Disney 2010: Day 4

We slept in some yesterday morning.  It was my birthday and we were going to spend it at Magic Kingdom with dinner at my favorite place in Epcot to top it off.  I think it was close to 10am by the time we got to the park gates, and the first thing we did was go to the Main Street Bakery for breakfast pastries.  From there we started our usual clockwise tour of the park.

The first thing we did was the Enchanted Tiki Room, because it’s something we’ve never done before.  As we were coming out, we found that there was no line for photos with Aladdin and Jasmine, so we ran over there for a quick couple of snaps.  Our next destination was Pirates of the Carribean, which was unfortunately closed due to “technical difficulties.”  It was starting to rain, but we decided to do Big Thunder Mountain Railroad anyway since there was no line.  No line for a reason, I tell ya — by the time our train got outside it was raining so hard we couldn’t keep our eyes open.  We got soaked, but we couldn’t stop laughing the whole way.  It was a good time.

We did some shooting at the arcade in Frontier Town and then visited the new Hall of Presidents.  The refurb was really nice.  The sound is better and the movie itself is beautiful to look at.  The did a very good job modeling President Obama, although I thought his shoulders were a tiny bit too broad.  From there we noodled around the Christmas store a bit before riding Haunted Mansion.  We grabbed Fastpasses for Peter Pan’s Flight, then rode It’s a Small World and had lunch at Pecos Bill’s while we were waiting.

After Peter Pan, it was Mickey’s Philharmagic (which was under refurb while we were here last year), then Snow White and Winnie the Pooh.  With the dark rides done, we paused for pictures with Ariel and to check out the Pooh Corner park across the way.

John surprised me after that by suggesting that we catch a ride on the teacups — because he just doesn’t do spinny rides.  After that we got photos with the Princesses.  I had wanted photos with the Fairies too, but the line was 45 minutes long and we didn’t have tons of time before we needed to get to Epcot.  So we rode the train around to Adventureland so that we could see if Pirates was open yet.  It had just opened when we got there!

After riding Pirates, we wandered around a bit; picked up a Diet Coke; decided to go find the wishing well I’ve heard about.  We walked all the way around the back of the Castle and found some things we’ve never noticed before, like Cinderella Fountain, and of course the wishing well, which we’ve apparetly walked past a million times, but just never seen.  Of course, I had to stop to make a wish, and threw my penny in just as the fireworks went off for the show that was happening at the front of the castle.  Can you guess what I wished for?

It was getting close to 5pm so we decided to start making our way towards the Monorail to Epcot.  In the circle around Walt’s statue, we ran into this street performer who was drawing Mickey Mouse on the pavement with water and a broom.  There are more pictures of the whole process in the photo gallery.

I also found a neat hat to try on.

We wandered through the shops; John tried on some watches he liked, and we looked at $37,500 jeweled replicas of Cinderella Castle.  And then John bought me a blown glass rose bud.  We didn’t want to risk breaking it, so we had it shipped to our resort; can’t wait for it to get here!  We also got to see the Flag Retreat for the first time ever — every day at 5pm, Magic Kingdom plays the Star Spangled Banner while bringing the large American flag down from the front of the park.  They also played Taps, God Bless America and a few refrains of Amazing Grace as they marched away with the folded flag.

From there, we were off to Epcot for dinner at Tutto Italia.  It was just as good as we had remembered it.  With the dieting we’ve been doing, it was pretty cool to see that we couldn’t finish the appetizer or our entrees; so we have yummy food sitting in the fridge right now.  I might have to dive into it for breakfast.  We didn’t want to stay with the crowds for Illuminations, so we started making our way out with a stop in Japan for sake and in France for a glass of wine for each of us.  All in all, a very good day, a very good birthday, and a very good anniversary.

Today we will probably start off with some mini-golf at Fantasia Gardens, and then spend the rest of the day at Epcot.  I keep hearing about the snow that’s happening at home and am starting to get a bit worried about what our driveway will be like when we get back — we have to get into it of course, and I’m supposed to be on a flight to Rome, Italy at 12pm the next day.

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