Disney Dream cruise and Walt Disney World 2014 - Day 5 - WDW

The Magic Kingdom

I’m a planner and we had a solid plan for the morning at Magic Kingdom. We woke up and had breakfast at our resort. After breakfast, we went to grab a shuttle to the Magic Kingdom. The first one filled up but we made it aboard the second and we were through bag check and in the gate by 8:20 or so. We had good spots for the opening show which started at 8:40 and by 8:55 we were walking up Main Street.




We followed the plan, hitting the following rides before lunch:
Peter Pan’s Flight
Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh
Tomorrowland Speedway
The Barnstormer
Dumbo
Anna and Elsa meet
Journey of the Little Mermaid Gaston meet
Seven Dwarves Mine Train
It’s a Small World

Peter Pan was a walk on and Pooh almost was. I sat out on Tomorrowland Speedway (I rode with with her last time) and it had a 20 minute posted wait, but I’m pretty sure that they waited less than 15 minutes. Barnstormer was our test to see how Emmaline would handle a roller coaster. It didn’t go well so we told her that she wasn’t going to be able to ride Mine Train. Dumbo was an optional “if we’re ahead of schedule” ride and since we were, we did. Anna and Elsa were a great character meet (we had a Fast Pass and practically didn’t wait at all). Once they learned that I spent over 50 hours embroidering Emmaline’s Anna dress, they spent a lot of time with us. Sorry families behind us!





Journey of the Little Mermaid stopped two times when we were on it for fairly long periods, which made me a little cranky. During one stop, a cast member tromped down the stairs next to our clamshell so I’m not sure what was going on.

Roger got in line to meet Gaston while I rode the Mine Train and then I came back and took over so Roger could ride. He wasn’t there for the Gaston meet, but Emmaline and I really enjoyed Gaston. It’s one of the top character meets, I have to say. The Mine Train was fantastic. It’s possibly my new favorite ride at Disney World. The ride is great and section through the mine is very magical. They really did an incredible job with every aspect of the ride.



For lunch we went to Be Our Guest, where we had Fast Pass reservations so we didn’t have to wait in the crazy line. I still felt like it took longer than it should have, though and everyone was starting to get tired and cranky. It wasn’t the most awesome food, but it was better for Quick Service at the parks. After lunch we went to experience Enchanted Tales with Belle which we hadn’t done before. It was very cute and Emmaline said it was one of her favorites.

After that, we made a Fast Pass reservation for Haunted Mansion for later in the afternoon and then returned to our resort for a nap. Emmaline said she wasn’t tired, but I insisted that if she wanted to see the Electrical Parade and fireworks, she would need to sleep. She proceeded to konk out and we let her sleep for an hour.

Refreshed, we headed back to the park and took the railroad over to Frontierland to meet Woody and Jessie. It was a bit of a wait - maybe around 30 minutes. It was probably the longest thing we waited for the whole time we were there.

After Woody and Jessie, we made our way over to use our Fast Pass for Haunted Mansion, one of our favorite rides. After that, we booked another Fast Pass for later for the Jungle Cruise and then went over to watch Mickey’s Philharmagic and ride the Prince Charming Carousel. We hadn’t seen Philharmagic before so it was a treat to do something new.

Then it was time for dinner. As we headed over to Crystal Palace, the sky was beginning to darken and the wind was picking up. A storm was rolling in so we covered the stroller in the $9 poncho (I was bound and determined to get our money’s worth) and went to check in for our reservation. At dinner (buffet) we met Pooh, Tigger, Piglet, and Eeyore. While we ate, it rained (it was hard to tell how much) but things were definitely dark out there.



After dinner, we made our way over to the Jungle Cruise to use our Fast Pass but it wasn’t running. They had to wait a certain amount of time after lightning had been spotted before getting the ride back up and running. They kept saying 15-2o minutes and we were torn about waiting or just heading over to the Magic Carpets and then coming back. Unfortunately we waited there for probably 30 minutes but when they reopened the ride we were on the first boat out.

Waiting so long for Jungle Cruise meant that we weren’t able to do the last ride we had planned - the Magic Carpets of Aladdin, because we’d waited for 30 minutes at Jungle Cruise. Thankfully, we’d been able to fit in Dumbo earlier in the day and they are effectively the same ride.

After Jungle Cruise we stopped by a Fast Pass kiosk again to make one more selection: Big Thunder Mountain Railroad for Roger and me to use after the fireworks show. Then we found some seats for the Main Street Electrical Parade. This is one of my favorite things and Emmaline loves it, too. She was willing to give up just about any ride to be able to see it. The parade was fantastic as always, though it always seems to end to quickly. After the parade, we quickly made our way to the hub to watch the castle projection show, “Celebrate the Magic,” and the fireworks show, “Wishes.” I love “Celebrate the Magic” almost more than the fireworks. It’s just really amazing the way that the castle is transformed.



After “Wishes” we had decided that instead of trying to exit the park with the rest of the crowds, we would stay and ride Big Thunder Mountain Railroad in turns while Emmaline settled into the stroller. Roger left and I stayed behind, but Emmaline wasn’t asleep instantly like last year. Instead she was over tired and reluctant to relax and started crying that she wanted to go back to Austin and she missed our kitties. She calmed down and Roger came back and I went to go ride. It was really fun to ride it at night!

After that, we made our way out of the park, where there were still a lot more people than I expected. Emmaline started falling asleep while standing in line for the bus back to the resort so I held her, half asleep on the bus back. We came back and put her to bed and did a little preliminary packing, setting our alarms to finish the packing in the morning.

Click here for Day 6.