I have always wanted to spend Christmas day at the Magic Kingdom. Overall, I would say that it was a great experience and I’m glad I had it… but you have to hop on that monorail expecting something completely different than a regular day at Disney…
Before we left, I read about a few vacation disasters from travelers who attempted to get into the Magic Kingdom on Christmas day only to be told that the gates had closed at 10:00am because the park had reached capacity. With that in mind, the original plan was to get there as early as possible, but after such a late night last night, it occurred to us that waking before the break of dawn was probably not even a feasible idea if we didn’t want to be grouchy by noon… After actually very little consideration, we decided to take our time and not be devastated if we couldn’t get in. We arrived at the gate at 10:09am. We got in without any issues. Can’t say we had our prime, “first crazy people in the park long before it opens” usual parking spot, but we didn’t get turned away, either.
I have never seen so many people. We had to wait in a huge line just to board a very crowded monorail, and Miah had a little meltdown, which I’m sure made all the other families on the monorail wish they’d either gotten there early or slept in later… All of our other children have been enamored with the monorail ride, but Miah seems to have broken every other mold, so we should have expected that she would hate it.
When we got into the park, she was much happier, but I was suddenly a little unsure of which direction to go… which really never happens to me at Disney. After inching our way down Main Street USA, we made the traditional turn for Tomorrowland, snagged some fast passes for Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin, and jumped on the Carousel of Progress, where Miah decided that it would be an appropriate time to demand to nurse… loudly… I hedged for just a minute and then reason took over and I realized that they probably wouldn’t kick me off a moving ride with a baby, so I nursed her and she went to sleep. (As a side note, no one seemed to care. I am always just a little cautious after our St. Louis experience in ’10).
From there we made an attempt at eating lunch at Cosmic Ray’s Starlight Café. We did eventually get in, but apparently Disney has had to put some additional effort into seating people at their counter service establishments during the holidays, because our usual protocol, where either Phil or I sit down with the kids while the other orders, was not an option. We were not allowed to enter the seating area without food! We eventually figured this out, ordered our meals, and were seated. Although it seemed a little inconvenient at first, I realize, in hindsight, that without this guideline no one would ever find a table in this kind of crowd!
It was back to Buzz Lightyear after lunch, which Ian is also “never riding again”, because it wasn’t a movie… It has become obvious that he doesn’t remember anything at all about our last trip (which I didn’t expect him to, because he was just under age 2 at the time)… When we got off the ride, one of the cast members noticed Ian’s Happy Birthday button and had Goofy call him on the phone to sing him a birthday song. Definite plus, even though Ian didn’t “recognize the voice”!
We walked through the rest of Tomorrowland, kinda rolling our eyes at the lines, and finally ended up on the edge of New Fantasyland, where we caught a glimpse of Beast’s Castle and found ourselves wishing we could make another trip next year… The people of Disney are doing an excellent job concealing the construction, so you can’t see much, but there are certain landscapes that they couldn’t hide unless they built a 100 ft. fence… which they didn’t.
Then it was time for the Mad Tea Party, where Caleb volunteered to ride with Grace the super spinner and I reminded her that if she spun him too fast and he threw up on her, she’d have to get creative about clothing options. I rode with Seth and Ian, in the gently spinning tea cup… I don’t think Ian is ever riding that again, either, because I didn’t spin it to his liking…
We decided shortly after this that we’d better grab more fast passes if we wanted to cover any of the “big” rides, so we picked some up for Splash Mountain and proceeded to Adventureland, where we rode Pirates of the Caribbean and The Magic Carpets of Aladdin… neither of which (you guessed it), Ian is ever riding again… We then ran through the Swiss Family Treehouse, finally finding something that Ian liked. Oh, and he also liked the store at the end of the Pirates ride. He is now the proud owner of shackles and a sword. Should I be concerned?
We had just enough time to ride the Walt Disney World Railroad before our fast pass return time, so we did. This was enjoyable, as always, although we were hoping for a good view of New Fantasyland construction from the old Toontown Station, but they have done a good job of hiding what’s going on over there, too…
When we returned to Frontierland, I knew it was going to be a challenge convincing Ian to get on Splash Mountain. The final selling point was the singing and dancing animals. So… Caleb, Ian, and I boarded a boat and I listened to Ian tell me just how much he hates Splash Mountain every time we went down a hill. He did, indeed, love the animals, though.
When we exited, Phil informed me that Seth’s camera bag was missing. This set our entire family into a frenzy to cover all of the places we had been since he last remembered having it, before the fast passes expired for Phil, Seth, and Grace. In the end, we didn’t find it, they got on the ride, and we were told to go check the lost and found at the front of the park.
Dinner time at Tomorrowland Terrace (same routine as Cosmic Rays, except Phil left for the lost and found while I managed to order for all of us, push two strollers through the line, and pick up our multiple trays… thank goodness for older kids and helpful Disney cast members!) As we were eating Phil returned with the camera bag (amazing), and Miah proceeded to throw a cup of chocolate milk with so much force that it splattered all over the restaurant. Luckily, there was a mop nearby… which I used. We really needed to get some video of that for numerous reasons. Perhaps the best stunt of the day was when I walked back over the area where Miah had exploded the milk and slipped on it, nearly doing the splits and getting back up to my feet in record time in an attempt to avoid further embarrassment. I laughed so hard, I thought I might die, but the truth is I am a little banged up and more than a little bruised. I don’t think we can sue Disney for an accident we caused though… ha!
Due to the increasingly large crowds, we decided to forego the first parade and go straight to the Tomorrowland bridge to stake out our fireworks spot. We got close. The spot we ended up in was actually pretty good minus the people who thought it was OK to basically move our kids so they could have a better vantage point. I will never understand why people think they can show up right before show time and push out the guests who have been waiting for hours. Nevertheless, we were excited for the start of the show, and I think it was probably pretty good, but I don’t know for sure, because just as the music began and Tinkerbell took her flight, Miah started throwing up with gusto… It took me probably the first 1/3 of the show to get that under control, but the rest was pretty decent. This was the special Holiday Wishes fireworks show, which did not… in any way… come close to Wishes, but was a festive beginning to the end of our evening…
I put it that way, because after the fireworks, we moved to a good spot for the Main Street Electrical Parade. This was especially exciting for me, because it is the parade that Disney was running when I visited as a child. Our kids fell asleep on the sidewalk and missed pretty much the whole thing… but I loved it anyway…
Reason says that you don’t attempt to leave the Magic Kingdom with thousands upon thousands of other people, so since the park was open until 1:00am, we went back to Tomorrowland and rode everything we could. The Peoplemover as well as Space Ranger Spin were walk-ons, and Tomorrowland Indy Speedway was only a short wait. Phil and I were taking turns with the kids who wanted to ride, because Miah was still sleeping, but at some point she woke up, so we all boarded the People Mover again. Since there was no one in line, we asked if we could stay on to ride a second time, and the operator allowed this at 12:53am. Not long into the second ride, Seth started throwing up over the edge… Have I mentioned that it’s not any fun to be sick on vacation?
It was, however, very fun when we realized that it was now Ian’s birthday! (Earlier he exclaimed that it was his “birthday eve”, which I thought was pretty clever). Not every kid gets to ring in their birthday at the Magic Kingdom, and he was quite pleased!
We finally left a little after park closing time with the few people who remained. What kind of crazy people stay this late? Yeah… mostly us…
L.
Day 4 Photo Count: 270
Some Photo Highlights:
This Pretty Much Sums it Up for Ian
Every Kid Wants to Touch Those Chains!
Train Ride...
That's My Boys...
Merry, Magic Christmas!
