WDW Day 2

Let's get this trip report well and truly underway with the happenings on our first full day at WDW!

One advantage of travelling 4500 miles and numerous time zones means that with our bodies still being on UK time we all awoke early Orlando time.  This meant we were able to make the most of our first full day...

We started off with breakfast at Roaring Forks...and what else could I have but Mickey waffles...a staple of any good WDW vacation.  So by 7.30am we were sat outside eating our breakfast.

Views whilst eating our breakfast :)












We then headed, as is both a tradition and a must-do, to the Magic Kingdom; our first day park of choice. One of the great things about staying at the Wilderness Lodge, as we soon discovered, is it's proximity to the Magic Kingdom and what better way to start the day than with a boat ride...

So over Bay Lake and then Seven Seas Lagoon we went to get to our destination.  We arrived just after 8.30am and headed to the entrance via the 'bag check'.  Now all of us except Ethan (our eldest) had bags that needed to be checked, so we dutifully took the bags off our shoulders, opened all zipper compartments (we know the drill) and with a smile said 'good morning' to the security guard.  He checked our bags and as he was finishing Simon's bag he looked up at Ethan and said 'Are you with these people?'  Ethan looked nervous and mumbled (as teenagers do) 'yeah'..'how old are you?' asked the security guard..'15..' mumbled Ethan.  At this point the guard refused to give Simon his bag back instead passing it over to Ethan saying 'well then you better have this then as it's your job to carry it!'...we all laughed except Ethan who wasn't too sure if the guard was being serious or not, suffice to say Ethan didn't carry the bag!!

We then headed over to the new RFID Mickey 'turnstiles' just as the 'Welcome Show' was starting, which was a great way to start our first full day in the magic.  We then proceeded through using our 'Key to the World' cards and our trusty fingerprint; this was so much easier than the old turnstiles and made the whole getting into the park much smoother.

Now, the plan had been to get our Photopass+ sorted and then follow the Touring Plans guide for the day...but we got a little sidetracked.  Simon saw the signage for 'Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom' and we promptly went over to the Firehouse and signed up - I shall do a separate blog post all about playing this game as it really deserves a post all to itself.  Consequently we ended up playing the first few parts of the Sorcerer's game and sorting out our Photopass+ before heading off into the park.  I shall talk more about Photopass+ in a later post.

Without going into a lot of detail 'Touring Plans' allows you to plan the most effective way to get around a park and do all the rides that you want to do; so with a bit of thought before getting to the parks you can plan your day to make the most of your time.  So over the course of the day we managed to ride all of the following before late afternoon;

Pirates of the Caribbean
Splash Mountain
Haunted Mansion
It's a Small World
Peter Pan's Flight
Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin
Space Mountain
Tomorrowland Transit Authority Peoplemover
Dumbo the Flying Elephant
Under the Sea - Journey of the Little Mermaid
Mickey's PhilharMagic
Mad Tea Party

We even had time to catch the 'Celebrate a Dream Come True' parade, with a quick dash for cover at the end as the heavens opened!

A bit of rain didn't stop the parade :)

We also managed to squeeze in our first bit of shopping; some earrings for me and pins, lanyard, t-shirt and a bandana for our daughter.

During the late afternoon we decided to explore the new Storybook Circus area of New Fantasyland, and after a fun filled ride on Dumbo in the rain (I think we got wetter than when we went on Splash Mountain!) we wandered over to Big Top Souvenirs and in particular Big Top Treats...

Just some of the tasty treats on offer...so much choice!!

The smell was amazing the minute you walked into this fantastically themed shop, so much so that our two kids couldn't resist and had to buy something sticky and sweet and sickly!  Whilst the kids were buying their treats Simon had got talking to a couple of cast members working in the shop; they were so lovely wanting to know all about our vacation so far and chatting about working at the Magic Kingdom.  Then McKenna asked if we all liked marshmallows...well 'yes?'...she then said 'wait here I have something for you'.  A couple of minutes later she re-appeared saying 'only a minute or so they're being made fresh for you'..well the next thing we knew was McKenna and Morgan coming towards us holding four marshmallows on sticks; dipped in white chocolate and covered in red sugar sprinkles!

They were amazing and such a lovely surprise and so unexpected...yet another bit of Disney Magic at work.

Me with aforementioned marshmallow!!

We rounded the day off with dinner at Pecos Bill Tall Tale Inn & Cafe...because as everyone knows you just can't beat the fixin's bar here!  And as we strolled around the park as dusk fell we decided to have another ride on the Tomorrowland Transit Authority Peoplemover, one of our all time favourite rides.

Early evening on the TTA

We then took a leisurely boat ride back to the Wilderness Lodge, chatting to a lovely family from Toronto.  When we got back to the Lodge around 9.30pm our youngest decided that she'd like to take a dip in the pool.  So Simon and I grabbed a hot drink, sat by the pool surrounded by ducks whilst Molly splashed about and we listened to the sound of the Electrical Water Pageant passing by...perfect :)