Disney World – Day 2 (October 2022)

A Little Time to Kill

Ever since Farrah was a baby, she’s never been a fan of sleeping. During the pregnancy, it wasn’t unusual for us Michelle to get settled in bed only to not fall asleep because the baby decided that anywhere from 11:00 PM to the wee early hours of the morning was a great time to do somersaults in the womb. Getting her down for naps as a baby all the way to kindergarten was nothing short of a miracle. This included more than a few conversations with her daycare teachers expressing frustration over Farrah not sleeping during nap times, and sometimes riling up the other children with her shenanigans. Strangely enough, she can sleep in on weekdays when she needs to be up, but is bright-eyed and bushy-tailed on weekends when everyone wants to sleep in.

Between the excitement of being in a new place and knowing that visiting Disney World was near, Farrah was up pretty much as soon as sunlight entered the window. Grudgingly surrendering to the idea that sleeping in wasn’t a possibility, we were up and eating breakfast long before we hoped.

The original plan was to tour the Magic Kingdom during the day and stay for the big event – Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween Party. It seemed like we’d be missing out on a day full of fun. However, advice from others who did it before said don’t go to the park and party on the same day – you’d be paying twice for the rides and dragging around a tired, hot, and very cranky child in the process. Instead, we opted for using the day for errands and relaxing before we spent the evening at Disney. In retrospect, I cannot stress enough how wise of a decision this was.

Since the park didn’t begin letting guests in for the Halloween Party until later in the afternoon, we reorganized our unpacked things, got cleaned up, and headed out into the Florida heat and humidity.

Probably the most striking thing about this trip was Florida’s ability to rebound from a hurricane. I’ve known people in Minnesota who don’t go grocery shipping until there’s at least six inches of snow on the ground. On the other hand, with all the doom and gloom the news gets into when a hurricane is aiming for the East Coast (with a preferably “unamended” official National Weather Service map), I expected things to be beat up and everyone still getting back on their feet. Instead, the only signs of an Act of God were a few tiny pools of flood water on side streets and some bits of debris that might just as well be trash someone tossed on the ground. Otherwise, stores were open and people were out and about like any other day. I’m sure anyone living here has the routine down and knows better than what sensationalism news would make you believe. I imagine their biggest worry when facing the business end of a massive storm is whether or not they’ll still need to make car or house payments afterward.

We made a quick stop at the nearby Target to invest in a decent booster seat for the car (which conveniently fit in my suitcase on the flight home) and a cheap stroller since we fully expected to hear the phrase “I’M TIRED!” from a cranky child who reached her limit at the “happiest place on Earth.”

We made a point of stopping at the Orlando International Premium Outlets. Considering that there’s several outlet malls in the DC area, my opinion of them is similar to how I feel about shopping malls – they all look the same. However, the big draw for this one is Disney’s Character Warehouse. Basically, this store’s is dedicated to pushing “retired” Disney merchandise in a last-resort effort to make some money off of it. The fact that you can buy the stuff for a substantial mark down from when they were at the parks justified the line of people waiting to get in. Once inside, it was filled with discount stuff being phased out of the parks’ gift shops – everything and anything with Mickey Mouse on it, to Marvel comics characters, to Star Wars (all now owned by Disney). Wandering around, I didn’t see a whole lot in terms of “I MUST HAVE THIS,” but Michelle and Farrah did countless laps around the store trying to decide what to get. In the end, we settled on a Marvel backpack (Michelle), a Turning Red stuffie (Farrah), and an R2-D2 coffee mug (me) which is way bigger than I’d ever drink coffee from (this is a moot point since Farrah recently staked her claim on it for breakfast time).¹

We returned back to the hotel suite for lunch, then spent some time in the pool to cool off a little.

At Last, We’ve Arrived

As I mentioned earlier, the Disney campus in Florida is enormous. In my previous Disney World adventure, I was always impressed and disturbed by the gigantic welcome sign to the place, and seeing it again in the late afternoon sun brought back similar feelings. Of course, all that pales when you hear your kid in the back seat gasp and squeal in barely-contained excitement – realizing that she’s finally at Disney World. We didn’t include parking in our reservations, so as we spoke with the entrance attendant, we opted for preferred parking – basically, you get to park A LOT closer to the park. And if you’ve ever been to any kind of amusement park or event, then you’ve probably endured at least one Bataan Death March trekking across a hot, merciless tarmac to the will-we-ever-reach-that-thing-on-the-horizon park entrance. I know it’s just giving even more money to Disney, but trust me, it’s worth it. Of course, no matter where we parked, it’s not like we would just give up and go back to the hotel.

Riding on the monorail, I couldn’t help but eavesdrop on the conversations going on around us. The car was full of families, and judging from what they talked about, we weren’t the only ones making their inaugural trip to Disney World. As I mentioned earlier, Farrah has been asking about Disney World for years, to the point of getting worked up or excited every time we saw a commercial on TV. In addition to mine bouncing in her seat, all the other kids were equally fired up and ready for a dream to come true. Every turn offering a new glimpse of the Disney skyline was accompanied by a chorus of tiny voices, their pitch getting higher as buildings grew bigger. Finally, we hit that magical last leg where all you can see is the big castle, jutting up over the surrounding trees and other attractions. And in that moment, every kid burst out loud in cheers and/or were pressed up against the windows, taking it all in – we had arrived (and I’d be lying if I said hearing and seeing Farrah that excited didn’t make the trip worth it)!

By now, it was closing on 5:00 PM, but you’d never know it. Exiting the monorail and winding down the walkways to the main entrance, all you could see was the gigantic throng of visitors waiting to get through security. I wrote in my San Francisco adventure about how that city celebrated Halloween like Hanukkah (i.e., over several days) instead of Christmas (i.e., one big day). Disney left San Francisco in the dust – here we were in early October, and the Autumn and spooky decorations were out, and the crowd filled with kids and adults looking like cosplayers ready to invade a sci fi convention. There were monsters, and superheroes, villains, and aliens galore surrounding us. I remember seeing a few kids and adults dressed at Batman and Superman, and wondered if they’d be kicked out since Disney doesn’t own DC (yet). Some wore outfits in the spirit of the season, others looked like they needed to find a more adult venue for their costumes (or lack thereof). The fact that it was still hot and humid made me sweat more just looking at them.

As we toured down Main Street and its never-ending line of gift shops, it was hard to ignore the intermittent announcements suggesting asking ordering visitors not there for the Halloween Party to get the Hell out of depart the park by 6:00 PM…in the friendliest-yet-stern voice ever heard. Seeing ushers politely but clearly directing the daytime crowds to leave also took a little from the happiness, but they’ve a show to do and damn if they won’t be ready for it.

Once past Main Street, there’s the customary stop in front of the castle to take the requisite picture proving that you were at Disney World. By this point, we were maybe 30 minutes into our time there, and the one thing that tickled Farrah more than posing for pictures with the sunset-laden castle behind her was THE piece of merchandise all the other kids were walking around with and THE “it toy” for the trip – the Mickey Bubble Wand. I knew that the trip would involve a higher-than-usual budget for miscellaneous toys, gifts, tchotchkes, and other unplanned necessities, so I made a point of putting away a little extra money. I mean, it’s Disney, are you really going to say no to your kid who’s swept up in the excitement?

Okay, you might, but I wasn’t about to, so she got her Mickey Bubble Wand.²

I Love a Parade (and Short Lines for the Rides)

As any experienced amusement park goer will tell you, the inevitable reality when visiting any park is the dreaded waiting. Besides the gift-shop-at-every-corner aspect of the place, waiting in line was something I knew would test both Farrah’s patience and our parental abilities. Like many kids, Farrah isn’t really known for her patience, so I was a little apprehensive about how we’d manager her while waiting in an endless cattle call for a ride.

But as the sun quickly set, we noticed the crowds definitely thinning out.

Still hesitant to get too optimistic, I was taken back by several of the ride lines listing wait times from 20 to up to 45 minutes (and yes, I know this is short compared to the regular wait times). My heart sank, this would be the real test. But we were here and with some time before the big parade kicked up, so we made way to Farrah’s first ride request, Under the Sea – Journey of the Little Mermaid. She has always loved The Little Mermaid,³ so it made sense that she’d pick this one for her inaugural ride. Although the ride entrance said a 25-minute wait, with the significantly reduced crowds, we were loading onto the ride within 10 minutes. Thrilled that wait times were slashed, I asked them to indulge me with my personal favorite, the Pirates of the Caribbean, and followed up with Farrah’s next pick – the Dumbo the Flying Elephant ride and Michelle’s choice, the Mad Tea Party.

By the time we finished with the rides, it was dark and showtime for the parade was heralded by the staff ushering people from side to side as they set up the rope lines and encouraged everyone to find a good spot. Our wandering around took us back by the castle again, where a big Halloween-themed stage show was in full tilt. The castle was lit up to be all spooky, and every villain from a Disney film was dancing and singing with near look-a-likes of the Sanderson Sisters from the recently released Hocus Pocus 2. Farrah loved the dancing, the costumed actors, the fireworks (which I managed to get a decent picture of), and the music. Say what you will, but Disney knows how to entertain.

As we settled down in our spot for the Halloween Parade, Florida began to feel a little bit like…Halloween. It’s not the first place that comes to mind when you imagine ghosts, ghouls, and Autumn, but with the excitement level rising as they played spooky and creepy sounds from hidden speakers, or the occasional flash of lightning and boom of thunder. Soon enough, the eerie sounds gave way to our first visitor – the Headless Horseman (one of my favorite ghost stories). Though the magic of the moment was kind of lost by the horse poop patrol following a minute behind (they’re the real heroes in my book).

After a few more minutes, the parade began. Booming from everywhere was the parade’s theme song, the never-ending earworm Boo to You! (it was ringing in my head well into the following day). The last time I visited Disney World, we stayed into the evening to see their traditional end of the day parade, complete with fireworks and Tinkerbell fly up to the castle. As I said, Disney knows how to entertain and there’s no way you can’t admire the talent and investment they make in their spectacles. This one was no exception – the parade was full of floats and dancers dressed up as almost every single Disney character you can imagine, all in rhythm to Boo to You! At one point, a group dressed up as the Country Bear Jamboree stopped and invited kids to dance with them, including Farrah who ran out there without hesitation. After all of that, the last float passed by with Jafar and Maleficent waving good-bye to everyone.

While she enjoyed the whole thing, we couldn’t help noticing that Farrah was a little…disappointed.

While Michelle was researching everything over the past year, one of the things Farrah was excited for in this parade was seeing some of the characters from The Nightmare Before Christmas. She’s loved that movie ever since before she even understood what she was watching, including putting it on her tablet or asking for it on TV any time of the year (and nothing says “Happy Easter” like watching Halloween movies). And in all of the videos Michelle viewed in her research, many showed dancing Jack Skellington and Sally, but they weren’t seen this time. Farrah was still smiling and clearly enjoyed herself, but she was hoping to see those characters, a lot.

Within minutes of the parade ending, the crews were already taking up the rope lines and cleaning up anything on the walkways. In practically the blink of an eye, you’d never know a parade had gone through (this makes me wonder if the change over from Halloween to Christmas is just as efficient). The only other time I’ve seen that efficient a cleanup was in New York City after the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. With light-up Mickey Bubble Wand in hand and a big smile on her face, we took a very pleased six-year-old back to the hotel.

1 First lesson in parenting – what’s hers is hers and what’s yours is hers. It’s a little ironic that she claimed that mug. When Farrah was two, we took her to the annual “Air and Scare” event at the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Dulles, Virginia. The event includes stations all over the museum with games, trick or treat candy, and lessons to teach kids about flight and space exploration. The 501st Legion helps host the event, with any and all kinds of Star Wars characters roaming about. At this particular event, we tried to get her to pose with a life-size, remote controlled R2-D2 , but she wasn’t having any of it. Though later on she chased down some stormtroopers giving them a piece of her mind in pidgin toddler speak (one of them looked back with a “what did we do?” shrug). She fearlessly pursued them until she ran into two Tusken Raiders, convincing her to make a big “NOPE” turnaround.
2 And like so many other “must have” toys from birthdays and Christmas past, it sits in the closet barely touched today.
3 Naturally, we were nagged for a long time to take her to see the live action The Little Mermaid, which was our first time in a movie theater post-lockdown. It was beautifully produced, and I love movies, but it convinced me that I never need to see another live action version of a Disney animated classic again.