| This was our first day in the Magic Kingdom, after having been at WDW for two whole days already. This was something Nick was less than thrilled about, but I scheduled it this way so we could take advantage of the Evening Extra Magic Hours. While evening EMH at Epcot was a big waste, evening EMH at the MK was a big success! We had a great time with the EMH, and got in a lot of extra fun.
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| Right after we got into the park, the boys went off on their own. Debbie and I spent the day together, taking our time and sampling a number of rides and attractions. We only saw the boys briefly at Frontierland, until we met for supper at the Liberty Tree. Debbie and I started the day with a nice ride on the Magic Kingdom Railroad around the entire park. This is always a fun, relaxing thing to do, to give yourself a quick overview, and a nice place to sit and enjoy the show.
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| After a complete trip from Main Street to Main Street, we stayed on the train until Frontierland. We got off, and pulled a FP for Splash Mountain, then waited in line for Big Thunder. We had a great ride on Big Thunder. It is still just fast enough to be fun, and is wonderfully themed.
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| Before our Fast Pass window was open on Splash Mountain, we walked down to the Haunted Mansion. This could not have worked out better. There was absolutely no line, and this was in the middle of the day! We were only stopped at the door to enter the fourier, as they emptied out the set of guests in front of us. The ride itself was funny and amazing as always. This remains my favorite attraction on the property, bar none. Although it can be marred by fellow guests acting up, this ride was without incident, and fantastic by any measure. Since the line had been so short, we got right back in the queue, and went on once more. It was a repeat of the same great experience, including the nonexistent line and letter perfect ride.
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| While passing through the Haunted Mansion, several of the CMs made comments about my HM t-shirt. This is a pretty old shirt, and features Mickey and Goofy with the hitchhiking ghosts. I do have another HM shirt, and picked up two more on this trip. But, this older one is my favorite, and it was neat to see it gets noticed (in the right place, of course). Madame Leotas cart is once more open near the Haunted Mansion (it was parked near the dock for the riverboat, which was closed for refurb). I picked up a fun magnet and a HM antenna topper. There was a really neat HM shirt, but they did not have large sizes. So, I settled for another OK HM shirt. But, later in the week, we stopped by the cart again, and they did have my size in the neat shirt! So, it pays to be persistent (and I doubled my collection of HM shirts).
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| It was now time for our FP at Splash Mountain, so we headed back to take advantage of it. The two of us had a really nice time on this ride. It is a very cute ride, being much more than just a water flume. The climax is fun, but the whole ride is worthwhile. This particular time, we did not get very wet, which was fine considering there was a bit of a chill in the air. Space Mountain is still a terrific ride. I enjoyed it three times today, twice with the boys, and once with Debbie. As has been said many times, it feels faster than it is because of the near darkness and the light show. The space theme is worked neatly into the ride, and the whole experience remains exhilarating and worth repeating. The Space Mountain queue is cleaned up quite a bit, with the old video monitors basically gone. Honestly, it feels less cluttered.
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| Several times during the day, Debbie and I rode the People Mover. The People Mover continues to be one of our family favorites. Its not fast, and we have seen everything here a thousand times. But, it is relaxing, and the voice track is still clever. And it always affords neat vistas (and sometimes decent photos) of Tomorrowland and some of the adjacent areas.
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| At lunch, Debbie and I stopped at Pecos Bills. I had the BBQ pork, while Debbie had a burger. The pork was extremely good. I was much happier than I would have been with a burger. We did Stitchs Great Escape. This was a first timer for us, I think our last WDW trip just missed its opening. I kind of liked it, finding it rather cute. Debbie was lukewarm (though she enjoyed it more when we repeated it later in the week).
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| We did Buzz Lightyears Space Ranger Spin. We had a horrible experience. The queue was interminable. The entire time, there was a child shortly in front of us, whose parents did not mind him climbing all over the railings, shouting and running into other guests. You could even hear him during parts of the ride, and this is not a quiet ride! The ride remains fun, but we felt worn down by the whole thing.
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| We all met at the Liberty Tree for diner. This was a wonderful meal. The food was very good. The food is ham, beef, turkey, mashed potatoes, all served family style. The desert is an extra charge, but well worth it. The characters were all very well played. Minnie, Pluto, Goofy, and Chip and Dale all show up. I love the colonial atmosphere here. We sat in the Thomas Jefferson room.
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| After supper, all of us went on the Jungle Cruise. We were blessed with a terrific female guide, who delivered the entire spiel with enthusiasm. She was funny, pulling out every gag they use, and even a couple I swore I hadnt heard before. It was a very fun trip, and it is fun to do this after dark every once in a while. After the Jungle Cruise, Debbie had enough, and went back to the room. I think she had been discouraged about EMH because of our experience at Epcot. But, leaving the MK was probably a mistake, as EMH here was wonderful.
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| As I mentioned, EMH was terrific. All of the lines were much shorter than during the day, and we got in a lot of extra rides. I think it does not work at Epcot, because there are just too few attractions of this nature, and it only serves to concentrate the crowds. But, the lighter crowd and the large number of rides open at the MK makes (evening) EMH here a real winner. So, it was Nick, Dalton, and I for evening EMH. Right after Debbie left, the boys wanted to do Splash Mountain, but I was finding it a bit chilly, so I waited for them in the Splash Mountain gift shop. We did Space Mountain, pulling a fast pass for another Space Mountain ride while we waited in the Space Mountain queue. Despite this, we still had time to do a ride on the People Mover in between Space Mountain rides. I and the boys rode the People Mover together a few times at night. At one point during the evening, we were on the People Mover, and saw Space Mountain with the lights on. Of course, it breaks the magic a little bit, but it was still an interesting and a bit eerie sight.
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| We did Aladdin. This is still a neat ride, of the flying elephant variety. But, I found that the controls in the back seat of our flying carpet did not seem to change the angle of the carpet like I remembered. And, of course, it was too chilly for the camel to be spitting. But, it was still a fun ride, and we all enjoyed it. And it was a total walk on (it had been very crowded whenever we passed it during the day).
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| We also did the speedway. There was a line, but it was pretty inconsequential. We had a nice little ride, and it was worth doing during an evening EMH.
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| We waited in line for Big Thunder for about 10 minutes. I think this ride is much better at night, and we had a terrific ride here.
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| We did Stitch as a walk on. The line all day had been substantial, so this was great. People are wondering what the demographic is for this attraction, saying that it may be scary for little kids, and too cute or silly for older guests. But, the demo, it may be, is fourteen year old boys. Nick and Dalton had already done this attraction during the day (after waiting in quite a line), and they absolutely loved it.
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| We did Buzz Lightyear. What a different experience than during the day! It was a walk on. We had a great time. Another win for EMH! We did Mickeys Philharmagic. This is such a great show. We sat pretty close to the screen, and the 3D immersion was stunning. The apple pie smell now seems a bit out of synch with the film, but it is still distinctive. The use of 3D (rendered) characters in a 3D (stereoscopic) is a smashing idea. And the use of all the Disney classic characters, from Mickey and Donald through Aladdin and the Little Mermaid makes this a nostalgic favorite. And love that Disney music! This is an all around fantastic attraction. By the way, this was a complete walk on (not sure how it was during the day).
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| It is a tradition, as Nick pointed out to me, for he and I to always take at least one spin on the teacups. So, we took advantage of the very short line here for the three of us to go on them. We got the cup spinning pretty good, and all had a terrific time. We did the Haunted Mansion. Like my ride with Debbie during the day, there was no line, and the spooky fun was delivered perfectly, without incident.
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| Nick just was not in the mood this trip to sit still for a parade (we did catch the snowglobe one later in the week). So, we only saw drips and drabs of Spectromagic. It did look pretty, what I managed to see.
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| It is a great irony that with all the Pirates of the Caribbean hype, we were not able to ride the ride once during our trip. It was under refurb, to add Lord Johnny Depp to the attraction. Sorry, but this somehow seemed like a mean joke. We really do love PotC, by the way, and are certain it will be even better when it finally reopens.
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The lines were much, much better during EMH, but the crowds all day seemed very light. We seemed to have picked a really good week to visit the world.
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