Our first "real" day of vacation was on Thursday. We decided to start off the trip with a bang by going to the main Disney park, the Magic Kingdom. Well, I say "we decided," but with the way Fast Passes and meal reservations work, the bulk of the trip had all been planned out by Marilu about 60 days prior to out arrival. Gone are the days when you just show up to the park with money and a thirst for adventure. Now you have to micromanage every aspect of the trip months in advance. Kind of overwhelming since I rarely know what I'll be eating at my next meal on any given day.
Before our day at the park, we headed over to Disney's Polynesian Resort since we had reservations for a character breakfast. In a nutshell, this just meant we ate breakfast while lots of Disney characters roamed the room, providing photo ops. It was quite a tasty breakfast too so no complaints here. Below you'll see several of the photos we took there.
Pluto is Marilu's favorite character so she had to get in on the fun too.
A view of the front of the restaurant after breakfast.
Lucas took time out of his busy eating schedule to join a (sort of) conga line with several of the characters.
With stomachs full, we jumped on the monorail for a couple of stops and entered the Magic Kingdom! My first photo left something to be desired...
We decided to go to the Haunted Mansion first since we didn't have a Fast Pass for it, and the lines were still manageable. Like many of the rides at Disney, the theme starts as soon as you get in line with lots of nifty things to look at while you wait. Marilu and Lucas made sure to pose with some of the ghoulish props.
Up next was pirate training with Jack Sparrow and his first mate, whose name I can't remember. Lucas was lucky enough to be one of the chosen volunteers so he got to practice his swordsmanship with the pirates.
Since I was taking photos (with my trusty Google Pixel), there aren't as many photos of me as the rest of the family, but here's one of them, just after we got off the Thunder Mountain roller coaster. The line for this one was a bit long, but my dad started talking to the British guy ahead of us in line and they talked about soccer for at least 20 minutes. I think that might have been one of the highlights of the day for him since he's a big Liverpool fan.
Lucas showing off his 3-D look while waiting for Mickey's PhilharMagic movie.
One of my favorite memories of visits to Disney Land as a kid in California (and later as a teen to Disney World) was Tom Sawyer's Island. I can't remember who I was with, probably my cousins and brother, but I can still vividly recall exploring the island, particularly the caves.
I was a little apprehensive visiting it this time, thinking the rose-colored glasses might be in full effect. However, after blowing a good hour running all over the island with Lucas, from the caves to the fort and the barrel bridge, I gotta say, the memories hold up. Tom Sawyer's Island was easily the highlight of the day for me. Pretty impressive considering it's not even a ride. Unfortunately, this photo of Lucas at the playground was the only one I remembered to take. I guess I was having too much fun!
We forgot to take photos with Cinderella's castle in the background when we first entered the park so we made up for that later in the day.
We were pretty worn out by that point since we'd been walking around for over 6 hours. As such, we headed back to the resort to rest up and have dinner. Our plans were to return afterwards, but Lucas and my Dad decided to stay at the resort and visit one of the pools so Marilu and I went on our own.
We decided to do the selfie on Main Street USA that every other tourist ever has taken as well. I really gotta figure out the front-facing camera on the Pixel since the castle looked huge when I turned around, but here, it looks like it's a mile away.
We went on a couple more rides, including the Jungle Cruise and the Buzz Lightyear one. Below, we pose with the ride's namesake in the background.
To close out the night, we watched Disney's big fireworks show. As you might imagine, pictures don't do it justice, but I gotta say, it was phenomenal. 4th of July or Canada Day fireworks will never be the same after watching it. My apologies for the somewhat obstructed view on the left side of the photos. We watched from the bridge leading into Tomorrowland so we didn't have a completely clean view.
Later in the trip, we brought Lucas and my dad back to see the show, and I got much better photos (and video) of the show so that'll be something to look forward to.
After the show, we joined the throng of visitors flowing out of the gates, and after a packed bus ride home, we relaxed in the hotel bar with a couple of cold beverages, pleased that we survived our first full day.
Up next, Animal Kingdom!
No comments:
Post a Comment