A Magical Disney World Seniors Trip

Day 8 – Magic Kingdom on Black Friday … No Crowds!

Today we finally spend time during our magical Walt Disney World seniors trip at Disney’s Magic Kingdom.

Today was a great example why Nancy and I support getting up early for ‘rope drop’.

This is a term which refers to being at one of the Disney parks when it first opens.

We were able to enter Magic Kingdom at 7:30 am since we were staying at a Disney resort.

By 9:30 am we stopped for two different Disney photographers and went on the following attractions:— at Magic Kingdom At Walt Disney World.

– Peter Pan’s Flight

– It’s A Small World

– Big Thunder Mountain Railroad

– Pirates of the Caribbean, and

– Jungle (Jingle) Cruise

….. without the aid of any Lightning Lane reservations!!

Seniors, it is so worth getting up early to be at Disney Parks when they first open. Much less crowded and you can do so much in so little time.

Tiana’s Bayou Adventure was initially down, but when it came back up while we were on Pirates of the Caribbean, we were able to go on it not once (Lightning Lane Multipass) but twice back-to-back because we got the second ride from the Virtual Queu.

Tiana’s Bayou Adventure is wonderful. The Disney detail, the multiple mediums used for the party at the of the attraction (after the 50 foot drop), were all wonderful.

Yes we got wet, less on the first ride as we were in the very back. We became much more wet on the second ride as we were in the very front! Wearing the hooded rain jackets we brought helped a lot.

We also finally got to ride TRON …. Nancy really liked it while I was my usually self and it will take me a few more rides to get comfortable with it.

We also found time for lunch in the park as well as the Haunted Mansion, Tomorrowland Speed Racers, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad a second time and Buzz Lightyear Space Ranger Spin … all with the Lightning Lane Multipass.

Throw in Mickey’s Philarmagic and Monsters Inc. Laugh Factory and we had ourselves quite a 7 hours at Magic Kingdom as we left at 2:30 pm just as the winds and the rain started.

After doing laundry back at our DVC resort we took the Monorail to Disney’s Polynesian Village Resort for dinner at Kona Cafe.

The crusted pot stickers were excellent as was my burger.

Nancy had Sushi rolls which she really enjoyed.

Lessons learned for seniors or anyone:

– do the rope drop / be at a Disney Park when it opens

– go to Magic Kingdom on a day when it closes early (typically at 6 pm) for a ticketed party like Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween or Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas parties as guests with a number of days park admission tickets will not want to go vs other days when they can stay later

– go on a day when it is forecasted to rain

…. all three of these contributed to lower crowds in Magic Kingdom today, Black Friday.