Day two came with our plan to visit the Magic Kingdom during the day and Epcot for the evening. I had made dinner reservations at Teppan Edo. The crowd was very light at MK. There were many parents there with toddlers and I have to say, an incredible amount of newborns. In all my vacations to Disney World, I have never seen so many infants.
The first place we went was to Space Mountain, I was very anxious to see the improvements. When we arrived, they were having some technical difficulities. So, we thought we would ride another "mountain". Splash Mountain was down for rehab, though it was interesting to see it without the water. Big Thunder was our next stop. When we arrived, we were stopped by castmembers and told that it too was having technical difficulties. No big deal. We knew we would have a lot of time, so we went to PoC and walked right on into the boat. Now we would end up riding this a few times during our stay, and each time, Davy Jones was heard, but not seen. The mist that they used to have to project his image was no longer there. I wonder if this was just a glitch or if it is permanent.
After PoC, we went over to the Haunted Mansion and walked right on into a doom buggy. The only lines that were of a wait time were in Fantasyland. Peter Pan was probably the shortest I have ever seen. It was only a 30 minute wait. We were able to get fastpasses for it (my husband had never been on it). We decided to do Snow White's Scary Adventures. It was only a ten minute wait, and the line was moving quite quickly. I had forgotten how lovely the scenes are on this ride. I think it is overlooked since so many go to Peter Pan. But that to is as lovely.
After fantasyland, we decided to check on Space Mountian again. It was still closed, so we thought we would sneak a peek at it by going on the Tomorrowland Transit Authority. By doing this, we were able to see that the lights were off on Space Mountain, and that things were starting to work out. We immediately went back to it, after our relaxing trip around Tomorrowland and were able to walk right onto it. It is so much more thrilling now that it is so dark. We loved it! The ride itself also seemed so much more smoother and less jerky than it used to be. Wonderful improvement!
After Space Mountian, we went back to check on Big Thunder and found it to be working. We only had to wait around five minutes, and we were able to ride it.
During our day, we took breaks touring all the shops. It was nice to actually be able to look at the merchandise and not be in a crowd of angry customers.
It was soon time for Epcot, and it would end up to be the time that the Disney Magic would disappear for us for this one night. We arrived at Epcot around 5:30pm. Our dinner reservations were for 8:30pm. We walked around the World Showcase, got some baklava, looked at all the shops, and realized that we were really getting hungry. We didn't want to keep snacking and ruin a perfectly good dinner that we hoped awaited us. Around 7:45, we decided to check and see if there was a chance to be seated sooner and let them know that we were there for our 8:30 reservation.
I walked in, told them I had a reservation for two under Jenkins. The lady pulled up our reservation, looked at me and said, "Your reservation is not until 8:30. She then proceeded to interupt me from explaining that I was going to see if there was a chance to be seated sooner. She showed me her watch, and began to instruct me on how to tell time as if I was an idiot.
Now, I know that there may very well be people who are unable to read watches and such, but I'm not one of them. I was in such shock by her behavior and refussal to inform the rest of the staff that we were there to keep our reservation, that I walked back outside to my husband without saying another word. I just couldn't believe it. My husband is not the kind to take it kindly when people act in ways that are not helpful. His plan was to wait till it was our reservation time, if they made us wait any longer, then we would just leave. As time ticked by, I was getting more anxious in having to go back in there. When the time came, we got back in line (here is where I must say that they were seating walkins at an alarming rate) When I arrived back at the desk, a different lady pulled up our reservation. She informed me that we would have to wait another 30-45 minutes since we had not informed them earlier that we were there. I told her thank you and that there was no need in keeping our reservation. We left to order pizza at the Grand Floridan and relaxed in our room.
The next day we went back to DHS and enjoyed our time at Rockin Rollercoaster (easily got a fastpass for) and Twilight Zone Tower of Terror only had a ten minute wait. Both rides were as fun as I recalled. We even had front row seats for both of them. Up next we broke down and tried Toy Story Midway Mania. All the fastpasses had been issued (it was only 12pm when we checked) but thankfully the standby line was only 30 minutes. To us, well it was interesting, but Buzz Lightyear Space Ranger Spin is more fun. We actually rode BLSRS four times during our trip. My husband is bound and determined to get the highest score.
Our highlight though, was our early dinner reservations at Mama Melrose's. We checked in early (it had started raining quite hard) and low and behold, we were treated nicely and they seated us within ten minutes. We had never eaten here before, but we will definitely everytime we come to Disney World. This is now right up there for us with Rose and Crown and California Grill in both service and great food. They knew beforehand that it was our anniversary and brought out free champagne for a toast. Now remember we are on the Deluxe Dining Plan (we normally don't order this much food), and we took advantage of it to try new things. For appetizers we had Tomatoes & Mozzarela and Brushetta. For Entrees, Chuck had Spaghetti Fra Diavolo (a seafood and pasta dish) and I had there Chicken Parmesan. For dessert, warm chocolate truffle cake awaited us. This was excellent. We were also entertained by two of the castmembers who were dressed in 1920's clothing. They visited all the tables making us all laugh at their antics. After eating, we noticed that the rain had stopped, so we walked back over to Epcot, and rode Spaceship Earth and The Seas with Nemo and Friends. We did stop along the way at Canada to ask about reservations at Le Cellier. The castmember informed us that one usually has to make reservations around six months in advance. Hopefully on our next trip this August, we might be able to get a chance to eat there.
So far, except for the hiccup on Day 2, our trip was very nice. I forgot to mention, we are not big drinkers, but as a side note, we thought we would just see what the new Tequilia Bar looked like in the Mexican Pavillion. When we walked in wearing our buttons (and if you are celebrating anything wear those buttons constantly!) we were offered free Tequilia shots. I started joking with my husband that apparently Disney thinks you need a whole lot of alcohol if you have been married a long time to either forget any rough patches or make you able to withstand the upcoming years.
I shall try to type up our last days as quickly as possible. Again, please forgive my delays.
As for Mama Melrose, sorry, but I HATE that place. Glad you liked it and you are entitled to your opinion, but I always get a chuckle when somebody likes the place because I love Disney alot, but absoulutely hate this place!
As for Space Mt I am very much looking forward to the changes. I never wanted anything sweeping done to the ride, I just wanted it to be darker. Based on your review and others I think I got my wish! I can't wait to experience the improvements myself this May.
