Day 2 Part 1-Morning in the Magic Kingdom (Disney '21)

Day 2 finds me starting out pretty early in the morning (about 7:30 a.m.) to the Magic Kingdom (another bad step that will bite me in the tush...apparently I was determined to cripple myself on that trip, which is probably why every night ended at dusk). I was still trying to avoid people as much as I could, and I will say, for the first time ever, I did get a good shot of certain icons without people in my way: And, of course, being late September, not only was it my birthday (literally, on that day exactly), but it was getting close to Halloween time, my FAVORITE time of year! I walked down paths I'd normally ignore just to avoid the people: Saw my first couple of gold figurines for the 50th, here's Abu:

But instead of heading directly to Haunted Mansion (as per usual), I headed to Pirates...another sign that this whole trip was an "off-kilter" for me: I will say, I was making more of an effort on my dark ride pics, and for no flash and motion rides, considering how badly I was doing in the sunlight, I was doing much better on the dark rides: And yes, I still say "we wants the red head" under my breath during this section of Pirates, stupid wokeness be damned: As far as I know, Captain Jack is still there, but I figure they will remove him eventually: Knowing that Splash Mountain was going to close, I should have ridden it one last time, but I couldn't bring myself to. I always regretted that last ride on Maelstrom because it was so broken down and old and now that's how I remember it, so I just walked by and took one last quick snap, preferring to keep my beloved memories of one of my favorite rides: While I headed over to my favorite ride of all time, The Haunted Mansion! I do have to say, guests were misbehaving worse than I had ever seen them, using flash photography on rides, talking on the cells on rides, not even paying attention to the rides at all (I mean really, why ride them if you can't even be bothered?), and my least favorite, climbing on stuff when they shouldn't be, but the hearse was clear for the first time in a few years, so I got a pic of it: This trip was a precursor to all the behavior you've been reading about for the past couple of years for Disney guests. Believe me, I saw it beginning! But I tried to ignore it and kept on with the interior ride pics (there are a lot more in the album, but here are a few samples, which would probably look better if I had Lightroom and Photoshop, but oh well, maybe I'll get it in the future and re-edit these): And then it was off to Small World (and there is a reason why I'm showing you these three rides...more in a mo-mo). I took a TON of pics in here, but here are the two most important, my two little Scottish friends, regular and the winter (I'm not entirely sure that's what they are called, but that is what I call them): The next little bit is a flicker of images, because that was what the next few hours were like...I caught a short parade: Walked around the castle and got the 50th decorations: And then started hitting up the 50th statues (and I'm not going to show you all of them, but here are a few...I'm still kicking myself for not getting a map, because I missed a lot of them, including Stitch, but at this point, I still figured I would be back in a few months at the latest, so I wasn't too worried...if only I had a clue!):

I headed over to Gaston's for some LaFou's Brew and for a "Grey Stuff" cupcake (and for those who are unfamilar, LaFou's Brew is basically frozen apple juice and toasted marshmallow syrup with a mango-passionfruit foam on top...it's pure heaven and will make you seriously ill if you have more than one, oh, and the "grey stuff" cupcake, like "try the grey stuff, it's delicious", again, basically oreo cookies, chocolate pudding and cool whip...super easy to make, but will make you super sick): I ended up walking back through the castle and inside it, something I haven't done since the mid aughts (it's usually closed off for one reason or the other). But my nervousness meant I didn't get good, evenly spaced and centered pics of the mosaics...still kicking myself over that too. I wasn't in a restricted section, but I was behaving like it. I was in full paranoia mode on this trip, I'm tellin' ya!

I was even able to walk under the portcullis and out to the stage, something I haven't been able to do in ages! And back 'round to the castle face: Where I caught another quick band: Took about a million more pictures of the castle, and then waddled my way to the bus stop at noon (yes, you read that right, noon): Remember when I said those three rides would be important? It is because I only rode three rides that entire day. But what you also may not understand is, this was my ONLY day in the Magic Kingdom...I would NOT be back, meaning I only rode three rides for an entire park...my favorite park, which I was only in for about 4 1/2 hours! So that's two parks down and three rides rode, no shows and some shopping. The shopping I was about to rectify, but the ride situation would not get better. Again, I wasn't too worried. I didn't feel like I had wasted money on an annual pass because it always pays for itself in purchase discounts, but I was still planning on being back in a few months with my sister at this point in the trip. I didn't understand the damage I was doing to my body at this stage, let alone my mental health. I still was "Disney hopeful". Poor pitiful naive me.

But hey, we're living in the moment, so next up, it's my BIRTHDAY and I'm celebrating large (and by large, I mean foot swelling size) in Disney Springs! I'm shopping, bur ironically not buying much (yes, I went to Disney and came back with practically nothing during a celebration year), eating a Birthday dinner at one of my favorite restaurants, trying to stand in line for a popular cookie store (but chickening out 10 minutes in a 30 minute line), picking up a custom cake and carrying it all back by hand (and on foot) about a hundred miles (well, maybe not that far, but it felt like it) only to discover I had a room full of ants, dealing with oozing blisters on my feet as well as sun poisoning (but I will keep those pics to myself)...Happy Birthday to me! See ya Wednesday!