We have reached the 3rd day at the Disney World Parks on this November 3rd, 2013 morning. After a short drive from Port Orleans Riverside we arrived at the TTC (Ticket & Transportation Center).
The Magic Kingdom was not the most recommended park today but it was not "unrecommended" and it is where we really wanted to spend our day, so we headed there. It was a weekend so all the parks would be "busy." The TTC was prepared for large crowds with all the extended que ropes out. The advantage of getting to the TTC at 7:45 is walking right past all the ropes!
We hopped on the resort line monorail because it is the first one running in the morning. Most everyone on the monorail was heading to a early breakfast reservation, but not us we would rather go on rides with short waits then eat. (*Please note that as of September 2014 the monorails don't run this early. You will need to either take the Ferry across the 7 Seas Lagoon or take a bus from the TTC to the Magic Kingdom Bus area if you drive to the TTC. If you take Disney transportation from your Disney hotel you will arrive at the Magic Kingdom bus terminal automatically.)
Lots of construction going on at the Polynesian Resort. This was once our favorite parking lot.
Walking down the ramp from the monorail to the front gate.
The Tap Styles or Mickey Readers or Touch Points or what ever these new things are called were not open for the day yet, but we were first in line so we got a few pictures with little to no people around.
The "big" kids by the Mickey Readers waiting to be let in to get our spot on the rope.
A quick picture of our plan for the day. (And a preview of 11/5/13 if you just can't wait!)
You can see the D, C after Small World. That is because Doug and Clair will ride that while Sam, Alden, and I go on Space Mountain.
Today we rope dropped Tinker Bell! Her line can get long and moves slow.
No wait for Jasmine, so we stopped to chat.
We arrived at Thunder Mountain and found about a 2 minute wait. It was Clair's first time on the "Wildest ride in the wilderness."
We then walked onto Splash Mountain. The reason to do Thunder Mountain first when you are there early is due to the length of the ride. Splash Mountain is about a 10 minute ride. Thunder on the other hand is about 2 minute. So, in theory if you do Splash Mountain first, it gives the line at Thunder Mountain about 8 more minutes to build.
The look on Alden's face about sums up the general reaction of a 6 year old to most things at Walt Disney World.
After Splashing around, we met Woody & Jessie (you can find them at the exit to Splash Mountain). We then headed to the Barnstormer, Dumbo, a few other Fantasyland rides and lunch.
After lunch and a spin on the TTA (Tommorrowland Transit Authority) Sam and Alden headed to Space Mountain for their first time. They LOVED it.
Doug and Clair went over to It's a Small World with their FastPass+.
Sam looked a touch nervous.
We then met back up and went on Ariel's Under the Sea Adventure and then took another spin on Thunder Mountain with Fast pass+.
It was time for a Mickey Bar so we hung out in Town Square and had one.
A picture with the train in the background as we show of our shirts from The Needle and Thread Embroidery Co. Thanks for the great shirts Lacey!
We are heading back to the TTC to hop to the Animal Kingdom and do a "reverse rope drop." Alden was a little disappointed to be getting the Pink monorail.
Christmas continues to "show up" around the parks. They make it really hard not to get into the Christmas mood even if it is just November 3rd.
We hopped on over to the Animal Kingdom. We will be trying to get to the Safari just as the parade starts. Animal Kingdom is a great park to do later in the day, because the crowds really thin out after about 3pm or 4pm in the afternoon.
We grabbed a Fast Pass for Expedition Everest on our way past.
There was a posted 30 minute wait for Kilimanjaro Safari but we walked on to a truck that was just waiting for passengers.
We enjoyed seeing the elephants. Currently we are missing elephants at our local zoo as they are doing some major remodeling to create an African Safari.
This is our favorite place for a picture with the Tree of Life. It is on the walk way between Africa and Asia.
They are ready for their first ride with the yeti.
They loved it.
Clair and Doug headed over to Triceratop Spin while we were on Everest.
We caught back up with them and walked on to Triceratop Spin as well.
We then spent a few minutes in the Bone Yard (play ground) It is huge and the kids love it. The crowds at this point were streaming out of the park. It was almost crazy to watch knowing that the park was open for another hour.
Alden has a special kind of relationship with this dino.
Fist time on Primeval Whirl.
Clair was too short for this one, so just like all the others she is too short for we collected a Rider Swap ticket. What this does is allow you to use the Fast Pass line with 3 total people so the kids and I usually get to ride twice.
As you head to the Dino Institute there is Sue the T-rex. This is one of 2 copies of Sue. The real one is located at the Field Museum in Chicago. The other copy tours the country. When the land owner that had possession of Sue put her up for auction, Disney and McDonalds partnered to buy her. Half of the bones were cleaned and processed right here in the Animal Kingdom where you could go and watch the process. The other half were done in Chicago. If not for Disney and McDonalds coming together this great dinosaur could have been lost to the highest bidder and never to been seen by the public again. So, it is always worth stopping to take a look at the LARGEST
T-rex ever found.
This was Clair's first spin on Dinosaur. This ride can be a touch on the scary side. It is dark and the Dinosaurs are big and loud.
Next up was time to meet Mickey & Minnie.
We had a dinner reservation at 6:55 that night at Yak & Yeti. The park closes at 7pm. Even though the park was closed, they don't kick you out. It is nice being amongst the last at the restaurant and really the last in the whole theme park, plus we never felt hurried. The Yak and Yeti was a new one for us.
Doug got the Duck.
I went with Sweet and Sour chicken. You can see a full review here.
The walk out of the park was neat. We were all alone, except the occasional cast member saying 'hi' as we walked past. We stopped to take a few picture in the dark. There were no photo pass photographers out. Something about leaving the park after it closes gives you a feeling of accomplishment. And it was only 7:50pm.
We then got a private tram ride to our car.
However, our car was at the end of the line so we still had a little walk from the tram. Not sure we have ever let the kids just run across a Disney Parking Lot before.
We ended the night back at Port Orleans Riverside with some homework. It was nice to have an early night, but we did not take a real break. Our break was the car ride from the TTC to Animal Kingdom!
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