A short notice November trip... with a twist! Day 6 - Magic Kingdom

5th November

Today we were headed to the Magic Kingdom, my favourite park! I can’t remember what time we arrived here this morning (forgot to write in my notes!) but it was a little while after opening as we stopped at the bakery to get a cupcake for me and Rob a brownie for breakfast.

 

We headed into Tomorrowland and used our first FP at Space Mountain before we got in line for a quick spin on Buzz Lightyear, the posted wait was 25 minutes but it didn’t take us much more than 10.

Having missed out on our last trip due to renovations we took a nice relaxing ride on the Peoplemover before we headed onto Fantasyland. The line for It’s a Small World was only 10 minutes so we went on – much to Rob’s delight :)

 

Continuing along we took a quick ride through the Haunted Mansion as the line hadn’t yet reached ridiculous levels (since the introduction of FP+ this ride seems to have suffered in the standby wait times). We both really enjoy this ride and after the Key to the Kingdom tour we did earlier this year we have an added appreciation for the details.

Our next ride was Big Thunder Mountain using our next FP. We actually don’t think this ride is as exciting as the majority seem to – it’s a fun ride but not spectacular. We do generally take one ride each trip though.

Next up we had a late lunch booked at The Plaza, this is such a small restaurant – I didn’t realise this until we had lunch there a couple of trips ago. We both had sandwiches here and Rob couldn’t manage a dessert. I had a sundae, although I really struggled to finish it :(

 

 

 

I really wanted to watch the Festival of Fantasy parade all the way through so after lunch we headed back to Frontierland to find a spot. Unfortunately it was busier than I had expected and although we got a spot in the second row I stupidly picked the wrong side and so we were looking into the sun the whole time :( This made for very bad photos and was a slight disappointment.

 

 

 

After the parade had passed we decided to take a chance on riding Pirates of the Caribbean, the posted wait was 30 minutes and we probably waited around 25 in the end. They are still not using the back row of the boats (I assume in connection with the incident earlier this year) which doesn’t help the inflated wait times that have resulted from FP+.

Our final ride before leaving for our break was Splash Mountain using our 3^rd FP, we love this ride but at this time of the year you have to pick your times a little more carefully. I had booked our FP for 4 till 5 so that if we got really wet we could go back and change. We managed to avoid the water cannon but did get reasonably wet on the drop but the sun was shining :)

 

 

On our way out I selected an additional FP for Space Mountain for around 8pm with a plan to ride before the fireworks. There was still a reasonable amount of FP available with the obvious exceptions of the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train and Anna and Elsa.

 

 

We had a rest in the room for a couple of hours and then headed back to the Magic Kingdom for the evening. As we were using the 4 day DVC passes we had only planned one day in each park. I had picked this day as it offered the best crowd levels but was a night when the Main Street Electrical Parade was not scheduled. Imagine my surprise when we walked through the tunnels to find the MSEP just starting at 8pm!

We quickly found a spot just in front of Town Square Theatre which given our late arrival offered a surprisingly good view. I managed to get a few nice photos, but I did have to abandon my plan of riding Space Mountain again today. I tried to cancel the FP but it wouldn’t work for me.

 

 

 

We got sent down the bypass after the parade had passed so we sat on a wall outside The Plaza whilst we waited for it to finish passing the end of Main Street. After the masses had passed by we attempted to reach Main Street to wait for Wishes, it was quite crowded but we managed to reach the taped off section and select a spot.

I must admit I will be glad when the work in the hub is completed as I am not a fan of the way everyone gets squashed together. We kept getting moved forward and it gets a little close for comfort. We did have a fairly good view of Celebrate the Magic and Wishes :)

 

As it was getting slightly chilly I decided to pick up a coffee from Starbucks on the way out (they were also using the bypass again to ease congestion) and as the 2nd ferry dock is now in use we walked straight onto the ferry. Back to the parking lot quickly and we were back at Pop in about 10 minutes.