In which the DisAd hits MK

We kicked off at Magic Kingdom, the most Disney of the WDW parks.

The day begins early, of course. You don’t go to Orlando to sleep in. One needs to be inside the gate at 15 minutes prior to opening to watch the welcome ceremony, which puts one in the proper Disney state of mind. Then follows the all-important first hour of E tickets. The best way not to wait on long lines at any park is to hit as many E-ticket attractions as possible within the first hour. This means moving along swiftly, but it pays off in the end. By ten o’clock we had done Space, Splash and Thunder plus Under the Sea (or whatever they call it). Then we headed to Haunted Mansion, a whole 20 minute wait, and the worst of the day. After that is was mostly walk-ons, thanks to having dispensed with the biggies, or scheduled FastPasses for them later in the day.

In the new FastPass+ system, you sign up in advance, so that’s another 3 E-tix, if you play it right. It was obvious that a lot of noobs were in the parks, especially on MK day (a reported 8 out of 10 crowd, per Touringplans.com). I mean, what’s the point of a FastPass for Space Mountain at 9:00 a.m. when you can just walk right on? Or what’s the point for a FastPass for an attraction that never has much of a wait any time of the day? Successful navigation of Disney parks requires a combination of Unofficial Guide planning, time management and FastPass savvy. Regulars know all this, but irregulars don’t. One morning we had off, we went to breakfast at our hotel at around 9:00 and the place was packed. These are the people who, later in the day, will be waiting an hour for a two-minute ride. I encourage them to maintain their late-sleeping habits, at least when I’m on property.

New stuff at MK? 7 Dwarfs Mine Train, a cute and short little kiddie coaster cum dark ride, not worth waiting for, but since it’s new, the line for this was humongous (in the sun in the heat). The aforementioned Little Mermaid, a simple dark ride writ large, also cute. Some kiddie and princess stuff we didn’t do (except for O’C, who after waiting half an hour for Cinderella’s signature examined said signature with all the tools of the graphologist’s trade to assure that it was the same as the signature of Cinderella 4 years ago, even though, as I’ve repeated ad nauseum, there is no Cinderella, and if there were, it isn’t her). Tiki Room back under old management, enjoyable to any Disney nostalgic. And I think that’s about it. Otherwise it’s the same old same old that we always love. It was a long day, ending with the electrical parade and fireworks and, oh yeah, one other new thing, a son et lumiere projecting images on the Castle, which was way cool.

And so to bed, with most of us having made it through the whole day. And one important note: Part of our traveling includes knocking little kids and invalids out of the way on our way to the exit buses. Please note that my attempt to take a shortcut through the Emporium was stymied by one doofus ambling along as if he was shopping or something. Those aisles are narrow and there’s no play, unlike Main Street where there’s always an opening. This is wisdom for the ages, people!