California / Vegas / Orlando 2015 Travel

Let The Memories Live Again! – Day 15

December 15, 2015 JZ

We woke up bright and early today for we will finally be checking into Caribbean Beach Resort for our much anticipated Free Dining Package! So we bade goodbye to The Art of Animation Resort. Though only a night stay, we loved it, especially Ashley who enjoyed her bath time at ‘Ariel’s Grotto’.

After checking out of the hotel, we headed to Disney’s Polynesian Resort, the home of one of our favorite restaurants, Ohana. However, we would not be visiting it today. Instead, we decided to go for an early breakfast at Kona Cafe, which was also highly recommended to us. We met up with the other family, and we headed to the resort. To our surprise, the carpark at the Polynesian was easy to find, which was vastly different from our initial experience from parking there. We found a space, and we headed inside. We were treated to the same decorations that we were used to, the difference being the location that we would be dining. We would be visiting Ohana another day instead. We ordered the famous Tonga Toast, and had the Kona Coffee as well. The food was delicious, and it really hit the spot, as this would be our first meal before hitting the Disney Parks.

We decided to do some planning beforehand in terms of our parking. Although we were going to the Magic Kingdom today, we had decided to park our car at Epcot instead. This was to facilitate our dinner plans at Via Napoli, which was located inside Epcot. This made it easier to move from Epcot late at night back to the hotel. This plan also had a lot of synergy as the Magic Kingdom would close early due to the Christmas Party, so it really seemed like the stars aligned for us (or rather, My mom made them align :v).

We took the Monorail to the Ticketing and Transport Station, where we then took a Ferryboat towards the entrance of the Magic Kingdom. This was when we were hit with the same sensation we had the previous two times we were here before. Although the bag-check was more stringent than usual, we were soon in, and taking in the atmosphere of the Magic Kingdom. We then headed to a FP+ Kiosk as fast as possible to get more fastpasses for more rides, and then headed towards Seven Dwarfs Mine Train, which was by far, the most popular ride in the Magic Kingdom. The ride was the newest and to many, the greatest creation. It’s the most modern, equipped with video cameras in multiple positions for Memory Maker owners to enjoy video playback of their ride. We enjoyed the ride, and it was time to go for other rides.

Next up, we headed to Buzz Lightyear’s Astro Blasters. This was a ride that was also in Disneyland, but I found this one to be better. It made use of more special effects and better in-door decoration to feel more cartoony (which is better for the theme of the ride!). This was a ride that I always enjoy, and although outdated compared to other rides, especially shooters like Toy Story Midway Mania, we still had an awesome time there.

The two families met up again at Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, one of our favourite rides in Disneyworld. We took the ride, and I could almost memorise every turn and drop of the ride. However, that didn’t wear off any of the prior enjoyment that I had before. Instead, I felt like a Disney Veteran, coming back to enjoy my favourite rides once again. After this, we also took Splash Mountain, another classic that we normally took. The Fifty Foot Drop, even though predictable and nowhere as scary as before, was still equally fun to all of us. We had a awesome time at these.

After the plethora of rides that we took, we then headed to use some of our Snack Credits. We picked up a Funnel cake and filled our stomachs before heading to Dream Along with Mickey. This was a stage show that happened at Cinderella’s Castle that we saw a couple of times before. Although nothing has changed in the show, it was still quite a good show, and starred the same cast as the previous years. We wondered how long these actors work for, especially the dancers who have to do multiple shows per day.

We then headed to Casey’s Corner for a light lunch, before we split up again. We went to Haunted Mansion while the Girls went to Buzz Lightyear again, and Magic Carpet Ride later on. The Haunted Mansion ride wasn’t really scary, but it showed off many effects that were very impressive, which was typical of Disney. We parted yet again, and headed to It’s a Small World, and the Little Mermaid. The rides haven’t changed, but we still enjoyed them.

We bought some blinking Christmas lights before we took the Monorail towards Epcot. We headed to Italy as fast as we could, where we ate at Via Napoli. We originally wanted to go to Via Napoli for it’s huge pizza. We ordered the Mezzo Metro sized Pizza (which was huge!), but we could take an half-and-half option, where there were actually 2 pizzas. We enjoyed the Pepperoni as well as the Prosciutto e Melone Pizza, which was quite interesting.

Before heading off, we enjoyed Illuminations while we headed to the car. We could watch it on another day at Rose and Crown. We headed back to the hotel, excited for the next day.