Monday, May 14, 2007

Disney Day 2 Continued: Extra Magic Hours

After we made it back to the Polynesian we rested a bit more and I got Katie ready for bed ( it was about 7:30 – 8pm). Alex and I got ready again and went out to the Extra Magic Hours at the Magic Kingdom. They keep the parks open an additional 3 hours on Sundays for Disney Resort guests only, and this gave us a chance to get out and do all the “big kids rides” that Sean didn’t want to do and Katie was too little to do. Since it was bedtime for Katie anyway and Sean was definitely more the one to want to do less rather than more this worked out great. He and Katie got to go to bed and relax, while Alex and I got some quality time together. Since Katie has been born I’ve noticed Alex really relishing everything the two of us get to do together without Katie, so that was a big perk for him too. No Katie interrupting everything he wanted to do and him having to give in cause she is little and he’s older.

We got to Magic Kingdom just as the 9pm Wishes fireworks show was starting. We got to see some of the fireworks, but our view was too obstructed to really see the show part. Still it was fabulous to be in the cooler part of the evening, it was breezy even, but still warm and watching the fireworks together was wonderful. Once the fireworks were done, we headed for Frontierland where we were told we could get wristbands for the Extra Magic Hours. We didn’t see a line or anyone handing them out so finally we asked a cast member at the Country Bears and he directed us to the Riverboat ride where they were passing out the wristbands. Once we finally got our wristbands we headed back to Frontierland to do Splash Mountain and Big Thunder Mountain. We were both nervous and excited for the big drops in Splash. The wait was posted at 20 min. and we decided to go ahead and get in the stand-by line. Glad we did cause the line really only took about 10 min. It was more like a 10 min. walk too, rather than a wait. It probably took about 10 min. to walk all though the queue area and wind around all the barriers, but by the time there were actually people in front of us waiting to ride, we were almost at the ride itself. Once we got on the ride we noticed the people behind us were wearing rain ponchos! Now I knew we’d probably get a little wet, but I wasn’t expecting to get soaked, so that had me a little nervous too. Alex and I ended up in the very front of the ride and the poncho people behind us overheard us saying we’d never been on Splash before. They spent the rest of the ride being obnoxious and commenting to each other how the next drop was “the big one”. We caught on after the first small drop, but it was still annoying. Finally we went over the big drop and I got a good splash right in the face, but I wasn’t too terribly wet. Alex and I decided we liked it, we were glad we did it, but there was no need to repeat this ride – onto Big Thunder!

Same deal on the wait at Big Thunder as at Splash, the wait was really a walk on and Alex and I really loved this ride. I spent the entire ride holding onto my glasses to make sure they didn’t fly off, but not wanting to remove them because that would really ruin it for me if I couldn’t see clearly. There is an announcement at the beginning of every ride that includes a safety spiel about not standing, keeping your arms in, etc. This spiel also says something like, “and Watch Your Children!”. I spent the rest of the night kidding Alex that I was watching my children and giving him the evil eye. We liked Big Thunder so much and the wait was so little that we got right back in line and rode it again. Fabulous! I tried to convince Alex to do Pirates of the Caribbean or Haunted Mansion before going over to Space Mountain, but he felt it was too spooky to do those rides at nighttime after dark.

About this time we decided we wanted some ice cream. We knew we had seen people walking around with it before, but now we couldn’t seem to find a place open that had ice cream (only some of the shops and restaurants stay open for the extra magic hours). Finally we asked a cast member at Sleepy Hollow if she knew where in the park we could get some ice cream. She directed us to the Sunshine Tree Terrace – but when we got there it was closed. ARGH. We trucked back to the Sleepy Hollow and ordered the Ice Cream Cookie sandwich for Alex ( we had been looking for just a dish of ice cream) and I ordered the Tinkerbell Twist slushy. Now, when we ordered the ice cream cookie sandwich for Alex, I was expecting the kind you can buy 6 in a box at the grocery store – the cookies a little smaller than the palm of your hand, and the ice cream perfectly cut by machine to fit between the cookies. This thing was huge, and it was real scoop out of the bucket ice cream mushed in between there. He let me have a bite and it was yummy. My Tinkerbell Twist was sour apple and watermelon flavors and was quite good. I ended up not being able to finish it though – it was just too rich and sour at the same time to enjoy that large a portion of it and since Alex was full from the cookie I’m afraid the last 25% went in the trash.

With our appetites quieted down we headed over to Tomorrowland and Space Mountain. This was Alex’s favorite ride of the whole trip. Me – not so much. It is a great roller coaster and fun, but I think my bones are just getting too old to withstand so much jerking around. Of course it was about 10:30 – 11pm at the end of a very full day, so maybe I’d enjoy it more if I wasn’t so tired. This was also about the time I noticed a blister forming on the ball of one foot, so I was definitely starting to feel a little ragged around the edges. Although Alex wanted to do Space Mountain again, he took pity on his poor ole ma, and instead we did the Buzz Lightyear Space Ranger ride. This one was fun, and Alex way outscored me even though I did manage to somehow score 5,000 with one shot (not even sure how I did that, which is probably why my score wasn’t much higher in the end). I think my ending score was something like 11,000 – Alex’s was in the 25,000 ballpark. After Buzz it was raining a little, but I noticed the Indy Cars were open and remembered that Alex had wanted to do them that morning and we had passed them by because the lines were too long. We rode the Indy Cars and agreed that yes, Alex will really have to wait until he is 16 to get that driver’s license - and he needs a lot of practice, with supervision, on a simulator, away from real people!! But it was fun anyway. After Indy Cars it was 11:50p and the park was going to close in 10 min. so we headed back out to the monorail and back to the Polynesian. When we got back to our room we quietly changed into our pjs and slipped into bed so as not to wake Daddy and Katie. A really great night for us!

Up next, Epcot and the Great Katie Meltdown.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

My two are two years apart but they still really love having me to themselves (I love it too). Glad you could spend so much fun time with Alex. It's a memory he will have forever!

Our last trip to Disneyland my 8 year old dd and I stayed for Fantasmic while the boys went back to the hotel. It was wonderful and a memory that will last a lifetime. =)

I like Space Mountain, but have to agree it is a bit jerky for "old" bones! ;-) lol

Erin (moviemuse) said...

I'm just now getting to read all this! Sorry about Katie. I assure you it was not the first or the last time it happened to your server. It may have just been a combination of heat, excitement, and plane travel. I know it doesn't always sit well with me either! Seems like the MK went pretty well. So glad you enjoyed the Hoop Dee Doo Review! That really is something I'll have to try when L is older. Can't wait to read the rest. Katie Meltdown? Oh dear! LOL