(Note: we didn’t take nearly as many pictures today as we did yesterday. Sorry to the Grandmas.)
Amazingly enough, everyone woke up feeling quite chipper for Disney Day 2. It’s amazing what a good night’s sleep can do to combat bone-deep exhaustion.
Once we were in the park, we speed-walked to Tomorrowland to hit Space Mountain. No time to take pictures of anything. The three older kids and I rode Space Mountain while Saint Jonathan and the twins rode the People Mover. We also tried out the parent swap, which is basically the most beautiful thing ever.
Then, while Jonathan and Clara did Space Mountain, the four younger kids and I hit the people mover. The boys were super dubious about it at first (they were certain that it would be boring) but in the end they loved it. They particularly enjoyed peering into the different rides in Tomorrowland: space mountain and the Buzz Lightyear ride, etc. When we got off, they even begged to go again.
The timing worked out perfectly: Clara and Jonathan had just gotten off space mountain, so we all rode the people mover together.
We then decided to ride the Carousel of Progress, after hearing about it on the People mover. It is definitely a little dated, but it was pretty amazing to sit for twenty minutes in a comfy chair with AC. Also, it’s worth noting that when the carousel got to the 40’s, Clara leaned over to Jonathan and asked “is this when you were a kid?” 😑
We had a quick lunch and then decided to split up again.
At that point, the only major “thrill” ride that we hadn’t ridden was the Seven Dwarf’s mine cart ride. However, its wait was easily the longest of any of the rides in the park. But in the end, we decided that long lines shouldn’t stop us from trying things at least once.
So we split the party and Jill and the older kids settled in for a long wait in line. St. Jonathan and the twins rode Winnie the Pooh and the Little Mermaid rides.
After that, we got back together and hoofed it over to the Spooky Cave™ just in time to catch our Lighting Lane time slot. And we also hit the Tomorrowland speedway a couple more times. Cause the kids love it, and the wait is reasonable.
We then went to Frontierland and rode Big Thunder Mountain (thanks to Lighting Lane, we didn’t even have to wait that long!).
Jonathan and Logan rode first, then swapped with Jill, Jonas, and Clara. While While the second group rode, Logan asked if they could get popcorn. So Jonathan handed Logan his credit card and after a brief role-play, sent Logan to buy it by himself. He returned after having successfully purchased a re-fillable bucket. According to Logan, when he got to the front of the line, it went down like this:
First, Logan knocked on the kiosk to get the worker’s attention.
Logan: “I’d like some popcorn please”
Cashier: “What size?”
Logan: “A bucket! Because I’m going to share!”
And bam. He received a bucket of popcorn.
He was very proud.
And it’s a good thing he got the re-fillable bucket because when Jonas, Clara and I returned, it had all been devoured. Waiting in lines does tend to build up one’s appetite, after all.
But popcorn is not Dole Whip. And after a long day of waiting in lines, we decided that was the next objective. So we found a shady spot and each ate our own lovely serving of Dole Whip. (One thing to note is that Disney’s mobile ordering system is really REALLY slick. At around 4:00 PM in the afternoon, the wait time for Dole Whip is over a hour long. So while we were in line at the Spooky Cave™, we put in our order to two hours in the future. And then voila! It was ready when we were. So beautiful)
After being revived by Dole Whip, we tried out the Pirate Adventure Treasure Hunt at the edge of Adventure Land. The kids managed to get through one of the maps, (about 20 minutes) but we gave up on the second map because nerves were starting to fray (e.g. “no, I want to hold the map!” “How come HE gets to scan the card?!” etc.). Still a cool concept and it’s pretty neat that it’s so well hidden, in plain sight. It really does feel like a secret insider thing.
We had learned out lesson the night before about getting in position early for the fireworks. So today, we went to the main square and staked our claim early.
My brother and his wife Kristin live in Orlando and they have season passes to Disney, so they met up with us on the main square. It was fun to hang out with them. And since they have passes, they were cool just hanging out and chatting with us for a bit before they had to head out.
So, funny story: through a clerical mistake, Jonathan actually purchased one more two-day pass than we needed. Next week, Jill’s sister Jessica is going to come with us to Universal Studios, but Jonathan accidentally bought a ticket for her for both parks.
So, he wandered down to the main office and asked if there was anything we could do about the situation. In the end, we were able to split the one two-day ticket for one person into two one-day tickets for two people! There was an up-charge (of course), but it meant that Jill and Jonathan could each go for one more day to another park besides Magic Kingdom. (Spoiler: that was an AMAZING idea).
After working through all that, Jonathan picked up the family food order from Cosmic Ray’s Starlight Cafe (we love Cosmic Ray’s Mac and cheese and Chicken strips, especially) and made his way back to the family waiting for the fireworks.
The fireworks were amazing and this time we got to see the castle as well. The twins fell right asleep as soon as the show started. Poor dears. They have been worn out this trip.
After fireworks, we made our way to the exit, only to see a line to the ferry easily three times longer than the one the previous night. And it was far more of a mob-style line, so if you didn’t stay on your guard, you might get lost in the press.
So after a quick conference with a helpful Disney sign holder, we re-routed over to the boat launch for the Polynesian and Grand Floridian Resorts. The line there was much more orderly, which meant the kids could sit down and we weren’t as stressed about losing them.
The resort launch dropped us about a half mile away from the ferry terminal and we walked back to our van through the tiki torch-lit paths of the Polynesian Resort. In the end, it was probably about the same time as the ferry, but it was a whole lot more comfortable for our family.
It was Logan’s turn to collapse in tears on our walk toward the parking lot. But luckily we are tough and luckily we had gotten amazing parking again.
We got home at around 10:30 after another 20,000 step day.
It was an amazing adventure!
But, we are also definitely looking forward to a few days to relax.
