May 2011 Walt Disney World Trip Report - Day 8

Day 8 - 5/28 – Magic Kingdom & Yehaa Bob

This was our “Fantasyland at Rope Drop” day, also known as the “Dumbo Dash.” We arrived at the Magic Kingdom in time for the Welcome Show, counted down with Mickey and quickly headed down Main Street U.S.A., through Cinderella’s Castle and into Fantasyland to the Flying Dumbos. They were completing a test run when we arrived.

We got onto the first cycle. I rode with DD while DW and DGM rode together.

 I like to try to get a good picture of the castle from atop the Dumbos. This one didn’t turn out too badly.

From Dumbo, we headed over to Pooh. The time stamp on this picture is 8:10am (park opened at 8am today) – so you can appreciate just what it’s like, even on a busy weekend like Memorial Day Weekend, to arrive early. I always tell people that we’ll ride more rides in the first hour than we will the rest of the day. I also reassure them that after that first hour, which is a little “purposeful” (rather than “hurried”), we’ll have the whole rest of the day to amble about.

We had ridden Pooh earlier in the week with FastPasses, but going through the standby queue we were able to check out some of the new interactive features.

This is the new Honey Wall that is fun to play with. I tried not to think about how many grubby hands had been touching this thing before me. Oooops, too late.

After Pooh we rode Peter Pan, and coming out we saw Mary Poppins all by herself, so we grabbed a quick photo.

I had never noticed the Sword in the Stone before, even though I knew about it and saw it in so many trip reports. After posing with Mary Poppins, it was right around the corner, so we each gave it a shot. DD rooted DGM on, but alas, no magic for us.

We rode Snow White (soon to be gone to make way for the Fantasyland Expansion) and then headed over to the Mad Hatter’s Tea Cups. We usually all ride together, and when DD asks to ride again, I bravely take the bullet. This time, with DGM along, all four of us squeezed into a tea cup. There’s always joy and smiling before the ride starts.

…but as we start spinning faster and faster, for people over 10, that joy starts to turn into… something else…

 …and as DD screams to make it go faster, all of the adults start to wonder how much longer this ride goes. DD laughed and laughed when I showed her this picture. She screamed, “Gramma looks seasick!” Gramma confirmed that she did indeed.

From the Tea Cups, it’s on to Tomorrowland to ride Buzz. We can usually ride 3-4 times without any wait at this time of day. And since none of us particularly care for Space Mountain, that’s pretty much it for the first crucial hour. We stopped on the Tomorrowland Bridge to get some family pictures.

For some reason, the PhotoPass photographer asked us all to make muscle arms, so we did. I expected that there would be some sort of enhancement that would make sense of this pose, but there wasn’t. And so 50 years from now our great grandchildren will wonder why their ancestors were making muscle arms at Disney World, and conclude that it was because of the greenhouse gases.

There was one enhancement which came out great. The photographer asked DD to jump, and this was the picture that resulted. It really looks like she’s being lifted up by the balloons, don’t you think?

Our next destination was BTMRR for the rootinest tootinest ride this side of the Pecos, but on our way through the castle hub area we spotted the Dapper Dans who had a very special song for the birthday girl. I missed the very beginning of it…

On to BTMRR. I always try to get this shot with the castle in the background. It doesn’t seem so small in person, but in the pictures it always looks so far away.

DD and I rode a couple of times while DW and DGM waited. After that it was time for an ice cream break, so while we waited for the Pirate Tutorial to begin, we enjoyed Dole Whips and Mickey Bars.

Before the show, Jack Sparrow’s assistant Mac came out and entrusted DD with the important job of standing on the rope so it didn’t move.

Later DD was conscripted into Jack Sparrow’s crew.

After the Pirate Tutorial we rode Pirates of the Carribean and, in keeping with the nautical theme, headed to Columbia Harbor House for lunch. I don’t have it in my notes, but I remember it took a really long time to get our food. It was about noon by the time we were finished so we got on board the Liberty Belle and took a ride.

Sort of like Titanic, but also, not really at all like that.

Having just finished the first three Kingdom Keepers books, we were on the lookout for this area. It figures prominently in a few different parts. I tried to convince DD that those were real people and she almost bought it, but really didn’t believe me.

This is kind of how we all felt about halfway through the ride.

 We were pretty tired by this point, so we headed back to the hotel. We bid a fond farewell to DGM, did some swimming and took a nap.

Dinner plans were at Grand Floridian Café. I don’t think I’d ever want to stay there, but the lobby at the Grand Floridian is beautiful.

 There was also a jazz band playing – the Grand Floridian Orchestra or something like that. While we waited for our table we listened to the music. Dinner itself was OK. I would have been more disappointed if we had ben paying out of pocket. It wasn’t so much that anything was *wrong*, but the service was really slow (almost indifferent) and the food was just OK.

From the Grand Floridian we drove over to the Port Orleans to catch the Yehaa Bob show. We had heard a lot about it but it had never made our agenda before. It was a real blast! It’s a family-friendly sing-a-long. He gets the kids up on the stage a few times, and also has the adults up there too. I believe this was “The Green Grass Grows All Around.”

We’re planning on going back again in October. After the show Bob poses for pictures with everyone. He autographed a photo for DD.

And then posed for the family picture.

His first set starts at 8:30 and goes until 10. After the show we headed back to the hotel for our final night. Up next, nostalgia ain’t what it used to be.