Today after getting a refill of my drink at Old Key West I headed to the Magic Kingdom. I got here in time to see the Opening Show. I then checked in for the Keys to the Kingdom tour. I was early so they checked me in by giving me my name pin, the head set for the tour, a bottle of water and they took my order for lunch at Columbia Harbor House. I had time so I got my picture in front of the big Halloween pumpkins and then I went and had a picture with Marie from the Aristocats.

For the tour, phones and cameras are prohibited so wasn’t on social during the five hour tour. The tour started out walking on Main Street USA & explained how the railroad is the curtain and the castle is the main event. Cast members wear outfits like they are movie ushers on Main Street and the road is red as to be the red carpet. This is because the park is to be like a movie which was the company’s first product. What I didn’t know is that the names on the windows of Main Street serve as the credits as those people were instrumental in some way of developing the park. So real people who contributed have their names added in this way.

The tour explained how the park transitions from one land to the next. It also explained things about certain attractions and how they were developed. We rode the Jungle Cruise and Haunted Mansion as part of the tour. Some interesting tidbits about the Haunted Mansion is that the voice of Madame Leota is the same person who voiced Maleficent. The face of the singing bust that fell on its side is the same face as the guy who is getting the rhino horn to his butt on the Jungle Cruise. There is a hidden Mickey created by the hand of the Grimm reaper standing next to the woman who is wearing a Viking hat and singing in the graveyard scene.

We got to go behind the scenes and see where they keep and maintain the floats. While back there we would see cast members in casual mode including some characters in partial costume.

The tour ended with seeing some of the tunnel system below Magic Kingdom which was very interesting. The friend of Sleeping Beauty walked by in bedroom slippers!

There are four keys to the kingdom: safety, courtesy, show and efficiency. Safety of guests and cast members is throughout the park. Courtesy refers to their customer service. Show is that they can’t break from the show. With the behind the scenes areas there are lines that mark where you can and can’t be seen by guests. If a cast member is in front of the line they must be in character. And Disney strives to do all of this and do it as efficiently as possible.

It was a great tour and I’d highly recommend it to adults. Our tour guide was Seth and he was great. He does tours two days a week and works at Animal Kingdom on the other days.

After the tour I walked around Adventureland and played Sorcerer’s of the Magic Kingdom. Today I was able to actually get a pack of cards.

I was pretty tired from the tour and I had already walked over 12k steps per my Fitbit. Therefore I decided to head back to the resort for a quick rest before going to EPCOT.

Upon entering EPCOT I headed to the Character Spot where I had a fast pass.  I got my picture taken with Mickey Mouse, Goofy, and Minnie Mouse.  I then walked to World Showcase and to Duffy’s meet and greet.  This was particularly emotional for me as this was a meet and greet Mom and I always did together.  I walked up to Duffy and told him I had to see him because he was my Mom’s favorite.  I said that I recently lost Mom and Duffy gave me a big bear hug and touched his heart and gave me another hug.  I said this picture was in memory of Mom and the photographer told me I was a good son.  Duffy put his arm around me and put his other hand on his heart which made for a beautiful picture. And then Duffy gave me another big hug.  I teared up a bit but did well and I know Mom was there in spirit.

Next I walked to Innoventions which is mostly closed but the Chase Character Meet is still happening.  I had my picture with Mickey Mouse and Goofy there which was fun.  I had a fast pass for Mission: Space but for some weird reason I walked to Spaceship Earth.  As I tried to use the fast pass the cast member nicely told me I was at the wrong attraction and I felt stupid!  So then I walked to Mission: Space.  I decided to do the orange, more intense mission.  I was expecting more spinning but it wasn’t that big of a deal.  You just feel more of the zero gravity than in the green, less intense version.

I then walked over to Test Track and got in the single rider line.  Well while I was in line they ceased operations as a storm moved in.  So I exited the attraction and it was lightning and there was light rain.  I had one more fast pass which was for Soarin’ and I wasn’t going to miss that.  Well as I started my walk, with my rain gear on, it started to pour rain.  By the time I got to the Land Pavilion, my shoes and socks were soaked and even my shorts were soaked.  But I went on Soarin’ anyway and had fun.  I then made my way back to the resort.

For dinner I had a hamburger and fries with some soft serve ice cream for dessert.  My socks and sneakers were soaked through when I got them off.

It was a great day overall but I decided to get a good night sleep as I was pretty tired, especially with the tour in the morning.  Total steps walked via Fitbit was 23,831!