Fast forward a few weeks and we were off to WDW once
again! Let me explain that we had
originally planned to go from Saturday the 25th through Wednesday
the 29th and stay at Port Orleans French Quarter. However, a couple of weeks before our trip,
Disney announced that the Magic Kingdom would be open for 24 hours on May 24th,
beginning at 6 am, and we quickly realized that we could not pass up such an
opportunity. We changed some things
around, but when we called to adjust the hotel dates, they did not have any
availability at Port Orleans French Quarter for the 23rd or 24th. Luckily, we were able to book Pop Century for
those two nights, and then we had three nights at Port Orleans French Quarter.
This time we drove, since we were going for more than three
days. As I have shared before,
I love driving trips – C drives and I sleep, waking in a confused stupor only when he taps my arm because he needs something.
I am not the most coherent person when I am woken up unexpectedly, and
driving trips are no exception. I
usually fumble around to get him water or soda, mumble something at him about
our current location and how much time until we arrive (I am not unlike a child
in this regard), and then fall right back asleep. I am not sure anyone else would not only
tolerate, but find humor in my lunacy.
We arrived at about 3:30 pm and checked into Pop Century. There was no arm-twisting needed when the
topic of birthday buttons arose…I had been waiting for one since WDW introduced
the buttons years ago. She even gave
C an “I’m Celebrating” button on which she wrote “L’s birthday!”, but this
was not something C wore over the course of the weekend, despite my
strong encouragement that he do so. I, on the other hand, went everywhere with my birthday button on display.
Our room was in the '50's section of the resort and it was perfect for us! |
After settling into our room and getting a quick bite to eat
at the food court, we headed to MK for the evening. We did our favorite attractions (TTA, Pirates
of the Caribbean, Haunted Mansion, Mickey’s Philharmagic, along with a few others), grabbed a LeFou’s
Brew and a Nutella waffle, watched the fireworks, and finally headed back to
our room. We planned on sleeping in the
next morning because we had been up since about 2 am and were exhausted from
drive (and by “we,” I mean C, since I had gotten quite a bit of sleep in the
car!).
The famous Nutella waffle |
LeFou's Brew |
We typically sleep in until about noon and roll into the
parks around 2 pm. I don’t advise this
strategy for anyone who doesn't visit frequently, because you really want to
get the most bang for your buck with your park tickets. However, we have never been, nor will we ever
be, morning people – at WDW or otherwise – so this is what we do, and we stay
super late, often being among the last few people to trickle out of the
parks. Our annual passes have allowed us
to visit frequently, so we don’t ever feel like we are wasting money or
valuable park time by sleeping in. But
as I said, this is likely not the best approach for most people. The only downside to what we do is that it is
almost always guaranteed we will miss breakfast hours everywhere! We usually only get to eat breakfast if we
make a dining reservation that forces us to get up. And we don’t do that very often because
again, we are not morning people.
Friday arrived, and despite the excitement of MK being open
for 24 hours, we had no intention of arriving before 6 pm. We figured we would spend the whole night in
the park until 6 am Saturday morning. So
Friday was great, because we were able to enjoy a relaxing lunch, visit a few
of our favorite resorts, and take a swim before heading over to MK to arrive at
6 pm.
my Magic Kingdom shoes |
Well…although we anticipated a large crowd, given the
24-hour opening and the fact that it was Friday of Memorial Day weekend, we
were truly not prepared for just how insane it was. Wall-to-wall people. And we have been there during busy holiday times before – on Valentine’s Day, St.
Patrick’s Day, Easter, Independence Day, Christmas, and New Year’s...we even got
married at WDW on New Year’s Eve! And we
cannot recall a time when MK was so crowded.
Despite the crowds, we decided to stick with our plan. We had some dinner, and planned out the
evening, but were pretty discouraged when we consulted the wait times (for
example, Splash Mountain had a wait time of 120 minutes!). We decided to do
what we could, enjoy the atmosphere, and hope that the crowd would thin
out. This involved a lot of snacking and
we tried some things that were new to us (we are very much creatures of habit);
our favorites were a Sulley caramel apple and a Mike cake pop, which we ate while
people watching from Main Street train station.
People watching is a seriously underrated activity and provided us with
a good deal of entertainment.
Sulley and Mike |
I am not ashamed to say that we only lasted until 1:30
am. The crowds were just too much for us
and we decided to admit defeat. We still
had a great time, but wasn’t as special as the times when we have had entire
attractions all to ourselves. So we’re
glad we experienced it, but would not go again if they have a 24-hour event. On Saturday morning, we had to check out of Pop Century and
check in to Port Orleans French Quarter.
You know what that means…another birthday button! Yay!
We spent the afternoon shopping at Downtown Disney and then
had a nap because we knew we had another late night ahead of us. We headed over to Boardwalk, grabbed a slice
of pizza and two awesome cupcakes for dinner, and made our way to
Jellyrolls. This is easily one of our
very favorite things about WDW, and given its size and all it has to offer,
that is really saying something. Those
of you who know us well may recall that we met in music class and were in the
band together in high school (C – saxophone, L – French horn), so it should
come as no surprise that we love music.
ALL kinds. So spending an evening
enjoying amazing dueling pianists is just about our idea of a perfect night.
As usual, it was fabulous.
The music, the atmosphere, the pianists…but perhaps the best part of
this particular evening was the other guests.
There was an older couple who I noticed right away because
they seemed a little out of place. I
watched as he pulled out her chair for her, made sure she was comfortable, went
up to the bar, and returned with two drinks.
It was very sweet to watch how attentive he was and how much they
clearly loved one another. I was not the
only one to take note of this; one of the pianists noticed their anniversary
button and asked them how many years they had been married. The gentleman told him they were celebrating
their 49th wedding anniversary. Of
course the entire bar erupted in applause for them and they seemed overwhelmed
by all the fuss. The pianists called
them up on stage and they laughed and danced together and kissed in front of
the rowdy crowd. It really was one of
the sweetest things I have ever witnessed and I was so moved by their example
that I asked our waitress if they had a tab that we could take care of for
them, but she informed us that they had not opened a tab because they were only
drinking Coke. Could I love this couple
any more?!? I asked the waitress to
please put the couple’s next round on our tab, which she did about 30 minutes
later. When she told them the bill was
taken care of, they asked her who had covered it and she directed them to our
table. They came over to our table to
thank us and chatted with us for a little while, doling out sound marital
advice: never take anything for granted, remember that every day you have
together is a gift, and that the husband should always give credit to his wife for
all of the good things in their life.
Given their success, clearly this man knows what he is talking
about! He also talked about the importance of having
goals and working to realize them, and told us that their goal was to make it
to their 70th anniversary!
They asked how long we’ve been married, and although it pales in
comparison to their number, they were so gracious and congratulatory when I
told them that it would be 19 years in December. They were such a fantastic couple.
Sunday brought more relaxing, swimming,
wandering, and cupcake eating before we went to MK. We were celebrating my birthday dinner that
evening, a few hours before my actual birthday because we couldn't get a
reservation on the 27th, which did not surprise us because it was Memorial
Day. So we went to Tony’s Town Square
Restaurant (yes, we also had C’s birthday dinner here earlier in the month – we
love this restaurant!). The food was as
wonderful as always, and I was surprised when a birthday cake, complete with
candles upon which to make a wish, was delivered to the table (I told you C was
a planner!). It was a chocolate cake
covered in Mickey confetti, and not only was it adorable to look at, but the
cake itself was phenomenal.
The park was much less crowded than it had been
on Friday, so we were able to ride a ton of things. I was thrilled to be at MK when it officially
turned to my birthday, and it was the night for Extra Magic Hours, so
non-resort guests cleared out and the park was even less crowded for our last
few hours! We stayed for the Kiss
Goodnight on the castle before heading back to our room.
My birthday itself was awesome. Craig got up before me and decorated the room
with shiny streamers and banners, so when I woke up, I was completely taken by
surprise. Well, I think it was C. Could have just been Disney Magic at work. So sweet!
We slept in and relaxed during the day, and
then, you guessed it, went to MK. Treats
of the day included beignets and a handmade ice cream sandwich, along with
cupcakes, a Nutella waffle, a Dole Whip, and “our” chairs provided a perfect spot to watch the Main Street Electrical
Parade.
The Celebrate the Magic show is incredible. That's all I can say about it. Below are two of the scenes from two of my very favorite movies - Up and Tangled. So beautiful.
I felt so fortunate to spend the
end of my birthday at MK as well as its beginning – like bookends on a perfect
day. Most people left at park closing,
although a small number stayed for the Kiss Goodnight (I was so excited to be
able to say I saw it twice on my birthday!!!) before exiting the park. This night, we were truly the last people
anywhere except for a few who were taking photos on Main Street. We stood at the castle together for what
seemed like both an eternity and also not nearly long enough and soaked in as
much of the magic as we could. The five
security guards near us did not once rush us or admonish us for not leaving;
they let as have as much time as we wanted.
Amazing.
Happy Tails to you!
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