May 22, 2012

Chapter 25
The World of Yesterday, Tomorrow, and Fantasy

(Originally posted August 4th, 2012)

We started off the morning with some more coffee maker oatmeal. Mousekeeping didn’t bring us more coffee cups the day before though, so we had to make it in the water glasses…

It was another rope drop day and this time we were heading back to the Magic Kingdom!

We had never made it to the Magic Kingdom for rope drop before, so we’d never gotten to see the Welcome Show. This time, our bus pulled up with about 5 minutes to spare, and we had just made it past the gates when the mayor and his merry band of dancers came out.

What a great show! We had seen videos of it, but there’s nothing like being in that environment and being welcomed “to the place where dreams come true.” Then the train comes around the track with all the characters and the lucky family of the day.

I miss the welcome shows at all the other parks. We had seen all of them before they were discontinued, and they just added another touch of Disney magic to rope drop. Maybe someday they’ll be replaced. We raced down Main Street with the rest of the crowds.

We were among the front of the pack of people starting in Fantasyland.

The land was practically empty as we came around the side of the castle.

Our first stop, which had no wait at all, was Peter Pan’s Flight.

We sadly waved goodbye to Nana (I just don’t get why she can’t come with us) and we journeyed into Neverland. I love this ride. It’s the epitome of the classic Disney dark ride. I can hardly believe it only lasts two minutes because it feels like you travel so far. Fantasyland is filled with so much pure magic, and flying in our pirate ship was a great way to start our day.

Next up was Snow White’s Scary Adventures.

This ride had less than a week left before it closed, so we had to be sure to ride it a couple times before it was gone. We had actually bade farewell to Snow White on our last trip, almost two years prior, because we already knew as of then that it was set to close. They really kept it open as long as possible though, and we were glad for a final chance to go on it again.

Fantasyland was still eerily empty after our first two attractions.

We thought about going on Dumbo before the line got long, but by the time we reached Storybook Circus, it was already at 15 minutes, and since we had done it on the first day, we didn’t want to wait again. We did, however, get another peek over the wall at New Fantasyland construction.

We rounded the corner out of Fantasyland and into Tomorrowland, and saw our next ride, The Tomorrowland Speedway.

The line for this is always a little too long considering the ride that it leads up to, but at this time of day it was only about ten minutes.

Tracy is always our driver on this ride. She’s a speed demon.

While this ride is fun, it can’t hold a candle to Autopia in Disneyland. We loved how the ride there went through all different fun environments, like through a forest and by the water.

We pulled back into the station after our ride.

Since we hadn’t gotten any Fastpasses yet, we went over to Space Mountain. I wasn’t planning to ride again this trip—didn’t know if my neck could handle it—but Tracy got one for later.