Animal Kingdom – Hollywood Studios – Magic Kingdom
We slept in a bit (til after 7 am) on Wednesday since we were up late the night before and were planning on using the first half of the day to lounge in the pool. We went to Sizzler in Kissimmee for their breakfast buffet after a friend recommended it. A British couple eating nearby gave us two paper fastpasses they hadn’t used since they were leaving that day. I’ve never seen the type of passes before but they were good for any ride at the Magic Kingdom which was perfect since we planned on going there in the evening and wanted to ride the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train but couldn’t secure a fastpass even though I checked almost two months ahead of time.
It was pretty cloudy out and looked like it was going to rain, so instead of going to the pool we decided to drive over to Animal Kingdom even though it was on our itinerary for Thursday morning.
We reasoned we’d use the extra time to check out the animals and then go on the rides we were interested in the next day. By the time we got there it was sunny and humid which sucked. We walked around Africa and Asia to see some animals, but were quickly dripping with sweat. We went on Dinosaur because it’s in an air-conditioned building (and it was fun!), and then got Mickey Ear ice cream bars in an attempt to cool off. It didn’t work too well, so we went back to the hotel and swam in the pool for awhile.
That helped to refresh us, so we decided to go back to Hollywood Studios were I was able to secure last minute fastpasses to ride Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster and Star Tours, both of which we loved. I don’t remember the roller coaster being quite that intense before, but it was awesome nonetheless! According to Wikipedia riders experience 4.5 G (44 m/s2) as they enter the first inversion, more than an astronaut does on a space shuttle launch. Not sure how true that is but it is pretty damn intense!
As for Star Tours, it has definitely changed for the better with the 3D aspect thrown in.
From there were drove to the Magic Kingdom and planned to take the monorail from the Transportation Center but it wasn’t running so we had to take the Ferryboat instead which was fine since we’ve never done that before.
Much to our delight, the fastpasses the British couple had given us worked, and we were able to get on the the Seven Dwarfs ride with no wait. It was a lot of fun – I can see why the lines are so long for it! We also rode Dumbo the Flying Elephant and The Barnstormer, neither of which we’ve ridden in the past, and both of which we enjoyed.
We had skipped lunch, so we grabbed a jumbo turkey leg at the Cool Ship in Tomorrowland. We had to consult Google because we were convinced it wasn’t actually turkey since it tasted exactly like ham.
Apparently we sat around Tomorrowland a bit too long because by the time we made it to Main Street around 7:25 pm to secure a spot for the Main Street Electrical Parade, it was packed. We found a decent spot right behind two garbage cans to the left of Cinderella’s Castle where the parade turns to go into Liberty Square.
Before the parade started this Spanish woman tried to worm her way in front of me with her stupid iPad (I mean, really, who thinks they are going to get any decent pictures or videos on one of those things, particularly at night). She kept motioning to the spot like she expected me to move and let her in, and like an idiot I did. What’s wrong with me??? I was there first! It really pissed me off so I passive aggressively started bumping into her and she decided to leave right before I decided I was going to tell her to get out of my spot and go find her own. It’s not my fault she waited too long to find somewhere to view the parade. We didn’t cut in front of any of the people who were there first because that’s just rude. Unfortunately there are always people like that out in public and they ruin what would otherwise be an enjoyable event. In any case, the parade wasn’t all that and next time I’d take that opportunity to go on some rides instead.
We decided to leave the park after the parade but most people stayed put to wait for the fireworks. We laughed about the crowd with a fellow traveler later on the monorail back to the Transportation Center. He said he’s never seen so many people in one place before and we agreed. It was overwhelming and not so magical. At least now we know for next time to just skip it.
» Hollywood Studios photos on Flickr
» Magic Kingdom photos on Flickr