The Search for My Wits: a Solo TR - 7/13 UD
- Thread starter LegoMom3
- Start date
LegoMom3
WDW vet now exploring "Walt's Park!"
- Joined
- Aug 27, 2004
Leaving Animal Kingdom, I stopped at The Outpost gift shop to have a look around. I quickly found a neat AK-themed scrap book layout kit, and apparently also purchased something else that I can't remember, nor can I decipher the receipt!! It reads: "TS WDW VL BLU YM." Hmm...something blue and yummy??! A table service?!....what's a "VL?"! Oh well, no matter I guess....whatever it is, I trust it's serving its purpose!
I was giving myself some down time this afternoon, before my Afternoon Tea and late night at the Magic Kingdom. I took some photos around POFQ and browsed around Jackson Square Gifts....
My building....
Courtyard looking towards the lobby....
Then, despite it being the heat of the day and quite warm, I went to the hot tub for a soak. It had been very crowded the night before. It still felt quite good, but I just didn't linger too long. Decided after that to have a swim in the pool, and that was refreshing!
There was still quite a while before I had to be at the Grand Floridian Tea Room, but after my swim I was ready to venture out again so I set off for MK, stopping at Sassagoula to fill up on Diet Coke on my way out. I was early enough that I decided to go into the MK for a bit, and as I entered the park I just caught the end of this parade:
I love Sweetums!!
Heading to Tomorrowland, I went for the WEDway and got a front row seat!! I could ride this all day, I swear I could....
After a spin on the WEDway, I snapped that pic of my favorite little aliens and then bought a frozen Coke at the nearby Lunching Pad. I did a lot of just poking around Main Street, looking at this and that, listening to BGM..... When I determined it was time to head to the GF, I hopped on the monorail and enjoyed the trip around Bay Lake.
I was still a bit early but headed in to find the Tea Room and at least check in. I had never been in the GF before and it was quite stunning. It's not my style, and not someplace I ever aspire to stay at, but it is beautifully done. Realizing I was on the 2nd floor and needed to be on the lower level, I followed the signs for the stairs....as I came around the corner and started to descend, the staircase blew me away -- all I could think of was This is the flippin' Titanic on land!!! Dude.....that staircase is HUGE! I guess when you think about it, the period is roughly the same as the Titanic, so there were plenty of details in the GF to remind you of it.
Anyway, the Tea Room was just to the right at the bottom of the stairs, so I gave my name and sat in a big comfy chair to wait. And wait. And wait. I was 20 minutes early, and the Tea Room was FULL....so I ended up waiting probably close to 40 minutes before I got seated. Maybe more, I'm not sure. But it was SO WORTH IT!! I was given another flower for Mother's Day, and didn't feel at all out of place being here alone. I ordered the Sally Lunn tea, only it turns out they had just run out of Sally Lunn bread! But my lovely server offered me two scones instead, which was fine with me and they were delicious. For dessert I was supposed to have a choice of strawberries & cream or the trifle, but I was also offered my choice of two pastries, which I accepted with delight! These pastries are part dessert, part art form! SO delicate, and served on this fancy silver tiered tray! I got a fruit tart and a chocolate eclair. For tea I got the Floral Jasmine Green......and I nearly finished the entire pot!! OMG it was sooooooo yummy. Very light, and just sweet enough.
I lingered over my tea and morsels just long enough, and then it was high time to return to the MK and get some fun on! It was EMH that night and I planned to stay and play for as long as I could keep my eyelids propped open!
Before it even got dark I managed to take in Big Thunder Mt. RR twice, Pirates, the WEDway again, Buzz Lightyear and Philharmagic. MK is SO awesome after dark! I took this photo on the back of the castle....I had never noticed those windows before!! I also like the giant peeking in at the back of Sir Mickey's.
Just before EMH officially started, I decided to ride the Jungle Cruise. It's not a "must-do" for me but there was no line at all (matter of fact I'm pretty certain I was on the last boat of the night). It ended up being a good decision because we had a GREAT skipper! One of the funniest moments of this day was when we were about to go through the little tunnel formed by the Asian "ruins", and he said, in his best Gene Wilder Willy Wonka voice -- "There's no way of really knowing....." ALL the adults on that boat just roared!!! It was SO funny and SO appropriate....
By the end of that ride I was feeling some hungry, so I hopped over to Casey's Corner for my favorite meal of a Casey's dog with cheese fries.....At this point everyone was vying for position outside for Wishes, so I had no problem pulling up a corner table in the back. I think Casey's is the only place in world that I actually enjoy a simple hotdog, that much. Yum - O. But, being Casey's, and having the reputation it does among myself and a couple of dear friends, there was just no way that this was going to be "just" a meal....Oh no. I can't eat here without thinking of that one experience in particular -- fries up the nostril and all -- so those two dear friends were front and center in my mind as I sat down to eat. Now, Casey's serves their dogs in this nice little foil/paper wrapper to preserve maximum warmth from steamer to your mouth. As I opened the bag, I tilted it a bit with my left hand, which evidently caused some dislodging in there because my right hand reached in and grabbed nothin' but a warm, naked hot dog.....It was so unexpected and SO inappropriate that I laughed out loud and probably turned 5 kinds of red.....DED! OMG what IS it with this place?!!
Moving right along!.....
I spent the rest of the evening running around from this attraction to the next.....took in the Haunted Mansion at night! Also BTMRR.....fantastic at night!! I had a Fastpass for The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh and a great CM who let me wait for a front row! I caught the end of Wishes from Fantasyland right after that....it was cool to be practically right underneath it all!
I think I finally called it night somewhere around 11:30pm, and headed back to POFQ and my comfy, fluffy bed.....
And THAT, was just about the BEST Mother's Day EVER.
--------------------------------
Up Next: I Will Finish this TR If It Kills Me!!!!!!!
I was giving myself some down time this afternoon, before my Afternoon Tea and late night at the Magic Kingdom. I took some photos around POFQ and browsed around Jackson Square Gifts....
My building....
Courtyard looking towards the lobby....
Then, despite it being the heat of the day and quite warm, I went to the hot tub for a soak. It had been very crowded the night before. It still felt quite good, but I just didn't linger too long. Decided after that to have a swim in the pool, and that was refreshing!
There was still quite a while before I had to be at the Grand Floridian Tea Room, but after my swim I was ready to venture out again so I set off for MK, stopping at Sassagoula to fill up on Diet Coke on my way out. I was early enough that I decided to go into the MK for a bit, and as I entered the park I just caught the end of this parade:
I love Sweetums!!
Heading to Tomorrowland, I went for the WEDway and got a front row seat!! I could ride this all day, I swear I could....
After a spin on the WEDway, I snapped that pic of my favorite little aliens and then bought a frozen Coke at the nearby Lunching Pad. I did a lot of just poking around Main Street, looking at this and that, listening to BGM..... When I determined it was time to head to the GF, I hopped on the monorail and enjoyed the trip around Bay Lake.
I was still a bit early but headed in to find the Tea Room and at least check in. I had never been in the GF before and it was quite stunning. It's not my style, and not someplace I ever aspire to stay at, but it is beautifully done. Realizing I was on the 2nd floor and needed to be on the lower level, I followed the signs for the stairs....as I came around the corner and started to descend, the staircase blew me away -- all I could think of was This is the flippin' Titanic on land!!! Dude.....that staircase is HUGE! I guess when you think about it, the period is roughly the same as the Titanic, so there were plenty of details in the GF to remind you of it.
Anyway, the Tea Room was just to the right at the bottom of the stairs, so I gave my name and sat in a big comfy chair to wait. And wait. And wait. I was 20 minutes early, and the Tea Room was FULL....so I ended up waiting probably close to 40 minutes before I got seated. Maybe more, I'm not sure. But it was SO WORTH IT!! I was given another flower for Mother's Day, and didn't feel at all out of place being here alone. I ordered the Sally Lunn tea, only it turns out they had just run out of Sally Lunn bread! But my lovely server offered me two scones instead, which was fine with me and they were delicious. For dessert I was supposed to have a choice of strawberries & cream or the trifle, but I was also offered my choice of two pastries, which I accepted with delight! These pastries are part dessert, part art form! SO delicate, and served on this fancy silver tiered tray! I got a fruit tart and a chocolate eclair. For tea I got the Floral Jasmine Green......and I nearly finished the entire pot!! OMG it was sooooooo yummy. Very light, and just sweet enough.
I lingered over my tea and morsels just long enough, and then it was high time to return to the MK and get some fun on! It was EMH that night and I planned to stay and play for as long as I could keep my eyelids propped open!
Before it even got dark I managed to take in Big Thunder Mt. RR twice, Pirates, the WEDway again, Buzz Lightyear and Philharmagic. MK is SO awesome after dark! I took this photo on the back of the castle....I had never noticed those windows before!! I also like the giant peeking in at the back of Sir Mickey's.
Just before EMH officially started, I decided to ride the Jungle Cruise. It's not a "must-do" for me but there was no line at all (matter of fact I'm pretty certain I was on the last boat of the night). It ended up being a good decision because we had a GREAT skipper! One of the funniest moments of this day was when we were about to go through the little tunnel formed by the Asian "ruins", and he said, in his best Gene Wilder Willy Wonka voice -- "There's no way of really knowing....." ALL the adults on that boat just roared!!! It was SO funny and SO appropriate....
By the end of that ride I was feeling some hungry, so I hopped over to Casey's Corner for my favorite meal of a Casey's dog with cheese fries.....At this point everyone was vying for position outside for Wishes, so I had no problem pulling up a corner table in the back. I think Casey's is the only place in world that I actually enjoy a simple hotdog, that much. Yum - O. But, being Casey's, and having the reputation it does among myself and a couple of dear friends, there was just no way that this was going to be "just" a meal....Oh no. I can't eat here without thinking of that one experience in particular -- fries up the nostril and all -- so those two dear friends were front and center in my mind as I sat down to eat. Now, Casey's serves their dogs in this nice little foil/paper wrapper to preserve maximum warmth from steamer to your mouth. As I opened the bag, I tilted it a bit with my left hand, which evidently caused some dislodging in there because my right hand reached in and grabbed nothin' but a warm, naked hot dog.....It was so unexpected and SO inappropriate that I laughed out loud and probably turned 5 kinds of red.....DED! OMG what IS it with this place?!!
Moving right along!.....
I spent the rest of the evening running around from this attraction to the next.....took in the Haunted Mansion at night! Also BTMRR.....fantastic at night!! I had a Fastpass for The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh and a great CM who let me wait for a front row! I caught the end of Wishes from Fantasyland right after that....it was cool to be practically right underneath it all!
I think I finally called it night somewhere around 11:30pm, and headed back to POFQ and my comfy, fluffy bed.....
And THAT, was just about the BEST Mother's Day EVER.
--------------------------------
Up Next: I Will Finish this TR If It Kills Me!!!!!!!
creativeamanda
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jan 21, 2008
That has to be the best Mother's day ever. I am so impressed with everything you got done that day. And the tea? This is something I have to do with my girls next time around!
LegoMom3
WDW vet now exploring "Walt's Park!"
- Joined
- Aug 27, 2004
It was aMAZing what I could get done being the only one making decisions!! I did whatever I wanted, sometimes planned, sometimes on a whim.
LOVED. It....
.
LegoMom3
WDW vet now exploring "Walt's Park!"
- Joined
- Aug 27, 2004
Ham: I seriously doubt he's getting this kind of mileage.
It's hard to top a day like Mother's Day was for me, but the next day did not disappoint. One. Bit. How could so much magic happen to one person, in one trip?! Makes a gal feel special, I'll tell ya. But we're going to come close to topping it today!.....today, we are going to do three parks plus Downtown Disney!! Only on a solo, baby.....only on a solo!
The day began early, as usual. Coffee walk to fill my mug, return to room to get ready for the day, refill mug again on the way to the bus stop, and hop on the bus that you want that arrives just as you get to the bus stop! Woo hoo! I was on my way to the Studios. And again, my timing was perfect. It is SOOO quiet at the parks at this hour! A few early-morning go-getters like myself, milling around, snapping pics and waiting first in line at a turnstyle!
When we were allowed into the park, we went part way down Hollywood Blvd. to The Rope, where we were greeted by CMs who were from the various attractions and dressed to match. They gave us the spiel about how we would WALK to the attractions, how we would NOT pass them, and how it would be an orderly mass stampede! Then we got the little opening ceremony from some Streetmosphere players....
Now, I should add here that I have never, ever done the mad rush for Toy Story Mania. The last time I was here, we arrived just after opening and putzed our way through the park. We lucked out in that there were still Fastpasses available by the time we got to TSM at the late hour of 10:30am, but on this trip I wanted to ride and ride more than once. I followed the TSM CMs as fast as my vertically-challenged legs could move, and was FIRST to one of the Fastpass kiosks!! What an amazing feeling..... Now, this is where I should have jumped right into the standby line....it was already filling up, but what had also already filled up was my bladder (remember that double refill on the mug?!.....yeah.....That.) Fortunately there are restrooms right around the corner and in the time it took for me to detour there, the standby line didn't fill up terribly much. I think the wait was listed at 20 minutes or so, but since I had never had the chance to enjoy the queue area for this ride, I didn't mind the chance to do just that.
This ride is a BLAST. It needs no words. It needs to be experienced! Seriously I could do it over and over and over. This was my score:
When I finished with my first round, I had just enough time to kill before my FP return time to grab a quick bite at the pastry cart that was conveniently located smack dab across from the TSM exit.... I got a cheese danish but NO coffee. The World's Smallest Bladder had had enough exercise for one morning, thank you very much. So I went for my second go-round on TSM, enjoyed it every bit as much (more?!), and can believe I got the exact. same. score....!
After TSM I walked to the Backlot Studio Tour. Had missed that on the last trip due to a sorry combination of the Hurricane Ike torrential rain bands and not having Park Hoppers.... Now I hadn't done this since '96 so I barely remembered any of it. I didn't remember the boat scene at the beginning where the volunteers show what goes into making an action scene (and a wet one at that!). That was pretty cool. After that we went through a really, really cool store room for all manner of props. Onto the tram, and off on our tour!
Following the tram ride, you go through another section of props and costumes...All I could think was how much my boys would love to see this stuff!
Darth Maul costume...
King Miraz.....
...and Davy Jones' organ!!
After the Backlot tour, I turned back towards Pixar Place and wanted to see Walt Disney: One Man's Dream. This was really, really fascinating. I think a lot of people pass it by as uninteresting because it's not a ride, but as far as I'm concerned it's not to be missed, at least once in your life. After the walk-through section there is a short film, which has a lot of old footage and I really enjoyed that.
About now it was getting to be lunchtime-ish, and since all I'd eaten so far were two cups of coffee and a cheese danish, the ol' tummy was talkin'! I decided on Toy Story Pizza Planet for lunch; I happen to like the pizza served at WDW and wasn't in the mood for burger fare or the like. Since it was early I walked right up to place my order and took my meal of cheese pizza, salad, a choc. chip cookie and GINORMOUS Diet Coke outside to sit under an umbrella table. It was quiet, there was background music, and I was fairly well in solo-trip heaven....
I took this photo in the Muppet shop.....
And saw Lightning and MATER!!!.....
At this point I had done all I wanted to do here, and was ready to move on to the next part of my day, so I started back towards the entrance. The Streetmosphere players were out so I stopped to watch for a bit......They are SO funny and this director/actress pair were fantastic!!
I was sort of amazed at what I had accomplished in a mere 4 hours at this park, but again, that's the beauty of being by myself! And the day had really only begun...!
It's hard to top a day like Mother's Day was for me, but the next day did not disappoint. One. Bit. How could so much magic happen to one person, in one trip?! Makes a gal feel special, I'll tell ya. But we're going to come close to topping it today!.....today, we are going to do three parks plus Downtown Disney!! Only on a solo, baby.....only on a solo!
The day began early, as usual. Coffee walk to fill my mug, return to room to get ready for the day, refill mug again on the way to the bus stop, and hop on the bus that you want that arrives just as you get to the bus stop! Woo hoo! I was on my way to the Studios. And again, my timing was perfect. It is SOOO quiet at the parks at this hour! A few early-morning go-getters like myself, milling around, snapping pics and waiting first in line at a turnstyle!
When we were allowed into the park, we went part way down Hollywood Blvd. to The Rope, where we were greeted by CMs who were from the various attractions and dressed to match. They gave us the spiel about how we would WALK to the attractions, how we would NOT pass them, and how it would be an orderly mass stampede! Then we got the little opening ceremony from some Streetmosphere players....
Now, I should add here that I have never, ever done the mad rush for Toy Story Mania. The last time I was here, we arrived just after opening and putzed our way through the park. We lucked out in that there were still Fastpasses available by the time we got to TSM at the late hour of 10:30am, but on this trip I wanted to ride and ride more than once. I followed the TSM CMs as fast as my vertically-challenged legs could move, and was FIRST to one of the Fastpass kiosks!! What an amazing feeling..... Now, this is where I should have jumped right into the standby line....it was already filling up, but what had also already filled up was my bladder (remember that double refill on the mug?!.....yeah.....That.) Fortunately there are restrooms right around the corner and in the time it took for me to detour there, the standby line didn't fill up terribly much. I think the wait was listed at 20 minutes or so, but since I had never had the chance to enjoy the queue area for this ride, I didn't mind the chance to do just that.
This ride is a BLAST. It needs no words. It needs to be experienced! Seriously I could do it over and over and over. This was my score:
When I finished with my first round, I had just enough time to kill before my FP return time to grab a quick bite at the pastry cart that was conveniently located smack dab across from the TSM exit.... I got a cheese danish but NO coffee. The World's Smallest Bladder had had enough exercise for one morning, thank you very much. So I went for my second go-round on TSM, enjoyed it every bit as much (more?!), and can believe I got the exact. same. score....!
After TSM I walked to the Backlot Studio Tour. Had missed that on the last trip due to a sorry combination of the Hurricane Ike torrential rain bands and not having Park Hoppers.... Now I hadn't done this since '96 so I barely remembered any of it. I didn't remember the boat scene at the beginning where the volunteers show what goes into making an action scene (and a wet one at that!). That was pretty cool. After that we went through a really, really cool store room for all manner of props. Onto the tram, and off on our tour!
Following the tram ride, you go through another section of props and costumes...All I could think was how much my boys would love to see this stuff!
Darth Maul costume...
King Miraz.....
...and Davy Jones' organ!!
After the Backlot tour, I turned back towards Pixar Place and wanted to see Walt Disney: One Man's Dream. This was really, really fascinating. I think a lot of people pass it by as uninteresting because it's not a ride, but as far as I'm concerned it's not to be missed, at least once in your life. After the walk-through section there is a short film, which has a lot of old footage and I really enjoyed that.
About now it was getting to be lunchtime-ish, and since all I'd eaten so far were two cups of coffee and a cheese danish, the ol' tummy was talkin'! I decided on Toy Story Pizza Planet for lunch; I happen to like the pizza served at WDW and wasn't in the mood for burger fare or the like. Since it was early I walked right up to place my order and took my meal of cheese pizza, salad, a choc. chip cookie and GINORMOUS Diet Coke outside to sit under an umbrella table. It was quiet, there was background music, and I was fairly well in solo-trip heaven....
I took this photo in the Muppet shop.....
And saw Lightning and MATER!!!.....
At this point I had done all I wanted to do here, and was ready to move on to the next part of my day, so I started back towards the entrance. The Streetmosphere players were out so I stopped to watch for a bit......They are SO funny and this director/actress pair were fantastic!!
I was sort of amazed at what I had accomplished in a mere 4 hours at this park, but again, that's the beauty of being by myself! And the day had really only begun...!
LegoMom3
WDW vet now exploring "Walt's Park!"
- Joined
- Aug 27, 2004
That was a fun read.
IKermit. I would have been thrilled to see him.
Thanks SadieDog!...
I think you're the last lone follower of this TR, but I do appreciate it! And there's LOTS more pics to come....Stay tuned!!
.
creativeamanda
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jan 21, 2008
Wow--I have never done the Backlot tour, but it is something I think I need to do. Thanks for the pictures--I needed to see them.
How close was building 3 to the front?
How close was building 3 to the front?
LegoMom3
WDW vet now exploring "Walt's Park!"
- Joined
- Aug 27, 2004
Dude Bldg 3 IS the front!! Seriously, if you look up at my pic there, from where I took that shot, the entrance to the arcade and the gift shop are to my right, and behind me is the courtyard. At my brisk morning pace I was literally a 30-second walk to the food court!! Technically it was a "standard" room (you could just barely see the parking lot to the right of my door, if you peeked up and over the bushes) but it was SO. CLOSE. I loved it.
And really?....you've never done the Backlot Tour?! It's really interesting and I highly recommend it!
.
Tinkerbellarella
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Feb 13, 2008
A lady after my own heart.
A lady after TK's DH's own heart. LOL!
SHUT UP!
Ah well, just a reason to have tea there again. Sally Lunn bread simply MUST be experienced!
Probably a good choice. You get about a quart of strawberries and a pound of fresh cream. You'd have been full to overflowing.
DELIGHTFULLY so.
NOM.
I've had that skipper
He IS fantastic.But, being Casey's, and having the reputation it does among myself and a couple of dear friends, there was just no way that this was going to be "just" a meal....Oh no. I can't eat here without thinking of that one experience in particular -- fries up the nostril and all -- so those two dear friends were front and center in my mind as I sat down to eat. Now, Casey's serves their dogs in this nice little foil/paper wrapper to preserve maximum warmth from steamer to your mouth. As I opened the bag, I tilted it a bit with my left hand, which evidently caused some dislodging in there because my right hand reached in and grabbed nothin' but a warm, naked hot dog.....It was so unexpected and SO inappropriate that I laughed out loud and probably turned 5 kinds of red.....DED! OMG what IS it with this place?!!
I've already informed BF we'll be getting "naked hot dogs" and "special fries".
We must be related. Cousins perhaps? When I drink any kind of alcohol my bladder shrinks by about 90%.
A get a little faklempt every time I see this, knowing Walt used it to create my Happy Place.
Oh Walt. I'm faklempt again.
Don't look here.
Or here.
LegoMom3
WDW vet now exploring "Walt's Park!"
- Joined
- Aug 27, 2004
A lady after my own heart.
A lady after TK's DH's own heart. LOL!
SHUT UP!
Ah well, just a reason to have tea there again. Sally Lunn bread simply MUST be experienced!
Probably a good choice. You get about a quart of strawberries and a pound of fresh cream. You'd have been full to overflowing.
DELIGHTFULLY so.
NOM.
I've had that skipper
I've already informed BF we'll be getting "naked hot dogs" and "special fries".
We must be related. Cousins perhaps? When I drink any kind of alcohol my bladder shrinks by about 90%.
A get a little faklempt every time I see this, knowing Walt used it to create my Happy Place.
Oh Walt. I'm faklempt again.
Don't look here.
Or here.
Well I have been busy beyond belief (summertime at a camp = crazy-busy!!), but Tink, your responses here today have renewed my desire to finish this little TR.....Thank you.
I will have to try to get to it later tonight or EARLY tomorrow, but I will finish it!
.
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