Or perhaps the not so Magic Kingdom today. We started our day a little before 9 am. While the day turned out well, it started very poorly. Several rides were out of service for a good part of the day. At one point, all of the rides in Frontier Land, plus Pirates of the Caribbean and the Haunted Mansion, were all out at the same time. On top of that, it was a rainy day. Still, it must be the Magic Kingdom because we ended up having a good day.
We first went to Mickey’s PhilharMagic Show. It was a good show but did not require the fast pass we had selected for it. The 3D and other effects were very good. We had some time before our next Fast Past so we tried to go to the Haunted Mansion. It was temporarily closed so we went to Splash Mountain instead.
The wait was only about half an hour to get on to Splash Mountain. We got about a minute into the ride and it broke down. We waited almost as long to get off the ride as we did waiting to get on.
Walt Disney World has fast pass access to almost every ride. A fast pass lets you go to the front of the line to get on more quickly. It is both a blessing and a curse. You can usually only get a few fast passes a day. Trying to decide where to use a fast pass can be a complex process. This is especially true when the solution to rides not functioning is to hand out fast passes. We received an extra fast pass for our troubles. By now, it was almost noon and we had only been to one place. It was time to go to Space Mountain to use our Fast Pass.
After Space Mountain, we decided to get some food. This was when we discovered the cost of the food. You are allowed to bring food and drink into the park if you want to carry it with you all day. We decided we would buy the food rather than carry it with us each day. We ended up buying one chicken tender meal and sharing it, which actually worked out fine.
While we were eating, we discussed the frustrations of the morning. We also discovered how easy it is to get upset about things when you are really in a great place having a good time. We need to remember to be thankful for what we have, rather than being upset by the things we do not have.
After lunch was when all the rides in Frontier Land stopped operating, including Country Bear Jamboree. Shortly after that it began to rain. We had several fast passes at this point because of the rides that were out, so we started using fast passes and finding shorter lines to maximize the number of rides we could try. We went to Buzz Lightyear, Space Ranger twice.
We saw the Carousel of Progress and we went on the people mover.
We went to Space Mountain a second time. After the ride, Marlene said that we would not go on Space Mountain again that day because her ribs hurt a little bit.
By that time, most rides were operational, so we rode Splash Mountain again. This time we actually got to complete the ride. We then rode Pirates of the Caribbean a couple of times.
We went to the Hall of Presidents, Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, Its a Small World, and Peter Pan’s Flight, as well. With all of that activity we were hungry again, so we got a large cinnamon roll to share. It was large and tasty.
We wrapped up our day at the Magic Kingdom with the fireworks display. It is an amazing fifteen minutes of music, lights, fireworks and surprises.
The twelve hours at Magic Kingdom turned out to be a great day.