A Couple Days At Magic Kingdom

Do you want to know what’s awkward?  Photographing condiment bars.

It’s been a while since we toured the Disney theme parks together.  Here’s a look back at a few highlights (lowlights?) of the last week or so.  Let’s pick things up on May 31st at Magic Kingdom, a “not recommended” day after Memorial Day.

Yep, 9am at the Ticket/Transportation Center to Magic Kingdom.  Looks like we’re headed in the wrong direction.

One of the best views in the Magic Kingdom – right near the beginning of Splash Mountain.

Looks like it’s time for lunch at Casey’s Corner (that was a long monorail ride?).  Admittedly, Casey’s Corner has never been a favorite of mine.  The hot dogs have never presented much of a value and the quality is lower than you’d expect from the $1.50 combo at your neighborhood Costco.  There isn’t a whole lot of variety and there aren’t a whole lot of tables.  Nonetheless, I try to return to make sure my reservations (no pun intended) are justified.  I decided on the chili cheese dog combo, which comes with your choice of apple slices or french fries.

In my humble opinion, a chili-cheese dog needs to be a couple of things.

1. When presented, it should look daunting.  You should think to yourself, “Am I going to be able to pick this thing up?”  It should make you want to pick it up.  It should convince you to pick it up.  And when you try to pick it up, you should fail.  It should require a fork and knife.

2. It should be a little spicy.  Not necessarily “five stars” hot, but there shouldn’t be any question that you ordered the chili-cheese dog and not the little-girl-dog.

3. It should hurt to finish it.  But it’s so good you finish it every time.

A Casey’s Corner dog is none of these things.  The chili is bland, the hot dog is no longer kosher all-beef, and the whole package is ultimately forgettable.  Casey’s does have a few things going for it, including a fun theme, Cracker Jacks, cotton candy, and a limited number of tables that overlook Cinderella Castle.  It wouldn’t be my choice though.  The corn dog nuggets are good and the nachos are fun to share.

Pretty crowded at 12:30pm. Peter Pan at 60 minutes, Pirates of the Caribbean at 35, Space Mountain at 75 minutes.

Jungle Cruise is always a beautiful ride and the jokes keep getting better.

Let’s fast forward two days to June 2nd, another “non-recommended day.”

Looks like we’re headed in the wrong direction again.

I think they’ve finally given up on FASTPASS at Stitch.

Poor Pecos Bill is behind tarps. The whole front of the restaurant is now covered with just a small doorway leading inside.

Let’s head over to Tom Sawyer Island real quick.  The Island usually opens an hour after the rest of the Park and closes around dusk.  Your times guide will have the opening time, but may not list a set close (only dusk – 8-8:30pm most nights).  There’s no reason to head here early in the morning other than to search for the hidden paintbrushes (and even then, most people should have higher priorities, like actually riding Big Thunder with a minimal wait in the morning). Find a paintbrush and you will be awarded FASTPASSes to Splash Mountain or Big Thunder Mountain.  The paintbrushes look like your standard paint brush – large, blue, with white paint slathered on.

A lot of people skip over Tom Sawyer Island on their way to “bigger” attractions.  There isn’t anything wrong with that necessarily because most people will likely enjoy most other attractions more, but it is a nice afternoon respite from the crowds.  I recommend scheduling it during the mid-afternoon on your second Magic Kingdom day.  For others, it might be worth scheduling even with just one day at the Park.  Tom Sawyer Island is only accessible via rafts.  The ride over is only about 90 seconds long, but it can take up to ten minutes or so for a raft to arrive with enough room on it.  Bank on waiting about ten minutes each way unless you time it right and there aren’t a lot of people in line.

The barrel bridge is more difficult to traverse than one might imagine, especially if a few people are walking it at one time.

This is Tom Sawyer Scavage Fort, a play area for kids between the ages of two and twelve.

This working (not by wind, mind you) windmill has stairs inside that lead to new paths.

The mystery mine is darker than you might expect and as far as I know a dead end (I got scared and had to exit prematurely).

Some great views from the Island.

My favorite part of Tom Sawyer Island used to be Aunt Polly’s, a pleasant ice cream and beverage shop on the Island.  Unfortunately, Polly’s is currently shuttered, but the seating remains intact.  I don’t think you could get an ice cream over here without melting, but the seats are still comfortable and you can pretend that you have an ice cream sundae.

Our yacht brings us back to the mainland.

This is the view from high atop Swiss Family Robinson, another commonly skipped attraction.  There’s never a wait and the view is fantastic, especially at night.  Visit if you need something to do while waiting for a Jungle Cruise FASTPASS to become due or when you have a free 10 minutes in the afternoon.  There are better attractions, certainly, but it’s another great afternoon diversion.

One more look.  Remember, this is a theme park.  Amazing.

Looks like it’s time for lunch.  Remember when I told you that the one rule to follow on vacation is to never order the fastfood seafood?  Well, here I am taking one for the team again.  This is the Lobster Roll from Tomorrowland Terrace Restaurant served with homemade chips.  Full menu available here: http://www.easywdw.com/menus-and-seating/tomorrowland-terrace-restaurant-tomorrowland-major-quick-service/.

I don’t have a lobster roll frame of reference because as far as I can recall I’ve never had one before.  Florida isn’t exactly known for its lobsters.  This one was actually pretty good…I think.  I doubt it would live up to your expectations if you were a lobster roll connoisseur from Maine, but it was better than I was expecting it to be.  The roll was fresh and it seemed like there was a decent amount of lobster in it.  Intrigued, I asked the cashier for the list of ingredients.  You can ask the cashier for a list of ingredients for every item on the menu at any Disney quick service location and they’ll hand you a thick binder.  Lo and behold, the number one ingredient was listed as “lobster meat,” so I guess we’ll have to take their word for it.  I wasn’t too sure what was going on with the homemade chips.  Some of the them were crunchy, others soft, some of them salty, others less so.  Honestly, I wasn’t sure if this was intentional or not.  The crunchy ones were better I thought.

I don’t know about you, but I’m still hungry.  Let’s skip ahead to June 4th at Pinocchio Village Haus in Fantasyland.  I like the Village Haus.  While it’s technically right in the center of Fantasyland, it’s often overlooked by the masses for one reason or another.  People prefer to hit Pecos Bill or Cosmic Ray’s.  It can still be swamped when crowds are heavy and it’s peak meal time, but there are a ton of tables and you’ll often see signs that state “our tables are reserved for those who have their food” when it’s busy.  As anyone who has ever eaten at a Disney quick service will know, there are few things more frustrating than finding tables full of one person with no food.

This is the Chicken Parmesan with Penne Pasta ($8.99).  Full menu available here: http://www.easywdw.com/menus-and-seating/pinocchio-village-haus-menu-fantasyland-major-quick-service/.  It was pretty good.  The chicken is basically a larger version of Disney’s standard “Chicken Breast Nuggets.”  It’s the same coating and the same chicken, which may be a little disappointing.  Still, it’s a change of pace with the pasta sauce and cheese.  For those with kids, the pasta sauce does have a lot of “ickies” in it.  You may want to take that into account if your kids have an aversion to tomato chunks and onions, as most kids do.  Overall, I enjoyed Pinocchio Village Haus.  It would be nice if they could do something a little different with the chicken, but it’s still a decent meal and a lot of food for the price.  The food is almost always served hot and fresh, which is a bonus in my book.

Okay now I’m bragging.  I spent the evening over at the Top of the World Lounge at Bay Lake Tower with the moderator of our DVC forum, Gregg.

While this might seem like all fun and games, I spent almost all of my time taking pictures of the various quick service locations and menus.  This is just the good stuff.