A Mi11ion Dreams = 2018 - Day 15 - Magic Kingdom and the closest lightning strike ever experienced!

[walt4it]

Welcome back

Over the half way point of the trip and on our way towards some incredible things to end the holiday - hope you stay with us for that

Day 14 is just a click here away


The whole index is here - if you have missed out on all that has gone before


As requested - here is the link to everything that has been typed in previous trips and some photos that show the boys growing older in the blink of an eye - just click here to read, see and get some handy tips from things we have experienced in the past

Welcome to Day 15

Thursday 9th August


After last night’s thunder and lightning, the sun was blazing through the windows this morning- true Floridian morning glory.

If you read yesterday’s report I have since found photos of the Florida Mall shopping - handily filed under today’s date.

When you look at the discount of nearly $300 and only pay $124, you walk out of JCPenney knowing you never even need to look at the Debenhams, Next , name any UK shop here sale for the next 12 months – we even got Grandad a Football Legend tee shirt, as he had won our annual Fantasy football league challenge.

Knowing Grandad it will be 2022 by the time it is taken out of the wardrobe!

Today, we were on the road to Magic Kingdom using The Old Lake Wilson Road and then Sherbeth Road - it took us under 20 mins. We were parked in Simba 123. Know that means nothing to anyone- but on every visit, to every park I ensure I make a note of the parking row we are in.
Some take a photo, I just make a note in my ongoing notes of the day.

If you are reading this and looking for handy hints and tips, this is one that has stuck with me so much, the thought of getting back to a car park and having no idea where we started the whole day is something that fills me with a huge amount of anxiety and thoughts of wandering around car parks playing with the key fob of the car!


We got the tram to bag check and got on the monorail for the first time this year. There is always something special about boarding a monorail for the first time in any trip- the smell and especially for “Por favor mantengalese Alejandro de Les puertas “





Love it, just as the boys enjoy holding the metal pole that spins as the doors shut- it really is the little things that you miss when staying on site- the little traditions and the exhilaration as to the past and the reality of the now

We had planned a day a little like yesterday, trying to do some of the things we missed last week and also trying to see what else was available- the dance party passed us on Main Street singing the Vamos song that sticks in your head for the rest of the day.

We were also very much attached to our phones - it was transfer deadline day and the window shut at midday - Florida time - Josh assumed the Jim White role but did avoid the yellow tie for the occasion!

Space mountain was our first fast pass and did not disappoint- it never does.

There was a need to take on some coffee for the adults , so whilst we ate a cinnamon roll and got caffined up, the boys went to ride Under the Sea with Ariel.

We met again to a growing list of Everton signings and an interesting array of sandwiches and cheese board on view on other tables in Gaston’s tavern- at ten dollars they looked a nice alternative to many other offerings in MK. Noted for the future

We took ourselves into Philharmagic and enjoyed it as always- then onto Peter Pan via fast pass,

Now the whole of this ride left us underwhelmed- the sound was nigh on unintelligible and it just lacked what you would wait 80 minutes for. It needs some TLC and quickly.

It left all of us rather sad too, there are so many families with young children that can’t access most of the popular rides- we’ve been there and something like Peter Pan should be the highlight of a very young child’s day- so many missing parts of the audio meant for a ride that just lacked its own soul. It is the only way I can describe it.

Thankfully, Small World came to the rescue- not often you ever hear that!
We even waited 25 mins too – not often I would do that either!

The highlight coming when the final screen showed all of our names as we reached the end. Now three of us were rather spooked by this as we were not riding with a fast pass , so had never even scanned our bands- this was exactly what magic bands were meant to do, yet the snooping part that we were currently experiencing is possibly the biggest thing that Disney is hiding- they know exactly where you are in each park and possibly beyond, they knew all of our names as they were spelt on our magic bands, although each name did not have a capital letter which obviously ours did!

I am fascinated by all of the technology that is in a Magic Band, yet disappointed they pulled the talking Mickey in MK, there was a great opportunity there that had some opportunity, Imagine Mickey asking if you had just enjoyed riding Space Mountain?
For us, I’m still unsure if the boys have read of this change- traditionally this has previously been our final goodbye. We will just work around it!


To see on one screen all of our names was something that even the Twilight Zone could have investigated.

I would once again point out we had not scanned for a FP and had simply stood in the stand by line

Ros has the only answer…. “always watching”
They most certainly are!

Sorry - I have digressed once more! Always good when I digress with a bit of a thinking point rather than a rant!


Once more we headed around the MK and we avoided a 45 minute queue for Haunted Mansion choosing instead to visit the Hall of Presidents- this was closed last summer and I have to be honest it has been a while since we waited for a show. I insisted that we did!

Today it really impressed as a history session, in particular, the film part of the show seemed more engaging and was of a high quality to watch. No snooze opportunity here, the film was full on American history and did not pull punches either.

Really enjoyable and one to make sure we don’t leave it too long until we visit once again.

If you have not seen this you really do need to put it on the list- it adds to the American Pavilion in Epcot and only touches upon so many elements of American history- Independence/ Civil War/ Wall Street crash and more.

From the history input for the holiday, there was sustenance needed-

Pineapple floats for the boys next which was welcomed before a bit of a Jungle Cruise.

Apart from a very long fast pass wait, it was worth it, out skipper was Tara from New Jersey- from the first seconds on the boat she just kept the laughs flowing. It was great fun – amazing how much the CM on each boat will make such a difference to your ‘cruise’.
Tara was fantastic and funny throughout.

Including the classic backside of water, elephants have their trunks etc…

She missed the backside of Walt and Mickey though, so I got a photo of that

We made it back to the hub for the parade and made an exit just in time to see the gathering storm on the distance.
The parade we enjoyed as always, I will avoid my yearning for Celebrate a dream come true as I know things need to move on.

The three o’clock parade is something that should still be seen of an evening in MK.

Magic Kingdom deserves an evening parade and without one for so long now, it becomes the norm, it becomes expected and becomes a huge miss on what was offered for so long by The Main Street Electrical Parade and most especially without my beloved SpectroMagic.


I can understand the cost implications, but, from my very first visit an evening parade followed by fireworks had a certain magic.
I will revisit this later in our trip report – especially on our MNSSHP night.

The afternoon parade is the only one still in the parks - such a shame as the AK, Epcot and DHS parades that we have seen along our Disney journey were so good and remain memorable today, a shame only MK has this now.

As for us , we watched we enjoyed and we then headed for the car, however not before we stumbled across the family that were the Grand Marshalls for the Parade for today - lovely chat with them and to see just how proud they were and we simply shared some of their exhilaration at the very end of their experience.

We were back in the car at 4-05 – with a thought of pool and villa enjoyment.

Just as well really, as when we reached the road out of the parking lot and just past the car care centre there was the most incredibly vivid, close and unexpected lightning bolt right next to us. The thunder growl that followed moments after shook the car.


I have only once ever been so close to a ground strike of lightning – previously around 200 metres away in the middle of the night in Greece, this was closer and sizzling in the air. It was right beside us, you actually were thankful to be in a car. The conversation in car stood still, the radio turned off and we just listened to everything around.

It was all around us and as we drove closer to the 192, so the rain started to add to the thunder and lightning. We were actually glad it started to rain, the lightning having been so close we just hoped we were heading away from the storm.
It was persistent and I can't even begin to describe just how scary the whole journey was, the feeling around the car was surreal, it was right next to us and we all knew it.

At this point, it was positively fine to go to Target for some food for dinner tonight – there was a thankful feeling in the car when we got parked and just stopped amidst the storm -even getting wet from car to shop was thankful!
It is so telling that there was not a picture taken, we were in a state of relief when parked at Super Target!


Our visit there, simply filled in the time that the pool was hopefully going to be out of action due to the lightning in the air. We opted to take the short route back to the villa.

A long queue on the Old Lake Wilson Road showed that around 5.15pm is not a good time to head to the villa – and perhaps we should have headed up to the 27 and taken the long route.

A quick chicken snack meant that the pool and hot tub were long overdue.

We had missed it last night.

We hot tubbed longer than we should and amid planning conversations for the next few days- Joe expressed how much Hall of Presidents had impressed him today.

The boys had a Chinese creation that was cook from frozen from Target – it was fab and noted for the future as it was a whole lot cheaper than take away and tasted very similar.

It hit the spot and was not pictured- Alison and I opted for Spag Bolognaise / Taco split of the mince and we enjoyed it whilst still shifting plans for upcoming days.

We continued in the pool and hot tub and avoided the temptation of the golf and the baseball on the TV.

The upcoming plans no longer look as they were, as we moved various plans around and incorporated some other plans too.

A great end to another great day !

See you soon for Day 16


Day 16 is a click here away

A water park day that needs to be forgotten

[Palm trees]

Fab day again, although I've bever been near lightning hitting the ground, I think I'd have been terrified!

[Goldia]

Fab day at MK. Totally agree there should be a night time parade. I loved the electrical parade, it's a shame nothing replaced it and there don't seem to be any plans to replace it any time soon.

We've never bothered with the hall of presidents, I suppose we should sometime.

The lightning strike drive to target sounds perilous. There's nothing quite like a bit of Florida rain.

[Cinderella]

Wow scary lightning 🌩😟

[walt4it]

Originally Posted by Palm trees

Fab day again, although I've bever been near lightning hitting the ground, I think I'd have been terrified!

See more...

I was terrified, and just tried to keep driving whilst secretly pooping it - it is hard to put into words what we were all thinking at that point of the day- terrified is possibly the most polite response
It was so close and even thinking back now still makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand up

Thanks for reading as always

[willow]

My aunt and her family are staying in the same villa as you in September, the rest of us are staying on Robin Road.
This will be our 7th time staying at Lake Wilson! We really like the area, but the traffic can be a bit of a nightmare at rush hour!

[mick]

The lightning sounds scary bet you were glad you were not in the park when it started


Joan

[walt4it]

Originally Posted by Goldia

Fab day at MK. Totally agree there should be a night time parade. I loved the electrical parade, it's a shame nothing replaced it and there don't seem to be any plans to replace it any time soon.

We've never bothered with the hall of presidents, I suppose we should sometime.

The lightning strike drive to target sounds perilous. There's nothing quite like a bit of Florida rain.

See more...

As for night time parades - I still lament the way Spectromagic was dumped after MSEP returned, what a waste of such a memorable parade.
At least MSEP was improved continually before it returned to Disneyland.

I don't think in the current WDW management will see fit to put in a new nighttime parade either

Anyway, Hall of Presidents is a history lesson worth sitting through, having missed it for a while it was actually better than remembered

The lightning on the way out of MK will stay with us all for a long time, the actual 'fizz ' that was in the air around us was both scary and exhilarating at the same time just glad we were in the car.

[walt4it]

Originally Posted by willow

My aunt and her family are staying in the same villa as you in September, the rest of us are staying on Robin Road.
This will be our 7th time staying at Lake Wilson! We really like the area, but the traffic can be a bit of a nightmare at rush hour!

See more...

They will love the villa, it was fantastic
It was booked for this summer so we have booked a different one for the summer this year. Handy for loads of places, yet quiet enough to feel that you are out of the madness.
Love Lake Wilson and is top of our list for the future.

Thanks for reading and hope you enjoy the rest of our adventures

[Dixiechic]

Another fab day! We visited the Hall of Presidents for the first time last year and have since been able to answer many a question about US presidents whilst watching Pointless! You're right about an evening parade - I so miss Spectromagic. looking forward to the next installment