M&I / GBMINI

We headed to Magic Kingdom to celebrate our wedding anniversary, arriving about 10am and staying almost till the park closed to regular ticket holder at 6pm (it was then open for a separate and expensive Christmas event – which seemed to give us the benefit of being quieter than expected during our day!)

We took advantage of shorter lines to meet Disney characters – Mickey Mouse of course, but also Cinderella, Snow White, Ariel and Pooh & Tigger!

We also rode Pirates of the Caribbean, Tiana’s Bayou Adventure (replacing Splash Mountain!), Haunted Mansion, Little Mermaid, It’s a Small World, and the Mine Train (longest about 50 minute wait for that one) … we additionally saw a very small parade, watched the Country Bears and Mickeys Philarmagic, and had good but $$$$ lunch at Be Our Guest!

A busy, fun, day!

We just gave Disney about $2,500(!) to have annual passes again, and our first visit was to Epcot getting there at about 5:30pm already nearly dark – our first stop was the Chinese restaurant Nine Dragons, always a favorite of mine!

We did the Spaceship Earth ride, which is always better at night because our eyes aren’t swamped with sunlight before going in! My iPhone 18 Pro did a good job of taking photos (even without night mode which is useless on a moving ride):

We also got to ride Remy’s Ratatouille Ride which was “temporarily closed” but apparently opened just before we went to check it, and we got in with a less than 20 minute wait! The ride has changed since we last rode it – you don’t wear 3D glasses any more, and it makes photos better because there’s no longer the dual image blurring effect (compare with this photo from two years ago):

We finished our evening watching the fireworks, enhanced by being across the lake and getting reflections!

To finish, here’s some video of the fireworks: