Disney World. Day 2. A Borscht Belt Jungle Cruise.
Monday. The one with the Jewish Skipper.
Good morning princesses!
At least that’s what we heard at 8am when our two Fairy Godmothers arrived. Normally I would book the Bibbidy Bobbidi Boutique, but since Covid the one in Disney Springs closed and it’s impossible to get a reservation for the one in Magic Kingdom. Instead, we opted for one of the services that come to you! It was two young women dressed as fairy godmothers and they basically spent 45 minutes pampering the girls. It was the cutest thing and the girls really enjoyed it. We had let each girl decide in advance which princess they wanted to be. Madeleine chose Elsa and Hallie chose Sleeping Beauty, but the Sleeping Beauty costume never arrived and Hallie decided she just wanted to wear a black tutu. Then they each picked out the unicorn hairstyles, so they ended up being unicorn princesses.
We made our way out around 915, and headed to the Magic Kingdom! Today was going to have to be strategized, as we had to leave the park by 6pm because there was an evening holiday party. Over the past several years, these night time holiday parties have grown in popularity. They basically enable Disney to kick everyone out of the park by a certain time to be able to let in a whole bunch of new guests at $160 a ticket, for an evening. I’m sure it’s fun, but I’m not there yet. Thankfully, Avery is here, so we put him in charge of bookings.
We headed inside, took some castle photos, and made our way to our first ride. Avery, Gabriella, and Inbar went to Peter Pan. Tzvi and I rope dropped that last December, so I’m good for the next decade or so. The rest of us opted for , the Jingle Cruise (normally Jungle Cruise, but they theme it X-mas from November to January). For those who don’t know, Jungle Cruise is a slow moving river boat ride through a fake jungle river. The “skippers” that drive the boats are usually comedians and they narrate the whole ride in a humorous way. For Jingle Cruise, all of the jokes are Christmas themed. Anyway, getting on line my mom spotted a Skipper wearing a kippah. I went over to him to ask him about it and he started telling us that last year, amidst all the Christmas hats another cast member made him a Jungle Cruise kippah. Also, he said that per Disney guidelines, they’re required to have at least one multi-cultural joke in each cruise, so he always did one Chanukah joke, but last year he decided to flip that and do a cruise that’s fully Chanukah themed. He said most of his feedback has been very positive. He took us off the line and commandeered a boat to do his Chanukah version of the cruise for us. It was so nice. Very 1960s, Borscht Belt humor. When we got off we took a photo with him. Thanks a lot Skipper Joey from Philadelphia! Keep up the good work!
From there we headed to Pirates, except Madeleine was too scared so Tzvi stayed off with her and somehow by the time we got off Pirates Madeleine had a new Mickey Mouse light-up bubble wand. Then we did Big Thunder, which Hallie loved. I love that she enjoys coasters now.
We stopped for lunch (salmon for me, a fish sandwich for Tzvi) and then did Haunted Mansion. It was Hallie’s first time and she was a little scared but ultimately loved it. As we walked out of Haunted Mansion it started to rain, so that was pleasant. Like everyone else, we headed over to Small World where there was a long, but covered, line. Madeleine loved it. We got some Mickey Ice Cream Bars, then went to Philharmagic, which was great, especially the addition of Coco.
Then it was time for Tron. It’s always so fun going on new rides. I definitely saw the movie, but really have no clue what the whole thing is about, nor do I think most of the people there. Tzvi and I got the front row, and thankfully fit in the seats (there’s drama about that ride – you can google it, but basically you need to be a certain size to fit in the seats). The ride was insane. Well done. Tzvi screamed the entire time and was ready to collapse when he got off.
We hit Winnie the Pooh, the Carousel, and Little Mermaid. Then Avery and Gabs and my parents left (Avery had a med school zoom thing to get to). We got a Mickey Pretzel, did Dumbo, Goofy’s Barnstomer, Buzz Lightyear, and then capped the day off with the People Mover. I’d say we did pretty well considering we had to leave the park at 6. We couldn’t do the Mine Train because of the rain, and I would have liked to have done Space Mountain and the Railroad, but I guess you have to leave something for next time.
Before exiting the park I got my standard popcorn candy mix from the confectionary, and then it was time to go. Except it took forever because we had to wait for the monorail, and then take the tram. This is why people stay on property.
We drove over to Disney Springs and had dinner at Raglan Road, a fan (Kaplan) favorite. The girls were so exhausted, but the Irish dancing kept them alert. We ate some irish food, but really you come here for the (A) Irish Soda Bread and Guinness reduction and (B) Bread Pudding. We ended the day with a stop at World of Disney (one of many I’m sure) where the girls both bought Stitch stuffies.
Good day.