Day Three Part Two – Crowds! 
Once we were on the train, we just sat back and enjoyed the ride. I’d heard about the Grand Canyon and Dinosaur dioramas, so I was looking forward to finally riding around that part. No flash photography is allowed (and I doubt flash pictures would come out in there anyway), but I was wishing I’d brought my camcorder with me. I thought both dioramas were
and so did DM!
Once we made it to New Orleans Square, we headed for Pirates of the Caribbean
where we were happy to find the standby listed as 10 minutes. The line looked pretty long, but we made it through in a little less than the 10 minutes. Pirates was so good, and really long. We were able to see the Blue Bayou, where we’d be having lunch, but it wasn’t open yet. We both got pretty wet because we were in the front seat. DM wasn’t too happy about that!
Next, we decided to ride the Haunted Mansion again. The line was a bit longer than last time, so I got to check out the pet cemetery this time.
After our visit with the grim, grinning ghosts, we headed over to pick up some FPs for Indiana Jones Adventure. The standby line was 45 minutes at that time, so I’d have to be content with a couple of rides later (so glad DM doesn’t want to ride).
The line for the Jungle Cruise was really long!! It went all the way over to the Tiki Room.
We decided to come back to that later. Neither of us had eaten any breakfast, so we decided to get ... Dole Whips! (DM is such a bad influence on me
)
I got the regular Dole Whip, and DM got the Dole Whip float (which I think the only reason she got it is because it looks bigger – but don’t tell her I said that!
) Before we dug in to our treats, I had to snap a couple of pics. DM’s looked so much nicer than mine, with the cool paper umbrella and everything.
DM didn't want to be in the picture
I wanted to get FPs for Big Thunder Mountain Railroad and Splash Mountain after our Dole Whips, so we walked around to Frontierland to eat them. I also noticed a place to get Mickey pretzels, so I had to have one of those, too! DM split it with me.
I sat down to enjoy our treats and a hilarious show started up just then. The mayor of Frontierland comes out and is trying to marry off his daughter to someone – anyone. The last single man in Frontierland is doing anything to prevent it being him that she marries, so he recruits some people from the crowd and they play a dating game style game. It was really funny! I was on a bench, so I wasn’t really positioned for pictures, but when I got a look at the poor girl, I just had to take a shot!
Um, the daughter’s in pink … I think
Once that really fun show was over I headed over and picked up two FPs for BTMRR. I asked DM if she was going to ride it with me, and she said she wasn’t going to. If she was going to, I would’ve ridden it on my own then as the standby was only 20 minutes at that point. But with two FPs for later, I decided to try other things before the crowds started to build.
FPs in hand, we walked over to Critter Country so I could get some Splash FPs (loving the AAA unlimited FP this day). The wait time for Splash was 120 minutes!
I knew DM wasn’t going to ride this one, and wasn’t sure if I wanted to ride it twice, but I got two FPs anyway.
Then we headed over to the Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh. Everyone in Critter Country must’ve been waiting for Splash, because Pooh’s standby was only 5 minutes! We walked right on and again there was no one around us so I got some flash pictures.
It was fun, but I like WDW’s version better. By now, my Indy FPs were ripe, so we headed over that way. I had two FPs to use (didn’t even offer DM one, I wanted to ride twice!). The standby was up to 120 minutes (and again, I overheard people saying that the line is an hour and 20 minutes). With my FP I made it through in 20. Indy rocks!
I saved the other FP for later.
After Indy, we decided to give the Jungle Cruise another try. The line was no longer down to the Tiki Room. What a sneaky queue this is, though! It takes you way out of the way, up and down a flight of stairs, and then back over to the loading area. Even so, it still only took us 20 minutes before we were in our boat. I don’t know why, but I didn’t even attempt to take any pictures on this.
My Splash FP window was open now, and the sun was out and it was getting hot, so I decided to try for a ride on Splash. We walked back over there, but the ride was down.
I would try back later.
The BTMRR FPs were active now, so I decided to give that a try. The standby was up to 60 minutes, but it only took about 20 minutes for the FP line. It was a lot like the WDW version, but riding it in a mirror! On my first ride, I got the very last seat!
It’s much faster in the back! The second time, I was in the middle of the train.
When I met back up with DM, the Mark Twain was pulling in, so we decided to take the ride. I was able to get some nice pictures (and to see that Splash was up again
)
It was getting really crowded by now, so we decided to see if we could check in early for our lunch at the Blue Bayou. It was a madhouse in that area! We could barely move. There were a bunch of walkups trying to get seats, and I had to wait on line behind them. They weren’t seating them then, but were making PS’s for them later that day, so it took a while to check in. The man behind me thought he’d get smart and phone in for a reservation, but I don’t think he ever got off hold while he was behind me.
We checked in a half hour early, and the CM told me she wasn’t sure she could seat us that early, but we figured we’d wait it out. I didn’t make a waterside table request because we wanted the first table we could get. We waited about 10 minutes before we were called and escorted to our waterside table!
The view of Pirates of the Caribbean from our table
When I made this PS, I was planning on ordering the Monte Cristo sandwich, but at the last minute, I decided to get the chicken Caesar salad and DM had prime rib. My salad was good, but DM said her steak was fatty.
Neither of us ordered dessert, but we enjoyed the chocolate doubloons!
There was a slight communication glitch with me and DM in here. After our meal, DM needed to use the ladies’ room, so she went while I waited for the check. The restroom is right by the door of the restaurant so she waited for me outside. I spent about 10 minutes sitting in the restaurant before I figured out she wasn’t coming back.
This wasn’t our best meal, but I would eat at Blue Bayou again, just to try the Monte Cristo.
Now it was plenty hot, so I was ready to get wet. The standby for Splash was 120 minutes, but I only waited 10 in the FP line! I got the back row, which has never happened before! I still got plenty wet. Splash seemed much shorter than WDW’s version.
I was wet enough after one trip into the briar patch, so I decided not to go again.
Up Next: A slightly-less-than-perfect evening
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