Janice
Super Shopper
- Joined
- Aug 18, 1999
I Did It My Way!
DAY 14 Magic Kingdom Downtown Disney and surprise, surprise! ~ EPCOT!
Well today dawned early I was just so excited that at last, on the last full day of the holiday, I was going to the Magic Kingdom. I know that a lot of my DIS friends will not comprehend how I could wait all this time, but I must stress this was not just my holiday. I am the Disney nutt in our house, and I was just happy to be in Orlando for the fourth time I was pleasantly surprised at how the crew James & Ian especially had taken to WDW in general. They had got caught up in the excitement of it all quite a lot and by today, were seen to be running to get me, because James had seen Donald out signing and Ian had spotted the seven dwarfs my absolute most favourite of all Disney.
Anyway more of those details shortly.
We start the day as usual at about 7 with us all having a very quick bite to eat for breakfast whilst that is happening, I am busy making sandwiches etc. This had been such a hit on the Monday that we were opting for it again, as we had places to see, people to meet, autographs to get. We were on a very tight schedule today as we had all decided that at whatever costs we must get back to Epcot, just one more time.
We headed off for Magic Kingdom and are located in Comedy car lot. We catch the tram to the monorail station and as there are no crowds we were very quickly winding our way to our destination. Now this is where the lads surprised me yet again. They are both craning their necks to see all that there are to see and James gets a glimpse of the Castle. This is going to be a very special, although brief, visit for me.
James and Ian linger, looking at the paving with all the names and we wonder if there are many from the UK. I have never heard of anyone doing this but I am sure there must be. We then head through the main plaza and this is where I just stood, got all choked up with a tear in my eye and thanked the powers that be, that I had the good fortune to be here again. I cannot help how I feel at this time. I love just to see it all and say to myself yet again I wonder if we could re-locate and find work here? I wonder if we could turn our heating company on its end and do air conditioning instead? Well, a girl can dream cant she?
Anyway, bags stored in the lockers and off we go. First stop, by request of the chaps: Alien Encounter. We take a lingering walk down Main Street, enjoying the fact that there are very few people about. It was really pleasurable, showing James and Emma all those little things that we have noticed in the past that you could easily miss on your first time. We make our way into Tomorrow Lane and guess what? - No queues straight on Alien Encounter. Now I duck out of this because I just get too hyper. I have done it twice and the first time, I panicked so much, I thought I was going to have an Asthma attack. The second time, I was not going to do it, but was talked into it by my dear friend, convincing me that after all Jan, you know what happens now. Well, I was almost as bad as the first time, and I swore I would never do this again. I am just too big a wussy!
I waited outside, had a wander around, checking out the lines for Space Mountain and the new Buzz Lightyears Space Ranger Spin. This looked fun. I meet the others and AE was a big hit they all really enjoyed this, well maybe Emma looked just a teensy weensy bit pale! Space Mountain next and we head that way, but Ian spots out of the corner of his eye Tomorrowland Indy Speedway. He made his way here instead and was really, really disappointed when he realised that in the main, this was for children. We looked for a few minutes but then headed on to Space Mountain. We waited 5 minutes, top whack and were loaded into 2 cars. This is the only ride that Katie remembered from her previous visit (she can remember lines to her plays with no trouble, but forgets important things like WDW visits!! Blah!) and is happily telling the others about this ride.
I love this, just coasting in the dark and not knowing what is happening next. However, James did not like this the only ride he did not like the whole holiday. He is a big lad, about 6 4 tall, and as it was in the dark, he was worried that he would catch his head on something. The rest of us thought this was a blast and would have gone again, but the queue had built up and was about 25 minutes when we came out so we went straight to Buzz. This was new for us all and we really enjoyed this. The competitiveness came out in us all and we all scored quite well and had a lot of fun.
As we exited, we could tell the crowds were building up and we decided it was time to leave Tomorrow Lane and head for Adventure Land. As we approached the castle, Ian spotted Mickey and Minnie out signing, along with Goofy so we made a beeline for them and joined the queues. We all very soon got into the swing of looking for characters and it created a lot of fun for us. We have some wonderful video footage and pictures of each and every one of us with a character (James got to cuddle up with Esmerelda!) and have some great memories of these encounters. We then picked up the horse drawn carriage and headed down Main Street. We queued in Main Street Bake Shop for Hot Chocolate and mmmmmmmm cakes! Delicious and soooo big! We had a five minute break and headed on.
They all went up the Swiss Family Treehouse, which they enjoyed, but I stayed outside. I am Asthmatic and although I was managing to keep up, any amount of stairs would have put paid to me for a while I have done this before, so did not mind waiting. Next up, Jungle Cruise, I enjoyed this as always fun and relaxing, and then Pirates of the Caribbean. We all enjoyed this too even the lads!
Mad dash now to Frontierland and we decide that it is too cold for Splash Mountain and the queue was about 40 minutes, so we went straight to Big Thunder Mountain Railroad for which we queued about 20 minutes. This is a great ride and we all enjoyed it. A quick wander around and then off to Liberty Square.
The weather is warming slightly and the crew heads for The Haunted Mansion. We did want to ride The Liberty Belle Riverboat, but we had just missed a sailing and the wait was half an hour. They liked the Haunted Mansion, Chris and I just wanted to rest up, so as we had been in this before, we just sat outside and enjoyed the warm sunshine. (Chris did doze off but dont tell anyone!) We took a quick walk through Fantasyland and then headed back through the Castle to make our exit.
This had been such a quick visit for us, but when you think of all we did in such a short space of time, we did not do too badly. We missed a lot of things that I would love to have seen and done, but I have seen them before, and I know in my heart that I will be there again I can live with that! We picked up our bags and I just stood for a few minutes and was feeling sad, when James noticed one of The Seven Dwarfs outside the Exposition Hall. Well nothing more to be said. I was off. My most favourite characters are The Seven Dwarfs and I was not missing this chance. When we got to the Hall, they had all moved inside and we dutifully went in with Autograph book in hand. We between us all got all the signatures, but could not find Bashful. Emma wandered and found him hiding in corner, sitting on the floor watching a video. This was just so funny. No one else had seen him, and we have a brilliant picture of Emmylou sitting on the floor cuddling Bashful it was just one of those special moments.
Satisfied, we now make our final exit and I am a happy bunny! We get back to the car and before we make our way to Downtown Disney we have our picnic lunch in the car lot and this worked out really well for us as we saved quite a bit of time.
It is now about 1 oclock I cannot believe we did all that we did in The Magic Kingdom! We park in the West Side car lot and we all head into the Virgin Megastore as we are all very much into music and the price of the CDs here is really cheap compared to home. The choice and variety is amazing. We spend far too much time in here, and then we spend more time wandering around looking into all the shops. I want to try and pick up a couple of special Xmas decorations from the Christmas Store, but it is way over the East Side. We spend another fair bit of time in the shop with all the curios in? I cannot remember the name, but they had signed autographs on photos, and that sort of thing.
By now, it is about 5 and the hunger pangs are hitting in again we check out Planet Hollywood, but decide against it. Those Perkins Restaurants sure do have a lot of pulling power with our crew! So its off to find the nearest one and have our dinner. I just mention, in passing as you do that I would have liked to have gone to the Xmas store, but never mind.
Dinner was the usual pleasant experience and I think that this maybe the last visit we make to a Perkins for this holiday. We did not linger over this meal, as we now were on a mission to get back to Epcot, which we accomplished by 6-30.
When we entered Epcot and took yet another look at Leave a Legacy; Katie and Ian decided that they were going to do it. We all looked at each other and what the heck for $38 part of me will always be in WDW so we all did it. The slick way this is carried out confirms everything you ever thought about WDW. We filled in the forms, paid our money and (after checking the hair and make-up the girls, obviously) had our photographs taken. That was it. As simple as ABC. We have since had our certificates sent to us at home, and I have logged on to the website. Amazing.
We all feel better for this and make our way to the Millennium Village. We are not going to leave this park today without seeing this. We just get slightly sidetracked as Off Kilter are just about to start performing and we stand and enjoy the humorous show and banter that they put on. We then at last reach Millennium Village and I must say I was disappointed. I dont know quite what I was expecting, but it reminded me of The Ideal
Home Exhibition, but about different Countries. That is the only way I can explain it, but I dont know if we missed some of it or if we were on a particularly bad day, but it did nothing for me. We exited this just as Tapestry of Nations was beginning and the sight of this extravaganza certainly made up for my disappointment.
We quickly head through to Morocco and check out all that is on offer here. The Gallery of Arts and Exhibits is worth a look and the shops all offer trinkets of a different nature. We then head into Japan and spend an hour wandering around looking at the beautiful items for sale here. Ian buys Katie a pearl (I had one bought for me a couple of years ago by my dear friend Marie on my birthday) as does James for Emma. James and Emma also chose one for Emmas mum as a present, and they pick out a Pink Pearl, which is stunning.
We have a good tour around The American Adventure, admiring the huge Gingerbread House in the Liberty Inn. The smell was wonderful as you entered and I have never seen such a huge gingerbread house. We have missed The Voices of Liberty, which I have particularly enjoyed in the past.
We now move on to Italy and just catch the last few minutes of the Nova Era which is like a Renaissance Quintet. The costumes were fantastic and there were strolling actors signing autographs. We got a few and they signed their name, along with Masquerade 2000 which was really nice. On the last tune, the band funked it up a bit which was quite funny and we enjoyed listening to this. The shops were exquisite here, but just a bit pricey. Emma bought a couple of beautiful silk scarves but they were expensive.
It was now time to find a spot for our final look at Illuminations. We wandered back towards the UK and were lucky to get onto the paved area just off the bridge between France and the UK. They rope this area off and you must sit down. We secured a brilliant spot sitting on the kerb, which kept us just a bit higher than those in front, and with no one behind so we were really lucky. The build up began and Katie and Ian decide that they must pop to the restrooms!!! Anyway, the show begins, they are not back and we have been saving their seats. There is a lady sitting on the floor in front with 2 little boys, so we offer her their spaces and she is really grateful I think. She did not speak English, but the gestures and smiles were pretty positive anyway.
This was the most amazing show. We had a totally unobstructed view, with the World floating towards us, so we had the complete full effect. It was wonderful and was again loved by one and all. I was just sad, that Katie and Ian had missed this opportunity, but unbeknown to me, that had caught the whole show, just to the side of where we were.
We were a very silent crew as we made our way back to the car lot. Obviously calling via the Showcase Plaza, where I purchased my copy of the Millennium CD and a copy of the Souvenir Millennium Book, which is lovely and sits nicely on the shelf next to my 25th Anniversary copy.
I am honest enough to say here, that I did shed a tear as we left the park for the last time this holiday I have so enjoyed the Millennium Celebrations and would not have wished to have been anywhere else in the whole world.
We make our way home and reflect on yet another great day before retiring to bed.
Tomorrow Packing, Downtown Disney, Harley Davidson Shop, One Last Visit to Perkins, and its my birthday!!
DAY 14 Magic Kingdom Downtown Disney and surprise, surprise! ~ EPCOT!
Well today dawned early I was just so excited that at last, on the last full day of the holiday, I was going to the Magic Kingdom. I know that a lot of my DIS friends will not comprehend how I could wait all this time, but I must stress this was not just my holiday. I am the Disney nutt in our house, and I was just happy to be in Orlando for the fourth time I was pleasantly surprised at how the crew James & Ian especially had taken to WDW in general. They had got caught up in the excitement of it all quite a lot and by today, were seen to be running to get me, because James had seen Donald out signing and Ian had spotted the seven dwarfs my absolute most favourite of all Disney.
Anyway more of those details shortly.
We start the day as usual at about 7 with us all having a very quick bite to eat for breakfast whilst that is happening, I am busy making sandwiches etc. This had been such a hit on the Monday that we were opting for it again, as we had places to see, people to meet, autographs to get. We were on a very tight schedule today as we had all decided that at whatever costs we must get back to Epcot, just one more time.
We headed off for Magic Kingdom and are located in Comedy car lot. We catch the tram to the monorail station and as there are no crowds we were very quickly winding our way to our destination. Now this is where the lads surprised me yet again. They are both craning their necks to see all that there are to see and James gets a glimpse of the Castle. This is going to be a very special, although brief, visit for me.
James and Ian linger, looking at the paving with all the names and we wonder if there are many from the UK. I have never heard of anyone doing this but I am sure there must be. We then head through the main plaza and this is where I just stood, got all choked up with a tear in my eye and thanked the powers that be, that I had the good fortune to be here again. I cannot help how I feel at this time. I love just to see it all and say to myself yet again I wonder if we could re-locate and find work here? I wonder if we could turn our heating company on its end and do air conditioning instead? Well, a girl can dream cant she?
Anyway, bags stored in the lockers and off we go. First stop, by request of the chaps: Alien Encounter. We take a lingering walk down Main Street, enjoying the fact that there are very few people about. It was really pleasurable, showing James and Emma all those little things that we have noticed in the past that you could easily miss on your first time. We make our way into Tomorrow Lane and guess what? - No queues straight on Alien Encounter. Now I duck out of this because I just get too hyper. I have done it twice and the first time, I panicked so much, I thought I was going to have an Asthma attack. The second time, I was not going to do it, but was talked into it by my dear friend, convincing me that after all Jan, you know what happens now. Well, I was almost as bad as the first time, and I swore I would never do this again. I am just too big a wussy!
I waited outside, had a wander around, checking out the lines for Space Mountain and the new Buzz Lightyears Space Ranger Spin. This looked fun. I meet the others and AE was a big hit they all really enjoyed this, well maybe Emma looked just a teensy weensy bit pale! Space Mountain next and we head that way, but Ian spots out of the corner of his eye Tomorrowland Indy Speedway. He made his way here instead and was really, really disappointed when he realised that in the main, this was for children. We looked for a few minutes but then headed on to Space Mountain. We waited 5 minutes, top whack and were loaded into 2 cars. This is the only ride that Katie remembered from her previous visit (she can remember lines to her plays with no trouble, but forgets important things like WDW visits!! Blah!) and is happily telling the others about this ride.
I love this, just coasting in the dark and not knowing what is happening next. However, James did not like this the only ride he did not like the whole holiday. He is a big lad, about 6 4 tall, and as it was in the dark, he was worried that he would catch his head on something. The rest of us thought this was a blast and would have gone again, but the queue had built up and was about 25 minutes when we came out so we went straight to Buzz. This was new for us all and we really enjoyed this. The competitiveness came out in us all and we all scored quite well and had a lot of fun.
As we exited, we could tell the crowds were building up and we decided it was time to leave Tomorrow Lane and head for Adventure Land. As we approached the castle, Ian spotted Mickey and Minnie out signing, along with Goofy so we made a beeline for them and joined the queues. We all very soon got into the swing of looking for characters and it created a lot of fun for us. We have some wonderful video footage and pictures of each and every one of us with a character (James got to cuddle up with Esmerelda!) and have some great memories of these encounters. We then picked up the horse drawn carriage and headed down Main Street. We queued in Main Street Bake Shop for Hot Chocolate and mmmmmmmm cakes! Delicious and soooo big! We had a five minute break and headed on.
They all went up the Swiss Family Treehouse, which they enjoyed, but I stayed outside. I am Asthmatic and although I was managing to keep up, any amount of stairs would have put paid to me for a while I have done this before, so did not mind waiting. Next up, Jungle Cruise, I enjoyed this as always fun and relaxing, and then Pirates of the Caribbean. We all enjoyed this too even the lads!
Mad dash now to Frontierland and we decide that it is too cold for Splash Mountain and the queue was about 40 minutes, so we went straight to Big Thunder Mountain Railroad for which we queued about 20 minutes. This is a great ride and we all enjoyed it. A quick wander around and then off to Liberty Square.
The weather is warming slightly and the crew heads for The Haunted Mansion. We did want to ride The Liberty Belle Riverboat, but we had just missed a sailing and the wait was half an hour. They liked the Haunted Mansion, Chris and I just wanted to rest up, so as we had been in this before, we just sat outside and enjoyed the warm sunshine. (Chris did doze off but dont tell anyone!) We took a quick walk through Fantasyland and then headed back through the Castle to make our exit.
This had been such a quick visit for us, but when you think of all we did in such a short space of time, we did not do too badly. We missed a lot of things that I would love to have seen and done, but I have seen them before, and I know in my heart that I will be there again I can live with that! We picked up our bags and I just stood for a few minutes and was feeling sad, when James noticed one of The Seven Dwarfs outside the Exposition Hall. Well nothing more to be said. I was off. My most favourite characters are The Seven Dwarfs and I was not missing this chance. When we got to the Hall, they had all moved inside and we dutifully went in with Autograph book in hand. We between us all got all the signatures, but could not find Bashful. Emma wandered and found him hiding in corner, sitting on the floor watching a video. This was just so funny. No one else had seen him, and we have a brilliant picture of Emmylou sitting on the floor cuddling Bashful it was just one of those special moments.
Satisfied, we now make our final exit and I am a happy bunny! We get back to the car and before we make our way to Downtown Disney we have our picnic lunch in the car lot and this worked out really well for us as we saved quite a bit of time.
It is now about 1 oclock I cannot believe we did all that we did in The Magic Kingdom! We park in the West Side car lot and we all head into the Virgin Megastore as we are all very much into music and the price of the CDs here is really cheap compared to home. The choice and variety is amazing. We spend far too much time in here, and then we spend more time wandering around looking into all the shops. I want to try and pick up a couple of special Xmas decorations from the Christmas Store, but it is way over the East Side. We spend another fair bit of time in the shop with all the curios in? I cannot remember the name, but they had signed autographs on photos, and that sort of thing.
By now, it is about 5 and the hunger pangs are hitting in again we check out Planet Hollywood, but decide against it. Those Perkins Restaurants sure do have a lot of pulling power with our crew! So its off to find the nearest one and have our dinner. I just mention, in passing as you do that I would have liked to have gone to the Xmas store, but never mind.
Dinner was the usual pleasant experience and I think that this maybe the last visit we make to a Perkins for this holiday. We did not linger over this meal, as we now were on a mission to get back to Epcot, which we accomplished by 6-30.
When we entered Epcot and took yet another look at Leave a Legacy; Katie and Ian decided that they were going to do it. We all looked at each other and what the heck for $38 part of me will always be in WDW so we all did it. The slick way this is carried out confirms everything you ever thought about WDW. We filled in the forms, paid our money and (after checking the hair and make-up the girls, obviously) had our photographs taken. That was it. As simple as ABC. We have since had our certificates sent to us at home, and I have logged on to the website. Amazing.
We all feel better for this and make our way to the Millennium Village. We are not going to leave this park today without seeing this. We just get slightly sidetracked as Off Kilter are just about to start performing and we stand and enjoy the humorous show and banter that they put on. We then at last reach Millennium Village and I must say I was disappointed. I dont know quite what I was expecting, but it reminded me of The Ideal
Home Exhibition, but about different Countries. That is the only way I can explain it, but I dont know if we missed some of it or if we were on a particularly bad day, but it did nothing for me. We exited this just as Tapestry of Nations was beginning and the sight of this extravaganza certainly made up for my disappointment.
We quickly head through to Morocco and check out all that is on offer here. The Gallery of Arts and Exhibits is worth a look and the shops all offer trinkets of a different nature. We then head into Japan and spend an hour wandering around looking at the beautiful items for sale here. Ian buys Katie a pearl (I had one bought for me a couple of years ago by my dear friend Marie on my birthday) as does James for Emma. James and Emma also chose one for Emmas mum as a present, and they pick out a Pink Pearl, which is stunning.
We have a good tour around The American Adventure, admiring the huge Gingerbread House in the Liberty Inn. The smell was wonderful as you entered and I have never seen such a huge gingerbread house. We have missed The Voices of Liberty, which I have particularly enjoyed in the past.
We now move on to Italy and just catch the last few minutes of the Nova Era which is like a Renaissance Quintet. The costumes were fantastic and there were strolling actors signing autographs. We got a few and they signed their name, along with Masquerade 2000 which was really nice. On the last tune, the band funked it up a bit which was quite funny and we enjoyed listening to this. The shops were exquisite here, but just a bit pricey. Emma bought a couple of beautiful silk scarves but they were expensive.
It was now time to find a spot for our final look at Illuminations. We wandered back towards the UK and were lucky to get onto the paved area just off the bridge between France and the UK. They rope this area off and you must sit down. We secured a brilliant spot sitting on the kerb, which kept us just a bit higher than those in front, and with no one behind so we were really lucky. The build up began and Katie and Ian decide that they must pop to the restrooms!!! Anyway, the show begins, they are not back and we have been saving their seats. There is a lady sitting on the floor in front with 2 little boys, so we offer her their spaces and she is really grateful I think. She did not speak English, but the gestures and smiles were pretty positive anyway.
This was the most amazing show. We had a totally unobstructed view, with the World floating towards us, so we had the complete full effect. It was wonderful and was again loved by one and all. I was just sad, that Katie and Ian had missed this opportunity, but unbeknown to me, that had caught the whole show, just to the side of where we were.
We were a very silent crew as we made our way back to the car lot. Obviously calling via the Showcase Plaza, where I purchased my copy of the Millennium CD and a copy of the Souvenir Millennium Book, which is lovely and sits nicely on the shelf next to my 25th Anniversary copy.
I am honest enough to say here, that I did shed a tear as we left the park for the last time this holiday I have so enjoyed the Millennium Celebrations and would not have wished to have been anywhere else in the whole world.
We make our way home and reflect on yet another great day before retiring to bed.
Tomorrow Packing, Downtown Disney, Harley Davidson Shop, One Last Visit to Perkins, and its my birthday!!
