There were a few attractions that I didn't make the day before, so they were my first places to go. I went into the Adventureland Treehouse first to give myself some time for my stomach to settle a little bit, taking a long route to look at Big Thunder Mountain first. I really liked going into that tree so early. When I went there on my previous visits, there were several people in there with me, and I didn't feel like I could stop to look for long out of concern of holding up the space for the people behind me. There were only a few of us this time, and I was able to take a little more time looking at things. I'm not sure I was that much slower, but it was definitely more relaxing not feeling pressed. That was a great start to the remaining attractions. Even Rise of the Resistance was really easy to get on to!
I stayed a little longer in Galaxy's Edge than I had in the past. It seemed to me like I hadn't taken much concern in the past to stick around, but I wanted to stick around and see some character interactions, and I passed Kylo and the storm troopers at one point. Just as I was passing them, Kylo commented, There are only travelers here. That isn't useful to me. Guess I'm not useful, so no picking on me happening, but they soon began interrogations with other guests, so I stuck around to watch.
I soon headed back to Main Street and wandered into the cinema to watch the short movies in there. Five were playing at the same time, but I had a system. I would watch whichever one started over first and switch to the next one that started until one-by-one they were all watched. I think each movie was approximately five minutes long, maybe ten? I'm not certain, but long enough to get a good rest before heading out again.
I went through the Fantasyland area and checked out the new Pixie Hollow Fountain. As much as I liked the old area, this area really looks beautiful. The bright colors made it more eye-popping, and it was really nice to see the fountain back. That wasn't working after Covid, and I really missed it, and you know me, I'm a sucker for water features! I feel sad that they took out the light show, because I'd always wanted to see it (I never did get to see it), but in the long run that's not really that important.
There were limitations in what I could do in Fantasyland since they were closing it down in the afternoon for a "media activity" in the area. That made me a little disappointed, because I had extra time and would have liked to take a stroll around the area. Small World wasn't closed off, so I wandered around that area for a while until a cast member told me they were soon going to extend the closure to that area.
Sigh.
But I wandered around a little and as I did so, I started noticing people were sitting down like they were waiting for a parade, and the wheels started stirring in my head. Something was going on! I had the thought that maybe they were going to do Paint the Night early, since they've been doing that for the fireworks show, but people were lining up so early that I was a little confused. There was nothing else I had in the plans since Fantasyland was not available, so I went ahead and took a spot. It was a bit of a wait. More people came in around me, and two ladies (much taller than I was) came in behind me and we struck up a little bit of a friendly conversation. From them I found out that they were indeed doing a preshow of Paint the Night (for those of us who have done theater I figured it was the equivalent of a dress rehearsal).
It's really funny, because I was at the other end from the starting point, but I could tell the parade had started, because I could hear the music beat. It was just this dull thumping for ten or fifteen minutes, which gradually got louder. I'm not really sure how many others could hear it, but I knew it was coming by hearing that thump, thump, thump. There was a cast member wandering the street trying to pump up the crowd. The energy that night was absolutely amazing. I could feel the excitement. I really wish my camera was working that night. It was being grumpy at me for wanting to take good quality pictures (meaning high resolution and large files) and I was still in the middle of trying to work out the issue (I eventually figured it out, but not at that moment). The good part of it was though that since I wasn't fussing over my camera, I was able to enjoy the parade, and it was amazing!
I ate during the fireworks, and since the park was closing early that night, I left directly after. I think the parade made my day and sent me out of the park feeling happy and satisfied.
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| Pixie Hollow Fountain |
