7 Days at WDW: The Chair, The Child & The Ceaselessly Neurotic

[beaniejawa]

This is the first page of a completed trip report. Because it's so long, I'll be posting it in sections. I think I'll go day by day. I hope you enjoy it. Here goes:


Hi! My name is Dina. I’m a TV news producer. My husband, Shawn, teaches high school algebra. I first visited WDW as a college student with my family in 1992. In 1998 I honeymooned there. At the time my husband and I hoped to be able to visit again on a regular basis. Nine years later Shawn and I return to WDW for the first time with a new addition – a 5-year-old daughter, Tatyana.

I plan. I plan A LOT. If it were up to me, every vacation would be laid out on paper in advance, minute by minute, second by second. Every lunch and dinner would be reserved months in advance, ideally at all the hard-to-get restaurants everybody says are great in the Unofficial Guide. I’d carry the Unofficial Guide from park to park, pressing it to my chest, and would follow all the guide touring plans to the letter, getting up early and leaving the park at closing every… single… day.

My husband is way more laid back. He hates planning. He doesn’t like things to be reserved in advance. He wants spontaneity. He wants to sleep late on vacations. He doesn’t like tour plans or anything else that tells him what to do on his time off. If he’s tired, he wants to go back to the hotel, even if we haven’t completed every single ride. He wants to enter parks with no game plan and go where he feels like and if that means there’s a longer line or we do less stuff, so be it.

This could be considered a sequel to my posting “Seeing WDW in a Gurney.” My husband entered the trip suffering from a migraine following a spinal tap. He suffered from an excruciating headache that only went away while he was lying down or at least leaning way back. Our plan: rent a wheelchair for him. He’s never been in one and I’ve never pushed one. He can’t stand up for queuing areas or otherwise he gets a stabbing pain in his head. Our ideas of a perfect vacation are diametrically opposed. We have a five-year-old child. Seriously, what could go wrong?


June 4th – Our Arrival

We opted to drive from Humble, TX (just north of Houston) to WDW instead of flying. It saves a whole lot of money and we HATE airports. This turned out to be a great decision. The drive was very relaxing and only took 15 hours total. We drove to Tallahassee on the first day (about 10 hours) and stayed overnight at the Quality Inn there. I highly recommend it – very clean, comfortable rooms with fridge & microwaves in the rooms and a free breakfast that includes make-your-own waffles. We slept late and made it to the Pop Century Resort around 2:30PM.

How can I describe the anticipation leading up to the Pop? On my first WDW trip I stayed at the Port Orleans resort, which was lovely. But to save money on our honeymoon we stayed off the grounds. BIG mistake! It took an hour or more to get on and off the property using the hotel bus system (we didn’t take a car) so this time I wanted to stay on property. Because we have a young child and didn’t expect to be free to indulge in the amenities of a deluxe resort, we opted for a value place. Pop seemed like a great choice since it was new and I really liked the decade theming. But I’d only seen the photos online – until now.

The landscaping was gorgeous! I definitely didn’t expect all the beautiful, bright colors. I have an extensive garden at home and was bowled over by the skill and design leading up to the Pop. Check-in was fast. Even though we were a little early our room was ready. We were in the 80’s section, room 9325. This is a great room! It facing the parking lot so you don’t get the noise of the pool but the pool is just a short walk down. The elevators and ice machine are right around the corner. We had no trouble with the air conditioning – it was always as cold as we wanted it. We kept it on 68 degrees at night and 75 during the day. Indulgent!

Since we didn’t have park plans on the first day, we changed into bathing suits and took a dip in the Computer Pool.

Tatyana had never been in a pool before but she jumped right in! Free life jackets are available and there are plenty of them in the boxes by the pool. A restroom is nearby. There’s lots of seating and umbrellas. The Pop has three pools but the great thing about the Computer pool is that it’s not as crowded as the main, central pool (called “Hippy Dippy). The water was nice and warm and Shawn said it helped his headache. After an hour or so we got out to start exploring the place that was going to be our home for the next week. We found an abandoned wheelchair at the Pop (they’re free at the resorts) and we started our journey:

In case you’ve never heard of the Pop, it’s themed in two sections: Classic Years and Legendary Years. A lake and bridge separate the two sections. Only Classic Years (50’s, 60’s, 70’s, 80’s, 90’s) are completed. Legendary Years have been on hiatis for years. The side of each building is splashed with icons and phrasings (“Gnarly! Far Out!”) and the speaker system alternatives music from the respective decades. Rooms in the 60’s section have the advantage of being close to the main hall, lounge and food court as well as shopping. Those in the outer areas (80’s, 90’s, 50’s) trade proximity for quietness. Parking is ample in all areas so far as we could tell.

There is also a really cool interactive fountain for the kids:

After a tour, we ate in the food court. Shawn and I had burgers. They were decent. Tatyana had the mac and cheese and liked it very much. Shawn had the famous tie-dyed cheesecake. It was O.K. but honestly I was expecting more for all the hype. It’s very attractive but it’s your basic store-bought quality stuff. If you like cheesecake, you’ll probably like it just fine, but you won’t be ‘wowed.’

I, on the other hand, had the Twinkie Tiramisu. Ooh lah lah! Like coffee? You have GOT to try this! Who was the brilliant person who said to themselves “You know, twinkies are so good. Coffee is so good. Why not combine ‘em?” How do I write them to thank them? Twinkie Tiramisu comes in a cup and is dotted with chocolate chips. You eat it with a spoon. It is very rich and has the consistency of custard. Having lived in New Haven, CT, I’ve had real honest to goodness tiramisu. This is not like that but it is very unique and very good. If you are a coffee desert fan, give it a shot. I don’t think you’ll be disappointed.

We immediately purchased two refillable mugs. They’re $11.99 each but you can refill them at your resort as often as you like. Considering that drinks at WDW run around 2 dollars and change, this can be a good deal. Shawn didn’t think we’d use them but it turns out we really did and they were a great, great value. Also, even though you’re only supposed to use them at your own resort I’ve heard many resorts won’t stop you if you use them there as well. We hit the frozen coke machines and enjoyed coke and blue raspberry flavored drinks FOR FREE! (well, for $11.99, but sort-of free)

After that it was back to the rooms for a nice evening of television and day-dreaming about our first day in the parks!

 

[beaniejawa]

When Shawn and I honeymooned, AK had been open for only a couple of months. We thought it was beautiful at the time though understandably sparse. There were no animal treks or safaris save for the birds in the Oasis. Asia was not open. The foliage had been planted but had not grown up very far meaning there were many patches of open areas. The tree, of course, was lovely and the boat ride around the park enjoyable. Shawn was most looking forward to the Kali River Rapids ride and I was looking forward to seeing gorillas and tigers. But my daughter was the real surprise. She got up early, got dressed and got us both out of bed for the first time in our lives.

Here she is, looking annoyed and standing next to the door:

I had researched this trip A LOT and there were several interactive experiences I was hoping to stumble across. We were delighted to meet one of them right away. As we entered the park at opening we saw Wes Palm, the talking palm tree. I was too surprised to take pictures, but here’s the link on allearsnet:

http://allearsnet.com/tp/ak/live.htm

“Wes” is remote controlled. He asked for some water and my husband graciously misted him with our spray fan. I offered him some of my coffee. “Oh, I met a coffee bean plant once!” he said. He saw a rip in the knee of my husband’s pants and asked him if he’d had a run-in with a weed whacker. My daughter was enthralled. He asked her about her favorite movies and when she said her favorite princess was Sleeping Beauty the tree started singing “Once upon a dream.” Wes got a hug from my daughter before we proceeded through the gates. Truly a magical start to our vacation.

How breathtaking, entering the park! The first thing Shawn and I commented on to each other was how the foliage had grown since our last visit. Walkways through the Oasis are shaded and cool. We lingered past the rushing crowds, savoring the gurgling streams and pointing out the birds and other creatures to Tatyana. A nice cast member showed us a skull under glass and explained it was just like the creature we were looking at. She was very knowledgeable and pleasant and took lots of time talking to our family. This is the way to enjoy the entry into the Animal Kingdom. Please, please don’t rush this park – it’s too beautiful to do that.
We saw the tree as we emerged, over a bridge:

If that doesn’t make you sigh, I don’t know what will. From there we went on to Dinoland to visit my husband’s favorite ride of our honeymoon: Dinosaur. Bear with me, we’re about to make the biggest mistake of our vacation.

First, a stop to pose on some very real-looking reptiles:

We lined up for Dinosaur. The wait was very short – what a great way to start our trip, a short line for a cool ride! I’ll admit, I find Dinosaur terrifying but my husband never even flinches. I was very concerned about Tatyana going on this ride but my husband didn’t want me to prejudice her against it. He and Tatyana love Dinosaurs. Between the two of us, we agreed to let Tatyana decide whether to ride the ride. She wanted to go on.


Remember that mistake I mentioned?

Tatyana smiled and screamed going into the ride. The lights flickered, the nice dinosaurs appeared. She laughed and giggled. Then the big red scary one (that tries to eat you) showed up. It was all downhill from there.

As we exited the ride, Tatyana was clinging onto me. She quietly asked that not take her on that ride again. We assured her it was all pretend and that we’d never put her on such a scary ride again. My husband was very apologetic. We decided to quickly erase her memory of this ride by rushing her to an attraction that could not possibly be interpreted as scary: A Bug’s Life.

Mistake number two -- incoming.

The wait for A Bug’s Life was not very long at all – we practically walked right in. I gave her the glasses. She suspiciously asked what they were for. I tried to explain and put them on her. The show started. She laughed at the audio animatronic ant. Then the stink bug came out and sprayed water on everybody. Total meltdown. She screamed and grabbed onto me. I took her outside and comforted her until the show ended. Shawn emerged from the theatre, looking extremely guilty. We both comforted her for a little while. The big question now: what on earth to do?

After a great deal of more consoling, we convinced Tatyana to go back to Dinoland where we played the midway games and won her a stuffed friendly dinosaur. Then we took her on the hub-and-spoke ride “Triceratop Spin.” She was much, much better after that! We felt comfortable heading over to the “Finding Nemo” musical after that.

“Finding Nemo” is a delightful show! It was very dark in the beginning so I still had to convince Tatyana that nothing too scary was going to happen and in truth she still got nervous when Bruce the Shark appeared. But overall the show was lovely. The puppets are top-notch. It’s especially wonderful when those puppets go into the audience and the bubbles come down. You feel like you’re under the sea! They ask you not to photograph the actual show this picture was taken beforehand:

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This is Disney puppetry at its finest. If you like Disney’s live shows, then don’t miss this one. From “Finding Nemo” to lunch at Pizzafari (where a nice cast member gave Tatyana a tinkerbell pin) and a nice musical performance from a group I believe called themselves the “Village Beatniks”:

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We totally got into it! They had us doing all kinds of animal impressions.

Shawn is rolling himself around in the wheelchair. I’m assisting on inclines.

I haven’t said much about it, but the heat and walking are starting to get to me. I work out, so I’m in reasonable shape but I’m light years away from being what you’d call an athlete. Still, the slopes and paved roads of AK only presented a few challenges. If you have to take a wheelchair through this park, don’t fret. It’s not so bad but there are a lot of inclines. Rentals for park wheelchairs are $10 a day ($16 for a two-day rental) and ECV’s (motorized chairs) are $40 a day.

Onto Pangani Exploration Trail and… the gorillas!!! I fastpassed Kilamanjaro Safaris before this. I’ll be honest, It’s been a week since the trip so I get the exact locations of the animals confused. The only animal I can say with complete certainty is on the Pangani Trail is the one everybody will remember: the gorillas!

At first, you are separated from them by a glass partition. But when you walk around the only thing between you and the apes is a thin and artfully constructed ravine. It really looks like they’re right in front of you. Here’s my Jane Goodall moment:

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I lucked out! Everybody was crowding the other side of the trail when this guy just wandered out of the brush and looked right at me. Two seconds after this photo was taken I was nearly knocked over by a screaming crowd! Parents: please stop your kids from trying to climb into the ravine and making ape noises. It’s rude and it’s probably dangerous.

Kilamanjaro Safaris! I’d been looking forward to this ride since my first AK trip. I didn’t bother with a camera because I’d heard the ride moved very quickly and I didn’t want to waste all my time on pictures. Here’s my surprise and warning about this trip: the ride bounces around a lot! And this is coming from someone who’s going to later tell you that Mission Space isn’t that rough. The Kilamanjaro Safaris bus jerks and bounces you around just as badly as Dinosaur!

That aside, I think the highlight of this attraction isn’t the animals, it’s the savannah. Shawn and I were swept away by how the land changed. It felt like we’d stepped inside a Discovery Channel special. The lush greens of AK gave way to smooth, flat plains, rocky outcroppings and low-growing trees with curving trunks. I’ve seen it on TV but being in this kind of environment so suddenly was surreal.

That being said, the animals (when they show up) are well worth the wait. We saw giraffes, elephants, hippos, ostriches, peacocks (I think) antelope and countless other creatures. Again, sorry for no photos, but I really think it was the right decision to just enjoy the ride and not bother with the camera. After all, plenty of other people have gotten better photos during the Sunrise Safari that’s offered through the Animal Kingdom Lodge and posted them online. Enjoy those! Pretend they’re yours! And keep your memories intact!

Dinner at Tusker House. It’s counter service, but when you’re in the park you don’t have a table service option unless you go to Rainforest Café at the very front of the park and you’ll probably have a wait. But onto Tusker House – had the grilled salmon with wild rice. Very good for counter service! Took some pictures of the surrounding area:

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Not exactly near Tusker House -- but very pretty nonetheless:

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Just outside Tusker House, my husband was recruited for another live musical performance. He danced. Sort of.

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Did I mention he has no shame? Tatyana wouldn’t dance, but she smiled and clapped and gave a high-five to the performers at the end of the dance. This wouldn’t be the last time Shawn would end up part of the entertainment at WDW.

On to Camp Minnie and Mickey and the character greeting trails.

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I thought I’d hate this part of the trip but it was actually one of my favorite parts. Disney really works hard to make sure kids get plenty of time with the characters. At the same time, they keep the line moving. It only took about five to ten minutes to reach each character. Some pictures:

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Shawn made Goofy laugh by pointing to his chair and telling him he’d had his own unfortunate goofy moment.

We head north toward Expedition Everest.

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I stop for tea at the Royal Anandapur Tea Company. I love tea and I’ve heard they have a great selection. It’s true! There is a huge shelf showing off all the loose-leaf teas in big labeled jars. After perusing the shelf and the menu I settle on the Keemun OP (a strong black tea). My tea comes with a tight drinking lid on top. I don’t want to burn my tongue, so I pry off the lid to let out some of the steam.

Why, there’s just a little tea bag inside. What about all that loose-leaf tea in the jars? That’s only decoration? You’re kidding me.

I try my drink. The tea is quite good! But seriously… loose-leaf tea in jars and only a tea bag? That’s kind of false advertising, guys.

We figured the wait wouldn’t be long for “Everest” since it was after 5PM. The wait was pretty short (about 20 minutes) but I took the single-rider line to make it even shorter. So I rode while Shawn and Tatyana shopped. This is the best ride in all of WDW! I bought a pin to commemorate it. I’m a big coaster fan and this one doesn’t disappoint. From the very beginning you get a nice ride up to the top with a view that’s to die for. Then you’re catapulted through the mountain! There are several nice drops. Oh, no – what has the Yeti done to the track? How abominable!!

One humorous note: the Yeti in the ride is brown. All the Yeti dolls available for purchase in the parks are white. I read somewhere that the reason is that Disney changed its mind at the last minute and altered the color of the Yeti in the ride but that the dolls had already been ordered. Future dolls will look more like the Yeti in the ride. Why a brown Yeti? I would have made him white. Minor detail – the ride is fantastic.

When I emerged from the ride, I found Tatyana asleep in my husband’s arms. I can take a hint. I wheeled them out of there. We got back to the park, ending our first very memorable day.

 

[OhMari]

Thanks for sharing your vacation with us.

The Kilamanjaro Safaris bus jerks and bounces you around just as badly as Dinosaur!

I think it depends on your driver. We had a nice slow driver that took the bumps really slow.

 

[Avivasmom]

Loved all the pics....your daughter is very cute.

Your poor DH, how did he do during the trip?

 

[beaniejawa]

Loved all the pics....your daughter is very cute.

Your poor DH, how did he do during the trip?

Thanks for asking! He did pretty well. I'm the one who ended up having some major issues! I'll be taking a break from posting for DH's B-day tomorrow and then I'll post more of the trip report on Sunday.

 

[beaniejawa]

Thanks for sharing your vacation with us.

I think it depends on your driver. We had a nice slow driver that took the bumps really slow.

I hope you're right. I'd like to think I can ride this ride in the future and it'll be less jerky. Come to think of it, the driver sounded very bored. Maybe that was a sign.

 

[IATink]

Great trip report! I love the pictures and I love your writing style. It's so easy to read.
My youngest daughter also did not like the 3-D movies. We have not taken either one of them to "A Bug's Life" yet. She hated "Mickey's Philharmagic" (which I love!), it really freaked her out. We are hoping since she's older this year will be different.

 

[beaniejawa]

Part 1 (My Posts are Loooonnnngggggg)


Tatyana got us up but didn’t push us out the door like last time. I think she was a little tired. Remember, we came at park opening and stayed until almost closing – a no-no for couples with small children according to the Unofficial Guide. If you don’t have the Unofficial Guide to WDW, get it. It will only improve your trip with its behind the scenes information. The guidebook recommends families with small children do half-days at the parks and take breaks for afternoon naps. Breaks for afternoon naps? I only have 7 days at the parks! I don’t have time for naps! So there it is – I had a perfectly good source for quality information about the parks. Did I listen? Nope. I also didn’t call ahead for any dinner reservations apart from the Fantasmic dinner package (but I’ll get to that amusement later).

Tatyana has a Sleeping Beauty obsession. Odd, because she’s never seen the movie, but oh well. She donned her dress – very pretty in pink and we were off to MK to buy her a tiara. Tatyana was tired (naps? Who needs ‘em!) but very, very excited!

Remember the first time you saw the castle? I remember showing it to my husband for the first time. I covered his eyes and walked him to the end of Main Street USA before the big reveal. The look on his face is something I’ll treasure forever. I planned to do the same with Tatyana, but first we had to get there.

We drove to the parking lot (and I lost the map to the parks so we made a few bad turns) but we arrived about 30 minutes after opening. Now, ferry or monorail? Monorail!

O.K. Monorail is one of Shawn’s favorite parts. I like the ferry. Maybe we’ll do that later. Onto the park. Did I mention the weather? It was gorgeous yesterday at AK. Today it’s humid, misting and overcast. Very, very nasty. Who cares? It’s MK!!

I walked my little darling up to the end of Main Street, covered her eyes, and made the big reveal. She smiled. No picture – that’s another moment I just preferred to see with my own eyes and not through the lens of a camera.

Right off the bat we saw the owner of the Emporium and a woman with a parasol outside on the street with a little bell. They were arguing loudly about who would get to ring the bell. Well, I ran right up and rang it for them! Could they tell us where to get a tiara for a princess? They sure could! The two cast members oohed and ahhed appropriately over Princess Tatyana. Was she Aurora, they asked? No, she explained politely. She was just dressed as one.

Into the Emporium where they had a PLETHORA of princess tiaras, all much better quality than the ones we’d seen previously at local retail stores. The nice lady behind the counter explained to Tatyana that there was a ceremony involved and she made a big production of putting the tiara on her head. Outside we went, just in time for a trolley to pull up and some Main Street USA dancers to get out.

Tears came to my eyes. This is part of what I love about WDW – the illusion that you’ve stepped into a perfect world where everyone is truly nice and every day is a wonderful, magical day.

Off to the castle, but can we walk through? No! It’s blocked off for a very special stage show.

Look Tatyana! It’s Aurora! And she waved right at you! Onto Fantasy Land.
Mama, I'm ready for my closeup:

Now the big question: can a commoner pull out the sword?

I guess not. Maybe you should try again later, honey. Remember: nobody believed in Arthur at first, either.

My best pic of the castle:

Onto... the carousel!

This is the kind of picture you frame and never, ever forget. I rode right next to her. What now? Oh, dear, Tatyana saw the Dumbo ride. The Unofficial Guide says it’s one of the slowest loading rides ever. We queue up. Tatyana stopped at EVERY mirror in the queue to ogle herself. The mist and humidity has already been a concern for the little girl who normally spends all her time seeking out puddles to jump in. “But it can’t rain, Mama, I’m too BEAUTIFUL to get wet!!” If I had a dime for every time I heard that at MK.

Who else is in line? Why it’s Cinderella!

A very affectionate Cinderella. Even though the line was long it didn’t really take long to get on the ride. I let Tatyana and Shawn ride while I took pictures.

An obvious benefit of having a wheelchair: parking it with all our stuff at the side of the line and not carrying bags through the line. I see people with strollers doing this as well. At first I was afraid someone might steal our things but honestly, our bag didn’t look like we had anything special in it. Wheelchairs made great bag holders! Time for a restroom break. Which one is for the ladies, I wonder?

On to lunch at Pinochio’s Village House. Pizza for me. New Haven, CT turned me into a pizza snob but Disney’s stuff is pretty good! Now, onto Ariel’s Grotto!

Remember that little girl who was afraid to get her dress wet?

Look! Mini-Ariel, meet Mini-Sleeping Beauty:

Have ever seen such splendor? Honestly, since hitting land, Ariel's got it good:

Guys, I have to hand it to Disney: they know how to make a queue. Ariel’s Grotto is just a character meet and greet but parents can sit on the benches and the kids can run amuck in the fountain playground. Oh, well. Shawn and I never expected the dress to last the day.

It took a LONG time to meet Ariel (we think they swapped out Ariels at one point, hence the long pause in movement in the line). But when we got there, Ariel was gorgeous and sweeter than imaginable.

Of COURSE Shawn would want a pic with her!

(rest of DAY 2 in following post)

 

[beaniejawa]

(Part 2 of DAY 2)

From Ariel's... and off to It’s a Small World! I left my camera in the wheelchair bag (darn it!). Shawn had never been on the ride before so we didn’t want to miss it this time. Now that I’m on the ride I can see that certain tables at Pinochio’s actually have a water view of the ride! That’s just cool. Wish I’d gotten one of those tables. Wave to the nice people eating and watching us…

Even though I haven’t used fastpass, we’re going to try and see The Adventures of Winnie the Pooh. I’m a little concerned about the wait. Unofficial Guide said it was a very popular attraction. Sure enough, the wait is really long. I go up to the cast member to find out where the FastPass is for the ride. She says “How many?” I say “Three.” She says, “You’re in luck.” She hands me three FastPasses! Apparently someone turned them in or something. In we go! How delightful!

I’m going to be honest: I’m a little disappointed in the Pooh ride. It replaced my husband’s beloved Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride. I was expecting better special effects, but it feels like it’s the same ride, just with the characters and scenes swapped out. Not there’s anything wrong with that, but I miss Mr. Toad. I found out after the ride that it was actually a ride that had been around for a while at Disneyland before coming to WDW. Guess that explains it. My review: if you always ride Snow White’s Scary Adventures and Peter Pan’s Flight then I guess you won’t want to miss this one either. They’re all essentially the same dark rides with special lighting. Really more for the kids. I was way more impressed with this:

This is the pooh play area that’s right across from the Pooh Adventure ride. See the big tree and the lanterns? I bet it’s awesome at night. My little princess (too beautiful to get wet) also apparently doesn’t really care if she gets a little dusty.
We stayed for about fifteen minutes before taking off for Mickey’s Philharmagic. And now a dilemma… Tatyana was TERRIFIED of It’s a Bug’s Life. Mickey’s Philharmagic is pretty much the same deal: wear the glasses and watch stuff seemingly pop out right in front of your face in cutting-edge 3D technology. Sure, I can take her glasses away but how do I know something won’t throw water at us? Heck, if I were designing the attraction, I’d throw water at people! I’d soak ‘em! Oh, boy…
Well, my husband is saying if we’re not sure, maybe we should skip it. I don’t want to skip it! He wouldn’t have wanted to skip Dinosaur! O.K., we’re going in. Tatyana, want some glasses? They make stuff pop out at you. No? O.K. no prob. Please, please Unofficial Guide be right about this one! You said nothing in it scares kids except for maybe Donald flying into the wall. Please, please, please….

All right, the show starts and Tatyana is clinging to my arm. Wait, there’s Mickey. Oh, she likes Mickey, she’s smiling. O.K., she likes Donald too, she’s relaxing a little. Maybe she’d like the glasses now. No? O.K. That’s fine. Now I get it – Philharmagic takes you INSIDE some of the most magical Disney movie moments. This ROCKS!! Ooooh… Ariel’s secret treasure stash. Ooooh… Jasmine and Aladdin. Flying carpets! Oh-my-gosh, DUCK!!

Well, that was fun! The lights are up and Tatyana is laughing. Did you like it? Yes, she did!! Oh, thank goodness. Didn’t feel like being a bad parent again.

Since Bug’s Life turned her into a pile of jello, I’m not about to attempt Snow White’s Scary Adventures. But Peter Pan’s Flight might be nice. 50 minute wait!!! They’ve got to be kidding me. For Peter Pan?? I’ve been on Peter Pan before. No offense, but it’s no Expedition Everest. 50 minutes!! Are those people insane.


O.K. so we’re skipping Peter Pan. Until now it’s all been about Tatyana. My husband rightfully thinks he’s due. So over the bridge we go to his favorite section of all of WDW: Frontierland. And one of his favorite all-time attractions: The Country Bear Jamboree.

All together now: “There is bloooood on the saaaadle… blooood all arouuuunnnd….”

Wow it is humid! I’m taking a pin shopping break. So many to see… wait! Expedition Everest! YES! First pin purchased. Love it. The guy selling it to me at Pecos Bill’s trading post wants to know how I liked it. I tell him it’s my favorite WDW ride ever (before that, my favorite was Tower of Terror). He wants to know what I think about Rock N Roller Coaster at MGM. I tell him I haven’t ridden it yet. “Get out of here!” he says. “No, really, get out of here before I call security. How could you have not ridden it yet?” “It’s only my second park day! I promise I’ll ride it real soon!” “Ride it and come back here and tell me if it isn’t the coolest, faster coaster ever made!!” “Sir, yes, sir!”

Well, Rock N Roller was on my list anyway. But I’m a couple of days away from that. Gosh it’s still hot and this wheelchair is getting hard to push. Yeah, he’ll roll it for a while. He’s been doing that about half the time anyway. Tatyana is dragging, though. She wants to ride in Papa’s lap or be carried. What? It’s only midafternoon! I seem to recall Unofficial Guide recommending a nap… NO WAY! I WON’T DO IT! I ONLY HAVE 7 DAYS IN THE PARKS! She can ride with Papa (sigh) I’ll keep pushing. It’s great for my arms.

Haunted Mansion is closed or we’d hit it. I’d like to go to Tom Sawyer’s island but we’re thinking it might be best to save it for our second MK day. Same with Hall of Presidents (which Shawn wants to see). We’re cutting across the park to hit Tomorrowland and Buzz Lightyear’s space ranger spin. No pictures but this is a good ride! I’ve put my Everest pin on my black hat. I intend to cover my hat with pins this trip! Buzz is great. We leave and queue up for Astro Orbiter. Oh no! I’ve left my hat and pin on the Buzz ride! Run back through the rain (yep, it’s started raining. And Tatyana of Ariel’s Grotto and Pooh’s Playful Spot fame has resumed her mantra “But I’m too BEAUTIFUL to get wet! Tatyana, you were soaked at the Grotto! Mama, I’m too BEAU—“ “O.K.! I get it! Wait while I get my hat (grumble).

What? No one’s turned in my hat? Come back in ten minutes. Eh, she looks like she doesn’t care (grumble).

No, sweetie (husband) I’m fine. I don’t want to go back to the hotel room. Me on Astro Orbiter with her? You need to hit the restrooms? O.K.

One Astro Orbiter ride – in the pouring down rain. Good grief, it is coming down in buckets. Tatyana, we’re gonna get wet on this thing. You sure you want to ride? O.K. On we go.

Astro Orbiter is surprisingly fun! Just a hub-and-spoke ride, sure, but very high up! Tatyana the Previously Terrified of anything dark keeps giggling and telling me not to crash into the planets (which it really, really looks like we’re going to hit! What is this kid’s deal? A little water is awful but crashing into planets is funny?) Astro Orbiter offers a great view of Tomorrowland from way, way up. All that’s holding you in the ride is a loose car seat style belt and centripetal force (which my science-minded husband says is actually a misnomer, you can have centripetal acceleration but not force, blah, blah, O.K. if you want to be technical about it. Rain making Dina grumpy. Very, very grumpy.

We get off the ride and wait for Shawn. Hmm, not back from the bathroom yet. Must have been a line. Oh, wait, there he is and OH! MY HAT! He actually went to get my hat for me. I’m so sorry for being grumpy. What a sweet thing to do. And the pin’s still on it.

Time for a dinner break at Cosmic Ray’s Starlight Café. This is one of Tomorrowland’s gems. Shawn and I had burgers. Tatyana spent the whole time in awe of Sonny Eclipse. She asked me all kinds of questions – like when does he get there and when does he go home at night? It was hard to explain that it was an audio animatronic figure.

If you’ve never stopped in for a bite to eat at Ray’s, do so. It’s air conditioned, it’s counter service so it’s cheap, and Sonny is great to listen to, even if his jokes are pretty corny.

Onto the Laugh Floor Comedy Club, an attraction based off Monster’s Inc:

Very sweet and funny. Love the picking on the audience.

It’s almost night. Shawn wants to ride Stitch’s Great Escape. I don’t. I’m still miffed they got rid of Alien Encounter (adored it). Shawn rides it while Tatyana and I shop. For a princess, she sure can wield a mean plastic light saber.

We skip Space Mountain (I’ve never enjoyed that ride, or the wait. I’m a coaster fan, but in my opinion Space Mountain is rough with almost no drops or plunges. Rode it twice and hated it both times. I’m not waiting in line for it again.) It’s nighttime parade time and we didn’t line up early! We’re behind lots of people and my feet are killing me but I put Tatyana on my shoulders so she can see. Wow my feet hurt! I mean really, really hurt! Will this parade start already? A band’s coming. Fine, where’s the parade? Another band. Have nothing against bands but MY POOR FEET! The two young women in front of me LOVE Tatyana. They strike up a conversation and are nice enough to describe Tatyana’s expressions to me when the parade starts. I can neither see the parade nor my daughter’s face but I can hear her. “Oh, Mama. It’s so magical. It’s a magical world, isn’t it?” Yes, darling, it is.

Parade ends and finally I can sit down! Shawn wants to go up right to the front of the castle for fireworks. We’re up front before anybody else! I take off my shoes and rub my feet. Then a cast member appears. “Guys, I’m going to do my good deed of the night and tell you that you can’t see the fireworks from here. The castle will block them. You need to move back.” Some people go, but we stay. Move back? How can being too close be a bad thing? A few minutes later he comes out again. “Folks, I’m not kidding! You won’t see a thing sitting there!” This time we take him seriously and move back. I’m afraid we won’t get a good seat but there’s a big clearing around the Walt Disney statue. We park. We sit. Will that man on the cell phone stop standing right in front of us? Oh, good, he’s gone. Great. It’s pouring down rain again. Out come the ponchos. Tatyana, are you good? You are – O.K. We are all so tired… Now the fireworks. In the rain. Oooh. Ahhhh. OOOOHHH! That was a pretty one. This is one of the best fireworks shows ever.

Now it’s over and people are leaving the park en masse. We decide to stick around and shop inside the castle and wait for the rain to stop. But it keeps coming. I have to run through the rain to get to the bathrooms again. I see crazy people still in line for Peter Pan. It’s late, I’m wet, I’m tired and I’m cranky. So is Tatyana. Shawn is hanging on by a thread.

Is it still raining? You better believe it. But at least the crowd’s thinning.

10:30PM and we finally just go. It’s not quite as rainy as it was, but it’s still coming down. To the monorail, to the TTC, to the tram to parking, to the Pop.

Boy I wish it was that easy. It’s dark and the signs showing the way to the Pop are not always there. We miss a turn and end up on the interstate. Now my nerves are really frayed. We somehow wind up at Animal Kingdom. The nice man in the booth gives us directions. Back to the Pop. Shawn makes a trip to the food court to get frozen cokes and pizzas for us. A long time later he makes it back. The migraine medicine (the one that keeps him too dizzy to really walk straight) made it a little tough for him to get to the food court and back. A woman who saw him walk asked him “Will you be O.K.?” He had to convince her he’d be fine. Tatyana is toast, having fallen asleep right after climbing into bed. I sip my frozen coke and nurse my tortured feet back to health. Frozen coke is my friend. It would never hurt me or my feet. This was a very, very tough day. Should I rethink my plan? Do we need a half day tomorrow? No – no half days! We only have 7 days to enjoy WDW!!

I fall asleep before I can plan adequately for Day 3: Epcot.

 

[IATink]

I'm glad your daughter enjoyed "Mickey's Philharmagic." I'm really hoping mine will like it this year.

We have never been to Cosmic Rays before. We will definitely have to try it this time.

Can't wait to read more!

 

[jmb912]

Great trip report! I love the pictures and I love your writing style. It's so easy to read.
My youngest daughter also did not like the 3-D movies. We have not taken either one of them to "A Bug's Life" yet. She hated "Mickey's Philharmagic" (which I love!), it really freaked her out. We are hoping since she's older this year will be different.

Last year when we went, DS was 5 1/2. He did not like Philharmagic or It's Tough to be a Bug! We are going back again in Sept. and he says he will go in Philharmagic, but not wear the glasses LOL I will just be happy if he goes in since my other DD's want to see Philharmagic again! I will be the only adult so we all have to agree! I think we will skip ITTBAG though.

On a side note, the same child who didn't like Philharmagic or ITTBAG, loved Expedition Everest! He can't wait to go on that again. My middle daughter who was 7 loved it too.....go figure!

 

[beaniejawa]

When I first visited WDW back in 1992 (no AK then) my favorite park was MGM. On my honeymoon, this shifted to Epcot. I loved Future World for its landscaping and fountains and I love World Showcase for its theming and food. Epcot is a huge deal to me.

Nevertheless, I entered Epcot still exhausted from MK and AK. I had to wake up Tatyana (remember the little girl who woke up and rushed her parents out the door on Day 1?) and we didn’t make it to the park until 10:30AM. We parked in the “Journey” section which was close enough for us to walk and not use the tram. How we accomplished this arriving 1:30 after park opening I have no idea. The throngs of people walking before and after us was a stunning sight. After seeing my 8th “Thing 1” and “Thing 2” shirt I dubbed them all refugees from Universal Studios.


I have a bone to pick with whoever stuck the millennium hand and wand on the side of Epcot. Epcot is not a giant head but now it looks like one. Why didn’t they just paint a big couple of eyes and a smile on it and complete the picture? I’ve always thought Spaceship Earth had a quiet, dignified beauty. No more.

Oh, here’s the fountain at Epcot's entrance:

Anyway, we got the wheelchair at the rental office and started off through Future World stopping first for a cup of coffee and pastry at a kiosk. Coffee… elixir of the gods! Every morning thus far I’d been getting coffee in my refillable mug at the Pop. Very, very nice. Coffee in mornings, frozen coke in evenings. But today it seemed so hot outside I decided to start with the frozen coke. Big mistake. I neeeeeds my caffeine in the morning. A few caffeinated minutes later I’m eager to hit Mission Space for a Fast Pass.

Wow do I want to ride Mission Space! I’ve been looking forward to it more than any other ride this trip. I also want to ride Soarin but you can only FastPass one ride at a time and Mission Space is the one I choose. I leave my husband and daughter enjoying the huge fountain in the middle of Future World. Cool! FastPasses are available for noon to 1pm. We opt to enjoy Innovations until then. Hey, it’s air conditioned.

First we play a computer game of Disney ‘tag’ involving all the characters. Tatyana is upset that she got stuck with Donald when she wanted Minnie but she gets over it and has a reasonably good time. She’s actually pretty good even though she doesn’t completely understand the point of the game. Once that’s done, we line up for “Fantastic Plastics.”

I’d read about this in the Unofficial Guide. Even though this took a long time this was fun. It starts with an introduction period in which the nice young woman tells a short history of plastics. Does anyone know what silly putty was originally designed for? Explosives, my husband says. She looks a little disturbed. No, but good guess! She gives us another explanation. My husband grins and whispers to me, “It’s actually explosives.”

About.com seems to support what hubby says:

"Silly Putty History

James Wright, an engineer at General Electric's New Haven laboratory, may have invented silly putty in 1943 when he accidentally dropped boric acid into silicone oil. Dr. Earl Warrick, of the Dow Corning Corporation, also developed a bouncing silicone putty in 1943. Both GE and Dow Corning were trying to make an inexpensive synthetic rubber to support the war effort."

Interesting, huh?

Next we go to a station to design our own virtual robot. This will not be the robot we get to keep! (I thought at first it was). This is just the robot you race. You get to choose all kinds of neat functions for your robot. Want him lighter? He’ll bounce more but be easier to damage. Want him heat or cold resistant? Picked a name for him yet? Choices, choices.
Then the racing starts. To race, you have to jog on a pad that’s on the floor. We let Tatyana jog, I stepped on the ‘jump’ button when necessary and my husband sat on the floor and beat the sections of the pad to move her left and right. Our robot, called “Mighty Crusher” had one eye and a curvaceous figure. I think she looked cooler than anybody elses! She didn’t win, though. She didn’t even come in third. Shawn was a little disappointed that we didn’t get a wheelchair computer (on some of the computers, you race pushing buttons) but we all had a good time.

On to the tables to assemble our robots. The good news is, there are lots of colors to choose from. The bad news is, the end result won’t look near as cool as your virtual bot. But hey, it’s nifty and it’s free. More than worth the wait. I recommend this display. Just try not to argue too much during the race.

Time for Mission Space! Unfortunately, Tatyana’s too short so Shawn opts to stay with her while I ride. In retrospect, I should have kept all three of our FastPasses and just hopped right back on the ride two more times. I’ll know better for next time.

Anyway, I’m off to the orange team. No green team for me – I want the real deal. For those who haven’t heard, a couple of people (can’t remember if it’s two or three) have died after riding the more intense version of Mission Space. In each of these cases it was determined the person had a preexisting medical condition (like a congenital heart defect). I wasn’t worried but I was looking forward to a super-rough experience. I really wanted to know what it feels like to get fired off into space.
We queue up. Gary Sinese comes onto the screen. Oooh… Gary wants me to be the engineer on this ride! Yes, Mr. Sinese, I’ll do it! I’ll be the best engineer ever! Our team of three is ushered down the hall. Theme music plays. They gave us a theme song for our down the hall walk. This is so cool!
I’m pretending I’m a real astronaut. We get into our ship. Isn’t there supposed to be four people for this mission? Our team is one short! NASA really has cut back. Commander, Pilot, Engineer (me) and oops… no Navigator. We can take off but we’ll have no idea where we’re going.
Off into space! This is the part that’s supposed to really, really be rough on the system. But it didn’t feel rough to me. Were we really spinning around? Did I get on green team by mistake? Off to Mars we go. Was I told to do something? I was? Computer has overrided me to push the button I was supposed to push that would put us into hypersleep. Oh, er, guess I’m not really cut out for this line of work. Wait! I’m supposed to push that button now to fire something or other. Did it in time! Take that, computer. Teach you to override me…
Astreroids, Mars, and almost plunging off a cliff on an alien planet. Now we’re back and Gary is happy with us (he still hasn’t noticed that he forgot to give us a navigator). I’m off the ride and maybe just a tad disappointed. It’s not that I wanted motion sickness, it’s just that I was expected something that really impacted me. To me, Mission Space is a whole lot of fun but it didn’t feel much rougher to me than say, Star Tours at MGM. But I’m not sure I’d listen to me. Everyone else I’ve talked to thinks Mission Space is pretty intense.

Now it’s on to Soarin. Sore, by the way, is how my feet and arms are after two days of pushing that chair around. And Soarin the attraction is in the Land pavilion. Up a hill. Up a very, very steep hill. I push, and Shawn helps, and Tatyana staggers after us, and we get to the doors of the Land pavilion huffing and puffing. Two cast members are waiting there. And they tell me the bad news: even though it’s just after noon Soarin is out of FastPasses and standby is one hour! We huff and puff back down the hill in the hot sun. We’ll try and ride Soarin at the end of our park day, hoping for a shorter line.

Time for the Seas with Nemo and Friends. I really like what they did with the outside.

“Finding Nemo” is one of my favorite Disney movies. The seagulls on the showpiece outside actually say: “Mine! Mine!” over and over again!

Inside is a very, very long queuing area. It’s so long that we’re not sure exactly what we’re queuing up for. After about 30 minutes we see what it is: cars on a track. Oh, so it’s a track ride now. We get in.

They’ve superimposed Nemo and his friends over actually aquarium scenes. Truly, truly impressive technology! After the ride, I bought the pin. Couldn’t help myself. We also saw sea horses, unusual fish, and Turtle Talk with Crush.

I think Tatyana really liked that she got to sit up front with other kids for this. It’s a great show. Crush ends it by telling the kids to say “Dude!” a lot. “Trust me. Your parents will LOOOVEEEE that!” Thanks Crush. Thanks a whole lot.

I saw an interesting virtual aquarium on the side of a wall during the tour. I asked a cast member what it was. Turns out that’s where Turtle Talk USED to be during the test phase of the attraction. Now it’s just a pretty wall with a screen. The things you learn just by asking…

We didn’t go upstairs to see the dolphins or other big attractions. We were more interested in getting to World Showcase. We’re on the right hand side of the park, so it just makes the most sense to hit Canada first. And here is where our day takes off with a bang! We’re no sooner in Canada than we hear a live band performing. And oh, what is that fantastic music??!!

It’s Off Kilter! I’ve heard of these guys but I’ve never heard them perform before. Wow! Can’t stop from dancing! Shawn is going nuts! Tatyana… well, she’s holding her hands over her ears and giving us a sour expression.

I’ve never heard a rock version of Oh Danny Boy. They wrap up their last song and I run to the edge of the stage. “Where can I buy your cd?” I scream. They smile and point. Off to the store in Canada where Shawn and I buy 2 cds of Off Kilter and one pin for my hat – mouse ears of Canada. I have to commemorate what has been one of the most enjoyable live music performances of my life.

Off to the UK! It’s very pretty here. Lots of shops and interesting architecture. And tea stores. I love tea! Someday I’ll have to purchase some really expensive china. Another band is performing but they’re not quite as good as Off Kilter so Tatyana and I browse while shopping.


(part 2 of Day 3 in next post)

 

[beaniejawa]

(part 2 - Day 3 Epcot)

Still in jollly old England. Did Tatyana hopscotch today or was it later in our trip? Not sure, but here she is:

Off to France, historically not a showcase section that rocks my world. But today it’s so pretty. Have I never seen the garden before?

This is, by the way, where Tatyana's hand-in-the-fountain obsession starts.

And here are pictures of my garden at home: (hah! bragging opportunity!)

We’re getting hungry. Don’t feel like spending a lot. How about Boulangerie Patisserie? I seem to recall getting very good pastries there back in 1992. Is it still good? I line up. Wow does everything look good!! I get a ham and cheese croissant (the young lady behind the counter repeats my order so prettily! I ask here what the best pastry is. Without hesitation, she tells me it’s the Napoleon. I get the pastry and the sandwich and iced tap water (tap water is free in all of WDW – but you won’t see it advertised. Ask for it) and sit down on the edge of a fountain for an under ten dollar lunch. It’s divine! My husband snags a bite or two. We split the Napoleon, which is a rectangular cream layered pastry. Very, very good indeed! Even though we move on from there to Morocco, my husband is so impressed he decides to go back and get exactly what I had for lunch. Tatyana and I spy Aladdin, Jasmine and the Genie and line up. While in line, I realize two crucial things at once:

1.) Shawn has my camera bag. So if I want pictures I’ll have to rely on Disney’s photographer.

2.) Nobody has put on sunscreen today.

I’m sure we’re all sunburned. I check my shoulders and see they are very pink. So is Tatyana’s nose. How did I miss this before? Tatyana gets her turn and regales Aladdin and friends with her WDW visit thus far. Even though I’m sure her time is up, they keep talking to her! I even gently try to take her away but Jasmine just smiles and let’s me know with a wink that it’s really O.K. They so patiently listen to all of her story, about how she loves Sleeping Beauty, about how her favorite color is pink, about her birthday, and especially about how she was too beautiful yesterday to get wet. Jasmine gives her a big lipstick kiss on her cheek. Aladdin asks her if she’s seen Alice in the UK. He says to tell Alice that her cat stinks and needs a bath! Jasmine gives him a little punch on the shoulder. “Oh, Aladdin! Don’t make her say that to Alice!”

Shawn arrives with food to find us on a park bench. I make sure we’re all sprayed with sunscreen and we move on. Shawn loves his French cuisine. We agree it’s the best food we’ve had so far.

Onto Japan and some Kaki Gori (shaved ice). I get the tangerine. Very refreshing, but I’m heat-beat. We head into Shawn’s most-looked forward to attraction in Epcot: The American Adventure.

Hey! How about that fountain!

How about that little girl with her hand in the fountain?

This is my third time seeing The American Adventure. I’ve read a lot of reviews about this attraction. For those who haven’t experienced it, it’s a theater-based look back on several historical events leading up to present-day America combining film with audio-animatronic characters, most notably, hosts Ben Franklin and Mark Twain. Some of what you’ll see in the attraction: slavery, the Civil War, World War II, women’s suffrage, and the Great Depression. (I’m always moved the most by the “Two Brothers” song that plays during the Civil War part of the show) Missing from the attraction (in case anyone wonders) is 9/11 or any mention of the current war. American Adventure has a short film that airs at the very end of the show presenting a montage of events. That film is periodically updated. The rest of the attraction appears to be the same as when I saw it in 1992.

American Adventure is by no means a comprehensive (or even insightful or innovative) look at American history. It’s not all roses and sunshine, but the sad stuff is stuff everyone can pretty much agree is sad. Nothing is controversial. It is basically WDW’s way of waving the American flag. If you leave feeling like you want to start a march and sing the national anthem, then it’s done its job. I’ve heard the complaints that American Adventure is not comprehensive or fair, that it waters down our country’s history, that it examines nothing, that it is tired and outdated and paints America in a too-flattering light. There is limited merit to all these observations.

But I have to ask: have all these critics seen the other presentations playing in the individual countries at World Showcase: “O Canada! Impressions de France, Reflections of China or even that short film that accompanies Maelstrom in Norway? Do they cast those countries in a positive light? You bet they do! Do they pick apart governments, health care, working class conditions or environmental law in these countries? Heck, no. Does each of these movies make you kind of wish you could visit France, Canada, Norway, China – maybe just pack your bags and tour the whole globe? Yeah, they kind of do. In fact, all of the attractions at the countries make, well, that country look good. Darn good! Come to think of it, it’s as if you’re not really visiting that country at all but just visiting a facsimile of it. In an American theme park. Shocking.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m a journalist, so I embrace controversy. Over the past 12 years I’ve reported all kinds of terrible (and nice) things about America and lots and lots of other countries. I’m constantly in touch with the news, reading papers every day, internet news sites and watching the late news -- except when I’m on vacation. For my part, I send a big, strong salute to The American Adventure. It may not be a through, hard-hitting examination of our country. It may not even touch on the best parts of America. But it makes me feel… well… really good as I walk out that door. And for me, that’s enough.

But on Day 3 of our vacation, American Adventure was not enough to soothe my aching feet – even though I took off my shoes during the well air-conditioned attraction. Yikes! What will help? Maybe a little ibuprofen? I’ll try anything at this point. Why are my sneakers failing me now?

We soldier on to Italy (to Tatyana’s extreme disappointment, the fountain is turned off). On to Germany, land of toy trains, beer steins and Hummel figurines.

China! Ah, what a pretty pond and what neat architecture. Too bad I’m so tired. We peruse a stand selling fans, puppets and paper umbrellas. On to Shawn and mine’s favorite country in the World Showcase: Norway.

Why do we like Norway so much? Well, there’s Maelstrom, which I instantly FastPass (since the sign shows the FastPass window to be less than one hour). And there’s my personal shopping favorite: trolls.

I highly recommend photos next to trolls. They make you look good (in comparison).

I buy a $50 nyform troll to add to my collection at home. $50 is pretty steep, but Shawn reminds me that I’ve been wanting another troll from WDW for nine whole years. Sold! This little guy is peeking out from behind a tree. So cute! Memo to me: get nyform trolls off Ebay. Much cheaper.

Akershus was my husband’s favorite full service restaurant on our honeymoon. I was going to reserve a seat there this time, but when Shawn found out they’d changed it into a Princess lunch/dinner, his heart sank. He told me he figured they’d probably changed the great food as well. He didn’t want a reservation (especially since they now require a credit card to hold it). I cancelled the one I’d set up.

Still, Shawn asked at the door if they had availability. Of course they didn’t. Then Shawn made a very unusual request. He said he really liked the meatballs. Could he just come in and buy a plate of meatballs? Well, after much consulting amongst themselves, they agreed! But it could only be Shawn (not me and Tatyana). I agreed to wait outside the restaurant while he went in. Here’s pictures of Tatyana dancing around while we waited:

You can’t really tell from the pics, but she’s actually pretty good. She says she wants to be a Cheetah girl. Heaven help us.

Even though they said Shawn could go in, they didn’t let him in immediately. He waited for about 20 minutes or so before they secured a place for him inside. Then he disappeared inside and we waited – for about 40 more minutes. It was starting to mist rain and I was getting more tired and getting hungry. I’m not happy that I’ve spent an hour of my precious WDW vacation sitting in the rain watching a hungry child. We could easily eat (there’s a counter service restaurant right there) but the line (which I reality isn’t much longer than the one in France) just seems really long to me and my tired feet. So I stay on the curb. Why is Shawn taking so long? If this place was so important to him, why didn’t he suggest we keep our reservation so that we all could be in there enjoying ourselves? Meltdown incoming – but not quite yet.

I can’t know this, but inside Akershus Shawn is unhappy as well. He’s been seated and he’s waiting… and waiting… and waiting. He didn’t realize it would take so long just to bring him out some meatballs. When he first asked, he just thought he’d get them in a container (like carry-out) and be on his way. He knows we’re outside and that we haven’t eaten. He’d leave, but the wait staff spent so much time making sure he could get in, he doesn’t want to be rude. When the meatballs finally come, he gets them to-go and joins us outside. I crankily find us some outdoor seating and I have a bite or two of the meatballs (which he paid 30 dollars for). We agree they are terrible. Nothing like the meatballs we got there last time. This was a waste of time and energy.

We move on to Mexico. I look longingly at the Cantina de San Angel. Shawn suggests I stop and eat. No, I tell him. The lines are too long. He gives me kind of a funny look (because really, the lines aren’t that long). I tell him I’ll find a place in Future World. I really, really want to get back to see if Soarin has short lines. He asks me if I’m O.K. I lie and say yes. He asks me if I need a break from pushing his wheelchair. Again, I say I’m fine and pushing him is faster anyway.

We get to the Land pavilion. There’s that monster hill again. I push and push to get to the top. The look on the cast members faces say it all: Soarin now has a two-hour wait. What is up with this attraction? Do they put you on a catapult or something? Do I actually fly? Does it involve real pixie dust???

We go downstairs and eat the Sunshine Food Court, a place the Unofficial Guide gave an ‘A’ to under its counter service review section. After getting exasperated with the employees, I finally secure a grilled cheese sandwich for the cranky little girl who refuses to eat anything other than grilled cheese. I get a grilled chicken salad for myself. Tatyana has barely eaten any food all day. It is now dark outside.

I sit down with Shawn. Tatyana tastes her sandwich and instantly devours all of it. I take a bite of my salad. It’s awful. I start to cry.

This is the Meltdown – Part 1. Stay tuned, because there’s a more dramatic Part 2 coming at MGM. Shawn comforts me. He reminds me that we both agreed we wouldn’t get to see everything at all the parks. We have a child, after all. He reminds me that this is only Day3 – we have four more days. There’s still time. After a while, I settle down. I tell him I’m so disappointed we haven’t eaten one full-service meal. The plan had been to just make those reservations while entering the park each day (this was to keep me from obsessing over them the rest of the trip). For some reason, I didn’t even try doing this at Epcot. I think I was just too tired and focused on getting places. The family at the table next to us is blatantly watching and listening to us. I stop talking and just stare back at them. Believe it or not, they just blithely keep eating their dinner and watching me. Wow. Either I’m really, really a mess or they’ve got a lot of nerve.

I finally settle down. I admit that I’ve been pushing myself pretty hard. I’m really wishing I’d pushed for a longer vacation so I could include some days of rest (without the parks). Shawn suggests we wait until Illuminations to see if Soarin has a shorter line. We wait. Soarin’s standby time drops from 2 hours to 45 minutes. Still too long for me. I suggest we go back to the hotel.

I get lost driving back to the Pop. Again. Florida’s I-4 is getting more and more familiar to me, right along with the “Welcome to Disney World!” sign. Hi guy at the Animal Kingdom gate – remember us! Finally… frozen cokes. That hotel pool looks so inviting. Too bad there’s no time for it. Tomorrow is MGM. My day. The day Shawn promised I could run the show and plan it to a fault. We have 5PM reservations for the Hollywood Brown Derby as part of the Fantasmic Dinner package – the only reservations I made and kept on this trip. With so much riding on tomorrow, it’s no surprise that Meltdown Part 2 is incoming. But of course, I don’t know that.

 

[herewegodisney]

I'm enjoying your trip report. Note to self: take it easy on our trip with young kids. I hope that you guys eventually slowed down so that you could appreciate the vacation!

 

[heartofdisney]

As I am reading your trip report,I am reminded of my families very first trip to Disney World,back in 96.There was only 3 parks then,and we still weren't able to see everything,but we sure did try,and we sure learned some valuable lessons on that trip.All our other vacations had always been,just take things easy,as they come,very laid back and easy,no stress..and always enjoyable.So that was how we went on our first trip to Disney.Once we got there though,we just got so caught up in trying to see and do everything,and we didn't know all the things we do now,..it was a tough trip for us.The kids needed naps and because we never stopped,they would get cranky and tired..so would we though too.Then we didnt know enough to make priority seatings,what they were called at that time,and so we could never get into a decent sit down restraunt,and always had counter service,which we soon got tired of.We didnt have a car to go off site to find something to eat,so we had to eat where we could get food. We didnt go back for a few years after that trip until my daughter had to dance there a few years later,so we went,but this time,we were prepared alot better.We had our ps's made,and we read the guide books.That trip went better.Then I began to search the internet and found all sorts of sites for Disney and learned so much I actually went from one extreme to the other,where I planned every day and every detail for the next few trips.But this last trip we took in January,that was the best one ever. Our kids are old enough to go off on thier own and we had time to ourselves and we took things so much easier and had the best time.We only had our dining plans and that was it. We just did whatever ,whenever and it was so enjoyable and we managed to do so much. I am just telling you this because I hope you dont give up on Disney because of the bad times.It took a few visits,but I finally learned the valuable lesson that a great Disney vacation does involve some planning,but it is best also to leave room for down time and some spontineity as well.I look forward to reading the rest of your trip report and I hope that things get better after your second meltdown.

 

[heartofdisney]

Just me again...I forgot to tell you how adorable your little girl is!

 

[IATink]

Just got caught up today. I know how you felt in Epcot. Sometimes you are just trying so hard to make sure everything is going to be the way you hoped, that you have a melt down.

My DH always tells me to just relax and enjoy it. I'm always afraid we're missing something. The last trip we took our time and just relaxed and it was one of our best trips.

I also totally agree with you about the American Adventure. For me, it is one of my favorite attractions at Epcot. You really do leave the theater with a sense of pride. I heard they were going to update the film at the end, but I'm not sure when that is supposed to be.

I love your report, and I can't wait to read more!

 

[beaniejawa]

From the moment Shawn and I started planning this trip, we acknowledged we have differing views on what make a vacation ideal. I want Disney’s thrill rides. He wants to linger over the smaller attractions. I want short lines. He wants not to be rushed. Shawn and I compromised on a lot of issues. For example, I’d make the lunch/dinner reservations the day of (or the day before) or we’d try to get a walk-in. But MGM was to be the one day I could plan out everything! And I knew exactly what I wanted to do.

MGM was going to be so relaxing, mainly because there wasn’t a lot I wanted to do in this park. My plan: hit the parks at opening. Secure a FastPass immediately for Rockin Rollar Coaster (I wanted no repeats of the Soarin nightmare). At 11AM, head to Sci Fi diner to get a walk-in. (Unofficial Guide said you can usually get a walk-in at 11AM and Shawn and I managed to get a walk-in with no trouble at all during our honeymoon). After a light lunch, I ride the coaster. Then we see several minor attractions that we both adore: Muppets 3D, Star Tours, Voyage of the Little Mermaid, and The Great Movie Ride. I’m actually planning on skipping Tower of Terror because I want to be realistic. The line for Tower will probably be really long. I’m choosing one headliner per day per park from now on and my choice is the coaster! Off to the Brown Derby for a heavenly sit-down meal. Then we shop. Oh, shopping!!! How I love to shop! Then, a short stroll over to Fantasmic! for a night we’ll never forget.

We didn’t make it there for park opening. Honestly, getting up at all at this point in the trip is proving quite the challenge. But we didn’t do too badly. We made it to MGM by about 9:45. Did I mention that it’s Star Wars Weekends? Storm troopers are patrolling the roofs of the buildings! How totally cool! We wave! We yell! They strictly advise us to move along. Better listen to them.

The Star Wars theme song is playing at the ticket entrance. Again… how totally cool! I take off for the FastPass for Rockin Roller. Oh… wait. Street performers.

Street performers are Shawn’s favorite part of WDW. And actually, they’re my 2nd favorite part. We love the interactions! You can just pretend right along with them. It’s one thing we treasure about the parks. I’ve heard of these guys, too: the fake actors shooting a movie in the street. This looks funny. I want to stop. But I want the FastPasses. I ditch Shawn’s wheelchair, leave him with Tatyana, and take off. “Enjoy the performance! I’ll be right back!” Sometimes you just have to make tough choices.
I run up to the Coaster. Lots of FastPasses available! This day is starting off way better than Epcot. My FastPass window is 2pm to 3pm. Perfect! Plenty of time for lunch at Sci Fi. I am wishing I’d brought Shawn and Tatyana’s park passes, though. I could just FastPass all of them and ride three times! Oh, well.

Back to Shawn and Tatyana. The street performers are gone. “They were just wrapping up anyway” Shawn tells me. He asks if I’m O.K. Apparently I got pretty tense when I saw the performers. I tell him I’m fine. Let’s go do lunch! So off we go.

Everywhere you go you can see Star Wars stuff going on. We play a game: spot the Jedi. They’re everywhere! Tatyana loves this game. She rides in her Papa’s lap loudly proclaiming “Jedi!” every time she sees a costume. “Actually,” Shawn corrects her one time, smiling, “that one’s a Sith!”

We’ve just arrived but it’s really, really hot. I can’t wait for lunch. It’s 10:15. We’re approaching the big blue hat that marks the center of MGM. That’s when we see them clearing the street. High School Musical’s Pep Rally is about to begin.

Shawn loved High School Musical. I really, really liked it too. I’ve told him about the pep rally and even though I didn’t include it in our schedule, I’ve been hoping we’d have time for it. I park Shawn and we get a front row seat on the sidewalk! I check my watch: show should wrap up just before 11AM. We will still have time to reach Sci-Fi diner at its opening.

I get out my camera. Oh. Oh no.
My iced tea has overturned in the bag. My digital camera is soaking in it.
I try to turn it on. Nothing. Oh no.
I decide to say nothing for now. I’m really, really upset about the camera but I don’t want to ruin Shawn’s enjoyment of the musical. He and Tatyana appear to be having a really good time. I want to enjoy it to and I sort of do – I even make sure I high-five a guy in the production at the end (which was kind of cool). But inside, the meltdown is coming. I can feel it.

We round the corner to get to the Sci Fi diner. It’s 10:59AM but the doors are open already. And there’s a line. Why is there a line so early?

Then it hits me: where would Star Wars fans most like to dine at all of MGM?
I go up to the hostess, my sense of dread building. My worst fears are confirmed: Sci Fi has been booked solid until 9:55PM.

I go back to Shawn. I tell him we’re not getting in. I sit on a curb behind a kiosk and start to cry. I take out my digital camera. Still won’t work. Shawn examines it while I cry some more. My own daughter is patting my back. “It’s O.K., mama.” Why am I crying on a disney vacation? I’ve planned this trip for years. It’s the happiest place on earth. How can I let such little things affect me? I have a daughter for crying out loud! Grown women should not cry at Disney World in front of their daughters. My sense of personal irresponsibility makes me cry all the harder.

Shawn gets irritated. He reminds me that if reservations were so important, why didn’t I call the Sci Fi the day before? I tell him I didn’t think it was that important (in truth, the Sci Fi diner was never one of my favorite eating places – Shawn likes it way more than me. But for some reason, it seemed really, super tragic that I couldn’t get in).

Until now there is a truth I have refused to acknowledge: I’m tired. Seeing Disney parks for seven days straight sun up, sun down, with a five-year-old and pushing a wheelchair is a daunting prospect. Pro-athletes would probably be worn out by now. I’m 34 and have a desk job. Seven days isn’t enough time to see every attraction in every park if you’re not going to go on a strict touring plan, which I knew we weren’t going to do. It’s also June, meaning the parks are hot and crowded. I cry some more.

I think I probably sat there for a good ten minutes trying to regain control of myself. I felt I had ruined everyone’s trip – and here we were only half way through. Shawn offered to try again and get us into the Sci Fi. He said we could also make reservations for later in the trip. I told him it wasn’t that big a deal. And honestly, it really wasn’t. When I settled down I had to acknowledge that this particular diner was not on my must-do list and never had been. And what’s more, I wasn’t even hungry! It turns out, none of us were.

I suggested, still between tears, that we move on to another ride in the park. So we went to Muppets 3-D. By now, Tatyana was more accustomed to these theater-style attractions, even though she still wouldn’t wear the glasses. Muppets was great as always. We shopped a little. I followed Shawn’s suggestions and bought a disposable camera. Tatyana bought a Nemo cookie. (You can eat that for dessert at lunch, Shawn tells her). We were all in slightly better spirits, though I don’t think I’d fully recovered yet. We went on to the Great Movie Ride and then cut across for my FastPass to Rockin Roller Coaster.

I had an interesting conversation with a woman in line for this ride. She’d been on it several times (and even brought her young son on it). She loved it more than any other WDW coaster. I was very excited. As we queued up for cars that looked like stretch limos, I noticed that everyone screamed right at the start of the ride. Hmm, I wonder why?

I got in my car. This was the experience I’d been waiting for! I sat down, secured myself, and waited. Then they shot us all off into complete darkness.

Rock ‘n roller coaster shoots you off with jet-like speed (which is why I kept hearing everybody screaming at the very beginning of the ride). I believe I said something like “Oh… oh… wooow!” which made the woman next to me laugh. The rest of the ride was filled with stuff I like: corkscrews, sharp curves and plummets. I didn’t care. I was still numb from the ride’s beginning. You could have tossed me off a cliff and all I would have noticed was the pleasant breeze.

And that’s the problem with Rock ‘n Roller Coaster. The first part is so intense, it eclipses anything else you experience in the ride. It’s a lovely ride – a fine ride. Smooth and full of great music. But I didn’t feel any of it after the beginning. That being said, the beginning was awesome. Like coasters? Ride this ride!

But I think the pacing is better with Expedition Everest. Even though I put “Rockin” second on my list, I still bought the pin for my hat.

I left the ride in much better spirits than when I’d gone in. From Rock ‘n Roller, to Star Tours, and a truly, truly delightful Disney experience.

Star Tours only had a 20 minute standby wait. Surprising, since this was the 2nd “Star Wars” weekend. More spot-the-Jedi games in line! And by the way, getting a wheelchair through the Ewok village – not fun. Star Tours was great as always. Tatyana didn’t really like it, but it didn’t scare her either (thankfully).

Out of the ride and onto the street. As my avator suggests, I like beanie jawas. Shawn even carried one around in his shirt pocket. We heard jawas were walking around and we decided to look for them.

No jawas, but who’s that walking through the crowd? I got out my disposable camera. It’s the band from Star Wars, those guys with the kooky music in the bar. We called out and stopped them. “We’re your biggest fans! We have all your cds!” They seemed so pleased! Tatyana laughed and giggled and high-fived them. Then they start gesturing us toward Star Tours. O.K., where are we going? Through the “cast members only” door and back into the inner workings of Star Tours!

A nice young cast member named Matt greets us. He takes us backstage to the room where they control the ride! Matt tells us all about how the simulator was designed by a company that makes flight simulators for real aircrafts. He says since Disney does things with these simulators that no other company has ever done before, Disney actually reports the results back to that company so they can improve their technology! It was really, really fascinating. Shawn asked if they’d ever witnessed anybody hurling during the ride  Yep, they had! Matt said you could usually tell when someone was about to lose their lunch – they’d get real still first and kind of clutch their stomach. Not pretty.

The whole time the band is gesturing, making alien noises and tickling Tatyana. She loved it when they tickled her head! As we exited, we told them all what a great time we were having and thanked them for the best Disney moment yet. But the fun wasn’t over! We got to go back on the Star Tours ride immediately, no waiting in line, just us and the band!

Unfortunately, Tatyana really didn’t want to go on the ride a second time so I sat this one out with her. Shawn got on board and said everyone had a great time – the band was really hamming it up the entire ride. While waiting just off the ride, I witnessed a decidedly un-magical moment.

A woman approached a cast member carrying a screaming little boy. He looked to be about 2 or 3. The boy was kicking and yelling and the woman was barely hanging on to him. She explained that he’d been told he was too short to go onto Star Tours. She told the cast member that they’d been on Star Tours “countless” other times and no one had ever said anything about the boy’s height. Was there any way he could get on? The cast member said he’d check, but that the height rules were a matter of safety and they were strictly enforced. As the cast member went to check, the woman set the boy down. He ran to a wall and kicked it. He kicked a bench. He screamed and pounded on the wall. She chased after him, pleading him, reassuring him. Tatyana was staring so I moved us further down the hall. “Is that boy upset, Mama?” she asked. “Yes,” I said, “yes he is.” After some time the cast member returned. She and the boy could ride by themselves. The flight simulator would stay off, though. She said that was fine and took the kid in.

All I could think of was what Shawn would do if Tatyana pitched that kind of a fit. I told him about it when he came out of the ride and after we posed for pictures with the band:

Shawn was shocked! We agreed that if our daughter acted like that, not only would she miss the ride, but she’d go straight back to the hotel! We were still talking about it as we entered the Brown Derby.

Have you ever been to the Hollywood Brown Derby at MGM? If you like great food and enjoy full service restaurants, then don’t miss this one. But please, book it early. It fills up fast. I made my Fantasmic dinner package reservations in February and already the evening spots were booked. I was lucky to get the 5PM.

The décor of the Brown Derby is muted browns and creams. The chandeliers cast a warm light on the diners. It is so dim inside that you’ll believe it’s evening, regardless of the actual time outside. On the walls are caricatures of famous stars. We were in the very center of the restaurant. Here’s how the dinner package works: you pay for your meal in advance. You get whatever appetizer, entrée and desert you want off the menu, as well as a regular beverage (soda, iced tea). You also get special seating for Fantasmic meaning you don’t have to wait in line for the show. Dinner Packages are available for the Brown Derby, Mama Melroses (an Italian place) and Hollywood and Vine (a buffet). I highly recommend the packages. We paid about 43 dollars apiece for Shawn and me and I think around 25 for Tatyana. What we ate would have cost about that anyway. Since we almost never order appetizers and desserts, this was decadent.

It was so heavenly to be in a full service restaurant for the first time during our Disney trip! Just to sit down and take a breath was worth the price alone. I realized then how foolish it had been for me to not make reservations for full service restaurants every day at the start of our park trip. I think I just wanted to save money. But really, you need a break every now and then. We opened the menus… ah, but wait: Tatyana. We’ve really pushed her energy limit this trip and she’s started to get really cranky about what she eats. We took a very critical moment to explain to her that she’d get an appetizer before her grilled cheese sandwich. It would be carrots and celery. Don’t worry! That doesn’t mean they’ve forgotten your sandwich. That also doesn’t mean you have to eat the carrots or the celery. Got it? Tatyana nodded and went back to coloring her kids menu. We looked over our own menus.

Decisions, decisions. Should I get the duck? I almost never get to eat duck. Ah, but I really feel like a steak! Go with your gut, Dina. Steak it is! Shawn gets the same thing. To start off: lobster bisque for me, seared scallop for Shawn. Done!

The appetizers arrive. Tatyana sees her carrots and celery. Her face starts to turn red. “But Mom, I wanted—“ “Remember!” I say, “This is an appetizer. Sandwich is coming.” She closes her mouth, nods, and goes back to coloring.

Ummm! Bisque is yummy and so very fresh. Shawn’s scallop is wrapped in bacon and so, so decadent. We give a big five-star rating to the first course, then it’s steak time.

Medium-rare, just the way I like it! The potatoes aren’t much, but they’re just fine. The steak’s the main attraction anyway. Shawn got his rare and loves it. We don’t talk a lot during the main course – we just eat!

At some point a cast member appears at our table in 50’s Hollywood suit attire. He’s a talent scout, looking for stars. He leaves his card – a souvenir!
Shawn tries singing for him, but he doesn’t like it! Off he goes to another table. Well, we wish him the best of luck finding that diamond in the rough.

Tatyana loves her grilled cheese. We order dessert: banana toffee tower for me and strawberry cheesecake for Shawn. “Hidden Treasure” sundae for Tatyana (though we know she won’t eat it – she already said she only wants her cookie for dessert). My toffee tower is huge and so artfully designed! It has a tasty toffee cookie sticking out of it. Shawn’s dessert comes with a white-chocolate dipped strawberry on top. He takes a bite and his eyes pop open! He hands me the strawberry. I try it. It’s the best strawberry I’ve ever tasted! How did they get it? Do they have their own garden, or something? I’m honestly surprised Shawn let me have a bite. He ate the cheesecake and said it was great but that the strawberry had been the best part.

I check my digital camera. Now it will turn on – but still no picture. Shawn urges me not to give up hope. Give it a day to dry out. Use the disposable. That’s what I do.

We’ve done a lot at MGM. Shawn offers me a chance to go to Tower of Terror, but I pass on it. Let’s go to Voyage of the Little Mermaid. Ariel is my favorite Disney princess and I love this show. Plus, I hear rumors it might be discontinued soon because of the upcoming broadway Little Mermaid show.

While waiting in the queuing area, I have an interesting conversation with a tourist who works at Disney Land. This was his first trip to WDW. He only had one day left and he wanted to know which he should see – Animal Kingdom or Epcot? That’s a tough one. I think Shawn leaned toward Epcot for World Showcase. I told him hands down he should visit AK. I don’t know what the man finally decided to do. Whatever it was, I hope he had a really great time.

“Voyage” was every bit as good as I remembered it, despite being technically outdated. The puppets are inferior to “Finding Nemo” at AK, the laser lights are inferior to Fantasmic! The motion picture quality has gone grainy and Ariel… well… we’ve seen her at the Grotto in MK, of course. But I still love this show! It brings a tear to my eye every time. I’m glad I got to see it again.

And Tatyana? It’s getting hard to tell what rides she liked and didn’t like. She’s been pretty subdued all day today. Boy, I really do need to think about that half-day suggestion in the Unofficial Guide.

On to The Great Movie Ride. I don’t usually get a lot out of this ride. I don’t find the movie scenes to be that immersive or impressive. But I do like the queue. While in line, I get to see the fur coats the children wore in “The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.” I get to see Viola’s gown from “Shakespeare in Love.” And, of course, the carousal horse from Mary Poppins! This was there the last time. I always love seeing it! I also love the movie trailer clips you see in the queue. This is the spirit of old Hollywood.
I’m a little concerned Tatyana will be scared by the Alien, but she seems to get into the ride. She likes Tarzan. She likes the Wizard of Oz. She does NOT like the alien but oddly enough it doesn’t appear to frighten her. I get the distinct impression she thinks the alien deserves a ‘time out.’

Back to the area around the Star Tours ride. We’re still hoping to see some jawas walking around. On a stage nearby, a “Jedi” is teaching young, future jedis how to wield light sabers. Oh, no, the real Darth Vader shows up (complete with theme music)! It’s up to the young kids to defeat him! One by one they battle the dark lord. I’ve never seen kids so happy or Vader so very slow. They drive him off! He acknowledges that the force is strong in these young children. Oh, if only Tatyana were a little older and less shy. I bet she’d love to play Jedi and defeat Vader!

We’re told there will be a stage show. Unfortunately, Tatyana and I get separated from Shawn during a bathroom break. We’re both at the show but we can’t find each other and the noise is too loud for us to hear each other on the cell phones! Bummer, he’s got my camera! I take some cell phone pics and run into the band again! They recognize us and tickle Tatyana on the head again! We also meet R2D2 (Tatyana gave him a kiss) and… and… and…. A JAWA! Hurray! Now if only I could find Shawn and get my disposable camera out of the bag on his chair.

Finally find Shawn. I took a pic of the stage:

Such a crowd! Shawn tells me I just missed Queen Amadallah and Darth Vader singing a duet of “I Will Survive.” Boba Fet comes out. A cast member says “Hey, if you meet Mace Windew, duck!!” We all learn a special Star Wars dance. Everybody’s having such a great time and all the cast members are mingling! This is way cool. Next Disney trip, I think we’ll make sure we go in June again for more Star Wars weekends. Eventually, the storm troopers come along and break up the party. Oh, well. I guess that’s their job.

We seek out the speeder bike from Return of the Jedi. Look! It's Shawn Solo and Princess Tatyana:

The Star Wars stage show was one of my very favorite moments at WDW. I never expected it to be, but it was. I visit the Giant Sorcerer Hat and buy a pin showing Stitch as the evil emperor in Star Wars.

It’s getting late. We’ve all met the Jawas and it’s time to move on to queue up for Fantasmic! I’m really excited because part of the dinner package includes special seating for the show. Basically, you can just walk right in and sit down. We go to a special entrance and the guy waves us through. Don’t we need to show you our card? Nope, he says. They’ll be a girl up the hill. You’ll show it to her. Did he say hill?

It seems the hill at the Land pavilion in Epcot is only eclipsed by THIS hill. I push Shawn up it for a few minutes. We see the girl the man was talking about but she doesn’t look at our card, the one guaranteeing us entry as members of the package. Odd. When we reach the hilltop we come to a big, outdoor arena. We are quickly ushered to a seat. There seem to be a LOT of open seats in our section. I see a taped off section of about 50 really great seats in the middle of the seating area. I ask a cast member what that section in the middle is for. He says that’s VIP seating. I tell him we’re VIP seating. He shakes his head. “No, you’re dinner package seating. Not VIP.” I ask him what VIP means. He asks me if I’ve seen the people walking around the park wearing gold (was it vests or lanyards? I think he said vests). I tell him no. He says, “Well, those are the people who pay for a special park tour. At the end of the day, they get those seats in the middle.” I’m intrigued. I ask how much they pay. He looks uncomfortable. “You don’t want to know,” he whispers.

Actually, I WOULD like to know. I didn’t get any more information out of him, but I’m extremely curious. Special gold vests? VIP seating? A price tag he’s afraid to mention? Has anybody else heard about this?

But I’m a little tired for follow up questions so I take my seat. Turns out a full one fourth of the seating seems to have been taped off for dinner package. We are on the back two rows, which are reserved for ‘disabled’ or basically anyone in a wheelchair and their families. The view is fantastic. When it gets close to starting time, we see the ‘standing only’ section start to fill up behind us. The entire row of seats before us is still empty. My husband asks if we can offer those seats to the first row of standing only if they don’t get taken. We’re told no, that the seats have to stay open for the disabled and their families. “Yes, but what if no one takes them at all?” Shawn asks. The cast member shakes his head. “I still can’t give them to anyone. They stay empty.” What a waste! And right in front of those people who have to stand! When the lights dimmed, a few sneaked into the row in front of us. We didn’t say a thing.

Here's people doing the wave just before showtime:

So the lights dim and the show starts:

Pictures don’t do Fantasmic! justice. The show broadcasts images on walls of water, like rippling motion picture. The effect is gigantic and dazzling. All the good guys start their spiel – there’s lot of singing and dancing. Everything is going swimmingly… then the evil Queen from Snow White shows up! Oh, no! Tatyana is grabbing me in terror. “Now, you will have to deal with me!” the Queen screams to everyone. “Come magic mirror!”

Then the lights go out.

Then all the lights come back on.

Then a loudspeaker announces, “Ladies and gentlemen, we apologize but there will be no more Fantasmic! tonight due to technical problems. Thank you.”

What? Is this part of the show? I guess not. Everybody starts to leave. I feel kind of numb. “Well, that’s… I so disappointed!” Shawn says. I slowly nod my head. I was really getting into it.
Then I laugh: “I just realized the Evil Queen won!”
Shawn says, “The good guys didn’t even put up a fight. She just shows up and bam! It’s over!”
By the time we get to the bottom of the hill, we’re laughing. We’ve witnessed Disney history: the bad guys actually won.
We decide we’ll try to come back to MGM to catch Fantasmic! on either Saturday or Sunday night. We head for our car and hit the hotel.

Oh, yeah. I got lost getting back to the Pop again. Anyone surprised?

 

[beaniejawa]

The meltdowns of days 3 and 4 really put the trip in perspective for me. I never meant to get so stressed out over a vacation and today things felt… different. More relaxed. It certainly helped that I turned on my digital camera that morning and it worked. Perfectly. I guess Shawn was right. It just needed a night to dry out.

On we went to MK. Ferry or monorail this time? Ferry!

A word to everyone who's never taken the ferry to MK: Look, I know it's slower than the monorail, but come on! On the ferry, you get the joy of standing in a very short line to board. That's always nice. And then, you get to watch Cinderella's castle slowly get bigger and bigger. If that doesn't build anticipation in your kids, what does? This is the way to enter MK feeling like you're stepping into a fairy tale. Bonus: to either side are the Polynesian, the Contemporary and the Grand Floridian resorts. If you aren't staying there or visiting them, this is a great way to at least see what they look like:

We'd slept late – I don’t think we reached the park until close to 11AM. Tatyana wanted to ride the tea cups. We knew we’d be doing a lot of rides today she wasn’t interested in so we told her we were saving tea cups for last. That cheered her. First things first… off to Frontierland to ride Splash Mountain. The weather was lovely: sunny and warm but we planned on getting wet before we could get too hot! On the way to the ride, I wisely stopped in the Liberty Tree Tavern. They had plenty of reservations open for lunch! I booked up a 2:40PM and off we went to Splash Mountain. Only a 15 minute wait! We gleefully stepped in line. Tatyana saw the special Splash mountain play yard area. We promised her we’d stop in it after the ride.
On we went. Tatyana wanted to know if we’d get wet. We told her ‘probably’ and asked for a seat in the back of the log (less chance of getting really soaked). Of course, we got sprayed anyway by the splash of a passing log boat. Tatyana didn’t seem to mind. She liked the characters on the ride. I was a little worried about the end drop but that didn’t seem to bother her either. She left the ride laughing.

Then... the Riverboat!

And one heat-beat little girl:

From there, we went to Adventureland, always my favorite land in MK!

I don’t know what it is: maybe the totems, perhaps it’s all the palms and shops, Adventureland just always seems to be my kind of place. We rode Aladdin’s magic carpets – my vote for prettiest ride in all of WDW.

I couldn’t stop taking photos of it. Tatyana thinks it's pretty too:

Here's a view from the ride itself:

Next, on to the Swiss Family Treehouse, a Shawn favorite. It’s so beautiful and relaxing. It’s fun to imagine what it would be like to live this way. I hear they’ve re-themed the one in Disney Land for Tarzan. I’m kind of glad they haven’t touched the one at WDW. Even though I’ve never seen the movie (Shawn loves the movie) I think this is a nice, laid back attraction. It’s so peaceful. Who’d want to change that?

We shop a little. I like the masks and drums. We pick up a little more sunscreen. $15! Darn, but stuff’s expensive at WDW. I look longingly at the egg roll cart, but I’m really saving my appetite for lunch.

We ride Pirates of the Caribbean! I’m a HUGE fan of the movies so I was eager to see what changes were made after the movies. I have to say, I love the way they superimposed Davy Jones’ face on the running water (thank you Fantasmic!) It’s the greatest effect of the ride. Notable also is how well they duplicated the mannerisms and movements of Captain Jack Sparrow in several audio animatronic figures. Well done, guys.

Tatyana started complaining in the ride. She told us she didn’t like it. Then she told us she was scared and hated the ride. But she kept laughing and pointing to Jack Sparrow. Shawn told her to behave or we wouldn’t ride the tea cups. Suddenly nothing was scary anymore! Shawn privately told me later he suspected she’d been suckering us on a couple of rides just so she could get to the play yards faster afterwards. It wouldn’t surprise me. She’s a clever one.

On to the Tiki Birds, my vote for the prettiest pre-show area:

Tatyana was bored but coping. She didn’t like the attraction. But she sure liked how it ended! “Mama, everyone’s having a party!” She was laughing and clapping.

Lunchtime!! Another full service restaurant for Dina! Yes, Tatyana, they have mac and cheese. Turkey and dressing! I stuff myself. Pound cake? Sure, why not! I can’t even finish it, but it’s one of the best things I’ve eaten the whole trip. Shawn had a burger. It was good, but he didn’t think it was fantastic. Tatyana liked her lunch just fine.

We get outside just in time to catch a parade:

We move on to Fantasyland. Shawn wants to feed his Tinkerbell obsession with a Tink souvenir. After checking out several items, he settles on a create-your-own bracelet to wear as an anklet. (“Guys can wear anklets, right?”) These displays are really, really neat! You buy the bracelet (about 8 dollars) and then buy the individual charms (about $3.50 apiece) and make a unique piece of Disney jewelry. He got all the Tink charms they had. The end result was pretty cool. We also got a sleeping beauty locket for Tatyana and a sleeping beauty pin for her.

I discover I’m really, really tired! Hey, it’s only midafternoon and I’m sleepy? I shouldn’t have eaten so much! We slip into Cosmic Ray’s for a water break. Then Shawn says “Hey, why not call it a day and swim at the hotel?” Gosh, that sounds great! A real half day!

(Shawn interrupting here. It was not so easy a thing convincing her to leave the park. It took almost 15 minutes of discussion before Dina finally agreed. And let the record show, Dina INSISTED on pushing me most of the time. I actually was enjoying wheeling myself around. She kept telling me it was ‘faster.’)

O.K., O.K., whatever! I agreed, didn't I? We get ready to leave. First, the tea cup ride and then it’s so long, MK. Until next vacation, I guess.

We make it to the Pop (I remembered a map this time – no getting lost!) After a quick change into our swimsuits we hit the Computer Pool again. How refreshing! This is heaven! We swim to our hearts’ content. Since lunch was so huge, we only have a light snack for dinner. But we still have the frozen cokes. We’ll always have the frozen cokes.

 

[beaniejawa]

Yep, I went a little camera-happy here.