The plan to save our Magic Morning, our extra hour before opening, for our last day turned out to be a bad idea for one of us and an excellent idea for the other. Take a guess which of the two categories I fell into? Let's just say it was a fantastical morning for me. I'm an early riser to begin with (my wake-up time for work is usually 4 or 5a depending on the day, and 5a is just when my internal alarm clock goes off to begin with) so getting up early was in no way a hard thing for me. But a certain somebody didn't want to get up in the morning, which is fine by all means, but it was frustrating that yet another thing we were going to do together wouldn't be happening. But anywhooooooooo. New days = new beginnings. And since I was all ready for my day by no later than 5:30 and with nothing better to do I took my time walking down Harbor and getting myself situated comfortably to wait for them to start checking bags before I could wait at the gate.
Needless to say I beat everyone there (cast members included) by quite some time. It made for plenty of time to chit chat until things actually started to get rolling.
I may have gotten there a lot earlier than is considered reasonably sane, but it paid off for me in the long run. I led the pack down Main Street with absolutely uninterrupted space before me. I will admit that I literally skipped down all of Main Street before slowing it to a walk as I neared the castle so I could get a few non-bouncy shots. Either way, I was still the first one to cross the drawbridge and enter Fantasyland! Have you ever seen an empty Disneyland before? Let me give you a looksie ...
Add to that, I was also the first person on two rides in a row (Peter Pan and then Snow White) and I was a very, very happy camper. I even got another "Happily Ever After" button for being the first one on Snow White. That's pretty much why it was my next choice after Peter Pan. That and my obsession with Snow White. Well, these were pretty awesome accomplishments in my book. It just meant that I had even less time waiting in line and more time to go on some rides more than once. I toured all of Fantasyland, and some rides twice: Dumbe (x1), Peter Pan (x2), Snow White (x2), Alice in Wonderland, Mr. Toad, Pinocchio. Yup. Yup. Magic Morning is the best time to tour Fantasyland, no question about that. I even went on the Carousel and had to find my favorite horse of all. Next time I want to photograph all of them. Is that going a little overboard, do you think?
And how about those practically empty Fantasyland photos?
The real reason that I saved my Magic Morning for Saturday instead of using it on Thursday for my birthday was two-part: (1) because Saturdays are a lot busier than Thursdays so I figured I would get in as much as I could before the crowds fell upon us and (2) because Andrea and her mother never used their vouchers for Mickey's Toontown Morning Madness when they came during the Summer and it's a silly-little something that I have always wanted to do. So this way I could enjoy my time in Fantasyland and not have to make a mad dash back towards Toontown in order to make it in time. I had to do a little waiting, but that was OK. I seem to enjoy taking photos of the ground. Because ... well ... because ... Disneyland ground is the best kind of ground there is!
As far as MTTMM goes, the kid in me really enjoyed all of it, especially the chance to get photos with Mickey and friends without waiting in huge, long, never-ending (well, it seems that way sometimes ) lines. Plus I love the environment. It's totally wacky and perfect.
Once it's time they let you walk down to the gates to Toontown with your little voucher to entrance. We also received these little "search & scratch" cards with little challenges on them. I took a photo of the challenges and I'm pretty sure I went around and took photos of each answer. It gave me a way to pass time before the fun started at City Hall, and I'm sure little kids would really love it too. It was all about finding those hidden experiences all around TT, because there are many.
I love how gloomy and overcast it looks in the morning, when it couldn't have been a more inaccurate indicator of the weather. It was actually a very warm morning and I was had been doing just fine without a sweater or anything.
I snuck in a few photos with Mickey, Minney, and Donald before they had to go get ready for the show.
I can see how Toontown can get a little overrun with people for the morning madness thing since the vouchers come with packages through WDC, but it wasn't all that crowded for me on a Saturday morning. There was seating for a lot of the people standing by to watch and become an honorary citizen and the rest just formed a semi circle around us all. And even afterward the street weren't busy and I was still able to walk right on to Roger Rabbits Car Toon Spin.
But before I get to photos from the little show they put on, here are a few random ones I took around Toontown while waiting for their little song and dance, so to speak.
More to come, eventually!
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