Florida - Day 5

From Magic Kingdom

The car wouldn’t start. That’s how we started the day. Eric, Nick and Vinny were supposed to meet us at the park at 8:30, but instead we ended up having them come to our hotel and pick up B and bring him to get a battery. Vinny was super excited and obviously anxious to get on the road, and really, we thought it was just the battery since we had been running a lot of electronics off of it (GPS, iPod, laptop). Nick, the former AAA tow driver, installed the battery… and guess what? Car still didn’t start. Must be the starter.

We decided to just head over to the park and deal with it later, since Vinny was so excited to go. Luckily, the guys had a really early start this morning and were already near us at 8am, so by the time we got officially on the road, it was about 9, and our hotel is about 10 minutes from the park, so still pretty good time. Obviously the car situation was in the back of our minds all day…

From Magic Kingdom

As we approached the park, we all started getting really pumped and I think it was rubbing off on Vinny. He was even excited to take the tram :) We started off by taking the ferry over to the Magic Kingdom after being dropped off at the Transportation and Ticket Center by the tram. It was a really cool way to approach the park, and we’ll definitely do it next time.

From Magic Kingdom

The first order of business was to get us all an early lunch. We did that at Cosmic Ray’s Starlight Café, where we were treated to a piano show by Ray himself.

With full bellies, we headed over to the Golden Carousel so that Vinny could “ride the horse”, after which we walked across the road to the Mickey’s Philharmagic Show. It was a super cool 3D extravaganza, complete with smell-o-vision and other special effects.

B and I went over to grab Fast Passes for everyone for Splash Mountain while the guys tried to meet Winnie the Pooh. Turns out the line for Winnie was over an hour… much like every other line, we soon found out. We met up at Mickey’s ToonTown Fair, where we learned that Vinny desperately wanted to drive a go-cart at TomorrowLand Indy Speedway (I think his uncles kinda did, too ;-) ). So Auntie M and Uncle B took some pictures as they sped by!

From Magic Kingdom

After the speed racing, we headed over to Mickey’s ToonTown Fair, with hopes of riding the Barnstormer at Goofy’s Wiseacre Farm, but our dreams were quickly dashed when we realized the wait was easily 60 minutes, so we popped over to Donald’s boat and let Vinny run around. Turns out the boat sprays water at the kids, which of course, he loved :)

From Magic Kingdom

B and I tried popping into different buildings there, but realized that it was packed, so we hopped the Walt Disney Railroad over to FrontierLand, because our Fast Pass time was approaching for Splash Mountain. Eric and Nick walked the stroller over, so B and I had Vinny all to ourselves on the train :)

From Magic Kingdom

We met up at the FrontierLand Rail Station, where Nick was waiting with a Mickey ice cream for Vinny. After a brief wait, we walked right up to the front of the line at Splash Mountain, which is a flume-type ride set in the Briar Patch from the Disney movie “The Song of the South” (thank you, Fast Pass!). Turns out Vinny wasn’t the least bit scared. He loved every second of it, and wanted to go again immediately. Obviously that was out, unless we wanted to wait over an hour.

After Splash Mountain, we decided to see how long the wait was for Pirates of the Caribbean. As we headed over, we were abruptly stopped by the parade, where it seemed everyone was congregated. None of us could take the congested crowd, so we doubled back to Big Thunder Mountain in FrontierLand. It was – again – another 60 minute wait, but we decided to give this one a go, since it was 3:30 by now and the Fast Pass for this ride was due back at 7:15 and we knew Vinny wouldn’t last that long…..and oh yeah, we still had a dead car back at the hotel. Eric decided to sit this one out, so Nick, B, Vinny and I stood in line for an hour. Vinny was really good in line (spent a lot of time on Daddy's and Uncle B’s shoulders) and it turns out he LOVES roller coasters!

From Magic Kingdom

We decided to call it a day at this point and strolled leisurely toward the front of the park and even had time to do some shopping. We stopped in The Emporium, where Eric proceeded to buy everything in sight for Vinny, including a Mickey balloon the size of a small car. We jumped on the monorail, where Nick spoke to an attendant, and arranged for the three of them to ride in the front car. Vinny walked away with a co-pilot’s license ;-)

From Magic Kingdom

The guys were nice enough to bring us to the car rental place, where we picked up a Mazda 6 (which turns out to be a great little car), said our goodbyes to Nick and Eric (Vinny was passed out in the backseat) and headed to the hotel to meet up with the AAA driver.

As of now, our car is in the hands of our friendly neighborhood Toyota dealership, and we’re hoping it won’t cost too much to fix….

From Magic Kingdom

From Magic Kingdom