OK sorry about the delays. Today, at last, well wrap up Day 2 so we can get on to other things
such as Days 3-8!
We walked down to the Friendship Boat dock and waited around for someone to decide they werent going to sue Disney because they tripped disembarking the boat, and then we were headed back to DHS. The plan was to get off the boat, get our car, and head for the Adventurers Club at Downtown Disney. But then I decided I wanted to see if Hollywood Hills Amphitheatre was open so I could take pictures of the Fantasmic! dessert party location for my buddies on the wedding boards.
I forgot to put this part earlier, but when we were at DHS that morning, I decided one of us needed to sneak behind the roped off entrance to the amphitheatre on Sunset Blvd. and run into the closed theater to take these pictures. The way DH tells it, one minute we were standing by the rope talking about whether he was brave enough to duck under it and then next time he looked my way I was sprinting up the path. Unfortunately, my spy mission came to an abrupt end 10 feet later when I ran into the big honkin gate around the bend. Doh!
So, cut to that evening and we decide to make a banzai run back into DHS to try to get those pictures. Except something funny happened we discovered that Hollywood Studios is MUCH nicer at night! For one thing, theres no sun beating down on you and heating up the huge expanses of asphalt
.We found ourselves meandering around Echo Park Lake just looking at the pretty lights and taking pictures of buildings like these.
It was almost dare I say it, romantic! As we strolled down Sunset Blvd. toward the amphitheatre, they were playing a big band tune, so we stopped and did a little swing dance in the street. When we got to the amphitheatre I learned just how far Id been from the actual seating area when I hit the gate that morning the path just goes on and on! The CMs were funneling people off to the left, but we ducked out of the crowd to find the patios where they hold Fantasmic! dessert parties.
I forgot it would be DARK out we got one pathetic shot:
Hold your glamorous wedding dessert party near our fabulous green trash can and wheelchair!
And then another funny thing happened: I heard myself saying that since we were there, we might as well stay for the show. Me! Ms.
Disneylands Fantasmic! Is Way Better So Why Bother?! Fantasmic! is DHs thing more than mine, and I could tell he wanted to see it even though he wasnt letting on. We got really great seats about, oh, six rows up and just to the left of the section they reserve for the dinner package people. I think its cuz it was starting to rain so not as many people ventured out for the show. Actually, Id heard Fantasmic! has a much higher rate of cancellation due to weather than IllumiNations, but that night they performed it through rain. The lady next to us told us to sit on one of our ponchos good idea!
And Fantasmic! was great! The stuff on the island is WAY closer than at Disneyland, so its much more impressive. Of course they have a fakey steamboat instead of our real one, and no Columbia Sailing Ship or swinging pirates, but I think the Florida version makes up for it in other ways.
Picture from a real camera
Picture from an iPhone!
Its still prolly my least favorite pyro show at the Disney parks (the creepy neon monkeys are a dealbreaker for me), but I enjoyed it a lot more than I ever have. Maybe after ours gets its new mist screens Ill check it out again at Disneyland.
After the show we shuffled out to our car and then headed for Pleasure Island to wave goodbye (or, in our case, hello and
then goodbye) to the clubs! (Now that its closed, I dont know what well do for fun when we want a bleary-eyed night out after an exhausting day in the parks!)
Our goal was to hit every single club so we could say wed seen them before they closed. First up, Adventurers Club!
DH loved the theming. He took a panoramic picture of the view from above (but it isnt stitched together yet, so all you get is this):
We would have felt like AC newbies any time, but that night we felt even MORE out of place because, of course, the club was packed with diehard fans paying their last respects (this was the Monday before it closed). Our first show was the one in the Mask Room.
Its an amazing place we couldnt get any good pix cuz it was so dark. Apparently a bunch of the masks are from Imagineer Joe Rhodes personal collection. But not these guys... our hosts
my tormentors
!
The Maid came in and hosted the show with the two masks, Arnie and Claude. They made jokes about people in the room depending which mask they were sitting under, and, lucky me, I was under the fertility mask. That meant we got a lot of wisecracks about what a hot number I was (whohoo!) and what on earth I was doing with DH. They didnt like his shirt. And they thought I should shack up with them. Classy!
I felt kinda guilty that I got to be part of that skit when there were probably a bunch of other longtime fans in the Mask Room who would have appreciated it more. Little did I know I was soon to feel REALLY guilty. The next major show in the main room, The Library (she types, cribbing from Wikipedia), was the Radiothon. We were jammed against the doors waiting to be let in, so we got to go all the way down front and picked some seats in the first row, in front of the cool organ.
OK, you can have a really dark pic of the organ
or a really blitzed-out one, but you cant have a good one!
I love Samantha Sterlings costume!
I guess the Radiothon is a mock fundraiser for the club (how ironic and how cool that on the last night the conclusion was that the Radiothon had failed to raise enough money, hence the clubs closure!). This is about when we realized that we just werent that into the Adventurers Club. LOVE the concept, love the décor. Get that its supposed to be wacky and zany and kooky and possibly funny in its unfunnyness. But just didnt fall for the style of humor. Maybe its better if youre drinking? At any rate, I felt very guilty about that, and I felt very weird sitting in the front row b/c we got a lot of attention that by rights should have been directed at the real AC fans (e.g., the Maid did a fan/lap dance for DH). Who knows the performers were probably picking on us
because we werent that into it.
Toward the end of the show, Hathaway Brown came up to croon a sappy tune. I remember reading in one of WDWPolyPrincess trip reports that she and her friend have a favorite Hathaway Brown. I dont know if this was him, but I did get that he is supposed to be a Big Deal (if only in his own mind!).
So when he started serenading ME, I got a little, well, swoony! And then when he grabbed my hand, pulled me onstage and held me close, suddenly I BELIEVED in the AC! Hallelujah!!!
I was, of course, very embarrassed to be the center of attention, so I hammed it up by batting my eyelashes, raising my hand to my brow, and sighing dramatically
And then the show was over. We funneled out past the bathrooms and back around to the Main Salon, where I was promptly spotted by
DISer rpmdfw (of
Rob & Scotts Big Fat Gay Disney Wedding fame)!
It was really fun to meet him and Scott in person -- and in their natural habitat! Not only are they HUGE Adventurers Club fans, but they actually met there, and they held their wedding at the club six days later!
Moments later, DISer Tinkflash stepped over and introduced herself! It was so much fun! I really love that sense of community fostered by the DIS and that no matter where you go at Disney, youre bound to know someone else there!
DH and I decided wed better get going if we were to see all the clubs on Pleasure Island that night. But the AC had one more surprise in store for us
. As we circled the upper lobby and headed toward the exit, a door opened behind us and the Butler stepped out to deliver to me a letter from Hathaway Brown! I dont know how they managed it pretty dang impressive!
It was actually addressed to Miss Weggie Wishmeyer. Perhaps the Adventurers Club aficionados among you can tell me the backstory there
or what this letter is about:
My dearest Weggie,
I hope this finds you at the Club. Graves has always been good about getting my mail out. I would have written sooner, but I cracked the wing spars on the Gypsy Moth when I ran into a freight train.
Youll probably laugh, but Im going to tell a little story on myself: I had just run out of fuel at 15,000 ft. Normally, Id just glide until I found a clearing, but not this time! I decided to try and make Cleveland (another 800 miles). Well, the joke was on me! First, I hit a fog bank, then I hit the train. But I only missed Cleveland by fifteen hundred feet! Ill be fine when the hand heals.
My only disappointment is that in an effort to gain altitude, I threw out all my food, water, and cologne overboard, but I refused to let go of the kimono I bought you in Hong Kong. I guess the additional weight was just too much. Sorry, I dont think the bloodstains will come out.
Anyway, Ill have the Moth back in shape as soon as I do a little welding with my lighter.
Rememberpookie bear needs cuddlewinks.
Higher and faster,
Hathaway
I love all the new pics. Tell me it really is THAT easy to sneak into the lounges. Sidney loves that kind of thing....if those codes are for real he'll totally go in! PM me details. 
.
And yes, that was Sept. 22nd that we were at Epcot - I didn't realize our trips overlapped! Shoot, it would been fun to meet up with you guys! 
Glad you're enjoying it! Wish our trips had overlapped more too! 
You sure know how to pick em 
Did you sneak a peak at the number 
OMG - that picture is fabulous!! I am sooooo jealous! 
Hi!! I'm glad you've enjoyed the reports! I see you're about to go on a Disneymoon of your own - hope you'll share it with us too! 
