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Our 19 hr Disney Day - The Incredible Success

Thursday, March 10th – Sarasota to Disney and Back, Florida – Day 31 Part 2 Full of food and freshly bathroom breaked, we loaded John (his new nickname is the Meatball) into the stroller and took advantage of the fact that the thunderstorm had lightened the crowd and shortened the lines a little bit. 


We went to Adventureland to stroll through the Swiss Family Treehouse (0-minute wait) which was interesting to see. We need to show the kids the movie now. After, we went to Pirates of the Caribbean (50-minute wait). John was still asleep, so I got a ride switch and everyone else went on the ride. I pushed the stroller around Frontierland and tried to get ride switches for other rides. We returned to Pirates of the Caribbean and John woke up. We used the ride switch to go down the express lane (10-minute wait) and we beat Gen and the rest of them to the front of the line. John was pretty scared on the ride. The lights go out and you travel in a boat down a steep drop in the dark; John was spooked. He enjoyed the animatronic pirates raiding a town through the remainder of the ride. I phoned Gen and they were still in line. We were probably able to use another ride switch to go to the front again but John said, “it was too scary”. Eventually, everyone left the ride and we moved on. 


 We were limited in our time because we wanted to get to the fireworks and video presentation on the front of the castle. We analyzed line trends on the Disney app and planned out Mickey’s Philharmagic (15-minute wait), because John wanted to see Mickey, and get a picture with Cinderella (5 minute wait). Mickey’s Philharmagic was fantastic. It was a 3-D movie with Donald screwing everything up in musical romp through different Disney movies. The best part was the 3-D effects; the kids were jumping out of there seats and had both arms forward trying to grab the characters. They never touched them but they kept trying. We went to get a picture with a princess and the kids had the option between Tiana and Rapunzel versus Cinderella and Elena. Tiana and Rapunzel won and we took our pictures. The kids were enthralled and were very happy to talk with them. 


 We raced to get to the front of the castle to get a spot to see the video show that they project on the castle and the fireworks. Everywhere we looked the path to the front of the castle was blocked off. It seemed like they were funnelling us to the exit. After a while of following the crowds and gradually moving towards the front of the park, we turned around and started back to where we came. We could see some fireworks and I spotted Tinkerbell as she glided from the top of the castle to near where we were standing. And we just went back to where we had started. 


All day Peter Pan’s Flight had an 1hr 20min line and we just didn’t know why and wanted to go find out. We got back and there was a 5-minute wait. A nostalgic trip to “it’s a small world” (10-minute wait), and I have no idea why that isn’t capitalized and is quoted as the actual name, was next before Under The Sea Journey of the Little Mermaid (15 minute wait). When the ride ended the attendant asked Mary if she wanted to get off, Mary asked if she had a choice and we all stayed on. 



 We needed to start making our way out because it was about 10:30pm and we had a 90-minute drive ahead of us but there was no one in any of the lines. Dumbo the Flying Elephant (5-minute wait) had a play structure in the middle of the line, so the kids ran around for a bit before we moved on. We went to Tomorrowland Speedway but thought John was too short, so while Gen and Mary went on the race cars I took the girls and John to Mad Tea Party. We all got into one teacup, and I spun the hell out of the middle wheel to make the teacup rotate as quickly as possible. They loved it. When it ended, we all ran to another teacup and did the exact same thing. After four times on the ride, the attendant came over and gave all the girls Hero of Tomorrowland stickers. Eventually Gen and Mary arrived, and we did a few more rides before heading back to Tomorrowland Speedway where everyone can drive. John and Charlotte were obsessed. We had to go on a few times (5-minute wait). 



 Now the rides were closing, it was 11pm and we headed towards the ferry (monorail there, ferry back). First washroom break, get our wagon back and get on the ferry (10-minute wait). Before we could get into the tram to get to the car one more bathroom stop and Brinley, Aisling and Charlotte were doing sprints. Arrived at the car at 12:30, Charlotte melts down, back to Sarasota at 2:25am. 


Disney was very good. The second half of the day was fantastic as people left due to the weather. Staying late allowed us to go on so many more rides. The kids loved so many aspects of the day especially spending so much time with Brinley. It was a great day. 

 Total Stats: 
Time from leaving to returning: 18hr 40 min 
 Time in the Car: 3hr 40 minutes 
Time Waiting in Lines: 3hr 58 min 
Total Timeout Time: 8 min 
Washroom Breaks: 15 
Money Spent: Embarrassing

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