Nothing beats a trip to Disney's Magic Kingdom on a Sunday morning, even the Sunday after Thanksgiving. We took the bus over from Disney's Old Key West Resort and arrived at the entrance to the Magic Kingdom a little after 8:30 AM. There was already a load of people milling around. Some cast member in Victorian garb comes out and welcomes everybody. And then the train pulls up with a group of singers, some Disney characters such as Stitch and the Mad Hatter, and some dopey looking family that got handpicked to help open the park for the day.
After the brief show, the crowd files in to Main Street, U.S.A. We head to the left and up the stairs to catch the first train to Frontierland. This is a good way to beat the crowds and hit some of the most popular rides before the rest of humanity shows up and you end up waiting over an hour for a 3-minute ride. Sure enough, when we depart the Frontierland train station, we immediately head to Splash Mountain and walk right on. Then we head over to Big Thunder Mountain Railroad - no wait there either. Then we head to Pirates of the Caribbean and walk right on. Then we cut through Adventureland and head right to Haunted Mansion and walk right in. At 10 AM, we had experienced four of the best rides at the Magic Kingdom without waiting in any lines.
From there it was on to it's a small world and we hopped right on to one of the boats. As we exited, I did notice that the crowds were getting larger. However, we headed over to Mickey's PhilharMagic and the place was half empty. Then we went over to Pinocchio Village Haus in Fantasyland for an early lunch to beat the crowds. We ate a decent but expensive lunch that came to over $40 just for a couple sandwiches and individual-size pizzas. Then it was on to Mickey's Toontown Fair because the kids wanted to ride The Barnstormer at Goofy's Wiseacre Farm (about a 15-minute wait). By 1 PM we had seen enough and headed home. That's the great thing about a seasonal pass, you don't feel like you have to cram too much into one day.
I found the Magic Kingdom opening ceremony video below that somebody had posted on YouTube. It's slightly different than the opening ceremony I experienced the other day but it gives you a decent idea of what to expect . . .
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