WDW May 2021 Day 2

In a move that is completely unlike us, we woke up super early on Sunday morning to head to Magic Kingdom. My friend - honestly, what a gift she is because I felt so prepared as a result of the info she shared - told me that the best plan would be to take the first bus to MK to avoid the ferry or monorail.

It is a well-established fact that we are NOT morning people and when the alarm rang at 6:00, we had zero interest in getting up. We hit the snooze button and then finally rolled out of bed around 6:15. We were moving at a snail's pace until 6:30ish when C checked the app for the bus times and discovered there was a bus to MK at 6:47. We kicked it into high gear, got out the door at 6:41, ran to the bus stop, and made it just in time.

Even though MK wasn't officially open until 8:00, they were letting guests in early, so we were on Main Street, USA by 7:10! That is literally the only reason we got up so early - getting into the park when it was relatively empty so I could take photos and as you can see, there were not many people around! I think most people headed toward Seven Dwarfs Mine Train because we walked through Cinderella Castle to Fantasyland and we hardly saw anyone!

We had planned to start the day with Splash Mountain, but it wasn't operating, so our first ride was Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. Everything else throughout the morning was very manageable in terms of lines and crowds, so I have no complaints there! Unfortunately, it was another very hot day, so around noon, we decided to take a break from the park.

my favorite attraction
my favorite Walt Disney quote

so adorable

WDW recently built a walkway between MK and Grand Floridian, so we decided to check it out. Despite the heat, it was a very nice walk and we will definitely be utilizing this walkway whenever possible in the future! After a quick stop at GF, we walked past the Wedding Pavilion, which we try to do on each trip, and found my family's Walk Around the World brick again. We stopped by Polynesian to try a rainbow cupcake I'd seen on IG, which was delicious, and just enjoy the ambiance of the resort! We then took a lyft back to Riviera for a few hours before taking another lyft  to TTC and the monorail back to MK for the rest of the night!

With it being a little later in the day, the heat was more tolerable and the crowds had thinned out a bit. One thing I noticed was that without a nightly fireworks show, the park is so much more pleasant because people aren't just clogging up the hub for several hours in the evening. I really miss the fireworks, but let me tell you, it was so great to see people leaving the park and be able to wander on Main Street and throughout the hub without tons of people camped out create traffic issues. We found the same to be true at Epcot the previous night; no nighttime show meant people weren't loitering in the World Showcase and the crowds were almost nonexistent for the last hour. Heaven!

We ended our day by riding Big Thunder Mountain Railroad again and were able to take our time walking out of the park and taking pictures before taking the bus back to our resort. MK is my favorite park and I'm always sad to leave, but we made some great memories that will tide me over until our next visit!

Happy Tails to you!