Chpt 24 - Baby steps to the park.
Ok...so we were on the bus...and I was sulking a little bit because Tinkershell had just explained to me that there's no bustling downtown section at EPCOT, let alone a giant climate-control bubble...because Walt Disney had passed away before he was able to fulfill his dream for the park. Unfortunately, Pal Mickey overheard our conversation about Walt and was heart-broken because we had never given him the bad news. In fact, we never give Pal Mickey the bad news about anything...because he's so soft-hearted. When Pal Mickey watched the scene in
Lion King where Simba finds his father's lifeless body in the gorge....I seriously didn't know if he was going to make it.
Pal Mickey took the news pretty hard
A quick check of my watch showed that we were not going to make rope drop....which made my left eye start to twitch because I hate to be late for anything. So, as soon as we cleared EPCOT customs, we did our patented quick walk which is definately not a run because thats a Disney no-no straight to Soarin’. According to Tinkershell's non-negotiable itinerary, the plan was to grab a set of Soarin’ fastpasses for later and then jump in line for a quick flight before the wait got too long. Unfortunately, somebody must have handed out pirated copies of Tinkershell’s non-negotiable itinerary....because there were a lot of people ahead of us.
The estimated wait time for Soarin' was 45 minutes....but we had found from past experience that WDW estimated wait clocks tend to be a bit pessimistic, so we jumped in line and crossed our fingers.....except Pal Mickey because his fingers are all stuck together. Exactly 45 minutes later, we rounded the final corner and stepped up to the CM in charge. Somewhere along the line, Tinkershell had gotten the idea that she needed to be in the front row....something about not seeing dangling feet....so she saunters on up to the CM to make her request, because apparently she's something special. A couple of minutes later, we were waved on to the front row of the next empty Soarin' que area.....where we awaited David Puddy's last minute instructions.
Sadly, Pal Mickey had a couple of a problems on Soarin’. First, they wouldn’t let him have his own seat....because apparently plush interactive toys have no rights in EPCOT, so we had to cram him in the storage container under our seat...right next to the Mickey Ears that Puddy shamed that poor man into taking off during the orientation film. Luckily, Pal Mickey could still see because he could peek over the top of the netting, but nonetheless...he was totally outraged by this supposed trampling of his constitutional rights. Whatever Pal Mickey.....like Herbie Hancock had you in mind when he signed the Declaration of Independence. Plus, Pal Mickey freaked out everytime we soared over the ocean...because of his unreasonable fear of water.
After Soarin', the rest of the family headed over to the Seas with Nemo and Friends while I scampered off to Test Track to pick up some fastpasses...for I am the designated fastpass specialist. Incidentally, I had started to wonder if all this designated fastpass specialist business was just a big scam. Sure, it had been pretty cool when Tinkershell had first bestowed the title upon me...especially the part where I kneeled and she touched me on either shoulder with her big soup laddle...but now I was beginning to think it was just some dastardly scheme designed to make me do all the work.
Anyway, when I finally rejoined the family, it was nearly time for the next Turtle Talk with Crush show. This was another first-time experience for us. I’m here to tell you right now....Crush was a real turtle. I know...I know...he looked like a cartoon figure, but that turtle was saying things about people in the room that there’s no way he could have known if he was fake. Hair styles.....shirt colors....it was a little unsettling to be honest. Plus, later on, Crush even fielded some questions from the audience....and how could an imaginary turtle manage that I ask you? Anyway, if I had one complaint about the show it was that Crush spent most of his time interacting with all the little kids, when he probably should have been paying more attention to me....because I doubt very much that any of those little ankle-nippers shelled out so much as a nickel to get in the park. They probably made their parents pay....freeloaders.
Next up: Chpt 25 - More droning on about EPCOT