Good morning from the Contemporary Resort! I woke up to my bed shaking.... earthquake?! No, it was the building shaking as the monorail passed through. Rachel couldn't feel it, so I think my shakey senses must be heightened from LA earthquakes.
The bummer was that none of the stores were open at this hour, so I circled Fantasyland looking for a place where I could buy a Diet Coke before I realized it wouldn't be until at least 8 AM (at which time I promptly made my way to a gift shop to buy Diet Cokes). We stood in line for 70 minutes, and at that point, we were still in the outdoor queue. They kept making announcements over the loudspeaker that the wait was longer than anticipated, please be patient. We realized that since Space Mountain was down, they probably hadn't accurately estimated the wait time that morning.
Another hour went by.... by the time we were inside, anywhere near the loading area, it was after 10 AM. I was worried that we weren't going to make it back to our hotel in time to pack up our stuff and check out - we really thought we were going to hop over to the Magic Kingdom at 7 AM, ride a few rides, then be back by 10! I told Rachel that we needed to go, but you know, sunk cost fallacy..... we finally decided to abandon ship at 10:30 AM.
On our speed walk back to the Contemporary, I started messaging Guest Relations on the app and let them know what had happened to us. They were very nice and efficient and sent me two anytime Lighting Lanes that we could use later that day for Seven Dwarfs Mine Train. Guest experience is very important to The Walt Disney Company, so whenever I find myself frustrated by a situation that is out of my control, it's worth a shot to calmly and politely explain my experience to Guest Relations to see if there's anything they can do to remedy the situation.
Woohoo! We may have spent all morning standing in the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train queue, but at least it wasn't all for nothing. And we had enough time to get ready and pack our bags before checkout.
Took a ton of photos while waiting for bell services to come to our room....
This is at 300mm, but what an incredible view!
I would definitely stay at the Contemporary Resort again - but now that I'm spoiled by Main Tower Theme Park view, I don't know if I would be satisfied with Lake View.
The Grand Floridian looks gorgeous across the bay -
And the new DVC tower monstrosity at the Polynesian Resort was well underway. This photo was taken in February 2024. I've visited again in August 2024, and there's been significant progress!
While waiting in line for the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train, Rachel made a lunch reservation for Tony's Town Square at 11:50 AM, right before parade time! We requested a table outside on the patio and were seated right in time for the parade to pass by (the parade starts over at Frontierland and reaches the Main Street Hub around 12:15 PM). This is my favorite way to watch the parade!
The Festival of Fantasy parade floats are all very high off the ground, so the patio offers a great perspective.
You can't really see the dancers walking the parade route, but it's still a great view of the floats.
So cute!!!
Rachel had a wonderful idea to DIY an affogato. She sent me to Main Street Ice Cream Parlor while she went to Starbucks for espresso. This is our ice cream pre-espresso.
Obligatory bridal castle photo -
We stepped into a little nook along the right side of the castle to try some timer photos, you know, to prove I was there. Well, as we were getting set up and testing the timer, we realized there were two women impatiently waiting on us to use our photo spot. Not sure why they didn't offer to take our photo.... maybe they thought I liked running back and forth with the timer?
Time to finally ride Seven Dwarfs Mine Train! It's been years since I've ridden because typically I refuse to wait for it. Rachel and I were seated in the very back, and we got our car really rocking. There were two boys who were seated in front of us who didn't realize until the very end that we were rocking the car.... we thought they'd be impressed, but no, 12-year-olds are too cool to be impressed.
Since were were in Magic Kingdom, we went for a spin on the People Mover.
Then we decided to leave MK and make our way over to the Epcot area resorts. Rachel suggested that we take the ferry instead of the monorail to the Transportation and Ticket Center. It was a fun ride!
Awesome views of Magic Kingdom -
And of course we refilled our popcorn bucket before leaving the park.
We then took the monorail to Epcot.
The International Flower and Garden Festival didn't start until the next weekend, but a lot of the topiaries and displays were already up -
We walked to Italy and stopped for Prosecco.
And another self-timer photo attempt.
Then we exited out the back of the park at International Gateway and walked over to the Yacht Club, straight to our room that was ready!
Rachel called for the bags to be delivered as I quickly documented the room.
This was a Resort View room, but we lucked out with an amazing view -
Wow, two amazing rooms, both with great views!
Just killing time while we waited on our bags to be delivered...
Rachel and I decided to go see Fantasmic tonight, and we wanted to get there early enough to get good seats. We succeeded! Walked all the way up to sit in the splash zone, not quite centered, but no pole obstructions.
This is at 300mm, but what an incredible view!
We then took the monorail to Epcot.
And another self-timer photo attempt.
Just killing time while we waited on our bags to be delivered...
The last time I photographed Fantasmic, it was with my Nikon 1 J1. This time, I had my D750 and 28-300mm lens. Here's a few of my favorite shots -
The Evil Queen photographed surprisingly well.
Mickey's little red shorts are my favorite part of this show!
Wait a minute - this is my dream!!
Not quite as crisp as I was hoping, but not too bad.
After Fantasmic, Rachel made me RUN back to the Yacht Club so that we could watch the Epcot fireworks from our balcony. Didn't snag a great photo, but it wasn't a bad view. There's a lot more pyro used in Luminous than before in Illuminations, so there's more to see over the trees.
After the show, Rachel and I headed downstairs to Ale & Compass where we waited for Meredith and Kayla who were arriving that night!
NEXT: Rachel's Bachelorette | Disney [Day 3] Hollywood Studios & Epcot
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