by Stardust5

Great first day, you managed to get so much done! Very unfair about the Moana meet and greet.

See more...

Thanks for reading! I still can't believe how quiet it was and how much we managed to do!

Yeah, I was super disappointed. On one hand I understand why they couldn't let us see her, and on the other I'd have made an exception and sprinkled some pixie dust if it was me!

Originally Posted by Goldia

Goodness me, what an amazing first day, you must have been shattered by the end of it. Looking forward to the next update.

See more...

We really were pooped! It was a much longer day than we anticipated! We walked 10 miles, we definitely got around! Thanks and thank you for commenting

[fleur_charms]

Hello! I was following your trip so great to see your write up.

I can't believe that little photoshoot you had with the Photopass photographers, they took some great pics! I love when you get really good ones - I also like the ones at the end of the night who have gone a bit mad from doing it all day so they get you doing insane poses hehe

[nanasamboy]

Originally Posted by fleur_charms

Hello! I was following your trip so great to see your write up.

I can't believe that little photoshoot you had with the Photopass photographers, they took some great pics! I love when you get really good ones - I also like the ones at the end of the night who have gone a bit mad from doing it all day so they get you doing insane poses hehe

See more...

Aww yay! Thank you

Isn't it fab?! That's just a few of the pics too, they took so many! We only really had a few that didn't give a hoot, most were fun and shouted stuff like 'yessss! worrrkkkkkkkk!'

Thank you for reading!

[moosha]

Brilliant day and fab pics, thanks for sharing .

[curlysue2]

Superb trip report and you managed to get so many photos impressive.