Tim’s Family Trip Report – 03/03/2011 – Magic Kingdom

Day 2 saw us arrive at the Magic Kingdom bright and early for our 8:05 breakfast reservation at the Crystal Palace.  We booked this with the impression that the park wouldn’t open until 9:00, but they extended the park hours between the time we booked it and today.  Either way we had a great breakfast with Pooh, Eeyore, Piglet and Tigger (who actually didn’t stop by our table – we could have waited but elected not to).  Some pleasant surprises were the Breakfast Lasagna which was a bread pudding type dessert as well as the French Toast which was very similar to fried dough.

After breakfast we did a reasonable tour of the park – dictated by the two young nephews tolerance for the heat and walking.  We started with all of us riding Pirates of the Caribbean, and then 5 of us had one of the best Jungle Cruise rides we’ve had in quite some time – this time it was with Skipper Josh.  The rest of the day saw some of us go on Flying Carpets of Aladdin, Haunted Mansion, “it’s a small world”, Peter Pan’s Flight, The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, Mickey’s PhilharMagic, Dumbo the Flying Elephant, Space Mountain, Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin, and The Tomorrowland Transit Authority Peoplemover.

We saw the temporary projections for the Hitchhiking Ghosts at the Haunted Mansion – for what they are, they are excellent.  They wouldn’t be a sufficient long term replacement, but as a placeholder for the short term they work very well.  I think it’s time Disney considered something like this over at Expedition Everest.  I was able to take decent video of it, which you can see here:

I was interested in purchasing one of the new “retro” style zip up jackets, but I wasn’t thrilled with the layout.  One has “Walt Disney World” across the chest in large letters, and a subtle “40″ on the back for the 40th anniversary.  The other has a subtle “Walt Disney World” on the front but a large tacky “40″ on the back.  I’d actually prefer it not have any reference to the 40th anniversary.  While it’s a significant milestone it’s not so substantial that I feel obligated to pay tribute to it on my jacket.

We left the Magic Kingdom a little after 4 to head over to the “Welcome Party” that my cousin was having for her wedding guests.  The party was on a deck at the Shades of Green resort.  It was a cocktail hour of sorts and we were joined by Mickey and Minnie.  The rest of the party was very nice, and I enjoyed looking at the grounds of Shades of Green for the first time.  This where I saw a restaurant with the unfortunate name of Mangino’s

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