Disney World, Day 4 (Magic Kingdom) (part 1)

Wow....being out of town with the Monopoly tournament has thrown me off my writing rampage. Let's return to the narrative.

FRIDAY, MARCH 20
We knew Friday was going to be a less stressful day (and less structured) as we were back for our return day at Magic Kingdom. We had knocked out so much the first day that there wasn't a lot of pressure of trying to hit everything. The kids were adjusting to the regiment of park touring, we had no specific times or schedules (i.e. shows or meals), and we knew the lay of the land.

We had a McDonald's near the hotel, so we brought in breakfast before we left. Then off to the MK. We got there a bit later as we now knew getting there right at 8 a.m. for a 9 a.m. opening was a bit too early. Of course, we were still in position by before the park opened.

Unlike Wednesday, they did a full blown Disney welcome via the train and lots of characters at the entrance. So that was fun.

The race up Main Street is truly a race....should have been smart enough to realize that the lands would be closed, so no need to hustle quite so much. Today we were going off to Frontierland. When the rope dropped, Kathryn led us through a back alley to get ahead of the rope line walkers, but alas, the Disney folks had anticipated that, too, so it didn't matter. And to be honest, we could have been a lot less "hurry up" as the crowds weren't bad. But once you start in that mentality....

Fearing the worst (and remembering the day at Hollywood Studios) I grabbed Fast Passes for Big Thunder then I took a crew on Splash Mountain (they are next to each other). I tried to get Josh to go, but he wasn't quite ready for that one yet. So I took Matthew and Caroline. We had talked about doing switch-off (as we knew Sam couldn't go), but the policy has changed, and now it involves the Fast Pass line, but that doesn't open til 9:30 or so. So I kind of felt 'stressed' during the ride wanting it to hurry so Kathryn could ride crowd-free, too. We got done, and the lines were still very low for Kathryn to go (and she took Caroline again, I believe).

I stayed with the boys and they found a little play area that they loved. Very simple and basic, but sometimes kids don't need or want much.

After that, we did Big Thunder in turns (I think Caroline went twice -- once w/ me and once with Kathryn) but Matthew steered away from it, as did Josh (though he went later in the day and loved it).

This is now when I turned into a Fast Pass machine!!! I had learned that you can get a new one every 2 hours and that they don't monitor the expiration time. So I figured that we'd stock up on them and get one literally every 2 hours. So around 10:15 or so, I darted off to Tomorrowland to get two for Space Mountain. (After missing out on Rock and Roller, I wasn't going to miss Space Mountain) and Kathryn kept the kids. After I got back, it was Josh's turn to get to go on a favorite ride, so Kathryn took Josh and Matthew on Haunted Mansion (up very near Fantasyland) and I took Caro and Sam on Small World. It was a good trade-off and everyone was happy.

We did early lunch (again, lesson learned from Hollywood -- even if not hungry, eat early for the kids' sake and for the crowds sake). We walked down to Pecos Bill in Frontierland, which was doing some back tracking. Even sillier, we got down there and then decided to get three more Fastpasses on Peter Pan (right next to Small World). After all, 3 passes were going to waste (as we had two for Space Mountain). So Matthew and I ran up to get those while Kathryn ordered lunch. Matthew loved sticking the cards into the machine to get them.

Lots of indoor seating at Pecos Bill, good "fixin" bar for the burgers, and everyone felt happy and relaxed.