Magic Kingdom!

Thursday, February 27:

This morning we headed to the Magic Kingdom, this time, not just Jeff, Jacob, John, and Kat, but also my mom in tow. A few funny things. The subdivision we are staying at, Emerald Island Resort, has dolphin statutes that spray water at the entrance and everytime we go in or out, Jacob calls them “golfins.” So cute. There are a lot of condos around here and he thinks they are “Mee-ma’s house” because she lives in a condo in Wilmington.

Jeff and I took Jacob straight to Dumbo. Jacob and I waited in line for about 35 minutes. The line for that ride was nuts! The kids were so poorly behaved. Kids hitting their parents, whining and it’s only 9 a.m.! Yikes. Jacob and I made it through and he enjoyed Dumbo.

Next, Jeff took Jacob on Cinderella’s Carousel. Jacob loves carousel horses. John took Jacob on it next. Then, we headed to It’s a Small World. Jacob was wide-eyed for the entire ride and seemed to enjoy it. We headed over to Mickey’s Philharmagic next - another 3-D movie - but we figured how harmless could this be? Well, first off, the majority of the movie is about Donald, and even more so, it’s actually pretty scary and loud. I found myself so ticked at Disney for having to make everything so scary! Jacob only flinched once during the movie and did wear the glasses the entire time, but as soon as the movie went off, he said, “that was too scary,” over and over again. He’s so brave.

Then, we took Jacob on The Adventures of Winnie the Pooh. It actually had some dark and scary moments too. I’m so much more hyper-sensitive to whether these Disney rides are scary. Jacob didn’t say he thought it was scary, but I don’t think he liked it much. It was next onto something fun. Jeff took Jacob on the Tomorrowland Speedway and let Jacob drive! Now, Jacob did enjoy that a lot.

By that time, it was around 11 a.m. and we had reservations for the Pooh & Friends lunch at Crystal Palace, We started heading that direction and got held up by one of the new Celebration style shows. We watched it for a few minutes. It was mildly entertaining. Mom, John & Katherine headed onto the restaurant and checked in. We were shortly behind them, and Jacob looked into the windows and could see Pooh, Tigger, Eeyore & Piglet. It was really hard to keep him from running in. We tried to wait patiently. Finally, the pager went off and we went in.

We got seated and Pooh came over really quickly. Jacob loved it. Next, Piglet came over, and then Eeyore. All within the first 10 minutes we were there. Yet, Tigger went right by us and we had to wait for him to circuit all the way around the restaurant again. So, we ate. And ate. And ate. The food was REALLY good. I was really impressed with it. There was a salad bar, as well as fish, pork loin, flank steak, sauteed Mediterranean chicken, lots of good food. Then, the desserts included lemon bars, boston cream pie, banana bread pudding, apple cobbler, brownies, and on and on. We were pretty much finished eating and had to wait for a good bit longer for Tigger. After the little Pooh & Tigger song and dance, Tigger finally came over. After Jacob gave him and hug and high-fives. Then, Tigger turned around to talk to another table and Jacob grabbed Tigger’s tail and would not let go. I even got it on video. It was really cute, and funny.

Then, we headed out of the park because Jacob REALLY needed a nap today. We got him home and down for a nap by about 1:30 or so. Then, about 2 p.m. or a little after, Jeff, John, Kat and I headed back to Magic Kingdom. We tried to ride Space Mountain, but it was shut down and the fastpasses were all gone. So, we headed across the park to Splash Mountain and Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. We got stuck by the parade and headed around past The Haunted Mansion. The wait was 30 minutes, but we decided to keep going to Splash and BTMR. The wait for each was 70+ minutes, so we got a fast pass for Splash, and then went back to Haunted Mansion and waited only 20 minutes to ride that. It was fun. I think it’s been updated.

We went back to Tomorrowland next. Space Mountain was showing a 55 minute wait, but the line was going nowhere. While we stood there, it flipped to 70 minutes and that was too long to wait. We headed over to Buzz Lightyear and I beat Jeff 93,500 to 21,000! Woo-hoo! We rode the Tomorrowland Transit Authority People Mover. Cheesy, but enjoyable. Then, we did the Monsters, Inc. Laugh Floor. That was a really cute show that involves the Monsters interacting with the audience in a comedy show.

The four of us were a bit hungry and headed to Columbia Harbour House. Jeff wanted fish and chips. But, the food was not that great. And for the price, the portions weren’t great either. A thumbs down.

After dinner, we went over to Splash Mountain (one of my favorite rides) and got in the fastpass line. But it seemed longer than the stand-by line. The fastpass line did end up moving a bit faster though. It was about 6 pm and the sun was going down, and it was getting chilly. But, we forged ahead. The first corner, you go beside the five story drop and we got a good amount of wet. Finally, we did the five story plunge. They take a picture as you go down. Jeff and I were in the front row and John and Kat in the 2nd row. My brother makes the funniest faces in those pictures. Apparently, he is terrified of the falls. We had to buy the picture. I’ll have to post it later. We headed for home, but stopped for a Dole Whip Float at Aloha Aisle. Jeff and I love those! It’s pineapple soft serve with pineapple juice. We finally made it back to the house around 8 p.m.

Tomorrow, we head to Hollywood Studios (formerly known as Disney Studios (formerly known as Disney-MGM Studios)). And tomorrow is my brother’s 30th birthday, so tomorrow night, we have dinner at the California Grill!