Disney Day One

[przed]

We had a bit of a bumpy start to our Disney vacation. We were taking the latest flight out of Toronto because we're travelling with the Sweetie's sister and her daughter and they were coming out from Vancouver. We were supposed to land at 11:30 p.m., which I'd reckoned would get us to the resort around 1. But then our flight was delayed, and our luggage took forever in Orlando, and we had to wait for more people to fill up the Disney bus, and the one bloke working the night shift on the reservation desk was lovely but Oh. So. Slow. By the time we got to our rooms, Ros was comatose and it was 3 a.m. Yikes!

Needless to say, we all slept in until 10, but then we managed to get to the Magic Kingdom for our first FastPass ride, the Tomorrowland Speedway. (Everybody gets three FastPasses a day that allow you to skip the lineup for a ride. This is a Good Thing.) The ride consists of little diesel race cars with a working steering wheel and gas pedal. I worked the gas and Ros steered. Two years ago, she constantly hit the metal guide that keeps the cars on the tracks. This year she managed to keep it straight for whole seconds at a time!

Then we waited in the normal line for the Barnstormer, a kids coaster that was fun, but incredibly short considering the 40 minute line up. Then it was a FastPass for the Flying Dumbos, which is adorably lame and still fun.

Ros and her cousin staged a mutiny and decided they didn't want to do Enchanted Tales with Belle, so we switched last minute to Aladdin's Magic Carpets, which is basically the Dumbo ride with carpets instead of elephants. Here's Ros giving a thumbs up for the carpets.


Then we headed back to our resort so we could take the boat to Downtown Disney, where we had tickets to Cirque du Soleil.

The Cirque show was as awesome as they always are. The clowns were fun, the trampolinists were amazing, and the trapeze artists were stunning. Of special interests to me was the chiselled, shirtless bloke who did the aerial silk routine. Let's just say he was very buff, and very, very good at what he did. He had this one bit where he was flying around the stage with the silk billowing behind him like wings, which was as visually stunning as he was. (He got an enthusiastic ovation at the end, and a few whoops from the appreciative women in the audience. I may have been one of those women. *g*)

We ended the evening with a relaxing swim in the resort pool under the moon and stars. Which was fantastic.

We're trying for a very early start tomorrow. I have a mad scheme to do something Ros has requested that wasn't in our original plans. I shall report back if it worked.

Comments

[dawnebeth.livejournal.com]

Fantastic! We just went to California Disneyland last month but it has been 14 years since I was at the Florida park. Have fun.

[przed.livejournal.com]

We were here two years ago with Ros, but now she's willing to do just a little bit more than she was then, which is fab. I've never been to Disneyland. Shall have to give it a whirl one of these years.

[callistosh65.livejournal.com]

It all sounds wonderful - well, except the airport delay. Hope your mad scheme works out!

[przed.livejournal.com]

The airport delay bit, but everything else has been fab. Well, except for the sunburn. I missed a wee spot with the sunblock on the first day and now it's vile. :(

[moth2fic.livejournal.com]

That journey can't have been fun!! But Ros is clearly now wide awake and enjoying herself!

[przed.livejournal.com]

Ros is having a fab time, as are we all. (The Sweetie seems to have drunk the Disney koolaid. Which is terrifying.)

[moonlightmead.livejournal.com]

I have never been to Disneyland, world, anything, and it does sound terrifically well-organised and huge fun. But Cirque du Soleil - oh, I am jealous! You've seen them before, then? It sounds fantastic, including the points of special interest, ahem.

By now you may be embarked on the mad scheme. Hope it works!

[przed.livejournal.com]

Cirque is brilliant. (We saw them two years ago in Toronto, since Ros was finally old enough to justify the expense of the ticket. The shows are all brilliant, especially the points of special interest. *g*

The mad scheme worked!

[bluespirit-star.livejournal.com]

I'm so glad you're having such a great time. We've never been to Disney World but have some lovely memories of visits to Disneyland. Mmm, makes me want to go again! :)

[przed.livejournal.com]

We're the opposite. We've been to World, not Land. We're definitely having a great time. One day left!

[msmoat.livejournal.com]

Hmm. There may have been an anonymous comment by me, although I don't see it now. LJ is acting very strangely! At any rate, what I think I said was: Disney! I love Disney! I know all the reasons why I shouldn't love Disney, and yet I do. *g* I've been to that Cirque du Soleil theatre! The show we saw, many years ago, sounds similar to the one you saw. Or, at least, I remember a similar guy… *g*

Yay for surviving the trip, which sounds horribly grueling. Yay for FastPass! Yay for flexibility! I do hope your mad scheme, whatever it is, works out! Enjoy yourselves!

[przed.livejournal.com]

Boo to LJ behaving weirdly.

You and I are of the same mind with regards to Disney. (I grew up loving Disney, but then did a research project in film school on their business practices. Yikes!) But I have to say, they know how to run theme parks and resorts, and for the second time running we've had a wonderful time here.

I think Cirque run the same show here continuously, so I wouldn't doubt you've seen the same aerial silk act, if not the same guy.

And as you've seen, the mad scheme worked out!

[draycevixen.livejournal.com]

Sounds like a good time is being had by all after a bumpy start. \o/

I love Cirque du Soleil and how it showcases such amazing physicality. Of course the Las Vegas version gets really... interesting. :D

[przed.livejournal.com]

The only reason I was to go to Las Vegas is to see all the Cirque shows. Someday...

[gritsinmisery.livejournal.com]

I hate the Orlando airport with "a passion quite intense" as Sir William Gilbert once penned (but in the American meaning of "quite," not the British one.) Flew through it coming home from Jamaica in January, and have sworn never to do so again, either as a destination or to change planes. Luckily we are currently only 20-hours' drive from Orlando, which I know you are not, so this vow is fairly easily kept.

Are you doing just Disney properties or will you go to Universal and Sea World as well?

[przed.livejournal.com]

Orlando airport is definitely not my favourite, though I still don't hate it as much as all the NYC ones.

We're just doing Disney this trip. Though I do want to do Universal some time, not to mention the Kennedy Space Center. (In my past life, I was an astrophysics student. *g*)

[solosundance.livejournal.com]

My sis is always entreating me to go and see Cirque de Soleil - now I understand why :)

[przed.livejournal.com]

You simply must go see Cirque when you can. I do believe you will enjoy it immensely. *g*

[golden-bastet.livejournal.com]

I have never been to any Disney (probably the only teen in my high school who didn't go), but I have had a lot of coworkers over time who have taken their kids (ad actually a high school friend who went there on her honeymoon). It sounds like a lot of people in one place... but they seem to have a good time! Although they also seem to need a vacation when they get back :D

And the kids love it!

I used to live in San Francisco, and I kept talking about going to see Cirque du Soleil, but I never made it.

What have I been doing all this time? It sounds like I just miss stuff, LOL.

[przed.livejournal.com]

Disney would not be my first choice of vacation spots, and it's definitely not at all restful, but we are having a great time.

I'd highly recommend seeing Cirque if you ever have the chance again. Their shows are pricey, but quite fab.

[sc-fossil.livejournal.com]

After a rough start, it sounds like you're finding your stride. Have fun!

[przed.livejournal.com]

We're definitely having fun!