[Travelandtourism] Day 3 in Walt Disney World - The Magic Kingdom Theme Park and the Mickey's Merry Christmas Party!

Mon Dec 12 16:58:31 UTC 2011

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Photos will also be posted once I have them all up and ready.

So look for them.

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Day 3 our Day in the Magic Kingdom.

We decided to make it a full day, since we were also going to the Mickey Merry Christmas Party, which is a separate ticket, and unless you have this ticket you cannot attend. It starts after the park closes, which is 7pm, if it was a Extra Hours Night it would be opened until 11pm.

At 4pm, if you have the tickets, you go to a designated place and show the tickets and get special wrist bands, and they do check for these once the park closes to the other guests.

What you get extra is? Free Hot Chocolate and cookies, longer hours at the park, designated area where you can get a free photo of the night, 2 Parades one at 8pm and one at 10:30pm not the same as the light show or the other parades at night for the other guests, and special fireworks show.  A dance party over in Tomorrowland, and so much more!  If you have little ones or you just want to make this day at the hotel to recuperate from your other experiences at Walt Disney World, I would suggest doing this and then go to the party at night.

Oh yes, it also snows in the Magic Kingdom during the party, do not try and open your mouth to catch or eat the snow, it is soap, daughter (22) learned the hard way, she said mom, yuck, it is snow doing eat the snow.

Anyway, we started out the day early.  Took the 7:30 bus to the MK = Magic Kingdom. If you have never been at the parks, I would suggest you get there prior to them opening, they have the best openings. The characters and the Mayor of Main Street come out and sign and welcome you to the park.

We then decided that my daughter would head for the Splash Mountain (which is a water flume ride) and Big Thunder Mountain which is located in Frontierland.

MK has 4 parts of the Park - Main Street USA and Frontierland, Tomorrowland, Adventureland and Fantasyland (some parts are closed by all the rides are opened, they are expending this part of the park, first time in 40 years, which is how old Walt Disney World is, which opened October 1, 1971.  It will include Belle's Castle and some new and exciting rides. We plan on going back in 2013 when it is opened to check it out. Maybe some of you would like to go with me.

The rides get crowded, so we hit the rides prior to having breakfast, she missed both of these rides when we went in August, FYI Summer is the most expensive time to go as well.

I will say this again, take the kids out of school for a few days and go off season, mind you people are catching on, even though it was supposed to be the low before Christmas the parks were full but not crazy.

Also, go from Wednesday to Wednesday, cheaper airfare, and better pricing then going from Friday or Saturday.

There is also something called Fastpass, which means if you get to a line and the wait time is 30 minutes or more, which 9 out of 10 times it is only a 10 minute wait, but if it is saying 40 minutes or more, and the next ride you want to go on is right next to it, get a fastpass and come back to the other ride, it gives you a time to come back to your ride you want.  We did this on only one ride. Winnie the Pooh's ride, yes, we love Winnie the Pooh, we rode all the rides.

I didn't do the roller coasters, don't like them but she went on by herself.

Also, use my favorite website allears.net it will let you know if any of the rides are closed for renovations, prior to going, this will also save you time.

Try all the rides, even if you think they are cheesy, they are the most sensory rides we have ever been on, if you are blind, the sounds and songs on the rides just make you enjoy it more, and if you have a guide dog, you can take you dog on all the rides, accept for the roller coaster type ones.

The Splash Mountain ride was closed, it was opened but there was a problem and they were fixing it. So she went on Big Thunder Mountain, there is an area where I was able to take photos of her on the ride and videos.

Also, those famous photopass photographers were there as well, so we both got our picture in front of the ride.

>From there we went and ate our breakfast here for the fast dining.

You can also get a snack here as well.

Daughter had their famous Cinnamon Rolls, these things are huge, I will try and post photos later on to the blog, so look for updates if you are reading this on the blog.

I had a Croissant.

We had fresh fruit and tea.

There was big crowds around, they were taping the Christmas Parade you will see on Christmas Day on ABC.  But unless you had a separate ticket, which I didn't know about, you can go and be part of the audience.  They had Jennifer Hudson and the Muppets, and Scotty McCreery, while we were at the park, we could here them singing, it was loud enough and they were over by the castle.  Couldn't get anywhere near the castle this time, but you can see it.

After breakfast we walked over to tomorrowland. We did all the rides. We both went on Monster, Inc - Laugh Floor, which is a 3-D show, and they characters from the movie actually interact with the people in the audience, and if you have a cell phone, you can text a joke to them prior to the show and they will tell the joke. Remember keep it clean, little ones around.

The off to 
BUZZ LIGHTYEAR'S SPACE RANGER SPIN - slow ride.

Right outside the ride they have a photo-op with Buzz himself.

Then off to the Carousel of Progress. This is the oldest ride in the park, in fact, if you are old enough to remember the New York World's Fair from 1964-1965 Walt Disney had this ride there.

INTRODUCTION -- Follow an Audio-Animatronic family through the last century, as they show how times have changed due to the many modern inventions. Located in Tomorrowland, Walt Disney's Carousel of Progress has a rich history that marks it as one of the oldest attractions in Walt Disney World. Note that the Carousel of Progress has been designated as a "seasonal" attraction, which means it's usually only operating during the busiest seasons. Check the daily Times Guide for its operating hours. 

This is fun for the whole family.

>From there, we went and had our picture taken with Stitch, Lilo wasn't there.

Dina then headed over to Space Mountain - This is another Roller Coaster ride. So I sat down and waited and took some videos and pictures of the beautiful day.

Then off to the Astro Orbiter - similar to the Dumbo Ride, but you go up to like a 2 story level if you are afraid of heights don't do this, also if you get dizzy don't do this, but I like this type of ride, so Dina and I went on together, you can see all over the park before it starts spinning, doesn't go that fast and you can push the lever and go up and down.

The next ride we went on I was so excited, it was the first time I had driving since losing my sight.

It was the Tomorrow Land Speedway - It is not a go cart kind of ride, there is actually a little track underneath it so you just don't drive off into the sunset.

I drove one car, and my daughter was in the one behind me. Had so much fun!!!

Off we went to the Mad Hatter's Tea Cup Ride, which meant we were done with all the rides at Tomorrowland, and heading to Fantasyland, oh yes they have other rides there, but we did the ones we wanted to and they have a few restaurants as well to choose from. 

They are moving some of the rides to different places if you have been to Disney before, they are not closed, also Toon Town is Gone, for the expansion of Fantasyland.

The Tea Cup Ride - If you are fans of Alice in Wonderland, I mean the animated Disney one, not the one with Johnny Depp (I love him), it is decorated as tea cups and in the center of the ride is a tea pot, this is a sit and spin ride, where you have the center of you car or tea cup where you turn it to go faster and faster, I stayed off and took pictures and videos as well. 

Okay - here is a little preview of what the expansion will have in 2012 for Fantasyland. These will take place and opened the end of 2012.  There are more expansions which will double the size of Fantasyland.

The Be Our Guest Restaurant will welcome "Beauty and the Beast" fans in royal style inside Beast's Castle.

The Enchanted Tales with Belle experience will allow guests to enjoy a re-telling of "the tale as old as time."

The new Barnstormer will feature Goofy as the Great Goofini, a true daredevil pilot in the skies.

Among the highlights planned:

Under the Sea ~ Journey of the Little Mermaid, a major, all-new attraction during which guests will travel with Ariel and her friends through their exciting adventures above and below the waves - all against a musical backdrop of songs from the classic film.

Stayed tuned to the Blog for more information.

Getting back to our day, from the Tea Cups, we did "It's a Small World", and I recorded the whole ride, I did not narrate, them.

Also, Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh Ride, Mickey's PhilharMagic, again this is a 3-D Show but all will enjoy the sounds and the effects, you get sprinkling with water, just a touch, and smells, and sounds. Great Show!

Mickey's PhilharMagic is a "Don't Miss" attraction -- a feast for the eyes and ears. Everyone from 3 to 103 will enjoy it. It's fun! It's charming! It's happy! It's Disney animation at its 3D best! The whole experience takes about 12 minutes, but they are some of the best 12 minutes you'll spend at Walt Disney World. 

When the movie begins, you'll meet some of Disney's most loved characters (Flounder, Ariel, Simba, Peter Pan, Tinker Bell, Aladdin, Jasmine, Iago, Mickey, and, of course, Donald) and hear some of Disney's most memorable songs. The 3D effects are brilliant, but it's the pairing of the 3D with other effects (scents, vibrations, wind, etc.) that make the whole experience so fantastic. Somewhere in the middle of the movie you'll suddenly realize that the proscenium is gone and the movie is being projected on an almost 180-degree screen, one of the widest in the world.

We did Peter Pans Flight, and then finally Snow White's ride.

We were tired and we stopped for some Ice Cream. That was our treat/snack for the day. It was around 3:30 and we walked to get our wristbands for the night. After that we walked to the Theater on Main Street. We took pictures with the Princesses. There were 3 of them. There were Arura from Sleeping Beauty, Belle in her Golden Gown, and Cinderella in a here Ball Gown.  

We then walked over to Liberty Tavern where we were going to have our sit down dinner for the night.

It is in Liberty Square which is in the same area as (Frontierland and Main Street). Liberty Square is done up in the time of George Washington's time. The stores and shops are decorated the same way, and the cast members (employees of Disney) are all dressed in the fashion of the time.

The best attraction here is the Hall of Presidents - And a must do, especially after a new President is in office.

We saw the new Obama figure in 2009, it doesn't change the show, but you should definitely see it.

Located in Liberty Square in the Magic Kingdom, the Hall of Presidents is an original Disney classic first conceived of by Walt Disney himself. The attraction is derived from "Great Moments With Mr. Lincoln," which premiered at the New York World's Fair in 1964. 

Hall of Presidents -- The lobby of this beautiful theater is filled with portraits of the presidents. You enter the darkened, 700-seat theater and first view a patriotic film in which specially produced paintings are projected onto a screen that stretches about halfway round the theater (180 degrees). The film covers much United States history, focusing on the origins of the Constitution and the presidency.

At the conclusion of the film, the screen parts to reveal a stage filled with lifelike Audio-Animatronics versions of each and every one of the US presidents. Each of the figures moves, nodding a head or gesturing in some way, as their names are called. The program concludes with speeches given by our current president, Barack Obama, and the 16th president, Abraham Lincoln, who actually rises from his chair to give the Gettysburg Address. Obama's speech, recorded in the White House Map Room, includes the presidential oath of office and his thoughts about "the American dream."

For the first time in the attraction's history, George Washington stands and delivers a stirring speech, voiced by actor David Morse

I will continue tomorrow with the rest of our 3rd Day in the Magic Kingdom and the Merry Christmas Party.

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