The days are getting warmer and warmer down here. They are talking about this weekend becoming the warmest January 11/12th in history. For me, that’s a lot better than the freezing cold we’ve sometimes have come down to. For those running the marathon Sunday, though, it could be a bit treacherous. I’m praying that they all are okay throughout the morning.
This morning, I played bus roulette once again. I ended up going to the Magic Kingdom. There, after clearing security, I went to Customer Relations to have my new annual pass applied to my Magic Band as last year’s pass expired last night. It went off without a hitch. Then, I entered the park and saw the iconic castle:
Since I didn’t have FastPasses, I decided that I wanted to go to Peter Pan’s Flight immediately. The park had just opened when I got there and already there was a 40 minute wait in the queue. It was worth it though. I think it’s a testament to the power and popularity of the story that the vast majority of people waiting for the ride were adults and not children.
After Peter Pan’s Flight, the choice for me was quite clear: I went to the place I usually go to first: The Haunted Mansion. There was a mother that was having problems with her young daughter. After exiting the expanding room, she saw the doom buggies and wanted no part of the ride. She was yelling that she wanted to leave. Her mother and father were trying to calm her down. I touched her head and she looked up at me. I smiled and said, “This is a fun ride! You’ll be giggling at the singing ghosts in no time.” She looked a bit longer at me and then said, “Okay.” Her dad laughed and mentioned how kids never listen to parents but will take the word of strangers. She made it through the ride, though, and laughed at the hitchhiking ghosts as well as at the singing ghosts.
Once you’ve seen one dead person, you may as well go for more. So, from the Haunted Mansion, I went to the Pirates of the Caribbean ride. It was a longer wait there and I had this chatterbox of a little boy who had “adopted” me because he was quite taken by my green Magic Band. He only had the standard gray one. He was showing my arm to all of his family. His parents were laughing like mad. Then, he grabbed my hand and walked with me up to the boats. Thankfully we got split up at the selection of seats because he would have probably been crawling over me in the boat.
That was a lot of activity for the morning. So, after the Pirates of the Caribbean, I purchased myself a Dole Whip in a cup and had a refreshing break.
Break over, I walked over to the other side of the park and rode the People Mover. I love that ride. It’s simple, basic, and always fun.
When I left the people mover station, I decided that I was going to head back to the Boardwalk to rest up for a bit. It was already 2:00 p.m. As I was walking to Main Street, their afternoon parade had begun. So, I stopped at the curb and made a video as they paraded by.
One thing I noted was that the Christmas decorations, including their main tree, were still up. The Magic Kingdom has a nice holiday feel to it.
This is me under the tree at the beginning of Main Street U.S.A. 
For dinner tonight, Fr. Brian and I went to the California Grill at Disney’s Contemporary Resort. Had a great bowl of butternut squash soup as well as scallops atop lump crab for the entree.
Now, I’m back at the resort resting up. I’m going to hit the sack soon as I went to bed late last night and woke up early. I’ll see what time I wake up tomorrow. Until tomorrow, though, g’night.