... and Then There Were 3, Orlando Feb 2019 - Day 7 - Gator Golf and Magic Kingdom Fireworks

[ally1966]

We were able to make a more leisurely start this morning as our FPs for MK weren't booked till the afternoon.

I had made reservations for Be Our Guest today at 180 days out as I was desperate to see inside the beasts castle but DH said that the ADR was too early (1.50pm) as we were planning to stay to see Happily Ever After so, last night, I attempted to alter the time. Initially I thought that I'd been successful in moving it to 4.40 - then realised that the time change meant we'd also been switched to the more expensive fixed menu Dinner. As this didn't appeal to DD or DH and all the lunch spots had now gone I had no option but to cancel - I was gutted (and may have sulked, just a bit!)

Lunch plans ruined, we decided that we may as well eat on I-Drive before leaving for the park. DH fancied trying the Golden Corral brekkie as he'd missed out the other day when DD and I went without him.

Before this however we went for a swim - all of us, even DH! Well, when I say swim, it was more of a splash around in the shallow end with the beach ball but even this was a massive step for him as he hates water. He'd only been persuaded to join us because DD wanted to show him how much her swimming has improved.

We spent a pleasant hour or so at the pool before getting showered and dressed and heading across the road to GC - I did warn in my pre-trippie that our food choices might be pretty repetitive!

For the first time this holiday the girl on the till queried the validity of my Dine 4 Less Card, saying that she had never seen one before and wasn't sure that they accepted it. I told her that I'd used it there only 2 days ago without issue and offered to show her on the app where they were listed as participating in the scheme but she said that wasn't necessary and deducted $2 from the bill.

It was now 10.50, they stop serving breakfast at 11am so we thought that we'd timed it just right to get the best of both worlds and choose from both breakfast and lunch options. This plan backfired somewhat!

Although the lunch was beginning to come out, many of the breakfast items had been removed already, including the Coco Pops which DD wanted. I asked our server if it would still be possible for her to have some. She was happy to oblige and brought out 2 of the little individual servings - but then informed us that they'd run out of milk! So DD was unable to eat them anyway.

They'd also stopped serving coffee, although the fruit juice dispensers had not yet been covered up so we were still able to get a drink.

Enough of the problems... onto the food! I had a plate of bourbon chicken and honey & sesame coated chicken with rice (above) - this was lovely.

DH had chicken, pot roast and some bolognese bake. A strange combination but he enjoyed it.

We both followed this with dessert - this is my bread pudding which was very nice. I don't have a photo of DH's but assume that it would've been his beloved banana cream pie again.

DD just had a plate of chips for her main and followed it with plenty of ice cream. She took the coco pops back to the room with her for later.

As it was still only 12 when we'd finished eating we decided to head down the road to Gator Golf. This was one of my Groupon purchases. I'd paid $11 for a round of mini golf for up to 4 people.

We didn't take this too seriously. I thought I was doing well when I won the first hole in 2 shots. However, this was to be my only victory, maybe I should have quit whilst I was ahead !

DH would've thrashed both of us if we'd been keeping proper score but as the place was pretty much deserted (all the time we were here we only encountered one other family) we messed about repeating DDs favourite holes.

We saw plenty of these scary looking creatures for whom the course is named.

Even messing about we were done in less than an hour. We had fun but I don't think that I'd have wanted to pay any more than we did for the experience.

We headed back to our hotel for a short rest before booking an Uber to MK. This only took a few minutes to arrive and according to Revolut cost $19.28.

We arrived just as the Festival of Fantasy parade was about to start. This was a new one on us so we decided to stop and watch, securing a good viewing spot right outside the train station near the end of the parade route.

DD and I loved this.

DH has never understood the attraction of parades and quickly retired to sit on the station steps!

Our first FP was for the Jungle Cruise. We had a good captain who made us laugh although we could remember everything that was going to happen.

By the time we came off this ride our next FP window for Haunted Mansion was open so we headed across toward Fantasy Land

This is one of our favourites and the ride itself didn't disappoint.

We did find the queuing area after leaving the stretching room very claustrophobic though. We hadn't remembered it being so hot or them cramming so many people in on previous visits.

I'd managed to get our 3 FPs for today as close together as possible so after completing Haunted Mansion we only had 20 minutes to wait for our next one.

The park wasn't as crowded today as it had been on Monday but wait times for most rides were still approaching an hour. Prince Charming's Regal Carousel however, was only showing a 10 minute wait so DD and I managed to fit this one in. DH decided to sit it out and take a break.

We stopped off to use the facilities at Rapunzel's Tower. It's still hard to believe that this impressive building is just Rest Rooms!

Our 3rd FP was for Pirates of the Caribbean. This is one of DH's favourites and we all enjoyed it.

With our fIrst 3 FPs for the day already used up DD asked if we could have another ride on either Splash Mountain or Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. There were no FPs available for either so we decided to check out the standby lines. Splash was showing 55 mins but Big Thunder was only 35 so we plumped for this one.

The queue kept moving pretty constantly and we were actually on and off in about 20mins.

I now checked out just what FPs were still available as we had over 2 hours to fill before the fireworks.

I managed to get one for Journey Under the Sea with Ariel which was a new ride to us so we wandered back through Fantasyland.

Taking a last regretful look at the Beasts Castle (it's possible that I might never recover from the disappointment!) and passing 7 Dwarves Mine Train; another new attraction that we had no hope of experiencing as the wait time was now 2hours.

We arrived at Ariel and were soon boarding our clam shell. This is a cute little ride that we all enjoyed. It had DD singing along to all the songs from Little Mermaid.

The only FP that I could get after this was for Dumbo at 7.35. We felt that this might leave us a bit short of time to get in position for Happily Ever After but as we'd not yet seen the completed Storybook Circus area we headed over there anyway.

The standby time was just 20 mins so we decided to join the regular queue. DD wanted to go into the play area but the pager system wasn't working tonight so this would've cost us our place in the line and we had to say no.

It was now gone 7.30 and the projection show on the castle had already started. We joined the throngs heading for the front of the castle and found a spot towards the back of the hub with a straight on view. DD struggled to see the projections because of people in front who had their children on their shoulders. Unfortunately for her neither DH nor I can any longer do this - one of the disadvantages of having older parents! I tried to reassure her that once the fireworks started they would be in the sky and she wouldn't miss them.

We needn't have worried as once this part of the show finished many of the families with young children disappeared and a lovely lady in front of us allowed DD through to stand right by the tape so by the time Happily Ever After started she had a perfect view.

I'm not the world's best photographer so I really can't do justice to this spectacle. We were blown away by it visually and the images on the castle definitely add an impressive new dimension to the fireworks, which were stunning as expected. There were so many WOW moments during the show.

However, I didn't find it as emotional as Wishes and for the first time ever no tears were shed (by me) during an MK firework show.

By the time it ended DH was beginning to panic that, due to the crowds, we'd be unable to get an Uber or if we did it would be extortionately expensive because of surge pricing.

We joined the mass of people heading for the mono rail and were soon back at the Ticket & Transportation Centre. It never ceases to amaze me how quickly and efficiently WDW clear the huge numbers of people at the end of the night.

In the end we had no problem securing an Uber - he was there in about 5 mins and the fare was only $1 more than it had been this afternoon.

DD had fallen asleep in the back of the car so she went straight to bed when we reached the hotel. DH and I decided to stop up and have a drink. He still had some of his lagers left from the other night so I nipped to the hotel shop for a bottle of wine... and came back with a pack of Strawberry Daiquiris instead - well, I've not had a cocktail yet this holiday and at $9.95 for 4 they were significantly cheaper than ordering one with a meal!

Day 8 is here:- https://www.thedibb.co.uk/forums/sho...8#post13714158

[app]

New Photo Added by ally1966 - 1 Mar 19 10:31 AM.

[mick]

Another lovely day shame you didn’t get to eat in the beasts castle


Joan

[ally1966]

Originally Posted by mick

Another lovely day shame you didn’t get to eat in the beasts castle


Joan

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I know, I’m a big baby Joan - but it will give me an excuse to come back one day!

I was so determined to eat here that I originally booked lunch and breakfast for 2 different days each but gradually cancelled the other ADRs as our plans came together and just saved the one that seemed to fit in best. Just wasn’t meant to be 😢xx

[Excitedx4]

Great day, the MK fireworks are just so magical!