2017-12-31: New Year’s Eve in the Magic Kingdom

We started our day with a quick breakfast in the hotel we set off for another day in the Magic Kingdom.  We did our best to be there earlier in the day so as to avoid some of the chaos that comes with the crowds.  We made our way through the sea of people to the Jungle Cruise where we boarded the “Fruitcake Zelda” and took a VERY punny trip down the river.  So many puns and so may bad jokes.

Next, we made our way over to It’s a Small World… the Disney World app indicated a 20 minute wait, so much better than the 1-2 hour wait we had noticed yesterday.   Amanda enjoyed bugging Michael as they made their way to the ride by tapping his shoulder …. He thought it was Grandpa and man was he getting annoyed, meanwhile, Grandpa was unaware of the prank and couldn’t figure out what Michael’s problem was.  Haha! It’s a small world will be dancing through our heads for days to come!

Time to go a spin!  Mad Hatter Tea Party had a reasonable line… Disney really had mastered the art of hiding the true length of a line.  To save Linda from a real spin fest, Amanda sent ALL the boys together and joined her in a second cup!  Round and around we all went!  Patrick kept looking down and Jim kept making him look up… You don’t get as dizzy if your busy looking down!

Haunted Mansion was our next Fastpass.  This was the first time we hit a real line up with the Fastpass gate.  We made our way up and within 10 minutes we entered the mansion and the ghoulish fun began.  Amanda kept threating to scream but Michael would tell her to “Be quiet Mommy!”  No compassion on that one… although his reaction after the ride was concern about nightmares tonight.  Darrell, Amanda and the kids had their picture taken outside the mansion and later found they had made a friend.

We made our way to Tomorrowland, along the way Patrick had a good catch when one of the lenses fell out of his glasses.  He caught the lens but that tiny screw was no where to be found!  Amanda threw her sun glasses on him to protect his eyes until it was time to go back to the hotel for some down time.   We made our way into the line to ride the Astro Orbiter.  The line was going to take about an hour, so Darrell stepped out of line to go get the kids some popcorn to hold them over until lunch.  There was a live stage show going on when we arrived with Buzz Lightyear, Stitch and Mike Wazowski.  We enjoyed the entertainment for the cue.  It took a bit of time but about an hour later we finally loaded into the elevator to head up for our spin in space.    The kids enjoyed controlling the ups and downs of the shuttle cars.

Time for lunch!  We got in line at Mr. Ray’s Cosmic Café.  The line was long but seemed to be moving alright.   There were not a lot of table options so after ordering our food we ended up eating standing counter, while the kids sat on the floor underneath it.  The food was good, and we were all ready to get back out to the rides. The crowds here are crazy today!  We now understand why people tend to avoid Magic Kingdom on New Years Eve.  Patrick wanted to get some Stitch ears, so we made a quick stop after lunch and low and behold if Michael didn’t decide he wanted Stitch ears too.  Gotta love Me Too… Patrick has been really patient with that this trip and has even had a few rounds where the roles have reversed.

We took to the sky on Peter Pan’s Flight after lunch and enjoyed a ride to Neverland.  The kids really liked seeing Hook dancing on Tick Tock Croc’s snout!

Time to go chill at the hotel.  After a quick trip back to the hotel on the monorail, we decided to go play in the pool.   The kids had fun splashing around and they really enjoyed the waterslide!  We had a fun game of water tag until the activities crew announced they were doing tye dye shirts with a Mickey face on them.  Patrick and Michael had some fun wrapping elastics in the all the right places and then putting colors all down their shirts.   We are all intrigued to see how they turn out but that will have to wait until we get home, when Amanda can wash them.

Tonight we dined at Chef Mickey’s with Goofy, Mickey, Minnie, Donald, and Pluto.  We met them all and the boys had a lot of fun getting autographs.  The food was really good.  They had a great selection and there was even a kids section to keep all diner’s happy.   The best part was the desert bar… of course this is Disney, so the ice cream is calorie free… wink wink…

After dinner Darrell, Amanda and the boys decided to head back to Magic Kingdom for a little more fun at 8:30p.m.  The kids really wanted to go use the shooting gallery in Frontier land, Patrick found all his own change and off we went to play their game and ride a couple more rides.  The park was really busy but a lot of people were staking out spots for the fireworks, so it was pretty easy to move around and the lines were fairly short.   Darrell and Michael teamed up for Speedway and Amanda and Patrick got in the next car.  Darrell drove their car… Patrick drove his, he is a terrible driver… eventually Amanda took over the gas peddle and was very grateful for the track that kept us on track.  Hundred Acre Wood had a fairly short line so we popped in to do that one next.  There are bunch of fun hands on items to keep kids busy while they wait.   The honey murals were fun, trying to figure out who was under all that sticky mess.

We finally made to Frontier Land and the boys had fun shooting targets and pressing pennies.  Patrick was really excited to pay for his own games.    It was time to head back to the hotel but the only way to get through to the front gate was to back track from Frontier Land through Liberty Square, into Torrowland and through a back lot that had been opened up to move people traffic…  We made it back to the hotel just before about 11:30 and followed the advice of a hotel bellhop. Jim and Linda came down to meet us and we made our way over to the Disney Vacation Club building and got comfortable to watch the show.  The fireworks were amazing.  Amanda sat on the curb with two boys snuggled next to her to watch the show and what a display it was.   There were fireworks coming up from the castle and both sides of the Magic Kingdom.    We wished each other a Happy New Year and headed to bed.  Tomorrow will be early… Our next adventure will be Epcot.  Stay tuned.