Disney Feast West&East Day 22 Crystal Palace/MK/'Ohana/Pirates Golf

[WileyCoyote]

ok - I somehow missed this pic of the three wise monkeys from last night and as they look almost adorable, i feel I should post it



On to the day in hand ...

Bearing in mind our less than successful experience at 1900 PF, I approach today with some trepidation. Our early meal has but one purpose – pictures of us in front of an empty castle background.

Everything else is secondary in this quest and hordes of stampeding wildebeest will be no match for me on my “brisk” walk down that main street.

We are up at 6.45 ( yes, it starts with a 6) and out by 7.15 , arriving at 7.30 with no mishaps.



look how empty it is !





Only the resort monorail is running





The excitement is almost too much




so we pitch up at 0745 to a sizeable queue already forming. It seems disorganised to me – they have one person randomly ticking people off her ADR list and they have people with early ADRs ( like 0805) in the same queue as people with 0845 ADRS - and then when you finally get in, you have to queue up at Crystal Palace and do the whole signing in thing again – very irritating . They open up at 0750 and a small troop make their way down mainstreet – oh its so much nicer to see parks this way !









We head straight for the Photopass guy and get some of my coveted pics, - we came , we saw, we had the photos !





the anticipation reaches fever pitch







We get called in , we have a lovely server and a table near the door – which will be good for legging it at rope drop . The food all looks very nice – its just a shame that its so early, we are not really hugely hungry.

[WileyCoyote]

As we get our food, Winnie the Pooh sails by our empty table. Eeyore walks straight past us, even though we are sat there. The server had been very clear on the rotation advising us that when you see the characters at X table, get ready as you will be up next. So , rather peeved at missing two characters, I speak to Eeyore’s minder ( he has moved on two tables) , pointing out that he bypassed us to which she put me firmly in my place that “ characters cant EVER go out of rotation ( maybe the world would cease turning on its axis if the characters walked backwards two paces, who knows) and that we will have to wait for the next round, which will be in roughly an hour. No, I don’t think so. I remain less than impressed with the character breakfasts – it seems to me that unless one person stays at the table to rugby tackle any passing furry creatures, then you either eat and have no pics , or starve . Happily Piglet and Tigger do manage to find our table and as Nick has a bit of a grumpy face on, Tigger suitably humiliates him .









At the end of the meal , our server brings Andy, Jamie and Connor a birthday card signed by the characters and a cupcake each, This is a nice touch.





We have used 5 TS credits with a $value of 144 and we leave a tip of $25. I am not sure its as good a value as the evening meals.

As park opening approaches we go over our strategy so at 0850 the boys leave and make their way to get to Tomorrowland while we settle the bill and take a more leisurely stroll to meet them.

[WileyCoyote]

They go straight to the Speedway and are the first 3 on – but they don’t think its as good as Autopia.




Standby for Space is at 10 minutes as is Buzz so they all go on Buzz while I take a pic of Chip n Dale and pick up fast passes for Space ( 0950-1050).







They are off Buzz by 0910 and we go on the People Mover ( after some debate about its classification as a “ride” or not – well, it moves so that makes it a ride in my book.



We are off at 0930 so with time to kill before Space and finishing in Tomorrowland we go on the Carousel of Progress – which Andy has asked for in every Park we have been in – its ok , a bit dated but we are all singing “ there’s a great big beautiful tomorrow” by the end . Andy says the ending has changed but as he didn’t inflict this on the rest of us last time, we cant comment. We can say that there was only us and one other family in there ! ~( its a no pics allowed place)



hurrah, one without the crane in view !







Its 0953 now ( to be exact) so they go to use the Space fps and I walk over to Frontierland to get our next set. I have long given up any hope of setting foot in Fantasyland , having been allowed the “girly” rides in DLR on my one morning alone. Shame, I would like to have seen the new theming but I guess that can wait now till Snow White is finished and a reason to return !







It’s a bit tricky in Frontierland as both Splash and BTMRR have standby wait times of 20 minutes . Spalsh Fps are out at 1125, BTMRR is at 1045 so at 1008 I get those as it allows me to get another set quicker if needed. The boys make their way over – we have a look around the shop and get some nice cool drinks and have 10 minutes of down time,






then at 1045 I get another set of fps but for Splash with a return time of 1210-1310 – which is fine as standby has now shot up to 65 minutes.

[WileyCoyote]

At 1050 we use our BTMRR fps and it’s a great ride, really good fun. We are off at 1105 so some time to kill before going on Splash. Its definitely picking up in terms of busy-ness now .








We walk over to Adventureland and as its only a 5 minute wait for Aladdin , and I didn’t get to see Dumbo, of course we must get on these. Its good fun too, including the spitting camel. We are quite grateful of the breeze on this super hot morning.











A short hop over to Pirates which is a 10 minute wait and we are of by 1135 – it was better than we remembered so glad that we did it as we missed it in California.





Now a jog over to the Haunted Mansion, having just missed the sailing boat. Andy is dubious about this one ( the mansion, not the boat) but its one we missed on our last trip and at DLR so I am determined to get on , plus I am looking for as many indoor rides as possible now as its so hot. Jamie has a moment of doubt and insists that he comes on with me and then changes his mind right at the last minute when he realises Disney wouldn’t really do anything THAT scary.

[WileyCoyote]

We take the garden queue and have some fun with the interactive gravestones. Its around a 15 minute wait and we are off at 1210 –so Connor and Jamie run off to go on Splash ( no-one else is keen) . They are off around 1230 and we are pretty much done here now. Its crowded and suddenly cloudy!












We walk out via the shops , cool and empty and stop to watch the glass blowing demonstration . The wind starts picking up, the balloon seller beats a hasty retreat and I realise the ponchos are in the boot of the car and of course this is one park where there is no such thing as quick dash to the car !



see , this really IS the happiest place on earth - look at these faces !
















Its about 1pm and the heavens open so we make a dash for the monorail and just miss the worst of the downpour. We debate getting off at one of the hotels and having a coffee and nose round till the storm passes but in the end decide to take our chances.

just plain wet

[WileyCoyote]

in my excitement , I forgot the pics we had on the way out - doh !






We get mildly soaked running to the car but are soon on our way back to OKW where it carries on raining and we see with some mild interest the tornado warning for 3pm at Patrick AirForce base. How can they be so precise ? Well, not that it materialised anyway.

We have some down time, including making use of the fab Jacuzzi hot tub , while the rain lashes down.

Its cleared up though just after 3pm and at 4 we are off on our travels to the Polynesian for our dinner at ‘Ohana. Andy drives and we arrive without incident – even though it involves going back to MK and the guest resort road. Poly is packed and there is no where to park so Andy drops us off and after a while returns, explaining he has had to park in a somewhat unorthodox spot and explains it to reception so we are not towed away ( he didn’t expand any further …). We have a 5.20 reservation and a bit of a wait and it is very very busy. It’s a beautiful place so we take in the sights and wait to be called.




















We have a table by the window which is nice and a lovely server called Autumn. Nick and Jamie join in the coconut races and other activities and we all end up with a lei – which are well itchy and look very nice in our kitchen.

[WileyCoyote]

The food is delicious but terribly slow in coming round so it does mean the meal drags a little. It is worthwhile though as we do enjoy it all and the boys being easily pleased declare this the best meal mainly as we bought the luminous ice cubes for the drinks – they are so easily bought !




Pudding is delicious but again I am thoughtful of the waste as only Andy and I really want any and a quarter of the portion would have done.









The dinner was 5 TS credits with a $value of $184.95 and the glow cubes were $3 each. After tax, total value $252 – which includes a $40 tip ( picks self up off floor, thank goodness we are on ddp)


We take a nose around the beach area while Andy picks up the car ( I never did get to see exactly what the dodgy parking was) . We had toyed with watching Wishes from the beach here but no one is really that bothered and equally it is EMH at MK and no –one wants to go over to the park



















we head off for a round of mini golf at Pirates Cove ($28 for the 3 boys) - pics to follow later ...

[disney owl]

you def used fastpass well at MK great photos again

[KarenG]

Another lovely day

[Milner]

Great day and photos Amanda.