Walt Disney World Day Two: Retro Disneyland

I'm going to have to have a Food Specific entry and a Room Specific entry coming but for now I want to talk about what we saw today.

Today was "Retro Disneyland: Riding Stuff We Don't Have In Anaheim Anymore! (Or in some cases, Don't Have Yet.)"

We actually started today rather late. I woke up at some point but the alarm clock had no light so I could not see the time clearly. I think it was in the 5:00 hour. The next time I opened my eyes, the boys were awake and I could read the clock: It was 10:40!!!!!!!

HOLY COW!!!!!

(Ok, that's not what I really thought but can we just pretend?)

Daddy Doc and I lept out of bed and barked at the kids to GET DRESSED NOW! Thank goodness for hotel suites with TWO bathrooms! Doc used the kids' bathroom while I used ours so that we could whip through our showers quickly. By about 11:15 we were piled into the Awesome Rental Van With the Broken Remote.

Fortunately we have become a bit more familiar with the roads around here and we drove quickly to the Magic Kingdom. Upon seeing our Resort Parking Pass on our dashboard, the parking lot booth attendant waved us right on in! We did not even have to stop for a special day pass. How convenient! We quickly saw a sign that said "AAA Diamond Parking" and followed the arrows to the very special parking area closest to the front.

I did not realize that the parking lot is not actually anywhere near the actual Park. Oh no no no. At this point, I called ahead to the swanies who had gone to the park in the hopes of running into us there. My sons' future parents-in-law had planned to spend the day in Epcot but upon hearing that the boys would be touring MK, my future daughters-in-law begged to visit Magic Kingdom instead. I called to see if they could recommend a quick service lunch location before Captain Stubborn turned from just a pumpkin to a stinky ugly rotting pumpkin. Apparently, CS had no snack before we left our room this morning and the low-blood sugar was not pretty... Mrs. Swanie asked if we were taking the monorail or the ferry to the front gate.

"We're walking"

No, but you have to TAKE something.

What do you MEAN we have to take something?

You get out of the car and walk to the gate. How hard is that?

Well, here, it's hard. There's a big lake and a deluxe resort between the parking lot and the Main Gate of Magic Kingdom. Who knew?

Honey, I don't think we're in Anaheim anymore...

We elected to take the Monorail. When we arrived to the Monorail Station with Express Service to Magic Kingdom (meaning no stopping as we whizzed through the Contemporary Hotel,) and the boys found that the Monorail at Walt Disney World (1) is tall enough to stand in and (2) actually goes somewhere.

(Waving to Joe and everyone else we had dinner with on Saturday!)

Next Lesson: The Bag Check at Walt Disney World really IS a Security Check.

HOLY COW! These guys are serious. The guy we walked up to wasn't playing around. He had his hands IN my backpack. I wasn't exactly happy about that. I know at Disneyland, my friend has told Bag Check CMs to get their hands OUT of her bag. I would never allow a Bag Check CM to go digging through my backpack. I have been told that they usually use sticks to push things around inside bags - was this guy out of line? His nametag said he was from the Bronx and I did not want to get Disney Security angry at me my first day here, but he was grabbing my little cosmetic bags and squeezing them and he was not messing around. Doc's CM got tired of all of Doc's little bags inside his backpack and stopped touching them all (Doc was pulling the bags out himself,) after the first few were boring.

Walking into the Magic Kingdom was interesting. I cannot say that anything about the experience overwhelmed me with emotion. It was neat to see how big and ornate the buildings are. I missed finding the barber shop. Mr. Genius and I commented about the shops that were on the wrong side of the street. The watch shop, Disney clothiers, the bakery, the ice cream shop - I am sure there were more. Oh and there's that castle.

I don't know what makes Cinderella so much more special than Sleeping Beauty. Maybe Cindy is just more high maintenance than Aurora is? HOLY COW. Yep, it's big.

I think the thing that struck me most about the castle was not the size of the castle but just how much closer it actually seems to be to Main Street than Sleeping Beauty castle is at Disneyland. We walked around the castle but I we did not actually walk through the castle. It almost looked like we could not walk through it? Walking through the Disneyland Castle, across the drawbridge, is always nifty.

We tried to get some pictures taken but the sun was shining directly into everyone's eyes and Captain Stubborn was seriously not happy. We met the Swanies for lunch at Pecos Bill's in Frontierland. Along the way I saw the sign that read: "Country Bear Jamboree" and I got all goosebumpily and started to get a tad emotional. After lunch, I told the Swanies that my family had to go see the Bears. The Swanies had FastPasses for Thunder Mountain and so we said our toodle-ooos.

Our first Magic Kingdom attraction, then, was Country Bear Jamboree.

Ok, don't hate me now, but I like Vacation Hoedown so much better. I am sorry. There was nothing fun and sing-a-long-ish about the Country Bear Jamboree. There were parts of the show where I could not understand the soundtrack at all.

But. We did it.

Mr. Genius was anxious to visit the Laugh Floor in Tomorrowland so I told him we could, but we would have to ride Carousel of Progress after that.

The Laugh Floor was fun but they did not use the joke we texted into the show and we sat too far back to be the targets of the audience participation. At this attraction, guests are invited to text their names, hometowns and a funny joke to a special number, to have the opportunity to have it used in the show. Our boys chose: Why did the volcano die? Because it smoked too much. I did not know that the show used audience participation in the front rows so we missed that, too.

At the end of Carousel of Progress, Mr. Genius informed us that it was a pretty cool ride. We were glad he appreciated the show, although the progress from 1900s to 1920s to 1940s and then, suddenly 60 years ahead to Modern Day was a little crazy and abrupt, the show was cute.

Coming out of COP, we jumped right onto the PeopleMover! Uhm, I mean, the Tomorrowland Transit Authority. The boys enjoyed that ride, too. Space Mountain is down for rehab but we did get to see the launch area for Space. Are the lights in that area usually turned on? They were turned on today.

At this point I discovered that my cell phone was missing. While Doc took the boys to Buzz Lightyear, I went back to Carousel of Progress to see if the phone fell out of my pocket there. (The laser guns on Buzz do not move, what's up with that? Captain Stubborn did NOT enjoy this. He gave up after three shots and started crying.)

I looked through all six rooms on the COP and finally, in the very last room, the Cast Member came in to help me and she found my phone stuck between a seat and an armrest! Huzzah! Her name is Alisha and I need to stop and leave a compliment for Alisha at City Hall. I hugged her before I left the ride. You can't be the least bit surprised that I hugged her.

Next we rode Autopia. I mean, the Indy Speedway ride. Sweet But Sneaky was eager to ride with me. There is a special place in heaven for parents who ride Autopia-like rides with young children and let them "drive". Doc rode with his driver Captain Stubborn. I know he agrees with me.

After a quick snack, which I will show later in my food update, we let Captain Stubborn pick the next ride. He picked Winnie the Pooh. As much as we do not enjoy Winnie the Poo(h), Doc and I both enjoyed this ride, especially over the Poo(h) ride in Disneyland Anaheim! The vehicle actually bounces with Tigger. The vehicle bobs through the flood waters. And the ride scenery is much more multi-dimensional and pretty than the Disneyland ride's scenery. Sure, Disneyland's vehicles are prettier but the Walt Disney World version wins this contest, hands down!

We wandered through Fantasyland commenting about the incredibly underwhelming it's a small world facade (Really?) and based on several comments from friends, including Sweet But Sneaky's enthusiastic godmother, we took advantage of the posted five minute wait for Philharmagic. What a fun show! Despite have eaten lunch and a tasty treat, Captain Stubborn's mood still stank. Although he walked everywhere without too much complaint today, we suspect that the heat and humidity were wearing him out. Tomorrow we will remember to bring the stroller... Captain Stubborn refused to turn around in his seat to see Donald Duck's tush and feet.

If you want to know why he missed Donald Duck's tush and feet, go see Mickey's Philharmagic.

At this point we were closing in on the time for our dinner reservation. We returned to the "Hub" of the Magic Kingdom hoping that the slight overcast might help with the sun condition for photo opportunities. At some point during this time, I thought I had put my eyeglasses in my purse. I was wearing my sunglasses. After taking a few photos, we had just enough time for one more ride. As we entered the Pirates of the Caribbean queue, I needed to trade my sunglasses for my regular glasses. But my regular glasses were missing!

Having completely searched my purse with the aid of Doc's small (strange) flat flashlight I could not find them anywhere. We left the queue and returned to the Hub. The Photo Pass photographers had not seen my glasses. City Hall did not have my glasses either.

At the very last minute, I threw my old pair of glasses in my suitcase "just in case." We left Magic Kingdom, grabbed the ferry back to the parking lot, stopped at the Central First Aid office to file a report, and left Magic Kingdom so I could pick up my back-up pair and we could make it to our dinner reservation at Downtown Disney.

Please keep a good thought that someone will find my glasses and turn them in to Lost and Found. In an interesting twist to the story, the Cast Member at Lost and Found had some encouraging words. When I selected these glasses last year, I did not want them. They are are a designer brand with the brand logo on the outside of the frames. I hate wearing glasses with a logo blazing off the sides of my glasses, but the style was attractive and there was no alternative without the logo. According to the Cast Member at Lost and Found, glasses with designer logos are more often returned to their owners because they are easier to describe and identify than more generic designs.