Pirates of the Caribbean - The Evacuation Experience!

Hi Blog!  Today was the day we visited the Magic Kingdom.  We did all the other parks first, leaving the best for last.  Well, not really last since we still have two more days here, but there are only four Disney parks, so technically it is the last of our first visits this trip.  We have both been to Disney World twice before.  We got an early start. Put some coffee in our travel mugs and rode the ferry boat from our campground to the Magic Kingdom.  Here is Kathy with Castle (not the crime solving novelist, but the big building in the middle of the park).

We zipped over to Frontier Land to grab a Fastpass for the Thunder Mountain Train Ride, when Dave ran into his old friend Woody.  Here is Dave sporting a woody pose.

We stopped at Gaston's Tavern in the new Fantasyland.  We just happened to be eating breakfast right next to Gaston's photo spot.  This was our vantage point.  We probably had our photos taken at least 100 times while we ate.

Now I know you are all asking yourselves - what evacuation experience?  Is there a new ride I don't know about?  Well, I'll tell you. It all started as we entered Adventure Land and noticed that the original Pirates of the Caribbean ride only had a 5 minute wait.  How could we pass that up?  We jumped on the boat and began the slow ride through the scary tunnels.  This was the ride that inspired the whole movie franchise.  Suddenly, the boats started running into each other and we came to a dead stop. After a few minutes, we came to the realization that we were not going anywhere anytime soon.  The announcement came:  "Ladies and gentlemen, prepare to be evacuated.  Please remain in your boat until a cast member comes to escort you to the nearest exist."

Cool!  Evacuation - a behind the scenes tour of the inner workings of a Disney ride!  After sitting and waiting for another 10 minutes, the natives were beginning to get restless.  We had run out of stupid pirate jokes - arrgghh matey.  Several boats ahead of us contained a group of a capella singers. They burst out into some show tunes, then "Amazing Grace," and, just as the rescuers arrived, the "Star Spangled Banner."  As they finished their singing, all the stranded riders burst into applause.

As it turned out, one of the staff, a young woman, had to don a pair of fishing waders and, wading out into the water, push each boat back to the beginning of the ride.  Here is our wader-clad rescuer approaching our boat to pull us to safety:

Our soggy heroine single-handedly pushed our boat all the way back to the entrance. We climbed out of the boat and were escorted out a side exit.  As we departed, we were each handed an unlimited Fast Pass to use anywhere in the park.  We went to Infinity and Beyond!

After a day of rides, we found our spot on the curb to watch the light parade and fireworks.

Did you know the Magic Kingdom is dry - not a beer or wine in the whole place.  We had to ride the monorail over to the Polynesian Resort Hotel in order to get a pina colada.  We're going back to Epcot tomorrow!