2 Mickey Mint Addicts Do The World (FINALLY COMPLETE!)

[camillatin]

Hey, everybody! I'm a first-time poster, although a longtime lurker. This board helped so much with our recent trip that I thought I would post the report for all to enjoy as thanks.


Day One (Dec 4) - Part One: “I’m With The Terrorist”

Cast of Characters:

Me - 24 - Normally laid-back individual who can become entirely obsessive about planning a trip to Disney World. Have not yet purchased a Mickey hand with which I could lead my party through the World, but have also not ruled out this option for future, larger groups. Grew up taking a trip every other year or so (including Disneyland), but has recently fallen out of this habit. Last trip: 6 years ago.

Dad - “Postman” - bummed out about soon turning 50 (he actually used the phrase "bummed out"... I told him I think it went out of style before he realized it existed) - Very laid back individual who can get a little hyper about vacations (every trip from my early childhood hadn’t officially started until he and Mom had the “why don’t we just turn back now if you’re going to be this way” fight, usually while parked on the shoulder somewhere as if we would really turn around - we never did). Hates making decisions... if he must make a decision, you had better narrow his choices down to two before presenting the options to him. Otherwise, he will take 20 minutes to decide he is too overwhelmed by the choices and therefore cannot decide. Came on all those trips I took (except one), yet seems to have forgotten everything about the World until he actually sees it again. Last trip: also 6 years ago.

Backstory: My mother passed away earlier this year after a long bout with cancer. This fight took its toll not only on Mom (obviously), but also on my father and myself (I’m an only child). Thus, when Dad saw a commercial for the World not long after her passing, and casually commented, “That would be a nice trip”, I pounced on the opportunity. Literally the next day, when he came home from work, I had 3 choices of weeks when we could go, 4 choices of hotels, and a tentative schedule, all complete with pricing. He ended up choosing the week of the trip (Dec 4-9), while I chose the hotel (Animal Kingdom Lodge). He later commented to a friend, “I’m never going to say something would be a good idea again... it’s too hard on my wallet.”



As part of picking the week of the trip, Postman also chose the flights. Fortunately for me, Delta changed the flight times several times between when we booked the flights and our actual trip, which softened the return flight a bit. The departure flight, however, was classic Postman... 7:05 a.m. (It was 6:30 a.m. until Delta pushed it back.. I think they found that no one would actually take a flight with a 6 and an a.m. in the same breath.) We live about an hour from either Washington, DC, or Richmond (VA), so we can fly from either, depending on cost. The trip six years ago we flew from Washington-Dulles, and we literally opened the airport - and that was after we ran late due to traffic (what insane people are crowding the beltway at 4:30 a.m.?). I knew our flight was too early when the airport Starbucks was not yet open. If it’s too early for the coffee shop, it’s too early for me. Fortunately, very few others were crazy enough to take the flight, and I was therefore able to stretch out across three seats and take a nice nap. This year’s trip, however, I would not be so lucky. We flew out of Richmond, which meant we were on a tiny plane... less than 50 people. It was a direct flight, though, which was nice.

However, I would not be able to enjoy the joys of non-stop flight if I could not board the plane, and this was the situation we found ourselves in at 6 a.m. We had e-tickets, so the ticket agent directed us to an electronic terminal. While we are both technology-oriented people, we were highly skeptical of this machine... it never seems to work. But she insisted, so we tried it. It asks for your credit card... swiped it... told it our flight number (shouldn’t it have known that? Wasn’t that the purpose of swiping the credit card?)... and the screen went blank. I got the ticket agent’s attention, and she suggested that particular machine was broken, and I should move to the next one. Started the whole procedure over, credit card, flight number (apparently it didn’t learn from the last time), and... yup, blank screen. Somewhere in the back of my head the “fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me” saying was floating around... but it was slightly less articulate and slightly more aggravated since that same back of my head had gotten up at 4 a.m.

The ticket agent resisted the urge to send me to yet a third terminal (I’m sure this fun game works best in these wee hours of the morning when the people are too coffee-starved to think logically and argue, or when they are coming back from someplace such as the World where they get into the “Disney lemmings” mindset), and instead sent us to the manual check-in. She had us bypass the normal line (for which someone loudly commented to us that “there was a line, you know” - I chalked that up to coffee deficiency and let it go), and called up our reservation on her computer. Hmm... she has a furrowed brow... that’s not good. In the background, Postman is looking at his watch and saying to me, “We still need to get through security and the flight’s in an hour...” as if I was unaware of this somehow, but this, too, I chalked up to coffee deficiency and let pass. Hmm... now she’s getting her supervisor. Hmm... now her supervisor is on the phone. Hmm... now her supervisor has left the building (okay, just the area, but it seemed like she could have left the building in the amount of time it took). Hmm... now the supervisor and the original ticket agent are both on the phone. At this point, I’ve come to the conclusion that my suitcase is not a comfortable pillow on which I can nap while they straighten this out, and Postman has determined that, “Boy we’re going to cut it close - we still have to go through security.”

Ah, progress. We’ve determined the problem - Postman is on the terrorist watch list.... Wait a minute, what???!? Postman is the most boring man on earth... he couldn’t build a bomb if you gave him instructions - whenever he builds something, even the most basic bookcase with instructions, he ends up with extra parts (we have a porcelain duck that holds all of these items - “the spare parts duckie” - ask him about it sometime and watch his face grimace). He’s not of foreign descent, which I hear can increase your chances of being on the list, and his only trip on a plane since 9/11 was to Alaska... hardly the haven of terrorists, I think. So it’s now 6:30 and I am free to get on the plane whenever I want... unfortunately Postman is not. In a rather amazing and disconcerting feat, the supervisor calls security and has Postman removed from the terrorist watch list so that he can board the flight. Gee, that seemed too easy... I told Postman he must have an honest-looking face (he later informed me that actually they had called in his birthdate and determined that he was not the correct guy for the watch list - he has a very common name). After this entire incident, I really wanted a t-shirt as a souvenir - you know those “I’m with stupid” shirts with an arrow pointing to your beloved family member... well I want one of those, except mine will say “I’m with the terrorist”... okay did I mention that I have a dark sense of humor sometimes? All of this, of course, would not be funny if I was actually with a terrorist, but since Postman couldn’t be further from a terrorist if he tried, it’s amusing to me. I mean, you’d think that they would just put the birthdate or SSN or something on the watch list so that every single person with a common name doesn’t have this problem... but I digress.

So we finally make our way to security, which fortunately for us is nothing like the Orlando security line... ours literally had 3 (count ‘em, 3) TSA agents and 2 passengers in line. So we made it through that safely (shoeless, in my case, but safely), boarded our plane without incident (well I took the window seat, which caused Postman to nearly cause an incident), and, after quite a bit of turbulence, landed with our seats in “their upright and most uncomfortable position” (this was how our flight attendant put it - she said it every time she made the announcement and no one else laughed - this, too, I blame on coffee deficiency - or a severe lack of humor). After an oh-so-nutritious lunch (well, breakfast since that’s what they were still serving, but technically we had had breakfast at 4 a.m.) at Burger King, we made our way to the Magical Express counter. Postman questioned my authority (How do you know you're supposed to go to terminal A? Because Disney said so. How do you know this is terminal A? Because we're walking under a giant illuminated "A".), but soon we were on a bus with a movie (well, really just a giant Disney sales pitch, but it kept Postman entertained and question-free, so I was happy). Before we knew it, we were at the Animal Kingdom Lodge and our Disney vacation was officially underway (and we didn't even have to pull over to the shoulder and fight!).


Thought for the Day:
- Be prepared to remove your shoes at the security checkpoint. Although I had been warned of this, the elderly gentleman in front of me (who also could not possibly have been a terrorist - he looked like the kindly grandfather everyone loves) had not, and he had a great deal of difficulty bending down to remove his shoes, and the TSA agent was not about to help him - he could have a bomb in those Dr. Scholl's, you know.

 

[camillatin]

Day One, Part Two - “Hitchcock Knows Best”

Animal Kingdom Lodge really is beautiful. We had an easy, speedy check-in process, and our room was even ready at 11:00 a.m., which we were not expecting. I had requested non smoking, 2 queen beds, and a quiet location (in that order). We got 2 out of 3, which I guess is not bad. Our room was 2251, which is right next to an elevator. This meant it was not extremely quiet - fortunately we were so zonked every night we slept through almost all of it. It was also not the best room for viewing mammals - for birds, though, it had an excellent view (we overlooked the Sunset Savannah, although we were in a corner, so more accurately, we overlooked the emergency evacuation area). If we had been staying longer, I probably would have requested a room change... as it was though, there are so many opportunities throughout the hotel to view the animals that it wasn’t a big deal. Next time, I’ll probably stay standard view, save a few dollars (to spend on food and souvenirs - Disney gets the money no matter what), and view the animals elsewhere in the hotel.

The view from room 2251, with a lovely giraffe in the background.

We headed out to Epcot. I had bought the 2005 Unofficial Guide and used it immensely for this trip, and I followed it nearly religiously on which parks to visit which day - the only exception being the Magic Kingdom on Wed (I can hear some of you groaning already). I can’t say enough about how helpful it was for us, since we hadn’t been in quite a while and many things (EMH, Fastpasses, etc) were new to us. I will admit that I may have gone a little overboard (I literally planned everything, including what attractions in what order, down to the nearest 5 minutes), but for the most part this worked well. Postman is not the kind who wants input on these things - and don’t ask him to decide what we should do next - you won’t do anything but stare at the map. We were also flexible about the schedule so if we wanted to do something again, we did. The main reason for the schedule was that I wanted to catch all of the Storytellers around the World, and trying to see all of them in a limited time was difficult, so the schedule needed to be followed at Epcot. Even Postman admitted by the end of the trip that the schedule had saved us a great deal of time (some of which enabled us to get extra sleep, which made him happy!) and accomplished nearly everything we wanted in our limited time at the World. This, too, I credit to the UG, as well as the Disboards. Thanks guys!

We started at the Universe of Energy (my favorite ride as a child - we were on it once when it broke down and they turned on the lights for a long time before we walked out - my favorite memory, since at the time I wanted to be a paleontologist). From there (after another lunch - Postman has quite an appetite), we caught the holiday storytellers at Mexico, China, Germany, Italy, and America (the Kwanzaa one - she was really fantastic), as well as admiring the buildings of each country. El Rio del Tiempo was a walk-on (as usual, in my experience) and Maelstrom had a posted wait time of 15 min, but was really more like 5... This was common throughout our trip. The wait times were almost always overestimated. We enjoyed an excellent dinner at Alfredo’s (I had the Fettucine Alfredo, Postman had the sampler (Lasagna, Ziti, and Gnocchi - all very, very good), and we split a dessert - a chocolate iced sponge cake with a cream cheese like filling - I’m afraid I’ve forgotten the name) - I would recommend any of these dishes. It was then 5:30, so we slowly made our way to the tree lighting ceremony.

The Monkey King, Holiday Storyteller in China (he's quite funny).

As we’re walking on the bridge toward China, I’m hit by a warm liquid. I couldn’t understand why someone was spitting out their coffee - I know many, many people that would have killed for some in the airport that morning... when slowly it dawned on me (or rather, the smell dawned on me) that it wasn’t coffee... I’d been birdbombed. My hair, face, and shirt bore the brunt of the attack (as Postman put it, he was merely hit by the part that splashed off of me). A passing gentleman very kindly stopped and offered a napkin, which I started to use to clean off my shirt. As he got a closer look at me, he winced, and said, “I have more napkins here somewhere... you’re really covered.” Sigh. He was trying to be nice, but at the time that wasn’t what I needed to hear. As it turned out, he was only the first in a long line of pity looks I would receive that evening. After a bit of cleanup in the nearest restroom, we headed to the tree lighting ceremony. It was cute, but the smell was really starting to bother me... Postman claimed he couldn’t smell it (although there are studies showing that men can’t smell even their own body odors as well as women, so I’m not sure I trusted his judgement). Postman offered to buy me a hat in case it happened again, but I told him that if it happened again, I was heading home. Twice in one trip had to be a sign that I should not have come. So we headed home, and everywhere I went, the people pitifully eyed my sad face and birdbombed hair with a look that said “Aw what a shame... glad it wasn’t me”. Don’t worry, that’s what I would have thought, too, had the situation been reversed. Back at AKL, I got a nice hot shower and fell asleep knowing how it felt to be Tippi Hedren. The Disney magic had so far been drowned out by the pungent smell of birdbombing, but I was hopeful it would start soon.


Thought for the Day:
- When planning a trip, Disboards, Allearsnet, the Unofficial Guide, and Steve Soares’ site are all indispensable.
Bonus Thought for the Day:
- All seagulls flying over the World should be diapered.

 

[wilma-bride]

Really, really enjoying your trippy so far. You inject a certain amount of humour and, by the sounds of it, were extremely tolerant at the airport.

By the way, it's supposed to be lucky if a bird poops on you

 

[Glorydaz]

hahaha ...you are hysterical!! and what do you do when you're not ducking the birds at Disney??!! seriously, thanks for making my insufferable Monday much better - looking forward to more!

 

[agotta]

What fun! I am ready for more!

 

[stich626]

I hope that getting birdbombed is the worst thing that happened to you. I hope you are laughing about it now. Cant wait to hear the rest!

 

[tubachick]

sorry about the bird, but I hear its good luck!!!

Can't wait to hear more about you and the postman!!!!

keep it coming.

 

[lentesta]

What a great trip report! I went from laughing out loud to feeling the need for an extended shower, all in the space of five minutes. Glad to hear the book helped.

Sincerely,

Len Testa

 

[camillatin]

Day 2 (Dec 5) - “Safari, So Goodi”

Well, I have since been informed that it is good luck when a bird bombs you, so I suppose that explains the rest of the magical trip Thanks, by the way, for all the replies - I was a little afraid I might bore everyone.


Day 2 began early, as we had reservations for the Backstage Safari Tour at the Animal Kingdom. I highly recommend this tour (and no need to worry - we very easily caught a bus from the hotel in plenty of time to meet our tour - we arrived early, in fact). Our guides were Jen and Jon, and both were graduate interns due to leave in January, I believe, so hurry and get them while they last. All experiences are unique based on what animals are out and about that day, but we were very lucky and got to pet a young black rhino named “Lucy” who was about to ship back to her regular zoo (that facility did not have the ability to hand-raise her when her mother rejected her, so they sent her to Disney for her first year). We also petted a spiny-tailed lizard and got to see a baby elephant (and several adults) from a reasonably close distance - they make you stand behind a green line, the line which marks the distance that the elephants can throw heavy things, such as tires, at you. Safe to say, no one in our group had the slightest inclination to cross that line.

Sadly I do not have any pictures of any of the above incidents to prove that yes, I actually touched a black rhino and lived to tell the tale (actually if you saw the picture you wouldn’t be as impressed - she was still pretty small yet) as Disney does not let you take any pictures backstage. We did, however, get some very nice shots on the safari ride itself, as we saw quite a few animals. This would have been about 11 a.m. by the time we reached the safari, but we still saw tons of animals. I can’t even name them all (oops... too busy shooting pictures to actually listen to the tour guide when she told me the names), but we definitely saw many elephants, giraffes, rhinos, lions, Thompson’s gazelles, crocodiles, warthogs, okapi (and lots of other hoofed animals), wildebeest, and hippos. The tour ride is also very informative about how they constructed the ride and such, since they don’t make you sit through the poaching story. Overall, well worth the money we paid (and our guide informed us that we could recoup that money by selling the souvenir pins from the tour on ebay if we wanted) - just a great way to start the day. And to top off the magic, Baloo and King Louie were taking pictures right where our tour ended - Postman is a HUGE Baloo fan. Everywhere we went, if there was a parade or a character greeting - “Is Baloo here? Where’s Baloo?” Amazing how grown men turn back into five-year-olds at Disney. It’s sweet really. Just don’t ask him to sing “The Bare Necessities”... he’ll never stop!

After a nice Pangani Forest exploration, we had lunch at Tusker House. Easily the best counter service meal all trip - we each had the grilled salmon, with mashed potatoes (Postman could have just ordered mashed potatoes for the rest of the trip - he loves them THAT much - you’ll be hearing about them often) and vegetables. We hurried over to the Festival of the Lion King - yup, it really is as good as everyone says... and I have to admit I got a little teary eyed when they selected a very special child in a wheelchair to be part of the parade at the end... the gigantic grin on her face was priceless (I’ve done a lot of work with individuals with special needs, so it really means a lot to me to see them have a magical day). We also caught the Pocahontas show, which was cute, and got slightly lost afterwards as we wandered around Camp Minnie Mickey. Thus began our photo album with pictures of other people’s children. No, I’m not some weirdo... I’m just not willing to wait in line to have my picture taken with them, and Postman is definitely not inclined to do so, so we just take a picture of them with whatever child happens to be there when we get there. In fact, since neither Postman nor I enjoy having our picture taken (plus I was taking all the pictures), the only shots of either of us from the entire trip are the side of Postman’s head during the safari ride when the animals were on his side of the truck. Otherwise, it looks like we adopted about 50 different children this trip, and each child wanted their picture taken with a different character. We even managed to adopt an entire family when I was taking a picture of the christmas tree in AKL’s lobby - I didn’t realize it until I looked at the pictures at home. I have to admit, they look darling - we have good taste.

Look at the base of the tree - don’t our beloved family members look happy?

I should digress for a minute and explain Postman’s name. You may have thought he was one of the wonderful “Neither rain nor snow nor hail” postmen, but, well, let’s just say you shouldn’t make that your final answer. You see, he started - pretty much right from the moment we arrived at AKL - this strange habit of knocking on every post we encountered to see what material it was composed of. As we were sitting waiting for the bus to Epcot the first day, he’s knocking on the posts that hold up the roof. “Hmm, these are concrete. They look like wood, but they’re concrete.” Another post at the bus stop: “Ooh, this one’s real wood.” In Epcot: “Hmm, fiberglass. Looks like metal, but it’s fiberglass.” Later in Epcot: (Loud clang) “Yup, that one’s really metal.” Now take these last four sentences and multiply that by six days... It must be a male thing, because I’ve never felt that compulsion. But it’s safe to say, I can now tell you the composition of nearly any post at any of the four parks or AKL. Just ask if you need to know (and be sure and tell me why you need to know, ‘cause for the life of me, I haven’t found a reason).

But back to our regularly scheduled Animal Kingdom. We then wandered over to the Tree of Life. We spent a long time looking at all the different animal carvings, and at the various exhibits in the area around it. It was very very uncrowded in that area... the Lion King was actually nearly full, and Pocahontas had a fair number of people, but apparently no one wanted to look at the Tree of Life. I don’t know why - I recommend it, especially with so few people nearby. It was a little too chilly for our tastes (not cold, but overcast, and not pleasant if you’re wet), so we skipped the Kali River Rapids and proceeded to Flights of Wonder. This was a great show... I should mention that I did not actually develop ornithophobia from the previous day, although I was a bit wary of anything flying overhead for the rest of the trip. In retrospect, I decided the seagull was getting back at me for my Thanksgiving indulgence... I resolved to eat fish for the next few days, but then I decided that this put me in direct competition with the seagulls, for which they might become even angrier... Crafty birds - I just couldn’t win! On a serious note, before the show they had an owl named “Twister” and his keeper taught us about him while we waited in line - I thought this was great. They should have more things like this, which entertain (and inform!) while we’re in line. It made the time just fly by (it’s okay to groan at my puns - Postman does)!

Twister, the owl, pre-show entertainment at the Flights of Wonder.

Next up was the Maharaja Jungle Trek - also great photo opportunities. I mistakenly gave Postman the map, since I had the camera. He managed to get lost. It’s true... we were on the path, between exhibits, and I asked what animal was up next. He replied, “I don’t know... I can’t figure out where we are on the map.” It’s a one-way path... This was why I was in charge of schedules and maps.

Well, we may have gotten lost, but we believe this specimen to be a tiger...

We exited the Jungle Trek just in time to catch the Jingle Jangle Jungle Parade (I may have just bungled its name), which was cute - and Postman got to see Baloo again We quickly headed over to Dinosaur, hoping to catch a ride before the park closed. As it turned out, the wait was only about 15 minutes or less... It was great. Unfortunately we didn’t buy the picture from the ride, but it was classic... The teenage boy in front of me screamed like a little girl when the Carnotaur lunged at our side of the car, so the official Disney pic shows him hiding behind his mommy while I laugh my head off... Alright, I’m a bit of a cynic, but it was funny. And of course, as soon as the boy got off the ride, he’s exclaiming to his mother (the official hiding area) “Let’s do it again! That rocked!” This actually reminds me of a (non-Disney) story from my childhood... we were at Sea World (will those words get censored on this board? at a show when the walrus spit a huge amount of water at our seating area. I, being a 5 year old child, hid behind my 6'2" father... who, in turn, hid behind my 5'2" mother. He will never live that down

With the Animal Kingdom now closed for the day, we headed over to Disney-MGM Studios to accomplish a few more things for the day. When the big board said Tower of Terror had only a 15 minute wait, we headed straight there! It was great... we had a really fun sequence. I particularly liked one time when we were headed up and the doors opened as if we would go all the way up to the opening, but just as we reached the bottom of the opening, it sent us back down - very unexpected! Next up was The Great Movie Ride. This is a personal favorite of mine, although in this particular case we were in the very back of the ride, which is not as good - the driver (in this case, Jose) gives commentary that is several minutes ahead of your actual tram location. Still, it’s a great ride, and they’ve updated the end film (clips of classic movies) to show some very recent films. By then it was getting pretty dark, so we headed over to the Osborne Lights. Absolutely beautiful - loved the snow. Postman spent a great deal of time trying to determine how many lights they had on each string and how the whole electrical setup was arranged... can you tell he likes to know how things are constructed? We also stopped to see Herbie when we were near Lights, Motors, Action while touring the lights. This was a bittersweet thing... The first date he ever took my Mom on was to see a Herbie movie - they were high school sweethearts. So he said hi to Herbie, I held back some tears, and we moved on to happier things - The Voyage of the Little Mermaid. This is Postman’s favorite movie, so it was a must-do. It was actually quite crowded - I’d estimate the theatre was 90% full when the show started - I think it was the last show of the day. Postman (being the curious guy he is) looked up when it started misting and then couldn’t see anything because his glasses got all wet. I was informed that, in the future, I should “warn when an attraction is going to start raining” so that he would know not to look up. I’m sure you can guess what happened - I dutifully warned at every future raining attraction, and every time without fail, his glasses got wet as he looked upward.

We headed back to AKL to get some dinner and our football fix. At Mara (the to-go place at AKL), I had a cheese pizza (it tastes remarkably similar to the ones I get at Busch Gardens...hmm) and Postman had a sandwich... both were rather unremarkable. Of great excitement, however, was the discovery that Mara sells Zebra Domes to go!!! I had heard so much about them on these boards, but I didn’t think I would get to experience them since we weren’t going to be doing any fine dining at AKL. Instead I got them to go (for those who are wondering, it was 3 Zebra Domes and 2 Chocolate Mousse cups in a package - I think it was about $3.99), and we took them back to the room so we could watch MNF - we’re huge Eagles fans. In fact, we had just attended the Eagles-Packers game at the Linc the week before, and it was a good game (albeit against the Packers), so we weren’t prepared for the absolute blowout that came to pass that night. Oh well, it’s a rebuilding year. Overall, though, it was a great day (more than compensating for our little avian surprise the day before). Let the magic continue when we return to the scene of the crime, Epcot, tomorrow!


Thought for the day:
- This really should have gone on yesterday’s, but I forgot. BRING A STAIN STICK! When you get birdbombed or have any other wardrobe malfunction, this will be your new best friend (well, maybe second best friend, right after the guy who stops to hand you napkins). To be fair, this was an idea from allearsnet, not my own, but I will never leave home without it again!

 

[Thumper's Tara]

Thank you! I love your report. Your humor is priceless and I can't totally relate to the Starbucks not being open because it is so gosh (insert bad word here) early.

I can't wait to read about the rest of the trip.

 

[OhMari]

You write a very nice trip report. You had me going all along with your dad being a postman, until you told the real reason. That was hilarious.

 

[padisneylover]

Excellent reports. Those birds can sure be dangerous.

 

[tubachick]

who would have guessed the postman was a little mermaid kinda guy!!!

Thanks for sharing. I am enjoying your reports!!!!

 

[swankybeth]

I'm really enjoying your reports, so funny. I have this mental image of the Postman knocking on every post he passes by.

 

[dandee00]

Sounds like you had a great time!!
These are great memories for you.

 

[Ron from Michigan]

Love your reports so far. Can't wait till the next meeting

 

[tkd lisa]

I'm also enjoying the report! And I was dying with laughter over the postman.

We used to live about equally distant from all the DC area airports, so I've done the trade off. It drives the airlines nuts when they ask where you want to leave from and you say "I'll take any of the following: BWI, National, Dulles, or Richmond". Last Christmas I made it worse by saying I'd go into "Orlando, Jax, Melbourne, or Tampa". All in the interest of finding an available FF seat!!! Richmond is VERY easy to get in and out of though, especially compared to National, so it was probably worth the Starbuck's-less flight!

 

[cannp123165]

Brilliant amount of detail you are putting into the trip reports- they are great )))).

 

[MazdaUK]

what a wonderful report! Sounds like you had a great time - more please!!

 

[camillatin]

Hi, everybody. Thanks for all the replies - glad I'm not the only one who thinks our trip was fun! Sorry about the delay - you just never know where the time goes during the holidays!


Day 3 (Dec 6) - “But for a 10 minute decision, we could have been Minnie Mint addicts”

After an emergency trip to the hotel gift shop to buy Mickey Mints (I had packed Tic Tacs, but that supply had already been exhausted by the second day... This is how we became Mickey Mint addicts. At home, it’s Starburst mints - I’m always finding wrappers in the dryer that Postman forgot to take out of his pocket... and occasionally I even get the pleasant surprise of a red stain, inevitably on a favorite article of clothing, when he forgot to take the entire mint out of his pocket. It’s my fault - I will eventually train myself to check his pockets BEFORE doing laundry), we were off to Epcot. We arrived (after a quick bag check and finger scan) about 10 minutes before rope drop, and positioned ourselves to join the Test Track Trailblazers. Actually, we weren’t really in the front of the group, probably closer to the back. The whole thing was very orderly, as two Test Track CMs walked the group over to the ride. We were watching the pre-ride movie within 5 minutes, easily. From there we hit a fun ride (again, a favorite from when I was a child, although it has changed a bit since then), Journey Into Imagination (with Figment). There was a mother and child also on the ride... otherwise that was it. I don’t think it attracts much of a crowd early in the morning. I had forgotten just how many inside jokes there are, both on the ride and in the staging area, if you are a fan of old live-action Disney movies (e.g., The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes, The Absent-Minded Professor, etc.).

From there we decided to see how long the line at Soarin’ was... It was amazingly crowded in the Land, but the Soarin’ line was not bad at all. We were on the ride within 10 minutes. It appeared most of the crowd was grabbing Fastpasses and not actually riding at that time. This was our first time on Soarin’ - it really was great! I was sitting next to a woman who was very upset with Postman - he was commenting on the ride the whole time, that’s just how he enjoys it. She didn’t appreciate that, although the kids on her other side were just as noisy, so she wasn’t going to avoid it. One thing Postman noticed - as we swept close to mountains or buildings, he had a difficult time resisting the urge to lift his feet to avoid hitting them (and the young child in the row in front of us lifted her feet every time!). That’s how realistic it is - it’s really amazing. And I would love to know who makes those scents for Disney - I would buy that as air freshener any day!

From there we did Living with the Land - this had one of the longest waits we stood in all day! I’d estimate it was a 15 or 20 minute wait... perhaps this is where all the people went after they got their Soarin’ Fastpass. Always an interesting ride, especially if you’re interested in horticulture. Gotta love the Mickey shaped plants - is there anything Disney can’t make into Mickey ears! Then we hit the Circle of Life - we happened to get there right as the show was starting, so no wait on that one. It’s a really cute show, and it’s also a moving environmental plea... I have to say though (with apologies to Simba, Timon, and Pumbaa_, I really miss the dancing vegetable show that was there when I was a kid. This exited right next to the Nestle Toll House Jr Chef kitchen, where apparently kids can bake chocolate chip cookies. If Postman (at 6'2") thought he could actually pass for 12 and under, I think he would have spent the day there! To compensate, I offered him mashed potatoes at Sunshine Seasons. This worked - we each had the grilled salmon with mashed potatoes. Quite good, although I must say the Tusker House version was better - the salmon was a little bit too blackened for my taste here, and it came with vegetables (and still was cheaper) at Tusker House. But not bad, and Postman enjoyed the mashed potatoes

Next up was the Living Seas. Wow... the line for Turtle Talk with Crush was mind-bogglingly long. This would have been... I guess about 11:30 a.m., and it was already more than 30 minutes (maybe more). So we, like, totally skipped that, dude. We toured the aquarium, which was fun - the manatees were quite active and would swim right up to the glass when they saw you.

A stingray...

and a manatee. ‘Nuff said.

It was about this time that Postman made a discovery. You see, at the gift shop, he had been quite perplexed as to whether he should buy Mickey Mints, Minnie Mints, or Goofy Mints. When I saw how much deliberation this was going to take, I started shopping for friends back home to whom I had promised gifts. By the time I had perused the entire store and selected a mug, he had finally decided on the classic Mickey Mints. But now, at the Living Seas, he realized that his Mickey Mints actually contained Minnie Mints and Goofy Mints (and Pluto Mints and I think Donald Mints, too). “But it said they were Mickey Mints”. Well, apparently they threw in his friends, too. “But then why do they need separate Minnie and Goofy Mints?” Well, the tins that contain the mints have different designs - collect them all. “But the mints are the same.” Yes, I realize that. “So you mean I didn’t need to waste 10 minutes deciding on mints?” I didn’t say it, he did.

From there we headed over to World Showcase to continue our quest to see all the Holiday Storytellers. First up was the Japanese Daruma Seller, who was very good. Then we caught the Voices of Liberty - an excellent a capella group, this time doing a medley of holiday favorites. In case you haven’t seen them (which you should), they’re inside the rotunda before performances of the American Adventure, which we caught immediately following their performance.

The Voices of Liberty... now if only this picture could sing!

From there we caught Father Christmas in the U.K. For this, we actually sat on a bench across from his story area, since we were also going to catch the British Invasion show immediately following. Benches are a rare commodity at the World, so of course, we were happy to share our bench with a tired mother as her child ran over to see Father Christmas up close. As he’s telling his story (which was nice, but not one of the best ones), I notice people waving in our direction. I have no idea who they are, so I presume they’re waving at the mother sitting with us. But she doesn’t seem to be responding to them, either. Hmm... Postman can’t possibly have already made friends down here without my knowing, could he? Oh now there’s more people waving. How many friends did he make? And why isn’t he waving back? How rude. Finally I turn around... and Tigger is in the window in the building directly behind us - not two feet behind our bench! Tigger waves to me, and I wave back. I tell Postman, and he half heartedly turns around, but doesn’t wave (he’s not a Tigger person). Well this apparently made Tigger mad. Tap, tap on the window. I turn around, and Tigger points to Postman. I tap Postman and tell him that Tigger wants him. He turns around and gives a half-wave. Tap, tap. I turn around again - it’s Tigger again - he points to Postman again. This time, Postman doesn’t even turn around. Tap, tap. Tap, tap. Tap, tap. I honestly didn’t catch half of Father Christmas’ show. I was too busy laughing at Tigger’s persistence - apparently no little children were coming to get their picture taken with him, so he had time to kill and thought he would take it out on Postman. It actually seemed very much in character with Tigger. In the interest of fairness, I should mention that Postman tells a different version of this story. In his version, Tigger is not bothered by his lack of a wave, but rather is hitting on me. I think I’m right on this one, although the next day I’d like to think that I got hit on by Aladdin

So the British Invasion show was cute, and there were quite a few women who were old enough to have been a part of the Beatle craze that got their pictures taken with them - one even requested a song, which they happily obliged. We also caught the World Showcase Players’ version of King Arthur and the Holy Grail - you should definitely catch their shows! They’re hilarious. We also caught Romeo and Edna in Italy, although we missed their version of A Christmas Carol. We then caught Pere Noel in France (not that great), Papa Noel in Canada (actually very sweet), and Julesnissen in Norway (quite cute), as well as another ride on Maelstrom since there was a less than 5 minute wait (although we did skip the movie at the end). Unfortunately we didn’t catch the Morrocan storyteller before we had to leave for dinner, but we planned to catch it on Thursday. On the way to dinner, we buzzed through Innoventions. This was actually a big disappointment. Postman is a bit of a technology nut (he works with computers and robotics), but it was really pretty boring. The fire engine was a big hit, though - we cut through the building a couple of times again, just as a shortcut, and every time we had to see the fire engine. He’s a five year old at heart, really.

Dinner was at the Concourse Steakhouse. Postman loves the monorail, and there really wasn’t any reason for us to take it during our trip, so when the very helpful guy at Disney Dining Reservations suggested having dinner there, I thought it was a great idea! I had the Prime Sirloin, while Postman had the NY Strip (with mashed potatoes, of course). Both were great, although Postman tried mine, and said he could definitely taste the difference - he preferred the NY Strip. We also split a chocolate cake for dessert (they put the icing on the side so you can have as much or as little as you want) - delicious, as always. The best part of the meal - Chef Mickey’s was right next door (we had a booth on the wall (well, a rather transparent, flimsy wall) that is shared between the two restaurants), and as the characters would come visit the booth across the divider, we would see their shadows. It was great to have a shadow of Minnie or Pluto as you’re eating. Now, when the confetti came flying over and landed on our cake, that was a bit much. But it was a nice way to experience Chef Mickey’s from afar.

We returned to Epcot to experience the lights and Illuminations. We were quite lucky and got a seat (on the curb) near Germany despite the fact that we arrived only about 20 minutes ahead of the start. Other than a large tree which did block a bit of the Earth’s progress across the lake (but don’t worry, it emerged from the other side unscathed), it was great. We also really enjoyed the farewells they project onto the geodesic sphere as you’re leaving (they’re in all the languages of the countries in World Showcase). I have to say, I am not a fan of the giant, tacky “Epcot” that they added for the Happiest Celebration, but the farewells helped me to ignore that (although I refused to take a picture and give glory to the giant wand). Overall, it was a wonderful day. The holiday storytellers really help to put us in the Christmas mood, and our own Tigger was our magical moment for the day. And to top off a magical day, I still had 2 Zebra domes awaiting me in our hotel fridge

Epcot lights...

and Illuminations. There's no pictures of the Zebra Domes because they disappeared too quickly.