Friday November 4th - Part Two About This Page:

[Flagger]

Reminder:

We enjoyed almost everything we did; we had no problems spending the four figures for this vacation; we got such a thrill seeing the priceless send of wonderment, joy and overload on our daughter’s face. Please note that ANY negatives you may read are just our honest impressions of our trip.

Friday November 4th

It is 5:30 in the morning and I can barely hear the alarm going off. The big day was here. We set our alarm for this early because we wanted to grab a breakfast at IHOP (big mistake go to Mimi’s Café instead) and get to the gates by 7:30 for their 8AM opening. I had purchased Ridemax before we left and planned our days accordingly. Since I had not mentioned it, we were traveling with a two and half year old daughter and knew going in there was no way we would ride every ride, see every show, spend every open hour at DL.

It was however a thrill to be at the gates at opening and watch the two families they had picked to open the park. The countdown just made me more excited. We were finally in and were walking through the tunnel. We walked down main street and were at the ropes waiting for the drop at 9AM. At the drop, it was off to FL for my wife while I headed to BLABB to pick up our first FastPasses for the day. When I caught up, I cut in line at Peter Pan to meet up with my wife and daughter. From there it was on to Dumbo, Pinochio, Alice, the teacups and Matterhorn.

We knew from experience at WDW years ago, if you want to be able to get a pic with THE Mickey Mouse, the one with his red shorts, jacket, tie, you needed to go to his house in Toontown. Yes there are other Mickey’s in various costumes around the park, but to me there is something about THE Mickey. So we lined up at Toontown a few minutes before 10AM and made our way right to his house when it opened. Other people headed off to rides, so we ended up being the first to go through his house and into the photography room where it was time for pictures. We took a few and they took a few and even used my camera to get a pic of us all.

From there it was on to Minnie’s where she was outside and my daughter just came up and gave her the biggest and longest hug. The line was not long for Roger Rabbit, so we rode that and the Gadget Coaster. From then we left to head to Tomorrowland. I grabbed Space Mountain passes and we rode BLAB and Autopia. We sat for Honey I Shrunk but DD refused to wear the glasses so missed most of the show.

We saw Buzz was hanging out at Club Buzz so we waited patiently for a picture while lots of kids pushed passed us for autographs. Buzz was very patient with each kid and got my daughter in for a few pictures after telling everyone to wait. We noticed it was getting close to time for a Woody and Jesse appearance so we headed over to Frontierland. We got those pictures and headed over to POTC while I grabbed Haunted Mansion FP’s. POTC broke down just as we got off so we were glad we got that one in.

We decided to stay in the park and eat there and had a horrible chili dog on main street. I so wished we had eaten elsewhere or even headed out of the park. After our meal, it was off to claim a spot for the parade. We found our spot and waited for the parade to begin. It was great and let me tell you I literally got chills hearing Walt’s voice saying “To all who come to this happy place……….Welcome”. (Forgive if I got it wrong) It was then that the experience literally went downhill. As the parade broke down right in front of us and we literally listened to strains from Beauty and the Beast “Be our Guest…” for 30 minutes straight!!! We asked CM’s what had happened and apparently the Ariel float had broken down. When one breaks down, they all stop but the music continues and continues and continues. To their credit, the face and costumed characters never broke character.

Finally the parade moved on and we saw Ariel’s float being towed by a tractor. After this, Ms. Flagger took our daughter back to the room to rest and I went and road Space Mountain, Star Tours and Indy (which I got FP for earlier). I then went and showered, relaxed in the hot tub and made plans to head back for our night sojourn. On our return, my daughter and I drove the cars at Autopia while Ms. Flagger used the other FP to ride Space Mountain. We then made our way to claim our place right in front of the hub, up near the Walt and Mickey statue facing the castle.

I will follow in my epilogue notes, but I will just say here that one of my camera tripod legs failed to lock and my battery ran out of juice. However the fireworks were spectacular and we even managed a few shots that came out.

It was back to our hotel afterwards but we stopped at Tony Roma’s where I grabbed a bite to eat to go for us to eat in our room.

[snoozy]

Sounds to me like you were having a good time.

[lauren-roxy]

Sounds like you had a very fun, but busy day!! Can't wait to read more!!

[chezp]

Another great update - it sounds like you had a fun day, even with the parade breaking down! [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

[Politzania]

Wow - sounds like you got quite a bit done, even with the parade breakdown! I bet that making time for photos and character meets is what you'll really remember.

I'm sure that that extra $60 fo the jacuzzi was well-spent, too!

[Colexis Mom]

Another great day [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/zwavin.gif[/img]