The next morning, Ma and I were adamant that we get to MK for rope drop. On our trip together last October, we just
barely missed rope drop after I surprised her with a stay at the Contemporary! It was worth it, but I wanted her to see the ceremony (and I wanted to see it too!).
Like every other Disney morning, we were up at the crack of dawn (and I wonder, how can I bounce out of bed at 6 a.m. at Disney but have to drag myself out of bed at 8 back at home?). We got ready, grabbed a snack, and headed to the bus stop.
See?
MK opened at 9, so we were here at the bus stop at 8:17 a.m., waiting. We didn't want to take any chances!
Hi YC!
Mom and I were giddy, and we when get giddy, we get silly. That means we're jumping around, singing, whistling, whatever... just joking around in general. So when I saw this....
... I started jumping up and down and up again. Mom was singing and I was leaping up and down and when the bus finally stopped to pick us up (yes, just the two of us), the bus driver was cracking up and welcomed us aboard. He said he'd "never seen people so excited to see the bus" - we told him he had the best smelling bus we'd ever been in. He was super friendly and chatted with us until we reached BC, at which point a LOT of people hopped on the bus with us.
Let's go to MK!!!
Look, we're close!
Look, we're closer!!
We got to the park with plenty of time to watch the opening show. We found a spot in the front middle and waited for the train. I videoed all of it, so I don't have pictures. Love that show! <3
When we got in, Ma had to run to the bathroom, but we were still so early that the time it took didn't put us back in our touring. And we were about to do a LOT this morning! Here we go!
First? A much-needed picture!
I wanted to go to a ride I hadn't ridden in at LEAST 10 years, possibly many more: The Jungle Cruise! Mom agreed, so we headed in that direction.
No one was in line at ALL:
We headed straight through.
Even though it wasn't my first ride ever, I still consider it a first. I hadn't been on it in forever, and ever since my surgery it's made me nervous to be on longer rides - especially ones that didn't have an "easy" way out. But I was breaking all those boundaries on this trip, and it really left me feeling very, very happy overall.
We had a great, fun skipper; another 6 or 7 people joined our cruise before we left, and our skipper was definitely making us all laugh even before we shoved off. I took video on this ride, so no more pics. Sorry. =(
I was so happy after this ride! We decided to stop by Pirates.
But it was closed for some reason. So we thought "Splash Mountain!"
Splash wasn't closed!
There was almost no one at all in the line.
Warning!
]
I think morning at the parks is the BEST time to be there. Oh, and also late night.
Look! It's like it's our own ride.
We took a spin.
After a plunge into that briar patch (you think we'd have learned by now!), we waltzed over to BTMRR - but it was down and they didn't know when it would be back up. I told mom we should get FP here, and the CMs told us that they'd honor the FP whenever we returned that day, so we both pulled one and decided to head over to HM while we were so close.
I think I have this picture from every trip I've taken in the past 15 years. I think this is such a great angle!
This is where I first saw the FP+ queue set up. I was kind of confused; it was the only FP+ queue I had seen at the park.
It was set up so that everyone in the regular line had to go through the cemetary, and everyone in FP+ went through the old line. That makes sense, but I really don't care too much about going through the cemetary - I want to get in the MANSION.
After this, we wandered through Fantasyland and rode IASW (no pics) and Peter Pan. We headed towards Storybook Circus, and decided to actually ride Dumbo. This is another "first" since I haven't been on Dumbo since I was very small AND because it was no longer next to the castle.
Mom and I shared a Dumbo. Anyone else think the boarding pass thing is weird? I just didn't get it. But the big top area is SUPER cool; I think parents must LOVE this (although I bet getting the little ones out of here can be a chore!).
Whoa, dark skies!
I liked the new Dumbo; I thought it was truly beautiful and I loved the water features.
At this point, we decided we were hungry. We had great luck with Cosmic Rays in the past, so we headed over there (plus, the promise of the TTA after our meal was too good to pass up!).
I had the grilled chicken sandwich (good!) and probably the best fries on the planet. I even got some melted cheese, which I would NEVER eat at home! Oh it was all so very good. I might consider eating it RIGHT NOW if someone was willing to bring it all to me. =)
The skies were threatening, but we didn't care. We hopped on the TTA (ah, bliss) and then decided to take our fate in our hands and jump on SM! I was LOVING SM this trip - it was so much fun!
RRP - I kept meaning to buy this and didn't; I'm sorry now.
I literally can't stop laughing at this pic. Seriously. We are GROWN WOMEN.
The skies were still dark but holding on. We saw this:
And headed back across the park. We figured we would go back and ride Pirates if it was open.
Beast's castle! This is going to be so cool when it's all the way open!
Pirates was open now, and so we took a spin. We walked through that ever-maligned right entrance and pretty much walked right onto the ride. When we arrived in the gift shop, we saw what we'd been missing.
if you can't see it, it was POURING. But what did we care? We browsed the shops and found some trinkets to buy. We also managed to stay under cover for quite awhile, even buying a soda at Pecos Bill's and drinking it at a table. But the rain couldn't keep us in and we headed out to play.
By this time it was almost 1 and we'd been in the park since 9. We decided there was no better time to head back for some food and a nap. We were both craving a real "meal" so we decided to head to Miller's Ale House. We got lost a few times with the gps, but eventually we made it. My mom had a salmon plate with a salad, I had grilled chicken with a heap of broccoli. We headed back to the room to sleep it off and get ready for EMH at HS!!
This is really the point where ma finally started saying her legs were hurting. I'd been pushing her to stretch constantly; she has metal rods in her leg from a car accident she had in her 20s, and they don't shrink with age like bones do, so she has some issues sometimes depending on exertion and temperature. But along with the blisters, she was starting to hurt - and my mom has a high threshold for pain, so for her to even mention it meant that she really was hurting. What will end up happening with the rest of our trip, and our last night at YC?