3/24/23: Our Second Day at Magic Kingdom

Friday was set to be a big day. We knew we were going to have to be up early to have our best chance to do everything we were planning. We had the kids dressed by 6:30, then the older two went back to sleep in their park clothes while we got our park bags ready. The toddler kept himself occupied with the bubble wand, and at 6:58 am, I pulled up the My Disney Experience app on both my wife and my phones.

Getting the TRON: Lightcycle/Run Boarding Group

I made sure everything was set, we were logged in, and I watched the seconds tick by to 7:00 when we were able to try for a spot in the Virtual Queue for the TRON: Lightcycle/Run soft opening. At exactly 7:00 am, I hopped into the virtual queue screen, and was able to get a spot for us on my wife’s phone. By the time I made it out of the screen, the queue was full. But we secured seats on the ride for later that afternoon. Our first hurdle was behind us.

Heading to Magic Kingdom

But we still needed to get to Magic Kingdom before rope drop at 9:00 am. After my fantastic ECV experience at EPCOT the day before, I knew I wanted to get my hands on one. I looked into it Thursday night, and Magic Kingdom is the park that typically sells out of the ECVs fastest. We had plans all over the park with a lot of doubling back – it was going to be a lot of walking. Our plan was to get into the park during Early Entry (a resort hotel guest perk) and get that ECV as quickly as possible. We rushed to get finished up and out the door to the bus, and made it over to the entrance by 8:45. Hurdle number two, cleared.

And then our First Disaster struck.

My wife and I had gotten pretty good at figuring out what bags needed to go through the bag check line for security vs. which didn’t set off the machines. Since we generally carry the same items to each park (think changes of clothes for anyone who may need them, changing supplies for the toddler, back up phone chargers and any medications we may need during the day) we’d started pulling the items we knew would be flagged over to my rollator, and sending the other stuff with my wife to save some hassle with the kids. The big kids would walk through, the toddler would stay in the stroller (which they visually inspect) and then my wife would take her purse and my backpack through the detector. Then I’d show the security cast member my medical items (I keep them in two clear zipper pouches) and let them know that they will set off the machine. (My epipens and a couple inhalers are the culprits)

We had it almost down to a science. But this time, we had a couple extra items that we didn’t account for – my daughter’s dress for Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique and my DSLR to capture a couple special moments we had reservations for. We didn’t think about that when sending my wife through – which meant that they had to check ALL the bags she had with her.

This wasn’t the disaster. I sat with the big kids under a tree for a minute, but it was taking a while for my wife and toddler to get through the bag check, and my daughter needed to use the bathroom. I was super distracted. I let my wife know I’d meet her inside, but I was going to have to head to the restrooms next to City Hall. When we got there, I realized MY phone was gone. You can read all about THAT experience in my last post. Thankfully, it turned out okay and I am even more grateful for the decision I made to put Life360 on our phones after the oldest lost hers at EPCOT.

Trying to Find an Earlier Time for Harmony Barbershop

After all that excitement (the UNEXPECTED Hurdle #3 was cleared) we continued along. The next thing on our to-do list for the day was to pop into Harmony Barbershop to see if there were any walk-up appointments available before our 12:20 pm reservation for the toddler’s first haircut. We had an 11:40 am appointment at Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique, and while we were prepared to split up if necessary, I really didn’t want to miss either of the planned big moments of the day. (We had asked the middle kid while making reservations if he would like to do a haircut or maybe on of the knight packages at the boutique, but he emphatically declined.) They had a 10:35 opening, and so they bumped him up to that slot.

Pirates of the Caribbean

We had an hour to spend before the appointment, so we decided to head to Adventureland for Pirates of the Caribbean. We stopped at a kiosk on the way over and ended up getting a pair of black Minnie ears to match my outfit. Then, when we got to the ride, I had to park the ECV and walk. Again, for most guests, Disney provides manual wheelchairs for guests who need to transfer from an ECV to the ride, however these wheelchairs only hold up to 300 lbs. For larger guests, my best recommendation is to have your own mobility device available to transfers if necessary. I was able to confirm that there were no steps I’d need to navigate in the queue and made the decision to walk based on that, since my rollator was stored up at the front of the park. In the future, I’m going to try to divide my days up so that I tackle rides without ECV-accessible queues on one day (and bring my rollator along) and rides with fully accessible queues on another day). Either way, the kids loved the ride. The big kids have seen some of the Pirates movies and played the expansion on “Sea of Thieves” and found the appearances of Jack Sparrow throughout the right pretty fun to spot. We sat in the last two rows. After the ride, we exited the gift shop, grabbed the ECV, and headed back to the front of the park, cutting through the Emporium on the way.

Harmony Barbershop

We made it to Harmony Barbershop right on time and got checked in. The first haircut is a big tradition for our family. Each of our kids has had a first haircut at Harmony Barbershop. The older two got theirs done during their “Second Birthday Trip”, but the youngest was born in the early days of the pandemic, and we weren’t comfortable traveling for his second birthday… so we actually held off on a haircut for him until this trip for his third birthday.

Photos: Check out the length of his hair pre-cut.

Once we sat down, the middle kid asked if they could cut his hair too. I told him it was pretty unlikely, considering they were already booked up most of the day. But I asked and he lucked out – they were able to work him in since he only wanted a touch up to the shaved part of his head and leave the top long and it would be pretty fast.

While we waited, the Dapper Dans came in to serenade the Barbershop. If you follow the blog over on Instagram or Facebook, you can catch some of that experience. I shared it back on 4/11/23 for Barbershop Quartet day!

The actual haircut went fantastically. The team here are pros at distracting young kids with stickers, bubbles, and light up toys. I’ve never seen a crying toddler or baby here, and that says a lot for a place that does haircuts for youngsters who’ve never had that experience before. And another thing that I really appreciated from this trip: while my older kids had wavy hair as toddlers, this little one has some absolutely fantastic loose spiral curls that I didn’t want to lose. His hair was getting so long that it was weighing his hair down and the curls were getting harder to keep looking good. I didn’t want to go so short that we lost his curls, but I wanted to take off enough weight that they would spring back up. The cast member did a great job – his hair is gorgeous and so much easier to manage.

Photos: His hair sprung right back up after the haircut

Pinocchio Village Haus, The First Time

After leaving Harmony Barbershop, we decided to head to Pinocchio Village Haus, as I’d heard there was a chance I’d have a safe pizza option there. We arrived around 11:20. We waited in the line, and when we got up to the cast member to place the order, we asked for an allergy coordinator to bring the binder so I could make sure I was okay to eat there. We got the order placed, but it still wasn’t ready 20 minutes later when I had to get the Princess over to her royal appointment with the Fairy Godmother’s Apprentices. We left the younger kids with my wife to eat, and we headed over to Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique (During this experience I learned a couple valuable lessons: quick service restaurants are slammed way more than I remember them being on previous trips – I think this has to do with Mobile Order; and quick service isn’t super quick when you have to get allergy food specially made. Be prepared and plan for longer waits.)

Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique and TRON: Lightcycle/Run

I’m not going to go too deep into the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique experience in this post. An in-depth review is coming soon. However, there are a couple things to know here when it comes to scheduling. The full experience tends to run about ninety minutes to two hours. Generally, I’d recommend avoiding scheduling things within two hours. However, this is not always possible, and one of the first things the Fairy Godmother’s Apprentices ask is whether you have any reservations coming up in near future, and they are willing to try to work with you to make sure you can make it to your other reservations on time.

TRON: Lightcycle/Run has kept the cast members on their toes – the virtual queue is unpredictable, and often, the projected callback time is moved up. That happened to us. Since the TRON queue callback windows are pretty strict, the team at Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique was having kids get through the first part of the experience (the shop and getting changed), go to their TRON reservation, and then come back to the shop to wait to be called over for the castle portion of the experience (hair and makeup).

Our TRON group was called at 12:03, just as we were called to go into the changing room. We let the cast member know, and then she got changed and we went to grab the rest of our group who were finishing up their lunch. We took our food with us and sped over to Tomorrowland. A full review of our TRON experience is available here.

Photos: The middle kid and I entering the Grid, the oldest after getting off the ride in full princess gown, the middle kid and I after the ride, and a photo of the lightcycles entering the canopy portion of the ride

We left TRON just before 2:00. We made a quick pit stop at the Tomorrowland bathrooms next to Space Mountain, and then stopped for ice water on the way back to Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique. My daughter and I had a five-to-ten-minute wait in the shop, and then we were in the castle for about 20 minutes. After her makeover, we stopped in over at Sir Mickey’s for a quick photoshoot.

Photos: The Princess being escorted to the castle for the second part of her Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique experience and getting photos taken at Sir Mickey’s

While she and I were at the castle, me wife and the younger kids headed over to Liberty Square to explore. The stopped in Memento Mori, the gift shop by Haunted Mansion, and got a cool Madame Leota fan and a pin.

Pinocchio Village Haus, the second time

After Sir Mickey’s we met back up at Pinocchio Village Haus again. I had ordered a Blue Raspberry Slush earlier, but I missed out on enjoying it due to time constraints and I wanted to try again. So, we got a few of them, and we sat in some shade outside enjoying our frozen treats, relaxing for a while before we all went back over to the Haunted Mansion for our DAS reservation.

Haunted Mansion

Haunted Mansion was an experience. Firstly, I love the ride. My first time on it, I was sitting next to a cast member friend, chatting about all the cool things someone might miss on the ride. Our oldest kid is not it’s biggest fan, but she’s still too young to wait while the rest of the group goes on. I had also never used a mobility device to access this ride before this trip. They have guests on ECVs go to specific places, and you go through a separate door off to the side after the stretching room.

I was asked if it would be better for me to board the ride if it were stopped or slowed down. I assumed I would be okay on the slowed down walkway, as I can typically do the walkways – but I can’t balance well unless my hands are free. I really wanted to ride with the toddler for this ride, because I wasn’t able to go with him on most things (It’s much easier for him to board rides with my wife because she has better mobility than me). My thought process was: we can do the slowed down walkway, I’ll get on first, then my oldest, and then my wife would pass him off to us super quickly. It sort of worked, but they had to emergency stop the ride because we weren’t fast enough. Lesson learned: I need to board via the stopped vehicle if I want to ride with someone who can’t safely navigate the moving walkway and board on their own.

Like I said before, my oldest doesn’t like Haunted Mansion. She started to panic a little while we were waiting to get on the doombuggy. Thank goodness for an awesome cast member who came over and got her to calm down by talking about Monster High. And I promised her I’d teach her some of the cool stuff my friend had shown me years ago. So while we rode through we talked about some of the illusions in the ride (like the Pepper’s Ghost trick in the ballroom, easily my favorite scene in the ride).

Fantasyland

Afterward, we took the kids to ride the carousel, and then the Princess, the Toddler and I hopped into the Lightning Lane with my DAS to see Rapunzel and Tiana. Tiana is the oldest’s original favorite princess (I still remember her meeting Tiana and Naveen at two years old like it was yesterday), and Rapunzel is her current favorite, so it was perfect for her. The toddler was a little shy with Tiana, but when we got over to Rapunzel she exclaimed “Oh wow! Running all around in true ruffian fashion!” as he ran literal circles around her. She could not be more right. This kid is an agent of chaos.

While we were meeting princesses, my wife and the middle kid headed to an ice cream stand near the Crystal Palace. I’ve been told to mention that they saw a duck with a hat, and it was not Donald. My wife wanted to get eyes on the restauant before we made a decision as to whether we were going to eat there or not. We met back up on the Main Street, U.S.A. side of the castle tunnel, after walking through showing the kids the beautiful mosaics inside. We agreed to grab a late Crystal Palace reservation for dinner and a DAS reservation for the Barnstormer (a junior coaster than the youngest was about the minimum height for).

Photos from the carousel, meeting Tiana and Rapunzel, and around Cinderella Castle.

Storybook Circus and the Second Disaster

We then walked back through the castle. We were going to make our way to Storybook Circus, and wait out the Barnstormer DAS time by doing Dumbo first. For those of you who don’t know Dumbo has a pretty unique queue with a pretty big, air-conditioned play area inside the queue. My wife was going to sit this one out, so me and the kids all got into the standby line, prepared to take a short relaxing break before getting on Dumbo, and then over to Barnstormer.

Then the second disaster struck, in the form of a MASSIVE nosebleed from the oldest kid, starting the the Dumbo queue. Another post is coming soon to detail the situation, but in the end, we ended up at first aid for a while. Major thanks to the amazing cast members working in Storybook Circus and First Aid.

Crystal Palace

Once we were good to go from First Aid, we headed straight to our Crystal Palace reservation. We just wanted to get our dinner and head back to the hotel. We checked in just as Enchantment was beginning. The kids saw the first couple minutes from the porch before we went inside.

A review of the meal is coming later this week, but the chef here was funny and helpful, the character interaction was great (Piglet was playing hide and seek), and the food was so good. HOWEVER, I did have some GI symptoms within 20 minutes of eating. I don’t think I ate one of my known allergens. There are definitely some things I still haven’t nailed down that cause symptoms, though it’s a lot less frequent than it used to be. (It used to be that I would get violently ill every single time I ate, without fail, until we eliminated the allergens we do know about). I wish I had been able to figure out what it was that caused the issues, but the good news is that it was a relatively mild reaction, and only involved one body system, so I didn’t need to use my epipen.

Photos: Watching the beginning of Enchantment from the porch of the Crystal Palace, and some fun character interaction with Piglet, Eeyore, and Winnie-the-Pooh.

The Emporium, Leaving the Park, and the Bus Ride back to the Hotel

Around 10:30, we wrapped up and headed over to the Emporium, where the Princess got a new outfit (thanks to vouchers given to her by the nurse at First Aid, to replace her princess dress which was a victim of the nosebleed). The plan was to let her change before heading out to the hotel, but she wasn’t feeling up to it, and we were really struggling to navigate the shop with me on the ECV, the sleeping toddler being pushed by the middle kid, and the oldest being pushed by my wife. It took five times as long for us to make it to the front of the park. We got the ECV to the return spot, got my rollator, and they had the oldest swap wheelchairs to one of the courtesy chairs to take to the busses.

The bus ride that night was a mess. The cast members were amazing and helpful while we were having to manage a wheelchair, rollator, and sleeping toddler in a stroller. Most other guests were understanding, but a couple of them were less than kind on the trip back to the hotel. (A full explanation is coming soon)

When we arrived at All-Star Movies, we still had to find a way to make it to the room. It’s not advised, but when we got off the bus, I took the stoller and let my wife push the oldest on my rollator seat back to the room. Thankfully, we were in the closest room to the busses in the 101 Dalmatians section, so it wasn’t too bad a distance. We headed in and went straight to bed to be ready for the next morning.

Stay tuned for our Hollywood Studios day, coming soon.