After having a day at the parks with Samantha, it was decided
that I should take a day and spend it with each of the other two
kids. Today was Drew's turn to spend a day in the parks with his old
man. He opted for the Magic Kingdom, since it had been a while since
we had been to this particular park. Because the line for the
monorail was long, we decided to take the boat from the
Transportation and Ticket Center over to the park. Once we got to
the park, it was time to have some fun. Our first stop was Space
Mountain, which was the first of our FastPasses. Although we have
both been on this ride plenty of times, this was the first time that
we got to go on the track with the line on the right. Although I
couldn't tell a difference (likely because the ride takes place in
the dark anyway, so it's hard to tell what is happening), Drew
thought that there was a difference between the two sides.
Our next FastPass was for the Haunted Mansion. I enjoy
this ride, but we don't get to ride it often because the girls don't
really care for it too much. After we finished our ride in the doom
buggy, we headed across to Tom Sawyer Island, to explore the
land of Tom and Huck Finn. The part of the island we were able to
explore was kind of fun, but we were disappointed to find that the
part with the fort on it was closed off for today.
After hiking around the island we decided that it was time to get
off our feet and into some air conditioning for a while. We opted to
go see Mickey's PhilharMagic, the 3-D show starring Mickey
and Donald, and of course the sorcerers hat! After resting up during
the show, we headed over to Tomorrowland Speedway for a
speedy race around the track - well, for one of us anyway. Poor Drew
got stuck in perhaps the slowest car on the track, and I had to slow
down and wait for him so that I didn't end up pushing him across the
finish line!
Since we were close, we decided to hop on the Tomorrowland
Transit Authority PeopleMover, which had been closed most of the
day but had just re-opened as we walked by. Since the line was so
short, it was hard to say no to the opportunity. Plus, Space
Mountain was shut down, so we were hoping for a chance to see inside
with the lights on (no luck there, as it sounded as if it was
running when we got inside). We did get some good looks at the
construction progress on the new Tron ride, however, so not all was
lost.
From there we hiked to the opposite end of the park, this time to
ride Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. Being able to use our
FastPass sure saved us some time in line, and the ride was enjoyable
as always.
We headed back across the park to Tomorrowland once again, this
time to ride the Astro Orbiter. Drew had been asking to ride,
and the line was finally short enough to make it worthwhile.
We had one last FastPass to use for the night, and that was on
The Barnstormer, the roller coaster geared towards kids in the
Toontown section of Fantasyland. Drew didn't remember riding it
beforehand, but thought that it was quite enjoyable despite how
short it actually is. Aside from being a tight fit for the two of us
and a backpack, it was quite a bit of fun.
By this point, night had fallen and a large portion of the crowd
were trying to position themselves for the nightly fireworks show.
This gave us an opportunity to get on the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train
without the usual long line. As an added bonus, when we emerged from
one of the tunnels we were greeted by a giant firework going off
directly in front of us, making for an impressive sight.
Since nighttime was here, and we were slowing down, we decided to
hit a couple of more rides before calling it a night. We returned to
the Tomorrowland Speedway with the hopes that Drew could get
a car that could keep up with the old folks and their walkers, which
he thankfully did. We also took a turn on Buzz Lightyear's Space
Ranger Spin, which despite it's popularity just doesn't seem to
measure up to its Hollywood Studios counterpart, Toy Story Mania!.
With that last ride complete, it was time for one last trip down
Main Street U.S.A. Until next time Magic Kingdom! |