(Me) - Former quasi-Disney expert, just past 50 years old.
(Dad) - Loves travel & adventure still, just past 80 years old. (P.S. Still rides rollercoasters) <= Okay, I admit that part worried me too.

Resort:
Disney's Yacht Club

Dates:
September 5-10th

Day 3 – Magic Kingdom

This was our day of “changing plans on the go”. Originally, dad & I were going to eat breakfast at the Grand Floridian Café. In the past, I liked the Eggs Benedict & we really liked how serene it was compared to 1900 Park Fare. Sometime the day before when I was relating our next day’s itinerary to my dad – he said that he wanted to eat at Ale & Compass again. It surely was easier to get to for us (we would have to either hire a Lift or take a bus to Magic Kingdom and ten Jump on the Monorail for the 8:00 am reservation). So, our day began the same as previously, we just ate different entrées, and it was yummy as ever!

Today was also the first time that my dad had to navigate “parking” on the bus with his scooter. I was hoping that he would not get frustrated in the process. He is still a good automobile driver, and he did great on the scooter. The bus drivers were all fantastic on our entire trip so that gave him expert advice and occasionally helped him to steer at times. Dad just stayed in the car on the bus because he said he could take up on less seat that way. How nice! He also could see better from it out of the bus. I think the only scary thing was that he turned left too quick the first time coming off the bus ramp which meant his back left wheel caught some “air” and then thumped down hard. Both the bus driver and my eyes popped because he could have flipped over in the scooter. After that I would always remind him to go straight even further than he thought it was necessary before turning left or right when coming down the ramp. He did just fine thereafter.

I wanted to concentrate on the rides that we missed the previous night, so we rode everything in Tomorrowland except Space Mountain because it had broken down and stayed that way all day & night. We got an additional “Fastpass” because of that. I don’t remember what we used it on, but with Genie+ we had stacked a bunch of rides by the early afternoon thanks to that glitch and the 2-hour rule.

Speaking of that we got to ride Seven Dwarf’s Mine Train. What fun! We thought it was great. I loved the Heigh-ho song and the dancing animatronics! Then afterward we found Gaston’s Tavern. We shared a giant cinnamon bun. With that energy, we were ready to do a few repeat rides from the previous night. I wanted to give a shout out to the Small World ride. At the end of the ride, I saw my name! Nice touch. I used to look for my name on the racks in stores when I was a kid, got I used to the fact that it was just not going to be there because it is rare. Seeing it projected on the wall made me feel special. Anyway, little touches like that caught our eyes because I don’t think it did that back in 2011 (or pre-magic bands).

Another change was suddenly necessary. About 2 hours before our dinner at Skipper’s Canteen we thought that we were not going to be hungry yet. So, we switched it to the only other available time, 9:00 pm. That made us happy that we could do that with the Disney App. Then about 3 hours later our tummies were grumbly. We ate a “snack” as Sonny Eclipse sang to us. We got an order of chicken fingers and an order of French fries to share using the mobile app. I did not notice that the chicken came with fries and the fingers were bigger than chicken nuggets. So, we got filled up again on this “snack-meal”. Dad and I decided to totally cancel Skipper’s Canteen and just have some more “snacks” if we got hungry again. I was a little disappointed to miss Skipper’s Canteen though, because I had heard good things about it.

We went to the laugh floor with the Monsters. They were funny and a couple of the kids were cute and funny too. Kids have a way of telling jokes & you can’t help laughing to encourage them for being brave enough to tell them. After that we visited the Carousel of Progress. Dad remembers seeing a version of this show at the NY World’s Fair. Both shows allowed us to relax and digest. When we got out, dad wanted to wait by the sign at Tron, so we did not miss this ride! 😊

I did not know that the My Disney App would alert you when it was time to get in line, so we found a wall to sit on and watched the board and the people getting off as the sun set. I was hoping for a night ride and we had done every ride that I wanted to experience between this day and the previous night already. The first thing we did was read the restrictions board. Dad got a little quiet and I knew he was considering if he should really ride. I was going down the list too, thinking, I do think I should let him ride it. ☹

We were stationed right by the measuring stick for little kids to determine if they we tall enough to ride. Every time a little kid would be happy that they were tall enough, dad would smile. He also pointed out all of the people who he thought were older than him coming off the ride. I guess we sat there close to 2 hours contemplating whether this was a good idea or not. Then finally, our number came up and we got in line.

First of all, nighttime is the right time to ride Tron (if you can)! The canopy looks terrific then. I loved the way that they digitized us. I was totally geek-ed out (I used to be an IBM Mainframe Programmer & I’ve watched the Tron movie a bunch of times). When we got on our bikes just before the fast launch, I told my father – that he’s the best dad -ever! He told me I was the best daughter – ever! (Don’t tell my siblings, lol). We sped through the grid! Our on-ride picture was great – dad looked so determined and happy! I had a wide grin on my face. In the end, we were so thrilled. Dad insisted that we get pictures in front of the sign to capture the moment. Dad holding the Tron Rings was my most favorite picture that we took all trip.

After that we returned to YC happy and healthy. We were Ready for Day 4, Animal Kingdom.