We decided to take a trip to Walt Disney World on a day that
Tara and I both had off during the week. The main reason for our
trip was to take Uncle Steve, as he had asked us to go during our
recent visit to Sun-N-Fun. In addition to Steve, we were joined by
both Grandpa Gary & Grandma Terry. None of the kids joined us, as
they were all still in school! Our first stop today was at Disney
Springs, with the primary purpose of our stop being Gideon's
Bakehouse for cookies. There was no virtual queue today, as we
arrived early enough to just wait in the normal line. After our
30-45 minute wait, we had our delicious cookies and were ready to do
some more exploring. Grandma Terry wanted to hit the Pandora store
to have her bracelet cleaned, which she accomplished while we waited
in line. We also hit up the LEGO Store, where I got to dream about
all of the sets that I wish I had. Our final stop before leaving
Disney Springs was at Cookes of Dublin, where we dined on their fish
and chips meal.
After we had eaten lunch, we headed off to the Transportation and
Ticket Center, where we would catch the ferry over to the Magic
Kingdom. Once inside we headed to City Hall to visit guest relations
to sign everyone up to take advantage of Steve's Disability Access
Service (DAS). While we were there, they allowed us to pick a ride
that we would like a pass for, and we chose the Seven Dwarfs Mine
Train as it tends to have some of the longer lines in the park.
We didn't have a long wait before our pass became available, so we
headed off to Fantasyland before boarding the ride. While we were in
Fantasyland, we climbed aboard "it's a small world" to take a trip
around the world. The kids don't like this ride very much, but Steve
wanted to ride so today was the perfect opportunity to give it
another chance.
We wandered over to Adventureland next, grabbing a DAS pass to
Pirates of the Caribbean. While we waited for our turn, we went
to watch Walt Disney's Enchanted Tiki Room bird show. We met
a family in line that was from California that was on their first
visit to Walt Disney World. They were sharing with us that a lot of
the rides here were a lot shorter than their "equivalent" version at
Disneyland. This was interesting to me, as I assumed that most of
them would be more or less identical. After watching the birds sing
words and flowers croon, we climbed aboard our boat to the
Caribbean. Yo ho, yo ho, a pirates life for me!
We left Adventureland and headed off to Frontierland to get a DAS
pass for Splash Mountain. While waiting for our time to come
up for that ride we decided to go on Big Thunder Mountain
Railroad. Here we learned that there are three rides at the
Magic Kingdom that you can get a separate DAS pass for and it
doesn't count against your regular DAS pass - meaning you can
essentially hold one pass and then use a second on on either Big
Thunder Mountain Railroad, Space Mountain, or the
Jungle Cruise. That meant that we were able to get a DAS pass
for Big Thunder while we also held our pass for Splash Mountain!
Once our turn on Big Thunder Mountain Railroad was complete, we
headed over to Splash Mountain to take our turn there. Dad opted to
skip this ride, so it was just Tara, Steve, Grandma Terry, and I on
this one. After riding the two mountains in Frontierland we
decided to head clear across the park to Tomorrowland. Our first
stop here was to get a DAS pass for Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger
Spin, but instead of issuing us a pass they just sent us through
the FastPass+ line! That was a welcome surprise. Tara ended up in
her own car, and she played both left and right handed! With
Emporer Zurg defeated, we decided to relax while enjoying Walt
Disney's Carousel of Progress. Although I enjoy the show, I
think it may be time to update it just a bit (if nothing else, at
least the final scene, as it isn't very futuristic any more). By
this time we were getting tired and hungry once again, so we decided
to head out of the park. We ended up back in Champions Gate in
Davenport, Florida at the Chili's, where we enjoyed our meal much
more than our previous visit to Miller's Ale House. After dinner it
was time to make the drive back home. All in all, a nice relaxing
day at Walt Disney World, and I am already looking forward to our
next opportunity to visit! |