LarryFmScotland
10-24-2008, 08:47 PM
Larry Wilmot Credit Crunches His Way Across Disney.
The Preamble.
Hi there folks, nice to be back with you. For those who don’t know me, I’m Larry and I’m A Trip Report Writer. I live one day at a time.
Until today, I thought I was on the 12 step programme – The Disney Trip Report Writer, 12 Step Disengagement Plan.
The Full Programme.
1. Delete Disboards from your favourites List.
2. Remind yourself that Disney is merely a convenient place to buy Chinese goods, goods which are half the price at Wal Mart (or Asda.- For the Brits)
3. Watch the Discovery Channel. Programmes about The Royal Family, or Orange County Choppers.
4. Stop buying pens. (Or stealing them from work.)
5. Burn any blank notebooks in your house.
6. Have an “I want to visit museums” Party with your friends.
7. Throw your computer in the Bin. (Trash for my American friends.)
8. Buy an “I don’t know who Sue Holland Is” T-shirt.
9. Tell everyone, the “Adventurer’s Club” deserved to die.
10. Book a Holiday in a Holiday Inn.
11. Sell your Disney Shares.
12. Nail your WDW Annual Pass on a Tree at Universal Studios. And walk away.
But I’m afraid I’m off the wagon again, I have kind of said that I was retired from Trip Report Writing, and to be fair, I’ve made a couple of recent trips that I didn’t write about. (And fortunately I’ve forgotten pretty much everything so I can’t write about them!) Then I kinda sorta wrote bits of our Wedding Trip Report. (Which is lying around here somewhere.) But to be fair, Robin pretty much did all the work for that one. (Though I was in charge of making totally unreadable notes.) I specialise in Unreadable Notes – If you imagine combining a doctor’s handwriting with Egyptian Hieroglyphics you will understand why when you come to read them they say things like, Remember the Wamping Bungle Shoot. (This little comment is stolen from Robin, who makes up much funnier things that might be in my notebooks.) But it’s the seeking approval in the form of all the lovely comments from you all that makes me want to write a trip report again. However, (A bit like Ringo Star – Peace and Love!) I reserve the right not to get into lengthy conversations with you all. I’m not making a habit of marrying other Trip Report Writers, One is enough for one lifetime, thank you very much……. (And yes thank you very much Robin for marrying me.)
So here we are……… Larry Writes a Trip Report Again. First one for two years at all, and probably the first one on my own for about four or so years.
And this one is all on my own, because, Robin isn’t coming to Walt Disney World with me, yup I’m leaving her with her mom and going with my son Ed who is 17.
OK. For those who really don’t know me.
Hello I’m Larry, and I live in Scotland with my Wife Robin, I work in Local Government as a Manager, in charge of lots of care homes, and social workers and occupational therapists and all that good stuff.
My Wife Robin is an Accountant and she comes from Lubbock in Texas, for those who don’t know, we met because we were both Trip Report Writers, and we got together fell in love and got married at Disney Two Years ago.
I have two sons Edward 17 and Gregory 21 – Greg is currently working on a big essay about X ray machines (He’s training to be a radiographer.) and so he can’t come to Disney.
Robin, has gone to Texas to see her Mom and Folks, she set off on Saturday 11th October, (which is today actually as I write this…. I’ve just taken her to Edinburgh Airport and driven back home.). On Wednesday, Ed and I are driving through the night, flying to Lubbock on Thursday, staying for a few hours and then flying back east to Orlando, from Texas and then having Four Days at Disney. Because as I’ve said before, only flying 4,000 miles to Disney is way too wimpy, when for a mere few hundred dollars, you can do it in 6,000 miles instead and be a real man.
Actually Robin was hoping to come, and it’s a really long story, and so complicated I don’t think I can remember all of it, but it’s about school holidays or the lack of them and nephews and………Oh I see several of you have fallen asleep reading this, so I’ll cut to the chase…… She can’t make it. Her unused four days of park hopping will stay in her purse and be used at another time….
Now the very observant of you may have noticed that I am “Credit Crunching” my way across Disney, now you may be asking why an obviously talented, important and dare I say, good looking young man like my self, (Someone I hold dear always calls me “handsome man”, which is way nicer than “Hey you over there”. Don’t you think?) has to plead poverty on a trip to Disney. Well, I wondered that myself, then I looked in my passport and worked out that this is my 20th trip to the USA since 2002, many of em to WDW, which was sent by international economists simply to prove that the UK isn’t that expensive after all
So I guess that explains it……. I’m “travel poor”. I don’t have that stunning a low carbon footprint either, but as most of my readers are American and quite frankly you don’t think that global warming actually exists, and if it does it’s probably Michael Moor’s fault, then I’ll probably get away with it, at least until I meet St Peter, when I may have some explaining to do. (About quite a few other things too, I could add.)
Equally, it might have something to do with the $12 a gallon for petrol (gas). And the fact that we have merely a modest little dwelling, but that our bank offered us their special offer of the month - “buy the house the day before the credit crunch kicks in mortgage.” A mortgage that would pay for a castle in Lubbock, well it would, if there was a castle in Lubbock to buy!!!! - Mind you in Dublin, even our mortgage would only just about pay for a small coffee and a beef and mushroom boxtie. (pancake!)
The upshot of this is I have a pretty tight budget, so I may decide to give you one or two of my “Canny Scotsman Thrifty Tips” from time to time. (Though I’m actually English, but I’ve lived in Scotland for fifteen years, and one or two of their little economising ways may have rubbed off on me by now.) Being uncharacteristically generous for a moment I should point out that I go to church with some good salt of the earth Scots and no one is more generous than them. – But would it be a proper Wilmot TR if it didn’t have a bit of gentle stereotyping in it? It also has to have a bit of showing off about illegally obtained fastpasses too. Oh and for anyone who has never ever read one of my trip reports before, it’s worth bearing in mind, that I have no scruples whatsoever, of making things up. I regard it as completely your job to figure out which bits are merely figments of my imagination. Always a potential problem when I meet fellow Trip Report Writers at WDW, when they say things like…………
“Oh Larry can you show me the place where you saw that Walt Disney had written his name in the setting concrete” or “Larry are you sure that the Haunted Mansion is where Barak Obama invited you to his wedding?” Caveat Emptor.
OK…… Time to go and rest now, I’ve got 3 days of work to do…… Monday, supervision with one of my staff in Fort Augustus……… Tuesday…… Can’t remember what I’m doing on Tuesday……. Wednesday…… very formal meeting in Fort William…… Then drive home, pick up Ed……….. Drive through the night to Edinburgh Airport, 20 hours or so later arrive in Lubbock……….. One night’s sleep……. Get haircut in Lubbock………much cheaper than Scotland, and those Texan barbers they know a thing or two about style, I can tell you……….. Then hopefully I’ll pick up the story on Friday………… Until then, have fun. I know I won’t.
Oh and by the way Robin, I haven’t seen you for 15 hours and I’m missing you like crazy……..
Thursday 16th of October 2008. Travel Day.
Thursday, actually started in Fort William, Scotland on Wednesday. I had stayed in a hotel overnight, not a spectacularly wonderful hotel, certainly not Disney Standards, but the smoked haddock and poached egg, was a pretty nice breakfast. I had a fairly tough work day, I would tell you all about it, but (a), you would be bored, and (b), I’d have to kill you, for confidentiality reasons. I drove back home and got home at 7pm, picking up some fish and chips. Then Greg my eldest son, brought Ed my youngest over, and we settled down to some packing, sorting out paperwork and our regular Wednesday “Heroes Night.” Then I went and had a nap for two hours. I woke up at about 1am, and it was time to set off from where we live to Edinburgh Airport, which is 180 miles south of Wilmot Towers.
I would like to say that the trip was un-eventful, sadly I can’t. To start with, Edward almost accused me of child abuse, because I made him listen to the third, Presidential Debate on the radio on the drive down. I found it fascinating, mainly because I’m pretty interested in politics. I used in my youth to be fairly actively involved in British politics, but gave up when I realised if I didn’t it was unlikely that my children would know my name, or be able to describe me to strangers. At one point I was on 22 different committees or working groups, and that didn’t include any to do with my job. I gave it all up in 1988 though I’m still pretty interested in it all. Anyway, Ed was bored, so I did allow him a short blast of a Queen CD, in the middle of the debate. I started to do a John McCain impersonation but it sounded more like Mickey Mouse, actually the more I think about it, John McCain does sound like Mickey Mouse….. I make no reference to his politics here, just his voice.
The second eventful thing was, I had to make an emergency stop, from 70mph because there was a doe, a deer, a female deer, in the road. She just simply froze, I ended up about five feet from her, she looked into my eyes, then bolted to the right. She was a magnificent creature. I’m pretty glad I was in the car and not on a motorbike though, it was pretty scary anyway, but on my bike, it would have been an underpants colour changing event.
To continue the theme, I had to break and swerve to avoid a pretty big hare, and there was also another smaller doe on the side of the road, about 50 miles further south, which I had to slow down for. By the time I got to the airport I was a nervous wreck.
We put the car in the long term car park. Robin has found a reasonable place to park the car. British Airports, charge an astronomical amount for parking, even worse than Universal Studios. And absolutely nothing is more capable of winding me up than parking charges, some people say, “He would rather walk five miles than pay for parking”. And they might be right. Hey after all, this is the credit crunch trip, no point throwing away good money, before you even set off, if you ask me.
The airport was pretty quiet, despite it being the “Tatty Holidays” in Scotland…… This refers to the traditional practice of two weeks school holidays, to allow the children to help bring in the potato harvest. Nowadays the “Guitar Hero” or “Annoy your neighbours with all that imported Halloween japery” Holidays would be more accurate.
We flew down to Heathrow, with a plane, completely full of one tour party, of 13/14 year olds who all had the same bright orange-green knapsacks, they were all very lively but fun kids enjoying the flight down. Going through Heathrow, was for once very smooth. Also American Airlines didn’t give away our exit row seats this time, but we did have to endure a 10hours 15 minutes flight, with very poor in-flight entertainment as we were on a Boeing 767, and not a 777. It doesn’t sound much different, but believe me, having the 777’s personal entertainment system, helps. I was going to buy a book to read, but they were all between nine and thirteen pounds, and I was way too mean to pay that kind of money for a paperback book. So I managed to sleep for two hours, and listened to my iPod for about three hours, and the rest I sat quietly bored out of my little scull.
Oh I did entertain myself and Ed by reading the Sky (Abys)Mall brochure. Oh gosh, I shouldn’t mock people, it’s not big and it’s not clever…….. BUT, there is some pretty amazing stuff in there……… Ed and I picked our three favourites………
As they say on Strictly Come Dancing….(Dancing with the Stars for all my US chums.) “In no particular order”
NEW – A Fun Way To Run With The Herd.
Sometimes one car horn isn’t enough, So put on Truck Antlers for your truck or pick up. Apparently plastic deer antlers are just the answer, and create both broad smiles and belly laughs.
I seem to have no trouble whatsoever of attracting deer so I don’t’ think I need to bother.
SPECIAL OFFER - Travel Time Mug.
This is a keep drinks hot mug, with a built in clock. Which will allow you to “make an impression with drinkware, which is unique and chic”
I love inventions that cure problems that don’t exist. Get a cup and a watch like everyone else and save your cash, there’s a credit crunch you know.
AMAZING - Talking Microwave.
OK I love this one, a talking microwave…… What is the thing going to say to me?
“Larry are you eating pies again, I’ve told you about that before, no go and get a salad before you have a heart attack.”
So after a quick stop over in Dallas, we were on our flight to Lubbock to be picked up by Robin and Her Mom and Michael her nephew. Her mom turned up in a swanky Cadillac SUV, which would have been pretty impressive if it didn’t have $1000 OFF all over the windscreen, (Windshield). It looked like she had just stolen it from a Caddy Dealership, but apparently it was a loaner for her car having some work done in the local Caddy Garage (shop).
We had a nice family meal and I went to bed exhausted at 8pm. Ed had a new lease of life and played with Michael on a computer game for a couple of hours.
Friday 17th October, Another Travel Day……..
The plan is to fly to Disney today. I know, I know, this is supposed to be a Disney Trip Report and I haven’t mentioned it much. Don’t worry, I’ll probably fit in a couple of lines at some point. Because of the time difference thing Robin and I got up at 3.30am. We had a bit of a chat about international relations, something to do with independence in South Osettia or something. But we couldn’t resolve our differences about this, so we went to SONIC for some breakfast, and to Wal Mart, where we bought a mobile phone, so I can keep in touch with Robin during the Trip. Well that’s all for now, I’ve got to find some suntan cream, I’m an optimist.
After a day moseying around Lubbock, running one or two errands, it was time to go to the airport for the flight to Disney, we took the small hop to Dallas, and then we managed to get an upgrade to first class for the flight to Orlando. Wow you can’t beat those hot nuts now can you? Actually first class domestically in the US, is probably slightly behind business class transatlantically, but it doesn’t stop everyone in cattle class hating you, so if you get an upgrade then, Go Boy Go. We plonked down on the MCO runway 2 hours and 1 minute after leaving Dallas, and headed out to the Magical Express line, at the other side of the airport. One of the great things about getting to the airport at midnight, was that the lines for the busses were completely empty. We had one slight problem, which was AA had changed the flight number for my trip back, so DMEx (Mears) couldn’t find us in the system, so they told me I had to find the details and let them know before our return back.
The journey to the All Stars went pretty quickly and smooth. I watched the little video on the way there. I wasn’t totally convinced by the advert for the Disney Guided Tours across the world. Recently I’ve been to Paris, Rome, Dublin and Washington DC. I think part of the charm of international travel is being able to wander around lost, go up scary dark alley’s and get ripped off by unscrupulous criminals, so why would I want to pay Disney a fortune to cotton wool wrap me around the world?
Check in had only a couple of groups before Ed and I, so that was a breeze. We had bought a package which had one day Magic Your Way tickets, and I needed to upgrade Ed’s to a Four Day Park Hopper, but they couldn’t do it at check in so Job No 1 in the morning is go and upgrade his ticket. (I already had days left over on a ticket from last year, the trip you all don’t know about because I was too mean to write a trip report.)
We wandered over to the Room, which was in Tennis, Second Floor, Room 5227, if you want to be accurate. Normally I try not to be accurate, but this time I have a new system, so that I can remember what I did. I told you earlier, (and I hope you were paying attention.) that my notes are totally unreadable ( Catch the Disney Fly Rampage or Rode Space Michaelmas Routing etc) so I have decided to take a photograph at every ride I go on, or meal I eat or toilet I visit, so that I can give a really accurate description of everything that I did for the very first time in any TR that I have written. I hope you are impressed. Obviously I reserve the right to make stuff up too, like I always have. I mean, why would you want to read a boring truthful Trip Report with hardly any action in it?
OK so after we watched the Ready Creek Fire Truck put out the guy who spontaneously combusted after drinking fifteen vodkas at the poolside bar, we went to bed. (There was a made up bit in there somewhere, see if you can find it.)
Night Night, sweet dreams. No nightmares please, you know the kind of thing:- dreaming that your DVC maintenance invoice has just popped through your letter box $$$$$ arrrrgh don’t they know there’s a credit crunch.
Saturday 18th of October. Wilmot World Record Day.
Well, despite not getting to bed until around 1am, I woke up not too far off six am. I had a little shower, and went down to the Concierge Desk, to get the pass upgrade for Ed, which relieved me of two hundred of your US bucks. Actually it worked out a good deal. We got the room for four nights for about 375 dollars, and when you include the two park passes, and the magical express, and all the transportation, it’s a pretty good deal. Four nights for example in a Holiday Inn Express, which is a similar standard, in London would set you back about 900 dollars.
I know one or two of our friends on here, tend to moan about the lack of facilities like moisturiser and thin towels. (Oh and boy are they thin, more like face cloths than bath towels.) but you have to remember, we can’t all afford the Grand Flo, times are hard for folks, so lets give a big cheer for the All Star Sports, and it’s cousins, Hip Hip Hooray. Pretty good value if you ask me.
Having got the passes sorted out I headed for the food court. I picked up a couple of drinks in the re-fillable mugs. Now I want to pass on to you a bit of a tip here, so say “Thank you, Uncle Larry”.
They used to leave milk out in a little flask, but they stopped a few years ago. Now many of us hate to drink our coffee with “Coffee Creamer” which as we all know is actually Monosodium Glutamate mixed with the scrapings off the vat they make “Easy-Cheese” in, watered down with Orlando tap water. An Englishman would rather die, than drink tea with artificial milk. In fact if you do it too regularly you probably will die. (And by Tea, I mean the hot stuff, not that iced and fruit flavoured stuff my American friends like to drink, in cups the size of oil tankers) then milk is an essential.
So what you do is this, is go to the little room at the end of the drinks station, there is almost always a cast member in there, or nearby. Then you say, “I’m making tea, and coffee creamer is horrible in tea” and they pop to a little fridge, and get out a carton of milk, and pour a little in your re-fillable mug and you can make tea or coffee which is much more civilised and British, well you could if it wasn’t all that revolting Nescafe Instant ersatz instead of proper coffee.
I took the drinks back to the room, and started to boot up my teenager, obviously booting up windows is quicker and easier than booting up a teenager, also less prone to crash. If it wasn’t for the fact that his body was telling him, it was noon because of the time difference, then he probably would still be in bed now.
OK everyone ready, lets go to a Disney Park. We go and get to the bus stop, and there was a bus for MGM ready to take. You may have noticed that I called it MGM, it’s going to take quite a while before I start calling it Disney Hollywood Studios. After all it’s about eight years since they changed Countdown to Extinction, and I’m still calling it that and not the D word.
It was early entry into MGM, and we got to the turnstiles at 2 minutes past eight. I had heard that Toy Story Mania was the “Hot Ticket” attraction, so we rushed there, bowling over a few expendable five year olds on the way. And it’s a good job that we did so, because there was a twenty five minute queue. (line.) Having said that, the waiting areas is pretty neat, well it is the first time. It has lots of children’s games and toys from the 60s and 70s. Some of which I knew as we had them in England, and some that were only available in the states. I particularly liked the scrabble ceiling. About two thirds of the way through the queuing area, is Mr Potato Head, who is a barker and he tells some pretty lame jokes, to help pass the time. The ride itself is really cool. It is like an updated version of the Magic Kingdom Space Ranger Spin, but using the same technology that they used in the Pirates of the Caribbean Buccaneer Gold at Disney Quest, using the pull string cannons. Ed being a teenager gave me a good sorting out score wise. We both really enjoyed the game, and decided we would have to play it again before we left. To use a bit of a cliché it’s great for kids of all ages.
We wandered over to Rock and Roller Coaster, and picked up a fastpass. Then it was time for Tower of Terror, which was pretty much a walk on. I have always liked the themeing of this ride, and I told Ed all about the Primate gorilla feed at Conservation Station. (For those who don’t know, Robin got an email from the guy who did the Rod Stirling voice on the ride, because he thought it was funny that she had mentioned in a previous trip report of hers, that the feed made her think of the Tower of Terror, “This as you may recognise, is a Primate Maintenance Biscuit.”)
After that we went for a trip across the park on “Star Tours.” Robin gives me a really hard time, because I’m a Trekie, and kinda regard Star Wars as pretty low rent in comparison, (No hate mail please.) So I wanted to go and ride it, and ring her up on my new super doper American mobile phone, (sorry cell phone.) so I could impress her that I went on Star Tours and that I was a good obedient husband afterall. So I went on the ride. We got the front row and I quite enjoyed it. I’ve been on the ride in California, France and Florida, and I’ve yet to get to Endor. It may be time to admit defeat.
We went for a little wander around the backlot, and I rang Robin for fifteen minutes or so, I actually rang her pretty much every couple of hours during the trip to keep her upto speed with our progress. I established early on that she didn’t mind, as I was wanting to avoid her feeling bad that I was there and she wasn’t. After wards we went to try to use our Fastpass for RnR. However, the machine was severely down, so we abandoned hope for that for the day. We rode Tower of Terror again.
We went to The Great Movie Ride, which looked ok, but it turned out to be about a 40 minute wait, so I was a bit miffed with that, not that it was a 40 minute queue, but that I was stupid enough to wait for 40 minutes to ride it. The ride itself was ok, but I’m pretty much starting to think, that it probably could do with a pretty strong make over, take out some of the segments and put some new ones in.
Perhaps I’m all about making my trip reports multi dimensional and I love a bit of audience participation, so if you would like to make some suggestions, as to possible segments.
I’d like to see a couple.
How about Napoleon Dynamite replacing Alien, you could have him doing his “Skit” or saying “Skills – Girls love boys with skills – Bow Hunting Skills, Numchuck Skills!”
Or how about a dumping the seriously lame Indiana Jones Section and putting in, a Shaun of the Dead, sequence, where the gangster gets mistaken for a Zombie and Simon Pegg, smacks him across the head with a cricket bat.
I’m open to suggestions.
After the Great Movie Ride, we were getting a bit peckish, so we adjourned to the Backlot Express, and partook of a Burger and Fries for Me, (don’t tell my doctor) and Chicken Nuggets for Ed, who pretty much only ate chicken nuggets for the whole trip. Still it was nice to sit down and have a little rest. I’m getting old for this walking 7 miles a day lark.
On the way out of the eatery we noticed that Star Tours had a 50 minute wait, Yak time to get out of the park.
Next stop Animal Kingdom, we got the bus over to the AK, with no wait. Ed hasn’t been to WDW for four years, so Everest is a new experience for him. I was looking at some photographs taken that trip a couple of weeks ago, and all that was there was parts of the frame and some of the track, you can see some of the sweeping curves being constructed. Now of course it looks like a proper pocket mountain. We managed to get on the ride within about 10 minutes, and It was pretty neat. One bad little thing though was that through out the trip, and I think we had about five trips on the ride, the big Yeti at the end was motionless, so I guess there is a fault with it currently, it does detract from the ride a little bit, making the end a bit of an anti-climax. Still the ride was great fun and Ed really enjoyed it.
Afterwards we went on the walking trail, the name of which escapes me at the moment. (I am getting pretty old these days and the memory is going, I guess in the future my trip reports will have to concentrate on trips around World Showcase, with the biggest thrill being me knocking over a bottle of wine in Chef’s De France or losing my false teeth on a rare ride on Maelstrom.)
I enjoyed looking at the Komodo Dragon, I remember 20 years ago going to Toronto Zoo, and the big event was their purchase of a Komodo Dragon, the whole of the city was excited, and I’ve always thought they were pretty neat animals. I also liked the really big bats, and boy do those guys have pretty large, as we Brits would say, “Meat and two veg.”
The really exciting bit was that one of the tigers was awake, the first time I’ve seen that at AK, at first he was playing down some steps by the water, but then rather sadly he started to do the pacing thing that captive animals do, which is I think an indication of boredom and frustration. Though she/he was a pretty impressive creature.
We went back to Everest and did the Single Rider Line, to avoid a wait, and after that we walked over to Dinoland USA. Primeval Hurl was down for a makeover, and I could see this guy on the top of the track painting, I had noticed that it was looking a bit sad last year, so it’s good that they are perking it up. We skipped the carnival booths, I kinda still sulk about them, but hey stock holders deserve some dividends I suppose.
We got some legal fastpasses for Countdown to Extinction, and then as there was a 45 minute wait, we walked over to Tough to be a Bug. Ed asked me on the way, how I knew where everything was in the park, and I told him, it was a simple matter of paying attention every now and then to the world around you, a simple concept yet one completely lost on him. I enjoyed Tough to be a Bug, more than normal, dunno why, maybe because my eyes were working better than normal and everything was in focus with the 3D. Anyway, being a total wimp, I’ve never sat back in the seat for the hornet sting, but Ed did for the first time, and he told me it was like someone touching his back with their finger, so perhaps next time I’ll be brave.
We went back to do Countdown, which I really enjoyed, managed to sneak past a few people in the pre-show and got by the doors. On the walk down I showed Ed the three pipes and told him that the chemical formula were for Tomato Ketchup, Mustard and Mayo, because the ride was sponsored (By a generous grant) from the McDonalds Corporation. Enjoyed the ride, that big dino still hasn’t swallowed the little one despite trying for 10 years. And hey we “Made it.”
After that we headed back to the All Stars for a nap. I think we both did two hours, and it was nice. ZZZZZZZZZZZZ
The plan for the rest of the evening, was to go to Epcot, do a couple of things and then watch Illuminations Reflections of Earth, and retire to bed, after a long three park day.
First of all we popped into the food court at the All Stars Sports, I had a the roast turkey dinner, it never fails to amuse me that they weigh the turkey, you do get a decent sized portion though. Ed had a pizza which was mediocre to say the least, I don’t think he was particularily impressed, but he said it tasted better than it looked.
We got the bus to Epcot, and went on the new version of Spaceship Earth. I was quite impressed with the changes, I guess I had gotten pretty bored with the Jeremy Irons version. The first thing you notice different is that the cars have a bolt on computer touch screen. You don’t do much with it at the start, other than tell them where you come from, and then you get your photo taken. The new narrator, at least in English is Dame Judy Dench. Nice to see your keeping a Brit as narrator, and for once not casting one as a villain. The first part is the same, and that smoke effect always makes me think I’m going to get an asthma attack, but I didn’t. Then at the end they have reworked the final scenes, which is quite neat. I miss the American boy chatting on the internet to the Japanese girl. But I guess having relationships across the internet is pretty old hat now, after all that’s how Robin and I met. (I must point out that it was through Mouseplanet and not Rubber-wearers-anon.com!!)
After Spaceship Earth, we went to Mission Space, and worked for the Orange Team, the one with the G-forces turned on. I must try the Green Team, at some point to see if its very dull with the spinning turned off. For me the best bit is the G-force, so I suspect I would find it a bit of a yawn with it turned off.
Then it was five to nine, I heard Mary from the Comedy Warehouse do the 5 min countdown, which was nice to hear her speak, I hope she has found a good job, I keep meaning to ask Sue Holland what she is doing, but I keep forgetting.
We power-walked and found a spot at 1 minute to nine, outside Norway, stood behind a stoller parked against the fence and got a perfect view, it seemed almost a bit of a cheek to arrive that late and get such a good view. But hey I guess sometimes you just strike it lucky. The show was great as always, I thought that the globe was out of action, but there it was as normal. I guess it’s been going for nine years now, as I think it started in October 1999. I think it’s probably time they started to plan a new Illuminations. Though this one is good, and has great music.
We decided as we had had a nap, not to go straight back to the room. So we went to Beaches and Cream at the Beach Club, to get an ice cream, which we ate on the patio outside, sat at a table. I’ve always liked the cute little resteraunt and would have liked to eat inside again, but not for just an ice cream so this was the next best thing. Afterwards, we planned to go to Downtown Disney, to change busses for the All Stars, (Boycotting the rest of DD, due to the Closure of PI.) However, a MK bus arrived first, and the driver said to the people in front of us, “You know the park is closing in 30 mins” and we thought “WOW 30 mins, time to do Space Mountain.”
So we went into MK, and went to Space Mountain. – Spaceship Earth, Mission Space, Space Mountain, you spotting a theme here???
Actually when we were halfway down the tunnel, they announced that both sides had closed down due to technical problems, maybe it needed another 10 bucks in the electric meter.
So not to be deterred , we legged it over to Big Thunder as quick as we could, making it at 10-59pm, and got on the penultimate train of the night. I’ve always loved BTMR in the dark and this was no exception. Then when we got off the train, it left the loading area backwards to the overnight siding, which was really neat to watch.
On the way out of the park a really sweet touch was that as we were walking past the Ye Oldie Christmas Shoppe, the cast members sang We Wish You a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. They looked like they were really having a fun time, I don’t know if they do that every night, but it’s worth checking out as you leave.
Well I hope you noticed dear reader, that although it wasn’t planned, we did all four parks today. That is the very first time that I’ve done that. So big Wilmot World Record for the big boys outing.
After that it was back to the room, managed to get a drink at the food court just before midnight, and it was a nice long phone call to Robin in Texas and off to sleep for some well deserved rest.
Night Night Don’t let the bed bugs bite. Even the cute fluffy Disney ones.
Sunday 19th October 2008 – The 15 hour shift.
Good Morning readers, I hope you are all impressed, but it’s 3-30am here in Texas, and I’m up and about sitting at my computer, actually my father in law’s computer, I’m slaving away to get this trip report to you as fresh as I can. It can take two years to get a high quality trip report to you but I’m endeavouring to get this one to you in a few days.
OK back to the story. I had planned to go to the early entry park today, but we couldn’t get up in time, having been out till after midnight last night. But despite this, we were out in time to make it to Epcot for about half past nine, which I didn’t think was too bad.
It was a nice warm morning, the weather was just about perfect for touring Epcot. We dashed over to The Land to pick up a fastpass for “Soarin.” Now I don’t want to be a moaner, because you know this is a pretty fine ride, and there is little to complain about but I have to ask, Why do they cut of the G, why can’t it be Soaring??
We spent five minutes watching the Kitchen Chef’s version of the Jamminators. I didn’t figure out what they are actually called. Probably (Joke coming up here only the Brits who were reared on Top of the Pops will get!) Pan’s People.
We then headed to Innoventions, (Both Sides). I was quite shocked at Innoventions, so much of it is empty, with boarded up booths. I guess the credit crunch might be taking its toll, as most of the booths are bought by individual companies. I guess few feel it’s a cost effective form of advertising in these hard times, but the effect is pretty startling as you walk in.
That’s not to say that some fun can’t be had in there. We went into the Storm Prevention Exhibition, which is a pretty neat show. It is like a baby version of “Honey I Blew away the House.” Or “Twister Lite.” It was cute, and what I don’t know about protecting my house from a hurricane now isn’t worth knowing.
We went into the House of Innoventions, which is a whole new one to the old one, though the ideas are much the same. It’s just got different sponsors. The TV got me. It’s voice activated, which if it works as good as the voice activated GPS in my Mother In Law’s Cadillac means that there is no chance whatsoever of you getting the channel you want. In the Caddy, say something like, “Lubbock 50th and Slide” you get “Italian Restaurant Icons Activated” back to you. Chocolate Fire Guard Territory.
When you think about it, we invented the TV remote control, because basically we were too idle to get off our bottoms to go press a couple of buttons on the TV. Now we have voice activated TV’s because we are too lazy to actually press a button 1/8th of an inch.
There was also an electric dimming window, which used a variable current to lighten or darken the glass. I kinda figured that blinds and curtains use less electricity though, so it will be a while before my electricity bills are troubled by such progress.
On the saving of the planet front, I was pretty impressed with the Vectrix Electric Scooter. Though I’m pretty sure that the cast member’s claim of a 70 mile range with a top speed of 100mph, is a weeeeeeeny bit exaggerated.
On the way out we noticed a booth that we just had to return to at 1pm. (You will have to wait like we did. It’s pretty cool though, you’re all going to be jealous.)
We went back and did our trip on Soarin which had a pretty horrendous walk in line by now, so we were glad to have a fastpass. The pre-show always makes me laugh, because of Patrick Warburton’s “Ullo.” Robin has a bit of a crush on Patrick, but I can just about contain my jealousy. He is funny though. The ride was great.
We headed out towards world showcase, there was a duck walking up and down a little wall just below the surface of the water, so it looked like it was walking on the water. It’s amazing how funny some things seem when you are having fun.
Passing through the UK, I met one of the actors from the Adventurers Club, and I thanked him for all the wonderful work he had done entertaining me in the past out there. We chatted for a couple of mins, and he was very enthusiastic about the past and how everyone had been so kind to the actors. They clearly miss the show very much. I hope that Disney either resurrect it, find some other way to reproduce the club in the parks. It would be wonderful in the Animal Kingdom.
We went to Japan for Lunch, everyone was snacking at the food and wine booths, so the Yakatori House was pretty empty. Good. I like a quite place for lunch. I had the Shrimp (King Prawn to us Brits) and Udon Noodle Soup, and Ed had spicy tuna roll. Which is sushi really, (OK I Just Can’t resist it… Worst Joke of the Trip Report Coming Up, shield your children and the infirm…. If you knew Sushi like I know Sushi.)
I made Ed do the American Adventure with me, though I let him off Hall of Presidents later. I’m on a mission to American Myself up. The plan is for Robin and I to come to America to live in 2010. So I’m teaching Ed and Greg how to navigate themselves to Lubbock and I’m thinking seriously about taking duel citizenship. Robin already has permanent leave to stay in the UK. And she is going to become a British Citizen next year. So I want to become an American too. Hence my desire to Americanise myself up a bit. We caught the end of the Voices of Liberty, and they sang the national anthem so beautifully. Even I had to fight having a tear in my eye. I drew the line at putting my hand over my heart, I’ll do that when I am an American Citizen, until then I feel morally bound to point out that America can rejoin the Commonwealth at any time, it’s just a matter of paying back the back taxes.
Ed and I headed over to Innoventions again for our previously mentioned 1pm appointment, actually by then it was almost 2pm but who’s counting, because we wanted to do the Segway Experience, yes now you can actually ride them for free, you get to watch a short film, and then they let you have a very short ride on the machines themselves. And I can tell you this, ITS REALLY COOL.
At this point Ed and myself split up, he was tired and wanting a nap and I wanted to see Spyra Gyra, at the Eat to the Beat concert later. We agreed to meet at Tower of Terror at 8pm at MGM. Not a totally wise suggestion as it turned out.
Now yesterday was the first time that I’ve been to all four parks in one day, and today surprisingly was the first time, I’ve ever been on my own touring a park. I’ve split off to go and do something specific, but I’ve never spent any time alone in a park to enjoy the park. I found it a bit weird at first, kinda “Larry No Mates.” But the pleasures of it grew on me.
First of all I headed back to Future World. I did the single rider line at Test Track. There was an English Family, with the dad on the left, his son about 7 or so in the middle and me on the right. Mum was in front with a sister I think. The little boy was scared, and wanted to get out. The dad was telling him it would be OK. I asked if they had been on the ride before, and dad said “no”. I told the little boy that I’d been on the ride 20 times and it wasn’t scary at all. This seemed to reassure him, so he stayed on the ride. We did the trip, and after the fast loop, when it was decelerating for the thermal imaging scan, he said to me. “Is that it?” I laughed and said, “I told you it wasn’t anything to get too fussed about?” It was fun to help.
I took a friendship, mainly to make sure that I rode one this trip, over to Morocco. Which was a great chance to catch up with Robin, we chatted for about 20 mins, as I rode the boat, we couldn’t hear each other as I passed Mo Rocking, but it was fun to chat to her and I think she enjoyed hearing the sounds in the back ground. It was very strange not to be with her at Disney, I missed her very much. I felt it more, with Ed not being there to distract me from the fact she couldn’t make the trip.
I went for a drink to America, as I was pretty parched at this point. I backtracked to France, for Impressions de France, I was quite exhausted by this point, which was 4pm. So I sat on the floor waiting for the show to begin. Then I enjoyed the 18 minutes of cool and comfort, listening but not paying much attention to the film.
Afterwards, it was back to America, passing the Louisiana display, where they gave me Mardi Gras beads, complete with a great state of Louisiana medallion, and tried to persuade me that Louisiana was the most wonderful state in the US. I pretended to everyone for days that it was, but we all know that really it’s South Dakota.
It was then almost time for Spyro Gyra. I sat in the theatre for about 30 mins, relaxing, then the concert came on. I was a little disappointed, they had decided to treat the three shows they were doing as one gig, so if you only went to the first one like I did, you got none of their hits. They played 3 songs from their new album, and they are wonderfully accomplished musicians they played them so well, but it was all new music to me, and I found it slightly un-involving.
I headed over to the UK. And I think the high spot of the trip ensued. I got Fish and Chips from Harry Ramsden’s and ate them on the pavement singing along to the British Invasion. Who quite frankly are no where near as competent musicians than Spyra Gyra but, I and everyone else, and there were maybe 200 people in the square, had a wonderfully entertaining time singing along to Help and 8 Days a Week. It was fun with a capital F.
After this, It was time to go and get myself over to MGM to meet Ed. I walked to the boardwalk, and looked in the shops for a couple of present ideas for people. I was starting to flag at this point so I headed to the Swan, had a quick nosey in the lobby, and then got the friendship to MGM.
I noticed that there were two showings of Fantasmic, one at 7.30pm and one at 9pm. I as you may recall had decided to meet with Ed at 8pm, in the area by Rock n Roller and Tower of Terror. There were billions of people there, it was not the best place to meet at that precise moment in time. Having said that we bumped into each other looking for each other at 8.01pm, so no panic after all. Ed hadn’t eaten, He had spent his time at the hotel, having a bath and sleeping. So we toured the quiet areas of the park, but everywhere was closed so we ended up back on Sunset B, where we started in the first place. After he had eaten, chicken probably, we went to the 9pm showing of Fantasmic, getting there at 8.55pm. The place was pretty full, but we got a seat on about the sixth row of the end section, the view was great. After a couple of obligatory Mexican Waves, regular speed, slow and super fast, the show began.
As Robin would say, “It’s a cute show”. I really enjoyed it. It is a great blend of techniques. Some of the cartoon sections drag, and the whole Governor Radcliffe bit is a bit naff. In many ways it reminds me of Stairway to Heaven, there is absolutely no point in trying to work out what it all means, it’s clearly the result of Mickey buying some seriously bad gear. So just sit back and let the whole thing wash over you and enjoy.
We went over to Toy Story Mania, and it was a 70 minute wait, so then we decided to skip that and we did voyage of the Little Mermaid. I’ll probably be in big trouble with Robin for this, because I have a bit of a thing about Ariel, and I think I was supposed to avoid her this trip. But hey my excuse is that I’m academically interested in puppetry techniques, I’m thinking of undertaking a degree in performance mechanics at Yale University, so this was research. I didn’t even notice Ariel was in the show, hardly at all anyway.
We went back to Toy Story Mania, and only had a 32 minute wait, ONLY. But it was fun and we both improved our scores, though Ed still thrashed me.
Then it was over to Ride Tower of Terror in the dark, which is more fun than in the light, though it was too dark to levitate the Louisiana medallion, because you have to be able to see it to catch it, once you start rising again. I guess everyone knows that you are pulled downwards faster than the speed of gravity would pull you, so if you balance something in your hand, a coin, or a refillable mug – my particular favourite, it appears to be levitating as you fall down. You have to catch the thing though or it will brain someone else, and as Dr Seeker would say, “That’s not good.”
Then we did Rock N Roller Coaster, they have spent a lot of money doing the queuing areas with a separate fastpass area and a single rider line. The ride’s pretty much the same though. Ed and I knew this would be our only go, so we queued for the front row, which to put it mildly is ACE.
Realising that it was only 10 to midnight, we legged it over to Toy Story Mania and had a final go, both about 1000 points down on the previous attempt, but only a 10 minute wait.
Time for bed, I spent 15 hours from Park Entry this morning at Epcot to Park Departure tonight, and frankly I’m too old for such endeavours, I was cream crackered the next day.
Monday 20th October, The short day.
Today I wasn’t in a rush to get going after yesterdays fifteen hour epic and the four park day the day before, So I decided to take it easy.
We took a slightly longer route to the bus stop, looking at the themeing of the Tennis Block, which was quite neat. I liked Donald Ducks nephews playing baseball on the tennis court, I told them off of course but they just ignored me and kept playing anyway. At least they are not drinking Buckfast Wine and wearing Hoodies.
We waited in line for the bus to Magic Kingdom, as that was the park choice of the day. However there was a big line, and it looked like it would take two busses before we would get on, so we got the bus to Epcot instead. We got on quickly and had a seat. When we got to Epcot, we walked through the no bag security, and hopped up to the monorail. I really enjoyed the ride, out there, we more or less had a car to ourselves, so we could stretch out and take in the views, it was a nice sunny day, and I got much pleasure from the ride.
I don’t know how I did this, but I forgot about the Transportation and Ticket Center, thinking that the monorail went to MK. Which of course it doesn’t. The line for both the direct monorail to the MK and the resort one were mobbed, so we went to the dock for the big boat. We had to wait about 10 mins to get on the boat, so I chatted to Robin on the mobile.
If you read my old TRs you will see that I often would rant about avoiding the Transport and Ticket Centre, and I realise why now. Most of us who stay on property don’t have much cause to go through the TTC and you forget what a cattle market it is. Still it was a lovely day and I really enjoyed the boat ride and I wasn’t in much of a rush. I guess it took almost an hour to get to the MK, but I didn’t really regret it because moseying around on Disney Transport is part of the fun. If you want to stretch your park tickets, then spending a day, riding as many forms of Disney Transport would be a great fun day. (There I knew I would fit in a Credit Crunch Tip eventually.)
When we got to the park, we went for a couple of Dole Whips for breakfast, not terribly healthy but pretty nice, except that I got brain freeze in my right eye.
We then planned to do Jungle Cruise, it said a 20 min wait, but after 10 mins and the queue had not moved we retreated and got fastpasses. Then we went over to Splash and Big Thunder to check them out, agreeing to ride them later. On the way we had done Pirates of the Caribbean, we both enjoyed the Jack Sparrow makeover, but the ride stopped for about 15 mins, and that would have been fine, but for a woman near us who moaned and moaned, and then moaned on her mobile phone to her boyfriend, and for good measure moaned to anyone who would listen to her, which by then was no one.
We got to do Splash and Big Thunder in quick succession, which was nice. We tried to do Jungle Cruise, but even the fastpass line was not moving, so we gave up. I don’t know what the problem was today but it was not to be.
The park was really full by then, I had expected crowds to be low this week, with the credit crunch and most teens at school, but I found it pretty busy. I would go as far as saying Fantasyland was mobbed. So we scooted through there. We had lunch at Cosmic Ray’s I had a chicken sandwich and Ed had chicken strips I expect. I put about 10 pounds of fried onions and mushrooms on mine, I love that fixings bar. I even went wild and had a diet lemonade.
Which reminds me, I’m a diabetic (Woops shouldn’t have mentioned the Dole Whip breakfast) and you can’t get much in the way of diet drinks, most places its Diet Coke, or Diet Coke, of which I’m not a fan. Some places sell the diet lemonade, which I like. But there is always bottled water, but that’s (a) not cheap, and (b) not environmentally friendly. There is another option, if you ask for a cup of iced water, they give you a fairly large cup with ice, which is actually nicer than the bottled water because you get ice. The even better thing is, it’s free. Yup Free, Yup at Disney Free, I know amazing. And they do it at all the counter service places, and it isn’t even embarrassing asking.
After Lunch we rode space mountain, finally made it after we failed two nights ago. Then we split up, I had some shopping to do. Ed went off to do his own thing and we agreed to meet up at 4pm at space as we had fastpasses for it at that time.
I went and bought Robin a heart shaped hidden Mickey silver bracelet charm, from the jewellers on Main Street. I got her folks a Mickey Christmas Ornament from the Christmas shop. And I picked up a birthday present for my nephew Michael which was a T-shirt with the monorail and the mind the doors written in Spanish, which since I got back to Lubbock everyone thinks is really cool. I had seen it at Epcot but it wasn’t in his size, and it took me a while to track down finally got it at Adult Apparel on Main Street. Though one of the cast members didn’t know it existed, but I found a CM putting out stock, and she knew what I meant.
After the shopping was done, it was time to have some fun, so I went to the Hall of Presidents, (Fun yes, it’s fun don’t be so mean hearted.) All part of my acclimatising to almost being an American.
Then I watched the parade, from outside the Hall of Presidents, got a good spot behind a couple of little children so I could see really well.
I was going to do Haunted Mansion but it was down and by then it was almost time to go and meet Ed. Though I picked up a couple of fast passes for Buzz, and then I rode the TTA. Under no circumstances do I feel that I have “done” WDW if I don’t ride TTA, it’s one of my favourites. Just love it don’t know why.
OK I’ve worked it out.
1. It’s good for a nice sit down with a cool breeze when your tired.
2. It’s good for a nosey around the park to see how busy everything is.
3. It’s good for resting your eyes in the dark bits.
4. It’s very Walt Disney, and pretty historical too boot.
5. Best of all, it’s great for snogging Robin when she is there with me.
Then it was time to meet Ed, we rode space, which was cool, this ride seemed really fast, much faster than the one before we split up, it was on the left side, the first ride was on the right.
After that it was time for “A great big beautiful tomorrow”, I feel much the same about Carousel of Progress as I do the TTA, no trip to WDW is complete without a revolution on this wonderful attraction.
We then did Buzz, and Ed beat me again, shocker.
After Buzz we did Stitch’s Great Escape, which was OK, but I find it slightly less involving that you would imagine. Probably because it’s pretty much the same as Alien Encounter but dumbed down.
Finally we went to the Monster’s Inc Laugh Floor, and I quite like that, it’s the nearest that we are going to get to Comedy Warehouse for a while. It uses Crush technology and the comedians they use are pretty funny.
That was that for park visiting today, only six hours and one park. I told you I was tired. We went back to the hotel, popped to the food court and I had the Roast Turkey Dinner again, but to prove I’m not boring, I had corn in stead of green beans. (Revolutionary or what!!!)
After tea Ed watched Heroes, and I am a couple of episodes behind him, so I didn’t want to watch it, I’ll catch up in Scotland next week. So I went to the pool and read for a while on a sun lounger.
Then it was bed.
Tuesday 21st of October. Home James.
Today was our last day at WDW. Our boarding cards for our flight back to Lubbock were waiting on the door handle when I came back with drinks from the food court. No bill though because we paid cash for the whole trip, I called it my Money Laundering Trip to WDW.
We dropped off our cases, I saw mine that night in Lubbock but Ed’s never made it until the next day, but it’s a great service.
We went to Animal Kingdom for our last park of the trip. This meant that we had been to each park twice on the trip. Didn’t get everything done but we did most of the biggies.
We started off by going to Africa and getting fastpasses for the safari, which was a clever move, because it was mobbed an hour later. Then we backtracked to the Lion King Show, I haven’t seen this in years, I got a bit stale with it. But I really was enthused this time, the energy of the performers was so invigorating, I was in a really good mood all day because of it. We were in the Elephant Section and we had a great time. I like the birdy woman the best. I’ll probably be in trouble for this too, but not as much as for enthusing about Ariel. The show was really great, and a fantastic start to our last morning.
Then we went over to the Safari, and got on through the fastpass line in about 10 minutes, and it was a pretty good ride. I read in a TR recently about there being a lot of vultures, and boy that was right there must have been over a 100 in the first part of the ride where the hippos are. I guess it’s a dilemma for Disney.
After this we went and rode Everest using the Single Rider Line, which took about 10 mins to get on which was fine too. I enjoyed the trip but the Yeti still wasn’t working. Whilst we were on, there was a sign writing plane, which wrote, God Loves U. I felt a bit miffed that it didn’t say God Loves You, seemed to be skimping to me. But then it wrote God Loves Babies, so I guess that made up for the cheap U. Lots of people were talking about it, so I guess that’s the point. One chap was really upset, he thought the second one was going to say God Loves Barak. I think he would have foamed at the mouth and had a stroke if it had done, I was slightly disappointed that it didn’t, just to see his reaction.
We were ready for some lunch, having skipped breakfast. And we had Chicken Fried Rice and Spring Roll (Egg Roll, I’m never sure what the difference is.) The rice was a bit gloopy. We got it as take away from Yak and Yeti. We found a seat at the side so we could eat. We then dashed to the Flights of Wonder Show, which was as neat as ever. I guess a lot of people just walk right past this between the safari and Everest, I’d recommend you give it a try if you haven’t it’s fun.
Then it was our last ride of the Trip. We had fastpasses for Everest and we waited for the front row, which added about five minutes, but it was fun, because they kept us by the seat allocator, and he kept saying How Many in your Party – 2 – go to row 4 etc, Then someone came and said 9, so he started counting with his fingers and there wasn’t enough room, and he just looked flummoxed. Then we rode, it’s worth waiting for the front row, if it’s your last ride at WDW.
Time to head out of the park. We were surveyed about our dining experience, so I sat at a lap top by the park exit and explained that our rice was gloopy. I hope it helps them.
And apart from getting the Magical Express to the Airport, and a quick ice cream at the Hotel, that was about it.
I hope this trip report hasn’t been too gloopy for you. If you’ve enjoyed it, then please feel free to say so--I won’t bite. And if you haven’t please feel free to tell me too, all customer feedback is welcome, though some gets read more often than others.
Have Fun.
Cheers Larry. (AKA LarryfmScotland)
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The Preamble.
Hi there folks, nice to be back with you. For those who don’t know me, I’m Larry and I’m A Trip Report Writer. I live one day at a time.
Until today, I thought I was on the 12 step programme – The Disney Trip Report Writer, 12 Step Disengagement Plan.
The Full Programme.
1. Delete Disboards from your favourites List.
2. Remind yourself that Disney is merely a convenient place to buy Chinese goods, goods which are half the price at Wal Mart (or Asda.- For the Brits)
3. Watch the Discovery Channel. Programmes about The Royal Family, or Orange County Choppers.
4. Stop buying pens. (Or stealing them from work.)
5. Burn any blank notebooks in your house.
6. Have an “I want to visit museums” Party with your friends.
7. Throw your computer in the Bin. (Trash for my American friends.)
8. Buy an “I don’t know who Sue Holland Is” T-shirt.
9. Tell everyone, the “Adventurer’s Club” deserved to die.
10. Book a Holiday in a Holiday Inn.
11. Sell your Disney Shares.
12. Nail your WDW Annual Pass on a Tree at Universal Studios. And walk away.
But I’m afraid I’m off the wagon again, I have kind of said that I was retired from Trip Report Writing, and to be fair, I’ve made a couple of recent trips that I didn’t write about. (And fortunately I’ve forgotten pretty much everything so I can’t write about them!) Then I kinda sorta wrote bits of our Wedding Trip Report. (Which is lying around here somewhere.) But to be fair, Robin pretty much did all the work for that one. (Though I was in charge of making totally unreadable notes.) I specialise in Unreadable Notes – If you imagine combining a doctor’s handwriting with Egyptian Hieroglyphics you will understand why when you come to read them they say things like, Remember the Wamping Bungle Shoot. (This little comment is stolen from Robin, who makes up much funnier things that might be in my notebooks.) But it’s the seeking approval in the form of all the lovely comments from you all that makes me want to write a trip report again. However, (A bit like Ringo Star – Peace and Love!) I reserve the right not to get into lengthy conversations with you all. I’m not making a habit of marrying other Trip Report Writers, One is enough for one lifetime, thank you very much……. (And yes thank you very much Robin for marrying me.)
So here we are……… Larry Writes a Trip Report Again. First one for two years at all, and probably the first one on my own for about four or so years.
And this one is all on my own, because, Robin isn’t coming to Walt Disney World with me, yup I’m leaving her with her mom and going with my son Ed who is 17.
OK. For those who really don’t know me.
Hello I’m Larry, and I live in Scotland with my Wife Robin, I work in Local Government as a Manager, in charge of lots of care homes, and social workers and occupational therapists and all that good stuff.
My Wife Robin is an Accountant and she comes from Lubbock in Texas, for those who don’t know, we met because we were both Trip Report Writers, and we got together fell in love and got married at Disney Two Years ago.
I have two sons Edward 17 and Gregory 21 – Greg is currently working on a big essay about X ray machines (He’s training to be a radiographer.) and so he can’t come to Disney.
Robin, has gone to Texas to see her Mom and Folks, she set off on Saturday 11th October, (which is today actually as I write this…. I’ve just taken her to Edinburgh Airport and driven back home.). On Wednesday, Ed and I are driving through the night, flying to Lubbock on Thursday, staying for a few hours and then flying back east to Orlando, from Texas and then having Four Days at Disney. Because as I’ve said before, only flying 4,000 miles to Disney is way too wimpy, when for a mere few hundred dollars, you can do it in 6,000 miles instead and be a real man.
Actually Robin was hoping to come, and it’s a really long story, and so complicated I don’t think I can remember all of it, but it’s about school holidays or the lack of them and nephews and………Oh I see several of you have fallen asleep reading this, so I’ll cut to the chase…… She can’t make it. Her unused four days of park hopping will stay in her purse and be used at another time….
Now the very observant of you may have noticed that I am “Credit Crunching” my way across Disney, now you may be asking why an obviously talented, important and dare I say, good looking young man like my self, (Someone I hold dear always calls me “handsome man”, which is way nicer than “Hey you over there”. Don’t you think?) has to plead poverty on a trip to Disney. Well, I wondered that myself, then I looked in my passport and worked out that this is my 20th trip to the USA since 2002, many of em to WDW, which was sent by international economists simply to prove that the UK isn’t that expensive after all
So I guess that explains it……. I’m “travel poor”. I don’t have that stunning a low carbon footprint either, but as most of my readers are American and quite frankly you don’t think that global warming actually exists, and if it does it’s probably Michael Moor’s fault, then I’ll probably get away with it, at least until I meet St Peter, when I may have some explaining to do. (About quite a few other things too, I could add.)
Equally, it might have something to do with the $12 a gallon for petrol (gas). And the fact that we have merely a modest little dwelling, but that our bank offered us their special offer of the month - “buy the house the day before the credit crunch kicks in mortgage.” A mortgage that would pay for a castle in Lubbock, well it would, if there was a castle in Lubbock to buy!!!! - Mind you in Dublin, even our mortgage would only just about pay for a small coffee and a beef and mushroom boxtie. (pancake!)
The upshot of this is I have a pretty tight budget, so I may decide to give you one or two of my “Canny Scotsman Thrifty Tips” from time to time. (Though I’m actually English, but I’ve lived in Scotland for fifteen years, and one or two of their little economising ways may have rubbed off on me by now.) Being uncharacteristically generous for a moment I should point out that I go to church with some good salt of the earth Scots and no one is more generous than them. – But would it be a proper Wilmot TR if it didn’t have a bit of gentle stereotyping in it? It also has to have a bit of showing off about illegally obtained fastpasses too. Oh and for anyone who has never ever read one of my trip reports before, it’s worth bearing in mind, that I have no scruples whatsoever, of making things up. I regard it as completely your job to figure out which bits are merely figments of my imagination. Always a potential problem when I meet fellow Trip Report Writers at WDW, when they say things like…………
“Oh Larry can you show me the place where you saw that Walt Disney had written his name in the setting concrete” or “Larry are you sure that the Haunted Mansion is where Barak Obama invited you to his wedding?” Caveat Emptor.
OK…… Time to go and rest now, I’ve got 3 days of work to do…… Monday, supervision with one of my staff in Fort Augustus……… Tuesday…… Can’t remember what I’m doing on Tuesday……. Wednesday…… very formal meeting in Fort William…… Then drive home, pick up Ed……….. Drive through the night to Edinburgh Airport, 20 hours or so later arrive in Lubbock……….. One night’s sleep……. Get haircut in Lubbock………much cheaper than Scotland, and those Texan barbers they know a thing or two about style, I can tell you……….. Then hopefully I’ll pick up the story on Friday………… Until then, have fun. I know I won’t.
Oh and by the way Robin, I haven’t seen you for 15 hours and I’m missing you like crazy……..
Thursday 16th of October 2008. Travel Day.
Thursday, actually started in Fort William, Scotland on Wednesday. I had stayed in a hotel overnight, not a spectacularly wonderful hotel, certainly not Disney Standards, but the smoked haddock and poached egg, was a pretty nice breakfast. I had a fairly tough work day, I would tell you all about it, but (a), you would be bored, and (b), I’d have to kill you, for confidentiality reasons. I drove back home and got home at 7pm, picking up some fish and chips. Then Greg my eldest son, brought Ed my youngest over, and we settled down to some packing, sorting out paperwork and our regular Wednesday “Heroes Night.” Then I went and had a nap for two hours. I woke up at about 1am, and it was time to set off from where we live to Edinburgh Airport, which is 180 miles south of Wilmot Towers.
I would like to say that the trip was un-eventful, sadly I can’t. To start with, Edward almost accused me of child abuse, because I made him listen to the third, Presidential Debate on the radio on the drive down. I found it fascinating, mainly because I’m pretty interested in politics. I used in my youth to be fairly actively involved in British politics, but gave up when I realised if I didn’t it was unlikely that my children would know my name, or be able to describe me to strangers. At one point I was on 22 different committees or working groups, and that didn’t include any to do with my job. I gave it all up in 1988 though I’m still pretty interested in it all. Anyway, Ed was bored, so I did allow him a short blast of a Queen CD, in the middle of the debate. I started to do a John McCain impersonation but it sounded more like Mickey Mouse, actually the more I think about it, John McCain does sound like Mickey Mouse….. I make no reference to his politics here, just his voice.
The second eventful thing was, I had to make an emergency stop, from 70mph because there was a doe, a deer, a female deer, in the road. She just simply froze, I ended up about five feet from her, she looked into my eyes, then bolted to the right. She was a magnificent creature. I’m pretty glad I was in the car and not on a motorbike though, it was pretty scary anyway, but on my bike, it would have been an underpants colour changing event.
To continue the theme, I had to break and swerve to avoid a pretty big hare, and there was also another smaller doe on the side of the road, about 50 miles further south, which I had to slow down for. By the time I got to the airport I was a nervous wreck.
We put the car in the long term car park. Robin has found a reasonable place to park the car. British Airports, charge an astronomical amount for parking, even worse than Universal Studios. And absolutely nothing is more capable of winding me up than parking charges, some people say, “He would rather walk five miles than pay for parking”. And they might be right. Hey after all, this is the credit crunch trip, no point throwing away good money, before you even set off, if you ask me.
The airport was pretty quiet, despite it being the “Tatty Holidays” in Scotland…… This refers to the traditional practice of two weeks school holidays, to allow the children to help bring in the potato harvest. Nowadays the “Guitar Hero” or “Annoy your neighbours with all that imported Halloween japery” Holidays would be more accurate.
We flew down to Heathrow, with a plane, completely full of one tour party, of 13/14 year olds who all had the same bright orange-green knapsacks, they were all very lively but fun kids enjoying the flight down. Going through Heathrow, was for once very smooth. Also American Airlines didn’t give away our exit row seats this time, but we did have to endure a 10hours 15 minutes flight, with very poor in-flight entertainment as we were on a Boeing 767, and not a 777. It doesn’t sound much different, but believe me, having the 777’s personal entertainment system, helps. I was going to buy a book to read, but they were all between nine and thirteen pounds, and I was way too mean to pay that kind of money for a paperback book. So I managed to sleep for two hours, and listened to my iPod for about three hours, and the rest I sat quietly bored out of my little scull.
Oh I did entertain myself and Ed by reading the Sky (Abys)Mall brochure. Oh gosh, I shouldn’t mock people, it’s not big and it’s not clever…….. BUT, there is some pretty amazing stuff in there……… Ed and I picked our three favourites………
As they say on Strictly Come Dancing….(Dancing with the Stars for all my US chums.) “In no particular order”
NEW – A Fun Way To Run With The Herd.
Sometimes one car horn isn’t enough, So put on Truck Antlers for your truck or pick up. Apparently plastic deer antlers are just the answer, and create both broad smiles and belly laughs.
I seem to have no trouble whatsoever of attracting deer so I don’t’ think I need to bother.
SPECIAL OFFER - Travel Time Mug.
This is a keep drinks hot mug, with a built in clock. Which will allow you to “make an impression with drinkware, which is unique and chic”
I love inventions that cure problems that don’t exist. Get a cup and a watch like everyone else and save your cash, there’s a credit crunch you know.
AMAZING - Talking Microwave.
OK I love this one, a talking microwave…… What is the thing going to say to me?
“Larry are you eating pies again, I’ve told you about that before, no go and get a salad before you have a heart attack.”
So after a quick stop over in Dallas, we were on our flight to Lubbock to be picked up by Robin and Her Mom and Michael her nephew. Her mom turned up in a swanky Cadillac SUV, which would have been pretty impressive if it didn’t have $1000 OFF all over the windscreen, (Windshield). It looked like she had just stolen it from a Caddy Dealership, but apparently it was a loaner for her car having some work done in the local Caddy Garage (shop).
We had a nice family meal and I went to bed exhausted at 8pm. Ed had a new lease of life and played with Michael on a computer game for a couple of hours.
Friday 17th October, Another Travel Day……..
The plan is to fly to Disney today. I know, I know, this is supposed to be a Disney Trip Report and I haven’t mentioned it much. Don’t worry, I’ll probably fit in a couple of lines at some point. Because of the time difference thing Robin and I got up at 3.30am. We had a bit of a chat about international relations, something to do with independence in South Osettia or something. But we couldn’t resolve our differences about this, so we went to SONIC for some breakfast, and to Wal Mart, where we bought a mobile phone, so I can keep in touch with Robin during the Trip. Well that’s all for now, I’ve got to find some suntan cream, I’m an optimist.
After a day moseying around Lubbock, running one or two errands, it was time to go to the airport for the flight to Disney, we took the small hop to Dallas, and then we managed to get an upgrade to first class for the flight to Orlando. Wow you can’t beat those hot nuts now can you? Actually first class domestically in the US, is probably slightly behind business class transatlantically, but it doesn’t stop everyone in cattle class hating you, so if you get an upgrade then, Go Boy Go. We plonked down on the MCO runway 2 hours and 1 minute after leaving Dallas, and headed out to the Magical Express line, at the other side of the airport. One of the great things about getting to the airport at midnight, was that the lines for the busses were completely empty. We had one slight problem, which was AA had changed the flight number for my trip back, so DMEx (Mears) couldn’t find us in the system, so they told me I had to find the details and let them know before our return back.
The journey to the All Stars went pretty quickly and smooth. I watched the little video on the way there. I wasn’t totally convinced by the advert for the Disney Guided Tours across the world. Recently I’ve been to Paris, Rome, Dublin and Washington DC. I think part of the charm of international travel is being able to wander around lost, go up scary dark alley’s and get ripped off by unscrupulous criminals, so why would I want to pay Disney a fortune to cotton wool wrap me around the world?
Check in had only a couple of groups before Ed and I, so that was a breeze. We had bought a package which had one day Magic Your Way tickets, and I needed to upgrade Ed’s to a Four Day Park Hopper, but they couldn’t do it at check in so Job No 1 in the morning is go and upgrade his ticket. (I already had days left over on a ticket from last year, the trip you all don’t know about because I was too mean to write a trip report.)
We wandered over to the Room, which was in Tennis, Second Floor, Room 5227, if you want to be accurate. Normally I try not to be accurate, but this time I have a new system, so that I can remember what I did. I told you earlier, (and I hope you were paying attention.) that my notes are totally unreadable ( Catch the Disney Fly Rampage or Rode Space Michaelmas Routing etc) so I have decided to take a photograph at every ride I go on, or meal I eat or toilet I visit, so that I can give a really accurate description of everything that I did for the very first time in any TR that I have written. I hope you are impressed. Obviously I reserve the right to make stuff up too, like I always have. I mean, why would you want to read a boring truthful Trip Report with hardly any action in it?
OK so after we watched the Ready Creek Fire Truck put out the guy who spontaneously combusted after drinking fifteen vodkas at the poolside bar, we went to bed. (There was a made up bit in there somewhere, see if you can find it.)
Night Night, sweet dreams. No nightmares please, you know the kind of thing:- dreaming that your DVC maintenance invoice has just popped through your letter box $$$$$ arrrrgh don’t they know there’s a credit crunch.
Saturday 18th of October. Wilmot World Record Day.
Well, despite not getting to bed until around 1am, I woke up not too far off six am. I had a little shower, and went down to the Concierge Desk, to get the pass upgrade for Ed, which relieved me of two hundred of your US bucks. Actually it worked out a good deal. We got the room for four nights for about 375 dollars, and when you include the two park passes, and the magical express, and all the transportation, it’s a pretty good deal. Four nights for example in a Holiday Inn Express, which is a similar standard, in London would set you back about 900 dollars.
I know one or two of our friends on here, tend to moan about the lack of facilities like moisturiser and thin towels. (Oh and boy are they thin, more like face cloths than bath towels.) but you have to remember, we can’t all afford the Grand Flo, times are hard for folks, so lets give a big cheer for the All Star Sports, and it’s cousins, Hip Hip Hooray. Pretty good value if you ask me.
Having got the passes sorted out I headed for the food court. I picked up a couple of drinks in the re-fillable mugs. Now I want to pass on to you a bit of a tip here, so say “Thank you, Uncle Larry”.
They used to leave milk out in a little flask, but they stopped a few years ago. Now many of us hate to drink our coffee with “Coffee Creamer” which as we all know is actually Monosodium Glutamate mixed with the scrapings off the vat they make “Easy-Cheese” in, watered down with Orlando tap water. An Englishman would rather die, than drink tea with artificial milk. In fact if you do it too regularly you probably will die. (And by Tea, I mean the hot stuff, not that iced and fruit flavoured stuff my American friends like to drink, in cups the size of oil tankers) then milk is an essential.
So what you do is this, is go to the little room at the end of the drinks station, there is almost always a cast member in there, or nearby. Then you say, “I’m making tea, and coffee creamer is horrible in tea” and they pop to a little fridge, and get out a carton of milk, and pour a little in your re-fillable mug and you can make tea or coffee which is much more civilised and British, well you could if it wasn’t all that revolting Nescafe Instant ersatz instead of proper coffee.
I took the drinks back to the room, and started to boot up my teenager, obviously booting up windows is quicker and easier than booting up a teenager, also less prone to crash. If it wasn’t for the fact that his body was telling him, it was noon because of the time difference, then he probably would still be in bed now.
OK everyone ready, lets go to a Disney Park. We go and get to the bus stop, and there was a bus for MGM ready to take. You may have noticed that I called it MGM, it’s going to take quite a while before I start calling it Disney Hollywood Studios. After all it’s about eight years since they changed Countdown to Extinction, and I’m still calling it that and not the D word.
It was early entry into MGM, and we got to the turnstiles at 2 minutes past eight. I had heard that Toy Story Mania was the “Hot Ticket” attraction, so we rushed there, bowling over a few expendable five year olds on the way. And it’s a good job that we did so, because there was a twenty five minute queue. (line.) Having said that, the waiting areas is pretty neat, well it is the first time. It has lots of children’s games and toys from the 60s and 70s. Some of which I knew as we had them in England, and some that were only available in the states. I particularly liked the scrabble ceiling. About two thirds of the way through the queuing area, is Mr Potato Head, who is a barker and he tells some pretty lame jokes, to help pass the time. The ride itself is really cool. It is like an updated version of the Magic Kingdom Space Ranger Spin, but using the same technology that they used in the Pirates of the Caribbean Buccaneer Gold at Disney Quest, using the pull string cannons. Ed being a teenager gave me a good sorting out score wise. We both really enjoyed the game, and decided we would have to play it again before we left. To use a bit of a cliché it’s great for kids of all ages.
We wandered over to Rock and Roller Coaster, and picked up a fastpass. Then it was time for Tower of Terror, which was pretty much a walk on. I have always liked the themeing of this ride, and I told Ed all about the Primate gorilla feed at Conservation Station. (For those who don’t know, Robin got an email from the guy who did the Rod Stirling voice on the ride, because he thought it was funny that she had mentioned in a previous trip report of hers, that the feed made her think of the Tower of Terror, “This as you may recognise, is a Primate Maintenance Biscuit.”)
After that we went for a trip across the park on “Star Tours.” Robin gives me a really hard time, because I’m a Trekie, and kinda regard Star Wars as pretty low rent in comparison, (No hate mail please.) So I wanted to go and ride it, and ring her up on my new super doper American mobile phone, (sorry cell phone.) so I could impress her that I went on Star Tours and that I was a good obedient husband afterall. So I went on the ride. We got the front row and I quite enjoyed it. I’ve been on the ride in California, France and Florida, and I’ve yet to get to Endor. It may be time to admit defeat.
We went for a little wander around the backlot, and I rang Robin for fifteen minutes or so, I actually rang her pretty much every couple of hours during the trip to keep her upto speed with our progress. I established early on that she didn’t mind, as I was wanting to avoid her feeling bad that I was there and she wasn’t. After wards we went to try to use our Fastpass for RnR. However, the machine was severely down, so we abandoned hope for that for the day. We rode Tower of Terror again.
We went to The Great Movie Ride, which looked ok, but it turned out to be about a 40 minute wait, so I was a bit miffed with that, not that it was a 40 minute queue, but that I was stupid enough to wait for 40 minutes to ride it. The ride itself was ok, but I’m pretty much starting to think, that it probably could do with a pretty strong make over, take out some of the segments and put some new ones in.
Perhaps I’m all about making my trip reports multi dimensional and I love a bit of audience participation, so if you would like to make some suggestions, as to possible segments.
I’d like to see a couple.
How about Napoleon Dynamite replacing Alien, you could have him doing his “Skit” or saying “Skills – Girls love boys with skills – Bow Hunting Skills, Numchuck Skills!”
Or how about a dumping the seriously lame Indiana Jones Section and putting in, a Shaun of the Dead, sequence, where the gangster gets mistaken for a Zombie and Simon Pegg, smacks him across the head with a cricket bat.
I’m open to suggestions.
After the Great Movie Ride, we were getting a bit peckish, so we adjourned to the Backlot Express, and partook of a Burger and Fries for Me, (don’t tell my doctor) and Chicken Nuggets for Ed, who pretty much only ate chicken nuggets for the whole trip. Still it was nice to sit down and have a little rest. I’m getting old for this walking 7 miles a day lark.
On the way out of the eatery we noticed that Star Tours had a 50 minute wait, Yak time to get out of the park.
Next stop Animal Kingdom, we got the bus over to the AK, with no wait. Ed hasn’t been to WDW for four years, so Everest is a new experience for him. I was looking at some photographs taken that trip a couple of weeks ago, and all that was there was parts of the frame and some of the track, you can see some of the sweeping curves being constructed. Now of course it looks like a proper pocket mountain. We managed to get on the ride within about 10 minutes, and It was pretty neat. One bad little thing though was that through out the trip, and I think we had about five trips on the ride, the big Yeti at the end was motionless, so I guess there is a fault with it currently, it does detract from the ride a little bit, making the end a bit of an anti-climax. Still the ride was great fun and Ed really enjoyed it.
Afterwards we went on the walking trail, the name of which escapes me at the moment. (I am getting pretty old these days and the memory is going, I guess in the future my trip reports will have to concentrate on trips around World Showcase, with the biggest thrill being me knocking over a bottle of wine in Chef’s De France or losing my false teeth on a rare ride on Maelstrom.)
I enjoyed looking at the Komodo Dragon, I remember 20 years ago going to Toronto Zoo, and the big event was their purchase of a Komodo Dragon, the whole of the city was excited, and I’ve always thought they were pretty neat animals. I also liked the really big bats, and boy do those guys have pretty large, as we Brits would say, “Meat and two veg.”
The really exciting bit was that one of the tigers was awake, the first time I’ve seen that at AK, at first he was playing down some steps by the water, but then rather sadly he started to do the pacing thing that captive animals do, which is I think an indication of boredom and frustration. Though she/he was a pretty impressive creature.
We went back to Everest and did the Single Rider Line, to avoid a wait, and after that we walked over to Dinoland USA. Primeval Hurl was down for a makeover, and I could see this guy on the top of the track painting, I had noticed that it was looking a bit sad last year, so it’s good that they are perking it up. We skipped the carnival booths, I kinda still sulk about them, but hey stock holders deserve some dividends I suppose.
We got some legal fastpasses for Countdown to Extinction, and then as there was a 45 minute wait, we walked over to Tough to be a Bug. Ed asked me on the way, how I knew where everything was in the park, and I told him, it was a simple matter of paying attention every now and then to the world around you, a simple concept yet one completely lost on him. I enjoyed Tough to be a Bug, more than normal, dunno why, maybe because my eyes were working better than normal and everything was in focus with the 3D. Anyway, being a total wimp, I’ve never sat back in the seat for the hornet sting, but Ed did for the first time, and he told me it was like someone touching his back with their finger, so perhaps next time I’ll be brave.
We went back to do Countdown, which I really enjoyed, managed to sneak past a few people in the pre-show and got by the doors. On the walk down I showed Ed the three pipes and told him that the chemical formula were for Tomato Ketchup, Mustard and Mayo, because the ride was sponsored (By a generous grant) from the McDonalds Corporation. Enjoyed the ride, that big dino still hasn’t swallowed the little one despite trying for 10 years. And hey we “Made it.”
After that we headed back to the All Stars for a nap. I think we both did two hours, and it was nice. ZZZZZZZZZZZZ
The plan for the rest of the evening, was to go to Epcot, do a couple of things and then watch Illuminations Reflections of Earth, and retire to bed, after a long three park day.
First of all we popped into the food court at the All Stars Sports, I had a the roast turkey dinner, it never fails to amuse me that they weigh the turkey, you do get a decent sized portion though. Ed had a pizza which was mediocre to say the least, I don’t think he was particularily impressed, but he said it tasted better than it looked.
We got the bus to Epcot, and went on the new version of Spaceship Earth. I was quite impressed with the changes, I guess I had gotten pretty bored with the Jeremy Irons version. The first thing you notice different is that the cars have a bolt on computer touch screen. You don’t do much with it at the start, other than tell them where you come from, and then you get your photo taken. The new narrator, at least in English is Dame Judy Dench. Nice to see your keeping a Brit as narrator, and for once not casting one as a villain. The first part is the same, and that smoke effect always makes me think I’m going to get an asthma attack, but I didn’t. Then at the end they have reworked the final scenes, which is quite neat. I miss the American boy chatting on the internet to the Japanese girl. But I guess having relationships across the internet is pretty old hat now, after all that’s how Robin and I met. (I must point out that it was through Mouseplanet and not Rubber-wearers-anon.com!!)
After Spaceship Earth, we went to Mission Space, and worked for the Orange Team, the one with the G-forces turned on. I must try the Green Team, at some point to see if its very dull with the spinning turned off. For me the best bit is the G-force, so I suspect I would find it a bit of a yawn with it turned off.
Then it was five to nine, I heard Mary from the Comedy Warehouse do the 5 min countdown, which was nice to hear her speak, I hope she has found a good job, I keep meaning to ask Sue Holland what she is doing, but I keep forgetting.
We power-walked and found a spot at 1 minute to nine, outside Norway, stood behind a stoller parked against the fence and got a perfect view, it seemed almost a bit of a cheek to arrive that late and get such a good view. But hey I guess sometimes you just strike it lucky. The show was great as always, I thought that the globe was out of action, but there it was as normal. I guess it’s been going for nine years now, as I think it started in October 1999. I think it’s probably time they started to plan a new Illuminations. Though this one is good, and has great music.
We decided as we had had a nap, not to go straight back to the room. So we went to Beaches and Cream at the Beach Club, to get an ice cream, which we ate on the patio outside, sat at a table. I’ve always liked the cute little resteraunt and would have liked to eat inside again, but not for just an ice cream so this was the next best thing. Afterwards, we planned to go to Downtown Disney, to change busses for the All Stars, (Boycotting the rest of DD, due to the Closure of PI.) However, a MK bus arrived first, and the driver said to the people in front of us, “You know the park is closing in 30 mins” and we thought “WOW 30 mins, time to do Space Mountain.”
So we went into MK, and went to Space Mountain. – Spaceship Earth, Mission Space, Space Mountain, you spotting a theme here???
Actually when we were halfway down the tunnel, they announced that both sides had closed down due to technical problems, maybe it needed another 10 bucks in the electric meter.
So not to be deterred , we legged it over to Big Thunder as quick as we could, making it at 10-59pm, and got on the penultimate train of the night. I’ve always loved BTMR in the dark and this was no exception. Then when we got off the train, it left the loading area backwards to the overnight siding, which was really neat to watch.
On the way out of the park a really sweet touch was that as we were walking past the Ye Oldie Christmas Shoppe, the cast members sang We Wish You a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. They looked like they were really having a fun time, I don’t know if they do that every night, but it’s worth checking out as you leave.
Well I hope you noticed dear reader, that although it wasn’t planned, we did all four parks today. That is the very first time that I’ve done that. So big Wilmot World Record for the big boys outing.
After that it was back to the room, managed to get a drink at the food court just before midnight, and it was a nice long phone call to Robin in Texas and off to sleep for some well deserved rest.
Night Night Don’t let the bed bugs bite. Even the cute fluffy Disney ones.
Sunday 19th October 2008 – The 15 hour shift.
Good Morning readers, I hope you are all impressed, but it’s 3-30am here in Texas, and I’m up and about sitting at my computer, actually my father in law’s computer, I’m slaving away to get this trip report to you as fresh as I can. It can take two years to get a high quality trip report to you but I’m endeavouring to get this one to you in a few days.
OK back to the story. I had planned to go to the early entry park today, but we couldn’t get up in time, having been out till after midnight last night. But despite this, we were out in time to make it to Epcot for about half past nine, which I didn’t think was too bad.
It was a nice warm morning, the weather was just about perfect for touring Epcot. We dashed over to The Land to pick up a fastpass for “Soarin.” Now I don’t want to be a moaner, because you know this is a pretty fine ride, and there is little to complain about but I have to ask, Why do they cut of the G, why can’t it be Soaring??
We spent five minutes watching the Kitchen Chef’s version of the Jamminators. I didn’t figure out what they are actually called. Probably (Joke coming up here only the Brits who were reared on Top of the Pops will get!) Pan’s People.
We then headed to Innoventions, (Both Sides). I was quite shocked at Innoventions, so much of it is empty, with boarded up booths. I guess the credit crunch might be taking its toll, as most of the booths are bought by individual companies. I guess few feel it’s a cost effective form of advertising in these hard times, but the effect is pretty startling as you walk in.
That’s not to say that some fun can’t be had in there. We went into the Storm Prevention Exhibition, which is a pretty neat show. It is like a baby version of “Honey I Blew away the House.” Or “Twister Lite.” It was cute, and what I don’t know about protecting my house from a hurricane now isn’t worth knowing.
We went into the House of Innoventions, which is a whole new one to the old one, though the ideas are much the same. It’s just got different sponsors. The TV got me. It’s voice activated, which if it works as good as the voice activated GPS in my Mother In Law’s Cadillac means that there is no chance whatsoever of you getting the channel you want. In the Caddy, say something like, “Lubbock 50th and Slide” you get “Italian Restaurant Icons Activated” back to you. Chocolate Fire Guard Territory.
When you think about it, we invented the TV remote control, because basically we were too idle to get off our bottoms to go press a couple of buttons on the TV. Now we have voice activated TV’s because we are too lazy to actually press a button 1/8th of an inch.
There was also an electric dimming window, which used a variable current to lighten or darken the glass. I kinda figured that blinds and curtains use less electricity though, so it will be a while before my electricity bills are troubled by such progress.
On the saving of the planet front, I was pretty impressed with the Vectrix Electric Scooter. Though I’m pretty sure that the cast member’s claim of a 70 mile range with a top speed of 100mph, is a weeeeeeeny bit exaggerated.
On the way out we noticed a booth that we just had to return to at 1pm. (You will have to wait like we did. It’s pretty cool though, you’re all going to be jealous.)
We went back and did our trip on Soarin which had a pretty horrendous walk in line by now, so we were glad to have a fastpass. The pre-show always makes me laugh, because of Patrick Warburton’s “Ullo.” Robin has a bit of a crush on Patrick, but I can just about contain my jealousy. He is funny though. The ride was great.
We headed out towards world showcase, there was a duck walking up and down a little wall just below the surface of the water, so it looked like it was walking on the water. It’s amazing how funny some things seem when you are having fun.
Passing through the UK, I met one of the actors from the Adventurers Club, and I thanked him for all the wonderful work he had done entertaining me in the past out there. We chatted for a couple of mins, and he was very enthusiastic about the past and how everyone had been so kind to the actors. They clearly miss the show very much. I hope that Disney either resurrect it, find some other way to reproduce the club in the parks. It would be wonderful in the Animal Kingdom.
We went to Japan for Lunch, everyone was snacking at the food and wine booths, so the Yakatori House was pretty empty. Good. I like a quite place for lunch. I had the Shrimp (King Prawn to us Brits) and Udon Noodle Soup, and Ed had spicy tuna roll. Which is sushi really, (OK I Just Can’t resist it… Worst Joke of the Trip Report Coming Up, shield your children and the infirm…. If you knew Sushi like I know Sushi.)
I made Ed do the American Adventure with me, though I let him off Hall of Presidents later. I’m on a mission to American Myself up. The plan is for Robin and I to come to America to live in 2010. So I’m teaching Ed and Greg how to navigate themselves to Lubbock and I’m thinking seriously about taking duel citizenship. Robin already has permanent leave to stay in the UK. And she is going to become a British Citizen next year. So I want to become an American too. Hence my desire to Americanise myself up a bit. We caught the end of the Voices of Liberty, and they sang the national anthem so beautifully. Even I had to fight having a tear in my eye. I drew the line at putting my hand over my heart, I’ll do that when I am an American Citizen, until then I feel morally bound to point out that America can rejoin the Commonwealth at any time, it’s just a matter of paying back the back taxes.
Ed and I headed over to Innoventions again for our previously mentioned 1pm appointment, actually by then it was almost 2pm but who’s counting, because we wanted to do the Segway Experience, yes now you can actually ride them for free, you get to watch a short film, and then they let you have a very short ride on the machines themselves. And I can tell you this, ITS REALLY COOL.
At this point Ed and myself split up, he was tired and wanting a nap and I wanted to see Spyra Gyra, at the Eat to the Beat concert later. We agreed to meet at Tower of Terror at 8pm at MGM. Not a totally wise suggestion as it turned out.
Now yesterday was the first time that I’ve been to all four parks in one day, and today surprisingly was the first time, I’ve ever been on my own touring a park. I’ve split off to go and do something specific, but I’ve never spent any time alone in a park to enjoy the park. I found it a bit weird at first, kinda “Larry No Mates.” But the pleasures of it grew on me.
First of all I headed back to Future World. I did the single rider line at Test Track. There was an English Family, with the dad on the left, his son about 7 or so in the middle and me on the right. Mum was in front with a sister I think. The little boy was scared, and wanted to get out. The dad was telling him it would be OK. I asked if they had been on the ride before, and dad said “no”. I told the little boy that I’d been on the ride 20 times and it wasn’t scary at all. This seemed to reassure him, so he stayed on the ride. We did the trip, and after the fast loop, when it was decelerating for the thermal imaging scan, he said to me. “Is that it?” I laughed and said, “I told you it wasn’t anything to get too fussed about?” It was fun to help.
I took a friendship, mainly to make sure that I rode one this trip, over to Morocco. Which was a great chance to catch up with Robin, we chatted for about 20 mins, as I rode the boat, we couldn’t hear each other as I passed Mo Rocking, but it was fun to chat to her and I think she enjoyed hearing the sounds in the back ground. It was very strange not to be with her at Disney, I missed her very much. I felt it more, with Ed not being there to distract me from the fact she couldn’t make the trip.
I went for a drink to America, as I was pretty parched at this point. I backtracked to France, for Impressions de France, I was quite exhausted by this point, which was 4pm. So I sat on the floor waiting for the show to begin. Then I enjoyed the 18 minutes of cool and comfort, listening but not paying much attention to the film.
Afterwards, it was back to America, passing the Louisiana display, where they gave me Mardi Gras beads, complete with a great state of Louisiana medallion, and tried to persuade me that Louisiana was the most wonderful state in the US. I pretended to everyone for days that it was, but we all know that really it’s South Dakota.
It was then almost time for Spyro Gyra. I sat in the theatre for about 30 mins, relaxing, then the concert came on. I was a little disappointed, they had decided to treat the three shows they were doing as one gig, so if you only went to the first one like I did, you got none of their hits. They played 3 songs from their new album, and they are wonderfully accomplished musicians they played them so well, but it was all new music to me, and I found it slightly un-involving.
I headed over to the UK. And I think the high spot of the trip ensued. I got Fish and Chips from Harry Ramsden’s and ate them on the pavement singing along to the British Invasion. Who quite frankly are no where near as competent musicians than Spyra Gyra but, I and everyone else, and there were maybe 200 people in the square, had a wonderfully entertaining time singing along to Help and 8 Days a Week. It was fun with a capital F.
After this, It was time to go and get myself over to MGM to meet Ed. I walked to the boardwalk, and looked in the shops for a couple of present ideas for people. I was starting to flag at this point so I headed to the Swan, had a quick nosey in the lobby, and then got the friendship to MGM.
I noticed that there were two showings of Fantasmic, one at 7.30pm and one at 9pm. I as you may recall had decided to meet with Ed at 8pm, in the area by Rock n Roller and Tower of Terror. There were billions of people there, it was not the best place to meet at that precise moment in time. Having said that we bumped into each other looking for each other at 8.01pm, so no panic after all. Ed hadn’t eaten, He had spent his time at the hotel, having a bath and sleeping. So we toured the quiet areas of the park, but everywhere was closed so we ended up back on Sunset B, where we started in the first place. After he had eaten, chicken probably, we went to the 9pm showing of Fantasmic, getting there at 8.55pm. The place was pretty full, but we got a seat on about the sixth row of the end section, the view was great. After a couple of obligatory Mexican Waves, regular speed, slow and super fast, the show began.
As Robin would say, “It’s a cute show”. I really enjoyed it. It is a great blend of techniques. Some of the cartoon sections drag, and the whole Governor Radcliffe bit is a bit naff. In many ways it reminds me of Stairway to Heaven, there is absolutely no point in trying to work out what it all means, it’s clearly the result of Mickey buying some seriously bad gear. So just sit back and let the whole thing wash over you and enjoy.
We went over to Toy Story Mania, and it was a 70 minute wait, so then we decided to skip that and we did voyage of the Little Mermaid. I’ll probably be in big trouble with Robin for this, because I have a bit of a thing about Ariel, and I think I was supposed to avoid her this trip. But hey my excuse is that I’m academically interested in puppetry techniques, I’m thinking of undertaking a degree in performance mechanics at Yale University, so this was research. I didn’t even notice Ariel was in the show, hardly at all anyway.
We went back to Toy Story Mania, and only had a 32 minute wait, ONLY. But it was fun and we both improved our scores, though Ed still thrashed me.
Then it was over to Ride Tower of Terror in the dark, which is more fun than in the light, though it was too dark to levitate the Louisiana medallion, because you have to be able to see it to catch it, once you start rising again. I guess everyone knows that you are pulled downwards faster than the speed of gravity would pull you, so if you balance something in your hand, a coin, or a refillable mug – my particular favourite, it appears to be levitating as you fall down. You have to catch the thing though or it will brain someone else, and as Dr Seeker would say, “That’s not good.”
Then we did Rock N Roller Coaster, they have spent a lot of money doing the queuing areas with a separate fastpass area and a single rider line. The ride’s pretty much the same though. Ed and I knew this would be our only go, so we queued for the front row, which to put it mildly is ACE.
Realising that it was only 10 to midnight, we legged it over to Toy Story Mania and had a final go, both about 1000 points down on the previous attempt, but only a 10 minute wait.
Time for bed, I spent 15 hours from Park Entry this morning at Epcot to Park Departure tonight, and frankly I’m too old for such endeavours, I was cream crackered the next day.
Monday 20th October, The short day.
Today I wasn’t in a rush to get going after yesterdays fifteen hour epic and the four park day the day before, So I decided to take it easy.
We took a slightly longer route to the bus stop, looking at the themeing of the Tennis Block, which was quite neat. I liked Donald Ducks nephews playing baseball on the tennis court, I told them off of course but they just ignored me and kept playing anyway. At least they are not drinking Buckfast Wine and wearing Hoodies.
We waited in line for the bus to Magic Kingdom, as that was the park choice of the day. However there was a big line, and it looked like it would take two busses before we would get on, so we got the bus to Epcot instead. We got on quickly and had a seat. When we got to Epcot, we walked through the no bag security, and hopped up to the monorail. I really enjoyed the ride, out there, we more or less had a car to ourselves, so we could stretch out and take in the views, it was a nice sunny day, and I got much pleasure from the ride.
I don’t know how I did this, but I forgot about the Transportation and Ticket Center, thinking that the monorail went to MK. Which of course it doesn’t. The line for both the direct monorail to the MK and the resort one were mobbed, so we went to the dock for the big boat. We had to wait about 10 mins to get on the boat, so I chatted to Robin on the mobile.
If you read my old TRs you will see that I often would rant about avoiding the Transport and Ticket Centre, and I realise why now. Most of us who stay on property don’t have much cause to go through the TTC and you forget what a cattle market it is. Still it was a lovely day and I really enjoyed the boat ride and I wasn’t in much of a rush. I guess it took almost an hour to get to the MK, but I didn’t really regret it because moseying around on Disney Transport is part of the fun. If you want to stretch your park tickets, then spending a day, riding as many forms of Disney Transport would be a great fun day. (There I knew I would fit in a Credit Crunch Tip eventually.)
When we got to the park, we went for a couple of Dole Whips for breakfast, not terribly healthy but pretty nice, except that I got brain freeze in my right eye.
We then planned to do Jungle Cruise, it said a 20 min wait, but after 10 mins and the queue had not moved we retreated and got fastpasses. Then we went over to Splash and Big Thunder to check them out, agreeing to ride them later. On the way we had done Pirates of the Caribbean, we both enjoyed the Jack Sparrow makeover, but the ride stopped for about 15 mins, and that would have been fine, but for a woman near us who moaned and moaned, and then moaned on her mobile phone to her boyfriend, and for good measure moaned to anyone who would listen to her, which by then was no one.
We got to do Splash and Big Thunder in quick succession, which was nice. We tried to do Jungle Cruise, but even the fastpass line was not moving, so we gave up. I don’t know what the problem was today but it was not to be.
The park was really full by then, I had expected crowds to be low this week, with the credit crunch and most teens at school, but I found it pretty busy. I would go as far as saying Fantasyland was mobbed. So we scooted through there. We had lunch at Cosmic Ray’s I had a chicken sandwich and Ed had chicken strips I expect. I put about 10 pounds of fried onions and mushrooms on mine, I love that fixings bar. I even went wild and had a diet lemonade.
Which reminds me, I’m a diabetic (Woops shouldn’t have mentioned the Dole Whip breakfast) and you can’t get much in the way of diet drinks, most places its Diet Coke, or Diet Coke, of which I’m not a fan. Some places sell the diet lemonade, which I like. But there is always bottled water, but that’s (a) not cheap, and (b) not environmentally friendly. There is another option, if you ask for a cup of iced water, they give you a fairly large cup with ice, which is actually nicer than the bottled water because you get ice. The even better thing is, it’s free. Yup Free, Yup at Disney Free, I know amazing. And they do it at all the counter service places, and it isn’t even embarrassing asking.
After Lunch we rode space mountain, finally made it after we failed two nights ago. Then we split up, I had some shopping to do. Ed went off to do his own thing and we agreed to meet up at 4pm at space as we had fastpasses for it at that time.
I went and bought Robin a heart shaped hidden Mickey silver bracelet charm, from the jewellers on Main Street. I got her folks a Mickey Christmas Ornament from the Christmas shop. And I picked up a birthday present for my nephew Michael which was a T-shirt with the monorail and the mind the doors written in Spanish, which since I got back to Lubbock everyone thinks is really cool. I had seen it at Epcot but it wasn’t in his size, and it took me a while to track down finally got it at Adult Apparel on Main Street. Though one of the cast members didn’t know it existed, but I found a CM putting out stock, and she knew what I meant.
After the shopping was done, it was time to have some fun, so I went to the Hall of Presidents, (Fun yes, it’s fun don’t be so mean hearted.) All part of my acclimatising to almost being an American.
Then I watched the parade, from outside the Hall of Presidents, got a good spot behind a couple of little children so I could see really well.
I was going to do Haunted Mansion but it was down and by then it was almost time to go and meet Ed. Though I picked up a couple of fast passes for Buzz, and then I rode the TTA. Under no circumstances do I feel that I have “done” WDW if I don’t ride TTA, it’s one of my favourites. Just love it don’t know why.
OK I’ve worked it out.
1. It’s good for a nice sit down with a cool breeze when your tired.
2. It’s good for a nosey around the park to see how busy everything is.
3. It’s good for resting your eyes in the dark bits.
4. It’s very Walt Disney, and pretty historical too boot.
5. Best of all, it’s great for snogging Robin when she is there with me.
Then it was time to meet Ed, we rode space, which was cool, this ride seemed really fast, much faster than the one before we split up, it was on the left side, the first ride was on the right.
After that it was time for “A great big beautiful tomorrow”, I feel much the same about Carousel of Progress as I do the TTA, no trip to WDW is complete without a revolution on this wonderful attraction.
We then did Buzz, and Ed beat me again, shocker.
After Buzz we did Stitch’s Great Escape, which was OK, but I find it slightly less involving that you would imagine. Probably because it’s pretty much the same as Alien Encounter but dumbed down.
Finally we went to the Monster’s Inc Laugh Floor, and I quite like that, it’s the nearest that we are going to get to Comedy Warehouse for a while. It uses Crush technology and the comedians they use are pretty funny.
That was that for park visiting today, only six hours and one park. I told you I was tired. We went back to the hotel, popped to the food court and I had the Roast Turkey Dinner again, but to prove I’m not boring, I had corn in stead of green beans. (Revolutionary or what!!!)
After tea Ed watched Heroes, and I am a couple of episodes behind him, so I didn’t want to watch it, I’ll catch up in Scotland next week. So I went to the pool and read for a while on a sun lounger.
Then it was bed.
Tuesday 21st of October. Home James.
Today was our last day at WDW. Our boarding cards for our flight back to Lubbock were waiting on the door handle when I came back with drinks from the food court. No bill though because we paid cash for the whole trip, I called it my Money Laundering Trip to WDW.
We dropped off our cases, I saw mine that night in Lubbock but Ed’s never made it until the next day, but it’s a great service.
We went to Animal Kingdom for our last park of the trip. This meant that we had been to each park twice on the trip. Didn’t get everything done but we did most of the biggies.
We started off by going to Africa and getting fastpasses for the safari, which was a clever move, because it was mobbed an hour later. Then we backtracked to the Lion King Show, I haven’t seen this in years, I got a bit stale with it. But I really was enthused this time, the energy of the performers was so invigorating, I was in a really good mood all day because of it. We were in the Elephant Section and we had a great time. I like the birdy woman the best. I’ll probably be in trouble for this too, but not as much as for enthusing about Ariel. The show was really great, and a fantastic start to our last morning.
Then we went over to the Safari, and got on through the fastpass line in about 10 minutes, and it was a pretty good ride. I read in a TR recently about there being a lot of vultures, and boy that was right there must have been over a 100 in the first part of the ride where the hippos are. I guess it’s a dilemma for Disney.
After this we went and rode Everest using the Single Rider Line, which took about 10 mins to get on which was fine too. I enjoyed the trip but the Yeti still wasn’t working. Whilst we were on, there was a sign writing plane, which wrote, God Loves U. I felt a bit miffed that it didn’t say God Loves You, seemed to be skimping to me. But then it wrote God Loves Babies, so I guess that made up for the cheap U. Lots of people were talking about it, so I guess that’s the point. One chap was really upset, he thought the second one was going to say God Loves Barak. I think he would have foamed at the mouth and had a stroke if it had done, I was slightly disappointed that it didn’t, just to see his reaction.
We were ready for some lunch, having skipped breakfast. And we had Chicken Fried Rice and Spring Roll (Egg Roll, I’m never sure what the difference is.) The rice was a bit gloopy. We got it as take away from Yak and Yeti. We found a seat at the side so we could eat. We then dashed to the Flights of Wonder Show, which was as neat as ever. I guess a lot of people just walk right past this between the safari and Everest, I’d recommend you give it a try if you haven’t it’s fun.
Then it was our last ride of the Trip. We had fastpasses for Everest and we waited for the front row, which added about five minutes, but it was fun, because they kept us by the seat allocator, and he kept saying How Many in your Party – 2 – go to row 4 etc, Then someone came and said 9, so he started counting with his fingers and there wasn’t enough room, and he just looked flummoxed. Then we rode, it’s worth waiting for the front row, if it’s your last ride at WDW.
Time to head out of the park. We were surveyed about our dining experience, so I sat at a lap top by the park exit and explained that our rice was gloopy. I hope it helps them.
And apart from getting the Magical Express to the Airport, and a quick ice cream at the Hotel, that was about it.
I hope this trip report hasn’t been too gloopy for you. If you’ve enjoyed it, then please feel free to say so--I won’t bite. And if you haven’t please feel free to tell me too, all customer feedback is welcome, though some gets read more often than others.
Have Fun.
Cheers Larry. (AKA LarryfmScotland)
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