Day 2 at Disney World: More Magic Kingdom

If you read my last post, you already know that we spent our first day at Disney World's Magic Kingdom and it ended up being a very late night.  Despite our hopes to get up early for our second day and be there when the gates opened, it just wasn't meant to be.  Our only scheduled event for the day was a character lunch at The Crystal Palace restaurant which features Winnie the Pooh and Friends including Eeyore, Piglet and Tigger.   Our lunch wasn't until 12:45 pm so we weren't too worried about being late until we got up late in the morning!   We had no problem finding Disney World from our hotel (which wasn't on the resort) but it takes a bit of time to park, take the parking lot tram and then finally a monorail before you actually arrive at the theme park.  We were doing all right when we discovered we could bypass the parking lot tram because we were close enough to walk.  We rushed to the monorail and managed to catch one right away.

It was maybe five minutes later when I began to look outside and realize I didn't recognize anything from the previous day.   We quickly found out we'd taken the wrong monorail and arrived at the Epcot Theme Park a few minutes later.  I was kind of getting stressed out since our character dinner was something I had really been looking forward to and I was sure that Connor would love meeting the Winnie the Pooh characters.  There wasn't much we could do though so we took the monorail back to the parking lot and then the correct one to the Magic Kingdom.  We arrived a bit late for the character dinner but it actually wasn't nearly as pressing as I thought it was to be on time for our reservation.  Don't worry about taking the monorail..they are actually quite clearly marked but we were in a hurry and didn't pay attention!

As I said, there really wasn't a huge rush to get to our dinner reservation and the wait was short to get our table.  So, that's where we started Day 2!

The Crystal Palace Character Meal (Lunch):  We were seated near the door and at the first table the characters would visit each time they did their rounds to the tables.  We got settled including putting both kids in high chairs and Jeremy went to get some food at the buffet.  There were lots of options and the food was delicious in my opinion.  I've read some reviews that say it's nothing special but we thought it was pretty good.  I think the reviews have more to do with the actual price of the meal in accordance with the food being served but you have to consider that you are getting easy access to characters in a nice air conditioned environment and that's mostly what you're paying for!  Otherwise, characters are around Disney World but you often have to wait to get your photos with them and it was very hot for us to stand in line for very long.   So, as I said, we enjoyed the meal and the kids enjoyed the characters.  To be honest, Connor loved the characters and Aleena found them a bit disturbing.  She was okay with them being around although a bit wary but kind of freaked out when they touched her.  I thought it was fun to have them around while we were eating and convenient to have the easy photo ops.  They also played fun music every once in a while and the kids got to follow them around the restaurant during the Winnie the Pooh song.

Aleena actually seemed okay with Tigger!

Mickey's PhilharMagic: One of many 3-D shows that we enjoyed at Disney World.  I loved them as they weren't just 3-D but also featured other special effects such as air and water bursts.  They were a lot of fun!
 
Tomorrowland Speedway:  Jeremy and Connor went on the little racing track called the Tomorrowland speedway.  I think Jeremy enjoyed driving the little race car but Connor likely just thought he was going on yet another trip and wasn't thrilled after all the flying and driving we had been doing.  I missed out on taking a photo because the line wait time wasn't very accurate and I was shopping when they reached the finish line.  On the upside, Aleena got some cute Disney croc sandals!

Aleena's new Crocs!

Pirates of the Carribean: At this point, Aleena fell asleep so we went for a walk and ended up at the Pirates of the Carribean.  There wasn't much of a line up so we decided to take turns going through the attraction.  It's basically an indoor ride through various rooms with scenes from the movies, spooky music and an unexpected but fun drop in the dark.  After I did it, the kids were awake so we all went the second time around and really enjoyed it.  It was one of my favourite "rides" at Disney.

Jeremy and Connor in front of Pirates of the Caribbean.

The Jungle Cruise:  A cruise through the Disney "jungle".  This one is definitely for the adults as the tour guide was hilarious and had us laughing the whole time.  I think he would be a good stand up comic if that's what he decided to do after Disney.  The actually cruise features waterfalls, robotic animals, and lots of laughs.  It's worth the trip!

Baby Care Centre:  Back to our favourite attraction!

Going for a Walk:  We walked...a LOT!  Here's a couple evening photos on our way to It's a Small World.

It's a Small World:  This is another sort of indoor ride through several rooms that feature the continents of the world and the people that live in various countries.  It was interesting to see although not something I would feel the need to do twice.

That was our second and last day at the Magic Kingdom.  We walked through the shops on the way out and thought we were doing well to sneak out before the Electrical Parade.  However, we got lost on the way to the hotel and it took us about an hour to get back after taking a few wrong turns.  I would highly recommend a GPS in Orlando..either that, or stay on the resort if you are just doing Disney World and avoid the traffic and confusing streets!  We were convinced that Disney World didn't want us to leave...ever.  It's easy to get to Disney World but really difficult to find your way out.

Next Up: The Animal Kingdom Theme Park (aka Day 3 at Disney World)