Our day at Magic Kingdom continues in what I’m sure is not the first part of this series. If you’re wondering how we’ve managed to arrive at the dreaded “line starts here” sign for “it’s a small world,” facing the opposite direction of the attraction’s entrance at 11:25am on a day with below-average waits, you can pull up the previous part, which links back to what could be anywhere from one to seventeen previous parts. At least if history is any indication. So far, our day has gone relatively well, benefitted in large part by the early start available to guests using the walkways from the Grand Floridian and Contemporary Resorts.

Those walkways offer a lot more control over the arrival experience, since you won’t need to rely on any form of Disney’s transportation options, all of which are currently operating at limited capacities and often experience delays. Magic Kingdom typically opens as the first couple of buses, holding a total of maybe a hundred guests, pull up to their designated unload stations. They’ll be delayed further by temperature and bag checks. At that point, cast members will get the go-ahead to begin checking temperatures and bags at the Transportation and Ticket Center parking lot across the water from the Park’s entrance. At best, they’ll arrive five to ten minutes after guests using the walkways have an opportunity to head inside. More and more guests will arrive as seats on the buses, ferries, and monorails become available, making that head start all the more important when it comes to short early morning waits. By using one of the walkways, you choose how early you leave the room and where you’ll be in line waiting for the Park to allow guests inside. That’s typically 30 to 45 minutes prior to the officially-posted time, as Disney attempts to spread out the crowds and get as many people as possible over to the Park in time for what is typically a 9am open.

Since I was feeling fancy, I opted to slip on my Louie Vuitton moccasins and enjoyed my scenic saunter over from the Grand Floridian. I’d go into detail about which shirt I was wearing, but we both probably have a good idea already. Guests arriving from American Steel in the opposite direction enjoyed a slight head start. About 10x more people use the Contemporary’s walkway and Disney begins processing them by checking bags and temperatures and moving them closer to the entrance earlier to make space for more people along the path. That didn’t end up causing us much delay as we glided towards Seven Dwarfs Mine Train, even without the usual spring that my Nikes provide.

Speaking of the Mine Train, while we’re evidently concerned about the destruction of our planet over at EPCOT via “attractions” like “Awesome Planet,” that worry doesn’t seem to transfer over to the horrors and ever-present dangers of mining for precious stones at Magic Kingdom. And I’m not sure we ever find out what Snow White and the Dwarfs are planning to do with what must be hundreds of millions of dollars worth of gems (adjusted for inflation) that they’ve apparently confiscated as we pass during the few seconds in the one show scene that wasn’t cut from the final product.

The Evil Queen may be engrossed in her own vanity, but you would expect that she could be bought off with several carts of diamonds and rubies. At a minimum, she could trade the rocks for enough money to legally change her name from something a little less flattering than Grimhilde, and then flaunt that fortune and a solid week’s worth of DVC points to snare just about anyone into a long-term, loving relationship. On the other hand, there may be something to say for aging potions and the simplicity of murder via fruit. It would just be unfortunate if she tried to hand the poison apple to Snow White, only for the lonely princess to refuse it because the organic sticker fell off in transit. What do you do when someone won’t even believe your Whole Foods receipt, which clearly states you spent 20 cents more per pound than the garden variety of Fuji. We may be straying slightly from the plot of the 1937 film, but anything can happen in a live-action remake.

Back to what matters, this is where we find ourselves after completing the following:

1. Seven Dwarfs Mine Train: 8:42am – 8:56am
2. Peter Pan’s Flight: 8:59am – 9:07am
3. The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh: 9:09am – 9:16am
4. Haunted Mansion: 9:19am – 9:52am
5. Jungle Cruise: 9:57am – 10:28am
6. Pirates of the Caribbean: 10:30am – 11:11am

Continue reading “An Early Afternoon of Touring Magic Kingdom”

We continue from Part One, where we began the day by walking over from the Grand Floridian Resort via the walkway that opened back in November with our first stops of the day at Seven Dwarfs Mine Train and Peter Pan’s Flight. Coincidentally, I think November was also around the time that post was published. We followed that up in Part Two, with visits to The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh and Haunted Mansion, along with a general discussion about how you might want to organize your day given current crowd conditions.

So far, things have gone about as well as we could hope, with the exception of an unexpected 20-minute delay on Haunted Mansion due to some particular maleficence from our ghoulish friends. Sometimes I wonder if our ghost host takes roll each morning and shuts things down to send out the search party if they can’t locate all 999 happy haunts. I don’t think I would be a prime candidate for haunt 1,000 as I’m just about the only thing less reliable than Splash Mountain. At least you know you can usually find me at one of the three local Ale Houses scaring children and eating what’s left of their Zinger Mountain Melts. And I’m not even technically dead yet.

I was on the ride in about three minutes, but spent more time than I would have liked sitting in the graveyard scene. I suppose it’s a good thing they didn’t bury me there or it would be even more difficult to proceed with the rest of the day. On the other hand, I doubt the time it would have taken to claw my way back up to the land of the living would have adversely affected the website’s publishing schedule. Thus far, this is where we’ve been:

1. Seven Dwarfs Mine Train: 8:42am – 8:56am
2. Peter Pan’s Flight: 8:59am – 9:07am
3. The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh: 9:09am – 9:16am
4. Haunted Mansion: 9:19am – 9:52am

Back to the task at hand, we basically have two options come 10am, or one hour after Magic Kingdom typically opens. We could hit a number of low-priority attractions in succession and not wait too long at each. We could then have lunch, take a break, and return in the last few hours with hopes of hitting some of the higher priorities when waits should be a little lower. Our other option is to try to experience some moderate priorities now with waits that will hopefully be about half of their later afternoon peaks.

Looking back at our wait time time chart, you’re looking at spending 25+ minutes in line from 10:15am through 5:15pm, but the waits do fall after that, even with Park Hopping after 2pm back in the mix potentially sending new people over and those who arrived earlier in the day head to the Ale House:

Continue reading “Disney’s Magic Kingdom Late Morning Adventureland Touring with Jungle Cruise, Pirates, and Crowds”

We continue on with our morning in Fantasyland after beginning the day by walking over from the Grand Floridian and visiting Seven Dwarfs Mine Train and Peter Pan’s Flight. You can pull up that part in this post in case you missed it.

Disney brought back Cinderella’s Carriage in New Fantasyland as a PhotoPass opportunity with Valentine’s Day on the horizon. It’s another nice and potentially unnecessary plussing at a time when you’ll likely see fewer photographers around. They also didn’t skimp on the number of Home Depot planters blocking access to all sides of the carriage so I don’t want to hear any more about budget cuts.

Continue reading “An Early Morning Visit to Magic Kingdom After Seven Dwarfs Mine Train and Peter Pan’s Flight”

We continue from Decadent Delights.

Refreshment Port continues its recent tradition of offering a unique item or two at whatever EPCOT’s seasonal festival happens to be.

For this year’s Festival of the Arts, we have Lobster Poutine replacing the Lobster Nachos that we’ve seen in the past:

Don’t tell the Canadians about this. Only one thing upsets them. And it’s when their poutine isn’t served with the traditional toppings of brown gravy and cheese curds. Perhaps next year, they’ll serve “Traditional Poutine” and “Not Traditional Poutine.” I don’t know if our neighbors up north write strongly-worded letters or not, but Disney is about to find out.

Continue reading “Review: Refreshment Port Epcot Festival of the Arts”

We’ll rope drop Magic Kingdom from Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort & Spa’s recent walkway/bridge addition that connects the resort directly to the most popular theme park in the world.

Larger: Here.

Technically, guests staying at the Polynesian Village Resort can use the same walkway since the two resorts are also connected via pathway. It would be a bit of a hike from the Studio Villa buildings that are currently open on the opposite side of the resort, closer to the monorail and ferry. And even more technically, you could use the Grand Floridian walkway all the way from the Transportation and Ticket Center, as you can walk from there, to the Polynesian, then to the Grand Floridian, and then on to the pathway. The only way that would get you ahead is if you were dropped off at least 90 minutes before official Park open at the TTC drop-off, so you could make the ~45 minute walk over. Beginning your morning with a 45-minute walk, particularly as temperatures increase heading back into the summer, is probably not high on anyone’s vacation agenda, but if I keep up with my Billy Blanks Tae-Bo DVDs, we may find the energy to go for an early morning jaunt just to see how it works one of these days. The worst thing that could probably happen in that scenario is getting tackled by security at the Grand Floridian where they demand to see something made by Louis Vuitton. If only they made a proper ascot that didn’t clash with my navy blue fisherman’s shirt.

Continue reading “Rope Dropping Magic Kingdom From Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort Walkway”