THE SUMMER 2021 LONGEST GOODY FAMILY WDW TRIP THAT EVER WAS: DAY 3 (MAGIC KINGDOM AND FAMILY AND FRIENDS OMG)!!!

Aw sadditty kitty.

Day 3 you guys!

And Day 3 was an exciting day. Not only was it our first park day of the trip but we also meet up with family AND friends. It’s literally like we were being pelted with amazingness.

Literally.

This day was like…

Yeah, it’s pretty exciting.

Let’s get on with the whole thing, hey.

Day 3 – Our first day at Magic Kingdom

Hey so surprise, surprise. Day 3 got off to an early start. I was up at around 6:30AM because today we had some rope dropping to do. I showered, got ready for the day, and grabbed everyone’s refillable mugs to bring over to Roaring Fork to get some coffees and hot chocolates for the room.

On account of I am very thoughtful.

And I mean, it was pretty beautiful outside.

And this bunny? He rocks.

For breakfast, we all ate out of the breakfast box I mentioned in my last post. The boys had a couple cinnamon rolls while Nickie and I each heated up a quiche.

It was a quick breakfast, which was exactly what we needed today.

Because we had our FIRST PARK DAY to get to. Whoop whoop.

Since we were at the Wilderness Lodge and heading to the Magic Kingdom today, we decided to take the boat over.

Myles REALLY enjoys boating. You can tell because he is giving a thumbs-up.

Oh btw, the park we were visiting today was Magic Kingdom in case you hadn’t figured that out already.

How it works these days at Magic Kingdom is they get your hopes up by letting you through the main gates pretty early. We were through at like 7:30AM. And once in, you can walk up Main Street.

But they crush all your dreams by still holding you at the entrances to the different lands. The boys and I were hoping to jump on Seven Dwarfs Mine Train early to avoid the crowds since this one typically has the longest lines in Magic Kingdom and FastPasses are nonexistent.

So we waited in this insanity by Cosmic Ray’s Starlight Café.

Hey guys. Remember COVID? That shizz was nuts right?

Nickie hung back in the hub and watched these complete strangers get engaged.

You’re welcome, complete strangers. I literally JUST made you famous.

Oh also, congrats and all that. Lifetime of happiness. Et cetera.

Et cetera.

Peter Cetera.

At 8:00AM, no earlier no later, they lifted the ropes and let us in to get magical and what not.

Like I said, the boys and I were hopping right on Seven Dwarfs Mine Train so we walked…very briskly…into Fantasyland and got in line.

As did legit EVERYONE ELSE. So the line stretched pretty far beyond the entrance to the actual queue but things moved pretty fast and within a few minutes we made it to the actual beginning of the queue.

From start to finish, we made it through the entire line in just under 20 minutes.

I remember when this attraction first opened to so much hype and it completely DID NOT live up to it. But I mean, it’s still a pretty enjoyable little coaster. It is super smooth and provides a pretty unique experience with the rocking mine cars. And I love the whole dark ride feel when you’re going through the diamond mines and what not.

Plus, it’s much better than that whole Blood Diamond attraction they were originally planning for this location.

You know. Because the ride was like about a diamond mine. And Blood Diamond is about…well, I don’t know. I never saw it. But I can pretty much guarantee it wouldn’t be a good fit in Fantasyland.

Afterwards, we met up with Nickie so we could get in line for Peter Pan’s Flight.

Look how pretty.

While I do miss FastPass, it’s nice to be able to go through some of these queues. Peter Pan’s is one of the better ones for sure.

And I managed to get one single picture of the entire thing.

I know, man. I should be taking more pictures here. But look, it was my first park day. I was a bit overwhelmed. I promise it gets better.

Well, better is a stretch.

But I do promise there will be more pictures.

Anyways, the line went super quick. This one also took about 20 minutes or so to get through.

My favorite part of Peter Pan’s flight? The end when Captain Hook is in the crocodile’s mouth. On account of whoever recorded his voice makes literally no effort whatsoever to sound like Captain Hook nor act like he is in any sort of peril.

Dude should be like, “HELP ME MR. SMEE!!! HELP ME!!!!”

Instead he’s like, “help me. mr. smee. help me.”

Next up? Pirates of the…

Oh wait. Obligatory fun pic.

OK kids. Put your heads in there. Now, let’s play pretend. This will be fun.

Pretend you just got arrested for public drunkenness. The rest of us are gonna throw rocks and rotten food at you and call you names so that you feel shame for what you did. But I mean, it’s just pretend.

SO fun.

Speaking of making things that are historically terrible fun, let’s go on Pirates of the Carib…gah, I swear we will ride it eventually.

First, Nickie and Owen made a quick stop at Sunshine Tree Terrace for a quick snack.

Nickie got some pot stickers…

…and Owen got an I Lava You Float.

And for research purposes (I do this all for YOU), I tried both the pot stickers and the float. Both were good stuff.

Myles and I wanted to try another snack close by but the location selling it wasn’t open just yet. So we put in a mobile order for when it opened so that we could pick it up after our ride on Pirates of the Caribbean.

Finally.

Man, do I love me some Pirates.

Hey, remember when they were auctioning off a woman in the scene above? And then they changed it because auctioning off women might be perceived as a bad thing? And then like a bunch of people on the Internet had an issue with that?

Like, imagine being a person that complained about “the wokeness” of removing lighthearted nods to sex trafficking in a children’s ride?

Society. Amirite?

After our short trip to the Caribbean, it was time to pick up our mobile order at Aloha Isle.

And behold you guys. The Kakamora Float. Coconut Soft-serve on top of Pineapple Juice and Blue Curaçao Syrup garnished with a Chocolate Kakamora Cake Pop.

OK guys. Confession time. I am not like the biggest Dole Whip fan. I don’t hate them or anything, but I also don’t get the hype around them either. The overwhelming pineapple of it all is just too much for me. If I do go for a Dole Whip, I typically get a swirl to cut the pineapple with some vanilla.

But this float right here? Despite it’s fecal-sounding name, this float is now probably my favorite of all the floats Walt Disney World has introduced over the past couple years. The creamy coconut ice cream paired with the heavy sweetness of the pineapple juice works insanely well. Plus that cake pop was like, a rull good cake pop.

We grabbed a seat near the Adventureland entrance and while we were enjoying our floats, we were joined by more people!!! My brother Jeff and my niece Shannon met up with us and were going to be hanging around for the next few days. So exciting.

It was so exciting that I continued my poor blogging and didn’t even take a pic to commemorate the occasion. Which is unfortunate because I spoon-fed both Jeff and Shannon some of my Kakamora Float.

It was a moment.

But no time for love, Dr. Jones. It was time to get back on an attraction. And since the wait didn’t look too long, we all trekked over to Liberty Square to take a tour of Gracey Manor.

Yup, Haunted Mansion time, y’all.

We made it through the entirety of the line in about 13 minutes (spooooooky) and were SO excited to be back in one of the best pre-shows in all of Walt Disney World. The stretching room was back open!!!

It’s a great pre-show for sure. But it also is like, definitely off-putting. I mean, dude straight up hangs himself. That’s pretty dark, Disney.

Hrm maybe that Blood Diamond attraction would have actually worked.

And yeah, I may not have commemorated the moment when we all first met up but look who I got to ride in a doom buggy with. It’s me brutha!

Also, look at these two. And their different reactions.

While Shannon likes to look nonplussed
And thinks the hatbox ghost is suss
Our Owen is a bit confused
And has a bit of stink on his shoes

But they’re couSINS.
Non-identical cousins and you’ll find…

Yep. A reference to the Patty Duke Show. A show most of the world probably knows nothing about. My jokes are incredibly timely.

Hey how about that government-funded Star Wars program? Ronald Reagan? More like Ronald Ray-gun.

It seems every trip, the same debate rages on – Pirates of the Caribbean vs. the Haunted Mansion. I love dark rides, so both rank very high in terms of Magic Kingdom attractions and depending on the day, I may give a different answer every time you ask me. This trip for example? I think I was more feeling Pirates than Mansion. I just…both are great dark rides for sure. But Pirates is on a boat. And boats are pretty great.

Just ask Prestige Worldwide.

Being that we were approaching mid-day, crowds were starting to really build and the heat was hitting a peak. So this seemed a perfect time to hit up an attraction that has a typically lower wait AND offers air conditioning – Mickey’s Philharmagic!

How awesomely Disney is Mickey’s Philharmagic? All kinds of Disney characters. Disney music. Outdated 3D technology.

It’s perfection.

Like I said, both the crowd and heat levels were climbing by this point so we all decided to hop on a boat back over to the Wilderness Lodge for lunch. And on our way out of the park, we ran into these dudes walking up to the train station.

Heh. Pooh.

So for lunch.

Story time.

While we were planning the trip, I started seeing a bunch of YouTube videos of people going to the brand-new world’s-largest White Castle that had just opened in Orlando and I thought that would be a really fun thing to do – grab some sliders and have lunch at the pool.

Unfortunately, people have been waiting legitimately for hours in line to get into this White Castle. Like 4 hours. 6 hours. Lots of hours.

Yeah.

Waiting for hours.

For White Castle.

Sometimes, America…

Anyways though. While we were on the boat over to the Wilderness Lodge, I did see that I could put in an order online at the White Castle in Orlando for about an hour and a half from order time.

Score, right?

So I put in a pretty big order for a Crave Case (that’s 30 sliders) as well as some one-off sliders to try (we definitely wanted some chickens as well as some without onions for Owen.)

And some fries.

And some mozzarella sticks.

And some regret.

I spent nearly 80 bucks at White Castle is what I am saying to you now. And this was mainly for me, Jeff, and the boys since Nickie and Shannon were gonna grab lunch at Geyser Point. Yeah, it was a lot of food. I get it.

Immediately upon placing such order, I knew something was amiss since I received an instant email telling me to MAKE SURE YOU HAVE THE RIGHT ADDRESS OR YOU WILL NOT GET YOUR BURGERS AND BLOOD WILL RAIN FROM THE SKY AND THE DARK LORD WILL ASSUME THE THRONE AND DOGS AND CATS LIVING TOGETHER AND IT WILL BE ANARCHY!

OK fine – it just basically said to make sure I went to the right address. But I mean, they used a lot of CAPS.

Eh whatever though. I was pretty sure they were just being thorough. New White Castle and all. No big.

After we departed the boat, Nickie and Shannon walked over to Geyser Point while we went to the car to set off on our burger adventure. Though we had a small stop to make beforehand since Jeff had gotten the text that his room at All-Star Movies was ready. He wanted to drop off his stuff and car and grab him and Shannon’s bathing suits. It worked out since we had a little bit of time before our pickup window.

While we were handling all that, I don’t know. I started to get a funny feeling. Maybe this wasn’t the same White Castle as the one we were hoping to visit? But I mean, everything I had seen had said this was the first White Castle in Orlando. So, I mean, it had to be.

Right?

Right?!?

I tried calling to make sure but there really wasn’t a direct line to get through. “Oh well,” I thought. “even if it IS a different White Castle. It’s still White Castle.”

Right?

The address they gave me was 18 North Dollins in Orlando so we hopped in the car and set out on our adventure. The GPS said it was a little under 30 minutes away so I was growing more and more sure this was definitely not the White Castle we were looking for. Still though. White Castle.

It’ll be fine.

As we drove, we passed…well…EVERYTHING in Orlando.

Universal.

SeaWorld.

White Castle.

Wait.

Ugh.

Uh, whatever guys. It’s still White Castle, right?

After about 30 minutes or so, we pulled off our exit and it definitely felt like we were pretty far from Walt Disney World. I mean, I think there were most likely still a lot of rodents in the area but they weren’t as friendly or well-dressed as Mickey and Minnie.

But eh. It’s still White Castle, right?

Well.

Erm.

It was this actually.

And after I hopped out of the car, prayed I wasn’t walking into some sort of organ harvesting scam, and entered the building, the interior was less White Castle and more Post Office Box.

It was a ghost kitchen. Which isn’t as spooky or awesome as it sounds. For those that do not know, ghost kitchens are like these pop-up delivery/pickup kitchens only (no tables, no nothing like that…just kitchens) that are often shared and offer a number of different cuisines from a number of different restaurants.

So like…NOT White Casile.

Ross face.

Basically, once inside, I had to check in on a tablet mounted on the wall and wait for my order to be brought out to the front. Maybe it wasn’t as magical as visiting the actual White Castle in Orlando but the end result was still pretty much the same.

Which is to say the end was a crapton of burgers.

I neglected to get any pictures of the actual burgers on account of we ate a good deal of them while I was driving. But they were still pretty delicious. Though I will say I do wish we ordered drinks.

I am pretty sure I downed about 10 of them sans any kind of liquid refreshment. I know. I am a true hero.

Oh also, while we were off doing the whole Harold & Kumar thing, Nickie and Shannon had a lovely lunch at Geyser Point. After lunch, they returned to our room and the garbage smell I noted in my Day 1 and 2 post had gotten worse. They called up front to have someone come handle it and when the cast member arrived, he said he could smell It from the hallway and he would switch our room immediately. 

Sooooo. Both Nickie and Shannon packed up our entire room and moved to another room. Still on the first floor. Still not the best view. But less garbagey.

It smelled better is what I am saying to you now.

Well, it did. Until we brought our remaining White Castle in there.

I make every situation just a little bit better.

Hey, it’s that Rock guy.

It was about 3:30PM at this point and if we wanted to get any pool/hot tub time in before heading back to the park, now was the time. We all quickly dressed and made our way to the Boulder Ridge pool.

And this was nice, you guys. We hung out, threw the football around a little bit, and of course found ourselves in the hot tub by the end of it all. Yup. It was like 1000 degrees out. But still. Hot tub.

I think honestly it’s less the heat and bubbles and more the sitting. It’s much easier to sit in a hot tub than in a pool.

Sitting is the best.

I think in total we spent about an hour or so down there before getting back to the room to get ready to head back to the park. We were back through the gates before 5:00.

And did I mention, it was hot. Which meant Nickie was ready to break out her new sun umbrella.

And like, Nickie claimed it was 20 degrees cooler under there. But I can’t imagine that to be the truth. Looks pretty hawt to me.

Get it? On account of my wife is very attractive?

Also as we were walking in, we were greeted by a very random assortment of characters – Goofy, Max, and Clarabelle AND Jose and Panchito.

Poor Jose and Panchito. I feel like this was like when you’re waiting in line to get on an attraction and a cast member is like, “any parties of two. We have room for two.” Like Goofy, Max, and Clarabelle were already going up to the train station and Jose and Panchito were like…

“Oh um we are dos.”

We all started walking up Main Street but Nickie and I have so much trouble walking by PhotoPass photographers. Due to our vanity.  

And I mean obviously Mickey is a pretty big fan of ours. On account of he put us in his act.

The rest of the crew, meanwhile, walked ahead and did their own DIY PhotoPassing.

We all met back up and walked straight into Fantasyland in search of more fun. But. Instead. We found the Mad Tea Party.

Kidding. I kid.

I know a lot of people have trouble with all the spinning and dizziness that ensues after a ride on the Mad Tea Party, but it never really affected me all that much. My body and mind are pretty used to spinning and dizziness.

On account of all the alcoholism.  

After the Mad Tea Party? Well hey remember when you guys were all, “That’s awesome you got to meet up with Jeff and Shannon. I can’t imagine how that would be any awesomer.”

Have I got news for you.

More friends!!

We were meeting up with our Florida friends – the Hills!

Haha, seriously. That joke is timeless.

But yeah, we were meeting up with our friends, the Hills (Missy, Eric, and their adorbz little girl Olivia). And in keeping with my tradition of being a terrible blogger, I didn’t snap a pic to commemorate the meeting.

No worries though. I have a picture of them in a little bit.

I think.

I hope.

Olivia wanted to ride Buzz Lightyear Space Ranger Spin and I mean, who were we to argue? Off to infinity.

And also beyond.

Now, I am not one to brag. But. Well.

That’s not true. I am TOTALLY one to brag. I was voted Most Likely to Brag in high school.

Anyways, I scored 999,999 this time around and became Galactic Hero for the first time.

In forever.

OK fine. I had a bit of an advantage. My ride vehicle stopped right at the moment where I knew I could score a ton of points (ahem…the Zurg scene…cough) and I just kept my gun aimed squarely at that point.

But whatever. I am not gonna apologize for being resourceful. I’m like a regular MacGyvah.

Since we were in the neighborhood and the line was pretty short, we all decided to hop on the Tomorrowland Transit Authority PeopleMover.

And remember when I promised you a picture of the Hills. Well, here it is.

The picture!

The PeopleMover is inexplicably awesome. It’s super slow-moving. Nothing exciting really happens. And the whole thing is just basically a commercial for other, more fast-moving or exciting attractions. Plus, it’s called the PeopleMOVER. And sure, it technically moves you but you end up right back where you started by the end of the whole thing.

But I love it. It all just works somehow. It’s legit a must-ride on every trip and is actually an attraction we sometimes visit multiple times in a single trip.

Well it usually all just works somehow. Today, however, it did break down for like 5 minutes or so and we were stuck right before the tunnel.

PeopleMover? More like PeopleStandStiller.

Amirite?

Oh we also did get some sweet looks at how construction is progressing on the new Tron coaster.

Super sweet.

Especially because of how popular Tron is with the kids these days.

The kids really love Tron.

I can’t even tell you how many times I’ve walked in on my kids having a heated Tron conversation.

After we got off the PeopleMover, the Hills decided to head out. They had been at the Magic Kingdom most of the day and were all magic’ed out. But don’t worry my little Smurfs. We shall see them again on this trip.

And again.

And then some more.

So we said goodbye to them knowing we would be seeing them soon.

We then walked over to Fantasyland to take a ride on one of the most quintessential – and polarizing – attractions in all of Walt Disney World –

It’s a Small World.

And pfft to all of you, haters. It’s a Small World is an awesome attraction. I get that it’s all in vogue and what not to say you hate it and the song or whatever. But stop.

Cynicism is so boring.

These four obviously agree. Look how much fun they’re having.

We still had a little time before dinner and the wait times were relatively low so Jeff, Myles, Owen, and I thought we should sneak in one more ride while Nickie and Shannon opted to walk over to our dinner spot to meet us.

The four of us moseyed…

What?

Yeah, I said moseyed. Look, I am running out of ways to say we walked somewhere. Plus…moseying fits with the theme of our next destination. So like. Suck it.

Anyways, we MOSEYED…

…on over to Frontierland to hop on the “wildest ride in the wilderness” – Big Thunder Mountain Railroad!!

I snapped a quick ride selfie before our train started up. Myles was NOT cooperative.

Was it fun? Of course it was. This is no question my favorite ride in all of the Magic Kingdom. So fun.

Because my Galaxy was VERY low on battery, I didn’t get any other pictures of the experience this time around but don’t fret. We definitely get another ride before this trip is through.

Were you? Were you fretting?

After our crazy train had come to a stop, it was time for some din-din.

And we had reservations for dinner tonight at a place we had never tried before – Jungle Navigation Co. LTD Skipper Canteen!

So exciting, right?

As I mentioned before, my phone battery was critically low so I didn’t get many pictures during dinner tonight. In fact, my phone died right after the appetizers came out. While I do have some food pics thanks to Nickie stepping in with her iPhone, I got no pictures of the restaurant itself.

Which is a shame, since it’s such a cool spot and full of so many puns. And I do love me some good puns.

I find puns soup­-er.

Get it? Because soup is a food. But also “super” is a word that means something is very good.

Ha. Puns are really…

Onto the meal!

I started off with a Jungle Navigation Co. Shandy (Blue Moon Belgian White Ale mixed with Simply Lemonade.)

Which was just lovely. I like shandys because it’s like two things you wouldn’t think go together but then when they are together, it just sort of works.

Like French Fries and ice cream.

Or melon and prosciutto.

Or Paula Abdul and MC Skat Kat.

Ah Paula Abdul and MC Skat Kat. Such opposites. One likes it quiet, the other likes to shout. One doesn’t like cigarettes, the other likes to smoke. One likes the movies. The other? TV.

Wait, are those really opposite things? Movies and TV? They both offer very similar experiences. I feel like they are just looking for something to argue about at this point. Come on, Paula Abdul and MC Skat Kat. You guys were THE power couple of the 90s. Just watch a movie on TV.

Annnyways. For our appetizer, we ordered off the Not-So-Secret Menu and got a couple plates of their Pao De Queijo, which is Brazilian Cheese Bread. But this ain’t no run of the mill Brazilian Cheese Bread. This Brazilian Cheese Bread is served with a chimichurri cream cheese.

This stuff was goooood. I mean, the cheese bread was good on its own for sure. But that chimichurri cream cheese? I’d take a bath in that stuff if it was socially acceptable.

And Myles? Well, he was obviously VERY thirsty.

I don’t have pictures of everyone’s entrees, but I did get one of Jeff’s “Tastes like Chicken” Because it is! (Crispy-fried Chicken with Sweet Chili Glaze, Stir-fried Vegetables, and Seasoned Rice), which he seemed to enjoy.

I also got a picture of Owen’s Sizzling Savvana Grilled Steak with fries and fruit.

Nickie and I split the Perkins Thai Noodles (Chicken, Seasonal Vegetables, and Rice Noodles tossed in a Spicy Soy-Chili-Garlic Sauce.)

Which I loved. Nickie thought they were a little too spicy. And yeah, they had a little bit of a kick for sure but I dug them.

Wayne likes his chicken spicy.

Such a yummy dinner here. And I have to give a shoutout to our skipper for the night, Skipper Darrin. Dude was awesome and on point with all the puns. Even by the end of the trip, we were still talking about how he was one of our favorite servers of the trip.

After we left the restaurant, Jeff and Shannon headed back to their hotel while we took our time leaving so we could snap some night-time pics.

We exited the park and hopped the ferry back to Wilderness Lodge. And as we were on our boat? We heard some familiar music and looked over to see The Electrical Water Pageant floating by.

Sitting on the boat watching the Water Pageant go by was like a pretty perfect ending to what was a pretty awesome day. I remember sitting there, watching the floats, thinking back on that day full of fun, family, and friends and thinking how crazy it was that we had like 12 more days of this awesomeness left.

#blessed #happy #perfectday #WellThatWhiteCastleThingWasABitOfAMess

See you on Day 4!

Last Post – Days 1 and 2
Next Post – Day 4