Sunday, December 26, 2021- Disney Day!

    Disney Day is finally here.  We were up very early- even earlier than on a school day- and we left home in order to arrive at the airport by 6:00.  Julie's folks were already there at the gate waiting for us.  The flight went pretty smoothly and the plane touched down in Orlando by 10:15, well ahead of schedule.  It was Abby's first plane ride, and she did get a little nervous when she was boarding it.  She was looking out the window with her dad on the takeoff.  Then she and Emma took naps.  The Jet Blue screens in the seats in front of us were even more advanced then before giving us all sorts of options, including playing a trivia game.  When we were disembarking, other passengers commented on how good Abby had been.

    We took our time getting through the Orlando airport because we had a ways to go, first on the monorail, then to baggage claim at one end of the terminal, then to Disney's Magical Express bus at the other end.  We got a wheel chair for Julie's dad to make it through the terminal, but our bags were waiting for us by the time we got there.  Even though there were lines for the Magical Express bus, they moved us on to one very quickly.  This is the last week that the Magical Express is running.  It is a complementary service for resort guests, but Disney has announced it will be over at the end of this year, which is only a few days away.  In fact, when we take it back to the airport on our last day here, it will be its last day of operation.  Disney has not announced if it is being replaced or by what.  

     We got our "Magic Bands" on and boarded the bus.  By this point, Abby was getting  a little restless, but still was pretty good.  She cheered when she saw water by the bus, and Emma and Grandma both wondered if they each spotted some alligators as well.  Abby cheered when she saw pictures of Mickey.  We can't wait to see her response if and when she sees him in person.  It was about a half an hour trip to the resort at Disney World.

     When we got to the hotel it was after noon.  The "My Disney Experience" app on our phone was telling us that our rooms weren't yet ready.  Julie had checked in virtually, but her folks still had to do it in person.  By the time they were done, we were pretty hungry, so we checked our luggage in with the bellhop service, and had a lunch at the quick service restaurant in the lobby.

     Our resort is the Caribbean Beach Resort, and we are staying in the "Trinidad" section of it.  It is a sprawling resort, and our section is a distance a way.  We received word that the rooms were ready, so we went there to freshen up and drop our baggage.  Scott and Abby took a scenic walk there, and saw a turtle, a lizard, and lots of scenery along the way.  When Abby saw the white sand on the beaches, she said it was snow.  Scott and Abby arrived first, and saw the "pirate room" before anyone else arrived.  The beds are shaped like pirate ships, the decor is all pirate themed.  Yo ho ho!  Even the refrigerator is shaped like a large barrel and the dressers look like large East India Company crates.  Arr!  Meanwhjile, Emma, Julie and her folks caught a shuttle to our area- the Caribbean Beach Resort is that large- and we had the bell hop service bring us our luggage.  Grandpa and Emma took naps, but Abby wouldn't settle down enough.  Maybe she could sense that mom was excited too.  Either way, Julie took her out to the pool to enjoy some of the great weather.  It was gray, cloudy, cold and damp when we left Buffalo this morning, but it's in the high 70s and sunny here!

     After naptime and pooltime, we were refreshed and ready to head to the Magic Kingdom.  We got the Trinidad bus stop just as the bus to the Magic Kingdom was pulling up.  By then, Abby had relaxed enough that she was asleep in the stroller.  She stayed asleep after we transferred her from the stroller to the bus (when we had to fold the stroller up), from the bus back to the stroller, into the Magic Kingdom and all the way to Tomorrowland.  We got Julie's dad a wheelchair (though Julie was limping quite a bit now too), and Scott stopped at the "Chamber of Commerce" in the Town Hall to make sure the "Memory Maker" photo package they had paid for was linked to his Magic Band.  (It was, apparently.)   It was just 5:00 and the flag was being lowered with the marching band playing the National Anthem and God Bless America.  We started up Main Street and the Christmas tree lighting ceremony was beginning behind us.  We didn't see the tree lights come on, but we did see it start to "snow" on Main Street.  Scott and Emma both exclaimed "We didn't come all the way to Florida to see it snow!"  and we continued on to Tomorrowland.  

     There was no real wait at the Carousel of Progress, and it seemed like a good place to start.  Abby was still sleeping, and we got a chance to sit and watch the show as the audience revolves around the stage.  It's a nice attraction to start with if you like Disney history because it's got Walt's personal touch and the preshow features its history as an attraction at the 1964 World's Fair.  We got to see an encore performance of the last act because the theater didn't start rotating again.  The audioanimatronic characters just kept singing and started the scene all over again.  After the second time through the theater moved again.

    By then it was 6:00 and we were hungry.  We ate at Bay 1 at the edge of Tomorrowland and Fantasyland.  Then we thought we'd give Abby a ride on the teacups at the Mad Tea Party.  At first, she seemed to like it, but about halfway through the ride she jumped up into Mommy's lap.  As we spun past them, the attendants were yelling to tell Julie that Abby had to sit down, but Abby wasn't going to do that.  It's such a short ride that it ended up stopping soon anyway.   We then went to Mickey's Philharmagic which is a 3D movie that features some of Disney's greatest hits.  We knew Abby would know Mickey and Donald (and Donald is featured throughout it), but she didn't want to keep the 3D glasses on. Of course, she wanted to put them on as soon as the movie was over.  This movie has just reopened and they added a segment from Coco, which we just watched at home.

    We continued through the crowds in Fantasyland and had a stop at the Rapunzel themed restrooms that we've heard described as an attraction themselves.  That may be a bit of a stretch, but we were able to appreciate them a bit more because we had just re-watched Tangled.  Scott did stop short of taking pictures inside the restrooms themselves, thankfully.  We made our way to the Haunted Mansion in Liberty Square.   It wasn't running due to technical difficulties, but the 8:00 Disney Enchantment show was about to start.  It features songs from recent Disney movies and projections onto Cinderella's Castle.  We couldn't see the projections from where we were in Liberty Square, but we could see the fireworks well enough over the Hall of Presidents and we could hear the music.  Scott and Emma popped into one of the shops behind us as the fireworks were going off and Scott bought the now obligatory Disney pin for this trip.  He plans to get a Disney bulletin board when we get home to display all of our Disney pins on.  

     After the fireworks, Julie's dad looked beat, so we decided it was best to head toward the hotel and try to get to sleep.  Oddly, around the area of the Crystal Palace, the cast members were directing the crowd down an alley we had never been in before.  We followed the crowds and realized we were actually on the backside of Main Street's buildings.  It took the magic out of the walk out, but we did get to see the cast member side of things.  We saw where the old-time vehicles and double decker bus get parked when they're not in use.  We figure they were sending people this way to keep the crowds from choking at the Main Street bottle neck, but they must really have some big crowds if they don't care about sending you past the souvenir shopping.  We ended up back at the foot of Main Street by the big Christmas tree, turned in the wheelchair, and made our way to the bus.

     Back in Trinidad, we realized that we really needed some pop and a few other things, so we placed an order with a local grocery store to be delivered tomorrow evening.   Meanwhile, Scott took a walk to the main lobby area of the resort to see if he could get some drinks for tonight.  He figures it is probably a half-mile from where our room is in the far side of Trinidad to the lobby and restaurant area of Old Port Royale.  Unfortunately, he didn't have his mask with him to go inside, so he walked all the way back to the room again to get it and then went back again.  He figured that by the time he had made it back, he had earned a few slices of the leftover pizza that Julie had saved from lunch.

     BTW- For future reference- We did not pay for Genie+ today because we arrived at the park so late and so we didn't get access to the new "Lightning Lanes."  We probably would have done different things if we had, but we would it's unlikely that we would have done more.  Once inside Magic Kingdom, we didn't really use the Genie on the My Disney Experience app much, but did check the wait times to pick some relatively short wait times.  On the other hand, we have zero pictures taken by Disney photographers today, so the Memory Maker wasn't worth it today.  More on these things as we continue.