Sunnys Days Of Disney: Magic Kingdom

Showing posts with label Magic Kingdom. Show all posts

Friday, March 25, 2016

Last week I spent a day in the Magic Kingdom with my friend Lindsey! She hadn't been to Disney before that start of her program, so it's cool to get to go into the parks with someone who still hasn't ridden some of the rides and such. Walking into the park we were greeted by the Dapper Dans, who you can always hear before you can see them because they attract such a crowd. We only stopped for a moment before heading forward!

We started off the afternoon at the laugh floor! I love the Monster's Inc Laugh Floor, because every single time you go it's different, and so it never gets old. This time That Guy was a little to full of himself, but they had the funniest little guy from Canada on screen for a significant amount of time, which was awesome. The lady sitting right next to me was picked for something, and I had a brief moment of panic thinking they had chosen me. I'm so not good at being put on the spot!

After that we headed over to Stitches Great Escape. I like the Stitch ride, probably because I love everything Stitch, but I know a lot of people don't like the ride. It's very loud and in your face, so it can get a bit intense. At one point, Stitch starts bouncing on your shoulders, which hurts a lot of people. The simple fix for this is to shrug your shoulders up when they start to lower the "body scanners'. Then release your shoulders once they've stopped dropping. This keeps them from resting on your shoulders to much. You can also push them up just a bit once they've settled to give yourself some relief.

After Stitch we headed to the peoplemover. I love the people mover for the amazing views, and because it gives you a chance to relax and take it all in. Recently they have been having a problem queuing people, with lines wrapping back towards Space Mountains, but since it's a ride that doesn't stop, the wait is never long. People have a hard time telling where they beginning of the line is without any real queue happening, and so I have seen more mom's scream at other parents "for trying to cut in line" here than I have anywhere else...

I have ridden every ride in Tomorrowland more than once since starting my CP, but somehow I still suck at Buzz. Maybe because it was closed fora few weeks, or because I just don't have an affinity for video games? Whatever the reason, I consider myself lucky if I average 350,000 during the game. Whereas I have gone on with people who get to Galactic Hero halfway through the game. I guess it just gives me something to work towards? After Buzz we headed over to Main Street to watch Move It! Shake It! I love the excitement of this parade but it always gets so crazy!

We also tried to hit up Pirates to see my sister but that was a bust. So we headed over to Big Thunder Mountain to explore before trekking all the way back to Tomorrowland for Space Mountain... I always forget how big the drop on that ride are until I'm in the middle of it going "OH MY GOD HOLY SHIT I CAN'T DO THIS!!!" but that's another story. We also walked through the Swiss Family Robinson Tree House. It was so cool, and so pretty, but a LOT of up hill walking!

I love riding Winnie The Pooh. It's such a sweet classic throw back. I loved Christopher Robin and all of his friends in the 100 Acre Woods when I was growing up, and you really feel immersed in the story when you enter the the ride. The hard part for me is walking off and into the gift shop where there are so many soft, fluffy stuffed animals...

Lindsey had never ridden Seven Dwarfs Mine Train before, so we decided to standby it since it was only a 50 minute wait. I ended up only being 30 minutes, and then the girl in the fastpass line let us go again! Recently Mine Train has felt very blah, because I've ridden it to many times since getting here. However, we got seated in the last row (usually my least favorite seat on a coaster) and I found some thrill in this thrill ride again. I was so much fun to rock the cart from side to side while coasting through the diamond mine.

We finished the night on Main Street front and center for the second showing of Celebrate The Magic. I love Wishes, but Celebrate The Magic is where it's at for me. I can, and do, sing along to the entire thing, and it amazes me what they can do to the castle. I love the way it just celebrates the core of what Disney stands for. This is the magic I came for, and I'm so happy to be a part of this magical place.

Friday, March 18, 2016

Last Monday was my last full day with my Mom and Papa before they headed home to wet, cold, gross Indiana. I won't lie and say I miss it there. The people? Yes. But not the cold, or the small town narrow mindedness. However, it was hard to let my mom and papa go after having them down here for a few days.

Monday we went into Magic Kingdom. Kinda. The nice thing about my Mama being an annual pass holder is that she doesn't feel the rush to go into the parks the same way most cast members do. So we can go into a park, ride a few rides, and the feel free to leave. Have I mentioned how much I love that? My sisters roommate and my good friend Lindsey came and hung out with us, which was awesome!

We started off in the only place you can really start off in the Magic Kingdom - Main Street USA! I love Main Street. I love performances that go on through out the day. My grandparents started bringing their kids to Disney World in 1972, the year after it opened, and brought them every other year as they were growing up. I guess you could say the Disney craze runs in the family. These street shows are a sort of throw back to how Magic Kingdom use to be, so it was awesome to hang out watching them with my family. We settled our butts up close to the castle with Starbucks to watch Dream Along With Mickey and were just about to leave for Adventureland when I realized I could hear the Trolley Show behind us. SO we raced back down Main Street to watch. I love the Trolley Show, I love the songs they play, and my family and never seen them before, which was a plus!

After that, we headed to the Skipper Canteen for lunch. Oh. My. GOD. If you like the Jungle Cruise, you'll love this restaurant. If you don't like the Jungle Cruise, you will STILL love this restaurant. OUR hostess and our waiter were both absolutely hysterical, and our waiter never turned off. Even when the wrong order was brought out to me (which is a big no-no for Disney when you have a food allergy) he never stopped cracking jokes and making bad puns. The best part though is that, unlike the Jungle Cruise, however, all of these jokes are brand new. He went through the menu with us, pointing out certain items and making really bad puns that had us in stitches. Jared was fantastic.

The food was really, really good (minus the gluten free rolls, just stay away) BUT it was way, way over priced. Relatively small portions at full portion Disney prices. I got a rice noodle bowl with chicken that was fantastic,while my mom went with the pork chop, which was also wonderful. My water came "straight from the Amazon" and the meal that was accidentally brought to me was aptly named "It Tastes Like Chicken Because It Is". I just want to say, before anyone who has a food allergy starts getting leery, our waiter Jared handled it wonderfully, he took the food away, and had the right food out to me in minutes. He let me know that he completely and totally trusted the chef they had in the kitchen that day when he said it was prepared so quickly safely.

The backside of water!

After that, Papa went back to the hotel for a while, so we headed to Pirates, which was, SHOCKER, down. (Pirates goes down a lot.) So we raided the gift shop and headed towards Haunted Mansion! Yay! A trip through the jungle on Jungle Cruise was in order before we made our way back towards pirates, which was finally back up! Of course, no trip to Magic Kingdom with my family would be complete without going on the Carousel of Progress!

After that we headed back to the resort to eat dole whip floats, Wishes, and just spending our last little bit together. We were originally going to go to the campfire on the beach (yeah recreation!) but time got away from us and that didn't happen. One day! We had a magnificent view of the fireworks from our patio, and I miss seeing and hearing Wishes every night. We get used to things so easy, hmm?

It was hard to say good bye to my mom and Papa. My mom and I are so close, and she taught me how to be comfortable in new places, and how to find home wherever I go, but there is still a piece of me that will always miss her. Still, Tuesday morning bright and early I headed off to work (for an AM shift... have I mentioned I'm not a morning person) and so I had to say goodbye to my family.

Life has been pretty calm since then. I've been working like crazy, and I've been exhausted from a crazy sleep schedule. I've had to jump in a few times for kids. The pools have been a lot busier, as spring break really kicks into full swing. Little kids whose parents swear are the best swimmers they've ever seen, but who have never had to deal with a current as strong as the ones at the bottom of our slides. Very, very drunk college kids and adults who think they're still college students, and then parents complaining about the language being thrown about the pool. The cheerleaders. Oh Lord, the cheerleaders. I thought we were done with them? All perfectly friendly on their own, but egging each other on in groups, and trying to stunt in the pool or on the wet pool deck for hours. And then their mothers. "They're cheerleaders you know. They'll be fine."

I got scheduled for my four keys basics class this week! It's a class specifically designed for CP's, set a month or two into your program. It's a networking event and a giant scavenger hunt to see how well you know your location. Ours was at Coronado, which was cool, but I want one at the Lodge to, because we never get to explore! The class was at least half filled with lifeguards, to the extent that one of the facilitators asked if there were any lifeguards left, or if we had closed the pools. We started the 2 hour meeting with several leaders from across our resort and property. Reggie, the recreation proprietor was there, as well as one of the Disney ambassadors. It was cool to listen to them speak, and then to place an ice breaker (I love ice breakers). After that we got split into teams and sent out into the resort to see who knew it the best.

The me tell you one thing. Lifeguards never, ever leave the pool. We have out break room back there, our leaders are all back there, and we are nowhere near where everyone else congregates, due to the placement of the pool. We just don't have the time. So then, you can imagine that this was very hard for us to know where exactly in the Casitas to go, or which convention center is which. That being said, I had a really well balanced group, and while they were really driven and didn't really let us stop and network like we were supposed to, we did win. By about 20 minutes...

Each of our pools has a pool bar, which also serves a limited menu of food. The pool bar at Coronado, The Siesta Pool Bar, either smells like Chinese food or french fries all the time. On days it smells like french fries, inevitably I end up craving Wendy's french fries and s frosty, which I can conveniently get right nest to Vista... Thankfully I have friends who are good about indulging me in my odd habits!

There's a great big beautiful tomorrow, shining at the end of ever day!

Wednesday, February 17, 2016

Continuing on the path of taking care of myself, I decided last night to go into Magic Kingdom by myself after getting ditched! So at about 7, I left the house and headed towards the parks!

I managed to get some pretty good fastpasses! I headed to Pirates first, bound an determined to find my sister. I went through all the way through the ride without finding her, and ever cast member telling me they had know clue where she was. (Because they couldn't tell we're sisters...?) I decided to try my luck at "mast" (the front of the ride) one more time, and there she was, just waiting for me. I stopped and talked to her and her coworkers for a few minutes, who were all super nice. It's so cool when you can just tell a group of cast members honestly like their job and each other, because they are just so happy. At that point pirates was walk on, so I went ahead an rode it again... I mentioned that this is my favorite ride, right?

After that I headed to Haunted Mansion because if I went to Magic Kingdom and didn't ride Haunted Mansion, somebody would think something was wrong (Have you guys noticed how there STILL isn't a sarcasm font?) I managed to make it into the building just before they closed the door, and still manage to be the first one onto the ride, which was pretty sweet. It's gotten to the point where i can quote a lot of the ride, which says something since I had never ridden it until I started my CP...

Having made it 5 minutes early to my Mansion fastpass, I had an hour and a half until my next fastpass, so I decided to go ahead and go for Mine Train, since the cast member at the front told me that it was really closer to 40 minutes! (as opposed to the advertised 60 minutes) I've never gone through the standby line for Mine train because of the wait times, but it was actually a lot of fun! It's more interactive that I expected, with multiple areas to entertain yourself. The line moves fast, which was nice, because it made it feel like we were getting somewhere.

The best part though, was the actual ride. I got to sit in the front, which made the ride so much better because I could see what was coming. Have I mentioned my aversion to roller coasters yet? So I sat at the front, we pulled out of the station and a huge firework bloomed to life in the sky. The cool thing about Wishes is that the smaller fireworks are set off right behind Cinderella's Castle, while the bigger one's are set off a couple miles behind the park. So we were riding with fireworks going off on either side, able to hear the music, and it was honestly one of the coolest things ever. Riding Mine Train during Wishes is something I've wanted to do badly for a while now, and last night I managed to do it on accident. It was magical and wonderful and I can't wait to do it again!

Little Mermaid had a10 minute wait, which means it's walk on, because it take 10 minutes just to walk to the front of Little Mermaid... There were easily 6 clam shells between me and the people on either side of me. Little Mermaid is a fun one, but I always have the hardest time not singing along because it's one of my favorite movies. With the people one either side of me so far away, I was free to rock out without anyone judging.

After Little Mermaid, I hit my last fastpass for the night, which was... PETER PAN! The day I ride Peter Pan without a fastpass is the day the world ends. That being said, it was my favorite ride when I was a kid, and it's still pretty high up there. I dreamed of flying off to Neverland as a kid, and I think I'm as close to it as I'm going to get working at Disney World.

After that, I figured I was pretty much done for the night, but there was one more surprise in store for me. As I walked towards Main Street USA, a second showing of Celebrate The Magic started up on the castle unannounced, giving me the opportunity to get a good view. Celebrate the Magic is my favorite part of the nighttime shows at Magic Kingdom, and I know all of the words by heart. It was a perfect end to a great night in Magic Kingdom.

I met so many cast members who honestly seem to love working at Disney, and it made me so happy. That's what were here for. To be happy, and to create happiness. It felt good to go into the park by myself, to see things from a different perspective, and I can't wait to do it again!