Day 03 - Magic Kingdom

Todays Summary:

Weather started off sucky and pretty much continued in that vein for most of the day. Undeterred, we rode a bunch of rides all over the park and had a very pleasant and tiring day. Stand out was getting to do Tron, the new roller coaster ride, but also got in a few family favourites too. Oh and had the biggest Cinnamon bun ever! Tianas Bayou is not quite open yet, but seen all other the new scenery around the ride, and will hoping to do that next time we are here. Left a little earlier than planned. Stuck in traffic. Hotel. Headed to Olive Garden for dinner. Full. Hotel. Done.

Tron Swanson

So third day in and first Disney park today but definitely feeling it in my bones as is Ann. That’s been over 16 miles we walked so far and likely be breaking our first marathon by tomorrow. It’s good though and you feel like you’ve definitely earned your dinner at the end of the day.

So up at 06:30 this morning to try to get our first Virtual Queue for Tron Lightcycle Run. I rewatched the original Tron last week in anticipation which I probably hadn’t seen since I was a wee boy - a little cheesier than I remember but still a great sci-fi from the 80’s.

Managed to get an early-ish group number for the queue and I could now relax for future park days knowing that getting a spot in a Virtual queue isn’t as horrendous as some people made out. However it also meant we had to be in the park pretty quickly and the kids were still sleeping in their beds so cranked up the music and started screaming like a drill sergeant.

Got to the Transportation Centre and went for the Monorail instead of the Ferry as it would take less time. We will do the Ferry at some point though because it has great views heading towards Magic Kingdom and is a little less hectic.

Heading through the gates and down Main Street at Magic Kingdom is always a Core Memory moment for me. It’s just amazing for us seeing the Disney Castle away in the distance no matter how busy it is. Now our “regular” route is through Adventure land to the left so if felt a little weird hanging to the right to go through into Tomorrow land. We had a little time until our Group number was up for Tron so managed to get a sneaky booking for Space Mountain.

Oh I got my ride buddy back as Grace yesterday pretty much sacked me for Emily and left me to fend for myself (well everything apart from Velocicoaster haha), so it was good to feel needed again :P

The first of the (now only) two mountains

Space Mountain was good but it’s starting to show its age. Or maybe it’s me that’s getting old, just a wee bit shaky and not as smooth as some of the other rides we’re seeing now. Still enjoyable for the most part although Ann really didn’t enjoy it for some of the reasons I mentioned.

- Gerry: 7.5
- Ann: 1
- Patrick: 8.5
- Robert: 8
- Grace: 7.5

And then Tron. Wow, right from the entrance, the whole aesthetic, the sound, even using the lockers was awesome. And the lightcycles, feels strange to sit forward as if on an actual motorbike and the harness locking in at your back and calves, but was so comfortable. Such a great ride, and between this and Hagrids, there’s definitely room for some sort of speeder bike through Endor ride using the same tech - Disney if youre listening, get it done.

- Gerry: 9
- Ann: 8.5
- Patrick: 8.5
- Robert: 8.5
- Grace: 8.5

Now that Tron was done, we decided to reset our bearings, back tracking to Main Street and do the rest of the Park our way, starting with Pirates of the Caribbean in Adventure Land. Nice relaxing little boat adventure, and took loads of photos of Jack Sparrow and crew up to their antics.

- Gerry: 7
- Ann: 7
- Patrick: 7.5
- Robert: 7
- Grace: 7

Tiana’s Bayou Adventure, the new attraction which has replaced Splash Mountain, has not officially opened yet, but they were doing some trial runs by the looks of it. While the core of the ride seemed to have remained unchanged, there were a lot of Princess and the Frog related props and scenery around about. This opens towards the end of this month, so hopefully we’ll be able to get to ride it next week.

A ride which has remained largely unchained resides right next to it, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. An smallish coaster on to of a big mountain (hence the name). Whilst also a little shaky like Space Mountain, this one was supposed to mimic an old style steam train, so really did add to the appeal and as such seemed to fare better that its futuristic counterpart.

- Gerry: 8
- Ann: 8
- Patrick: 7
- Robert: 7.5
- Grace: 8

Beauty and the B…est Cinnamon Roll ever

Now, as part of our planning and research for this trip, I put together a spreadsheet of different things we might find useful (I may have mentioned it once or twice before). One of those things were the best snacks for each of the parks, where to find them, cost etc… One of those things were Warm Cinnamon Rolls from Gastons Tavern., so we ordered a few as part of a quick coffee pit stop. We knew they were pretty large cinnamon rolls, but to be honest large was an understatement. These things were beasts! The planning was worth it, it seems.

After recovering, we set off for Haunted Mansion. I love this one, its so funny and spooky and seemed to have a bit of a refurb since last time we visited.

- Gerry: 8
- Ann: 7.5
- Patrick: 7
- Robert: 8
- Grace: 8

And then onto a firm favourite, It’s A Small World. One you have to do, no matter what and not sure how they did it, but they had digital signs upon existing the ride, which said goodbye to each one of us individually. Spooky but really nice touch, and something we had never seen before.

- Gerry: 7
- Ann: 7
- Patrick: this was un-scorable according to Patrick for not being an actual ride - I think secretly its his favourite.
- Robert: 6.5
- Grace: 6.5

As we were near the kiosk, the next on the must do snack list and one we had to do today as Grace was wearing her custom Cheshire Cat t-shirt was the Cheshire Cat tail. This was a big pastry like a pain au chocolat, but with crazy icing all over it. Compared to Gaston’s Cinnamon Rolls, this was less impressive in size but still did the job (that’s what she said).

Jumped on Seven Dwarves Mine Train to see all the little Dwarves hard at work, whilst Snow White enslaved all the forest animals to do her household chores (wouldn’t get away with that in this day and age). With the exception of Tron, this was the best coaster style ride in the park, but again there seemed slight differences to the ride and scenery, and made you question what was missing from last time.

- Gerry: 8.5
- Ann: 7
- Patrick: 7.5
- Robert: 8.5
- Grace: 8.5

Moving back around to where we started today Tommowland, the next attraction on the cards was the Carousel of Progress. A jaunty little look at how we have progressed throughout the years. Its crazy how the future portion, is pretty much modern day down to smart overs and VR headsets. I guess we live in the future now?

- Gerry: 7.5
- Ann: 8.5
- Patrick: 8.5
- Robert: 8.5
- Grace: 8

Always take the weather with you

So the weather hasn’t been the best today. It was raining most of the morning, though just small rain. While everyone else was running from ride to ride with their ponchos (we forgot ours) we were strolling down Main street hard as nails announcing “It’s only water!” with the confidence only someone from Scotland could have. They merely adopted the rain, we were born in it! Of course, when the rain got heavier in the afternoon we ever so slightly started to quicken our pace.

Next on the agenda was Monster’s Inc. Laugh Floor. A live interactive show with Mike Wazowski and others from Monsters Inc, telling jokes and making fun of poor souls within the audience. Its really witty, those the rest of the fam didnt rate it so much. It does give you the opportunity to post your own jokes to be potentially read out at the start of the show, Robert submitted: How did Mike Wazowski write his book?… He used Monsters Ink! (like Monsters Inc, geddit?). That was quite hilarious and relevant too if I do say so myself, but sadly it seems only locals can submit jokes, so we were fresh out of luck.

- Gerry: 8
- Ann: 5
- Patrick: 7.5
- Robert: 7
- Grace: 7.5

Right next door was Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin, a shooting one. Oh yes, Im back to my winning ways. It did help that we broke down right in front of a target and could smash the trigger to rack up some extra points, but not technically cheating as its not against the rules (well there are no rules), so it counts. It did stop and reset our scores and generally behave quite badly however and I dont think Roberts works at all, which was a shame,

- Gerry: 5 (Score: ~113000)
- Ann: 4 (Score: ~20000)
- Patrick: 6.5 (Score: ~63000)
- Robert: 3 (Score: ~3000)
- Grace: 6.5 (Score: ~30000)

Now the weather was meant to get better first at 10 am then 12 then 1 but it just didn’t seem to be getting any better. The parade had been called of too and some of the attractions like the Speedway weren’t a pleasant experience in the pouring rain, so after Buzz, seeing that we had to wait around for another hour, we decided to call it quits and head home. We are here again next week so can get anything we missed hopefully with better weather.

Headed back home and got stuck in traffic for about an hour which wasnt the best. Although even with the day in general being a little up and down, we all still had a good time and getting in 10 rides, (Tron being one of these) while the weather was a little bad behaved for most of the day was still quite a feat.

Hit Olive Garden for some nice Italian scran tonight, a firm favourite from last time, and it didnt disappoint this time either. Served by the lovely Laura, we had tonnes of food and wine (well I had the wine) and didnt even make it to dessert! We will be returning at least another once this holiday, as it was only 10 minute walk down the road and the food is excellent. Epcot tomorrow and something quite exciting too, so tune in tomorrow to find out!

Today's Stats:

- Step Count: 18.5k
- Starred Rides: Tron Lightcycle Run