Fleeing From a Winter Wonderland - A First-Timer's Disney Christmas (Updated 9/30)

[Vexorg]

Yes, I'm STILL still alive and have posted a new update: Post 100, page 7: Part 16: The End is Near... One more to go to finish this one off.

Newest Blog post added 5/13/09 - See below for link

Index of Trip Report posts:
======
Pre-trip, Getting There and Arrival
Part 1: The Best Laid Plans of Mice and Men (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=29299538&postcount=2) (Planning, goals)
Part 2: Slip-Slidin' Away (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=29324416&postcount=4) (Where the drive to the airport almost turns into a thrill ride)
Part 3: Who Have I Gotta' Bribe to Get Outa' This Town? (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=29361293&postcount=8) (Notes from the flight and from a three-hour layover in Chicago)
Part 4: Nice Room, Just Don't Ask About the View... (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=29440066&postcount=18) (Seriously, just dont.)

Day 1
Part 5: A Slight Change of Plans (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=29559066&postcount=24) (Yes, there IS actually some Disney stuff in this part finally. I knew I shoulda' turned left at Osceola...)
Part 6: Can't I Get Just a Little Bit of Pixie Dust Here? (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=29700658&postcount=28) (Day 1 in the Magic Kingdom continued, with a not-so-fastpass and a parade in there somewhere.)
Part 7: Going Out to Socialize with Grim Grinning Ghosts (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=29873270&postcount=31) (Wrapping up day 1 in the Magic Kingdom with evening EMH, gratuitous fireworks shots, and finding out if things turn into pumpkins after Midnight...)

Day 2
Part 8: It's the FUTURE... Sort of. (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=30003430&postcount=37) (Day 2 begins in Epcot, and I try to figure out why I'm trying to find Nemo in the first place.)
Part 9: Merry Enough For You? (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=30182783&postcount=41) (Back to MK for MVMCP, and a futile quest for non nugget-based foodstuffs.)
Part 10: How to Get Into the Christmas Spirit Without the Need for Ghostly Visitors (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=30316983&postcount=46) (How NOT to find a spot for the parade, and the MVMCP Fireworks close out day 2.)

Day 3
Part 11: Aw man, You Mean I Have to Go to Disney World Again? (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=30706162&postcount=54) (Photos for this part (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=30836922&postcount=59)) : (A Walk on the not-so-wild West Side, a Wandering Bag, Folly on the Ferry and the Backside of Not Water. )
Part 12: Well, I THINK It's Still the Future Anyway... (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=31078356&postcount=66): More Future World Adventure and Culinary Misadventure.)
Part 13: Park Hopping For Dummies (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=31651890&postcount=73): More Plans Thrown Out the Window, and a Symphony of Blur-o-Magic

Day 4
Part 14: If You Can't Make it Here, You Can't Make it Anywhere (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=32377027&postcount=86) (Nope, not going to be in the movies anytime soon, it would seem.)
Part 15: Just Like Mom Used to Nag You About (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=32683146&postcount=91) (Extreme! Stunts! and lunch! at 50s! Prime! Time!)
Part 16: The End is Near... (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=33785977&postcount=100) (Putting the "Fast" in Fastpasses, and nearing the end of the trip.)

======

I am also posting an alternate version of this trip report over on my Blog. Basically, what I have been doing there is taking a couple of parts of the trip report at a time as written here and combining them into a Blog post. I'm also going back and making a few modifications and extra notes here and there, and trying to cut out some of the DIS jargon (yeah, there seems to be plenty of that to go around) to make it a bit more accessible to general readers. You can find the Blog posts here, and the corresponding parts of the trip report as posted here:

Part 1: Getting There is Half the Fun, Right? (http://thesledgehammer.wordpress.com/2008/12/29/disney-world-trip-report-part-1-getting-there-is-half-the-fun-right/) (Parts 1, 2 and 3)
Part 2: Now with Actual Disney in it! (http://thesledgehammer.wordpress.com/2009/01/10/disney-world-trip-report-part-2-now-with-actual-disney-in-it/) (Parts 4 and 5)
Part 3: Just Another Day in Never Never Land (http://thesledgehammer.wordpress.com/2009/01/24/disney-world-trip-report-part-3-just-another-day-in-never-never-land/) (Parts 6 and 7)
Part 4: It's the Future! (Sort of.) (http://thesledgehammer.wordpress.com/2009/02/16/disney-world-trip-report-part-4-its-the-future-sort-of/) (Part 8)
Part 5: The Disney Version of Christmas (http://thesledgehammer.wordpress.com/2009/02/26/disney-world-trip-report-part-5-the-disney-version-of-christmas/) (Parts 9 and 10)
Part 6: Park Hopping for Dummies (http://thesledgehammer.wordpress.com/2009/05/13/disney-world-trip-report-part-6-park-hopping-for-dummies/) (Parts 11, 12 and 13)

The newest installments of the TR will always be posted here first though.

------
I have just returned from four days spent at Disney World from December 15-18, and I am starting a new thread for my trip report (you can find the pre-trip report here (http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2025470). I've got plenty to write about, and since I was apparently unable to get away from the big snowstorm I was trying to avoid it looks like I might have a bit of time on my hands here.. A few things to note before I begin:

-I will probably be cross-posting much of this to my Blog (link in my Sig,) so I will try to keep this as jargon-free as possible.

-I tend to have a bit of a different perspective to the whole Disney experience than some people, as explained in this post (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=29201467&postcount=23). In short, I've never really been a big fan of the stories themselves (aside from being a fan of old-school animation, especially the WB and MGM stuff.) When I go to a place like Disney World, I find myself spending more time wondering how a certain effect was created or what type of mechanisms are found inside an animatronic figure than I do actually following the story that they're trying to tell.

-When I'm in shops, I also have a tendency to be looking mostly for the kitschiest souvenirs imaginable, since I frequently write about such things on my Blog (for example, here (http://thesledgehammer.wordpress.com/2008/02/06/valentines-day-kitsch-roundup/) is a post I wrote back around last Valentine's Day showing some of the odd merchandise found in the stores in celebration of that particular holiday.) There will probably be a post with the results of said kitsch hunting somewhere in here.

-Although I've been to Disneyland twice now, this trip is my first time to Disney World, and as such, I'm pretty sure I made a few mistakes in planning and execution along the way, and at some point. Some of these were a matter of planning on short notice (or lack thereof), and others were just a matter of making a snap decision. At some point I'll also put together a post outlining some of these, and explaining what could have been done better. I'll probably also have a few comments on the whole Disney experience here and there.

-To be honest, I didn't really have a set itinerary for much of the time I was there, I just happened to go wherever I felt like going. On the first day, I intended to head to Epcot first, but took the wrong bus and ended up at the Magic Kingdom (Well, TTC) instead, and just went with it. Similarly, I found that the combination of a night-owl schedule and three hours of jet lag made it difficult for me to get to bed at a reasonable time or be up too early in the morning, so I didn't make a single rope drop while I was there. Nonetheless, I think I managed to do just fine (for the most part.) On one hand, it's nice having the flexibility to do whatever you want and adjust your schedule on a whim as a solo traveler, but on the other hand, it might have been nice to have someone else to go with as well.

-I've got more than 1,100 photos from the four days (and change) I was there, so there will be no shortage of those.

It seems that based on reading some of the other trip reports here, people tend to take their sweet time with these things. I'll try to keep this moving though, since I'd like to get it done sometime before my next trip (whenever that might end up being.)

Coming up: Part 1 - The Best Laid Plans of Mice and Men...

[Vexorg]

I suppose I should probably at least get this started before too long...

The Best Laid Plans of Mice and Men: The Planning (or lack thereof) of the trip

To be honest, I have no idea exactly how I ended up at Disney World in December, aside from having some vague idea that it would be nice to take a vacation. My job has me working as a contract software engineer, which is something that I've enjoyed doing, but it comes with a couple of things that make it hard to do much traveling: Not-so-great benefits (basically, I get a week of paid time off per year, and that's it) and a mandatory 100-day break after I have spent a year at the company I've been working for (you've probably heard of them, they make this little product called Windows a few people might use.)

My parents, on the other hand, are frequent travelers (My mom works in the travel industry,) and are particular fans of cruising, and most years they manage to go on at least one Caribbean cruise (always on Princess.) This year, they managed to go on several different trips, including spending a week in Cancun and going on a 7-day cruise. I am frequently invited to go, but there always seems to be a problem with either not enough money or no time off (more often the latter than the former,) and I find myself unable to get away for the amount of time that would be required for such a trip. As a result, whenever they go on vacation, I usually end up dogsitting these two:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v320/Vexorg/Sledgehammer/IMG_1965.jpg

These two are Imola and Minardi, my parents' Beagles (yeah, we've got some Formula 1 fans in the family, in case anyone's wondering.) They're both very friendly but can be very high maintenance (believe me, you do NOT want to see the mayhem that a pair of bored beagles can wreak on an unsuspecting house...) This means they get to go to the off-leash dog park a couple of times a day to work off some of the extra energy that might otherwise be available for chewing on things. And it seems like every time my parents go somewhere, I end up being the one who is over there dogsitting. I just claim that I timeshare on the dogs.

Anyway, with my parents (and my brother and his wife) going off on these vacations while I'm stuck here dogsitting, I started looking for a trip to go on when my last contract at work ended, something to get away from the house for a few days. Based on looking at cheap airfares available along the West coast, I initially started looking at possibly heading down to Disneyland for a few days. I discussed this with my Mom, and she was actually the one to suggest that if I'm going to go through the effort to make the trip that I should just go all out and go to Disney World instead. After all, I had been to Disneyland just a couple of years earlier (and besides, if the airfares stay cheap enough I could probably justify heading down for a weekend at some point later on.)

Initially, I started looking at the possibility of going during the second week of December, which would have been a week after my contract at work ended. On looking at Expedia, I determined that this week would have cheap airfares, but pretty much every Disney resort was booked for that week (presumably, as I would find out later, because of Pop Warner.) I then started looking at the week after that and found the opposite situation: Cheap hotels, but not so great airfare. I initially considered going to Pop Century based on reading here, but when I found a $99 a night rate at the Downtown Disney Hilton, I decided to go for that instead (since the reviews I've read online are fairly positive, saying it was a bit quieter than the Disney hotels, and still has the Extra Magic Hours. When all was said and done, I booked a fairly early flight out on Sunday, December 14th on American Airlines, connecting through Chicago. The return flight would be leaving early on Friday, December 19th, connecting through Dallas. At the time I booked, I didn't give much thought to the type of weather that I might run into while trying to fly in the middle of December, but after I booked the flights it occurred to me that there might be snow somewhere along the line. I was most concerned about the possibility of running into weather delays in Chicago, but as it would turn out, Chicago was the least of my worries as far as weather went on this trip. Although it was nice to finally have a chance to get away for a few days, this stopped being a cheap trip pretty quickly (not the most expensive trip I've ever been on, but definitely not the cheapest either.)

With the flight and hotel booked, I then needed tickets and ground transportation. For the park ticket, I ended up getting a 4-day park hopper pass from the local Disney store in one of the malls (there used to be a lot more of these in the area, but the one at Alderwood seems to be the only one left in the Seattle area these days,) and arranged shuttle transportation from Mears to get to the hotel from the airport.

By the time I booked the flight and hotel, I had less than a month to plan things out beyond the basics. Based on reading here and seeing people plan their ADRs months in advance, I guessed that I probably wasn't going to be able to get into most of the places I'd be interested in, so I decided I was probably going to be eating mostly counter service on the trip. I also didn't really plan out any sort of schedule for what park I would be in on which day, aside from the evening EMH in Magic Kingdom on Monday and the MVMCP on Tuesday. During the time I was there, the parks generally had fairly early closing times, and since I'm something of a night owl (I rarely get to bed much earlier than 1AM when I'm at home, and I suspect three hours of jet lag weren't going to be helping me any there) I figured I would probably be getting a later start than most people and just staying out until the parks closed. Ultimately, this meant that I really didn't have much of a plan most days, and while it was nice to have the flexibility in the schedule, it also meant that I ultimately didn't make wise use of Fastpasses, and missed out on some things that I would have liked to have seen (including missing an entire park since I just had no time to get there.)

As for ending up here at DISBoards, I actually found this place back in late 2005 when I was planning my last Disneyland trip (and first one as an adult,) and found the place to be friendly and helpful. Once I figured out that I was in fact going to be at least seriously considering making a Disney World trip, I decided it would be a good time to dust off my old login and come back for some more advice. Somehow I ended up sticking around a bit...

Coming up next: Slip-Slidin' Away (in which Old Man Winter rears his ugly head right when I'm scheduled to fly out...)

[All7OfUs]

Nice to be along for the ride with a fellow Northwesterner! We're from Portland, OR when not overseas :goodvibes

Looking forward to hearing more~

[Vexorg]

Moving on... Oh yeah, and don't miss the little challenge inside this post.

Part 2: Slip-Slidin' Away (in which the vacation very nearly gets put on ice...)

It wasn't until sometime after I finished booking everything that it occurred to me that I I had just set myself up to travel through Chicago in the middle of December, and that there was a very real possibility that I might find myself dealing with some snow along the way. Since Seattle winters tend to generally be mild, I didn't figure on having any trouble getting out of here, and worried more about potential conditions at Chicago than here. As it would turn out, getting in and out of Chicago was fine... Seattle not so much.

As it came down to the last couple of days before the trip, the weather forecasts here began to get rather ominous, and eventually a major snowstorm and deep freeze was forecast for the evening just before I was supposed to take an 8am flight out of Seattle. Rather than make my parents have to drive me down to the airport at 6AM on a Sunday with an inch of solid ice on the roads, I looked into the possibility of booking an airport hotel for the evening, and eventually my Mom was able find a coupon to get into the airport Fairfield Inn for a relatively cheap rate. This allowed them to drop me off in the evening, before the snow arrived, and not have to drive down again under bad road conditions.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v320/Vexorg/Sledgehammer/IMG_2282.jpg

The hotel room would turn out to be clean and comfortable, but also a bit of a dull place to spend a Saturday night, impending Disney vacation or otherwise (but at least it had free Internet, which is the last time I would see it anywhere on this trip until I reached the Orlando airport for my return flight.) It was also some distance away from any convenient place to grab dinner, and since I had no car I was pretty much at the mercy of whatever delivery places happened to be nearby. Ultimately, I found a place that didn't have an excessive minimum order for delivery (I was pretty sure I wasn't going to be eating $18 worth of food on my own that evening) and ended up with something vaguely resembling lasagna:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v320/Vexorg/Sledgehammer/IMG_2287.jpg

It actually turned out that the lasagna was OK (nothing special,) but the utensils provided to eat it with proved to be woefully inadequate for the task at hand. Fortunately, I had my SwissCard with me (in my checked bag, of course) to deal with the stubborn foodstuffs:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v320/Vexorg/Sledgehammer/IMG_2288.jpg

I probably should have checked to make sure that packing tape adhesive residue isn't too horrendously toxic before using that thing, but since I don't seem to be dead right now, I'm guessing I'll probably be OK.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v320/Vexorg/Sledgehammer/IMG_2290.jpg

On the other hand, this bottle of lemonade (added primarily for the purpose of getting the total up above the minimum order for delivery) proved to be a bit trickier to deal with. This bottle had an old-fashioned non-twist pop top on it, and I didn't have anything even remotely close to a bottle opener with which to open it. Searching the Internet revealed a number of different tricks developed by untold generations of drunken frat boys for opening bottles, but as a teetotaler I lacked the practical experience to effectively employ such means. Ultimately I was able to improvise something to get the bottle open with, but I'll definitely have to say that the stuff definitely wasn't worth $2.49 and a broken fingernail.

(For those of you reading, your challenge is this: Given this bottle of lemonade with a non-twist bottle cap on it, no proper bottle opener at your disposal, and the contents of a standard no-frills hotel room, How would you get this bottle open? I will explain how I did manage to open it in my next post. In the meantime, feel free to offer to offer your suggestions.)

After I finished dinner, the snow began falling, and it didn't take long for it to begin sticking to the roads. Fortunately, the hotel had an indoor pool so I was able to go for a bit of swimming (I had the pool to myself the entire time I was there) but unfortunately, the hot tub was out of order. After swimming for a bit, I returned to my room, set up my alarm for 6am, and settled down for a not-so-long Winter's nap I didn't actually manage to sleep much, overnight, and by the time 6am rolled around, I had already been basically awake for some time already. I made a quick trip down to the hotel's continental breakfast for a waffle and some cereal, gathered my stuff, and checked out to grab the airport shuttle. Here is what the roads looked like on the way to the airport:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v320/Vexorg/Sledgehammer/Disney%20World%202008/IMG_2292.jpg

Thankfully there was only a mile or so of this to deal with rather than the 25 miles that it would have taken to get there from home, and we had a reasonably non-maniac shuttle driver who got us there safely. After getting my bag checked and getting through security with little waiting, I arrived at the gate to see the plane looking like this:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v320/Vexorg/Sledgehammer/icyplane.jpg

The plane did ultimately end up boarding on time, but after the plane boarded, we ended up spending a whole hour sitting at the gate waiting for the plane to be deiced. Since I had a fairly tight connection in Chicago, this was going to be a problem, and it was at about this time that they began handing out slips with AA's rebooking hotline. Fortunately, I got rebooked to the next Orlando flight from Chicago without hassle, but it also meant that I would end up with a three-hour layover there instead of the one hour layover on the flight that I ended up missing due to the delay. Eventually we made it off the ground roughly an hour late. Once we got off the ground, the flight actually wasn't too bad.


Coming up: Who have I gotta' bribe to get out of this town? (in which WAY too much stuff gets put on a hot dog in Chicago, and I finally make it to Orlando)

[Vexorg]

Doh! I just about finished putting together the next post in this trip report, then accidentally hit the wrong button and wiped it all out. I'll redo it in the morning. :P

[All7OfUs]

We'll be waiting! popcorn:: popcorn:: popcorn::

[OhMari]

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v320/Vexorg/Sledgehammer/icyplane.jpg
I don't know if I would have gotten on that plane.
I can't believe you don't get more vacation, but I suppose with the downsizing, blah.

[Vexorg]

OK, time for another shot at this. By the time I finish this part I won't have even made it to Disney World yet, but they say that getting there is half the fun, right? Not sure I really agree with that (especially after this trip,) but it's all part of the adventure...

Part 3 - Who have I gotta' bribe to get outa' this town? (in which way too much stuff gets put on a hot dog, and I finally manage to make it to Orlando.)

----

By the time the plane got off the ground in Seattle, we were about an hour behind schedule. The delay itself wasn't really a problem for me (since I already rebooked to the next flight, and had some wiggle room in the schedule anyway.) It was the extra hour of sitting on the plane at the gate that was the annoying part of the delay. After the plane was deiced (and after a delay when the deicing truck ran out of fluid,) We did eventually get underway for the 4+ hour flight to Chicago, and once we actually got off the ground the flight itself was fairly uneventful. I did have a window seat, and my camera with me on the plane, so I took a few pictures along the way.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v320/Vexorg/Sledgehammer/Disney%20World%202008/IMG_2305.jpg

Once we got past the backside of the Cascades, pretty much everything from there on out was covered in snow.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v320/Vexorg/Sledgehammer/Disney%20World%202008/IMG_2309.jpg

Here was a somewhat interesting cloud formation I saw on top of some hills in (I think) Montana.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v320/Vexorg/Sledgehammer/Disney%20World%202008/IMG_2315.jpg

For some reason, I thought this bit of farmland somewhere over the Plains looked interesting, especially with the snow on it.

Eventually it got to a point where there were clouds covering the ground, so I made my usual token futile effort to get some sleep for a bit (as a bit of an insomniac, I find it basically impossible to sleep on any moving vehicle smaller than a cruise ship) and put on my instrumental songs playlist on my Zune. Since I hadn't eaten much for breakfast, when the drink cart came around I ended up grabbing some potato chips. For $3 I ended up with this:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v320/Vexorg/Sledgehammer/Disney%20World%202008/IMG_2306.jpg

Getting that much meant that it very nearly wasn't a total ripoff, but eventually I found that there was no good way to finish all of those or store them, so I ended up getting rid of the unused portion when we landed. Finally, the plane made it into O'Hare about fifteen minutes too late to catch my connecting flight, so when I got in, I had about three hours to kill before the next flight to Orlando went out. I first went to find the gate for my flight, then set off to find something to eat.

This is only the second time I've been through Chicago (the other time was a few years ago en route to Fort Lauderdale to board a cruise ship with a much shorter wait for the connecting flight) so I went wandering around a bit to take a look around.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v320/Vexorg/Sledgehammer/Disney%20World%202008/IMG_2321.jpg

Yeah, I'm "glad" to be "here" too.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v320/Vexorg/Sledgehammer/Disney%20World%202008/IMG_2320.jpg

This was an ad on the wall in one of the concourses. I'm not sure exactly how this would work out though. Would the additional global warming caused by having a big engine have been enough to avert the snowstorm in Seattle so my flight wouldn't have been delayed? Would a the torquey rear wheel drive have actually got me to the airport faster somehow on all the ice rather than depositing itself neatly into the first ditch to come along? Somehow I'm not buying it.

Eventually I realized that it was getting to be late afternoon, and at that point I was pretty much running on a hotel continental breakfast at 6am (well, 8am local time) and a few potato chips, so I went off in search of one of those "dragged through the garden" Chicago-style hot dogs I keep hearing about. I've always thought it seemed like way too much stuff to put on a hot dog all at once, but when in Rome...

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v320/Vexorg/Sledgehammer/Disney%20World%202008/IMG_2319.jpg

Eventually I found a place that had them (and grape soda in the fountain too!) and ordered one. Trying to actually eat the thing wasn't pretty. I'm sure that there's supposed to be some trick to this, but I don't think that I ever actually found it. Pretty tasty though, once you manage to find some way to actually eat it. I still have no idea why exactly the relish is supposed to be so artifically green though...

After a bit more wandering through the airport, I decided that I probably shouldn't be doing so much walking around since there would be plenty of time for that when I reached the parks, so I settled down near the gate for a while. With about a half hour before boarding, I realized that I would be getting into Orlando fairly late, and my options for dinner would probably be quite limited by that time. I decided to try out the Chicago style pizza as well for "dinner," and got one shortly before boarding.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v320/Vexorg/Sledgehammer/Disney%20World%202008/IMG_2322.jpg

This one didn't seem to be anything all that special, although reading some reviews later on seemed to suggest that this particular place wasn't a particularly good example of Chicago style pizza.

Finally, the time came to board the plane to Orlando, and this one actually left on time. I was rebooked with access to the priority line for boarding, and on this flight I was in an aisle seat in the exit row. Now at this point if I never have to ride on another MD-80 in my life it'll be too soon, but I'l gladly trade the responsibility for evacuating my fellow passengers from burning wreckage for a few extra inches of legroom. Fortunately, there wasn't any burning wreckage to deal with, and aside from some crosswinds on takeoff, the (much shorter) flight down to Orlando was pretty smooth and uneventful.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v320/Vexorg/Sledgehammer/Disney%20World%202008/IMG_2324.jpg

By the time I arrived in Orlando, it was 10:30pm. Somehow my baggage actually made it there at the same time I did, and as I departed the terminal, I found the outside temperature to be quite pleasant (especially in comparison to the stuff I left behind back in Seattle.) I put away my jacket (which from this point wouldn't need to be used again until I got back to Seattle) and waited for the Mears shuttle to my hotel. It arrived roughly ten minutes later, and I boarded. The driver was a British ex-pat who said he moved down here mostly to get away from England's lousy weather (gee, I wonder who would get that idea?) and we had a nice little conversation en route to the hotel. There were several other riders, and the DTD Hilton was the second stop along the way. I made it to the Hilton at roughly Midnight local time, and proceeded to check into my room, which is where I will pick up in the next installment...

Coming up: Part 4 - Nice room, just don't ask about the view... (For 99 bucks a night, how can you go wrong? Also, I might actually get to some Disney stuff at some point...)

[Vexorg]

I don't know if I would have gotten on that plane.
I can't believe you don't get more vacation, but I suppose with the downsizing, blah.

I work for a contract agency, so the benefits aren't all that great. I suppose I can't complain too much though, since I have been getting pretty reasonably pay. I'm hoping to get into something more permanent with more vacation time, although in these economic conditions I'll take what I can get. One way or another, things seem to always work out though.

[Laneychris]

Interesting

[N10CJT]

It seems that based on reading some of the other trip reports here, people tend to take their sweet time with these things. I'll try to keep this moving though, since I'd like to get it done sometime before my next trip (whenever that might end up being.)

For wanting to keep things moving, there sure is a lot of detail here! :goodvibes
I thought I'd be the same way with my trip reports (last year was my first trip in 12 years and as such my first trip report), and then I wanted to talk at length about stuff most people probably don't care about. My latest report, as such, will take its sweet time, with no pretense to the contrary!
One note about airport food and regional authenticity..... well, you pretty much know what that note is.....:lmao:
Should be fun! I'll come back for more snark (though I'm with you in principle, I'm pretty sure the airplane would be more efficient as a global warming mobilizer than a beamer)....

[All7OfUs]

I for one am so very glad you are going into such great detail! My next WDW vacation is a long, oh so very long way off, and I must use these wonderful TRs as mini- getaways until then. I think most of who read them search around for the style they like and pass on the others. Also, I think to some degree those who are writing them, are writing them for - themselves! To relive the magic and have a place to get those thoughts down on "paper". So by all means, take all the time and detail you want, and those of us who want to be here with you- will be popcorn:: popcorn:: popcorn::

[gr8leg8]

bottle opening

two ideas

1. use a key to pry the sides up
but since you may not have had keys with you

2. ask the front desk

I worked at the Hyatt in Bellevue after college,
I miss it sometimes:hippie:

[All7OfUs]

Oh yeah, I forgot about the bottle opening challenge! But I've sat here and racked my tired little brain for too long, and the only thing I could come up with involved the bathtub spout. Haven't totally worked out how it might be useful, but I'll wait until you tell us all... :confused3

[sfacowgirl87]

Well I have some flip-flops that have a bottle opener on the bottom... and one of my friends has a belt buckle with one on it. You don't happen to have either of those do you? LOL I'm anxious to see what you devised...:confused:

[Vexorg]

And here's the answer to the bottle dilemma... (Probably not a particularly good one all things considered, so feel free to offer suggestions on other ways to do this.) The photos here are just for illustration

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v320/Vexorg/Sledgehammer/Disney%20World%202008/IMG_3468.jpg

The first thing I tried was a hanger that had clips on it (for hanging up pants or other similar items.) The problem with this approach was that the hangers in the room had little plastic pieces that got in the way, and made it difficult to get enough of a grip on the edge of the cap to get any leverage. I also tried using one of the tools in my Swisscard (http://www.swissarmy.com/MultiTools/Pages/Product.aspx?category=swisscard&product=53321&) (the "screwdriver" one) to see if that could get anywhere, but ultimately that couldn't get any grip either.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v320/Vexorg/Sledgehammer/Disney%20World%202008/IMG_3467.jpg

What I ultimately ended up using to actually open the bottle was the clip on my watchband, but it was far from an elegant solution.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v320/Vexorg/Sledgehammer/Disney%20World%202008/IMG_3466.jpg

Using the edge of the clip, I was eventually able to (slowly) bend out an edge of the bottlecap just enough that I could eventually force it open by hand (using a towel for better grip.) I did still manage to break a fingernail in the process though.

It also occurs to me in hindsight that the other part of the clip (the clasp at the back) might have actually worked better, but I'd be too worried about bending or breaking something to do that. a $2 bottle of lemonade probably isn't worth a $50 repair.

Again, there's probably a better way to do this, but next time I think I'll just order a Sprite and call it good.

Anyway, the next part of the trip report should be coming in the next day or two.

[All7OfUs]

Very clever! I would have never thought of that- but then again, desperate times demand desperate measures. ;)

[Vexorg]

And moving right along...

Part 4: Nice Room, Just Don't Ask About the View... (in which we fnid out just what 99 bucks a night will get you these days...)

When we last left off, I had made it to the hotel, Since I had made my reservation several weeks ago, and I was getting in fairly late, I was able to check in quickly, with little hassle. I was assigned to a room on the second floor, and pointed in the general direction of said room.

Before I go too much further with this, I should probably mention the fact that over the past few years and a number of vacations, I seem to have had rather poor luck with choosing hotels. I always seem to end up in the room where everything is broken and/or becomes broken as soon as I look at it funny, or the room with some sort of annoying plumbing problem (clogged drains seem to be a favorite technique of the hotel gremlins in my experience,) or I get the room that someone else thinks is theirs, or basically any number of things that shouldn't go wrong do in fact go wrong. That's not to say it happens every time (for example, I thought that the Monte Carlo in Vegas was quite nice when I was there back in 2007, except for the fact that the place caught fire a few months later.)

Anyway, back to the hotel here. I was assigned to room #215, and as I walked down the hall and counted down the numbers, I came to the realization that my room was going to be rather close to the end of the hallway, where I noted that a surprisingly fancy looking door awaited...

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v320/Vexorg/Sledgehammer/Disney%20World%202008/IMG_2335.jpg

Well OK, so I'm not in whatever big fancy suite happens to be at the end of the hall, but my room turned out to be next door to said fancy suite at the end of the hall (I guess that the grass is always greener on the other side, right?)

Turning my attention to the room I would actually be spending the next five nights in, I opened the door to find...

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v320/Vexorg/Sledgehammer/Disney%20World%202008/IMG_2330.jpg

...a rather long hallway leading to the room. Looks like I'm going to need to do just a bit more hiking before I can plop down into the nearest bed and zonk out. After what seemed like seconds of arduous treking, I finally reached the end of the hallway, and found this waiting for me at the end...

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v320/Vexorg/Sledgehammer/Disney%20World%202008/IMG_2325.jpg

Whoa, wait a second... You mean my el cheapo $99 a night Internet special got me THIS? Considering the fanciness of the hotel (at least based on the decorations in the lobby) I was half-expecing to end up in some random broom closet for that price, but somehow I managed to end up in this room, which is big enough that it could just about give my apartment at home (well, half of my apartment anyway) a run for its money.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v320/Vexorg/Sledgehammer/Disney%20World%202008/IMG_2326.jpg

From here, you can see the nice big walk-in closet on the other side of the room, complete with a couple of nice bathrobes...

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v320/Vexorg/Sledgehammer/Disney%20World%202008/IMG_2329.jpg

...and the nice desk for my notebook and other stuff. I had heard that some of the bigger suites in this place had nice jetted bathtubs in them, but this room had just the standard issue hotel bathroom in it. Either way, this room was huge compared to pretty much every other hotel room I've ever been in, and I've got the place all to myself for the next five nights.

Of course, as noted above, I always seem to run into at least one problem with my room, and sure enough, some of the standard plumbing gremlins showed up here. The drain on the tub worked OK (for once,) but it seemed to take forever for hot water to arrive. I think it took a good five minutes of running the faucet before the water warmed up enough to take a shower (given the overall fanciness of the room and the hotel, I wouldn't be surprised if they were importing the stuff from France or something like that.)

Oh yeah, and then there's the view. Wait a second, didn't I say not to ask about the view? Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain... Oh, fine, I'll show you the view, but I'm warning you, it's not going to be pretty. You've been warned...

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v320/Vexorg/Sledgehammer/Disney%20World%202008/IMG_2492.jpg

Well, you asked for it, you got it.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v320/Vexorg/Sledgehammer/Disney%20World%202008/IMG_2493.jpg

So basically, what it amounts to is that I've got this great big fancy room, with a lovely,completely unobstructed view of the dumpster. I knew there had to be some catch for $99 a night (and I suppose that a big room with a dumpster outside the window is still better than a big room with a high-pressure timeshare salesman hiding in the closet.) Either way, it wasn't a big deal, and I don't think I was particularly inclined to complain about it anyway, since if I did, I suspect they'd probably reassign me to the above mentioned broom closet with the rest of the Internet bargain-seekers (actually that's not entirely true, since I booked the room directly from the Hilton website, although I understand this place does seem to come up on Priceline a lot.)

Anyway, given my night owl tendencies and the fact that I was operating on three hours of jet lag at this point, I ended up wandering around the hotel grounds for a bit to check out the place, and didn't make it to bed until about 2AM (in fact, I found it rather hard to even think of getting to bed before Midnight or so on any night during this trip, which is probably why I never made a rope drop.) I will continue with the next part in the morning when I manage to drag myself out of bed (and I will actually make it to the parks in the next section, I promise!)

Meanwhile, here are a couple of shots of the pool area there (which I unfortunately only made it to once on the whole trip since I didn't have time for much swimming with only four days to spend there) :

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v320/Vexorg/Sledgehammer/Disney%20World%202008/IMG_2336.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v320/Vexorg/Sledgehammer/Disney%20World%202008/IMG_2337.jpg

There are two different pools there, both of them pretty large, and both of them pretty much empty most of the time I was there. One pool seemed to have been kept at a slightly cooler temperature than the other. There are also two hot tubs (not pictured here) and one of those seemed to have been kept at a slightly cooler temperature as well. The place also has a rather large and quite nice looking exercise room (which I don't have pictures of) although I have no idea where anyone's going to find the energy to exercise after spending all day in the parks.) Out past the pool in the second picture, there's a walkway you can follow that goes to a crosswalk which straight to the Downtown Disney Marketplace, where you arrive right between Once Upon a Toy and Earl of Sandwich. The Disney hotel bus stops are also right there, although it appears that you have to go back out to the end and around to get to those.

All in all, I can't complain too much about the hotel. It has its advantages and its disadvantages (which I will discuss later on, probably when I start wrapping up the TR,) but I suspect that overall, I probably did better here than I would have if I had booked the Pop Century like I originally planned. Anyway, since it's getting close to 2AM here now, I'll continue this one later.

Coming up next: A Slight Change of Plans (in which I KNEW I should have taken a left turn at Osceola...)

[All7OfUs]

Ewww! Hope that wasn't too much of a stinkorama for ya! I guess given that you were probably at the parks most of the time, and you were tired at the end of the day, you probably didn't notice too much foul air- unless it was your own from too much amusement park food! :lmao:

[Vexorg]

Ewww! Hope that wasn't too much of a stinkorama for ya! I guess given that you were probably at the parks most of the time, and you were tired at the end of the day, you probably didn't notice too much foul air- unless it was your own from too much amusement park food! :lmao:

Actually, that was never a problem. I didn't ever bother opening the window, so none of it got in. There just wasn't much of a view to look at.

[tinawv]

Interesting trip report so far. How was your transportation back and forth from the hotel to WDW?

[All7OfUs]

I wondered that too. Renting a car may or may not be in the budget next time, and if we end up off prop. I'd be very interested in communting times.

[Vexorg]

Interesting trip report so far. How was your transportation back and forth from the hotel to WDW?

The Downtown Disney hotels have their own set of buses to and from the parks (and DTD in the evenings.) There are two bus routes (one that goes to the Hilton, Regal Sun and Doubletree, and one that goes to the other three DTD hotels,) and two lines for each: One goes to Magic Kingdom (actually it drops off at the TTC) and Animal Kingdom, and the other goes to Epcot and DHS. The evening DTD run stops at all six hotels, then drops off passengers at the Pleasure Island, and goes until 2am. There's also the option of walking over to the DTD Marketplace bus stop, but you can't get to a park from there without transfering at a resort. They also have special bus runs that go to the Hilton only during evening EMH (since the Hilton is the only DTD hotel that has EMH access.) I've heard they also run one morning EMH bus from the Hilton, but I was never up early enough to try this.


I tried going both ways, and I don't think that either one is quicker than the other (the DTD hotel buses make more stops along the way, but since you have to transfer on the Disney buses it's probably a wash on which one is quicker. That said, on the Disney side you could also take a bus to one of the Monorail resorts and then hop a Monorail to MK or the TTC to transfer to the Epcot monorail.) The DTD buses are a little bit nicer than the Disney ones, but they also have TVs with Stacy running on infinite loop, just in case you're feeling a little too sane. The main drawback to the DTD hotel bus is that at the TTC and Epcot they drop passengers off in the charter lots, well away from the gate and the Monorail station, which isn't so bad going in, but can be a pain on the way out when you're worn out after a day of walking around the parks. At DHS the walk isn't so bad, and I can't be certain about AK since I didn't make it there on this trip. I also found it odd that the DTD buses had signs suggesting that the drivers accepted tips, which I found a bit odd. I only rode the Disney buses a couple of times, but I didn't see anything like that. Do those drivers accept tips as well?

One advantage of the Hilton is that you're right across the street from DTD Marketplace, and since the hotel bus to DTD drops people off near the entrance between Pleasure Island and Marketplace (but still far enough away to require some walking to get to either) there isn't much point in taking the DTD bus from the Hilton unless you're going specifically to PI. For the West Side, it would probably be quicker to just walk to the dock and take the water taxi across.

A car might have actually been nice to have (if for no reason other than to have some better late night dining choices than ripoff hotel food and a chance to explore more,) but the cost of renting, combined with parking fees at the hotel plus parking fees at the parks would have made it a somewhat expensive proposition. Taking taxis from the hotel to the park would probably have actually been cheaper than parking fees for the duration of my trip. Given the amount of time spent traveling around, I'm half tempted to just book the Contemporary or Polynesian next time and call it good, but I think those are probably a bit out of my budget right now. I suppose for the price I got the room for, I can't complain too much though.

I'll discuss some of the transportation methods I tried as I proceed with the TR. Some worked out OK, others not so much.

[Vexorg]

I should probably keep going with this...

Part 5: A Slight Change of Plans (or, I KNEW I should have turned right at Osceola...}

In spite of my rather late bedtime, I set an alarm for 7:30 in the morning, and sure enough, the alarm did as I said and not as I meant, and actually decided to go off at 7:30. Since I'm not exactly the type who does the whole "bright and early" bit (pick one, you're not getting both,) I hit the snooze button for an extra hour (I use my Windows Mobile phone as an alarm, and you can tell it how long you want it to snooze for, from 5 minutes all the way up to the "Rip Van Winkle" setting if you've decided to give up on doing anything productive for the rest of the decade. I then slumbered semi-blissfully unaware as the ropes prepared to dropthroughout the land, and I wasn't going to be at any of them. Finally 8:30 rolled around, and it was time to get up and figure out what I was going to do for the day. Aside from planning to be at the Magic Kingdom for the evening EMH, I hadn'r really planned anything specific for the day yet. After taking a look at the schedule, I decided that I would head for Epcot first, then to MK later in the day. In theory, at least. That plan lasted for all of... well, about as long as it took to get to the bus stop.

I grabbed a few things to put in my LGMH-equipped monopack to take into the park (I figured it might be a bit more socially acceptible than a purse)and headed out the door, not bothering to give more than a passing thought to breakfast (I'm not much of a breakfast person anyway, so most days on this trip I didn't eat until later in the day.) Since I hadn't exactly paid attention the evening before when I checked in, I ended up wandering around the hotel grounds a bit before I actually managed to figure out where the bus stop was (it's in the back, over near the restaurants, for anyone who's wondering.) Eventually I found it, and after a few minutes of waiting, the bus arrived... for the Magic Kingdom. Since I was already getting a bit of a late start, didn't really know my way around the place yet, and wasn't really all that set on my plan anyway, I went ahead and hopped aboard the bus. As it left, I saw the Epcot/DHS bus pulling in right behind it. Oh well, there's time for that later.

As discussed above, the bus stopped at two other hotels (the Regal Sun and Doubletree,) and by the time it eventually made it's way toward the TTC, it was fairly crowded. When we got there, it turned out that the drop-off point was a fair distance from the monorail entrances, and it was going to take a bit of hiking to get there. Once I finally figured out where I was going, I saw that there were a number of people waiting for the monorail, so I decided instead to just take the ferry into the park. After all, as a Disney World first-timer, wouldn't it be more magical that way?

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v320/Vexorg/Sledgehammer/Disney%20World%202008/IMG_2340.jpg

As I boarded the ferry, I saw the monorail approaching on the track.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v320/Vexorg/Sledgehammer/Disney%20World%202008/IMG_2342.jpg

As the ferry departed from the dock, the Magic Kingdom began to appear off in the distance.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v320/Vexorg/Sledgehammer/Disney%20World%202008/IMG_2346.jpg

On the boat, I noted that the flag seemed to be a couple of stars short for some reason. I didn't find out until later (in a random trivia thread on the Theme Park Strategies board) that the reason for this is because older style flags are considered "pennants" and do not need to be retired at the end of the evening.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v320/Vexorg/Sledgehammer/Disney%20World%202008/IMG_2347.jpg

As the ferry came closer to the Magic Kingdom, I got this picture, which seems to make it look like the castle is sitting right next to the train station. Finally, the ferry arrived, and it was time for the first glimpse of Main Street decked out in Holiday splendor...

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v320/Vexorg/Sledgehammer/Disney%20World%202008/IMG_2352.jpg

As you can see, I didn't exactly have the park to myself that day. I ended up cutting through the shops on the left side of the street to get past some of the crowds. It's kind of odd how the forced perspective on the buildings makes the decorations look like they're hung a lot lower than they actually are, doesn't it?

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v320/Vexorg/Sledgehammer/Disney%20World%202008/IMG_2354.jpg

The obligatory castle shot. Doesn't look quite so big from back here, does it? Then again, I'm used to the Disneyland one which is much smaller...

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v320/Vexorg/Sledgehammer/Disney%20World%202008/IMG_2356.jpg

As I made my way to the end of Main Street, I headed first toward the Adventureland side of the park, intending to make the Jungle Cruise my first ride. I found that there was about a 20-minute wait, so I grabbed a Fastpass (with a fairly short return time) and headed next for Pirates of the Caribbean. Along the way, the Pirate Tutorial was just beginning, and I very nearly got run over by Jack Sparrow. Who does he think he is anyway, some sort of pirate? PotC was a walk-on at this point, but there seemed to be a back-up of some sort at the unloading queue, and a bunch of boats ended up waiting in the jail room for about 10 minutes while they got it sorted out. Finally, they managed to get things sorted out, and I was off to find the Haunted Mansion, which turned out not to be where I had expected it based on my previous trips to Disneyland, just a "this area is under refurbishment" wall.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v320/Vexorg/Sledgehammer/Disney%20World%202008/IMG_2365.jpg

After just about accidentally wandering onto Splash Mountain (also not exactly where I would expect it to be) I eventually found my way around the lake to the Haunted Mansion, where I took the first of what would be several rides on this during the trip. The wait was short (and I don't think I ever waited more than about 5 minutes or so to ride it.) By the time I was done with that, it was time to head back to the Jungle Cruise with my Fastpass.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v320/Vexorg/Sledgehammer/Disney%20World%202008/IMG_2367.jpg

Running them down the side of Splash Mountain, on the other hand, is perfectly OK.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v320/Vexorg/Sledgehammer/Disney%20World%202008/IMG_2372.jpg

I can't say that I'm all that familiar with the standard Jungle Cruise spiel (I only got to ride it once on my last Disneyland trip) but I could tell there was plenty of improvising going on here. He let a ten year old "steer" the boat and frequently commented on her driving skills. Things were going pretty well right until...

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v320/Vexorg/Sledgehammer/Disney%20World%202008/IMG_2379.jpg

...These baby ducks showed up right near the unloading dock, at which point he knew he had been completely upstaged, and just gave up, apparently overwhelmed by the sheer cuteness of it all. He even "complained" to the unloading CMs about it.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v320/Vexorg/Sledgehammer/Disney%20World%202008/IMG_2385.jpg

Anyway, after the Jungle Cruise I next headed toward Fantasyland to grab a Fastpass for Peter Pan (with a return time a couple of hours away) and with some time to kill, I went to see Philharmagic next. Since I have some eye problems that prevent me from being able to "see" 3D movies much of the effect was lost on me, but the kid in the seat next to mine sure seemed convinced. After that, for some unknown reason I next headed toward Small World, fully aware of the dangers that await inside...

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v320/Vexorg/Sledgehammer/Disney%20World%202008/IMG_2383.jpg

Just as I got there, the clock scene went off signaling Noon. I think it took about a 20 minute wait to actually get on the ride at this point.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v320/Vexorg/Sledgehammer/Disney%20World%202008/IMG_2395.jpg

While riding, I made a number of attempts to take photos inside the ride without using the flash. My camera doesn't do a great job of this, but occasionally gets one or two good pictures. Here's the one that turned out best from the ride. After sailing happily around the world (others might insert other adjectives there,) we got to the end of the ride... and promptly got stuck again at the goodbye room. It took about 10-15 minutes before we were able to unload from that point, and if I had been in there much longer I think there's a good possibility I might have gotten the "please remain seated" spiel stuck in my head for the rest of my life. I suppose that given the alternatives that wouldn't be so bad.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v320/Vexorg/Sledgehammer/Disney%20World%202008/IMG_2401.jpg

Next on the agenda was lunch, so I headed over toward Columbia Harbor House, where I got the fish and chips for lunch (or breakfast, as the case might be.) The place was busy, but kept things moving (a CM was directing traffic) and I was able to get food fairly quickly. I found the fish and chips to be so-so, and I've definitely had better (then again, with some of the places we've got for fish 'n chips here in the Seattle area, we're a bit spoiled in this regard.) Columbia Harbour House is an interesting little place, but it can be just a bit hard to find your way out of (I somehow ended up taking a set of stairs which was roped off at the lower floor, but not at the upper floor.) Eventually I found my way out and headed back to use my Peter Pan FP, but didn't realize I still had an hour left before it was usable until the CM pointed it out. I blame lack of sleep.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v320/Vexorg/Sledgehammer/Disney%20World%202008/IMG_2405.jpg

With more time to kill, I headed toward Tomorrowland, and made a beeline for the TTA. I had been on the Disneyland Peoplemover once before it was removed (and I really wish they'd hurry up and bring it back), and wanted take a ride.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v320/Vexorg/Sledgehammer/Disney%20World%202008/IMG_2416.jpg

I think this one of about five photos total that have me in them from this trip. Next time if I'm still traveling solo, I should make sure to use Photopass...

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v320/Vexorg/Sledgehammer/Disney%20World%202008/IMG_2413.jpg

For some reason, Space Mountain seems a lot farther away in this shot than it actually is. All the Forced Perspective tricks Disney uses sure seem to mess with your head after a while...

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v320/Vexorg/Sledgehammer/Disney%20World%202008/IMG_2424.jpg

As we went of Space Mountain, I happened to catch the train passing by. Kind of an odd thing to see in Tomorrowland, don't you think?

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v320/Vexorg/Sledgehammer/Disney%20World%202008/IMG_2428.jpg

After getting off the TTA, I saw Buzz Lightyear visiting kids and briefly thought about getting in line, but decided against it (well that's what I'll claim, but in reality I was probably just getting lost trying to find the CoP line. Oddly enough, I never actually made it onto CoP on this trip...)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v320/Vexorg/Sledgehammer/Disney%20World%202008/IMG_2429.jpg

After that, I next headed over toward Space Mountain for what would turn out to be my only ride of the trip (and what would have probably made a much better use of a Fastpass than Peter Pan, come to think of it) but not before wandering through the arcade a bit to check it out. I've always been something of an arcade junkie (in fact, I have an arcade machine here in my office at home) but since I generally try to avoid spending time playing video games while I'm on vacation, I didn't bother actually playing anything. After that, I got into the standby line at Space Mountain, which took about 30 minutes of waiting. I actually got a call from my Mom just before boarding (apparently outer space has great wireless reception these days) but it was too loud to really hear, so I told her I'd call back afterward.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v320/Vexorg/Sledgehammer/Disney%20World%202008/IMG_2431.jpg

Based on reading here I had heard all the rumors (since confirmed) about the Space Mountain rehab coming up, and although I didn't feel like the ride was all that bumpy (as some people had talked about) I found the really loud lift chains to be particularly distracting and an immersion breaker. I have been on the updated Disneyland Space Mountain several times (it was the only ride we needed to use a Fastpass on during that trip,) and the difference between the two is pretty clear. On one hand, I can see the need for the rehab to get this back into shape, but on the other hand, there's something to be said for some of the older rides like this one, and keeping things entertaining without all the bells and whistles. I guess I'll have to see what the new Space Mountain ends up looking like when all is said and done, but I'm just glad I got a chance to ride this one at least once before it gets redone.

Anyway, since this is starting to get long at this point, I will leave off here for now, and finish off Day 1 in the next post...

Coming Up: Part 6 - Can't I Get Just a Little Bit of Pixie Dust Here? (In which a Fastpass turns out not to be so fast. Also, who's going to run out of juice first, me or the camera?)

[Vexorg]

And now we pause for a quick side note...

After being delayed by a week by the not-so-great weather around here, my one big souvenir purchase from the trip finally arrived here today...

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v320/Vexorg/Sledgehammer/Disney%20World%202008/IMG_3508.jpg

It's a character sketch done by the artist at the Art of Disney store in DTD, signed and framed. It's definitely not the cheapest thing in the world to buy, but with a small animation art collection decorating my office here at home I thought something like this would look nice, and all things considered, the price actually wasn't that bad especially for a hand-drawn piece (I paid $85 for the artwork, framed and shipped.) I could definitely see myself getting more of these on future trips.

[Disneyfan71]

Thanks for sharing your TR with us...It was fun seeing the pictures you took. I'm a bit sad that Space Mountain will be closed when we're there..but it needs some work done to it. The last time I rode it...oh my goodness.!!!

[All7OfUs]

I had never heard of that little bit of trivia about the "pennant" before. How cool!! I will definitely take a picture of that next time! Thanks for that; I always love learning something new!

[Vexorg]

And continuing on...

Part 6: Can't I Get Just a Little Bit of Pixie Dust Here? (in which I use a not-so-fastpass, and discover that there are some things you actually can't find in the souvenir shops.)

Anyway, after getting off of Space Mountain, I went looking for a semi-quiet place to call my Mom back (Apparently Tomorrowland isn't the best place to look for this type of thing. Eventually, I started wandering down a (somewhat) quieter path that led from Space Mountain as we talked, mostly about the standard parental concerns that tend to accompany having one's son being flung across the country in a claustrophobic pressurized cylinder (although as a seasoned traveler herself, I don't think she was too worried about this.) While she was growing up she was a frequent visitor to Disneyland along with her brothers and sisters, and is the only person in the family that has been to WDW before, and that was for one day at a time on two separate occasions. Anyway, after talking for a few minutes, I said goodbye and found myself over near the Toontown Fair area.

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On the way into the park this morning, I had done a bit of cursory looking through the gift shops on Main Street to see if there were any greeting cards available anywhere, but was unsuccessful, so I tried at the big giftshop in Toontown once again, to no avail. During the time that I would be here, my parents would be celebrating their anniversary, so I had the idea to try to send home an anniversary card signed by Mickey and Minnie. Unfortunately, aside from a relatively meager selection of postcards, there wasn't anything even remotely appropriate available that I could find for the purpose. After wandering through the gift shop a bit (and noting that it would have been a 70 minute wait if I wanted to go visit the fairies for some reason) I grabbed some random postcard off the shelf, paid for it, and went over to Mickey's house to see if there was any way I could go meet Mickey without spending an hour in line.

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Although I suspect there are some people who would find places like this to be boring, Mickey's House is the type of place that if I didn't have a looming Fastpass arrival time I could spend quite a bit of time looking around to see all the little details that were put in. Think that's a fake tree?

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Of course, the place was decorated for the holidays.

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I'm not even going to ask how this would have happened.

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Another bit of detail that most people are going to miss, especially with some of the inside jokes and somewat obscure references that most of the people who consider High School Musical to be Disney's greatest contribution to society would completely miss.

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Now what would you put in something like this anyway, a harp and a halo?

Anyway, after wandering through the house for a bit, I went over to the line to meet Mickey, and found it a bit longer than I would have cared to stand around in, so I turned back around and headed out. By this time, it was finally time to use my Peter Pan Fastpass, So I headed back toward Fantasyland at this time, where I then got into the Fastpass line for Peter Pan... Or at least I thought it was the Fastpass line, because it didn't seem all that fast if you ask me. I didn't check the regular line wait time, but I'm pretty sure it was over an hour by now, but even the FP line seemed rather long, and I think by the time I actually got on the ride I had spent at least 20 minutes waiting in the FP line. As for the ride itself, there was a short delay while flying over the London scene, but even with that, it seemed like it took all of two minutes to ride through it.

After disembarking the Peter Pan ride, I proceeded back toward the most incredible part of Fantasyland...

It's amazing...

It's colossal...

It's stupendous...

It's...

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v320/Vexorg/Sledgehammer/Disney%20World%202008/IMG_2449.jpg

... The backside of the castle! OK, sorry, I guess I've been spending too much time reading lists of Jungle cruise jokes lately.

Anyway after passing under the castle, I saw that people were beginning to claim spots for the afternoon parade, but it was still about a half hour off at this point, so I went back through the hub toward Tomorrowland again, where I saw that Push the Garbage can was out near the entrance to Tomorrowland...

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I don't think there's too many other places in the world where a trashcan can draw a crowd like this. I ended up watching for a bit (didn't interact with Push at all though) and headed toward Buzz Lightyear, where I found that the line was somewhat long, but the Fastpass return time was fairly short, so I grabbed a Fastpass and headed back toward the Hub to stake out a spot for the parade. Along the way I was getting a bit hungry, so I grabbed some popcorn, and then went looking for a decent parade spot, but found that by this time, such spots were in rather short supply (I'm definitely NOT the type of person who has enough patience to stake out a parade spot an hour in advance like you're apparently supposed to if you want to actually see anything.)

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Eventually I settled on a not-entirely-obstructed spot in the hub looking toward Liberty Square entrance, (either that, or it's where I happened to be when the parade arrived in the area.) Having not entirely having thought through my prior snack choice, I found myself trying to juggle a camera and a half-eaten box of popcorn trying to get some shots of the parade. I have quite a few shots, and if the person who happened to be in front of me was wondering what the back of their head looks like I've got some great shots of that. Shots of the actual parade... not so much. Here are a couple I did get though...

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Is it just me, or does Pinocchio seem awfully leggy for a magically animated wooden puppet?

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Someone should really tell Doc that he forgot half of his instrument.

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And how is it that they can manage to go from Aladdin...

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...to Mary Poppins in the same float? Seems a bit of an odd juxtaposition, if you ask me.

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After that, the obligatory flat full of villainy arrived. Although I'm not quite up to speed on my Disney movies, I think I recognize most of the villains here. On the other hand, who's the guy sitting in the boiling cauldron of evil down there? Do they have auditions for the part of "Guy sitting in the boiling cauldron of doom as assorted villainy gloats over him"? I'm guessing he's the one driving the float, but couldn't they at least give him some sort of bungling minion costume or something like that?

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Meanwhile, as the parade passed by, the sun decided to break through the clouds for the first time all day. This should also give you idea of how far back I was watching the parade from.

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Just as the last float in the parade began to pass by, my camera began flashing the dreaded low battery warning. I took this as a sign that this would probably be a good time to head back to the room to recharge (both me and the camera), but I still had a Buzz Lightyear FP to use, so I headed back in that direction, and arrived with about five minutes left until the FP window opened. I decided to sit down and wait for a few minutes, and then went on the ride (I have to say I much prefer the Disneyland version with the non-fixed aiming,) and after riding, I headed toward the exit, took the monorail back to the TTC, and made the long walk back to the bus stop, where I waited about 15-20 minutes for the bus to arrive. The bus wasn't crowded, but there was an ECV that needed to be loaded, so it took about an extra five minutes before we could get underway, and on the way back there was also a pickup at Animal Kingdom (which is as close as I would get to there on this trip) before we got back to the hotels. When I got back to the room, I put the camera battery on the charger, got out my notebook to check a few things, and then went down to the pool for a brief swim to cool down a bit (as mentioned previously, this would be the only time on this trip that I would make it to the pool.) After swimming for a bit (the pool was all but empty,) I headed back to the room and got dressed again, preparing to return to MK for Wishes and the evening EMH, which is where I will pick up in the next post.

Coming up: Going Out to Socialize with Grim Grinning Ghosts (in which I probably stay up way past my bedtime, and find out if things really do turn into pumpkins at Midnight...)

[Vexorg]

Thanks for sharing your TR with us...It was fun seeing the pictures you took. I'm a bit sad that Space Mountain will be closed when we're there..but it needs some work done to it. The last time I rode it...oh my goodness.!!!

I wish I had had more than one chance to ride it (I suppose that's my fault though, since I should have grabbed an FP when I had the chance) but as I said, it wasn't the rough ride that I found distracting, it was the loud lift chain. In space, nobody can hear you clanking your way up the lift hills...

I had never heard of that little bit of trivia about the "pennant" before. How cool!! I will definitely take a picture of that next time! Thanks for that; I always love learning something new!

I found the explanation a little bit odd myself (especially since there is nothing that would suggest the boat is from, or even a replica of anything from the time when the US had 48 states,) but I suppose it's easier that way than having to raise and lower the flag every morning and evening as would be required under proper flag etiquette.

[happybratpack]

I'm really enjoying your trip report...thanks for sharing. :)

[Vexorg]

And moving right along...

Part 7: Going Out to Socialize With Grim Grinning Ghosts (In which we find out if things really do turn into pumpkins after Midnight...)

After taking a break for a while, at the hotel, it was time to head back over to the parks, but after dealing with the hotel buses earlier in the day, I was ready to look for alternate routes to get to the park to see if they were any faster. Since I also hadn't really gotten my bearings on the place just yet, I hadn't quite figured out how to walk to DTD from the park yet either.

I ended up catching the hotel bus to DTD, which I soon found to be a waste of time. As discussed in a previous post, the DTD bus stops at each of the 6 hotels to pick up/drop off passengers, then drops people off between PI and DTD Marketplace, but a fair distance from the entrance itself. From the Hilton, there's really no point taking this bus at all, unless you were going to T-Rex or one of the PI places and wanted to walk a little bit less to get there. For pretty much everything else, walking across to Marketplace and taking the water taxi across to the westside (if applicable) would be quicker. Of course, I didn't figure any of this out until later, but for now, I was at DTD, where I wandered around the place to take a look around, then spent a bit of time browsing at World of Disney (at some point, I'm going to do a roundup of odd souvenirs found at Disney World, so I was finding things for that) and eventually wandered over to Ghirardelli for an ice cream cone (lunch!) After getting the ice cream, I eventually found my way over to the buses, looking to try using Disney transportation to see if it worked out any better than the DTD buses. The only problem was that I really didn't quite know what I was doing yet, so I wasn't sure which bus to take to get where. Eventually I settled on one that I knew would get me close (Contemporary) and waited about 10-15 minutes while I finished off my ice cream for the bus to arrive.

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After getting off the bus at the Contemporary, I proceeded toward the monorail station, but ended up wandering around the place a bit along the way, into the Fantasia gift shop and the video arcade (I was just looking to see what they had there, and didn't play anything) before heading up to grab a monorail into the park.

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There was also a chorus of Christmas carolers singing in the atrium when I was there. I'm not sure if they were CMs or just a group that happened to be there performing, but they were pretty good. I listened while waiting for the monorail to arrive.

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I hadn't really figured out the monorails yet, so it wasn't until I got there that I figured out the monorails would be going in the "wrong" direction to get there.

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In order to get there quicker, I ended up hopping off at the TTC, heading up and around over to the MK monorail, then getting on that one to finally get back into the park. This was an EMH evening, so I figured it would be a good time to catch a few rides after the fireworks.

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Unfortunately, I arrived a bit too late to catch the Spectromagic parade (one of only two performances scheduled for my trip) and got there about a half hour before the evening fireworks.

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The obligatory nighttime castle shot (well one of them anyway, I think I took about 20.)

In the meantime, I went looking for something to eat, and wandered over toward Cosmic Ray's, but found the lines rather long, and I might have been hard pressed to get out in time for the fireworks. I figured out that one of the stations would remain open after the fireworks, and settled in to find a spot in the hub. The spot I settled in wasn't the greatest place (among other things, there was a balloon in the way that you can see in most of the shots) but I still managed to see it pretty well, and I also managed to get several good pictures of the fireworks as well. You can see that the balloon actually added an interesting reflection to a few of these.

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After the completion of the fireworks show, I went back to Cosmic Ray's to grab some dinner (a chili dog and fries) and wait for the non-EMH crowds to clear out somewhat

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The place was still fairly busy, but the lines weren't too bad, and I was able to find a spot with a view:

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After eating, I headed back out to go ride Buzz Lightyear again (this time on a much shorter wait than before, but still long enough to get a good look at the queue area, and note some of the scenery:

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If it's supposed to be a secret mission, why is it plastered all over the galactic map?

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And while we're on the subject, Is this supposed to be a wanted poster, or Emperor Zurg's PR campaign? I can't tell the difference. Anyway, I slightly improved on my earlier score this time around, but still didn't do all that great.

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If I had thought about it, this might have been a good time to go ride Space Mountain again, but instead I went back toward Adventureland, where I went on the Jungle Cruise again (and had a really funny guide this time around,) then rode Pirates of the Caribbean and Haunted Mansion again (Big Thunder Mountain Railroad still had a 30 minute wait and no more FPs available, or I would have gone on it as well. Splash Mountain had 10 minutes, but I didn't particularly care to get wet at this time.) I also made it onto IASW again with a short wait (although I'm not sure why exactly I needed to ride it again in the first place.)

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One more nighttime castle shot, for good measure,

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And one of Main Street off in the distance.

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Finally, with about a half hour before the park was set to close, I decided that even though I could easily get in another ride or two I was getting worn out and that it might not be a bad idea to beat the rush out of the park, so I headed for the exit and grabbed the monorail back to the TTC for the bus back to the hotel. Since the Hilton is the only DTD hotel with the EMH benefit, this was a direct bus (not that it mattered much, since the Hilton is the first stop on the route and after AK has closed for the evening it doesn't stop there anymore.)

Shortly after I made it back into the hotel, I began to get hungry again, but by the time I realized this it was already Midnight, and the options for food seem to diminish greatly at that point. Nothing on the very limited overnight room service menu looked all that great (and the stuff was hideously overpriced too,) all the stuff in DTD Marketplace had closed by this time, and even though the hotel lounge was open, apparently they stop serving food after midnight too. It looked like my only option was the hotel's 24-hour market, which was just about as hideously overpriced as everything else in the place. I even wandered over to DTD and found things to be closed, and was told the closest option would be the McDonalds outside of the park (which I didn't particularly feel like walking to.) After a fair bit of wandering, I finally settled on a cheese danish from the hotel market that was only ridiculously overpriced instead of hideously overpriced, and ate it shortly before taking a lukewarm shower (see my previous comment about the hot water being imported from France) and settled in for a short Winter's nap.


Coming up: Part 8 - It's the FUTURE... sort of. (The beginning of day 2, in which I go back and do the stuff I was supposed to do on day 1.

[Vexorg]

As a quick note, I would also like to remind people that there's an alternate version of this trip report that I have been posting to my Blog. Basically, what I have been doing is taking a couple of parts of the trip report at a time as written here and combining them into a Blog post. I'm also going back and making a few modifications and extra notes here and there, and trying to cut out some of the DIS jargon to make it a bit more accessible to general readers. You can find the Blog posts here:

Part 1: Getting There is Half the Fun, Right? (http://thesledgehammer.wordpress.com/2008/12/29/disney-world-trip-report-part-1-getting-there-is-half-the-fun-right/) (Parts 1, 2 and 3)
Part 2: Now with Actual Disney in it! (http://thesledgehammer.wordpress.com/2009/01/10/disney-world-trip-report-part-2-now-with-actual-disney-in-it/) (Parts 4 and 5)
Part 3: Just Another Day in Never Never Land (http://thesledgehammer.wordpress.com/2009/01/24/disney-world-trip-report-part-3-just-another-day-in-never-never-land/) (Parts 6 and 7)

[All7OfUs]

So glad I had a few minutes to catch up with your great trip report! Your pictures are amazing- I love them! I think I would have been a little perturbed too at the lack of eating options- Let's face it, when you're hungry you need something now! Not in the morning! Bummer about that-

Anyway, keep up the good work, I do love forward to reading about your adventure :thumbsup2

[Vexorg]

So glad I had a few minutes to catch up with your great trip report! Your pictures are amazing- I love them! I think I would have been a little perturbed too at the lack of eating options- Let's face it, when you're hungry you need something now! Not in the morning! Bummer about that-

Anyway, keep up the good work, I do love forward to reading about your adventure :thumbsup2


If I had a bit better idea of what I was doing, I could have probably wandered over to PI and found something still open (although that may not be the case anymore.) At that point I might have even just sprung for hotel room service, but even the regular room service menu there had nothing of interest, much less the bare bones late night menu. Once I figured out the dining options, I made sure to get the eating done earlier in the evening, so this happened only once. Of course, given the fact that I tend to normally operate on a late schedule (I find myself having "breakfast" around Noon a lot these days) this took a bit of adjustment. In hindsight, I'd say the lack of planning with regards to food was probably one of the biggest mistakes I made on the trip (second of course to only allowing four days there, but I think I've already said that.)

Anyway, the next installment should be coming in the next day or two.

[GreatBiscuit]

I just found my way over to your TR and have enjoyed it thoroughly. The beagle shot cracked me up as the one on the right is a dead ringer for our beagle Pippy. Could have been a twin. Or a 150k clone. I look forward to future installments.

[Vexorg]

I just found my way over to your TR and have enjoyed it thoroughly. The beagle shot cracked me up as the one on the right is a dead ringer for our beagle Pippy. Could have been a twin. Or a 150k clone. I look forward to future installments.

Welcome aboard, glad you're enjoying the TR so far. I've seen one or two other dogs that look a lot like Minardi, and I've heard other owners at the dog park say that they think there might be a bit of Jack Russell Terrier in her to get that distinctive facial coloring. She's a very friendly dog, but in many ways she is very different from Imola and many of the other Beagles I know in personality. Imola always wants to be right in the center of the action and loves attention, where Minardi likes to keep her distance somewhat and find a quiet out-of-the-way place to rest (although she will want attention every once in a while too.) Minardi is also better behaved than Imola... Most of the time, anyway. You can see a bit more on their respective personalities here from when I was dogsitting last Spring:

http://thesledgehammer.wordpress.com/2008/04/29/beaglefest-2008-tale-of-the-tape/

[Vexorg]

And as promised earlier, it's time to kick off day 2.

Part 8: It's the FUTURE... Sort of. (In which I go back and do the stuff I was supposed to do yesterday, travel halfway around the world in 180 minutes, and wonder why the heck I was trying to find Nemo in the first place...)

=====

Once again, the alarm went off at 7:30am in the morning, and once again, the late night bedtime left me somewhat less than enthusiastic about getting up that early, so I hit the snooze for an hour and zonked out again. After about five minutes of sleep (well, it was actually an hour, it just seemed like five minutes) I decided that I should probably just go ahead and get up. After all the walking around yesterday, I wasn't exactly firing on all cylinders this morning, but I quickly got ready for the day (I'm not the type to linger around and take my time getting ready. When I'm at home it usually takes me about fifteen minutes to get out of bed, get ready for work and head out the door) and headed out the door to catch the bus for Epcot, which is what I had planned to do yesterday but ended up at MK instead. In the process I forgot to remove the Do Not Disturb tag from the door of my hotel room, so housekeeping never serviced the room, but this wasn't a big deal, since at home I'm not exactly a neat and tidy person.

Back before I threw yesterday's plans out the proverbial window, the plan was for today to be spent completely in the Magic Kingdom, since today was my MVMCP day. Of course, since I ended up spending all of yesterday (including an EMH evening) there, today's plan ended up being yesterday's original plan, which was to start out at Epcot and head to MK later on in the day.

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This time around I managed to actually get onto the correct bus, and after the bus ride I made it to Epcot... Well, the charter parking lot of Epcot anyway. Much as it is at the TTC, the DTD hotel bus dropoff at Epcot is a fair distance away from the park gate (Looking at distances on Live Search Maps, it's about a quarter of a mile from the DTD bus dropoff to the Epcot gate, or roughly a mile away from the backside of World Showcase where I ended up watching Illuminations from, but I'll get to that later.)

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Upon entering Epcot, I ended up riding Spaceship Earth first, mostly because it showed a 5 minute wait and I was already sore from the cumulative effects of yesterday's touring and the long walk from the bus dropoff, and it looked like a good place to sit down. There was also the fact that in spite of the research I had done before the trip I still has no clue what was actually in here, and wanted to know what the thing was besides a freakishly huge golfball.

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I'm going to guess that this probably isn't the best picture that's ever been taken of me.

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Having sated my curiosity somewhat, I then proceeded into Future World, toward the east side, but not before noting that Soarin' was already showing a 100-minute wait time by now.

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When I got to Test Track, I found a 50 minute wait in the regular line but only 15 minutes in the single-rider line, which turned out to be less than 5 minutes to actually get onto the ride. This didn't leave much time to check out the queue, but I'll take a five minute wait where I can get it, especially on one of the more popular rides.

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I then ended up over at Mission Space, where it took about fifteen minutes of waiting to get in on the green side (Orange side was 25 minutes at this time.)

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At this point, it seemed like I had been having some pretty good luck with the rides (even though there was no way in heck I was going to test out the 100-minute Soarin' line at this point) so I decided to head across the park and try my luck on The Seas with Nemo and Friends... Once I could actually find it, anyway. I was having a bit of trouble getting my bearings at this point still, and had to follow signs to figure out exactly where I was going. Oh yeah, and I never got around to riding Ellen's Energy Adventure either. In fact, it would turn out that I didn't ride anything in Epcot (except for Spaceship Earth) more than once on this trip.

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I did eventually make it over there without getting too hopelessly lost (although I did briefly end up wandering through Innoventions on the way there,) and the sign outside showed a 10-minute wait, even though the line was out the door by this time. I probably should have taken that as a sign that the line might have been somewhat in excess of 10 minutes, but since I didn't know what I was getting myself into I just got into the line, figuring it couldn't be that bad. After getting through the first room of the queue I figured it couldn't be too much longer. Then I reached the second room, and I began to suspect that the 10-minute estimate was just a bit off. By the time I reached the third room I was questioning what the heck I had gotten myself into, and finally after 30 minutes in line I reached the ride, and shortly afterward found myself wondering what the heck I had bothered waiting for.

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Aside from the fact that I have never been much of a fan of Finding Nemo, the ride seemed rather short and rather disappointing. If I had known what was in store I would have just gone into the place via the gift shop to see the aquariums and called it good. In spite of the disappointing ride, I actually enjoyed watching the aquariums for a while (mostly because I've always been interested in the underwater world, and I could sort of find a place to sit down for a few minutes) but couldn't really get more than a couple of good pictures. I'll have to come back here (through the back, of course) and spend a bit more time here on my next trip.

I ended up passing by the Land pavilion (Soarin' was still too long a wait to bother with at this point, and had a FP return time later in the day than I was planning to be at Epcot) and went on Journey into Imagination next (with a 10-minute wait.) This was another ride that I had basically no idea of what was here before I rode it, and although I see a number of people here who much preferred the older version (I suspect the same could be said of The Living Seas) I couldn't tell you which one is better. After this, It was about Noon, and having not eaten breakfast in the morning I was getting a bit hungry, so I headed over toward World Showcase next, hoping to grab a bite in Mexico.

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I first checked the San Angel Inn at Mexico since the board at Guest Services had suggested there might be available seating there, but when I arrived there the line was rather long, so I decided to skip it. On the other hand, the Gran Fiesta Tour was basically a walk-on at this point, so I went ahead and rode it while I was there. I then went outside to the Cantina de San Angel (the counter service place) where the lines seemed fairly short. I then waited... and waited... and waited... After 20 minutes of being second in line and not moving much anywhere, I was beginning to get really hungry, and I was also beginning to suspect that I could starve in this line. Having already had experience with starving on vacation, I decided to cut my losses and look for a plan B. I walked over to China, where I was able to be seated immediately at Nine Dragons in spite of the lack of a reservation. In fact, the place didn't look all that busy.

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The server (I unfortunately can't recall his name) was quite nice here, and provided some tips and recommendations on the World Showcase since it was my first time there, and a crayon with which to try out the Chinese characters on the placemat. Given the fact that I can barely manage to write legibly in my own language, my results weren't so great here either.

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I ordered the Hot and Sour Soup and the Pepper Beef. Both were pretty good, although this place was definitely a bit pricier than the local Chinese take-out. I wasn't really paying much attention to the price though since I was hungry, needed a place to sit down for a bit, and (as I would find out later on) the Mexico CS place wasn't really all that great anyway. Besides, my Mother (as I have mentioned previously, a seasoned traveler herself) has always told me that if I am going to spend the money to take a vacation in the first place, there's no point in penny-pinching when I get there.

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After finishing off lunch, I continued wandering around the World Showcase in the clockwise direction, Browsing through the shops in China, the Outpost, Germany and Italy (When I start wrapping up the trip report, I'll discuss this in a bit more detail.)

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As I was getting ready to leave Italy the World Showcase Players began the Romeo and Edna show, and since I wasn't in that big a hurry to keep walking, I decided to stop and watch.

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They just look like they're MADE for each other, don't they?

Once everyone managed to figure out how to live happily ever after, I continued on my trip around the world, although I ended up bypassing the American Adventure since I figured I'd have time to get back to it later (I didn't) and headed next for Japan.

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When I got there, the Taiko drummers were peforming.I didn't stick around long to watch though

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The obligatory "Spaceship Earth through the gate" shot. I don't know who any of those people are though. Anyway, I wandered through the Mitsukoshi shop in Japan for a while (interesting place, but I didn't see much of anything I couldn't live without) then continued on to Morocco, where I didn't stay long, but did get a couple of photos.

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At this point, it was starting to get toward the time to think about heading toward the Magic Kingdom for MVMCP. Rather than walk back (If you can't tell, I was already getting just a bit sick of walking by this time) I opted to take the boat back across the lagoon.

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Since I'm hitting the image limit at this point, I will continue from here in the next installment...

=====

Next up - Part 9: Merry Enough For You? (Back to the Magic Kingdom for Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party, and how not to choose a good spot for the parade...)

[All7OfUs]

i think my favorite shot this time is the one of the fountain. I especially like the drops at the top against the sky :thumbsup2

Seems like no matter how long I take cruising around the WS, it's never enough. Last time I got about 1/2 a day there, and was utterly disappointed!

Looking forward to the MVMCP you got to go to. Give us lots of pics! :)

[GreatBiscuit]

Given the fact that I can barely manage to write legibly in my own language, my results weren't so great here either.
:rotfl2: :lmao: I feel your pain! I hate having to hand write anything because I can never read it later. Loved the update and photos.

[Vexorg]

i think my favorite shot this time is the one of the fountain. I especially like the drops at the top against the sky :thumbsup2

Seems like no matter how long I take cruising around the WS, it's never enough. Last time I got about 1/2 a day there, and was utterly disappointed!

Looking forward to the MVMCP you got to go to. Give us lots of pics! :)

I like the fountain shot too. My camera seems to do pretty well with those types of shots, at least once I figured out to half-press the shutter button to let it do its autofocusing voodoo before taking the shot. I still wish I had a DSLR, but those tend to be a little big to fit in a pocket. Canon makes some nice little cameras, and this one sees heavy use not only on vacation, but on a lot of my Blog projects as well.

I was in WS several times on this trip, but I still didn't feel like I had enough time to really see it, particularly the France/UK/Canada side. I'll have to be sure to make a couple more ADRs here before I go again, maybe that'll keep me there longer.

:rotfl2: :lmao: I feel your pain! I hate having to hand write anything because I can never read it later. Loved the update and photos.

Thanks. I'm afraid I might have to skip the Alice photos though, just to be on the safe side.

[Vexorg]

And to keep this thing moving...

Part 9: Merry Enough For You? (Back to the MK for MVMCP, where I try to figure out just a bit too late what's for dinner...)

When I last left off on my trip report, I had just taken the Friendship boat across the World Showcase Lagoon from Morocco back to the World Showcase entrance, and was headed back toward the gate to hop a monorail back to Magic Kingdom for the remainder of the afternoon and the evening's MVMCP. I wasn't exactly rushing to get there, and a I made a couple of stops: The first was at one of the two gift shops at the front of World Showcase, currently full of Christmas stuff.

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Apparently there was no shortage of Mickey-themed ornaments all at 40% off. I thought about picking up a couple, but decided that getting them home in one piece might prove tricky, and decided to pass.

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If for some reason you needed Mickey-themed ornaments for other holidays, they've even got those.

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I also made a pitstop at Club Cool on the way out, which I had apparently missed when I had passed by there the first time around. In reading trip reports beforehand, I had heard of Beverly by its reputation, but I had not seen the true extent of the horror that the stuff seems to inspire among some posters here, where it seems to be regarded mostly as a concoction drawn straight from the depths of the gall of bitterness to torment the living upon the face of the Earth. I tried it, and although the stuff is definitely a bit bitter for my liking (I'd describe it as being like a grapefruit soda that just keeps gettinr more bitter as you go) I didn't think it was quite as evil as some people seem to believe. Not that I ever intend to drink the stuff anytime soon, but if I needed to dupe - er, convince someone else to try it, I could probably handle another sip. As for the other flavors, I think I liked the Costa Rican Fanta the best. Oh yeah, and is it just me, or is the floor in this place always that sticky?

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Anyway, after my attempts at refreshment by questionable means, I made my way out of Epcot, but not before pausing to take this photo with Spaceship Earth, which came after about three or four previous attempts that look even sillier than this one. And if anyone is wondering, yes I am wearing the same shirt as yesterday, as a result of the clean laundry shortage I had encountered the night before. Finally, I left Epcot for the day, and hopped the Monorail (is it just me, or do those ramps up to the platform seem a lot longer than they actually are?) and made my way to the Magic Kingdom. The first order of business was redeeming my MVMCP voucher.

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When I got there, the sold out sign was already out. This was around 3 or so in the afternoon, so I don't know if they still had tickets earlier or if they had sold out days in advance. Anyway, after getting my ticket (no line at Guest Services) I headed into the park. Of course, being 3pm, as soon as I walked through the tunnel, I ran right smack into...

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...The afternoon parade. With a lot less crowds than I had to deal with at yesterday's parade, no less. If I had known this yesterday when I was standing behind fifty people at the hub for yesterday's parade I probably would have just skipped it yesterday and waited for today, but now that I not only found myself with much less crowds to deal with but also with a much better vantage point, the first thing that came to mind was to try to find some way to get around it. Ultimately, I got into the que for the train station, but as it would turn out, the next train didn't even arrive until the end of the parade. Although it's neat to watch the parade go by, I have to say if I ever hear that Disney Dreams Come True theme again I might just lose it. Besides, if you've already been to Disneyland, and you're at Disney World now, what other Disney dreams do you need to come true at the moment? Magic Fastpasses? A night in the castle? To be at Tokyo Disneyland instead? But I digress.

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Anyway, once I finally got on the train (and saw parade floats waiting at the crossing as we passed by) I got off at the Frontierland stop, where I saw this poster on the way out of the station. You can't really see it at this resolution, but if you ever take the time to stop and read this (or do what I did and take a picture to read later) it's actually interesting to read. The whole story of how Splash Mountain came to be, Brer Rabbit, and even how the place came to be invaded by thrill-seeking humans, is found here.

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Along the way, these performers were playing Christmas carols, and were actually doing a pretty good job of it, if I recall.

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Egrets... I've had a few. But then again, too few to mention.

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Anyway, my main goal for the afternoon was to ride Big Thunder Mountain, which I promptly grabbed a Fastpass for with a fairly short return time. I was then getting hungry, so I ended up grabbing some popcorn, then settled down to watch the boats come down Splash Mountain for a few. I then briefly thought about taking a ride on the Liberty Belle, but I got impatient while waiting for the boat to unload, so once I finished off the popcorn, I instead headed for another trip on the Haunted Mansion (which never had a long line on any of the times I rode it on this trip.)

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This time around, the ride paused for a bit near the end, at the mirror room. I really wish this picture had come out. After getting off the Haunted Mansion the Fastpass return time for BTMRR had arrived, so I went to use that. I found the lift hills on this to be rather noisy as well.

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After BTMRR, I headed back toward Adventureland, and rode Pirates another time (seeing a pattern here?) I thought about going for another run on the Jungle Cruise at this point, but the line seemed rather long, and for some reason I didn't think to grab a Fastpass. Instead, I decided to grab a Dole Whip and hit the Tiki Room. I got stuck behind some people who took roughly forever and a day to decide what to get, and then had two people carrying a big load of stuff when everything was finally served up. My order was a little bit simpler. I have to say that I didn't care much for the New Management version of the Tiki Room, but at least DLR still has the original.

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It was starting to get near dusk by this time, so I headed over to grab my MVMCP wristband next, then went back toward Fantasyland, looking for a place to sit down.

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Say, this one looks like a nice quiet place for a little rest, maybe have a spot of tea or something.

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Wait a minute, what's with this? It's mad, MAD I tell you, mad!

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More goofing off with the camera. Believe me, you DON'T want to see the outtakes from this one.


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I next headed back toward Tomorrowland, where I planned to hit the Laugh Floor to find a place to sit down for a bit. The wait was short, but as worn out as I was getting at that point I wasn't exactly thrilled about having to spend ten minutes waiting in the pre-show area before getting in after you get through the queue. Even after sitting down for a bit at the show, I still wasn't all that enthusiastic about standing up at this point. I gave some brief thought to waiting in line for the "Twas the Night Before Christmas" show, but ultimately decided didn't feel like waiting (or more accurately, didn't feel like standing for that long.)
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By the time I got off here the decorations were beginning to show up, and it was getting just about to the point where they were about to start clearing out the park for MVMCP. This was also just about the time when I realized I should probably give some thought to dinner, unless I wanted to be stuck with chicken nuggets for dinner. I eventually managed to follow the crowds all the way out the park gate before I realized that the monorail line was a mile long at this point, and there wasn't going to be much in the way of dining options that wouldn't involve wading through that crowd (I suppose I could have walked to the Contemporary and grabbed something from the CS place there, but I didn't feel like walking there at the moment. Ultimately, I quickly returned to the park (I needed to use my MVMCP ticket this time since my regular ticket wouldn't get me in anymore.) Finding food options to be scarce, I decided I was going to bite the bullet and just head back toward Cosmic Ray's again for the Chicken Nuggets I had tried to hard to avoid. No pictures here, because I don't think anyone would really care to see it anyway.

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By the time I finished off dinner, they had begun serving the cookies and hot cocoa. There was basically no line at this point, so I grabbed some and headed over to check out the entertainment.

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I think I ended up staying here for about twenty seconds total. I ended up fleeing the place just about the time I heard the words "High School Musical" from the direction of the stage.

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I ended up heading for the TTA next, since that seemed to be a good place to not stand for a few minutes. I attempted to take some photos, but only a couple came out anything but unrecognizably blurry.

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At least this was one of them.

I decided to head back toward Adventureland at this point, hoping to catch the pirate band that was on the schedule. Passing by Main Street, I saw that I was already about 45 minutes late to catch anything resembling a good spot on Main Street for the parade, but the parade was still a good hour away.

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I saw that another of the cookies and cocoa stations was relatively empty at this point, so for some reason I grabbed more of it. It was about halfway through the second cup that I realized that no matter how merry the Christmas party might have been, hot chocolate and 75-degree weather just don't mix.

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After a few minutes of waiting, the pirate band arrived, and performed several appropriately piratey Christmas selections. After listening for a bit, I then went for another ride on PotC to pass the time. It was here that the ride stopped running just after they finished loading us up on the boat. I was in the back row of the boat, and while we waited I struck up a conversation with a kid in the row in front. As I am inclined to do on occasion, I used the occasion to fill the kid's head with stores, explaining that all the treasure on the ride was real (after all, do you think that Jack Sparrow would waste his time pillaging and plundering all that loot if it only LOOKED like treasure?) Unfortunately, I have to admit that the kid probably knew more about the PotC movies than I did (I've seen about half of the first one, that's it.) Finally after about 10-15 minutes or so, the ride started moving, and I went through for my fourth ride of the trip.

It was after this that it was getting to just about be time for the parade. I've hit the image limit once again, so I will proceed from there in the next post. If you're lurking, feel free to reply, otherwise this trip report is going to end up with about 300 images per page, and it's going to start melting some people's Internet connections. That would be a bad thing now, wouldn't it?

Coming soon: Part 10. How to Get the Christmas Spirit Without the Need for Ghostly Visitors (How NOT to find a proper spot for the parade, blurry Paparazzi photos of Cinderella, and even more fireworks.)

[heaven2dc]

I absolutely am having the best time reading your report - what a great writer and photographer you are!

Love your castle pics - I loved that one especially with the reflection in the water! I got a couple pics close to what you took but not nearly as clear. :thumbsup2

I miss the Northwest (grew up in Portland, moved in 1994 out East). I forgot how cold it can get in Redmond and that you guys actually get snow in the winter (Portlanders get mostly ice but I heard this year from my cousin that they got hit with snow too).

I wonder if you were in WDW when I was (I was there 12/13-20th). The weather was fantastic!

[All7OfUs]

I'm no lurker! I love your TR, and so love your pics.! Hey, if it's the blue line of the TTA, why does it have a very RED row of neon lights directly underneath. never noticed that before!

I never thought to take pics. of a little of the merchanidise to fill in a photo album or to just have memories - good idea. :thumbsup2

I htink one of my favorite memories of growing up going to DLR, was the street bands and live performances. I was especially fond of the jazz group in NOS, and the piano guy on Main Street, but my alltime fav. was the barbershop on Main Street.

See you next time,

[GreatBiscuit]

Thanks. I'm afraid I might have to skip the Alice photos though, just to be on the safe side.

That just made me snort involuntarily. :rolleyes1

I tried it, and although the stuff is definitely a bit bitter for my liking (I'd describe it as being like a grapefruit soda that just keeps gettinr more bitter as you go) I didn't think it was quite as evil as some people seem to believe.
Way to take one for the team. This particular phenomenon was not available during our last trip so I have not yet soiled my lips with carbonated Italian bitterness.


I got stuck behind some people who took roughly forever and a day to decide what to get, and then had two people carrying a big load of stuff when everything was finally served up.
That's always fun.

I ended up fleeing the place just about the time I heard the words "High School Musical" from the direction of the stage.
Good call my friend.

I ended up heading for the TTA next, since that seemed to be a good place to not stand for a few minutes. TTA - the tired man's friend. I love this attraction for that very reason.


After a few minutes of waiting, the pirate band arrived, and performed several appropriately piratey Christmas selections. Where else but a Disney TR can you use the words "Pirate Band" and "Christmas Selections" in the same sentence without anyone batting an eye?

[Vexorg]

I absolutely am having the best time reading your report - what a great writer and photographer you are!

Love your castle pics - I loved that one especially with the reflection in the water! I got a couple pics close to what you took but not nearly as clear. :thumbsup2

I miss the Northwest (grew up in Portland, moved in 1994 out East). I forgot how cold it can get in Redmond and that you guys actually get snow in the winter (Portlanders get mostly ice but I heard this year from my cousin that they got hit with snow too).

I wonder if you were in WDW when I was (I was there 12/13-20th). The weather was fantastic!

You might be getting Redmond WA and Redmond OR mixed up, but up here in the Seattle area the winters are usually fairly mild, and aside from a rather horrendous December and early January, the Winter weather here hasn't been all that bad this year, just the typical scattered snowshowers a couple of times. Of course, last year we ended up with snow up here in mid-April and ski areas open the first week of June, so who knows what will happen?

I'm no lurker! I love your TR, and so love your pics.! Hey, if it's the blue line of the TTA, why does it have a very RED row of neon lights directly underneath. never noticed that before!

I never thought to take pics. of a little of the merchanidise to fill in a photo album or to just have memories - good idea. :thumbsup2

I htink one of my favorite memories of growing up going to DLR, was the street bands and live performances. I was especially fond of the jazz group in NOS, and the piano guy on Main Street, but my alltime fav. was the barbershop on Main Street.

See you next time,

The merchandise is getting it's own post at the end of the trip, in order to keep it from cluttering up the TR too much. Unfortunately, I didn't have much time to hang around Main Street this time around (at least not while there wasn't some parade going by) so I didn't get to see the performers there. Maybe on the next trip when I actually know enough about the place to realize that four days is nowhere near enough time to see the place, but that's another story...



Where else but a Disney TR can you use the words "Pirate Band" and "Christmas Selections" in the same sentence without anyone batting an eye?

Perhaps somewhere in the Caribbean? Just because you happen to be a scurvy dog with a mean temper and a proclivity to pillage and plunder random passersby doesn't mean you can't celebrate the Holidays in style, right?

Anyway, the next part of the TR should be coming soon. It'll probably be a bit lighter on photos than the last couple of parts since I didn't get a lot of good shots of the parade in the dark of the Holiday Wishes.

[Vexorg]

Time to finish up the second day:

Part 10: How to Get the Christmas Spirit Without the Need for Ghostly Visitors (or, How Not to Find a Spot for the Parade)

After I finally managed to get off Pirates of the Caribbean following the previously mentioned delay at the loading dock, it was just about time for the parade to start. I took one of the shortcuts from Adventureland to Frontierland to get across, but found that the streets were already jammed with people, and the parade was going to be showing up any minute. Since the street was roped off and it was no longer possible to get across, I settled into the one spot I could find for the parade:

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Here. Standing on the fence at the Frontierland sign, presumably in a decidedly non OSHA-approved manner. All things considered, it probably wasn't a Disney crime on the order of, say, Alice Hugging or anything sinister like that, but if any CMs had shown up there during the parade I probably would have earned a good stern lecture or two. Somehow I got away with it (and somehow managed to not fall to an untimely demise in the bushes behind the fence) and watched the parade from here. Unfortunately, I didn't get a whole lot of good photos of the parade since my camera didn't handle the low-light conditions well, but here are a few of the ones I did get.

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As is the tradition in these parts, the nighttime parade always begins with the ever-popular child placating blinkenlight-encrusted objects cart...

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...And the Once Upon a Blurry Christmastime Parade is now underway.

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As with most parades, this one includes the usual characters, but I found it more interesting than most because there seemed to be a lot more obscure and uncommon characters here than in the regular parades.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v320/Vexorg/Sledgehammer/Disney%20World%202008/IMG_2754.jpg

Of course, you can't do a parade without these two, right?

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v320/Vexorg/Sledgehammer/Disney%20World%202008/IMG_2757.jpg

On the other hand, you don't seem to see a lot of Scrooge McDuck (who happens to be one of my favorites after watching way too much DuckTales back in the Disney Afternoon days.)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v320/Vexorg/Sledgehammer/Disney%20World%202008/IMG_2760.jpg

I know that Christmas Parades are supposed to be all cold and stuff, but I felt just a bit sorry for all the performers wearing all these heavy jackets and things like that, while the weather was well into the 70s even at night during this trip. Not that I was complaining mind you (after all, I could have been at home where things were below freezing and the roads were a big mess) but I can barely stand to wear a jacket when it breaks 55 here, there's no way I'd want to wear one down there.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v320/Vexorg/Sledgehammer/Disney%20World%202008/IMG_2768.jpg

For as popular as these two are, you don't actually seem to see a lot of them for some reason...

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v320/Vexorg/Sledgehammer/Disney%20World%202008/IMG_2774.jpg

Ever notice that Snow White's float doesn't seem to include anything particularly snowy?

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v320/Vexorg/Sledgehammer/Disney%20World%202008/IMG_2776.jpg

And here it is, my blurry Paparazzi photo of Cinderella. Prince Charming's looking a bit like he's been hitting the pixie dust before the parade too. If any tabloid editors are reading, I would like payment to be made in small unmarked bills please.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v320/Vexorg/Sledgehammer/Disney%20World%202008/IMG_2781.jpg

There was more of the parade, but eventually I had to remind myself to stop spending my whole trip staring at a camera screen, and put it away for the rest of the parade. Once the last float went by, there was a significant crowd filtering back into the rest of the park, and I ended up having little option but to go with the flow that led toward Fantasyland. After a brief pause to find a restroom, I ended up heading for the Haunted Mansion one more time to wait for the crowds to disperse a bit more (thus bringing the total number of hitchhiking ghosts following me home to 5, give or take a couple) After that, I went back in the direction of Fantasyland, but the fireworks were getting a bit too close to wait in any lines. I ended up just wandering through the area, then back around toward the Hub to settle down in a spot to watch the fireworks. I managed to find a spot that wasn't too crowded, but was partially obscured by trees.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v320/Vexorg/Sledgehammer/Disney%20World%202008/IMG_2785.jpg

While waiting for the fireworks to begin, I had someone else take this picture, which might be the only not entirely silly-looking picture of myself that I have from this trip (yeah yeah, next time use Photopass, I know...) A few minutes later the fireworks began, and a young child nearby spent most of the show apparently frightened by the firework booms and screaming loudly. Other than that it was good, but I didn't get a whole lot of good photos. Here are a few that did turn out though:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v320/Vexorg/Sledgehammer/Disney%20World%202008/IMG_2795.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v320/Vexorg/Sledgehammer/Disney%20World%202008/IMG_2798.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v320/Vexorg/Sledgehammer/Disney%20World%202008/IMG_2799.jpg

I thought this one in particular turned out interesting, although it was somewhat accidental. You can see the netting from the castle lights pretty clearly in the full size version.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v320/Vexorg/Sledgehammer/Disney%20World%202008/IMG_2801.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v320/Vexorg/Sledgehammer/Disney%20World%202008/IMG_2805.jpg

When the fireworks came to an end, even though I could have stayed for a couple of hours more I was really starting to get worn out at this point, and decided to call it a night, but not before doing a bit more browsing in the shops on Main Street, where I grabbed a couple of t-shirts to stave off my clean laundry shortage.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v320/Vexorg/Sledgehammer/Disney%20World%202008/IMG_2807.jpg

Sure enough, the snow had come to Main Street, and it seemed a bit more friendly than the stuff we were getting back home at this point.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v320/Vexorg/Sledgehammer/Disney%20World%202008/IMG_2819.jpg

As I left the park I made a call home to let my parents know what I was up to,and since it was quieter than the monorail station I opted to take the ferry back to the TTC instead. I managed to catch this shot of the castle and train station as I rode across the Seven Seas Lagoon (it took several tries, but I like the way it turned out.)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v320/Vexorg/Sledgehammer/Disney%20World%202008/IMG_2822.jpg

Once the ferry arrived, I made the long walk to the bus stop, and a bus back to the hotel arrived in short order. Fortunately it wasn't too crowded, and since the Hilton was the first stop it didn't take too long to get back. Following a nice hot bath, I went to bed, not really having much in the way of plans for the next day.

Coming up in day 3: Park Hopping for Dummies, a Wandering Bag, and More Parades Than You can Stand to Watch!

[GreatBiscuit]

All things considered, it probably wasn't a Disney crime on the order of, say, Alice Hugging or anything sinister like that, They take that sort of thing seriously you know.

I know that Christmas Parades are supposed to be all cold and stuff, but I felt just a bit sorry for all the performers wearing all these heavy jackets and things like that, while the weather was well into the 70s even at night during this trip. I always feel bad for them in the summer too. I don't know how they make it all the way through the parade.

but not before doing a bit more browsing in the shops on Main Street, where I grabbed a couple of t-shirts to stave off my clean laundry shortage. I remember those bachelor days when "doing laundry" often meant buying new clothes.

I managed to catch this shot of the castle and train station as I rode across the Seven Seas Lagoon (it took several tries, but I like the way it turned out. A nifty final shot.

[Vexorg]

I always feel bad for them in the summer too. I don't know how they make it all the way through the parade.


From what I understand, the full costume character suits are going to be hot no matter what the conditions are like outside (short of performing in Antarctica or something like that, of course.) They actually have ventilation built into the suits these days though, so it may not be as bad as it used to be. Still, my jacket never left the hanger the whole time I was there. For that matter, I never even needed to wear jeans.



I remember those bachelor days when "doing laundry" often meant buying new clothes.


Usually I'm OK as far as doing laundry goes, but when I'm on vacation (especially one as short as this one ended up being) all bets are off.

[Vexorg]

Also, for those who are interested, the next part of the trip report has now been posted on my Blog. It only covers part 8 as posted here (I'll be making another post with parts 9 and 10 soon) but I've added a number of additional comments and some more detailed thoughts on some of the Future World rides along the way. You can find the post here:

Disney Word Trip Report, Part 4: It's the Future! (Sort of.) (http://thesledgehammer.wordpress.com/2009/02/16/disney-world-trip-report-part-4-its-the-future-sort-of/)

[All7OfUs]

Hey Vexorg! Nice to see you again! I'm headed off to your blog, but do'nt know if I'll get all the way through it tonight. Love the shot of snow on Main Street! Something I'd love to see someday.

[Vexorg]

Hey Vexorg! Nice to see you again! I'm headed off to your blog, but do'nt know if I'll get all the way through it tonight. Love the shot of snow on Main Street! Something I'd love to see someday.

Just be warned, half the stuff on my Blog is mind-numbingly boring unless you happen to live in Redmond or Bellevue (I seem to spend a lot of time talking about local interest stuff these days for some reason.) The other half is mind-numbingly boring period.

[Vexorg]

For those of you wondering, no I have not abandoned this, I've just been busy with other things. Anyway, the next installment of the trip report on my Blog (parts 9 and 10 as shown here, with the usual edits and additions) has been posted:

Disney World Trip Report, Part 5: The Disney Version of Christmas (http://thesledgehammer.wordpress.com/2009/02/26/disney-world-trip-report-part-5-the-disney-version-of-christmas/)

More coming in the next couple of days.

[wonderlanne]

non-bottle opener:

i guess i'd take the heel of my shoe and the sharpest object around (either something on your swiss card or a letter opener or something) and hammer two holes into the top of the cap. then pour it out into a cup, usually found next to the ice bucket.

[Vexorg]

OK, I've been seriously slacking off on this Trip Report now. Time to put up another installment. I think I'm going to change gears here just a bit though, and make one post with the actual Trip report content, and another post (to follow in the next day or so) with the photos to accompany this post. Part of this is because I didn't take a lot of photos to accompany this part, and part of it is that I suspect you've probably seen most of the photos fifty times already. It occurs to me that the Internet provides a great new and exciting way to accomplish what used to require a slide projector, a dark room and a handful of bored relatives.

In light of this, I'd like to focus on the photos I thought were most interesting rather than to just toss up every single photo I can find. Depending on how this works, I might stick with it, or just go back to the usual method. That said, here's the next installment...

Part 11: Aw Man, You Mean I Have to Go to Disney World Again? (A Walk on the not-so-wild West Side, Folly on the Ferry, and the backside of not water...)

Sure enough, just like the past couple of days, the alarm went off at 7:30 this morning. As is my regular accustomed manner, I once again decided to ignore it for another hour or so. By this time, the previous two days worth of walking had really begun to catch up with me, and getting up and out of bed wasn't particularly high on my to-do list at that point, even at Disney World. For about ten seconds or so, I found myself trying to consolidate this with the fact that I was, in fact, currently at the Happiest Place on Earth(TM), I had two days left of my vacation, and that I better get up, get out there and have some fun, or I was probably going to start regretting the whole thing a lot sooner than I had initially planned to. Thus being properly motivated for the day, I got up and out of bed, got dressed and prepared to face another day of the trip (all the deathmarch fun of a carefully planned commando excursion, with none of the meticulous planning you're supposed to do in order to make it actually work!)

Nominally, my plan for the day was to head over to DHS, spend the morning there, and then figure out what to do later on. About the one "must do" item on the agenda for the day was the Spectromagic parade at MK in the evening, since I had gotten back there too late on Monday to see it, and this was the only other chance I was going to have. Besides that, things were pretty much up in the air. After spending basically all day in the parks yesterday without taking any significant breaks, I ultimately decided that I was going to try to take it a bit easier today, and not to rush everywhere.

After I finished my preparations for the day and prepared to depart the hotel, I decided once again to skip the hotel buses and headed to Downtown Disney to catch a bus from there. This particular plan went out the window in short order, and I ended up spending a couple of hours wandering around the DTD area. Even though my hotel was close to this area, I thought that this would probably be my only chance to explore the area during the daylight hours (Note the word "Thought" there, for future reference.) I didn't take a whole lot of photos because I was trying to take it easy to some extent, to try to recover from the previous day's hectic pace.

After wandering around the Marketplace area for a bit, I ended up taking the water taxi across to the West Side, where I found that most things had not yet opened when I got there. To be honest, I didn't find the area to be all that interesting. There were a few things at the Virgin Megastore that looked interesting, but one of my cardinal rules of vacationing is to not spend time on things I can do at home, and video games definitely fall into that category (I did bring a PSP with me on this trip, but only used it on the plane rides in and out of Orlando. I find that Disgaea: Afternoon of Darkness makes for an excellent semi-mindless time killer.) Since I was here, I have found out that the Virgin Megastore at DTD will be closing soon, along with the rest of them as Virgin has decided to exit the US market. Elsewhere on the West Side, I found it a little bit odd that they needed a whole store that sells nothing but Planet Hollywood merchandise (and, incidentally, even more odd that they needed one in DHS where there isn't even a Planet Hollywood, but I'm getting ahead of myself again.

Determined not to repeat the food-related debacles of the previous two days, I decided that I would make an early lunch at DTD before heading for DHS. I suspected there wasn't a good chance of getting in any of the places at DHS I was interested in (I had originally looked at doing the Lunch with an Imagineer at the Brown Derby but it was booked for both times it was offered where I was there,) and there seemed to be more choices here anyway. Ultimately I decided on the House of Blues, mostly because they had steak on the menu and that sounded good at the moment. They didn't open until 11, so I ended up waiting for a while in order to get in. Only a handful of people were there while I ate.

The place has an interesting atmosphere, but I have to say that the steak wasn't all that exciting. The sauce it was covered in didn't seem to contribute anything in the way of flavor besides a somewhat out-of-place sweetness. On the other hand, the meal also met the far more important criteria of not containing any chicken nuggets whatsoever, so I left satisfied after eating, and boarded the water taxi back across to the Marketplace, where I had intended to hop a bus somewhere to get to DHS. About halfway across the lagoon, I realized that I was missing something: My pack, which I had left under the table at the restaurant. I ended up taking the ferry back across (there was no way in heck I was going to do that much walking if I didn't have to at this point,) I grabbed my bag (right where I left it) and realized at this point I might as well just grab a bus from the PI stop at this point, since I had no way of telling how long it would take to get back across again. Arriving at the bus stop, I determined that the Dolphin/Swan bus was the one most likely to get me there the quickest. The bus arrived after about 10 minutes. I got off, and ended up taking the ferry to DHS, where I finally arrived around 12:30 or so.

This being my first time in the park, I mostly wandered around checking out the place, but around the time I reached the giant hat, the approach of the High School Musical 3 Pep Rally of Doom suggested strongly that I should probably be looking to flee in whatever direction appeared most convenient. This was roughly in the direction of toy Story Mania, where I figured that I was probably already way too late to get a FP, and sure enough, there was a 70 minute wait with no FPs remaining. Proceeding on, I opted for the Backlot Tour instead, which was pretty much a walk-on (which is a good thing if your feet are threatening to go on strike, not such a great thing if you realize you'll have to wait through the whole water tank scene before you reach anywhere to sit down.) I ended up sharing a row on the tram thingy with a couple of, er, colorful characters (I'll just leave it at that) so I just minded my business along the way. There were a few props I recognized (sort of, not so much after they'd been sitting outside for twenty years.) I think I'd agree with the general consensus that this ride has definitely seen better days, although it still interesting enough to do once.

After being deposited into the display of assorted villainy, I wandered back into the park, where I ended up at Muppetvision next. The good news is that I got there right before the next show started, the bad news is that this meant there wasn't much time to look around the queue area. I've always been something of an old-school Muppet fan, so I liked the show, but as I mentioned earlier in the TR I can't see the 3D effects so some of the stuff is lost on me. I actually thought that the Muppet gift shop was well themed too, although I didn't buy anything here. At this point, I couldn't think of a whole lot else I wanted to do at DHS at the moment (I was planning to come back the next day anyway,) so I decided to head for the exit. Unfortunately, right around the time I got back to Hollywood Boulevard I ran right into the Block Party Bash. Since I didn't figure there was going to be much chance of getting around the thing, I decided to just wait it out and grab a few pictures. As I was fiddling with the camera and not paying attention, it reached the part where they throw the balls at the end. One of them happened to land right on my arm, which was rather unexpected really. A quick check of the immediate proximity seemed to suggest that the children in the area were well supplied with balls already, so I kept the one I "caught," and as the festivities moved further into the park, I headed for the exit. Initially, I considered taking the boat over to the Epcot International Gateway. but ultimately I decided a bus would probably be quicker than waiting for the boat, so that is what I did. It is from here that I will pick up the next installment (after the photos, of course.)

Coming up next: Part 12: Park Hopping for Dummies (Soarin', Spectromagic and Illuminations in one night? No problem...I think.)

[GreatBiscuit]

Just saw your update butI don't have time to read it tonight. I'll catch you tomorrow and in the meantime, enjoy this bump.

[GreatBiscuit]

It occurs to me that the Internet provides a great new and exciting way to accomplish what used to require a slide projector, a dark room and a handful of bored relatives. I remember being amused in the Emporium once at the discovery that they actually sold 35mm slides of various park attractions.

About the one "must do" item on the agenda for the day was the Spectromagic parade at MK in the evening, since I had gotten back there too late on Monday to see it, and this was the only other chance I was going to have. Hey, if a fellow has to have a must do, that's a good one to have.

On the other hand, the meal also met the far more important criteria of not containing any chicken nuggets whatsoever,... Mark of a good meal right there.

I think I'd agree with the general consensus that this ride has definitely seen better days, although it still interesting enough to do once. It's been twelve years since I was on it, but the last time I rode, it seemed exactly the same as it was the the first time I rode 7 years before that. Sad really. So much space wasted now that they are no longer doing produtions / actual animation.

Looking forward to the photos.

[All7OfUs]

DId you give up on us all?? popcorn::

[All7OfUs]

You must have posted just as I did! Funny how that happens once in a while!

THe backlot tour is a good one- once! There was absolutely NOTHING going on there when we rode it, although my kids got a kick out of Herbie. Yes, I subject my children to all old school Disney flicks, because that's what floats my boat. Who can go wrong with The Apple Dumpling Gang and Herbie?

Yeah, nothing more frustrating being stuck in a parade mass that you don't want to see! Happened twice at MK and once at DHS for us. You'd think we'd have learned the first time. :rotfl2:

Great update, looking forward to the pics!

[Vexorg]

OK, now I guess I'm REALLY getting lazy with this stuff, because I went and uploaded the latest batch of photos a few days ago and haven't bothered actually posting them here. Here's some photos to go with the last installment...

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v320/Vexorg/Sledgehammer/Disney%20World%202008/IMG_2825.jpg

The Downtown Disney Christmas tree. And yes, I actually made it to Earl of Sandwich, which is pretty much right where the DTD entrance that leads to my hotel is located.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v320/Vexorg/Sledgehammer/Disney%20World%202008/IMG_2827.jpg

More Legos than I'd have the patience to do anything with. A few weeks after I got back, I actually ended up heading for the local Lego store (there's one at Bellevue Square) and picking up a container off their pick-a-brick wall, since I don't have any of the things around anymore.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v320/Vexorg/Sledgehammer/Disney%20World%202008/IMG_2838.jpg

The view from the water taxi. I ended up riding across three times (the third one was, as noted above, unplanned, but there was no way in heck I was walking back to House of Blues.)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v320/Vexorg/Sledgehammer/Disney%20World%202008/IMG_2836.jpg

A little bird that was hanging out on the boat. The birds around Disney World seem to be surprisingly bold compared to most of the ones around here. People probably feed them often, even though they're not supposed to.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v320/Vexorg/Sledgehammer/Disney%20World%202008/IMG_2845.jpg

Here was the day's "Breakfast," which consisted of a Ribeye Steak from the House of Blues. Not bad, but to be honest, I think I prefer the ones I grill up at home, especially when the store has 'em on sale.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v320/Vexorg/Sledgehammer/Disney%20World%202008/IMG_2848.jpg

There were a fair number of lizards sunning themselves out on the sidewalks (as long as the kids weren't chasing them anyway.)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v320/Vexorg/Sledgehammer/Disney%20World%202008/IMG_2852.jpg

The Christmas tree out in front of DHS.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v320/Vexorg/Sledgehammer/Disney%20World%202008/IMG_2854.jpg

Say there mister, you're looking a little thin, maybe you need to eat more.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v320/Vexorg/Sledgehammer/Disney%20World%202008/IMG_2858.jpg

I've always been a fan of the Art Deco style, and DHS pulls it off pretty well. It's not South Beach, but it'll do.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v320/Vexorg/Sledgehammer/Disney%20World%202008/IMG_2860.jpg

The Disney version of a sunny day.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v320/Vexorg/Sledgehammer/Disney%20World%202008/IMG_2861.jpg

For some reason, I thought these looked cool, although I don't know why they'd want to throw out perfectly good flowers...

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v320/Vexorg/Sledgehammer/Disney%20World%202008/IMG_2865.jpg

As I mentioned, this is what I saw when I arrived at Toy Story Mania.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v320/Vexorg/Sledgehammer/Disney%20World%202008/IMG_2870.jpg

Wet enough for you? It's a little bit hard to believe that they used to actually have someone from the line do this...

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v320/Vexorg/Sledgehammer/Disney%20World%202008/IMG_2916.jpg

Surely I can't be the only person who enjoyed Flight of the Navigator (although as far as Disney movies go, it definitely tends toward the more obscure end of the spectrum.) The thing definitely needs a coat of paint or two though...

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v320/Vexorg/Sledgehammer/Disney%20World%202008/IMG_2926.jpg

It occurs to me that in order to view the Golden Gate Bridge's towers from the angle depicted here, it would require one to be well below sea level.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v320/Vexorg/Sledgehammer/Disney%20World%202008/IMG_2933.jpg

The MuppetVision Queue. I kind of wish I had more time to look around here, but I arrived right when the next show was starting.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v320/Vexorg/Sledgehammer/Disney%20World%202008/IMG_2942.jpg

I think I've worked in places like this.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v320/Vexorg/Sledgehammer/Disney%20World%202008/IMG_2943.jpg

In the Pizza Planet arcade, I saw this in one of the machines. I find it a little bit odd that a Cheap Chinese iPod knockoff could somehow make it into Disney World in the first place, much less be offered as a prize... I guess someone was asleep at the switch that day.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v320/Vexorg/Sledgehammer/Disney%20World%202008/IMG_2951.jpg

It followed me home... Can I keep it? Given the fact that it's sitting here on my desk as I'm typing this, I'd say the answer is probably yes.

[GreatBiscuit]

Hey Vexorg - nifty pics as usuall. Looking forward to more updates.

[brookelizabeth]

Over the past couple of days, during my very few minutes on the DIS, I read your entire TR-I'm loving it! You have such a great sense of humor, I found myself laughing out loud many times.

My DH and you would get along sooooo well. He's more into the actual "how did they do that?" side of Disney as well. Neither one of us are huge into characters (though, more so with Henry now), but we LOVE the techy stuff.

FLIGHT OF THE NAVIGATOR RULES!!!!!!!!! :banana:

Looking forward to more!

[M2DD's]

:thumbsup2 on your TR

[Vexorg]

OK, catching up...

You must have posted just as I did! Funny how that happens once in a while!

THe backlot tour is a good one- once! There was absolutely NOTHING going on there when we rode it, although my kids got a kick out of Herbie. Yes, I subject my children to all old school Disney flicks, because that's what floats my boat. Who can go wrong with The Apple Dumpling Gang and Herbie?

Yeah, nothing more frustrating being stuck in a parade mass that you don't want to see! Happened twice at MK and once at DHS for us. You'd think we'd have learned the first time. :rotfl2:

Great update, looking forward to the pics!

The parades wouldn't be so bad if I didn't keep running into the things every single freakin' day. I suppose that probably falls into the category of lack of planning. I suppose I'll probably eventually figure out the whole "Oh, and by the way, there's a parade at 3" bit.


Hey Vexorg - nifty pics as usuall. Looking forward to more updates.

Thanks. I've been enjoying your TR as well, even if I get lost every so often..

Over the past couple of days, during my very few minutes on the DIS, I read your entire TR-I'm loving it! You have such a great sense of humor, I found myself laughing out loud many times.

My DH and you would get along sooooo well. He's more into the actual "how did they do that?" side of Disney as well. Neither one of us are huge into characters (though, more so with Henry now), but we LOVE the techy stuff.

FLIGHT OF THE NAVIGATOR RULES!!!!!!!!! :banana:

Looking forward to more!

Glad you made it over here. The next time I go to Disney World, I'm going to give some serious thought to one of the behind-the-scenes tours, even though they tend to be a bit of a splurge. If I ever hit the lottery, I'd even consider the Adventures by Disney Backstage Magic tour over in California, which includes all sorts of neat stuff like a trip to WDI and Disney Studios, and a visit to Walt's apartment in Disneyland. Too bad that one is so expensive or I'd be all over it.

:thumbsup2 on your TR

Thanks. Good to know that someone's getting value out of it. Good luck with your trip, the Hilton's a nice place, you just need to make sure you know what you're getting into with the buses and stuff.

There's more on the way (still got a day and a half (or so) to write about, and I'd kind of like to get it done before I go again (even though I have no clue when that might be.) I've been half-considering taking a long weekend at Disneyland for my birthday in June, but I am not sure whether or not I'd be able to do it yet.

[brookelizabeth]

Glad you made it over here. The next time I go to Disney World, I'm going to give some serious thought to one of the behind-the-scenes tours, even though they tend to be a bit of a splurge. If I ever hit the lottery, I'd even consider the Adventures by Disney Backstage Magic tour over in California, which includes all sorts of neat stuff like a trip to WDI and Disney Studios, and a visit to Walt's apartment in Disneyland. Too bad that one is so expensive or I'd be all over it.


Wow, that tour sounds amazing! I haven't looked too much into all the tours, but if/when we ever get over to Disneyland I might have to look into that one! I'm sure the price would scare me though.

[Vexorg]

Wow, that tour sounds amazing! I haven't looked too much into all the tours, but if/when we ever get over to Disneyland I might have to look into that one! I'm sure the price would scare me though.

I don't know how buried it is by now, but if you wander over to the Disneyland trip reports board someone did a fairly comprehensive TR on thatr one, and it looks like it would be really interesting. If only it wasn't so freakin' expensive...

Anyway, I should be putting together the next installment of this tomorrow. Actually, I should have been putting together the next installment of this roughly two months ago, but that's beside the point...

[Vexorg]

OK, I think I've procrasted on this one long enough, time for the next installment, The next one shouldn't take too long to write after this, since it will be fairly short and mostly pictures. That said, here you go...

Part 12: Well, I THINK It's Still the Future Anyway... (Back to Epcot for more fun and misadventure.)

When I last left off on this trip report, I had spent much of the morning in Downtown Disney trying to take it easy and recover a bit from the past two days of walking. After a so-so lunch (or breakfast, whatever you might call it) at House of Blues I ended up eventually getting to DHS, where I basically wandered around for a bit, then decided to head over to Epcot instead, but not before running into the obligatory 3-o-clock parade. When I finally made my way out the exit, I considered taking the boat, but ultimately ended up opting for a bus over to Epcot instead.

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When I arrived at Epcot, I didn't really have any set plans, although I wanted to see the portion of the World Showcase that I didn't make it to yesterday (which consisted of France, UK and Canada,) and try to get a ride on Soarin' in if possible. I did, however, plan to hop over to the Magic Kingdom to catch the Spectromagic parade around 7pm or so (it was around 3:30-4 by the time I made it to Epcot.) Since I wasn't exactly in a big hurry at this point, I decided to take it easy (yeah right) and slow down a bit. Not enough that I would actually do anything silly like actually figuring out where I was going or anything like that, but enough that I could actually stand to walk a bit. Upon arriving in Epcot, I saw that Spaceship Earth had no significant wait, so I decided to take another ride on that (not sure if my future turned out any better this time around than the last one though...)

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After that, I headed over to the Land pavilion, where I briefly contemplated getting in the standby line for Soarin' with a posted 35 minute wait, but ultimately I decided to skip the line in favor of picking up a Fastpass (with a return time around 7:30pm.) After that, I wandered around the pavilion for a bit, looking at the selections available at Sunshine Seasons (that steak I had for breakfast was starting to wear off) before deciding to continue on. I did see that the Living with the Land ride was basically a walk-on though, and hopped aboard for... something. I guess I had a vague idea that there were greenhouses somewhere in Epcot, but it wasn't until after I rode this that I figured out that this was the ride they were found in. That said, my occasional tendency toward general nerdiness meant that I found this quite interesting. It's definitely not the most thrilling ride in the place, but given the fact that 80% of the TV I watch these days comes from the Discovery and History Channels, I didn't mind.

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If not for the fact that I'd have nowhere to put the thing or even keep it alive, I wouldn't mind having one of these things around. Anyone seen how much they're charging for those things in the grocery store these days?

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I think there's some unwritten DIS law requiring that this photo must be included somewhere in every trip report. This requirement has now been fulfilled.

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They even managed to find a way to sneak a bit of Christmas decoration into this one.

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Having fulfilled my educational content quota for the day (sort of,) I made my way over toward the World Showcase again, but not before pausing for a look at the fountains over by the Imagination pavilion.

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Ah, the world-famous jumping fountains, one of the stars of the occasional "kid gets sprayed in the face" montage on America's Funniest Home Videos. I made sure to keep my distance, lest I become yet another statistic. Incidentally, if you ever make it to Las Vegas and are sober enough to do anything besides lose huge quantities of money on the Blackjack table, the conservatory at the Bellagio has some really cool jumping fountains like this. Not as famous as the ones outside, but cool looking nonetheless. If I ever get around to writing the Cynic's Guide to Las Vegas project I've had sitting perpetually on the back burner for years now, I'll have to note this. That particular project is mostly waiting for me to become foolhardy enough to actually go to Las Vegas again, but that's another story for another time (and no, that's not nearly as exciting as it sounds.)

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After admiring (or staring blankly at, depending on your point of view) the fountains for a few minutes, I continued my journey to the World Showcase, where in spite of my plan to see the side I missed yesterday, I ended up heading in the same direction as the previous day.

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I had intended to ride Maelstrom (which I missed yesterday since I basically just completely skipped the Norway pavilion en route to China,) and when I got there it showed a 10-minute wait. In theory this would have been true, but the line was clearly not moving when I got there. After about five minutes of waiting (I probably wouldn't have done so if they hadn't given me one of those red FLIK cards on the way in) they announced that the ride had broken down, and it looked like they were going to have to do an evac.

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In order to make it at least look like this wasn't a wasted trip, I wandered into the gift shop for a bit. While I was there I ran into this guy, who seemed to be either a mythical creature of Scandinavian lore, or a typical DIS Community Board poster.

Following the non-ride on Maelstrom (which ultimately ended up on the list of things I missed on this trip,) I remembered that I was getting hungry, and in spite of yesterday's misadventure in line at the Mexico counter service place, I decided to give it another shot, and finding no significant line this time I went and ordered the nachos. In retrospect, I probably should have taken yesterday's misadventure as a hint, since I found the resulting product to be rather disappointing. I suppose some of the other selections here might have been better, but I'm not sure I'd try this place again. I'll probably try to get an ADR for the San Angel Inn next time I go and give it a try, since it seems like they havfe a pretty decent menu.

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Following yet another culinary misadventure (there seem to have been a fair number of those on this trip, and this wouldn't be the last,) I continued on another trip around the World Showcase, managing somehow to completely ignore what little plan I had made and travel in the same direction that I had gone in the day before, not bothering to stop anywhere until I reached the pavilions I didn't reach yesterday. After all, whenever you get a great opportunity to do a half mile of extraneous walking when your feet are about to fall off, you've just got to take it, right? Anyway, as I made my way around, the sun began to set, and dusk began to settle upon the World.

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By the time I made it over to France, it was pretty much dark. In spite of that, I somehow managed to get this shot to turn out decent.

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Unfortunately, I still didn't get a chance to do much more than wander through the France and UK pavilions (more on that when it comes time to wrap up the TR) a bit before I saw that it was getting to be just about time to consider heading for the Magic Kingdom if I wanted to catch Spectromagic. I had to skip Canada (again) and head for the monorail. Ostensibly, my plan at this point was to head to the MK, watch Spectromagic, then come back to Epcot to ride Soarin', then settle in and find a spot for Illuminations.

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I made my way out of the park, and to the Monorail to make the ride across. It is from here that I will resume my Trip Report, and I guarantee I won't make people wait two weeks for the next installment (maybe.)

Coming up next: Part 13 - Park Hopping for Dummies (Finishing off day 3 with a Symphony of Blur-o-magic, and even more plans to throw out the window.)

[disneygirl1972]

subbing!!

[brookelizabeth]

We love Livin' with the Land too (despite missing it on the past 2 trips!) and really want to do the Behind the Seeds Tour at some point. It really is interesting to learn about!

I love those fountains too-they really took me by surprise the first time I saw them. I think in a few years (or maybe less) Henry will find great enjoyment from getting sprayed by them!! :laughing:

[GreatBiscuit]

Dude! I totally missed an update!

I guess I had a vague idea that there were greenhouses somewhere in Epcot, but it wasn't until after I rode this that I figured out that this was the ride they were found in. That said, my occasional tendency toward general nerdiness meant that I found this quite interesting. It's definitely not the most thrilling ride in the place, but given the fact that 80% of the TV I watch these days comes from the Discovery and History Channels, I didn't mind. Don't feel bad. Ever since my ride through The Land in 1990, I've always thought it would be cool to have a hyrdroponics garden. Of course the fact that my growing skills end at mowing the lawn don't factor into it all.

I think there's some unwritten DIS law requiring that this photo must be included somewhere in every trip report. This requirement has now been fulfilled. I think they issue you some sort of stamp or something.

I try not to include photos in quotes as I don't want to take up more bandwidth. So, I'll just comment that I LOVE upwards spraying fountain photo. Lighting just turned out perfect on it.

After about five minutes of waiting (I probably wouldn't have done so if they hadn't given me one of those red FLIK cards on the way in) they announced that the ride had broken down, and it looked like they were going to have to do an evac. Let not your heart be troubled. Believe me.

While I was there I ran into this guy, who seemed to be either a mythical creature of Scandinavian lore, or a typical DIS Community Board poster.:lmao: Okay that one made me snort out loud and gyrate momentarily. :rotfl2:

After all, whenever you get a great opportunity to do a half mile of extraneous walking when your feet are about to fall off, you've just got to take it, right? That's DIS logic at its finest my friend.


By the time I made it over to France, it was pretty much dark. In spite of that, I somehow managed to get this shot to turn out decent. I like it.


Ostensibly, my plan at this point was to head to the MK, watch Spectromagic, then come back to Epcot to ride Soarin', then settle in and find a spot for Illuminations. Ambitious! Me Like.

[All7OfUs]

I am one of those wierdos who would almost rather go thru Living with the Land than Soarin'! Yes, I know, there aren't many who would, but I love it! My nirvana would be to actually be ABLE to grow a garden like that!

LOve your picture of the sillouetted WS. Very nice sunset photo!

[Vexorg]

Sorry for not responsding to this, I've still got some catching up I need to do here. I am actually down in Utah visiting my brother, sister, brother-in-law and their new son who was just born about three and a half weeks ago. I know I said I wouldn't make peoiple wait fourteen days for the next update, but I won't really be able to do another one until I get home sometime in the middle of next week.

[brookelizabeth]

Sorry for not responsding to this, I've still got some catching up I need to do here. I am actually down in Utah visiting my brother, sister, brother-in-law and their new son who was just born about three and a half weeks ago. I know I said I wouldn't make peoiple wait fourteen days for the next update, but I won't really be able to do another one until I get home sometime in the middle of next week.

No problem - real life does interfer sometimes! Congratulations on the nephew!! :goodvibes

[Vexorg]

OK, I think I've made people wait long enough for another update. At this rate, I'll be lucky to finish off this trip report before I actually go again, and I haven't got a clue when that will be. Oh well, onward we go...

Part 13: Park Hopping For Dummies (Finding out that you CAN have too much of a good thing, and finding out what people who flunk out of the Jungle Cruise do for a living...)

When I last left off, I was just about to hop a monorail over to the Magic Kingdom in time for Spectromagic, with the plan to head back to Epcot afterwards to use a Soarin' Fastpass and catch Illuminations before turning in for the evening. The monorail ride back over to the Magic Kingdom was quick and painless, and before I knew it I was back there, but it seemed that I wasn't the only one looking to catch Spectromagic that evening.

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As seemed to be the case with just about every parade I actually wanted to watch, finding a decent spot was going to prove to be a challenge (of course, all the parades that were just getting in the way when I was trying to get somewhere had plenty of good seats available, but that's beside the point.) I also had a good 15-20 minutes before the parade was scheduled to start, so I spent a bit of time wandering around Main Street. Along the way, I happened to catch a conversation between a CM and some guests about the then unannounced rehab of Space Mountain, providing some details about what would be happening there. Some have proven correct (the CM gave an April date for the ride shutdown) and others haven't been determined one way or the other yet (he said the cars would retain the same single-seat layout and the track layout would also remain unchanged.) We'll have to see how true this conversation turns out to be when we see the upgraded Space Mountain in the Fall.

After that, I ended up wandering through the shops a bit more, but didn't buy anything. Finally, I went looking for a halfway decent viewing location for the parade (it had become apparent by this point that an entirely decent location was going to be out of the question,) and settled into a spot that was only partially obstructed near the front of Main Street. Soon, the parade began:

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I made a valiant attempt to get some photos of the parade as it passed by, but it seems that my camera isn't quite up to the task of taking photos in such low-light conditions. For some reason it did OK with Wishes, but Spectromagic seemed to not be allowing the camera to take short enough exposures to get anything but blur.

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This is what most of my photos ended up looking like.

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The flash, of course, didn't seem to help much either.

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In spite of the difficulties faced, I did still manage to luck into a couple of good shots here and there. This one actually turned out pretty decent.

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As did these two, although there's not much to see in the background.

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Eventually, I managed to sneak into a slightly less obstructed spot as some of the people watching in front decided to leave, but I still had to stand up (which wasn't exactly my favorite thing in the world to do at that point.)

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From there, I was able to get some much less obstructed shots, although most didn't really come out.

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Eventually Spectromagic came to an end, and since my Soarin' Fastpass time was at hand, I didn't have time to hang around. I departed the Magic Kingdom for what would turn out to be my last time on this trip, and grabbed the monorail back to Epcot.

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Epcot is definitely a place that has a different feel to it at night.


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Once there, I headed for Soarin', where I got in the Fastpass line which, all things considered, didn't seem to be moving particularly fast. I suppose I'm a bit spoiled as far as Soarin' goes because on my 2006 trip to Disneyland I managed to ride it six times in three days with little to no wait. Still, the ride remains impressive, even if it does take a lot longer to get to over here.

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Once I got off Soarin' there was still about an hour left before Illuminations, and at this point I came to two realizations: 1) If I had to stand up and walk around for much longer, I ran the risk of something important falling off and 2) I still hadn't had any dinner. As I pondered my options, I wandered over to the MouseGears store for a few minutes, and while there, I ultimately decided that Illuminations could wait until tomorrow, and proceeded to head for the exit, temporarily forgetting that it was a long freakin' walk from the Epcot gate to the charter bus lot where the DTD buses picked up.

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Fortunately by the time I made it over there the bus was already waiting, so I boarded for the return trip to the hotel. As it would turn out, the bus ride would prove to be just a bit more interesting than I had planned on, as the driver of our bus seems to have been some sort of refugee from the Jungle Cruise. Fortunately, my half-mumbled sarcastic suggestion that the driver quote the omnipresent Stacy video from memory throughout the ride was only half-considered by our driver. This was definitely a good thing, because if he had I suspect there's a good chance I might have gotten myself tossed out the nearest emergency exit by an angry mob of fellow passengers. Instead, the ride back to the hotel (by way of DHS) was filled with some of the corniest one-liners and low-budget puns I've ever heard this side of a third grade jokebook. Eventually we made it back to the hotel, but I cannot confirm or deny that I fled the bus in panic when I got there. After sitting down for a few minutes in my room and making a quick check of my e-mail, I decided to walk over to Downtown Disney to find a nugget-free meal of some sort.

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Since Earl of Sandwich was the closest place to the entrance (and well-reviewed on the DIS,) I opted for that, and grabbed a meatball sub and a cup of potato soup.

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Food never looks that great in the dark, does it? I suspect if I looked, I could probably find a questionable diet or two based on this fact...

After polishing off my (late) dinner, I wandered in and out of some of the shops in the area, but didn't bother buying anything (yet). Eventually it was just about closing time for DTD, and time to head back to the hotel.

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I did make another stop at Ghirardelli for an ice cream cone on the way out though. After all, I don't seem to get a whole lot of chance to go on vacation, especially here. I might as well make the most of it. Anyway, I took the waffle cone back to my hotel room, and settled in for the evening. Tomorrow would be the last day of the trip, but at that point my plans were still pretty much up in the air for the day. I will pick up from there in the next installment, which I promise (for real this time) I won't take a month to write... Which, given my track record, probably means it'll probably be two months, but that's beside the point.

Next up: Part 14: Gone Hollywood - Back in Five Minutes (In which I fail to make it in the movies, and manage to get myself yelled at...)

[GreatBiscuit]

OK, I think I've made people wait long enough for another update. At this rate, I'll be lucky to finish off this trip report before I actually go again, and I haven't got a clue when that will be. :rolleyes1


When I last left off, I was just about to hop a monorail over to the Magic Kingdom in time for Spectromagic, with the plan to head back to Epcot afterwards to use a Soarin' Fastpass and catch Illuminations before turning in for the evening. Now that’s a mighty ambitious plan right there!


Along the way, I happened to catch a conversation between a CM and some guests about the then unannounced rehab of Space Mountain, providing some details about what would be happening there. Some have proven correct (the CM gave an April date for the ride shutdown) and others haven't been determined one way or the other yet (he said the cars would retain the same single-seat layout and the track layout would also remain unchanged.) We'll have to see how true this conversation turns out to be when we see the upgraded Space Mountain in the Fall. Don’t remind me! I’m TOTALLY bummed about not getting to partake of my favorite attraction!

Epcot is definitely a place that has a different feel to it at night. Too True. (Although I’ve been there all of ONCE at night so I’m not the world’s foremost expert on the subject.)


Once I got off Soarin' there was still about an hour left before Illuminations, and at this point I came to two realizations: 1) If I had to stand up and walk around for much longer, I ran the risk of something important falling off and 2) I still hadn't had any dinner. Not a healthy combination my friend.

Since Earl of Sandwich was the closest place to the entrance (and well-reviewed on the DIS,) I opted for that, and grabbed a meatball sub and a cup of potato soup. Good call!

I will pick up from there in the next installment, which I promise (for real this time) I won't take a month to write... Which, given my track record, probably means it'll probably be two months, but that's beside the point. :rolleyes1

Next up: Part 14: Gone Hollywood - Back in Five Minutes (In which I fail to make it in the movies, and manage to get myself yelled at...) Sounds interesting! popcorn::

[Vexorg]

And just a quick note to let people know that the next part of the Blog version of the trip report has now been posted. As usual, this is the same trip report posts that have been posted here (in this case, parts 11, 12 and 13,) dejargonized for the benefit of non-DISers and with a few additional notes added here and there. In this case, I also modified part 11 somewhat and added photos directly to the post. You can find the Blog post here:

Disney World Trip Report Part 6: Park Hopping for Dummies (http://thesledgehammer.wordpress.com/2009/05/13/disney-world-trip-report-part-6-park-hopping-for-dummies/)

I'll also be trying (ha!) to get the rest of this trip report finished up before too long here, as circumstances have led to me giving some consideration to taking a quick 3 or 4 day trip to Disneyland on short notice (more on that if it actually materializes.)

[brookelizabeth]

Spectro is a hard parade to get decent shots of. We had to completely tweak our settings to get some. The motion mixed with low-light it what makes it so difficult.

Did you enjoy Earl's? I realllllllly liked my sammich from there in January. And pretty decent price considering it's Disney World.

I think you must have had the bus driver we had on our ME to the resort in both November and January. LOTS of corny one-liners-which were very fun on your way to start your vacation, but I can sympathize with late night and how it would have been a tad annoying. Or maybe more than a tad...

I've never been in Giradehlli. I probably spelled that wrong. It always looks good, but I've never been hungry enough while in DTD.

Looking forward to hearing about the possible Disneyland trip!

[Vexorg]

OK, time to catch up (not much catching up to do, it would seem...)


Spectro is a hard parade to get decent shots of. We had to completely tweak our settings to get some. The motion mixed with low-light it what makes it so difficult.

Did you enjoy Earl's? I realllllllly liked my sammich from there in January. And pretty decent price considering it's Disney World.

I think you must have had the bus driver we had on our ME to the resort in both November and January. LOTS of corny one-liners-which were very fun on your way to start your vacation, but I can sympathize with late night and how it would have been a tad annoying. Or maybe more than a tad...

I've never been in Giradehlli. I probably spelled that wrong. It always looks good, but I've never been hungry enough while in DTD.

Looking forward to hearing about the possible Disneyland trip!

I'm sure if I had something besides a point-and-shoot camera I'd do much better on Spectromagic, but for now I'll make do with what I have. The funny thing is that a couple of months ago I managed to break the camera I used for these shots when I accidentally dropped it (long story, I blogged it but I'm too lazy to find the link.) I sent it to Canon to get it repaired and they wanted $140 for a replacement lens, which was more than I wanted to pay for a repair. Since I didn't really want to go back to the crummy old Olympus I had been using for quite a while before I got this one, I decided to bite the bullet and get another one, which I did (a PowerShot SD890, similar to my SD850 but a couple of revisions newer.) Since I assumed the old camera was a loss, I had it sent back so I could at least reuse the battery, but when it came back from Canon I found that somehow between there and here the problem had been fixed, meaning that I have two cameras now. But I digress...

As for Earl of Sandwich, I don't think one meal is enough to get a good feel for the place, but I thought it was quite good, and (more importantly) was cheaper than anything they had at the hotel. Even so, I definitely need to plan my food better the next time around.

Unfortunately, Disneyland ended up not working out, partially because I didn't have time to plan it soon enough, and partially because I had something else come up semi-unexpectedly that could end up throwing the proverbial monkey wrench into pretty much everything. The short version is that I'm interviewing for a job in Salt Lake City next week, and could end up moving there as a result. I'll have to see what happens, but if I did end up moving down there I'd be only 700 miles from Disneyland, which is definitely within roadtrip distance. I'd also be in a position where I might actually have vacation time to use every once in a while too. I guess I'll have to see what happens, but it's a big decision to make, and I don't know if I'm even going to need to make it yet.

Anyway, a new installment of the TR is on the way shortly. I might actually finish this thing at some point... Of course, then the question becomes what to do next?

[SereneOne]

Interested to hear more.:goodvibes

[brookelizabeth]

Your blog is through WordPress, right? Is there an RSS feed for it? I live by my Google Reader! I didn't see anything about RSS on it, but maybe I just missed it. The blog posts of yours that I have read have had me in tears they were so funny-plus Joe has REALLY enjoyed them as well! :thumbsup2

Interesting about the possiblity of moving to Salt Lake City. I hope it all works out for the best for you! Keep us posted.

What to do after a TR? Start planning another trip of course, it's a perfect excuse. ;)

[Vexorg]

Your blog is through WordPress, right? Is there an RSS feed for it? I live by my Google Reader! I didn't see anything about RSS on it, but maybe I just missed it. The blog posts of yours that I have read have had me in tears they were so funny-plus Joe has REALLY enjoyed them as well! :thumbsup2

Interesting about the possiblity of moving to Salt Lake City. I hope it all works out for the best for you! Keep us posted.

What to do after a TR? Start planning another trip of course, it's a perfect excuse. ;)


Try this:

http://thesledgehammer.wordpress.com/feed/rss/

And yes, I do go through Wordpress. I've got a few nitpicks with it (mostly in terms of user interface and a seriously fail-o-riffic built-in spell checker) but it has some nice features to it as well like built-in Blog stats, a much easier comment system to deal with (for the users anyway) and other things like that.

[brookelizabeth]

Try this:

http://thesledgehammer.wordpress.com/feed/rss/

And yes, I do go through Wordpress. I've got a few nitpicks with it (mostly in terms of user interface and a seriously fail-o-riffic built-in spell checker) but it has some nice features to it as well like built-in Blog stats, a much easier comment system to deal with (for the users anyway) and other things like that.

Thanks! I just added it. I'm about to read about Tacos.

I use Blogger. I don't update too often, and when I do, it's mostly about Henry. :rolleyes: But, if you are interested: http://thelastcoffee.blogspot.com

ETA: Just read about the Tacos. I love that your family made up a holiday!! Too funny! And how very clever. I've never seen, or heard of, tacos with radishes-but they look pretty good. I love me some good Mexican food. We have a GREAT place here in town with the real stuff, all homemade by a local family. Their corn tortillas are amazing.

[Vexorg]

Thanks! I just added it. I'm about to read about Tacos.

I use Blogger. I don't update too often, and when I do, it's mostly about Henry. :rolleyes: But, if you are interested: http://thelastcoffee.blogspot.com

ETA: Just read about the Tacos. I love that your family made up a holiday!! Too funny! And how very clever. I've never seen, or heard of, tacos with radishes-but they look pretty good. I love me some good Mexican food. We have a GREAT place here in town with the real stuff, all homemade by a local family. Their corn tortillas are amazing.

So your birthday is on June 7th, huh? That's one day before mine (Well OK, I'm ahead by a year, but still...) And in case you hadn't heard, apparently some people can just get away with having 29th birthdays every year for as long as they want (I know some people that have to be on their 15th 29th birthday by now...)

[brookelizabeth]

So your birthday is on June 7th, huh? That's one day before mine (Well OK, I'm ahead by a year, but still...) And in case you hadn't heard, apparently some people can just get away with having 29th birthdays every year for as long as they want (I know some people that have to be on their 15th 29th birthday by now...)

June 6, so you are two days behind me. Er...363 days ahead. :laughing: HAPPY (belated) BIRTHDAY by the way!! :banana: Did you have a good birthday? I haven't caught up on blogs recently in case you did blog about it. :rolleyes:

I like the idea of having my 29th birthday over and over again...:thumbsup2 Though, 30 really hasn't been so bad so far.

[Vexorg]

June 6, so you are two days behind me. Er...363 days ahead. :laughing: HAPPY (belated) BIRTHDAY by the way!! :banana: Did you have a good birthday? I haven't caught up on blogs recently in case you did blog about it. :rolleyes:

I like the idea of having my 29th birthday over and over again...:thumbsup2 Though, 30 really hasn't been so bad so far.

Thanks, I think. :confused3 I'm not a big fan of the whole "getting old" bit here, but I suppose I can't complain too much.

I haven't really done anything special for my birthday today, but I'm heading over to my parents' house for the obligatory dinner and a cake tomorrow evening when my siblings can be there.

And yes, I do need to write another update. I'm working on it, I swear. :rolleyes1

[GreatBiscuit]

Okay, you guys got me curious and I HAD to find the post with the radish bedecked tacos. Love the blog- gonna be spending some more time over there soon. The tacos looked mighty nifty. Looking forward to that forthcoming update and a HAPPY B-DAY to you!

[Vexorg]

OK, I'm pretty sure that my extended absence from the TR has probably put me on at least one milk carton by now (which, considering some of the crud they've been putting on milk cartons (http://thesledgehammer.wordpress.com/2009/06/05/why-johnny-cant-spell/) lately, would probably be something of an improvement.) I promised at the last update that I wouldn't make people wait a month for the next one, then suggested that it meant I would make them wait two instead. So even though it's been more than a month and a half since I last updated this (and now more than six months since I got back from the trip) I am actually exceeding my (admittedly abysmal) standards by updating sooner than I planned on. At least that's what I keep telling myself (I don't think my psychiatrist is buying it though.)

So, without further ado...

Part 14: If You Can't Make it Here, You Can't Make it Anywhere (which, of course, I probably didn't do.)

When I woke up at the usual 7:30 alarm on this fine Florida morning, I felt almost entirely like crud, which is a distinct improvement over the past couple of days when I had awakened and felt entirely like crud. I suppose I could have finally been getting used to the whole routine, but With just a day left at the World, the standard "I'm just about to run out of vacation" panic seemed to be simmering at the back of my mind. Nonetheless, my standard night owl habits and perhaps a bit of residual jet lag led me to hit the snooze button for another hour of sleep, as I had the previous three days. Finally an hour later, I woke up, almost being somewhat ready to take on the day ahead.

As I prepared for the day and contemplated my plans, I realized that I had a choice to make: Either I could head back to DHS since I barely scratched the surface on the place the previous day before heading back to Epcot, or I could head for Animal Kingdom, which is the only park I had not yet made it to. I had already pretty much made the decision that I was most likely going to end up passing on Animal Kingdom on this trip, but I still hadn't quite decided what I was going to do with the day. About the only definite item on the agenda was Illuminations in the evening since I seem to have run out of proverbial steam an hour before it was scheduled, but besides that the plans were up in the air.

As with the previous day, I departed the hotel and headed for Downtown Disney, mostly with the intent of skipping the hotel buses. Although the Disney hotel buses to DTD aren't supposed to actually start running until 10:00, it turns out that buses to POFQ begin running at 8:30 (I'm not entirely sure on this, it might even be 7:30,) presumably to allow the DTD hotel-bus shunning miscreants such as myself to have some alternate route to the parks.) I can't recall exactly when I got there, but I believe the regular buses had begun running by that time as well. Nonetheless, I opted for the suggested bus to POFQ, where I got off the bus and since I hadn't really decided what I would be doing that day yet, I was going to take the first bus to a park that showed up. About five minutes later, that bus ended up being the one to DHS, so I hopped on and made my way over.

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Upon arriving at the park, I was too late for the initial mad rush to Toy Story Mania, but I decided that I would give it a shot nonetheless.

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Making my way over there, I found that not only were Fastpasses still available (I managed to grab one with a 2:50-3:50 return time) but the standby line showed a 45 minute wait.

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Since apparently all the cool kids were riding this one, I decided that sounded almost reasonable, and decided to go for it. The actual wait turned out to be closer to 30 minutes, which provided plenty of time to get a good look at the queue, which is quite well done.

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I especially liked this giant Viewmaster disc of old departed Disneyland landmarks from the old Tomorrowland, back before they messed it up (but I digress.)

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In spite of my inability to see 3D due to a laundry list of eye problems which render my left eye basically useless (but my right eye functions well enough for me to function normally,) I managed to apply the dubious skills gained from a life misspent on video games to the task at hand, and put up what I assumed to be a relatively decent score. The seat next to mine was unoccupied, hence the goose-egg from over there.

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After getting off the ride, I decided to head over in the direction of the Great Movie Ride, but ultimately ended up taking the scenic route through the back of the park, where over near the notorious ABC Commisary (of Doom) I encountered some wet paint signs in a rather odd location. Oh well, I guess that answers the question about how they can get the trees to be so realistic here. I was wondering about that.

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Upon arriving at the Great Movie Ride, the sign showed a 10-minute wait I intended to get in line, but instead got distracted by the various prints in the sidewalk, to the point that by the time I figured out what I was doing that 10-minute wait had somehow turned into a 40-minute wait, at which point I decided to just save the ride for the next visit. Instead, I decided to head back toward the part of the park where the Tower of Terror and Rock 'n Roller Coaster reside.

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As I mentioned in a previous installment of the trip report it seems a bit odd to me that there was an entire gift shop of just Planet Hollywood merchandise at DTD, but you could sort of see the point since there was a Planet Hollywood there. This, on the other hand, is completely inexplicable. Besides, if I was inclined to shop with stars located anywhere north of the D-list, I seriously doubt that a gift shop full of vaguely Hollywood themed kitschy self-referential merchandise would be the place to do it.

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Moving on, I reached the Rock 'n Roller Coaster and Tower of Terror. Both had fairly long lines, and with no sign telling how long the Single Rider line was, I decided to just grab a fastpass, but I still had a while before I could get one for RnRC (I never could quite bring myself to actually ride Tower of Terror, on this trip at least.)

In the meantime, once again I had not made any plans for food for the day (and in fact had headed for the parks without pausing for breakfast on the way out,) so I decided that a stop at guest services was in order to see if they could check on available lunch reservations. Although my original intention had been to head over to Epcot for lunch, when I got there they happened to have a 2:15 ADR available at 50s Prime Time, which I went ahead and grabbed. This left several hours to kill between now and then though.

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As I wandered around a bit near the entrance, I saw one of the groups of street performers passing by, and since that sounded like a good excuse to not stand for a while, I followed them down the street where they set up their little show.

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Since part of the schtick involved was that nobody was supposed to take any photos of the big important director guy, I don't have a lot of photos of that one Of course, all that probably would have happened would be that I ended up getting stuck in the act, but still. Beyond that, about all I remember was something about an overly pretentious movie director type, and a phone that rang way too much, but it was entertaining (and stationary) enough that I sat through the whole thing. Unfortunately, I never got the opportunity to question the Great Director Whatzizface about why my shares of In the Can Pictures were, well, in the can, but that's beside the point.

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By the time that was done, it had just about reached the point where I could acquire another Fastpass, which I proceeded to acquire for Rock 'n Roller Coaster. Between the relatively close return times, the late lunch ADR and the fact that there was a good chance that there was going to be an annoyingly stationary parade somewhere in the middle of all that, it was going to make for an interesting time, but that time was still going to be a couple of hours away.

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I still had several hours until lunchtime at this point, so I stopped to grab a pretzel before continuing onward in my wanderings through the park. I noted that it was beginning to get near time for the Lights Motors Action show, and began to head over in that direction. It is from there that I will pick up in the next semi-exciting episode of the trip report.

Coming Up Next: Part 15: Just Like Mom Used to Nag You About (Lights Motors Action, Lunch at 50s Prime Time and a Mad Scramble for More Midway Mania)

[brookelizabeth]

LOVE your milk carton blog post!!! :rotfl2:

When I read koala, I was like "huh?" and it only got better from there.

Great WDW update too - I love that you just decided whatever bus came first would be the winner for the park of the day. And I had no idea buses at DTD weren't really supposed to run until around 10:00 am. Explains why it took 45 minutes to get a bus there around 8:30 am back on our January trip. I walked over there from SSR and was trying to get a bus to the Dolphin for the car rental place. Lots of POFQ buses then too if I recall correctly, but little of anything else.

Great score on TSM! My DH, who is legally blind, can see the 3-D but things are small for him-he still kicks my butt at all those games. I won against him in Buzz once though! (and it was NOT becuase the squirmy baby was on his lap, it wasn't! Really, it wasn't...:rolleyes:)

That pretzel looks yummy!

[GreatBiscuit]

He LIVES! What's up Verxorg? Nifty update as usual. Gotta love a good "go with the flow" day! I hope all is going well out west. Can't wait to see how your Disney Journey ends!

[All7OfUs]

Hey Vexorg! You're still with us!

Your day in DHS sounds like a nice "soak-up-the-atmosphere" kind of time! Nice!

Was that a cream cheese pretzel you're sportin' there? Looking forward to hearing how Prime Time was and if you made it to those FP times.

[Vexorg]

OK, catching up again...

Hey Vexorg! You're still with us!

Your day in DHS sounds like a nice "soak-up-the-atmosphere" kind of time! Nice!

Was that a cream cheese pretzel you're sportin' there? Looking forward to hearing how Prime Time was and if you made it to those FP times.

Yeah, been busy with work, and my latest ill-fated hobby, so I haven't had time to check in too often. Still got Brook's PTR and GreatBiscuit's TR to catch up on too, as well as a couple of others. I'm sure I'll get to all this eventually.

Oh yeah, and the pretzel was just a standard one. I'll have to try the cream cheese pretzels at some point though, I've heard good reports on those.

He LIVES! What's up Vexorg? Nifty update as usual. Gotta love a good "go with the flow" day! I hope all is going well out west. Can't wait to see how your Disney Journey ends!

Well, after the three previous days of going nonstop in spite of better judgment, I don't think I was in the mood for much beyond going with the flow.

LOVE your milk carton blog post!!! :rotfl2:

When I read koala, I was like "huh?" and it only got better from there.

Great WDW update too - I love that you just decided whatever bus came first would be the winner for the park of the day. And I had no idea buses at DTD weren't really supposed to run until around 10:00 am. Explains why it took 45 minutes to get a bus there around 8:30 am back on our January trip. I walked over there from SSR and was trying to get a bus to the Dolphin for the car rental place. Lots of POFQ buses then too if I recall correctly, but little of anything else.

Great score on TSM! My DH, who is legally blind, can see the 3-D but things are small for him-he still kicks my butt at all those games. I won against him in Buzz once though! (and it was NOT becuase the squirmy baby was on his lap, it wasn't! Really, it wasn't...:rolleyes:)

That pretzel looks yummy!

You mean your milk cartons aren't covered with ill-conceived vaguely educational activities over there? I work for one of the biggest high-tech companies in the world, and the milk cartons would bore a third grader to tears. The ironic part is that some groups here actually manage to get the Talking Rain cans in the drink fridges custom printed with some product or website they want to promote internally. Apparently they can't do the same with the milk cartons though. Maybe if they wanted "fun" activities for where I work, they should stick code on the backs of the cartons and get people to debug it.

The "grab the next bus" approach would be great for a longer trip where you don't need to be rushing everywhere, but might be pushing it on a short one. And yes, the Future Trip To Be Named Later (or FTTBNL for short, since everything on the DIS is required to have an acronym of some sort) will definitely be at least a week (how many times have I said that now?)

Anyway, the next update will be coming a bit later on tonight. I think it'll take about three more updates (plus possibly a couple of extra posts at the end) to finish this up.

[Vexorg]

Although it's been less than a month since the last update, I figure I better actually finish this thing at some point, so here goes the next installment...

Part 15 - Just Like Mom Used to Nag You About (You DID remember to take out the trash, didn't you?)

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When I last left off, I was wandering (sort of) in the direction of Lights! Motors! Action! (Extreme! Stunt! Show!) but since there was still a good 45 minutes remaining before the scheduled time, I wasn't in too big a hurry for this. As a result, I decided to stop in at the One Man's Dream exhibit. I didn't have time to watch the film there, but have time to check out the exhibits (unfortunately, this is the only one of my pictures from this exhibit which came out.)

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After spending some time in there, I went back out, and proceeded to head toward LMA again, noting that a fair number of people were doing the same. Fortunately, the bleachers here were plenty large to handle the crowds, and although I had to go up a bit to find the open seats, but there wasn't too much danger of them running out before I got there.

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With around 15-20 minutes to wait before the show was scheduled to begin, I got my phone out to take a look at the news from back home.

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It seems that another major snowstorm hit the area overnight, and this was the scene on SR520, just about a mile from my apartment. Snow is a relatively uncommon occurrence in the area, so when it does hit (especially in large quantities like this) people tend to be ill-prepared to handle it. Although I knew I was going to get my fair share of the stuff when I got back home the next day (and believe me, there was plenty of the crud to go around) I sure was glad that I wasn't there at the time. This particular day also happened to be my parents' anniversary (32 years,) and I later found out that their anniversary dinner ended up being a bucket of KFC because it was the only place they could find which was even open.

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Eventually the show started, and sure enough, it was extreme, and had stunts. One might even be inclined to say that there were even extreme stunts there.

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Yeah, I think I might consider hanging out here too if it would let me get away from Lindsey Lohan.

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This part would have worked a lot better if I hadn't been on the backstage tour first and seen how it was done.

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Just a split second too late on this one.

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Finally, they ended with the customary bang, and the show came to its conclusion. By now, my reservation at 50s Prime Time was about 20 minutes away, so it was time to head over in that direction, As I walked by, I was informed by a CM that the Indiana Jones stunt show (presumably also extreme) was in progress, and I could walk in and watch if I wanted. Unfortunately I didn't have time for that (yeah, there was a lot of stuff I missed this time around,) but I still did get to 50s Prime Time with a bit of time to kill, so I wandered around a bit more in that general area before finally checking in.

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Although I'm not exactly an expert on the topic of 50s home decor (for obvious reasons) I could tell that plenty of effort went into the place.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v320/Vexorg/Sledgehammer/Disney%20World%202008/IMG_3259.jpg

The "authentic" TVs were also a nice touch, although given the fact that Disney was better know for producing the stuff that goes on the television sets than they are for making the things, something tells me there was something a bit fishy going on here...

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And sure enough, a closer look revealed this. At this point, some guy in a double-breasted suit with bad hair appeared and told me to pay no attention to the man behind the curtain, but since I couldn't find any curtains there, I couldn't figure out what he was talking about. Anyway, even with the reservation, it took about 15-20 minutes to get seated. When Mom came looking for me, I denied everything and tried to blame the neighbor kid across the street. Of course it didn't work (it never does,) and I soon found myself escorted to the table.

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As usual, the waitresses were up to their customary nagging. Some poor kid with his elbows on the table ended up on the wrong end of this one. I managed to be a "good" kid, only getting yelled at once for having my "Walkie talkie" out at the table.

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While looking around the place, I noticed this shelf of cookbooks near my table that contained, among other selections, "How to Eat Better for Less Money." When the check arrived at the end of the meal, I was pretty sure I could think of a few ways to do so.

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I ordered a milkshake (pointing out, of course, that if this had actually been at home I would have been told that I'd drink water and that I'd LIKE it!) and the pot roast meal for lunch. It was quite good (pot roast is one of the meals I make frequently at home) and I finished it, at which point my empty plate was paraded around the place and displayed to everyone whether they liked it or not.

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I hadn't been planning on eating dessert here since I had already had a shake, but when your dessert menu is in 3D, who can resist?

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I concluded the meal with the angel food cake, served here with a simple mix of berries. Nothing too fancy, but I cleaned off my plate so that means I get dessert, right? All in all this was a bit of a splurge (especially the part about the shake and dessert) but I wouldn't hesitate to come back here. Preferably with someone else to blame for everything next time around, and preferably on the DDP so I don't have to pay so freakin' much next time around.

Anyway, with the meal finished off and paid for, I was within the Fastpass window for Toy Story Mania and Rock 'n Roller Coaster, and would actually be cutting it a bit close on the latter. Unfortunately, was also running right smack into the parade (again) on the way over, which meant I would be cutting it REALLY close... I'll pick up from here in what will most likely be the second-to-last installment, coming soon (maybe.)

Coming Up Next: Part 16: The End is Near... (Putting the "Fast" into Fastpass, and Saying Goodbye to the World, at least for now.)

[brookelizabeth]

You mean your milk cartons aren't covered with ill-conceived vaguely educational activities over there? I work for one of the biggest high-tech companies in the world, and the milk cartons would bore a third grader to tears. The ironic part is that some groups here actually manage to get the Talking Rain cans in the drink fridges custom printed with some product or website they want to promote internally. Apparently they can't do the same with the milk cartons though. Maybe if they wanted "fun" activities for where I work, they should stick code on the backs of the cartons and get people to debug it.

The "grab the next bus" approach would be great for a longer trip where you don't need to be rushing everywhere, but might be pushing it on a short one. And yes, the Future Trip To Be Named Later (or FTTBNL for short, since everything on the DIS is required to have an acronym of some sort) will definitely be at least a week (how many times have I said that now?)

Anyway, the next update will be coming a bit later on tonight. I think it'll take about three more updates (plus possibly a couple of extra posts at the end) to finish this up.

I like the idea of putting code to debug on the back of the milk cartons! :laughing: Our company does not offer milk - only water...and plastic cups. Nothing fun, or comical, to read. But we do get a "cookie day" once a month where the Admins make us yummy cookies. So no complain' here!!

Love the FTTBNL. :rotfl:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v320/Vexorg/Sledgehammer/Disney%20World%202008/IMG_3260.jpg

And sure enough, a closer look revealed this. At this point, some guy in a double-breasted suit with bad hair appeared and told me to pay no attention to the man behind the curtain, but since I couldn't find any curtains there, I couldn't figure out what he was talking about. Anyway, even with the reservation, it took about 15-20 minutes to get seated. When Mom came looking for me, I denied everything and tried to blame the neighbor kid across the street. Of course it didn't work (it never does,) and I soon found myself escorted to the table.

Oh that is funny! Good eye!
I wonder what they are going to do now that tube televisions are on the way out. I suppose they will have to pay a bunch of extra money to get them made still....!

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v320/Vexorg/Sledgehammer/Disney%20World%202008/IMG_3269.jpg



This is a REALLY cool shot! We weren't given the View Finder for our dessert menu unfortunately. Hopefully when we eventually return to this restaurant they will!


Anyway, with the meal finished off and paid for, I was within the Fastpass window for Toy Story Mania and Rock 'n Roller Coaster, and would actually be cutting it a bit close on the latter. Unfortunately, was also running right smack into the parade (again) on the way over, which meant I would be cutting it REALLY close... I'll pick up from here in what will most likely be the second-to-last installment, coming soon (maybe.)

Do you know the tip about the Fastpasses where it doesn't matter if your window is past? As long as you don't go early-you can go at ANY time after your window opens. Even hours past the window it lists on the ticket. Does that make sense?

[GreatBiscuit]

It seems that another major snowstorm hit the area overnight, and this was the scene on SR520, just about a mile from my apartment. Snow is a relatively uncommon occurrence in the area, so when it does hit (especially in large quantities like this) people tend to be ill-prepared to handle it. Although I knew I was going to get my fair share of the stuff when I got back home the next day (and believe me, there was plenty of the crud to go around) I sure was glad that I wasn't there at the time.That's gotta be a good feeling!


Eventually the show started, and sure enough, it was extreme, and had stunts. One might even be inclined to say that there were even extreme stunts there.So it was not just a clever name? Nifty.

As I walked by, I was informed by a CM that the Indiana Jones stunt show (presumably also extreme) was in progress, and I could walk in and watch if I wanted. Wow. I knew the show had gone down in popularity, but I had no idea they had to actively recruit an audience!


Although I'm not exactly an expert on the topic of 50s home decor (for obvious reasons) I could tell that plenty of effort went into the place. You know I don't ever remember seeing photos of this area before. They are pretty 50ish looking though. At least I THINK they are.


The "authentic" TVs were also a nice touch, although given the fact that Disney was better know for producing the stuff that goes on the television sets than they are for making the things, something tells me there was something a bit fishy going on here...

And sure enough, a closer look revealed this. At this point, some guy in a double-breasted suit with bad hair appeared and told me to pay no attention to the man behind the curtain, but since I couldn't find any curtains there, I couldn't figure out what he was talking about. That TV shot just cracked me up!

Also, I agree with BE - the ViewMaster pic was cool!

Coming Up Next: Part 16: The End is Near... (Putting the "Fast" into Fastpass, and Saying Goodbye to the World, at least for now.)popcorn::

[GreatBiscuit]

Are ya there man? (He said in his best Sebastian imitation.)

[Vexorg]

Yeah, still around (on occasion) but haven't had a lot of time lately. I really need to get this finished up at some point...

[All7OfUs]

Still here with ya! Ready to wrap this up, I'm anxious to see how your trip ended and if you think, oh no, not if WHEN! you'll be back!

[Vexorg]

Ah... Guess I need to finish this, eh? Ignoring for a second the fact that it's been nine months now, I suppose I should actually do so. I'll try to get the rest out later this week.

[GreatBiscuit]

Ah... Guess I need to finish this, eh? Ignoring for a second the fact that it's been nine months now, I suppose I should actually do so. I'll try to get the rest out later this week.

popcorn::

[Vexorg]

Actually, I've got the next part (mostly) written now, I just need to go dig through the pictures and finish adding those in. You can expect it sometime tomorrow.

[Vexorg]

Yeah, I'm still here, and yeah, I'm going to finish this thing...

Part 16 - The End is Near...

(Note: These last couple of parts are going to be a bit short on pictures, since I didn't really take a whole lot.)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v320/Vexorg/Sledgehammer/Disney%20World%202008/IMG_3281.jpg

When I last left off on this (about an eon or two ago) I had just finished off lunch at 50s Prime Time, where my (somewhat) good table manners got me through the meal (mostly) unscathed. As I was departing, the two fastpasses I had acquired earlier in the day for Toy Story Mania and Rock 'n Roller Coaster were now usable, but I was getting out at just the right (or wrong, depending on your perspective) time to run right into the afternoon parade.

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With the clock ticking on the fastpasses (yeah, I know now that they'll take FPs after the window, but still...) I wasn't exactly in the mood for a Block Party Bash (or any other kind of bash for that matter) Fortunately, I got there at just about the tail end of it, just as it was packing up and heading across to the next station. I did manage to catch one interesting detail as it was passing by though: The "Nutrition Facts" on the back of the big cookie box, complete with all the requisite Pixar in-jokes. And I thought some of the stuff I had for lunch was bad for me... Then again, apparently I can eat 75 kilograms of fat per day and still be within the recommended daily allowance, so it's all OK, right?

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From here, I headed over to Toy Story Mania to use my Fastpass. On one hand, you don't have the big long wait this way, but on the other hand, you miss some of the interesting little details in the queue. I wasn't particularly inclined to wait an hour and a half this time around though, and quickly got aboard for another ride. This time I managed to improve on my previous score somewhat. I also figured I might as well hit something with the other blaster. I departed and made my way over to Rock 'n Roller Coaster to use the other fastpass, but just as I was about to get there, I suddenly realized that once again, I had left my pack on the car over at Midway Mania, meaning that I would have to head all the way back over to try to get it back. Fortunately, the Lime Green Mickey Head I had placed on the bag made it easy to identify (even if I didn't get it back there was nothing all that important in there anyway,) and within a couple of minutes the CM who was supervising the stroller parking was able to retreive it for me. Having been reunited with my stuff, I made my way back over there, but by the time I did, lunch had begun to catch up with me a bit. I wouldn't say that I was feeling sick at all (a bit too full maybe,) but I was getting the sneaking suspicion that the Rock 'n Roller Coaster was probably not the best place to be taking $25 worth of lunch at that particular point in time. Sure, I wasn't going to get another chance to ride it, but I figured I could probably save it for the next trip anyway. I decided I'd just let someone else use the Fastpass, but found it surprisingly difficult to get rid of one fastpass. I ended up leaving the FP with the CM at the FP line and with instructions to hand it out to someone who could use it, and began making my way toward the park entrance. Aside from just being at the point of needing to take a break, I also had a bit of packing to take care of as well. Not only was this my last day at Disney World, but I also found myself facing an early morning flight out that would have me leaving the hotel at 4:45AM.

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I didn't quite head straight out of the park though. As I was leaving, I noted that someone from Disney Research was looking for people who had eaten in the park's restaurants that day to take a survey. Not being in that much of a hurry, I volunteered, and was led to a small room (more of a courtyard really) off to the side near the park entrance where several computers were set up. The survey was... Well, a survey. Having made my opinion count (or something like that) I continued to the park exit, and found the stop for the hotel bus. I think DHS may be the only park where the charter bus parking ISN'T three miles away from the park entrance, which is a good thing because I really wasn't in the mood for much walking at that point. The bus arrived shortly thereafter, and I returned to the hotel to rest for a bit, pack up, and figure out what I was going to do for my last evening at Disney World. To be honest, I really wasn't looking forward to going home the next day, since not only had the latest round of snow and ice turned the area up here into a big mess (as is, my car was stuck at my parents' house due to an impassable road,) but the weather reports for the day after I was to return were calling for a potentially destructive windstorm (which fortunately wasn't as bad as it could have been.) Not exactly the most fun thing to return home to, especially after four days at Disney World.

Nonetheless, after resting up a bit, I prepared to head back out. Since I had passed on it the previous evening, it appeared that Illuminations was going to be the main goal for the evening. It was still several hours away at this point though. The Magic Kingdom was out, as it was another MVMCP night (already took care of that one a couple of days previous,) and since I still wanted to catch Illuminations, Epcot was the destination for the evening... Eventually.

But first, I was headed for what was to be one last trip to Downtown Disney to take care of a bit of souvenir shopping. It was here that I made my major purchase of the trip: a framed character sketch of Donald flipping out over some random thing. I figured it would make a good counterbalance to the sericel of Daffy Duck I've got here in the den, and for a hand-drawn piece, I thought the price was actually quite reasonable. Unfortunately, it wouldn't be ready until several days after I left, and I had to include shipping in the cost. I'm quite pleased with the result (although it took nearly three weeks for it to arrive after it was shipped due to the various snafus created by throwing impassable roads into the already chaotic Holiday shipping season, with just a dash of standard-issue UPS incompetence for good measure,) but I'd recommend taking care of this early in the trip if you plan to get one of these, to improve your chances of being able to bring it home with you.


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v320/Vexorg/Sledgehammer/Disney%20World%202008/IMG_3295.jpg

Elsewhere in DTD, I made another trip to the World of Disney store where I spent a bit of time messing around with the pirate stuff. a CM graciously offered to take a picture (an offer which I, somewhat regrettably, accepted.)

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I wandered around the shop, but wasn't able to find what I was looking for, so I decided at this point to make what would be the last trip over to Epcot. Once again, I tried getting there by way of the Contemporary bus to monorail route. Sure, I've only been at Disney World for a total of four days in my whole life, but how hard could it be? Apparently hard enough that I managed to get lost on the way to the monorail and end up on the seventh floor. Oh well, photo op, I guess. After this, I got my bearings back, and eventually made my way back to the Epcot monorail.

Coming up next: Part 17 - And Now It's time to Say Goodbye: The trip comes to a close, but not without a couple more surprises along the way...

[GreatBiscuit]

Yeah, I'm still here, and yeah, I'm going to finish this thing... Woohoo!

Then again, apparently I can eat 75 kilograms of fat per day and still be within the recommended daily allowance, so it's all OK, right? Absolutely! It’s all part of the Disney magic.

I wouldn't say that I was feeling sick at all (a bit too full maybe,) but I was getting the sneaking suspicion that the Rock 'n Roller Coaster was probably not the best place to be taking $25 worth of lunch at that particular point in time. I know that feeling. Good call!

Not only was this my last day at Disney World, but I also found myself facing an early morning flight out that would have me leaving the hotel at 4:45AM. Yikes! That’s early my friend.

I didn't quite head straight out of the park though. As I was leaving, I noted that someone from Disney Research was looking for people who had eaten in the park's restaurants that day to take a survey. Not being in that much of a hurry, I volunteered, and was led to a small room (more of a courtyard really) off to the side near the park entrance where several computers were set up. The survey was... Well, a survey. Having made my opinion count (or something like that) I continued to the park exit, and found the stop for the hotel bus. We salute you for doing your Dis worthy duty!

Not exactly the most fun thing to return home to, especially after four days at Disney World. I would think not.

Apparently hard enough that I managed to get lost on the way to the monorail and end up on the seventh floor. Uh-Oh

Oh well, photo op, I guess.Nice recovery!

Can’t wait to hear what the remaining surprised are!

[brookelizabeth]

The nutritional facts on those cookies are hilarious! I love those little details.

Too bad you weren't feeling it for RnRC, but as you said-a good thing to save for your next trip!

Looking forward to the "surprises" you mention...

[All7OfUs]

That nutritional info. thing was out-of-control-fuh-nee!

Thanks for the chuckles today!

Bummer, you forgot your bag! Hate when that happens.

I remember those ice storms from last year! I can totally understand your not wanting to re-immerse yourself into real life again!