The Magnificent Seven, Day III

 (contd.)

Day III

Magic Kingdom

The next morning the troops woke up, got ready, and made it down to the bus pick-up location at the front of the resort with relative ease. We had all crashed hard after our previous day of park-canvassing - and the Johnson fam's Flight from Hell - so getting up early and mobilizing was pretty painless.

That being said, we didn't make it onto the very first shuttle to Magic Kingdom, but were able to squeeze onto the second. Our running goal this year was to make it to each park for 'Rope Drop,' in order to knock out those high-demand rides that have huge-ass wait times throughout the day.

Arriving at Magic Kingdom an hour before it's open to the general public is a phenomenal perk for us tourists staying on Disney property.

Shadows of the kids here look like frickin' Slenderman. . .

Kris and that Johnson kid.

Ella is super stoked to be waiting in line for admission.

As is Abby.

Neither Erik nor myself were flagged for our backpacks this morning while passing through security, which I considered a good omen for the day. I made sure to leave my magnetic-clasp glasses case back at the hotel room and carried my water bottle in my hand as I passed through the security arches.

Following the shuffling horde into Main Street U.S.A.

Dawn over Main Street.

Sleeping Beauty Castle. We didn't stop for family pictures yet - despite the light crowds, which would've been ideal for picture-taking purposes - opting instead to beat feet back to our Rope Drop ride.

Veering right from the Castle, we high-stepped it into Tomorrowland.

You can see by the crowd that a lot of other folks had a similar idea in mind (kinda like yesterday at Animal Kingdom when everyone made a bee-line for Avatar: Flight of Passage at Rope Drop.)

This was today's Rope Drope Ride: Tron.

This is a relatively new ride, having only been around for the last four or five years, so factoring that and the fact it's a 'thrill ride' it's no wonder this ride averages 90-115 minute wait times throughout the day.

We got in line a half hour before the ride opened, but were early enough that the queue wasn't backed up much at all. We'd end up waiting about 30-40 minutes for this ride, which was fine since all of the rides were still closed at this point and we were waiting for stuff to open up anyway.

All of the womenfolk packed multiple sets of Disney Ears for this trip, switching them out for different days at the parks. The girls themed their ears and outfits for different days, too - today Abby is Cinderella and Alayna is Rapunzel (not sure who Ella is.)

Waiting for the ride to open up.

When the ride finally opened, we walked right on (which was awesome.)

This ride is based on the classic 1980's original movie, and it's follow-up sequel that came out like 25 years later. I haven't seen either one, to be honest.

Our Disney PhotoPass thingy that Courtney and Kris split got some great ride pictures (and video), linked directly to our MagicBands so we got them automatically. For whatever reason mine didn't sync automatically so I only appear in the large group pics (I rode next to a stranger on this one anyway.)

They take these pics as you're shot out of the starting gate, accelerating from 0 to like 50 mph in a couple seconds. 

Erik's having the time of his life.

Tron

After the obnoxiously short ride - it only lasts like 20 seconds, tops - we checked out the PhotoPass pics upon collecting our things from the ride's storage lockers. I accidentally left my phone in mine and had to run back into the ride and track down an employee to open up my locker again (fortunately it was still in there.)

With our Rope Drop ride out of the way, we decided to knock out nearby Space Mountain next (it's one of Alayna's favorites.) Courtney sat this one out, not being a fan of this ride, and ventured off to find herself a breakfast treat and an iced coffee while we hit it up.

As we walked over that way we passed this vintage classic. Why this ride is still here I'll never know, it's sooooo dated. And who honestly Rope Drops this ride? It's nothing special, folks.

Getting in line for Space Mountain (Alayna, taking selfies for Snapchat purposes.)

The wait time for this ride was only like 10 minutes, which is crazy 'cause usually, later in the day, it hovers around an hour or more.

Abby, having a blast in line.

Space Mountain

Exiting through the Gift Shop (of course.)

Before we hit up more rides, I insisted on taking care of our mandatory family-in-front-of-the-Castle pictures, a must on any Disney vacation. Thank to our PhotoPass, we just had a professional photographer take care of it.

The Houghs

The Johnsons

The Magnificent Seven

They had one of those five-minute mini-shows at the Castle going on while we were wrapping up our photo session, and just as we were packing up and getting ready to set off the finale fired off. Kris and Courtney were able to get a selfie just as the fireworks shot off.

Another selfie with Kris and the girls.

Crossing a side-bridge, around the backside of Tomorrowland from the Castle, we zigzagged our way into Fantasyland.

These golden statues that stand scattered around the park are interactive, being controlled by folks' MagicBands. We'd play around with them from time to time.

Our next stop was The Seven Dwarfs Mine Train. It's a new-ish attraction, probably dating back to the late 2010's, but as a coaster it tends to get longer lines in the park so we wanted to take care of it while the crowds were still somewhat thin.

Across the thoroughfare from where we had gotten in line for Seven Dwarfs was the Winnie the Pooh ride. Abby loves Winnie the Pooh and really wanted to do this one, but we never had the opportunity to do so. She's honestly not missing much, it isn't much of a ride, and definitely not worth the wait times it gets later in the day.

Thin crowds in Fantasyland this early in the morning.

Snow White's cottage (I assume.)

This would be one of our longer waits of the day, actually - probably 40 minutes. This is another Rope Drop ride for folks, so while we were knocking stuff out in Tomorrowland this ride queue filled up (which we knew it would.)

It was super muggy out, and we were all sweating like field hands, but they had some fans scattered about throughout the line that helped alleviate the humid misery for a spell.

These girls became pros at waiting in line this week.

Cannonball's handheld fan was a godsend. Alayna doesn't do well in the heat at all.

It's a mine-themed ride, folks - hence all the mining equipment lying around.

Just about to enter the indoors - and air-conditioned - section of the queue.

Gemstones (but not really.)

If the Dwarves delve too deeply and too greedily, who knows what evils they will awake from the deep reaches of the Earth (like, say, a Balrog.)

These gems light up when you touch them - a little line amenity they installed to keep whiny kids occupied. Or my wife.

A group selfie of the squad in line.

We got the hang of this real fast.

This ride was very similar to Thunder Mountain Railroad, but unfortunately it lasts about half the time.

Seven Dwarfs Mine Train

By the time we got off Seven Dwarfs, Fantasyland was much more packed with people (including the hated stroller-jockeys.)

Since we were right there, we decided to do It's a Small World and take care of that mandatory ride.

Right across the way, Peter Pan's Flight already had a ridiculous wait time (which I'll never understand, that rides sucks ass.)

The wait time said 15 minutes, but we only waited 6 (yes, I was counting.)

This is Courtney's favorite ride, being her mom's favorite before she passed, so it was a must to do this one today.

It's a Small World

This ride is super outdated as well, but it's not the sort of ride you want to go messing with: it's probably the most classic Magic Kingdom ride in existence (if not all of Disney World.) If you changed it, people would probably rise up in revolt.

Leaving Small World, the crowds were getting thick (they always bottle-neck at this spot in the park, it's so frustrating.)

We wanted to continue on into Liberty Square next, but it was decided to pull off in this Tangled-themed corner at the edge of Fantasyland in order to hit up the bathrooms first.

The girls posed in front of the Rapunzel-inspired mural from the film.

And of course some Cannonball solo pics since she was dressed as Rapunzel today.

Rapunzel's Tower

Had to have her stand in front of this, too.

We decided to do one of our personal favorites next: The Haunted Mansion.

Definitely my personal favorite in the entirety of Disney World (closely edges out Smuggler's Run in Hollywood Studios, based solely on nostalgia's sake.)

One of Erik's favorites as well.

Courtney breaks out her neck fans (the weather was getting downright brutal at this point, as it was around noon.)

The whole aesthetic, decor, and music of this ride is just awesome.

We'd end up taking a bunch of family pics in front of this carriage thing after getting off the ride - you'll see those in a bit.

View of the steamboat loading docks on either side of the 'river' surrounding Tom Sawyer's Island, from the vantage of the outdoor queue for Haunted Mansion.

Neither us nor the Johnsons have ever waited so long for the Haunted Mansion before - about 35 minutes - but it was in the middle of the day and the park was slammed. At least there was lots of cool stuff to check out in the queue as we made our way up to the ride.

(You smacked these instruments on this 'gravestone' and it played the sound of said instrument.)

Kris attempts a selfie in front of some creepy-looking organ (though you can't really see it.)

There it is.

(I'm a snappy dresser.)

It's cool reading the eulogies on the gravestones they have scattered about either side of the line as you work your way through the queue.

Wasn't as hot in the shaded parts of this line, but it was sooooo humid out.

This is more or less how I looked all this week.

Madame Leota

Inside the ride, finally.

The Haunted Mansion

Our PhotoPass pics from this ride. . .

This ride stops frequently when there's a ton of people in the queue: the 'doom buggies' never stop moving, and you have to enter and exit as they flow past in a continuous line, so if they have to stop the line in order to accommodate a slow-moving tourist, the whole ride pauses.) We stopped twice for a couple minutes, once here at the beginning of the ride - where the girls got some cool pics of the ride - and once up in the attic where you see the ghost of the bride who killed all her husbands.

The second time we stopped it was for about five minutes, and the girls stopped right in front of this chick.

After the ride, we hit up the professional photographer out front for some family pics (we weren't about to pass up decent pics from this angle, in front of one of our favorite rides.)

He had us hug and kiss each other, which is obviously something we do not do in public with our teenage daughters.

A more normal one.

(We made a friend on the ride.)

(Told the Johnsons to 'look scared,' but Erik looks like he lost his keys.)

It was starting to thunder at this point, coming in on the stereotypical Florida afternoon thunderstorm window, so we opted to walk across the thoroughfare from Haunted Mansion into the Harbor House for lunch. Kris and Erik put in our orders while the girls and I snagged a table, then she and Courtney got food to go from nearby Pecos Bill in Frontierland (both restaurants are order up, cafeteria-styled joints that are identical in pricing, but Courtney and Kris wanted food from Pecos Bill instead.)

Reunited, we finished up our lunches as it began pouring rain outdoors. We dodged a bullet.

After lunch, we took advantage of a break in the nasty weather to knock out our last must-do ride of the day: Pirates of the Caribbean.

Walking through Liberty Square.

Couple of idiots in the stocks.

The Hall of Presidents (we didn't do this one this year, I think it was closed.)

The Liberty Tree and Liberty Bell (not the real ones.)

Entering Frontierland. . .

This is a pretty lackluster area of the park. I don't anticipate it being like this for very much longer (kids aren't really into 'cowboys' and the Wild West anymore.)

Courtney told us Country Bear Musical Jamboree has a HUGE gay following now, since a 'bear' is a type of gay man (I guess.) I didn't ask for clarification regarding this.

We cut through that shaded bathroom area and emerged into Adventureland.

Kids were holding up decent, but the crowds were starting to get to everybody (this park is, by far, the most congested of all the Disney parks.)

Ella, having fun at Disney World.

A Top Three Ride for Brian J. Hough, folks.

Dude's been up there awhile.

The wait time said 40 minutes, but the line was out the door - it was going to be much longer. Since it was still thundering out, all the outdoor rides at the park were shut down for safety reasons, which meant that all the indoor rides were slammed with people looking for something to do.

Castle of the Dead (in case you were curious.)

Last time we did this ride, our experience was similar - it was storming out so everyone rushed to the indoor rides, and we ended up having to wait for an hour for a ride that usually has a wait time of 15 minutes or so.

The decor in the queue of this line is pretty cool, so you don't mind standing in line as much.

Those guys met bad ends.

After a half an hour, we reached the interior 'fortress' part of the queue.

This second half of the queue went a lot faster, due mainly to the fact that there was lots of stuff to check out as you waited in line (parts of the castle, etc.)

Passing by storerooms and dungeons. . .

Peering into closed-off side rooms as we worked our way through the line.

If someone fired this cannon - with, say, grapeshot - a lot of people would have their Disney Vacations ruined.

What's the point of facing your cannons into the interior of one's own fort? I'm no tactical genius, but I'd assume it'd make more sense to face your ordinance outwards, towards potential attackers.

When all was said and done, we waited about 65 minutes for this ride, which was out longest wait of the day, but the queue made it pass by pretty painlessly. That, and there wasn't a lot else to do for the time being - all the rides we still wanted to do were all outside rides, anyway.

Our group knew where the 'ride cam' was set up, so right before we reached it we all pretended to be fast asleep.

The Pirates of the Caribbean

Coming out of Pirates of the Caribbean, Erik saw that Jungle Cruise had just opened up from being closed (due to increment weather) and only had an unheard-of wait time of 5 minutes (it usually hovers around 45-60 minutes.) We quickly headed over that way, which was only a two-minute walk or so.

On account of it being a mid-tier ride (not one of our favorites, that's for sure) with stupidly long wait times most of the time, we hadn't been on since 2015.

This queue is usually filled up with people, but we all got there right away and so we skipped out on all of this. Well, most of us: Kris, Courtney and Alayna joined up with Erik, Ella and I a few minutes after we got into the line because Alayna was buying something from the Pirates souvenir shop for her boyfriend, Sebastian. They had to cut up through the line - that was filling up quickly, as more and more folks realized the wait time was so short - but folks were cool with it once they realized they were separated from their party.

Abby, however, got lost somehow between Pirates and the Jungle Cruise (who knows, it's Abby) and got into the queue when the wait time had grown to over 30 minutes - there was no way she was cutting through that many people to reach us. She called us freaking out so I told her to tell an employee at the start of the line that she was separated from her family (and to stress that she was a minor.) In the end, they escorted her right to the front of the line, where you board your boat for the ride, and she got to wait up there until we reached her.

Hey, I used to live right there. . .

With our entire party reunited, we set off into the 'jungle'. . .

I didn't include a Youtube video of this ride 'cause I took some pics of the highlights along the way (and to spare you from the horrible 'jokes' that are the trademark of this ride.)

Our skipper wasn't all that great. Her delivery of the scripted jokes left much to be desired.

Did they change this ride at some point in the past? I vaguely remember being on this ride decades ago and being squirted by these elephants. Like, 100% get wet on this ride. But the last few times I've been on it I haven't come close - water comes nowhere near the boat at all. Am I going crazy?

Some monkeys, spinning some vinyl. That's pretty rad.

Coming out of the Jungle Cruise, Courtney suggested The Enchanted Tiki Room, but the girls all shot that down right away (they said it was boring. . . as if we hadn't just come straight off one of the most boring rides in all of Disney World.) With the air outside so hot and heavy you could steam vegetables in it, Kris and Courtney decided to get the girls all Dole Whips nearby, then head straight for the newly-refurbished Tiana's Bayou Adventure (formerly Splash Mountain.) While they did this, I was going to try and hit up a bathroom, then rendezvous with them at the ride.

R.I.P., bro.

After powdering my nose, I left Adventureland and set off to find the others.

Frontierland (from outside of Pecos Bill's.)

(Formerly Splash Mountain.)

Clouds were starting to look a little scary out again - hopefully they wouldn't close down the ride after waiting in line for over a half an hour.

I had to duck under a few fences before I found the others, who were about five minutes into the line. . . with another 45 minutes or so to go.

This line was about as long as Pirates and the Seven Dwarfs rides, but we didn't mind 'cause we were running out of decent rides to do at this point in the afternoon. 

Getting close(r.)

The Johnsons

It'd be cool having one of these as your summer car. I'd paint it a different color, though (and install a decent sound system.)

Tiana's kitchen (I guess, who knows.) When they re-branded this ride ('cause Splash Mountain was deemed 'racist'), they basically kept the same the layout of the queue and ride intact, only changing the decor and music.

Tiana's Bayou Adventure

Gonna have to frame this one. . . .

After a few of us - Kris and the girls, really - got soaked, we headed back into Frontierland to check out the Haunted Mansion souvenir shop, Memento Mori.

We usually end up buying a few things here - lots of good Halloween decor for our annual parties have been purchased here over the years - but this year nobody in our group bought anything (it's all overpriced by about 30%.)

The rain was still holding off for the time being, but the clouds were definitely looking scary throughout the early evening.

Spotted an old guy rocking a coon-skin cap walking through Liberty Square. That's the coolest man in Disney World, everybody.

It was a little after five o'clock by this point, and the street lamps were starting to light up throughout the park.

We made it a point to take one,last ride around Tom Sawyer's Island on the Liberty Belle, since both the steamboat and the island itself were shutting down permanently in a week or two. Kids today don't know Mark Twain's books, and wouldn't be able to name characters like Tom Sawyer or Huck Finn if they had to - it was only a matter of time before Disney decided to scrap this whole area of the park and re-brand it (rumor is it's going to be after their Cars franchise, which is about the stupidest thing I've ever heard of.)

Imagine falling down into that spinning wheel thingy - you'd be crushed to death.

'Rivers' is a stretch. . .

Boarding the boat. We had to wait like ten minutes when we first arrived 'cause the boat takes these 20-minute laps around the island, and we originally showed up while it was around the far side.

The girls wanted to go to the very top floor of the boat, which I was more than cool with because that enabled me to take pictures on all sides without having to shoot over people. I was going to make it a point to take a lot on our lap around the island because it was going to be the last time any of us would ever see it.

My roommates all sat down because they were 'tired.' Not helping with picture-taking in the slightest, any of them.

We'd have some pretty cool views of The Haunted Mansion from the river as we floated by.

That yellow building off to the left used to be some kind of an ice cream parlor, but I haven't seen anything there in years.

Setting off down the river for our lap around the island

Some old mill (non-functioning, guys.)

That little floating raft ushers folks from a loading dock on 'the main land' to the island every few minutes. Since it's not the easiest place in the park to reach, this island has never been a huge draw for crowds. 

Here's a YouTube video of a guy filming a walking tour of the island: link.

Loading up folks in the raft (at left) to take them back to the main land (at right.)

I don't remember what half of these buildings are - we haven't gone onto this island in like fifteen years or so.

I remember really liking that fort when I was a little kid, though. I was big into forts as a child (and still am.)

Replica of a standard house in Farwell, Michigan.

That doesn't look structurally sound.

Watch out for injuns.

I kept getting hit with droplets of steam from these exhaust pipes (whatever the hell they're called.) That shit hurt.

From the top of the ship we were actually level with The Haunted Mansion as we circled back around the island, passing directly in front of it - this is probably the best pictures I've ever taken of this attraction..

The ship finally pulled up to the docking building after our twenty-minute victory lap around soon-to-be-extinct Tom Sawyer's Island, and we got off and headed left back into Fantasyland. It was now 6:00pm, and we were doing a last-minute circuit through the park, hitting up those rides with shorter wait times.

The Carousel (that we never went on this year.)

Kris requested a pic with the girls in front of PhilharMagic, her favorite ride (she made it a point to wear the ears themed on this ride today.) The wait time was only 5 minutes, so we just decided to hit it up while we were passing through.

Mickey's PhilarMagic

After giving Kris her PhilharMagic fix, we set off towards Ariel's Grotto for The Little Mermaid ride (the girls wanted to do it, and the wait time was only 10 minutes.)

Beast's Castle, off in the distance.

Hey, remember when Alayna puked in a garbage can here like twelve years ago? Wasn't that fun?

The rain had cooled off the temperatures a bit, so it wasn't as brutally hot out - that was awesome.  

Entering the ride (pretty sure this is Prince Eric's Castle, but I don't know the lore behind this movie very well.)

We basically walked on, it wasn't no 10-minute wait time at all.

The Little Mermaid

Up next was Goofy's Barnstormer, a smaller coaster in the kiddie 'circus' area of Magic Kingdom (forget what it's called.) Unfortunately, the wait time was 45 minutes long (for a 20-second ride, folks), so we said 'screw it' and left the circus area immediately. On our way out, the girls tried playing around with their MagicBands with some of those interactive, statues that stand scattered around the parks.

Coming back into Tomorrowland, one of the girls took a pic of these young women all wearing creepy, matching outfits.

Next up: The Carousel of Progress.

They randomly had some dance party light-and sound stage thingy set up that was blasting early-2000's club music (for some reason.)   

The bar must have been set pretty low back in the '60s. . .

It was mostly empty inside this 'ride,' if you can even call it that, but for some, inexplicable reason these two fat people (that you can see off to the right, there) sat directly next to Abby. Look at the THREE EMPTY ROWS of seats behind us - they could have sat in any one of those seats. But no, they chose the ones right next to complete strangers. 

Ready for one hell of a wild ride. . . (pfft)

Carousel of Progress

Our last ride of the day was Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin, which is one of the bottom-tier rides for Yours Truly, but Kris and the girls love it. 

The ride broke down for five minutes  - I shit you not - and me and Alayna's spinny-car (whatever you wanna call those things) was on an incline facing down the track towards other cars behind us. Folks' guns still worked during this time, so you could still shoot things and raise your score if you were actually facing stuff to shoot at (unlike us.) Erik racked up a huge score doing this.

Alayna and I didn't get our pic taken (or else Courtney didn't share it accidentally, who knows.) Our other two girls rode together, though.

Kris, dual-wielding some blasters.

Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin

I beat the Cannonball's ass on this ride. No mercy.

It was now 8:00pm, and the troops were exhausted. As crowds began to gather for the evening firework display, we slowly made our way back towards the park entrance.

The girls wanted to hit up a few more souvenir shops on the way out (shopping has been huge with the kids on this year's trip.)

Main Street U.S.A.

Kris wanted a selfie with all the lights in the background.

In another half-hour, this whole area was going to be PACKED with people - we were running out of time to get the hell out of there.

Another selfie (this time with the Castle.)

Erik and I waited outside on the street corner - where I was able to get a few, last pics of all the buildings lit up - while Kris and Courtney herded the girls out of that gigantic souvenir store (you know, that one that runs the entirety of the one side of Main Street U.S.A.)

The train (which we forgot to ride this time around. . . again) passing in front of the station on our way out of the park.

Abby took this sunset pic of the Grand Floridian off in the distance. Pretty impressive (her phone takes better low-light pictures than mine does.)

By 9:30pm, we had returned to Pop Century, set down our stuff in our rooms, and walked down to neighboring Art of Animation to give their cafeteria a whirl (it's a lot of the same food, but they have some different options available - like this Korean beef ramen soup Ella got for dinner.)

I was more tired than hungry, so I stuck to an old tried-and-true option that we can't get in Michigan (yet.)

After a very sleepy dinner, we stumbled back to Pop Century and prepared to turn in for the night (and Alayna took a pic of her crazy-ass nails to send to someone, 'cause social media.) We have another early morning tomorrow, where we have to assemble quickly and head off for another action-packed day of theme parkin'. Stay tuned for Epcot (feat. The Voigts), coming up next. 

- to be continued. . .