Let The Memories Live Again! – Day 18
Today, we slept in late due to the Star Wars event, where we returned to the hotel at almost 2am in the morning. We were however, rearing to go to the Magic Kingdom for our 2nd time this trip. However, the weather wasn’t as kind to us this time around. It started raining, so we decided to fill petrol for our car, which had been getting quite bad gas mileage due to the start-stop nature of our drives. The furthest drive within Disney areas was less than 5 miles! We braved the rain and went to the Ticketing and Transportation Center and decided to take Monorail instead. However, due to Technical difficulties, we were delayed, possibly due to the weather. We were delayed by maybe 10-15 minutes, and we only had 10 minutes to make it to the first fastpass. Seven Dwarfs Mine Train, which was a ride that we simply couldn’t miss. The ride was as usual, but it felt slower, possibly because of the rain. We had the same sensation when it rained the last time we were on the ride. It wasn’t a big deal though, and we still got to enjoy the ride, which we almost missed.
Next, we went to Peter Pan’s flight. This was another popular ride in the Magic Kingdom, which normally has an hour queue or more during normal operational hours. However, we felt that it was one of those rides with a less justifiable queue time, as the ride itself was barely 5 minutes long (or less!). Nevertheless, having fastpasses for it was really helpful as we got to skip the queue and enjoy the ride. It was a flight over London in a Pirate Ship, which we enjoyed very much. After this, we headed to lunch. This was going to be at Columbia Harbor House, which was one of our favorite lunch places for quick service. We had Salmon, Chicken and Fish Combo and Fried Shrimp. We also substituted 2 deserts for Ashley’s Mac and Cheese. We enjoyed the food very much, and it seemed less crowded than usual.
We then headed to Splash Mountain. This time however, we got alot more wet for some reason. Might be just the unlucky timing of our ride. After Splash Mountain, we decided to watch the Festival of Fantasy Parade. We decided to give up the Fastpass for the festival as there were plenty of places kerbside. This was the first time we ever encountered such a thing. Normally there would be no space 1-2 hours prior to the parade.
We then headed to get some Ice-Cream at Plaza Ice-Cream Parlor and some Starbucks, before we headed off to Buzz Lightear’s Space Ranger Spin again before heading off to other rides.
Next, Tomorrowland Speedway, which would be our first time taking this ride. Sharing similar technology as Autopia in Disneyland, it was an on-rail ride that offered the illusion of driving the car by yourself. Ashley enjoyed this ride very much and decided that she wanted to do this ride again another time. After this, we headed to Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, where I worked out that we possibly have taken this ride over 15 times by now. Crazy huh? After that, we headed to Jingle Cruise, where we noticed the same person on our boat as last year. We wondered again how much fun these people are having everyday to do the same job in and out for over three years. Pay alone couldn’t have kept them this long. The jokes were so bad to the point they were good and it was an enjoyable ride all around. We also had a poke around Pirates of the Caribbean, which was the same as in Disneyland, although the decoration in the waiting area and the lake of a Bayou made the ride much more convincing.
However, we were quickly notified to some bad news. The Hot Air Balloon ride was cancelled for the next two days due to weather. We then swiftly rescheduled it to 21 December before doing anything else, fingers crossed that we could fly on that day. We headed to Main Street Bakery to exchange a quick service for 3 snacks: Large Mickey Chocolate Chip Cookies, Candy Apple and Chocolate Pineapple as recommended by the Cast Member. The Girls watched the cast member prepare some snacks and got a free cookie.
After this, we took the Monorail to Disney’s Polynesian Resort for dinner at ‘Ohana. This was something I was looking forward to as it was one of my favourite restaurants throughout the 2 previous years. To my surprise, the food actually improved. The beef and chicken on the sticks were vastly more tender and soft, while the appetizers were of the same high quality. The shrimp, which was my favourite also improved. This was an amazing dinner, and we couldn’t leave without having the bread pudding. It still stands today as my favourite Disney dessert. Ashley also took part in the Coconut sweeping game, where she said she felt much stronger than her first visit two years ago.
After this, we took the Monorail back to the Magic Kingdom, and saw Wishes on our ride back. We got back to the car, back to the hotel and prepared for another long day.
(ZA : Our free snack bounty for the night)
