Let The Memories Continue! – Day 1

November 21, 2014 SF

We woke up to a chilly morning of 7 degrees. ZA decided to take a morning walk to take in our resort’s tranquility. For the rest of us, it felt so surreal to be back here in Orlando. The first word Ashley muttered as I woke her up was ‘I can’t believe that I am in Orlando!’

This is the resort ground of our hotel – Disney’s Coronado Springs Resort. It has a South-western themed, evoking a Spanish-colonial Mexico haven, spread out with a 22 acre lake in the centre. Being a Disney’s convention hotel, it boasts of better facilities. The cafes and food court stay open till midnight. However, some reviewers ranked it being the most ‘un-Disney’ hotel. (ZA : We stayed at Port Orleans – Riverside last year – loved both of them)
We were given a room at the Cabanas section, Building 9A just as we requested. The room faces a courtyard and it is beautiful.

Princess Anna is now ready to hit the park! We stopped by at Pepper Market to grab a quick bite and redeemed our first Quick Service meal! (ZA : Did we mentioned that it is free? sweet!)
We had the Adult Mickey Waffles with Sausages to share and it was delicious.

After a quick breakfast, we scrambled to WalMart to grab some groceries and essentials, We had planned to do it last night but were too tired and decided to concentrate on our drive to Orlando instead. However, the WalMart listed on its website was not there when we arrived and we relied on our GPS to find us the next nearest mart. We lost some time and had to reschedule our FassPass+ to a later time.
(FastPass + is good. We can change book 3 FP+ events in advance and change it on the fly if there are still timeslots available using the Disney app)

And here we are, finally arriving at Magic Kingdom! We felt so happy to be walking down the Main Street once again, gazing at the majestic Cinderella’s castle. The Christmas decorations are already up too.

Since this being our first day, we wanted to take it slow and easy and did not make any dining reservations. The only thing I have scheduled are the 3 FP+. The weather is cold but Ashley would remove her jacket and brave the cold each time we wanted to take a photo.

We proceeded to our very first FP+ and our all time favourite ride – Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. We enjoyed the ride tremendously with Ashley going Again Again! Ashley especially treasured the time she could spend with Jarod . With Jarod’s heavy schedule, he could hardly have time to spare during the school term. We scored an additional FP+ for this ride later in the afternoon and rode it again in delight.

Out tummies were rumbling and headed next to our favourite Quick Service restaurant in Magic Kingdom – Columbia’s Harbor House. Jarod had the Fish and Chicken Platter, Ashley had Mac and Cheese while both ZA and I had the Grilled Salmon. Our dessert was the Seasonal Cobbler, which had changed to a Peach flavour. They tasted better or at least they were just as good as we have remembered. We enjoyed our lunch. (ZA : It’s Free! Sweet!)

We stopped at Fantasyland’s Rapunzel themed rest stop. This is our favourite rest stop and we are wowed by the intricate details Disney put in to recreate the scene from Tangled for just a rest stop.

On our way to Tomorrowland, we saw the new ride Seven Dwarfs Mine Train but the stand-by time was too long and we passed. The ride has just opened in May this year. The area was boarded up for construction when we were there last year. Ashley had peeped in and saw the unfinished work. We are naturally excited to try this ride

Our next ride was Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin. We had fun firing lasers to defeat Zurg and Jarod emerged the highest score amongst us.

As the weather got slightly warmer, we decided to try Splash Mountain which has almost zero waiting time. Armed with raincoats for Ashley and myself while ZA and Jarod decided to be macho and did not want them and walked right in to one of Magic Kingdom’s major attractions. Based on the 1946 Walt Disney film, “Song of the South”, this ride features the antics of Brer Fox and Brer Bear’s attempts to catch the wily Brer Rabbit as he looks for his laughing place. Soon, we boarded the log flume and glided along a colourful bayou, gently drifting past rocky caves, swamps and meadows. We were treated to three small drops before climaxing with a thrilling 50 foot final plunge. As we plunged, ZA ducked and did not get very wet while my hair was drenched as the hood flew off. Ashley had held on to her hood with her brother protection, she emerged dry. This is our first time trying this ride and all rated it as the best water ride ever. It was so good that we repeated it later in the afternoon.

We stopped at the Gift Shop and Ashley got herself a pressed penny as souvenir. She also spotted a Pressed Penny Album which she purchased with the tap of her Magic Band. She was ecstatic as we had given her charging privilege on this trip.

Our next ride was Under The Sea – Journey of The Little Mermaid. We went under the sea as we followed Ariel’s adventures as the show recreates selections from the Disney animated classic, using large and colorful puppets, live performers, special effects and movie clip to be united with her prince.

The long awaited snack time finally happened. We had walked past Sleepy Hollow a few times but had not stopped for our favourite snack – Funnel Cake. This time, ZA was determined to have it and so we finally stopped for a break. Jarod saw how they prepared the snack and we are just amazed that something so simple actually tasted so good.

Our next snack was the Dole Whip from Aloha Isle. we heard so many people raving about it that we decided to try. ZA ordered a Pineapple Dole Whip Float, a Dole Whip Swirl and a Vanilla Dole Whip. We found it to be average and definitely not worth the long queue for it.

We decided to head back to Fantasyland for It’s A Small World ride. Although we have taken this upteem times, we still enjoy the delightful musical boat tour as we sang along to the classic anthem of world peace

We abandoned our plan to ride The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh which we had a FP+ for as Ashley was very tired by now. We were surprised that we actually lasted till 7pm despite the lack of sleep last night. We walked past Rapunzel’s Village and it was beautifully lit, with the sky lanterns.

Our dinner was at Pepper Market. ZA had a burger and Ashley Mac and Cheese while both Jarod and I had the ribs. The ribs were too salty and the burger too dry. However, the scrumptious dessert – Carrot Cake, German Chocolate Cake and cookies made up for the unsatisfactory main course.