The Waterstraut Waterspout: Sattler's at Disney, Day 2: Marching Down Main Street

Saturday morning we woke up at Disney, and I decided to join Cort, Holly and Garrett for early morning hours at the Magic Kingdom. We were so early in fact, we were on the first boat of the day, and we were the only ones on it!

By the time we got to Main Street, it was still pretty empty. And an empty Main Street always makes for some great pictures.

We decided we'd try and get on Seven Dwarfs Mine Train first, so we headed back to Fantasyland where they were holding people off. We passed the time by doing a height check. Garrett has officially passed me, so we can now say I'm the shortest Sattler.

We did pretty good when they started to let the crowd go, weaving in and out. We made it and easily rode Seven Dwarfs in the first 20 minutes since the park opened early for resort guests. I never get to go on this one, because the wait is always long, so I was excited.

Afterwards, we still had a few minutes before the park opened to non-resort guests, so we hopped in line for Peter Pan. I hadn't been in line since they made the indoor queue, and I actually didn't even know they had done it. So, it wasn't so bad to wait. Plus, it didn't take long at all.

Then we were off to Big Thunder Mountain, and it was basically walk on. Last time I tried early hour for resort guests, it was a total bust for me and Asa, so I was excited it was paying off this time around.

We also made it on Jungle Cruise and Pirates and Space Mountain. We're pictured here with the backside of water. Worth noting we had THE BEST Skipper for the Jungle Cruise ever. Skipper Joey deserves some cast member compliments for sure. We did spot Gwen and she ended up in line with her friends behind us at Space Mountain for awhile too. All in all, in two hours we got on six rides (and all of them big ones!)

By now, the grandma's, Asa and Calib were headed over to the Magic Kingdom, and Hayden was staying back at the cabins, having opted not to get a Magic Kingdom ticket for the day (we actually had to buy tickets, since our passes had us blocked out). Asa was meeting me for breakfast at the Contemporary, while everyone else was heading inside the park, so I drew him directions like I did for Garrett and Hayden the night before.

I said goodbye to Holly, Cort and Garrett and headed out. But, I did get to see the Dapper Dans on the horse trolley, so that was fun.

Asa had great timing, as he was getting off the boat, I was coming out of the Magic Kingdom, so we walked over to Steakhouse 71 at the Contemporary together.

There is no Disney food I love more than Disney breakfast. I'd been wanting to try the breakfast at Steakhouse 71 for awhile, and I knew it would work well for this particular day because we'd be right at the Magic Kingdom. We hadn't been to this resturant since it was refurbished from it's days as the Wave. But, the Wave was a hidden gem, so I was hoping Steakhouse 71 would be as well. I promptly ordered the Steakhouse 71 Feast, and it did not disappoint. I got fruit, potatoes, a Mickey Waffle, sausage, bacon, grits, eggs, and even an eggs benedict. The whole thing wasn't terribly imaginative, but it was a ton of food, delicious and came in under 20 bucks with my annual passholder discount.

Asa, meanwhile, was very impressed with his Prime Rib Hash. A little light on the prime rib and a little heavy on the potatoes- but overall seasoned well, a huge portion, and a nice warm meal on a cold Disney day.

While we were busy chowing down, everyone else was riding rides and meeting up with Gwen and her friends to deliver the Mickey ears I had made for them.

Asa and I took our time heading back in to the park, stopping for coffees and having them in our secret quiet spot on the second floor of the Contemporary, before going back into the Magic Kingdom.

We met back up with everyone in time to hit up It's a Small World.

By now it was mid-day though, and the crowds were packing in, so we went for some of the smaller rides/shows to avoid the lines as best we could. I was super excited about the Hall of Presidents and telling Garrett all kinds of fun facts about presidents, but I ended up next to Cort who was..... less excited about presidents. His snoring really put a damper on the whole thing.

Up next, Cort bailed on the Country Bear Jamboree. But, Asa was able to get everyone else to go. It's a terrible show, and so inappropriate, who knows how much longer it'll be there (thus the reason Cort is not a fan). So everytime we go to the Magic Kingdom, Asa wants to see the Country Bears.

Holly noted it was her favorite time seeing them (thanks to Asa's enthusiasm), and we even ran into one of the bears up on the balcony on the way out.

Gwen's band was due down Main Street shortly, so we found ourselves a spot in the hub and parked it.

Calib, who was not with us for breakfast, mobile ordered a Chicken and Waffle Sandwich from Sleepy Hallow (we also later ordered a Nutella one to share), while the rest of us waited for the band.

You may recall back when we went to a Milford high school football game, I made some shirts to embarrass Gwen. Well, they were a hit and the whole family was interested in them for this event.

I even added a little something to Garretts. His notes he's Gwen's Brother (but not by choice).

I made sure Holly had one, and Gwen's Nana and Grandma also had them.

Plus, I made myself a Gwen's Aunt one to match Asa's Gwen's Uncle.

And then the band arrived, playing the Star Wars theme.

Gwen was playing symbols. Her instrument of choice is her marimba, but that's obviously not a marching instrument (though when they have competitions and at football games she plays it off in the front), so symbols it was.

After the band had passed by, it wasn't too long until the 3 o'clock parade, so we waited around for that.

As always, Asa got everyone in on his mission to get as many high fives and waves from the characters as he could possibly get.

With wait times piling up after the parade, we headed to the People Mover.

You can see Tron is almost done from there. And it was just announced we're getting passholder previews. That's super exciting!

After that, we headed on over to the train. It just reopened after having been closed in 2018 due to the Tron construction. I was so excited to ride it, but apparently, so was everyone else in the world. It took at least half an hour to get on the thing. And by the time we got on, there was playoff football on tv, so everyone was less into riding the train, and more into watching football on Asa's phone (Youtube TV for the win- you can watch it from anywhere!)

We did get to see (and go under) Tron from the train though!

On the train, we parted ways with Cort, Holly, Joann, and my mom- the rest of us were heading back to the cabins for a mid-afternoon break and some food. We just missed a boat though and ended up waiting at least a half hour for that as well. The duck kept us entertained, but Asa was about over the lines and waits at this point. While I had the best Disney luck (nailing the boat and getting all those rides in during early hours), Asa had had terrible Disney luck.

Plus it was cold. By the time we got back on the golf cart to ride up to the cabin- his face said it all.

But when we arrived back at the cabin, Hayden was awesome- he'd set out a whole charcuterie for us and it was waiting upon our arrival. Sure, it's a total 16 year olds charcuterie. But it was food, and we were all so grateful.

He had also heated up some Maid rites for us and was finishing up with the Mac and Cheese. He even seperated some out for Garrett before he put onions in it. This kid, I'm telling you. How thoughtful is he?

Asa was much happier with food all prepared, a warm cabin, and some football on tv.

So we hung out for about an hour, watching the end of the game, warming up and filling our tummies.

Everyone at the park was pretty sure we weren't coming back. We narrowly made the boat though, and had we missed it, I think some people would have bailed. But, as we were jogging to make the boat, the lovely captain came on the loud speaker and announced " I see you, I won't leave without you". We did try and trick them and convince them it was just me and Asa coming back. But, Cort can track his kids on their iphones and knew Garrett was there because his phone was.

We were trying to get back to the park in time for the fireworks. The 50th anniversary show is going away the begining of April and I still hadn't seen it, in part because I am not usually there at night- but mostly because watching anything from the hub makes me extremly clausterphobic. Cort suggested I try it from all the way up to the castle, so there is nobody in front of me. I was second behind some stroller, so I did ok (though I was a little paniced when they made everyone stand up and "fill in all available space"- I so hate that phrase). It wasn't the best view, but I made it and got to see the fireworks. Sadly, because of our location, nobody else could meet up with us.

The fireworks show was good, and Tinkerbell still flies, but I"m a Wishes die hard. I wish they'd bring that back instead of Happily Ever After, though I do think Happily Ever After is better than this one.

Also, shout out to these three guys who were amazing- they formed a wall behind me so nobody could overcrowd me and make me feel even more enclosed. They were totally there for me, so thanks, guys!

After the fireworks, we caught up with everyone else for a few last rides. We did Philharmagic, Winnie the Pooh and the Haunted Mansion, making pretty good use of the last hour and a half the park was open.

Plus, the park was tecnically closed by the time we got off Haunted Mansion, so we had where it's pretty empty in the back of the park and you get to take good pictures, especially by the Tangled bathrooms. Those lights are so pretty at night!