Day 2; Part 1: By Kingdom Come . . .

Day 2; Part 1: By Kingdom come . . .

Monday morning, Labor Day, we had 8:15 AM reservations at The Crystal Palace. It is a very fancy buffet style restaurant, that looks very much like the name suggests. It reminds me of one of those old fashioned bird cages you see, only made of glass. And it is popular because it is a Character Dining experience. Sean's first would be with the crew of the Hundred Acre Woods.

I got up around 6:45 (thinking "aren't I supposed to be on vacation???") and showered and got ready, letting Wendy and Sean sleep a little longer.

We got to the bus stop and there was no Magic Kingdom bus yet so I, being the coffeeholic that I am, decided to make a dash to fill my mug (again let me point out that buying the refillable mugs at the resort is a wise investment.) Let me forewarn any potential Pop-ers that the food court is a hot mess around breakfast time. It gets really really crowded and expect a wait to check out. And using the main beverage lanes can be a nightmare.

Thank God I discovered that when you go into Everything Pop (gift shop) from the outside door and hang a left, there's a coffee filling station set away from the hustle and bustle of the rest of the food court. In fact most mornings there was nobody using it when I'd fill up. What a Godsend. It doesn't have the cream dispenser the others have, which I like, so you have to use little individual creamers (oh, the sacrifice!) Actually that's normally fine with me, except a little more time consuming when you know the bus will be there any second. As I was snapping the lid on my mug, I felt my cell buzzing in my pocket which I knew meant "the bus is here!"

I didn't even bother to look at it, but instead just sprinted out the door and right onto the MK bus. Perfect timing. With a cup of joe for the ride. And I have to say I love the coffee in the resorts at WDW. Ironically, it's just instant coffee essentially. Nescafe, I believe. And I'm normally a coffee snob. I would never drink instant at home, but when I'm there it tastes like Juan Valdez climbed down from the mountain with his burro, dried, roasted, crushed, and brewed a batch of beans just for me. I am well aware its more than likely just the state of mind I'm in. But I long for that instant coffee often during the years between trips. Call me crazy (you wouldn't be the first.)

We got to MK a few minutes after 8:00 and got through bag check really quickly. There is a special stillness and magic, for lack of a better word, about being on Main Street before the park opens. It's quiet, and yet there's a hum of energy you can feel building. It's mystical stuff. Its those moments where I really feel Walt's presence. Doesn't hurt to have a clear view of the Partners statue and the castle behind, without a hundred people in the way. It is a statue of Walt and Mickey holding hands that stands in a courtyard just before the castle. In my mind its as recognizable an icon of the Magic Kingdom as Cinderella's castle itself, but I suppose if you've never been, you might've never seen it. It's pretty important to me. I find myself somewhat emotional every time I stop and stare at it a moment when we first arrive. Walt is, as you can probably guess, pretty important to me.

Wendy went in to the Crystal Palace to check us in and I had to run after Sean who decided the ropes strewn across everything meant nothing and he was going to head over to Liberty Square early. On our home videos, there's a moment where my panning across the park stops as you see Sean taking off under a rope. Suddenly the tape stops and next thing, we're inside the restaurant. That's where I had to shut the camera off and chase my kid!

Breakfast at the Crystal Palace was delicious. And I found it to be a great selection without being completely overwhelming. The only thing I had that I didn't love was their sausage gravy. But I'm partial, my grandmother, while being a born New Englander, became a relocated southerner as a young woman married to my Papaw, and she still makes the finest biscuits and gravy in the world.
I'll drop another tip here: don't overlook the kids buffet just because you're an adult. They had these little pastry puff things called Pooh's puffed french toast, or something to that effect. They tasted like a soft, light donut, covered with sugar and cinnamon and pure deliciousness. Kind of a play on a beneigh. And they make a breakfast pizza for the kids that I was also addicted to, when it was fresh.

Now, as for the character interaction, well, not quite what we'd hoped for initially.

First came Tigger, a friend in our house. Or so I thought. But as my wife held Sean and Tigger tried to shake his hand and give him a hug, I noticed my Son seemed wary. But he dealt with it well enough. Soon after though, Eeyore appeared. This is where things went south. Sean did not like Eeyore. His lip began to quiver and he furrowed his brow. When Eeyore just reached out to pat his back, Sean gave him a light but purposeful shove.

By the time Piglet tried to come over and my wife asked "do you want to meet Piglet?" Sean gave a resounding "NOOOO!"

He never cried, but he was not pleased with meeting the Pooh characters. Abby, our friends' little one did ok with them all, but she stayed in her high chair across the table so there was a safe distance.

As we left I was holding Sean and he kept wanting to know Tigger's location with every turn. I guess the lesson is Tigger is fine as long as he's a few inches tall on the television, or a foot long bath toy. Six-feet tall is another story. For now.

My usual m.o. at the MK is to start in Adventureland and work my way around clockwise. No big strategy or secret. It's just natural to make that initial left. But apparently Abby had been up (and therefore so had her parents) since about 4:30 that morning. So they wanted to head straight to Fantasyland (which many families do, and is another reason I start on the other side) because they planned to leave early for a nap.

Then the girls decided they wanted to get those old-fashioned silhouette portraits done of the kids. So we stopped at the cart near Ye Olde Christmas Shoppe. Actually it provided a perfect opportunity because I wanted to get Sean a set of ears from WDW. He already had ears from Disneyland, which my wife wanted to just bring with us, but I felt he should have a set - one from each coast.
So I power-walked back down Main Street to a hat shop, appropriately named The Chapeau. They had a nice selection, and I :especially liked the Halloween ears. In the end I just went traditional: black cap, black ears with the Mickey logo on the front and his name embroidered on the back. I'm amazed at how quickly they run that operation. I was gone and back before they had paid for the silhouettes. Wendy was so proud of the deal, as it was buy one, get one, and the frames were only $8.00 (remember this for later.) She had gotten two, with frames (including glass obviously) so we could give one to my mother.

Since we were so close to Frontierland, we decided to just check the waits on Splash and Big Thunder Mountain. Both were basically no wait at all. Here would be a test. Sean has ridden a small roller coaster here at a local tiny amusement park called Kiddieland multiple times and loved it.

(Sidebar: legend has it Walt came to Chicago and visited Kiddieland when he was planning DL in the 50's and asked the owner for advice. The story goes the owner told him to go scratch saying he had his own park, why would he help? Interesting to note, Kiddieland closed in the fall of '09 due to years of dwindling revenues and family in-fighting. Nice choice.)

Sean had seen footage of Big Thunder Mountain on television, and freaked out because he loves, LOVES, trains. He kept asking if we'd see the "fast choo-choo." We decided to see what he would do if we took him on this runaway train. This decision would make or break the rest of our day.

Sean is exactly 40 inches tall now so we were ushered in and found a great spot mid-train. I video-taped the entire ride. Sean loved it! Laughed the whole way!

Afterwards, we said what the heck and went right over to Splash Mountain, which Sean had no clue about. If any of you don't either, it's a log flume on Disney steroids. From the outside its a giant mountain with a water fall that boats come careening down. Inside its a relatively calm dark ride telling the story of Brer Rabbit from Song of the South (something else some of you me may be clueless about - but we won't get into that.)

We waited in a very short line and he just kept asking "we go on a boat ride?"

As we left the cue area and took the first turn outside in our log, we got splashed almost immediately by another taking the plunge. Sean wasn't thrilled by that. But as we took each little drop, I would prep him for it so he enjoyed them and would clap and hoot with me. Still, there was that "slight drop" at the end to contend with. I put an arm around him snugly and said "get ready buddy."
His eyes were wide as down we dropped, but as soon as we leveled out, he was clapping and laughing and asking to go again. I was so happy! My kid loves thrill rides and not even 3 yet. In fact we created a monster because he just kept asking to ride both over and over again.

We made our way to Fantasyland and pretty much stepped right on to It's a Small World. I'm not a fan of this one, but both girls are, and I figured Sean would be fascinated. I was disappointed though because I thought with the recent refurb they had slipped in a couple classic characters like they did at Disneyland. Apparently I thought wrong. Same old boring ride as always.

Then we walked right across to Peter Pan and that was also a very quick line. We broke down momentarily, looking straight down at Nana and her doghouse. Which of course Sean got a kick out of.

After brief break on a bench near the carousel for water and popsicles, it was decided Joe and I should take the kids on Dumbo. The girls wanted to dart into a gift shop. I should mention it was around 11 - 11:30 now and it was getting HOT!

The Florida sun was beating down hard.

The wait time for Dumbo said 20 minutes and I think it ended up being even longer. At least it seemed like it, as both kids were not amused. We wrestled two sweaty, crabby little ones throughout the que. By the time we boarded our elephants we were a couple sweaty, crabby fathers. But once Dumbo was flying we were soaring high above Fantasyland creating a wonderful breeze. I found a new appreciation for that ride watching my son laugh and grin through the whole flight. I am so curious to see what they do to Dumbo in the coming Fantasyland overhaul. The plans are to make it bigger and more interactive.

When we got off, air conditioning was an immediate requirement and the 3D musical attraction Mickey's Philharmagic was going to begin in 5 minutes. Just what the doctor ordered. At first Sean wasn't keen on wearing the glasses, but once he figured out the trick, he left them on and loved the show. There is just an inherent joy when you watch your kid reaching out to grab one of Ariel's jewels floating in the water or a dancing pastry. And again, he loves Donald, who features prominently in this one, so it was a definite hit!

It was getting close to 12:30 so we decided to get the kids some grub. Pinocchio's smelled fantastic, but the menu looked kind of limited, at least the one posted outside the door. So we ended up at Cosmic Rays, along with apparently half the guests in the park. It was packed. There wasn't a single seat in the main area where you can watch Sonny Eclipse. Sonny is an alien lounge singer who perfroms throughout the day at Cosmic Rays (go to YouTube and type in Sonny Eclipse to see mutliple fan videos of Sonny performing.) he something of a talking hippopotamous in a tuxedo. It's pretty entertaining, but also easy to ignore if you're just trying to refuel with a burger for the rest of your day. The girls (and Joe) scouted for a table. I had to hang back because Sean found a roped off area full of hula hoops and was fascinated. Obviously he didn't know what they were but loved dropping them around himself like a human ring toss.

Lunch was ok. Counter service fare, but it hit the spot. I followed Joe's suit from the day before and got the chili cheese dog. Wife had the burger. Sean a hot dog. I will say that the single serving Chocolate cake for desert is really good, and I don't like chocolate cake, so that's saying something.

After I ate I slipped off to the lil' buckaroos room and by time I was back, Joe and Ashley were already gone, heading back to Pop for a swim and naps. Sean seemed ok and was satiated so we decided to take a stroll to Toon Town. In the past Wendy and I just kind of breezed through it or skipped it all together, since we didn't have little ones.
We had a great time in there! Sean and I rode the somewhat tame roller coaster, Goofy's Barnstormer which he of course loved. It's an especially short ride given that there's often a wait, but I suppose it has to be since its geared for kids. It's a blast though. We browsed the gift shop for a while. Then decided to take a train ride. We rode the whole lap around the park, where I discovered for the first time that the train passes over/through Splash Mountain. I never noticed it from the boat, but the train looks down over the ferry boat celebration at the end of the ride.

Now to this point, I was disappointed that we hadn't seen Mickey Mouse anywhere. He is kind of the start of the place, after all, not too mention the whole company. Well we rode the train back to Toon Town and decided to pop in to Mickey's house since we'd never gone in before. We wound our way through and for the first time I noticed the tent that said meet Mickey. So we went in and got in line, watching the old cartoons, still not entirely sure what we were waiting for.

Until we were told it was our turn, and were ushered in to another room, then around a corner . . . and there they were. Mickey and Minnie, giving a brief and private audience to each family. Sean gave Mickey multiple high-fives and kissed Minnie right on the nose. He was in his glory. And I think he truly has a crush on Miss Mouse.
His reaction to Mickey and Minnie was the complete opposite of our breakfast encounters. And at the end of the day, this was kind of what it's all about for me. Mickey is an American icon. And more the point, symbolizes the American dream to me. As Walt said, we should never lose sight that the whole Disney empire was started with a mouse. That's what we're all about here. You can make greatness from the smallest of beginings. So, not too sound too off the wall, but Mickey is somewhat sacred to me.

Wendy wanted to catch the afternoon Celebrate a Dream Come True parade (that's a mouthful of title) so after Toon Town we crossed over, back past Cosmic Ray's toward the center hub. We stopped so Sean could chase some bubbles coming from a CM's bubble gun. As he was running around, the talking trash can rolled up to where we were and began to mess with the CM. A small crowd had gathered to watch.

This was one time where I actually got to see behind the Wizard's curtain, so-to speak. I was watching my son and just kind of looking around, as I always do in crowded places (a little paranoia is good for you!) That's when I noticed a guy about my age, wearing a brown t-shirt, shorts, plain ball cap and sunglasses, and he had a shoulder bag.

The thing that caught my eye was his half-closed hand cupped around his mouth as he looked off in the other direction. Call me Sherlock Holmes! It occurred to me that I could just faintly here him talking to himself, at the same time the garbage can was talking in its shrilled martian voice. He was the guy running it, the puppeteer I guess you'd say. He also seemed to have noticed that I'd noticed. He gave me a sly smile but then moved away.

We found a spot in front of the Bakery and camped out for the parade. It was fine. Sean really enjoyed it and my wife loves parades. Personally I can pretty much go the rest of my life outside of Disney without ever seeing another parade, and in Disney there are only a few I will watch. To me, a parade symbolizes the best time to go jump on a few rides while the lines are light. That said, it was nice. I'm kind of jaded after seeing the Pixar Play Parade at California Adventure when we visited Disneylan briefly the year before. That was the best parade I've ever seen and will compare all others to.

When it was over, we fought upstream towards the exit, but not before a ducking into the Confectionery shop! My wife loves the carrot cake cookies. Sadly they didn't have any. They told us to try the bakery, where we just were, so we made our way back, and they were out! Epic fail! But Wendy said it was a sign we didn't actually need any more junk food at the moment, which she was probably right about. So we decided it was time to make our way out.

She wanted to put Sean down for a bit and rest herself. I was just hot and sweaty and wanted to jump into a pool. So we loaded up onto the bus.

Right as we were loading onto the shuttle there was a small tragedy. I started taking things out of the stroller to collapse it and Wendy said "there's not many people waiting, just take it on as is." I reminded her of the sign that said it was against Florida D.O.T. regulations and I was just going to fold it up. She took the few bags we had and Sean and boarded. I tried folding it up but it just wouldn't lock. I didn't know what I was doing wrong, but being a guy, all things can be fixed with a little extra pressure, right? I put my weight into pushing down on this thing as hard as I could. I thought I heard somethign "click" but it still wouldn't catch. Frustrated I just grabbed it and held it together as best I could and got on the bus.

Once I was seated and the bus was en route, Wendy said "oh, did you grab those portraits out from the bottom of the stroller?"
Umm . . . .

Now I knew why the stroller wasn't closing. After a few moments I said sheepishly, "Honey, I have a really bad feeling that when you open the bag with those frames, it might be bad."

She unwrapped the first frame and it was just fine. Thank goodness, I thought with a sigh. Then she simply lifted the second and we could here the melodic tinkling of tiny shards of glass. Oops.

Actually, while the frame was toast, the silhouette was undamaged and she said she wanted to get a different frame for hers anyway. So I wasn't in trouble after all.

We got back and she gave Sean a shower and put him in bed. I headed over to the Computer Pool at the 80's and 90's courtyard. It was smaller but also a little quieter. I just kind of waded for a while like a Jungle Cruise hippo. It was peaceful and refreshing. Then I took a stroll around the campus, checking out the Bowling Pin pool at the 50's side too. And made a stop at Pedals Bar, getting a Lava Lamp to take back to the room. It's actually made with rum, Blue Buracao, Grenadine, and a little Sprite over ice. As i said, I'm not usually one for the froofy drinks, but this one is pretty damn good! And I got Wendy a Pina Co-lava. It's a Pina Colada but with a raspberry flavored rum as well as coconut. I did steal a sip and it was pretty tasty! Wouldn't be caught sucking one down at the local tavern, but poolside in Florida, I'll risk it!

I went back to the room and while my wife was sawing logs, Sean was wide awake and had been the whole time. I grabbed another quick shower and just chilled for a bit watching cartoons and a little Stacey! Stacey J. Aswad is the in-room tour guide throughout Walt Disney World. She's a highly-energetic, cute (shh), and some might say annoying (but not me) young lady whose Top 7 show runs on a constant loop on the parks channel in all resort rooms. It's a whirlwind of highlights and is just one of those things that, as soon as I see her, I know I'm back in Walt Disney World. Even though it doesn't change, I watch at least a few minutes of Stacey's show at the begining and end of each day. Also, did I mention she's pretty cute? You can find her on YouTube as well. She also has her own website, www.staceyjaswad.com, not that I'm some kind of creepy stalker or anything . . .

Ahem, anyway . . . we had a dinner ADR for 7:00 at Liberty Tree Tavern. It's an amazing family style dinner experience that I couldn't wait for. My mouth waters thinking about it. So i was glad I'd made reservations for us to eat there our first night at the Magic Kingdom.

At least, I thought I had . . .