Wife Without Borders: Disney Day 2: Magic Kingdom and Mickey's Backyard BBQ

For our second day at Disney we planned to hit Magic Kingdom early, ride the remainder of our wish list attractions and then head back to the resort for a siesta before heading to the Fort Wilderness resort for the Mickey’s Backyard BBQ character dinner that evening. We got to MK with plenty of time to spare and when the doors opened we rushed to AdventureLand to hop on the first Jungle Cruise out of the docks.

Forest really loved this ride, so I’m glad we rode it since many sources told me it was "meh".

Afterward we explored the Swiss Family Robinson Treehouse which was another hit with Forest. This area of the park was so empty we basically had it all to ourselves so it was nice to explore at a relaxed pace.

Afterward we walked right onto The Magic Carpet Ride.

By 9:17 we had all 3 of these finished. We had a fastpass for 10:15 at Haunted Mansion but since it was still early we decided to see if we could go ahead and tour it with a short wait time and the trade our fast pass in for something else. I’m so glad we did this because we walked right in and Forest was immediately terrified so we had to find a cast member to escort us out. Mom fail #2! But at least we got to do a different fastpass.

We reserved Tomorrowland Speedway for Jon and F and Space Mountain for me and headed over to Tomorrowland instead. Since our fastpasses weren’t until 10:30 we did the Astro Orbiter (I wish I hadn’t gone but Jon and F had fun) and the Monster’s Inc Laugh Floor which was really cute.

Then we split up to cash in our fastpasses and when I got to Space Mountain it was closed! I guess something went awry so I’m glad I wasn’t riding it when it happened, but still, I was disappointed to miss this one.

I also didn’t know what happened to my fastpass as it just sort of disappeared on the app. I found out later that when this happens you get an email telling you that you can use your FP at one of several other rides instead, but since I didn’t know it at the time I just forgot about it and waited for Forest and Jonathan to finish up at the neighboring race track. To make up for my disappointment, I decided to drown my sorrows in a delicious Dole Whip before heading over to Splash Mountain for our 11:30 fastpass.

Since you have to be 40” to ride Splash Mountain and Forest is hovering right at 39 ¾ we were unsure as to whether he’d qualify. He just made the cut so we suited him up in his waterproof crocodile coveralls and cut to the front of the line.

I hypothesized that he’d enjoy this thrilling ride but after so badly misjudging the much more benign Pirates of the Caribbean and the Haunted Mansion I was apprehensive. He did get uncomfortable in the dark and sinister areas especially when the ride broke down for a minute right in the middle of the darkest part, but he loved the coaster aspects and thought the big plunge into the river was awesome. He was all smiles afterward.

We had about 20 minutes until we could use our final fastpasses at Peter Pan’s flight so stopped to eat our pre-packed picnic lunch nearby. When we parked our stroller at the ride, I noticed Forest grasping at his wrist and then realized that his magic band had fallen off. It had done the same thing while we were eating our ice cream but we noticed right away so secured it back on. This time we had no idea where he’d lost it so retraced our steps back to the lunch table before giving it up for lost. We were about ready to leave the park for the day so didn’t have time to go all the way to the front for a replacement and walk back to Peter Pan so instead Jonathan gave Forest his fastpass and we had a little mommy son date on a flying pirate ship.

Afterward we went to customer service to see if anyone had turned in a missing magic band or else get his replaced. The worker was kind and gave us a brand new one and got it all set up for us, but Jonathan wore F’s for the remainder of the trip, just in case.

At this point Forest was so tired he was begging us to nap in his stroller but we really didn’t want to stay at the parks and then have a character dinner with no rest for us so we pushed him to stay away until we got home. This lead to an epic meltdown of him screaming ‘I want to take a nap in my stroller! I want to take a nap in my stroller!’ as we loaded him into the car. It was pretty humorous to hear him saying he wanted to take a nap because I’m pretty sure that’s never happened before.

Anyhoos, that was the biggest drama of the trip and we ended up successfully getting him home for a 2.5 hour nap in his bed. Bliss. We all felt restored and ready for a dance party with Mickey Mouse! Rather than waste time in the parks trying to get autographs and pictures with the characters, a friend advised us to try a character dinner. That way we unwind with a meal and get a good chunk of time to meet and interact with some of the big names. We choose Mickey’s Backyard BBQ because it was an all you can eat buffet with endless adult beverages and ice cream included.

It was held at the Pavillion at the Fort Wilderness Resort which we tucked away in our minds as a potential future vacation spot for us. The grounds were just so spacious and peaceful, like summer camp. Forest loved exploring the mossy grounds and collecting acorns in his water cup. We arrived early to give us time to explore and also to have better seating options once they opened up the buffet area.

The entertainment was country and western themed and the characters alternated between dancing on delegated dance floors throughout the dance floor and signing autographs. We were seated right next to one of the dance floors and autograph stations so were able to beat the lines when it was game time. Unfortunately we discovered pretty early that Forest was flat out terrified of the characters, especially Goofy.

Save me from that giant dog, mommy!

With some heavy encouragement from me he handed his autograph book to Chip and Dale and tolerated being hugged by them, but as far as dancing with them- nuh-uh, no way.

I may tolerate those chipmunks hugging me but don't you even try, scary dog thing.

He would barely even give Mickey a high 5, despite the sweet mouse’s persistence in trying to get Forest to engage with him.

Oh well, Jonathan and Forest ate their money’s worth of BBQ and ice cream and once we had our fill, we left a bit early to do some more exploring on the resort grounds.