We bit the bullet and bought Genie+ today. At 7am we logged in and chose Big Thunder for 9:30-10:30
We got ready and walked to the bus stop, just missing the MK bus. It was a 25 minute wait for the next bus which was a bit disappointing. We had a look around the shop and then I realised I had left my phone in the room so Molly ran back to get it. We had plenty of time but she raced back and came back all hot and bothered.
This wasn’t our bus but we thought it looked good.
Our bus arrived right on time and we made it into Magic Kingdom. We walked up through the shops and got a picture just outside Adventureland. I like this one with the Orange Bird
We were going straight to Big Thunder but as we passed Pirates it was a 5 minute wait so we stopped on the way to ride that.
I always enjoy a good Yo Ho Ho….
Next up Big Thunder. It was only a 10 minute wait but we had our LL so literally walked straight on. This seemed less rough than I remembered.
We got a Pooh Bear LL after this and as we walked around we saw that Haunted Mansion was quite a short queue so we went in the Standby Line.
While we were queuing we discovered these silly filters that you can only use if you have Genie+
Haunted Mansion isn’t Katie’s favourite ride but she agreed to join us and we sat and looked at all the various theatre tricks they use to make the effects.
I have no idea what I am doing here!!!
We walked around to Pooh bear next and skipped a 35 minute queue so felt quite smug. This is just silly and fun but not worth any kind of queue.
Next stop was breakfast, and Gaston’s Tavern for a cinnamon roll. These are a firm favourite.
We took quite a long break and nearly missed our next LL which was for Buzz. We headed straight over there and I was doing terrible as usual when suddenly my score jumped right up. I don’t know what I hit though. So no chance of repeating it.
We decided at this point to book a Lightning Lane for Remys Ratatouille in Epcot. This was for 7pm. Which meant we couldn’t book another Magic Kingdom ride for 2 hours.
We went on our favourite. The People Mover. This had a short queue. I remember the days when you could always just walk onto this.
After our ride in the future, we went into Monsters Inc, Laugh Floor
Note Phil’s sticker! He was indeed ‘That Guy’! And features throughout the show.
Lunch was next, and we went to Pecos Bills for some Mexican food.
The food in here was very good but it was really noisy. You can’t beat Columbia Harbour House for the atmosphere. We were able to get a new LL now and booked Peter Pan. This wasn’t until 4pm so we had a little wait. We decided to go into Hall of Presidents. Mainly to get out of the heat. While we were waiting for the show we saw lots of dance schools performing along the parse route.
After the Hall of presidents (which is more movie and less animatronic presidents than I had realised) we came out of the theatre and it was almost time for the parade. Katie and Phil went to watch the parade and molly and I went in search of some shade in the shops.
Phil & Katie returned and we decided we needed to go back to the hotel as it was hot and Molly wasn’t feeling too well.
We got straight on a bus and we’re pretty quickly back to our resort. But we are the last bus stop and it seemed to take forever to get right round to our stop. Made more frustrating by the fact that the via drives straight past our road when it enters the resort but it doesn’t stop.
We got back to the room eventually and Molly had a shower and a nap. She then felt much better.
We decided to have some dinner in the room and made some frozen enchiladas. We have had these before and really enjoyed them. But tonight’s were awful. Absolutely inedible. I don’t know if we had bought a different brand. Or flavour but we didn’t eat them and they got chucked out.
I thought that was us set for the evening when the girls decided they wanted to go into Epcot to ride Ratatouille.
We drove over and parked up. Then started to walk. We had until 8pm to ride and we didn’t leave the room until 6:45
It’s 1.2 miles from the car park to Remys but we were there with time to spare.
This is a cute ride. Lots of fun but I was pleased I hadn’t waited an hour for it.
We came out and had some photos taken.
They have built quite a large new area behind the old French pavilion. Strangely not connected to the original area. We looked at the Crepe restaurant but it looked like it was a full price restaurant to sit inside and we didn’t want to eat outside so we went to the Bakery.
We shared a quiche and a Brie and Cranberry sandwich. And a macaron and a Crème Brûlée.
The food in here is excellent but the seating area is too small. We started our meal stood at a high table and then managed to move to normal seating later.
After our meal we decided to watch Impressions of France as it was about to start. This is a tourist info video about France that must have been filmed in the 70s. The fashions and cars are very dated.
After the film we headed out of the park. Stopping for a photo opp
Spaceship Earth was all lit up and looked very pretty
So. Genie+. Was it worth it. Yes and no. In terms of minutes saved / number of rides done. Probably not. It was actually pretty quiet in Magic kingdom today but it made for a more relaxing day. We felt less stressed about what had a queue and what didn’t. And we were managing to get LL within the next half hour in the morning. We came a bit unstuck after lunch as the times for things we hadn’t ridden yet were all a few hours wait.
I think we will get it again for one day in Hollywood studios but we don’t feel like we need it in Epcot (other than Remys which we managed today) or Animal Kingdom.
Skating on Thin Ice 