Vacation Day 24: Magic Kingdom/Spectromagic

Today it was back to the Magic Kingdom for more kid-friendly attractions. Once again, we managed to get ourselves there at park opening. Amazing! We went straight for Tomorrowland, and one of it’s most popular attractions, Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin (aka Astro Blasters at Disneyland). This is one of the boys’ favorites. Aiden was asking for it by name. Even Jeremy likes to aim and shoot the little laser guns!

Next we headed to another often crowded choice, the Astro Orbiter. This one gets a really long line later in the day because it loads really slow, and they only let up two elevators full of riders at a time. This version of the Astro Orbiter is really cool, because it’s up high it really gives the illusion that you’re flying. Aiden is really into it. He kept raising the ship high and making it low again, up and down. He was very proud of being able to steer the ship. Andrew said he had to steer his ship with his feet, because the force of the ride was shoving Jeremy into his stomach and he couldn’t move. :-)

Our last stop in Tomorrowland was the Indy Speedway. Again the kids drove, and again it was a bumpy ride! They pretty well just play with the wheel, not attempting to follow the road in any way. This time we were prepared, tho. We held onto the kids so they didn’t go sliding around.

We walked over to nearby Toontown, touring Mickey’s house. His home was all decorated for Christmas, complete with a tree and stockings over the fireplace. We got to meet Mickey at the end of the tour, in the Judge’s Tent. It was fun to see the big cheese so close, and to say hi!

Our next plan was to meet some more characters in the Toontown Fair, but the wait was 40 minutes, so we opted against it. Instead, we took the kids to the Toon Park to run off some steam. They were itching to just run around and play. It was a cute little area with rubber floors and slides and cartoon houses to climb around. They didn’t want to leave! So we lured them out by showing them Donald’s Boat next door.

They enjoyed steering the boat and being the “captain”. They wanted to play in the water, but that required a swim diaper, which we didn’t have. So we just headed over to the kid’s roller coaster instead, Goofy’s Barnstormer.

The Barnstormer is one of Aiden’s favorite rides. He’s just the right height to get on, and it’s one of the “big kid” type of rides, so he’s really proud to be on it. He was so brave! There were other kids in line older than him who were nervous, but he was so excited, he was already planning his next ride after the one we were in line for.

We took the Disney Railroad back to Main Street so we could see if the Barbershop could give the boys a haircut. They only take walk-ins. They don’t take your name or anything when you get there. You just stand in line and wait your turn. This can be tricky, because it’s hard to time when the line will be short. We lucked out. There were only a couple kids in front of us, then it was our turn. Jeremy went first. He usually cries and cries when he gets his haircut, but the ladies were really good with the kids, and distracted them very well. They had toys and lots of stickers, and calm happy voices. It worked like a charm. Jeremy even agreed to colored gel and sparkles in his hair when he was done!

Aiden was quite a trooper. He didn’t want to go, but did anyway. And he sat very still and did everything the stylist asked. So HE ended up with even sideburns, unlike brother, who kept moving at the last second. He was a happy camper after all, but wasn’t into the color gels. Maria was really surprised, because he always wants everything to be red like Spiderman. But not today. He simply said, “no, I don’t like that”, and “I don’t want sprinkles”, and that was that.

By the time the haircuts were done, the boys were tired and cranky and we needed to head home. We met up with Vavo, Vavu and Uncle Howie, who had been touring seperate today (doing more adult activities), and took the Monorail home.

Andrew and Uncle Howie took the cars in for maintenance during naps, then we headed back to the parks in the afternoon. Our first stop was to pick up FastPasses for the Jungle Cruise, then go on Pirates of the Caribbean while we waited for the FastPasses to become eligible. Pirates is such a fun ride, and the newly redone version of it makes it even better. The colors are more vibrant, and the addition of Captain Jack Sparrow is a nice one!

We went back to the Jungle Cruise for our tour of the many Jungles of the world next. Our tour guide was funny, and there were some different parts than on the Disneyland one. We went in a spooky temple with snakes and spiders and treasure. That was kinda scary in the dark (it was dark by the time we got on the ride)!

Our final ride for the day was the Country Bear Jamboree. This is something that some of us had never experienced before. And it was a lot better than expected! It had a cute sense of humor, and catchy music. It was a nice little show and the animatronic bears had a lot of personality.

We had to leave Frontierland to go stake out our spot for the SpectroMagic parade. This is a parade of lights that runs in the evening after dark. We wanted to sit at the entrance to the park, in front of the restaurant where we had reservations for dinner. We got a spot right where we wanted, and sat ourselves down for the parade. The SpectroMagic parade was really impressive! It had SOOO many floats. It’s so fun how the kids know who the characters are now.

By the end of the parade, we were ready to eat. It was already 8:30! We had dinner at Tony’s Town Square, an Italian restaurant themed after the one in Lady and the Tramp. It was really cute theming, but by then we were pretty tired. Maria didn’t even take one picture. And Jeremy fell asleep mid-meal once again, this time on the padded bench.

We ended our day carrying Jeremy out of the park, onto the Monorail, off the Monorail, onto the Parking Tram and into the van, with him sleeping the whole time. Poor little guy. Good thing tomorrow is a rest day! By the time we got home, both kids were snoring in their carseats!

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The best part of day 24 was SpectroMagic Parade, getting a lot done, the weather!
The worst part of day 24 was being tired, sore bodies, crowds leaving in droves at the end of the evening.
What we learned on day 24 was Tony’s Town Square is an excellent place to dine, the Country Bear Jamboree is pretty cool!
The weather on day 24 was nice and cool, thank goodness!
Our character sightings on day 24 included Pluto, Mary Poppins, Bert, Scrooge McDuck, Jiminy Cricket, 2 Cinderella Mice, Timon, Rafiki,
The crowd level on day 24 was nice and light in the morning, a little heavier in the evening.