Mic & Family - August 2007

Who: Anderson family, Mic & Jeff, Sean (12) and Sarah (9)
When: August 2007
Trip: Cocoa Beach and Kennedy Space Center, 5 nights at Disney, followed by a 7 night Magic for Less group cruise out of Miami, and then 3 nights of free dining at Disney.

DAY 5:
Typhoon Lagoon and The Pirate and Princess Party at MK

Since we knew it would be a late night, we slept in a little bit and didn't get to Typhoon Lagoon til about 10:30am. We parked further out than our last visit and it was much more crowded. It was $12.95 to rent a locker, with a $5 deposit returned when you returned the key.

We found DD a cute new swim suit for $28 (they went up from there) as her suit turned out to be a bit see through when it was wet and totally not appropriate on a little girl (or big girl for that matter!).

There were lines waiting to go on the lazy river, and while I won't say people were fighting over tubes when other's got out, they weren't always being very friendly about it either. We played in the wave pool for a bit, then went to an entrance to the lazy river further down and got some tubes without too much wait. We floated about halfway around and then DH and DS hopped off to go and do water slides. DD and I floated a bit more, and then got off by Typhoon Tillies for some lunch.

She got her's in a sand pail (cute!), it was $5 something and included a drink. My meal was $5 something as well, alas no drink or sand pail included. After lunch she wanted to hit the wave pool again (she said she didn't feel like doing water slides today, and since I am not a big water slide person myself it was fine with me). After being bodily flung around by the waves 5 times or so I told her I was going to get out and she needed to move up a bit. We ran into DH and DS coming in and DS took DD back out for a bit, DH joined them for a few last waves and then we gathered our stuff and headed out.

We had an ADR at 4:30 pm at The Liberty Tree Tavern as we wanted to get into the park with our party tickets, but wanted to eat before the party actually started. We got showered and my own personal Jack Sparrow donned his pirate gear, while my princess put on her blue Cinderella dress, with her gold tiara and her pink and white pirate head sketchers. Even a princess needs to have comfy feet when walking around a theme park.

Will call had a bit of a problem finding our ticket order (yes I left the order # at home and we had to pick them up at will call since we got a DVC discount on them), but the CM was able to pull it up finally by using the credit card we paid on. Upon entering we got our wristbands right away as well as a black velvet type booty bag. CUTE! We had to boogy to get back to LTT in time but we made it.

We had a fabulous "thanksgiving" type meal and were visited by Chip, Dale, Minnie, Goofy and Pluto. The characters were playful and lingered a bit to play and tease with us all. It is getting a bit painful to pay adult meal prices for DS who eats like a bird, I think we will be doing more counter service until his "teenage boy" appetite kicks in. The prices we have paid on our table service meals alone makes me really miss that dining plan, but we went with a room only as we had tickets left from last year (maxed them out daywise and option wise and added no expiration). I really think the dining plan is a huge draw for the packages, besides the great discounts that come out on the packages. J

After dinner we headed back up front to get a Princess and Pirate party map and schedule.

Entertainment listed:

• Disney's Enchanted Adventures Parade (starts in Frontierland) 8:15pm and 10:30pm
• Magic, Music and Mayhem Fireworks Spectacular 9:30pm
• Dream Along with Mickey Show 7:45pm, 10:05pm, and 11:15 pm

Pirate Coves and Princess Courts to Explore:

New Tortuga (in Adventureland):

• Capt Jack Sparrow's Pirate Tutorial
• Rusty Cutlass Pirate Band (Music)

Jasmine's Court: (in Adventureland)

• Aladdin's Royal Guard Recruitment (there was a sign up the times for this, there was about 5 performances and it was in the area where you board Jungle Cruise)
• Princess Meet and Greet

Ariels Court (Fantasyland)

• Sebastains Under the Sea Dance Party (DJ Music)
• Princess Meet and Greet

Riverboat Riviera (Liberty Square)

• Ramblin Rustlers (music)
• Riverboat Roulettes (Music)

Solaris System (Tomorrowland )

• Eclipses Mixes Dance Party (this was in the area next to Space Mountain)
• Eclipses Mini Mixes Dance Party (this was in the restaurant with Sonny Eclipse and had some character appearances)
• ETP's (breakdancers)
• Pirate Play Spot (this was set up next to the dance party, there was 4 simple games and you got prizes of candy)

Princess Pavillion (Toontown)

• Princess Meet and Greet
• Fantasyland Woodwind Society (music)

Also on the map is the X marked treasure spots. The map also lists what rides are and are not open during the party. If you are not famialar with MK grab a regular map as well to help you locate things as this map is mostly dedicated to where the special events are. For eating Pirata Y El Perico was open, Aloha Isle, Pecos Bills, Westward Ho, Sleepy Hollow, LTT, Scuttles Landing, CRT, Cosmic Rays, the Lunching Pad, Caseys' and Tony's.

Okay back to our night. Captain Jack dictated we needed to go looking for the Black Pearl immediately so we headed off to PotC. Only a 10 minute wait (or less if you went to the RIGHT instead of the left upon entering, we literally walked right on while there was a line on the other side, LOL, and had the boat to ourselves.

Next the princess decreed we should ride HER favorite, BTMRR, so we headed that way, but there was a 50 minute wait, which is way too close to an hour for me! So we headed back to do Jungle Cruise, we had a really funny driver and the other passengers were good fun as well. It appeared as if one group was a family of 15 or more having a great fun vacation together, they were fun to have on our "cruise".

After this it was about party time! We let the kids ride Aladdin's carpets, and then decided to try to find the Capt Jack Sparrow Tutorial. We never did catch this L. We found Rusty Cutlass and listened to them awhile. Her Royal Highness did a few dance steps when they were playing an Irish type song (ever notice the similarities between pirate music and Irish music????)

We moved on to find our first 3 treasure spots. They were giving out either beads (like Mardi Gras type, different colors in each land) or candy, CHOCOLATE candy, no raisins here matey!)

We then did an almost walk on for BTMRR. WEEE ! We all love this ride. It's not too much for me, but enough for the rest of them. And I always notice something new in the theming. I didn't want the princess to get her royal dress wet so we sadly didn't ride Splash Mountain, although theming wise it is one of our favorites.

We decided to try to catch the first show of Aladdin's Royal Guard Recruitment as we had a pirate that had applied for a job protecting her royal highness. This is a CUTE show, they keep everyone back behind ropes until it's time, then you are allowed to get as far as the red tape. We juggled as many kids as we could towards the front with us parents staying behind them, well all except for one mom that wanted to be a kid as well. There is a story line which I won't reveal, but needless to say if you like watching kids, this is a great place to do it. Our pirate had fun learning some sword moves with his "invisible sword" as well as several other cute kids that were near us. I got to watch Jasmine, another very cute pirate about 4, and cute piratess that was about 2 learning their new moves. So if you get a kick out of cute kids, go and watch this show. Get there about 5 minutes early to get up near the front. It was at the beginning of the show when we were going to have her royal highness sit on her plastic bag so not to ruin her dress that we discover she lost her earrings she had just bought in the pirate shop. (those of you who have been on the list for awhile know she has a gift for losing things, let's hope that applies to nasty pirate boyfriends when she gets older. In the meantime, she got her ears pierced 5 weeks ago and this was the first pair of earrings she bought using her own money). DH headed up to info to file a report, not thinking they would have been turned in yet but just in case.

What to do next ? DH said he had seen a spot where you could get pictures taken with CAPTAIN JACK SPAROW. Pitter patter went my little heart. But when we stopped in there the line was an hour, and the CM said it would only get longer. Well, posing with an imposter was not worth an hour of party time for us so we headed out. This was in Adventureland right past the Dole Whip stand, my advice is to try to be there at 7pm if you want to do this.

The other mountain was calling so we headed towards Space Mountain. I full intended to watch the later parade but as we are crossing over main street by Casey's, what do my wondering eyes behold but several empty spots of curb on the other side!!!!! We sit next to a really nice family from St. Louis with 2 cute little girls. We chat a bit with them while waiting for the parade to start. After the parade, which is party themed, we had towards Space Mountain. I only like riding the one in DL, so I find a seat by the dance party and play with the ringtones on my phone while waiting for the rest of my family. It was some fun, upbeat music that makes you foot get to tapping.

When they were done we checked out the pirates play area, got some more chocolate booty and then headed towards the center for fireworks. On the way we passed pirate Mickey and pirate Goofy in a photo spot. (we never did get back for photos) We only made it as far as Tomorrowland Terrace where there was plenty of tables available. The chance to watch fireworks while sitting at a table was too much of a draw, we bellied up to a table and relaxed. Shortly after the fireworks started. We had a great view, although we missed out on some of the 360 degree stuff. Tinkerbelle flew right over us in the middle of the show. WOW ! Wish we would have had the camera ready, she even waved at us!

Next, her royal highness, who was wowed by "the best fireworks she ever saw" wanted to go to the Laugh Floor. Oh my, this is hilariously funny, we all loved it. It's interactive involving audience members. You can also text in jokes ahead of time and they will read them off with your name. LOL.

Exhaustion was starting to set in. And I sit here diligently typing this Jeff aka booty burglar is eating all my chocolate booty ! So we decided to take in the remaining X marks the spots and head home. We headed towards toon town and met some pirates posing for pictures in front of Cosmic Rays. They joked around with us and the kids quite a bit. DS wanted to make sure they realized who he was and started doing the "Capt Jack jerk back look a bit loony move" he has perfected before pulling his sword to put them in their place.

We toured Minnie's house and Mickey's house, then headed towards Fantasyland. There was a DJ dance party here, we got our booty, considered doing Dumbo (as we never ever have cuz the line moves tooo slow) and decided against a 20 minute wait. Peter Pan also had a wait but It's a Small World did not. We have not been on this since they refurbished it, and it does seem much brighter and nicer. I enjoyed it (of course I always do……).

We hit our last treasure spots and headed towards the gate. Tonight we got to take a boat right to Fort Wilderness, of course then we had to take a bus. At midnight, I am not liking the spread out feel of Fort Wilderness. We share the boat with another large family gathering that looks like they are all having fun together. I cannot imagine my family doing this, it just wouldn't work, but I love seeing other big families having fun together at Disney and always smile. We are working on DH's family however. J

We fall in to bed after a short discussion on canceling our plans to go to Busch Gardens the next day and have a day off.

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