1/2/14 Day 2, Part 2 of Disney World, 2014 at the Magic Kingdom at Night

continued from Part 1...

So after a nice long nap at the French Quarter, we bussed back over to the Magic Kingdom after dark. This is my favorite park all the time, but especially at night. 

It's rumored that this will be the last year the garlands are strung across Main Street, as the new afternoon parade set to debut this year and run for several years will have floats too tall to pass underneath. This makes me sad, as we've never come, the four of us, without these here. A last time for everything.

Since we were arriving around 6, and it was pouring rain when we got off the bus (but stopped shortly thereafter) our main focus upon entry was dinner, inside.

We chose the perennial favorite, Pecos Bill's, with their all-you-care-to-serve fixings bar. I always get cups extra of their grilled mushrooms and green chilis.

We had those FP+ set for Space Mountain, but stopped in at the Monsters Inc Laugh Floor on the way. 

The show works off of the technology of hidden cameras and behind the scenes actors who interact with the audience, putting them on screen and asking them questions. 

After that, we rode Space Mtn. for the second time today. In all honesty, my fun comes in being with my crew, not necessarily riding the coasters. I like the ones that are themed, and this one is a coaster in SPACE, with "stars" lit all through the roof and comets overhead, but either I'm getting older or it's getting rougher, or both. Probably both. It underwent a rehab and most people report feeling much more jerked around now. 

We did note the FP return lines got more backed up and moved slower, seemingly with more people, in the evenings. The general strategy is to book your FP rides at night when the standby lines will typically be longer, but if everyone follows this advice, you end up waiting to skip the waiting line. It was never too bad, except at Toy Story Mania, but that's another day and another blog.

We took a break for a smoothie after taking in a ride on the People Mover and did a bit of shopping, trying to savor the evening. That never lasts long enough.

We had Big Thunder Mountain Railroad FP+ after this and booked it from Tomorrowland through Fantasyland with one stop at Haunted Mansion, then on to Frontierland without a lot of loitering, despite the nighttime fireworks show, Wishes, going off overhead. I promised Sam the two of us would find a night to come sit and watch from the front of the castle later in the week. 

The kids hadn't seen the new expansion to the queue at Haunted Mansion, so we played around in that before getting on. 

Only shots of Big Thunder are pre-ride. This one is fast and fun, but not conducive to pictures in the dark.

Here we are, after asking to wait for the back car, getting put in the center. Sam is not pleased. 

 "DAD! Stop!"

After that, I am drawing a blank on what we did next. If I don't take photos of it, it gets lost in the whirlwind of the week. 

 We split up for some reason, and Sam and I took in a bit of the end of the 11:00 Main Street Electrical Parade while Bob and Nick had dinner #2 at Casey's Corner. 

We met up at the front of Main Street in the Hat Shop, where Sam could not commit to buying any ears. The best she came away with was pictures. 

It was about midnight and we knew we were getting up the next morning for Hollywood Studios, so we jumped ship an hour before close and headed back to our room.