Magic Kingdom

    The pace at Disney may have been even faster than the pace in New York, so this will be the first of several posts about my time there. This barrage of posts is really just my generosity to all the procrastinators out there. You can't procrastinate for long reading one blog post, but ten blog posts? You might even need a snack break in between. It might take me a few hours (or days) to update them all, but once they're done, procrastinate until you realise the task you've been putting off is actually more fun than reading this blog.

 

    Let's go on a journey through time. All the way back to January 4. This was my first, but not last, encounter with the Magic Kingdom.

I entered before the park opened due to a breakfast booking and left when the park closed... at one... the next morning. At breakfast we hung out with some of the gang from Hundred Acre Woods. I feel a bit sorry for Rabbit. He never gets invited to these shindigs.

    Breakfast was also the time my food baby was conceived. I went back to the breakfast buffet at least three times. At first I got a plate of fruit, but then from there I went a little crazy. The food consumed included a traditional breakfast with all the trimmings like eggs, sausages and dodgy American bacon. And then I couldn't let breakfast go by without some cinnamon toast and a couple of five pancakes lightly covered by a small puddle drowning in an ocean of maple syrup. (All breakfast buffets I attended at Disney went a lot like this.) Thanks to the Disney dining plan I continued to nurture my food baby over the next few weeks.

    We also used the fast pass plus system for the first time. We tried to be a little strategic and used it for Splash Mountain because that would be the last day it would be open while we were there. Last time I went to Disneyland I was too scared to go on the ride, but this time... ok, I was still a little scared, but it was definitely lots of fun. I also went on Thunder Railroad, which gave my vocal cords a pretty solid workout.

 

    We then had some more fun traipsing around Walt's world before heading over to Cindy's place for a bite to eat. Yes, many of the Sally K Dance (SKD) travellers went to Cinderella's Royal Table (CRT) in her castle for dinner. We met Cinderella,

 

plus a few other princesses - Ariel,

Aurora,

Jasmine

(this photo takes me back to the mid nineties when bunching your ponytail with elastics was all the rage)

 

and Snow White was there too. CRT was my first, but not last, encounter with dessert "sharing" (where I end up eating more than everyone else because they don't have an additional three stomachs specifically for dessert).

 

    After a dinner came a few more things, like the Dumbo ride, Peter Pan's flight,

the Winnie Pooh ride, 

the Electrical Street Parade

and of course, the obligatory Wishes Fireworks.

 

Solo Backpacking World Tour

WARNING: This post contains more selfies than you'd see on a twelvie's Facebook page in a day. 

On Epcot day I had no idea what to expect, which probably made the adventure more exciting. I arrived when the World Showcase was opening, but briefly explored Future World. Here is the giant structure that let's you know you've reached the park. 

Personally, it reminds of a golf ball, but up close it's pretty cool. 

Leesh and I explored Spaceship Earth first. Yes it was slow moving and educational, but I enjoyed it.

 

And yes the weather was pretty cool, but I stayed warm in my fancy new jacket that I bought in Miami of all places. Then the real adventure began. Epcot is basically a series of little areas dedicated to a selection of (let's say 12) countries. Each place isn't that large, but I didn't even manage to get through them all. 

I started my journey in America's northern neighbour, Canada. I spent an hour there. Time seemed to move so quickly. 

A lady saw me taking a photo of the waterfall then insisted I should be in the photo only to leave me awkwardly standing in front of the waterfall while she found her daughter to take the photo... which she kindly did. 

My next stop was the UK. 

I ate lunch with an awful lot of birdlife. They really wanted a chip and tried to do some stealthy stalking, but that doesn't really work when there's a large group. 

I met Alice. 

And then I ran into Mary and some of the other seniors. 

The next stop on my tour was France... 

Where I ran into the Saunders and Cookes.. 

Bought myself a beret...

And found my mum's restaurant. 

(She made tuna casserole a lot when I was younger.)

After France came Morroco...

Where I ran into Caiti while waiting to meet Aladdin and Jasmine. 

And I did a little window shopping. 

After Morroco came America and Italy (Japan was somewhere in there too, but I saved that for later due to a dinner reservation). 

In America I didn't do much apart from watch a film/animatronic display that went for about 5mins too long. 

Oh yeah... I also took a bathroom selfie in America. 

Italy offered some lovely architecture...

A bizarre street performance that saw guests parading around in red sashes

Selfie opportunities...

Shopping opportunities 

And selfies while shopping opportunities

Japan had a cool building that looked even cooler with my face in front of it. 

Some decent shopping

Hi Kitty

I choose you, Pikachu

And dinner with the roomies served with some entertainment on the side. The chef offered favourites such as the onion tower, a magic carpet and a singing crab. 

Yes, there is a dinner selfie. 

I almost went back to the hotel early, but Jess and I chose to brave the cold to experience IllumiNations fireworks. There were so few people there we were able to watch from a fast pass vantage point without a fast pass.