Staying in The Lion King suite, I regret not setting the 6:30 am alarm to “The Circle of Life”. I have it on my phone, but I wasn’t thinking so I woke up to my usual Zumba music. It was a slow start but I had the boys packed up and walking out the door by 7:10, only ten minutes behind my original goal. We loaded up Jay’s car since we were only staying the one night and drove to the Ticket and Transportation Center (the TTC, Magic Kingdom’s parking lot) with only one wrong turn. This is what happens when the navigator offers to sit in the back. This was my first time to Magic Kingdom since they relocated the security check points to the TTC from the park gates. Since we were there so early for Extra Magic Hours, there was a minimal wait. I’m curious to see what it would be like during peak hours, but I like the new flow at the park gates much better. The fences forcing everyone to a choke point are gone. I also like that people are being screened before being on enclosed, high speed vehicles with other guests.
Doug’s first interaction with an actual Magic Kingdom Cast Member was not what I would have preferred. We picked a ticket line at random and waited our turn. The Cast Member manning the touch points, whose name was an older gentleman named Dave, kept fussing at us to stand single file instead of three across. Having spent most of my time as a Cast Member trying to get guests not to stand single file, I didn’t understand this and asked him why. He said we had to be lined up on the first touch point and could only use the second one when we called us over. He then snatched Doug’s ticket from his hand when he didn’t scan it fast enough, having never done it. Not the first impression for Magic Kingdom I wanted, and we had to double back to check his name tag.
I grabbed a Times Guide and we headed through the tunnel to Main Street. I wanted to get to Fantasyland to knock some rides out before the Welcome Show, but it was understandably hard to get Doug to move quickly. Jay described it as sensory overload, and he’s absolutely right. Mainstreet U.S.A. has a lot to take in, and that was without me explaining hidden details. It took us about ten minutes to get from the train station to the hub and we only stopped for one picture! We found the check point where they were scanning Magic Bands for Extra Magic Hours and headed
Getting into the Honey Pot.
into Fantasyland. Our first stop was The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, which was basically a walk on. I know what you’re thinking, “Pooh, really? His first ride is going to be Pooh?” Pooh is my favorite ride at Magic Kingdom because of a memory I have with my mom, and for as long as I can remember, Doug has called my mother “Mom”, so it was a perfect starting point. Plus only Fantasyland and Tomorrowland are open for Extra Magic Hours, and I already had Fastpasses for Space Mountain and Seven Dwarfs Mine Train. Our second stop was it’s a small world, because it must be experienced at least once but I don’t like to spend a lot of time on it. We headed towards New Fantasyland but double backed to the castle as it was getting close to 8:55 for the Magic Kingdom welcome show called “Let the Magic Begin”.
Mickey is the first character to appear.
I had actually never seen “Let the Magic Begin” myself, just because I rarely open a park unless I have company in town. Jay has seen it numerous times while working and he told me we didn’t need to make it a priority but it was cute. I disagreed, I wanted to see it too! I’m so glad we did. One of the Royal Majesty Makers comes out and welcomes everyone before Mickey and Minnie arrive with their friends in tow. Apparently the character assortment is random and can change by the day, much like the old welcome show on the train. I was surprised to see the Evil Stepsisters from Cinderella, but it made sense as we had seen them earlier meeting with guests. The fireworks went off, just a tiny spurt, and Mickey and Minnie walked off hand in hand. I looked over at Doug, he was wiping a tear away! “It’s magic!” He said and I grinned ear to ear, “It absolutely is.”
At Jay’s suggestion, we headed for Liberty Square where the Haunted Mansion had just opened, or so we thought. We arrived to find it closed for technical difficulties. Jay talked to the butler, who was a friend of his, about the problem and we agreed to try back in a little while. We headed for Big Thunder Mountain but everyone else had the same idea, so we switched to Pirates of the Caribbean instead. It was a walk on, and one of the pirates out front, who Jay and I both knew from the Jungle Cruise, told us to look for treasure in the queue. I didn’t know what she meant until I found gold plastic coins scattered on top of some of the props. I don’t know when they started doing that, but I like it! We each took a couple and made sure to leave plenty for the kids behind us.
We made good use of our time and knocked out Under the Sea: Journey of the
Blast off!
Little Mermaid, Barnstormer and Space Mountain before we grabbed our first snack of the day. We stood munching on the Mickey pretzels as we waited for Mickey’s Royal Friendship Faire. I am one of those terrible people who like it better than its predecessor. Had I realized Doug had never seen Princess and the Frog or Frozen, I might have been more inclined to skip it, but it’s cute regardless. Except for Daisy Duck. She is never cute.
Our next stop was to use our Fastpass to meet Mickey Mouse. I’m not sure who was more excited, but Doug’s reactions to everything were making me so happy. We waited our turn and we were the last ones in the room with Mickey. Jay and I let Doug go first, and it was adorable and wonderful, but I was a little sad Mickey didn’t do a card trick. The photographer took plenty of photos and I made sure to get it on video. I love having unlimited Photopass downloads on my annual pass.
http://https://youtu.be/7j-y5PX9iX8
We then had to go the long way around the park to get to lunch at Columbia Harbor House to avoid the three o’clock parade… that was being held at noon and three-thirty that day. Yay spring break. Doug and I were going to do the later option after Jay went to work, so we tried to avoid him seeing any of the floats. Harbor House was packed, but we still had our food and a table within fifteen minutes. Jay had to scarf his food and run to get changed for his shift at the Riverboat and we told him we’d be by after it reopened from the parade dessert party. Roughly 1 pm and we had already done six rides, two shows and met Mickey Mouse. Disney considers eight and a half attractions to be a full day, so we were doing pretty darn good. It seemed like a good time to slow down a bit and take it easy, so we headed for the Country Bear Jamboree. While this Magic Kingdom opening day attraction isn’t on most people’s “must do” list, Doug and I grew up in East Tennessee and going to Dollywood. If there is one thing in all of Walt Disney World that screams East Tennessee, it is the good ol’ Country Bears. The cast member started to give the safety briefing in what was the driest voice possible and Doug sort of scoffed at the lack of enthusiasm until I started to explain he was doing it for comedic effect, except I broke off into a fit of giggles as he launched into the spiel for the Carousel of Progress. “What? Wrong show? Tiki Room?” More laughter. He finally got to the right introduction and I went up to tell him how funny he was after the show ended. The closer I got, the more familiar he looked, and when I made it up to the former skipper, “I should have known it was you!”
Yo ho?
Our next stop was “Captain Jack’s Pirate Tutorial”, where I was hoping Doug would get picked as part of the crew. No such luck. “You! With the teddy bear! Come on!” But of course, Duffy and I were born to be pirates. We ducked into the Enchanted Tiki Room for some air conditioning before heading to stand in direct sunlight to wait for “Festival of Fantasy” in my favorite spot across from the Country Bear Jamboree. Its my favorite because it has great viewing and its not hard to get a spot since the shade is across the street. We waited about forty minutes, and saw three separate high school marching bands come through before the parade 
music started to play. This parade is one of my favorite things at Disney, and I was certain Doug would love it too. I wasn’t disappointed. He loved Flynn and the ruffians swinging on their float. He actually yelled out loud when the Dragon breathed fire, and said he took that picture at the right moment. Mickey waved down at us as the balloon passed, and we headed across the road as soon as the end was clear. Time to visit my old home, the World Famous Jungle Cruise.
“Sit right down next to that complete stranger. He doesn’t bite, he might drool but it’s a water ride.”
Every time I go by the dock, I know fewer skippers. However there was one old friend out front and she sent us up the Fastpass line. We wound our way around when I spotted a veteran skip, Robert (Jay’s pirate friend from Gasparilla), hanging out at unload. I talked him into doing a bote for me, and we commandeered onto the next one that came in. Call me a snob, but I am very picky about whose bote I ride. (That is the correct spelling for a Jungle Cruise vehicle.) I heard a few new jokes and Doug couldn’t understand why everyone else was so quiet. “They were so fast! Did they just go over everyone’s heads? Why weren’t they laughing?” “Welcome to my life. Welcome to every skipper’s life!”
Mr. & Mrs. Easter Bunny
We had now given the parade enough time to clear Mainstreet U.S.A. so we made our way to where the Easter Bunny was scheduled to be. For the four years I’ve been living in Orlando, I have tried to meet Mr. And Mrs. Easter Bunny with no luck. I never make it to Magic Kingdom at the right time. Doug didn’t mind taking the detour and their line was only about ten minutes. I may have squeaked.
“And here’s a thing that does a thing.”
We made our way to the Riverboat to see Jay. Doug wanted to watch him work the steam engine. Fun fact: it’s a real 1800s steam engine. There’s no button to push that makes it go, you have to put water in a boiler to create steam. It’s a very technical engine to operate and like most car guys, Doug is fascinated. However Jay wouldn’t be in the position that works the boiler for a little while so we knocked out Big Thunder Mountain and came back, just as he moved onto the Liberty Belle. Jay launched and she began her cruise around the river, and Jay began explaining all sorts of technical mumbo jumbo about how the engine works. A few guests were paying attention too and taking pictures.
Next, we did Peter Pan’s Flight before our Fastpass for Seven Dwarfs Mine Train with a quick stop at Mickey’s PhilharMagic in between. After Mine Train we waited out the line for Rapunzel and Tiana, and Doug had a much better time with the princesses than he expected. We then wandered down to the Carousel of Progress to see our final show of the day before we staked out a spot for “Wishes”, Magic Kingdom’s fireworks, with forty minutes to spare. I miss having “Celebrate the Magic” as a preshow, it makes waiting so much longer and I like it better than the new show. Jay got off work just in time to come find us, about five minutes before Jiminy Cricket started narrating. The music surged and I was torn between watching Doug and watching the fireworks. I don’t know if I’m going to make it back before this show is retired next month, but when it got to the Hercules part I saw Doug wipe his eyes. I grinned ear to ear, tearing up myself.
His first Dole Whip.
As soon as the lights went back up, we bolted for Adventureland to grab our Dole Whips and carried them to Frontierland to wait in line for our final ride of the night, Splash Mountain, the happiest ride in the park. We made it off just before close and we made the long slow walk to the front of the park, stopping for one final Magic Kingdom picture.
A quick ride on the resort Monorail took us back to the Ticket and Transporation Center to find our car parked in the very front row of the Aladdin lot, fifteen hours and 35,000 steps later.
Check back to see if we break those numbers when we plan to split a day between Epcot and Hollywood Studios. Read Part One to learn about our stay at the Art of Animation.
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