Originally Posted By mrkthompsn Greetings. After an 8-year hiatus, I return to Disney's Kingdom of Magic. But this time, it was with a 2-1/2 year old girl and a 4 year old boy. What fun! (but what work!) It was a dream-come-true for me to bring my own family to WDW after years and years of me going as a kid and as a single. The boy was especially excited. He couldn't believe Mickey lived somewhere. I got a chance to see some of the new things that have opened in the past few years, and some of the things that have changes. We first visited Le Chapeau on Main Street. The kids had a great time building their own Mickey Ear hats. They had a great time choosing their various ears. Then we each bought some Crocs with the little attachments. Crocs are awesome. (I've had a pair for quite some time). Then we jumped on the train and bypassed everything to go straight to the Toontown Fair. The first ride - Goofy's Barnstormer. It was the boy's favorite ride of all. Amazingly, the 2-1/2 year old was big enough to ride. She loved it! Then we proceeded to Mickey's House to visit Mickey and Minnie. The boy didn't like standing in line, but his grin was ear-to-ear when he met Mickey. That topped it off for him. Then we stood in line to meet Mickey's pals. The boy really didn't like standing in line for that. I told him "Donald has the passes for the rest of the rides. We have to meet him for the other rides." He agreed to wait. I got to finally see the Pooh Playful Spot in Fantasyland. After many posts in Laughingplace about this place, I expected the worst, and to be aggravated. But after seeing it live and in person, I was quite impressed by this area. The little girl loved it. She bounced around the Hundred Acre Wood for quite a while. I thought the attention to detail of this area was really up to Disney standards, and I appreciated the amount of room that grew in this area. It was much easier to get around. I have to say, if you have little ones, this area is perfect. I also got to see the new Aladdin Magic Carpets. This is another attraction that seems to get horrible reviews on this site. But I thought they did a great job with this attraction and the buildings around it. It fits right in. The spitting camel was hilarious, and the boy had a great time with it. One thing to note: we bought a Pal Mickey, but found it to be quite useless. It was loud everywhere in the Magic Kingdom, and unless you hold Mickey right next to your ear all day long, you can never hear what he's saying. Plus, we couldn't let the boy hold him. He was too tempted to unzip the zipper on Mickey's back and fool with the electronics. Poor Pal Mickey will be auctioned off to Ebay this weekend. The boy already has a plain-old regular Mickey. I would loved to meet some of ya'll there, especially those that have hung around for years on laughingplace, but it was enough work just chasing the youngins around.
Originally Posted By mattawn My kids are now 10 and 13, and we didnt discover Disney until 3 years ago. I would love to see the younger ones faces and to see what a different experience it would be. Glad you had fun.
Originally Posted By mrkthompsn Got to see the new Monster Laugh Floor too. That was a terrific show. I had pictured in my mind that it was still formatted as a Circlevision, but saw that it was wasn't. Still, they did a terric job with that show. One thing to note: we spent 6 hours in Fantasyland alone. It was a key reminder of why I ~~~HATE~~~ Fastpass, especially on Peter Pan's Flight. These rides just aren't designed for Fastpass, and should not be used. It disheartening to see 14 people proceed to the ride from the Slowpass line, and 140 people proceed from the Fastpass line. Here's all the attractions we did in order: Railroad Goofy's Barnstormer Mickey's House Tomorrowland Speedway Pooh's Playful Spot Pooh's Honeypots (which the girl and mommy loved) Carousel (the little girl ran to that ride and reached her arms out to ride it) Snow White's Adventures Pirates of the Carribean Haunted Mansion It's a Small World Peter Pan's Flight Jungle Cruise (on Fastpass, might as well) Swiss Robinson Treehouse (twice, the boy loved it) Monster Laugh Floor Buzz Lightyear Space Ranger Spin. We left a LOT of ride unridden, leaving room for the future. This many rides wore the kids slap out.
Originally Posted By leobloom Pan and Pooh are the only two rides in Fantasyland where Fastpass is an issue. Philharmagic's FP doesn't seem to be used much. Why didn't you use FP on Pan and Pooh?
Originally Posted By mrkthompsn Because they had ride times for 5:30-6:30. We didn't want to drag the kids back and forth all over a crowded park.
Originally Posted By mrkthompsn I forgot there was a WDW Trip Report section. I probably should have posted in there. Another thing I noticed on this trip was the nice maturation of WDW. I noticed the "old-growth" trees really starting to set in and make the place real history. You can really see this with the trees that separate the sections of the Magic Kingdom parking lot. These are the same trees that were planted in 1971. It's starting to become a real staple of Americana.
Originally Posted By dennis-in-ct Mark - how did you like the updated Haunted Mansion and PIRATES? What did you think of Phillarmagic?
Originally Posted By mrkthompsn Didn't get to see Phillarmagic. I didn't think the kids would sit still through it, or understand the 3D effects. The improvements to Haunted Mansion and Pirates were ~excellent~! The topsy-turvy stairs in the Haunted Mansion was the best touch. So was the Davy Jones ghost of Pirates. I also like the new fresh humor of the Jungle Cruise. The walkway from Tomorrowland to Toontown was convenient as well. It was nice to have that empty path to take the train to Main Street rather than drag a kid and a stroller thru the packed Main Street.
Originally Posted By mrkthompsn In the past few days, the single thing that my 4-year-old talks about is the ghost that followed him home from the Haunted Mansion. On that note, we actually spend three days at Universal, where we only spent one day at WDW. Sorry Disney, I love ya, but one day ticket at Universal, and the rest of the week is free? I'll take it! The 4-yr-old wanted to see what was inside the Posideon's Fury attraction. We went inside, but he was leary of the fire torch outside. He doesn't like big fire (especially and Japanese steakhouse dinners), so he could see danger coming. We went inside the chamber where the tour guide started shining his flashlight around the room. When the "bad ghost" starting talking, my kid (who I was holding) starting shrieking and crying REALLY loud. We immediately dove out the emergency exit and re-entered the park around the edge of the building. He was definitely not fond of the "mean ghost". I told him the ghosts at the Haunted Mansion were nice ghosts - but only if he was nice to them. He was glad to meet the nice ghosts. But keeps asking about this ghost that followed him home.
