Day 5 (Dec 8) - “I’m Just A Little Black Rain Cloud”
Thursday morning we awoke to a slight drizzle, but due to the overcast conditions, it was a little chilly - 60ish. I know, I know... can’t complain about that in December. But for Disney visitors, it was a little chilly and a little wet, so the crowds were considerably less than the already low levels to which we had become accustomed.
We decided to start our day at MGM Studios, and then later head to Epcot to hit a few things that we had missed (including the last of the Holiday Storytellers - we can’t miss just one!). I think our bus from AKL to MGM had literally 3 other people on it. So we dutifully gathered with the rest of the non-existent crowd at the gate and eagerly awaited rope drop. Ooh the crowd’s moving - we’re off!!! First, about ⅔ of the crowd takes a sharp right toward Tower of Terror and Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster - losers! Then another group catches sight of Mickey posing for pictures and veers off - too easily distracted! Then we lose another chunk to Star Tours - wimps! But at last, we win the leisurely stroll to.... (trumpet fanfare here)... Muppet Vision 3D!!! I’m a big Muppet fan, if I haven’t mentioned that already, and since I was planning the itinerary, this is where we started. The crowds were so low that, by this point, we were literally all alone. We arrived at the Muppet gate to a very nice CM who told us that the show would start in 10 minutes, so we had plenty of time to take pictures (and since we were the only people there, I had a great shot of everything). So I did - be prepared for some groan-worthy puns
This was Postman’s favorite sign of the entire trip... being over 6', I think he’d appreciate more warnings like this!
WARNING: This may cause serious flashbacks for some of you... polyester, anyone?
Fozzie Bear’s necessary objects.
Come on, people, I don’t hear enough groaning!
And the actual show is great as well... there was a family next to us where the son and father literally fell out of their seats laughing so hard. I think they were Muppet fans as well... we’re everywhere, lurking where you least expect... like a rubber chicken factory.
After we left the wonderful show (and did some Muppet shopping), the rain was picking up considerably, and really didn’t let up for the majority of the day. If anyone is going during the colder months and would like an alternative to a poncho, I can highly recommend a lightweight jacket from Wal-mart - it folds really small and has snaps on the sleeves and such to make it very size-adjustable. It’s in the camping section, and it was great - a poncho would have been a little too chilly for this weather, and I’m just not an umbrella person. Despite the rain, however, most events went on as scheduled. We caught the Indiana Jones stunt show (and the man from the couple sitting next to us got to be a volunteer - his wife/fiancee/whatever seemed very excited for him, more so than he did himself), Beauty and the Beast (Postman’s review: “Wow they have really elaborate shows here at Disney!”... no, he hasn’t been to WDW before... about 5 TIMES!), and the Backstage Tour (which was amazingly crowded, considering the overall low crowd... I think people thought this was a good thing to do in the rain???). I was sitting in the very last row on the far right, and while the tour guide reassured the right side of the tram that the left side was going to get far more wet, this was apparently inaccurate for the last row, right side (i.e., me and only me). The roof had apparently gathered all the water from both the rain and the flood from the show, and promptly dumped it ALL on me when the tram rocked from side to side during the earthquake (this tram really does have a lot of problems, doesn’t it?). So I was drenched, cold, and getting a little cranky (after all I had just survived a flood and an earthquake - who wouldn’t be?).
At this point we headed over to Epcot to catch our last surviving Holiday Storyteller and lunch (there really aren’t any decent counter service places in MGM), and as we were heading out, I suddenly felt as though someone had stepped on the heel of my shoe (technically sandal), and it hurt. When I sat on a (soaking wet) bench and looked, the backstrap on my sandal had broken - and I should point out, there was not a soul in sight, so it just broke on its own - it was old, and combine overuse and wet leather and you get, well, apparently a broken backstrap (which incidentally had whipped around when it broke, and the buckle left a nasty mark on my ankle - that was where the pain came from). And I found it was very difficult to keep a slippery, wet sandal on your foot with no backstrap when it was not designed for that. So I hobbled my way out of the park, soaked, with a broken sandal, and getting more and more cranky. At the exit, there was a woman very pleasantly handing out surveys to visitors exiting the park. While everyone else we saw received a survey, we did not. I think the look on my dripping, sad face informed her that I would probably not be the right person to survey. So change of plans - we headed back to AKL to change shoes and dry off.
Now drier and happier (I feel a diaper commercial coming on), we made our way to Epcot. After lunch at Sunshine Seasons (I again had the salmon, while Postman amazingly passed on the chance to have more mashed potatoes and instead chose a salad... I can’t remember which one, but he didn’t really like the dressing), we headed to the World Showcase... where we promptly discovered the eerie feeling of being totally alone. Seriously. It was raining pretty hard by this point, and apparently we were the only brave souls stupid enough... I mean dedicated enough to venture out. And as it turned out, there was no need. Nothing was happening. The storytellers were nowhere to be found, and most of the other live acts were similarly MIA (FYI: during the rain, the fife and drum corps does perform, albeit a much shorter show with far fewer individuals. Just look for them inside the Liberty Inn). So that was a bust. Some year we’ll have to go back, just to hear the Moroccan storyteller. And it probably won’t even be that great, considering the several year wait, ripe with anticipation. But we caught all the others! We also discovered that soft pretzels (a Postman favorite - although he claims “you can’t find a decent one outside of Philly”, he still looks for them everywhere we go) are a precious commodity in the World Showcase. As I waited in the UK (shopping, since those of course never close come rain or snow or sleet or hail), Postman headed off on what we now call “The Great Pretzel Quest”. Ten minutes later, he stopped by to tell me that both the UK and Canada, in fact, had no pretzels (but lots of beer), and he was now headed in the other direction. Twenty minutes later (by which time I had reached my limit of exactly how interested I could be in the merchandise), he came back to tell me he “had gone all the way to Italy and back and still no pretzels”. I told him that was a shame, but we were going to leave now. Out comes the pouty lip. And the depressed eyes. And the head hung low. Sigh. Come on, Postman, surely there’s pretzels in Germany. “Germany, where’s that?” “Just past Italy.”
And in case you ever find yourselves in a similar predicament, there are, in fact, pretzels in Germany - thank goodness. As the Great Pretzel Quest was now resolved, and the Great Moroccan Holiday Storyteller Quest was ne’er to be, we headed back to MGM. Unless we really fell asleep at the switch, I don’t believe the parade happened (I presume due to rain) - at least we never found it. However our search for the parade was a little less thorough than I would have liked, due to the incessant “When is the car show going to start? Shouldn’t we head over to the car show now? We don’t want to miss the car show!” Yes, he truly is a five year old in a fifty year old body. But he loves cars. So we headed to Lights! Motor! Action! (or the car show, as we call it, not to belittle the motorcycle drivers). I wasn’t actually sure that LMA would occur in the rain (now THAT would have caused a big pouty lip), but they reassured us that yes, it would go on as planned. I do think the show was a little different than usual, though (we hadn’t seen it before, but this was according to the couple next to us) - so if you see it in the rain, you may be wise to see it again in the sun. And ladies, just an FYI: the restrooms located next to LMA are wonderful (aka have lots of stalls) - so as long as there is not a show letting out, they’re a great option.
After the car show, we hit One Man’s Dream - if you’re into the history of WDW (as we are), be sure to allot quite a bit of time for this. Especially if you can find a talkative CM, as was there when we went. He was a wealth of information. On our way to One Man’s Dream, we noticed that they were letting a few people into the Narnia exhibit (which was scheduled to open the next day), so after we finished we thought we’d check it out. Unfortunately, it had since closed... apparently we missed the small window of opportunity, which was a shame as I really enjoyed the entire series of books - I’ve since heard that it isn’t that great of an exhibit, but at the time I didn’t know that. Postman generously offered to go see the Muppets again (he could tell the rain, drenching tram ride, broken sandal, and now missed Narnia opportunity were decreasing the magic), but as it turned out, there wasn’t time. We had an ADR for Mama Melrose, and we needed to be on time so we wouldn’t miss Fantasmic. Another FYI: we had reservations for 5:30, and we did have to hurry a little to make sure we made it to Fantasmic on time. Fortunately, the crowds were low and we had no trouble getting a decent seat. But next time I might try for 5 instead. And as for our food, we both had the veal osso bucco - Postman loved it, but it wasn’t really my thing. It was also a TON of food.
If you look really, really closely, the tiny little colorful guy on the far bottom right is Mickey
Fantasmic was great, as usual, and we even ran into one of our guides from the Backstage Safari Tour at the show! Apparently even the CMs like Fantasmic. After Fantasmic we had time for one last ride, so I chose the Great Movie Ride. I think it’s just a great way to end (this would be our last day in the parks). As it turned out, we had the same driver (Jose) as the last time we rode! Another FYI (boy, I’m just chock full of info today): they hold you in the queue so that they only do one last run after Fantasmic (this of course only applies to low crowd seasons). This means that, although we got there with 20 minutes till the park closed, thinking we might be able to squeeze in two rides, we spent the entire 20 minutes in the queue. At closing time, they closed the outer doors and then opened the doors to the ride. But it’s still a great ride to end your day or your trip. I even think I’m going to go as Dorothy to
MNSSHP this year (My birthday’s the day after Halloween, and as a birthday present, Postman is sending me and one of my best friends down for a girls-only trip - see he’s really a good guy).
Day 6 (Dec 9) - “Turn the plane back around!”
Friday was our last day, and the only thing we had planned was to rest, relax, and enjoy the hotel. We had originally booked a flight for noon, but through various bankruptcies, Delta had moved it to 4:00. So we slept in, enjoyed a leisurely breakfast at Mara - and wow! there were a ton of people there. Apparently, when we usually ate (between 7:30 and 8:00 a.m. everyday), everyone wasn’t up yet. By boy, wait till 9 a.m. or so and it’s downright crowded. And then we explored the many, many animal overlooks at the hotel. I can’t say enough about the hotel, actually. We always had an impeccably clean room, and except for a little noise from the nearby elevator, it was a great place to sleep. But above and beyond that, the animals and atmosphere were so peaceful - the only other deluxe we had ever stayed at was the Wilderness Lodge, and I have to say - this was ten times better. In fact, it was so peaceful, that Postman found a rocking chair near a fireplace not far from Victoria Falls and took a nap until it was time to leave on ME (which was also a great experience, by the way - we had no trouble with our transportation or luggage). But first, the animal pics, because I know that’s why you’re reading this trip report.
A pair of giraffes (and a zebra) from Arusha Rock.
This is about as close as you can get to the wildlife - if you look closely, the stony path has little wires that represent the boundary of the savannah. This zebra found the fallen branch to be the perfect butt-scratching place... and if you look in the background, a zebra and a blesbok are having a stand-off over a pile of hay. This stand-off lasted about 20 pictures. I could make a slideshow of just how little progress the zebra made. But eventually, his persistence paid off - after the blesbok had his fill, the zebra finally got some hay.
Because we were flying Delta, we were supposed to be able to remotely check-in for our flight at our hotel. It sounds like a marvelous idea, but unfortunately, I can’t tell you how it actually works in practice. We couldn’t remotely check-in, we’re guessing because of Postman’s quasi-terrorist status. So upon our arrival at the airport, we headed to the Delta line, where a very nice employee kindly told us that all domestic flights should use the self-check-in. Postman proudly replied, “I can’t. I’m on the list.” And he really did seem rather proud of his status - it was hilarious. The employee looked at him, thinking, “What does this look like, a nightclub and I’m the bouncer? There’s no list. You’re not special. Now go use the self-check-in.” But what he said was, “Huh?” And Postman stated again, “We couldn’t check in at our hotel because I’m on the list.” Since the employee’s confused look was a clue that he still didn’t understand the term “The List”, I added, “The security watch list.” “Oh, okay. Go on ahead.” All that trouble, just to have the privilege of standing in line to talk to a real person. Isn’t technology grand?
Fortunately, we had far less trouble checking in here than we did on our original flight - apparently getting someone off the list is far easier the second time around. After the security checkpoint, which was really really long (I’m so spoiled by Richmond’s 2 person line), some last minute souvenir shopping, and lunch (which we had at a small deli place - I can’t remember the name, but it was across from the Outback Steakhouse, Burger King, and Nathan’s - it had really good soup and sandwiches, too), we boarded an uneventful flight home. Upon disembarking from the plane (which, at Richmond, is parked out in the middle of nowhere - they don’t have terminals for the small planes, so you have to hike to get to the nearest building), we discovered snow on the ground. Snow! In Virginia, snow is nearly unheard of that early in December. We couldn’t believe it. Sunny Florida to snow... Turn the plane back around!!!!
And thus concludes our trip... Overall it was just a wonderful time, and we have so many memories which we will enjoy for years to come (as well as Mickey Mints, since we still have a tin of those, too). I want to thank all of you who managed to read this (and offer my sincere apologies for the bad puns and extraordinary length), and offer to answer any questions anyone may have about AKL, December trips, or what material that post over there is made of.
And this is my own personal Eeyore, who patiently waited for me at home.
to a fellow Virginian (I live in Fredericksburg) and am loving your reports! I'm glad you got to take this trip with your dad and enjoyed yourselves after all you have both been through this past year. 
Loved your pics also!!
I am very curious as to how you became an Eagles Fan from Virginia?
