Sunday was Magic Kingdom day. Off we went, after a brief feed of the ducks and breakfast.
We parked in Minnie again, row 42 (we’d been in Minnie 43 the day before). We decided to take the ferry across to the park, the last time we did that, since it was (a) a lot slower than going by monorail (no matter what they say on the parking tram) and (b) a lot colder.
We proceeded across the park over to the rather sad Toon Town that WDW MK has (compared to Disneyland’s), largely because I knew that Katherine loved Goofy’s Barnstormers roller coaster. She did, and we ended up going on it three times (the crowds being relatively light). From there we segued to Tomorrowland, with Katherine and I making a side jaunt to the Autopia first (she steered, I operated the gas pedal, we both had fun).
Tomorrowland had a number of big ticket items. We FastPassed Stitch’s Great Escape, then took a ride on the People Movers (sadly departed from Anaheim).
From there, we moved over to the Carousel of Progress. Wow. That was a classic back in the days when I grew up in California, though it has long since been replaced there by several other features over time. It was so neat seeing the old crew again, even if the end scene’s been updated (several times), and you don’t end up by walking past the City of Tomorrow (though you can glance that on the People Movers). (I also seem to recall that the Anaheim version rotated the other direction, though I could be wrong).
It was neat to see it, one last time, and sing the song, one last time. It’s scheduled for closure in early 2005.
We moved on to Buzz Lightyear, one of the most carnival-like rides in the park, but still fun for all that. Kitten steered, Margie and I competed on the guns. I smoked her nearly 10-to-1 (blows smoke off the end of his barrel). Neat. I’ll be interested to see how the Anaheim version shapes up; it’s due to open up there in the Spring. Hopefully the decor will be a bit less cheap-seeming.
Stitch’s Great Escape is a redress of the inexplicable horror show they had in the same space before. It’s essentially the same “ride,” only with an Experiment 626 overlay on it — which fits in a lot better for the park, but which remains oddly unsatisfying (the finale, for one thing, makes little sense — why not send “the recruits” out into the park to keep an eye open for the fugitive experiment?). I’m not sure I can explain it more than that. It was entertaining enough, even for Kitten, but I’m not sure I’d go out of my way to go on it again — at least not in the same visit.
We wandered over to Adventureland from there, since Kitten wanted to see “the hippos” on the Jungle Cruise. That ride is always a kick, and was so again. And, yes, the boat captains have their pistols back, though the only fire “warning shots,” and it’s sound-effect based, not blanks.
Pirates was down, so we moved on to Splash Mountain. It was juuuuuuust warm enough to go on, though the crowds disagreed, as it was nearly a walk-on. We FPed Big Thunder Mountain before getting in line, and then … well, it was enough Kitten-entertaining (and short of line) to go on three times.
And, each time, Goofy (me) insisted that this was a nice, quiet, placid ride, while Kitten warned me of the Big Drop to Come. Great fun.
Margie opines that the Splash Mountain line at WDW is done better than at DL, and that the ride goes at a better pace; I think the Anaheim version has a more coherent story (at with Pirates). In either case, it’s a great ride, especially if you don’t mind getting wet.
Big Thunder Mountain at the MK is definitely worth FastPassing. It gets you in a much shorter line, and the FP times we had weren’t too bad. Very comparable ride to Anaheim, and no fatalities while we were there.
The park was closing at 6 p.m. for Mickey’s Merry Christmas thang. We’d decided we didn’t feel like pay for the extra time, so we swung through the Haunted Mansion (Anaheim’s is slightly better in the ride, definitely better in the queueing areas), then over to Fantasyland. Carousel, Peter Pan, the Sword in the Stone presentation (Katherine got very upset over not being selected, and wanted to tell Merlin that the king definitely needed to have a queen), PhilHarmagic (nice 3-D, mediocre CG), and, finally, Margie and Kitten on Dumbo. Then …
… biiiiiig crowds to the exit, down a beautifully festive Main Street, and up to the monorails (yes, the boats may have been faster this time). We called for restaurant reservations, but none were to be had at anything that would see the MK fireworks, so we ended up going to Boma, at the Animal Kingdom Lodge.
That was one of our best decisions of the week. Boma is a buffet, but the food is a great mix of African flavors and some American stand-bys. We steered Katherine toward the former, and she did fabulously — her favorites were the seafood couscous soup, and the salmon, and she cleared her plate multiple times (“I ate my kiwi, Mommy!”). The soups were great, the meats were great, there were interesting salads and sides and fruit, and a very decadent dessert table, and it was all you can at. So we did, and it was wonderful. Margie had read some criticism that the place had overly-Westernized their menu of late, but I thought it was just fine.
Stuffed to the gills, we staggered home, again to sleep.
As a general observation, we got very little, outside of the local activities, done. My bold plans to work on Christmas cards came to naught. My bold plans to be keeping up with the blogging stuff went nowhere, too. Basically in the evening we’d get back, stuffed with food and wine, get Kitten down to bed, maybe take a shower, and read for about ten minutes before turning off our own lights.
Which, I suppose is better than being bored.
WDW Tip: Don’t plan on doing anything other than Disney stuff. If you do, great, but don’t plan on it.