The wait for the bus was hot and muggy. The bus ride was cool. The walk to our first stop inside the park was...hot and muggy. Did you know it's like a jillion degrees with a jillion-percent humidity in Orlando in late June????
It's true. Anyway, we head into the ride and instant cool, blessed air conditioning. I would've been happy just standing there but we actually had plans for the ride. I took this first pic of Katy and Zac on the ride. I've posted a video link within this post as well of about a minute of the ride experience. It was a lot of fun.
After this it was about 10:50 but Chad & Mickie, and perhaps the kids, hadn't had much if anything to eat so they were starving. Checking our map, we decided Main Street was the place with the most options. We would've made it, too, except once we passed through the castle, a parade was going on. It was pretty impressive. The dancers, the emcee, dancers on stilts, people in character. I really don't know how Mickey, Minnie and the other characters don't just drop over from heat exhaustion every day. Maybe they were cool suits or something underneath. I know I'm wearing one of those special cool towels right now as I write this, and I'm in an air-conditioned hotel room.
We eventually made it to lunch after a few minutes burning under the sun while we waited for a Disney photographer to get a group pic. I tried my best to do the pic without sunglasses but the angle of the sun to where we were standing made it impossible to do so without tearing up. So the third shot, I had them back on. We'll see what we get out of it. I'll either look like an idiot or look pretty happy, depending on the shot. Lunch was good, I thought, if not really slow for a place that only serves hot dogs and fries. I was extremely pleased at my polish dog with caramelized onions and grainy mustard. When you put it all together with this really good bun, it was a little sweet and had great flavor. Quite a surprise AND we got to eat inside, which was lucky given limited seating. We needed the break from the heat.
After this, Katy, Zac and I had a Fast Pass appointment at the Mad Hatter Teacup, so we needed to head off. This is learning number two (the other was, go to Disney in the Winter), which is that if you are in a group, plan your Fast Pass plans to coincide so you don't end up on different ends of the park. As such, we ended up split from the rest of the family the remainder of our time in the park today, and that wasn't the plan.
By this point Katy was having borderline heat exhaustion so we made it a priority to find some cold water. Using the trusty map, I found a kiosk and got she and Zac some much-needed water. After some of that, we headed into a gift shop for some a/c, then over to Dumbo. The great part of that was we went into an air conditioned tent initially and that helped us cool down. Once it was our turn for the ride, we actually walked all the way around to find out all the elephants were taken. This happened to another gentleman and his kids as well so they took us out and made sure we got on the next round. When we did, I was with Zac and he couldn't wait to control the ride up and down, which you do from a switch in the front. He had us going up and down quickly and we had a real blast! So much fun!
We walked out of Dumbo straight into a big tent with souvenirs and snacks and drinks. We immediately got into line for some Icee-like drinks. Now those helped! Cooled us down and, to be honest, gave us all a brain sneeze. If you've watched Uncle Si on Duck Dynasty, you understand that last sentence. :) By this time Katy had accessed the app on her phone that would let us try to schedule more Fast Pass activity. It, of course, didn't work once she tried to get us into the Haunted Mansion, so we headed for Mickey's Philharmagic, a five-senses 3D movie experience. I have to tell ya, 3D doesn't work so well for me. It does when I wear contacts, but not with glasses. After some adjusting I did get to enjoy some of it the way it was intended, though we ended up in the front row and that made it hard. Zac, however, thought it was just the greatest thing and laughed and laughed. So for us, sitting in air conditioned comfort while Zac had a great time made it even better than it was. I thought it was really unique and I enjoyed it quite a bit.
We then headed out of the park to catch a bus back to our resort so we could cool off before we head back out later tonight for dinner reservations. Zac fell asleep on the bus but he was such a trooper today and barely complained. In fact, I'd say he complained less than I do. I don't always do well with busy crowds except at athletic events. The pic above was one I captured as we came out of the castle our last time headed for the Philharmagic show. Look at that crowd! Now you tell me, does that look like fun? The crowd part is not. If there is a way to buy a Fast Pass where you can lay out your entire time in the park that day, one right after the other, no limits...that's the way to go. I'm not sure that option exists, but it should if it doesn't and it'd be worth every penny. Otherwise, you spend a lot of time in lines whether for a ride or a store or a restaurant. Don't expect anything fast, but DO plan what you do. I know I said I've stayed out of that, but we have had plans and we stuck to them today, both sides of the family. We just didn't get to finish activities together but I'd call today a success in many ways.
We learned a lot about what to do and what not to do and how to plan better. Tuesday Zac and I will go to the park with hats (we had to buy him one in the park today) and Katy and I will have our cold towels on to help us beat the heat or share with Zac if needed. I'll also dress a little differently, go with my running shoes and shorts a be a little more ready for the heat. The first full day isn't done yet, but even though it was hot and sometimes a little tense and thirsty and required a lot of patience, we've had fun so far! Tomorrow, Epcot!
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