Main Street U.S.A.
Jingles
Weather: 50 degrees & sunny; high of 71.
Woke up around 6:45 – had
another leisurely morning and were leaving for the park by 8:15. Tracey bundled
up a bit more than she really needed, with her hoodie sweatshirt over a long
sleeve t, denim shirt & fleece vest. Both the security stop & front gate
were a bit busier than they were the previous morning – tho we did see the Mark
VII Monorail Red on a test run on our walk to the park.
Got thru the turnstiles
about 8:30 – they held the crowd at the end of Main Street, We browsed the
shops a bit before getting in position for rope drop. Scott headed over to
Toontown, while Tracey headed over to Tomorrowland to get FP’s for Space
Mountain before joining him. On my way thru Tomorrowland, the CM’s were
announcing a “delayed opening” for the Nemo Subs – We were so glad we got that
done first thing yesterday!
Scott was able to get a picture of Jingles, the horse dedicated to Julie Andrews
on the Carousel in Fantasyland. He also got some pictures of the castle and
Fantasyland with virtually nobody around.
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Main Street U.S.A. |
Jingles |
We got seated about 5 min before the Toontown Morning Madness ceremony started. It’s held in front of the Toontown Town Hall & is a little song & dance skit, with Mickey welcoming the crowd and choosing a Family of the Day – only Mom & Son came up to the podium – Dad hung back with Daughter, as she seemed frightened at all the hullabaloo! When they said they were from Calgary, about a dozen folks in the crowd cheered and the deputy mayor said “Oh, you brought the whole province with you!”
 Mayor Mickey and first lady Minnie Mouse |
 Mayor Mickey clears his throat |
After the ceremony was over – we walked over to Gadget’s Go Coaster for a quick ride, then walked on to Roger Rabbit’s Car Toon Spin. We looked around Toontown for a bit while waiting for our spash FastPasses to be valid – we headed for Tomorrowland about 9:55. We made it back almost to the loading room before catching up with the Space Mountain queue – not much more than a 5 min wait. We’re definitely going to ride this a few more times when we come back later this week!
Took a snack break about 10:20 – Tracey wanted some pineapple, but didn’t know where to find some other than Adventureland, so we headed that direction. The Jungle Cruise had a fairly short line, so we joined Skipper Jay for a tour. He was by far the best skipper on our trip so far – a bit older than us (late 30’s – early 40’s) , glasses and mustache. Unfortunately, we were sitting right by the motor, so we didn’t hear all his quips, but he had some good ones! Instead of the “back side of water” he did the big build up, then announced that we were under water, “Yes, we are under water… and you didn’t even have to wait an hour in line for it – take that, Finding Nemo!”
We headed over to the Golden Horseshoe for the 11:00 Billy Hill & The Hillbillies show – arriving about 10 min early. We were in the mood for a snack, so we shared a mozzarella stick meal and a crispie treat while waiting for the entertainment. The boys put on a great show as always – they stuck in a little reference to Nemo as well, changing the last line of their Beatles medley from “yeller submarine” to “a Nemo submarine”
Tracey wanted to make sure to check out the Pirates’ Lair at Tom Sawyer Island this trip ( we missed it by about 3 days last year!) , so that was our next destination. We rode the raft over around 11:30 with one of the scurvy swabs, who was in an intent conversation with a young guest about the Tooth Fairy – the pirate wanted to know what the tooth-to-doubloon exchange rate was, and whether the teeth had to be your own, as he scanned the crowd. We wandered around the island for about 45 minutes – finally finding the Pirates Den - very crowded! We saw Jack Sparrow a couple of times – with lots of pirate wanna-be’s in tow!
 Tracey in the Bone Ball |
 Scott and his booty |
We stopped for awhile to listen to the Bootstrapper Band – they’re quite talented and a lot of fun – telling tales of the “cursed land of Dis Ney” across the water – where apparently they have quite a rodent problem …. While we were listening, we saw Kelsey Grammar and his family, being escorted by a plaid CM – no one really seemed to be taking notice of him, which I imagine is just the way he wants it. We did snap a quick candid photo, tho.
We headed back to dry land about 12:45, and headed over to a 25 min wait for Star Tours – got back row, left corner – what a blast! We decided to have lunch at Redd Rocket’s Pizza port – Tracey had the chicken ceasar salad – good and pretty large, and Scott had a slice of pepperoni pizza. The cashier didn’t think they did the Disney Visa discount anymore, just the Annual Pass – so I guess the Disney Visa website needs to be updated.
Scott wanted to go on Autopia, so we joined a fairly short line (about 15 min or so) around 2:00. While it’s still a bit noisy & smelly - this attraction is a lot longer & more scenic than the WDW MK version! We noted that they were still doing test runs of the Mark VII monorail, so decided to head over to the platform for a closer look, as well as a round trip ride on the other train that was in service - hard to tell which one it was, with the Year of a Million Dreams wrap on it! (It turned out to be Monorail purple under all the wraps).
We waited about 20 min – they brought the Mark VII around & it sat at the station for awhile – they tested door opening/closing, so Scott got some pretty good pictures of it. A local news station reported that they may have it ready for guests as early as Friday – keeping our fingers crossed! We took the round trip about 2:40 – our car was about ¾ full, with hardly anyone waiting at the Downtown Disney stop.
 Disney's Mark VII |
 The interior of the Mark VII |
Upon our return, we visited Fantasyland and had a scary adventure with Snow White. Tracey was getting thirsty and wanted a special treat, so walked over to New Orleans Square for a mint julep. We sat and listened to the Royal Street Bachelors for a little while, deciding what to do for the rest of the day. Tracey wanted to do a couple of attractions at night, but decided we needed a nap first. Scott wanted to get some bread from Boudin’s as a snack for the next couple of days, so we went across the street to DCA, did the tour and bought a Mickey loaf. We left for the hotel about 4 & set an alarm for about 6:15, taking a nice, long nap.
We headed back to DL about 6:30, bundling up a bit once again. Tracey wanted to ride Indy – Scott’s not a big fan – too rough for him – so we made plans to meet back up at 7:00. The 20 min posted wait for Indy was generous – Tracey was back out in Adventureland by about 6:40. Scott decided to test his luck with Davy Jones and rode Pirates.
After our first rides, we each thought we’d catch a quick Jungle Cruise before meeting back up…we ended up on the same boat! Skipper Liz was our guide for this trip & did a pretty good job. We then headed back to Pirates for another trip to Tortuga.
Tracey was ready for some dinner – so got a bread bowl of steak gumbo from the Royal Street Veranda – that really hit the spot! She enjoys the sourdough bread, but it sure gives your jaws a workout!
We decided to visit with the happy haunts before calling it an evening; it was a walk on right up to the front porch. Got stopped on the descent from the attic – wish it had been somewhere a bit more scenic! Since we still had some packing to do and would need to be up early to get the rental car back to the airport by 9, we headed back to the hotel about 9:20 & were getting into bed about 10:30.
Mileage: 22,808 steps = 9.99 miles.
Attractions: 16 (including Morning Madness & Pirates' Lair)
Click here to see more pictures from Disneyland before the Backstage Magic Tour!
On to Day 4 of our Trip - and the start of Back Stage Magic!