{"id":4729,"date":"2017-11-09T07:31:44","date_gmt":"2017-11-09T12:31:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/backtothemouse.com\/index.php\/?p=4729"},"modified":"2017-11-16T18:28:40","modified_gmt":"2017-11-16T23:28:40","slug":"last-minute-trip-part-5-magic-kingdom","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/backtothemouse.com\/index.php\/last-minute-trip-part-5-magic-kingdom\/","title":{"rendered":"Last Minute Trip \u2013 Part 5 Magic Kingdom"},"content":{"rendered":"

Planning<\/a> | Travel<\/a> | Animal Kingdom<\/a> | Epcot<\/a> | Magic Kingdom<\/a> | Hollywood Studios<\/a> | Summary<\/a><\/p>\n

The third day of our trip took us to the Magic Kingdom.  We arrived early so we could get there in time for rope drop<\/a>.  Since the opening show for the Magic Kingdom has been moved to the hub, we were able to get in really early.  We decided to wait for rope drop at a spot near the Tomorrowland Terrace Restaurant.  It was quiet, near some restrooms, and out of the sun, unlike what the large crowd that was building on the bridge to Tomorrowland was experiencing.<\/p>\n

\"Crowd<\/a>
Crowd Waiting for the Opening Show<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The girls made a beeline for Space Mountain and Nancy and I headed to Buzz Lightyear Space Ranger Spin.  The girls rode twice on Space Mountain, then came over to join us for another round on Buzz Lightyear.  Nobody managed to get the maximum score, but we all had a great time!<\/p>\n

\"Buzz<\/a>
Buzz Lightyear Space Ranger Spin<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

We spent the rest of the morning going around Fantasyland, riding our favorite rides. <\/p>\n

\"Gophers<\/a>
Gophers from Winnie the Pooh’s Garden<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Once we finished up in Fantasyland, we decided to stop for a snack at Gaston’s Tavern.  Even if we aren’t hungry, we can always manage to finish some cinnamon buns from Gaston’s Tavern with a Lefou’s Brew to wash down the sugar.<\/p>\n

\"Cinnamon<\/a>
Cinnamon Buns from Gaston’s Tavern<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

After our snack, we continued touring through the park until about noon.   We rode a number of rides as well as looked through the shops.<\/p>\n

\"Pirates<\/a>
Pirates of the Caribbean<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The girls wanted to ride Splash Mountain, but (as previously established) I HATE being wet while walking around the parks.  Nancy and I took some pictures while they rode.<\/p>\n

\"Frontierland\"<\/a>
Frontierland<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Around noon, we decided to split up to get lunch.  Half the family wanted something from Sleepy Hollow Snacks and the other half wanted something from Friar’s Nook.  I went off to Friar’s Nook to get some food and planned to walk over to Sleepy Hollow with the food to join the rest of the family.  However, while waiting for the food, the sky opened up.  I ended up getting two trays and covering the food with one of them to keep it dry while I walked in the rain over to Sleepy Hollow.  The storm continued for about 20 minutes, then it cleared up and the sun came out again. <\/p>\n

\"Midday<\/a>
Midday Showers<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The park got more and more busy as the day went on.  We used our initial FastPasses up, and continued to add to them.  We did, in a moment of weakness, decide to take the girls onto Stitch’s Great Escape.  One of them had never ridden before, so we all took the plunge.  It was ten minutes of our life we will never get back.<\/p>\n

\"Stitch's<\/a>
Stitch’s Great Escape!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

After riding Stitch’s Great Escape, we headed towards Big Thunder Mountain, but got side tracked in Liberty Square by The Muppets Present Great Moments in American History.  It was actually pretty funny, even thought we only caught a small portion of it.  Next time we go through Magic Kingdom, I’m going to make sure we see the entire show.<\/p>\n

\"Great<\/a>
Great Moments in American History<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

We continued touring through the park until about 8:00.  We decided to take advantage of a 30% off dinner special Disney was running at select restaurants during the time we were visiting.  Since we were at Magic Kingdom, we decided to head to The Wave at the Contemporary Resort for dinner.  We have visited The Wave before, but it has been a few years.<\/p>\n

We started with the bread service, which was so good that we almost filled up on it.<\/p>\n

\"Bread<\/a>
Bread Service at the Wave<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

We also ordered the cheese platter, which is a family tradition.  One of the girls serves the cheese, while the rest of us try to come up with funny descriptions of the cheese (e.g., “This one reminds me of the sweet smell of dirty socks resting lightly in an old coffee can”).<\/p>\n

\"Cheese<\/a>
Cheese Platter at the Wave<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Everything we ordered as entrees was delicious.  This included the Grilled Pork Tenderloin, the Seared Potato Gnochi, the Cioppino, and The Braised Short Rib.<\/p>\n

\"Grilled<\/a>
Grilled Pork Tenderloin<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Seared<\/a>
Seared Potato Gnocchi<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Cioppino\"<\/a>
Cioppino<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Braised<\/a>
Braised Short Rib<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The total cost for the dinner was actually pretty reasonable considering we ordered an appetizer and four entrees.  I believe the total, with tip, was about $135.  We decided to pass on dessert and head back to our room.  We were going to Hollywood Studios the next day for our last day for this short trip.<\/p>\n

For all of these trips, we always pay for our shopping and dining using Disney Gift Cards<\/a> that we’ve purchased at a discount.  So, whatever the price is, we have always gotten another 5% off using Disney Gift Cards.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Planning | Travel | Animal Kingdom | Epcot | Magic Kingdom | Hollywood Studios | Summary The third day of Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"{title}\n\n{excerpt}\n\n{url}","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[3,13,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4729","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-disney-gift-cards","category-disney-parks","category-food-cost","no-post-thumbnail","no-read-more-tag","no-sticky","use-excerpt","entry"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":129,"url":"https:\/\/backtothemouse.com\/index.php\/rope-drop\/","url_meta":{"origin":4729,"position":0},"title":"Rope Drop","author":"Joseph","date":"July 24, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"One of the best kept secrets at Disney World and Disneyland is rope drop (with apologies to Disney Vacation Club for stealing your thunder).\u00a0 Rope drop is the time when the park opens.\u00a0 Arriving at the park for rope drop is one of the best ways to maximize your time\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Disney Parks"","block_context":{"text":"Disney Parks","link":"https:\/\/backtothemouse.com\/index.php\/category\/disney-parks\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":9583,"url":"https:\/\/backtothemouse.com\/index.php\/disney-villains-after-hours-at-magic-kingdom-park-walt-disney-world\/","url_meta":{"origin":4729,"position":1},"title":"Disney Villains After Hours at Magic Kingdom Park (Walt Disney World)","author":"Joseph","date":"July 7, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"We've got a special guest post from our favorite Disney friends!\u00a0 They recently took a great combined trip to Walt Disney World and a Disney Cruise to celebrate the end of the school year.\u00a0 One of the special events they attended was a Disney Villains After Hours Event at the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Disney Parks"","block_context":{"text":"Disney Parks","link":"https:\/\/backtothemouse.com\/index.php\/category\/disney-parks\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/backtothemouse.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/Pic11.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/backtothemouse.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/Pic11.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/backtothemouse.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/Pic11.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/backtothemouse.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/Pic11.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":5724,"url":"https:\/\/backtothemouse.com\/index.php\/christmas-2017-trip-part-4-wdw-magic-kingdom\/","url_meta":{"origin":4729,"position":2},"title":"Christmas 2017 Trip – Part 4 WDW – Magic Kingdom","author":"Joseph","date":"April 18, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Magic Kingdom We didn't have a lot planned for our days at the Magic Kingdom.\u00a0 Our plan was to arrive fairly early each day and just enjoy the atmosphere of the park at Christmas time.\u00a0 We also wanted to make sure we got to see the Magic Kingdom Christmas parade,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Disney Parks"","block_context":{"text":"Disney Parks","link":"https:\/\/backtothemouse.com\/index.php\/category\/disney-parks\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/backtothemouse.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/IMG_6809-1024x768.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/backtothemouse.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/IMG_6809-1024x768.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/backtothemouse.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/IMG_6809-1024x768.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":4970,"url":"https:\/\/backtothemouse.com\/index.php\/staying-on-property-part-3-wdw\/","url_meta":{"origin":4729,"position":3},"title":"Staying On Property – Part 3 WDW","author":"Joseph","date":"February 18, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Day 1 - Epcot We decided our first day would involve heading to Epcot to take in round 1 of the Food and Wine Festival.\u00a0 We had visited during Food and Wine a few years ago and loved it.\u00a0 We definitely were excited to enjoy it again. We got up\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Disney Parks"","block_context":{"text":"Disney Parks","link":"https:\/\/backtothemouse.com\/index.php\/category\/disney-parks\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Bus Area at All-Star Movies","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/backtothemouse.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/IMG_2688-768x1024.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/backtothemouse.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/IMG_2688-768x1024.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/backtothemouse.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/IMG_2688-768x1024.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":21498,"url":"https:\/\/backtothemouse.com\/index.php\/disney-magic-stateroom-5134\/","url_meta":{"origin":4729,"position":4},"title":"Disney Magic Stateroom 5134","author":"Joseph","date":"July 11, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Our friends Doug (from Rope Drop Radio and Rope Drop On Deck) and Michelle McKnight (our favorite travel agent) went on the Disney Magic in June 2025 for a 5-Night Bahamian Cruise from Port Canaveral.\u00a0 They stayed in stateroom 5134 (and 5135), which is a 7A - Deluxe Oceanview with\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Disney Cruise"","block_context":{"text":"Disney Cruise","link":"https:\/\/backtothemouse.com\/index.php\/category\/disney-cruise\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/backtothemouse.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/5134-1.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/backtothemouse.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/5134-1.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/backtothemouse.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/5134-1.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/backtothemouse.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/5134-1.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/backtothemouse.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/5134-1.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":21458,"url":"https:\/\/backtothemouse.com\/index.php\/disney-magic-stateroom-5135\/","url_meta":{"origin":4729,"position":5},"title":"Disney Magic Stateroom 5135","author":"Joseph","date":"July 9, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Our friends Doug (from Rope Drop Radio and Rope Drop On Deck) and Michelle McKnight (our favorite travel agent) went on the Disney Magic in June 2025 for a 5-Night Bahamian Cruise from Port Canaveral.\u00a0 They stayed in stateroom 5135 (and 5134), which is a 11B - Standard Inside Stateroom.\u00a0\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Disney Cruise"","block_context":{"text":"Disney Cruise","link":"https:\/\/backtothemouse.com\/index.php\/category\/disney-cruise\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/backtothemouse.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/5135.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/backtothemouse.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/5135.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/backtothemouse.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/5135.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/backtothemouse.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/5135.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/backtothemouse.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/5135.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/peu3ZL-1eh","jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/backtothemouse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4729","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/backtothemouse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/backtothemouse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/backtothemouse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/backtothemouse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4729"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/backtothemouse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4729\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5034,"href":"https:\/\/backtothemouse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4729\/revisions\/5034"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/backtothemouse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4729"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/backtothemouse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4729"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/backtothemouse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4729"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}