I have a new work schedule coming up which will result in me
working a Monday-Friday schedule now, and getting weekends off. I
was hoping to take Steven to Walt Disney World one last time on one
of my last weekdays off, but I just couldn't fit it into my
schedule. We settled on a weekend date, and Drew and Jayden joined
Steve and I. Jay had a soccer game in Lutz at 10:00am, so we
definitely weren't getting an early start today. We ate lunch at
home before heading towards Orlando, with the Magic Kingdom being
today's destination. Once we arrived at the Transportation and
Ticket Center our first decision was how to make the trip to the
park. The kids wanted to ride the Monorail, but we settled for the
Ferry to avoid the line and shorten our wait. Once we arrived at the
park, we had to stop to pick up Steve's wheelchair and to add Drew
and Jay to Steve's Disability Access Service (DAS) pass so that we
could make our first reservation, for the
Seven Dwarfs Mine Train. We had some time to kill before we
could use our pass, so we headed to Fantasyland to take in
Mickey's PhilharMagic, as the kids hadn't seen the new Coco
scene that had been added. From there we travelled over to
Tomorrowland to a spin on the Tomorrowland Speedway. Drew and
I got our own cars, while Steve chose to ride with Jay. While taking
our turn around the track we also got a view of the rapidly
finishing Tron Lightcycle Run ride, which seems like it still
has forever to go until its Spring 2023 opening!
After our trip around the speedway, we used out DAS pass for the
the
Seven Dwarfs Mine Train. Drew got the honor of riding with
Steve, while Jay and I got the other seat. I've said it before and I
will probably say it again, but although I enjoy this roller
coaster, it is way too short - especially factoring in the wait
required.
The next thing we needed to decide on was what to eat. We settled
on dinner at the Pinocchio Village Haus as they had enough variety
that each of us could find something that we would eat. Steve and I
chose the chicken strips, while Drew went for a meat flatbread pizza
and Jay decided on a pepperoni flatbread. The kids seemed to enjoy
their pizzas, though I wasn't wowed by the chicken. Once dinner was
complete, it was back to the park we go!
Our next stop was Splash Mountain, for another one of Steve's DAS
passes. We were just about to be seated when Jay and I caught a
whiff of something rancid. We finally figured out what it was...
someone had made a mess in their pants but failed to say a word to
anyone about the need to use the restroom beforehand or that the
"accident" had even occurred. We wound up completing our ride, but
had to immediately head to a family restroom to clean up afterward.
The cleanup process took way more time than desired, which caused
us to be way later than I wanted in my efforts to see the Disney
Enchantment firework show. We had to settle for a location along the
side, between Casey's Corner and The Crystal Palace. This meant that
although we could see the fireworks, they weren't centered on the
castle at all, and we could barely see any of the projections. I was
pretty bummed by this turn of events...
After the fireworks show we headed off towards our next DAS pass,
which was the Jungle Cruise. We had a bit of time before we
could get in line, so Drew and Jay took Steve on The Magic
Carpets of Aladdin in Adventureland. I opted out of this ride
with the hope of taking pictures, but it was too dark to focus on
them as they flew past me high in the air on the magic carpet. We
finally made it to the Jungle Cruise, which is a different
experience at night. We thought about making one more pass, as we
had some time left before the park closed, but we decided to call it
a night. We still had a long drive home tonight, and for some of us
it has been a long day of being away from home. |