Florida: Magic Kingdom Day Three

Portal Fantasyland

Cooling off

Clang Clang Clang

Glass blower - Main Street

Stage show

Iconic Disney moment

Just plain fun!

Portal in Liberty Square

Thunder Mountain

Portal Adventureland

Magic Kingdom is a place of family oriented mayhem, line-ups and the occasional party. By day three, I knew we hadn't seen everything but wasn't really thrilled by the idea of spending hours in the lines. In addition, I had adopted a not my kid my kid for the morning so there were three excitable children who were raring to go.

By this time, I had learned that there is no right or wrong way to Disney. But there are things that really help, like getting your fast passes done ahead of time through the website so that you don't have to find the fast pass kiosk right on entry. That certainly saved us a lot of time. Pack a hefty lunch bag so that you don't have to stand in the food lines (although I totally caved in favor of the Starbucks as I needed caffeine.) Be prepared and have a lot of water bottles. I carried 12 every day and they all disappeared by the time the evening rolled in. On this particular day in time, I knew I didn't want to stand in the one to two hour lines for the rides. My eldest made a bee line for the Pluto line for a picture, so that killed thirty minutes, and the other two aimed at the Aristocat line. There are characters everywhere so if there are favorites, know where they are and gauge the lines.

From there, we opted to do something different as a family. We walked to the fire hall in Main Square and found the Sorcerer's game. Each of us got a package of cards. On opening them, we had a series of spell cards that could be used to defeat the Disney villains. One key is issued per group and that is used by swiping your key on the lock at each portal. Your first mission is given to you at the kiosk by the fire hall. We were sent to Fantasyland. Then, we sleuthed the ground for our special symbol, found the lock, listened to the message and followed the instructions from portal to portal. It was like a choose your own adventure or treasure hunt. At some spots, we were able to hold up a spell card and one per group was chosen and cast by the cameras. AWESOME! It was so much fun that we went on to do missions in Liberty Square, Adventureland and Main Street USA. The best part about it is that you can play every time you go and there are some locals that have made a hobby of collecting all the cards.

However, the rest of our party finally arrived and so we journeyed the rides together. Pirates, Thunder Mountain several times and then Space Mountain. We played at the dance party and shopped a bit. I had to purchase sweat pants for my eldest at one point because it sure got darned chilly after about 8:00 pm. It was our last night there so you know that we had to try and stay as late as possible. In our case, that was midnight. Lol. If you have small children that can last that long, the rides certainly are quicker to get through and you can get more accomplished. We watched the fireworks and had a great time.

However, all vacations have to come to an end at some point and this one was no different. It was time to head back to the hotel where I was up until 2 packing the bags. It actually meant purchasing an additional suitcase as I had acquired too much stuff. Darn it.

We actually had one more day in Florida, but that was spent at the resort enduring a time share owners update (they means sales so don't be fooled like we all were...and if you have guests...don't do it...I was furious by the end as they stole 3 hours of my holiday and when we went to get the gift, the guy went on his 30 minute break...um...no I don't want to wait in the office when I could be by a pool, thank you.) I finally got to the pool and waited until dark when we opted for Smokey Bones for supper. That was yummy but not worth the 2 hour wait. Then, we stayed at the Staybridge Inn by the airport. Great breakfast and great rooms for reasonable pricing. I was impressed and would totally recommend them.

And that ends Florida...next travel blog...California for Dance the Magic...

Orlando on Dwellable