2012 Trip - Day 5 January 27 (Part 1)

After a kind of short and interrupted sleep (see my last post) I got up in time for rope drop at MK.  A look out the sliding doors showed clouds and a feel of impending rain.  Weather said 60% chance of rain reducing to 20% after noon.  Oh well, couldn't really complain; the weather had been absolutely perfect all day.  As today was mostly about going over "old ground" (and I already had over 1000 pictures from my first 4 days), I decided to leave my (heavy) Nikon D300s in the room and just rely on my iPhone for any miscellaneous pictures that I might want to take. As a disclaimer, I have "borrowed" a few pictures that I took on other days to "fill in the holes" for today's blog. With a sense of new-found freedom I headed to the Shades of Green bus to the Ticket and Transportation Center. Only the resort monorail was running, and there was quite a line, so I decided to take the ferry to MK.

Grand Floridian Resort from ferry

Contempory Resort from ferry

Space Mountain from ferry



On the ferry from the Ticket and Transportation Center to the Magic Kingdom



Approaching the entrance to the Magic Kingdom from the ferry dock

I arrived at the MK just as the train was pulling into the station for the opening show. 

The "Rope Drop: show at the Magic Kingdom

Once in the park, I walked down Main Street (stopping to take a few pictures along the way)

First View of Main Street come out of the tunnel

Main Street Confection and The Chapeau

Tony's Town Square and City Hall (home of Character Meet and Greets)

The Emporium - the largest souvenier store in the Magic Kingdom

Looking back towards the Train Station

First view of the Cinderella Castle - a sight that brings tears to some eyes!

Main Street Bakery, Crystal Arts, Jewelry Shop, and Main Street Cinema

Plaza Ice Cream Parlor

Casey's Corner - home of amazing hot dogs

The Crystal Palace

The Cinderella Castle as seen from across the hub

The Cinderella Castle, in all its glory

I then headed directly to Frontierland to ride Splash Mountain. 

Entrance to Frontierland

This is my favorite MK attraction, and was actually the only one in MK that I rode more than one time this trip.

This way to Splash Mountain!

Splash Mountain

The grand finale scene from Splash Mountain

As I had never done it before, Aladdin was on my "must do" list, so I made a bee-line to Adventureland and basically walked onto the ride.

Agrabah Bazaar - home to Aladdin's Flying Carpets

Aladdin's Flying Carpets

The Carpets in flight

Of the three ground-level "rides that go around and around and up and down and are designed for 6-year olds", I think this is the most enjoyable. If you're riding alone, you can sit in the front, put one arm over the seat, and be able to work both sets of controls at the same time. And I got spit on by a camel! 

It was time for a late breakfast snack, so it was off to Sleepy Hollow.  I walked past the castle

Approaching the Cinderella Castle from Liberty Square

Close up of the Cinderella Castle

and on to Sleepy Hollow. I had a chocolate chip ice cream sandwich. OMG!!! It was absolutely HUGE (2 or 3 could have easily shared it) and truly excellent - a new "must-do" on future MK trips.

Sleepy Hollow - home of great baked goods.

The absolutely HUGE chocolate chip ice cream sandwich from Sleepy Hollow

I strolled through Fantasyland while eating my "sandwich" and finished just as I was approaching the Mad Tea Party.

Topiaries in front of the Mad Tea Party

It's always been a fun ride, and as I hadn't done it in about 10 years and there was virtually NO line, I rode. It reminded me that I was getting older - not because I couldn't handle the spinning, but because my arms got too tired halfway through (but I can still manage about 30 rpm).

Fun and spinning on the Mad Tea Party

After regaining my equilibrium I continued on to Tomorrowland.

Cosmic Ray's Starlight Cafe - one of the few counter service restaurants in the Magic Kingdom that I like.

The Tomorrowland Speedway - great if you're under 10 years of age

Although I had experienced the old Alien Encounter, I had never done Stitch's Great Escape.  This show gets SO MUCH bad press, I felt I had to ride it at least once just to see for myself.  Fortunately it was a walk-on.

Approaching Stitch's Great Escape

Abandon hope all ye who enter here...

The star of the show

I actually found the pre-show kind of entertaining, and thought that folks were being too harsh on it.  Once I got into the main show, I realized that they weren't. Whereas the original Alien Encounter actually was a bit scary, Stitch is pretty much a waste of time and valuable Magic Kingdom real estate. If there was ANY benefit of seeing Stitch, it was that right outside of the exit I saw PUSH the talking trashcan (for the first time).

PUSH - the talking Trash Can

My original plan was to then do the Monsters Inc. Laugh Floor (another attraction that I had never seen),

Entrance to the Monsters Inc. Laugh Floor

but there was a posted 25 min wait, and I had a hard lunch reservation at Coral Reef in Epcot, so instead of playing the rush game, I elected to skip the Laugh Floor and give myself a somewhat more leisurely transit to Epcot. I left Tomorrowland and headed back for my final Main Street transit of the trip.

Looking back towards Tomorrowland from the bridge to Main Street

A final view of the Cinderella Castle

The double monorail transit from the Magic Kingdom to Epcot was without incident, with virtually no wait time at either station.  In my next post I will discuss my afternoon and evening at Epcot.