With the world safe from evil minions everywhere, it was time to get Big Dave his coveted 2nd ride on Test Track. We made our way to the ride from Mexico, and found that there was still a 30-minute wait. So, we grabbed Fast Passes and deliberated over our next move.
My parents took the kids to see the Chinese acrobats perform, while Julie and I hustled over to Canada to watch Off Kilter. We told Dave to take pictures for us, since we were going to miss the acrobats. He did his job admirably. My dad told me later that he didn't think Dave actually saw any of the show with his naked eye--he just watched the whole thing on the camera screen, and my parents heard a constant
click-click-click-click through the entire show. I belive the count came to 57 pictures.
Julie and I had never heard Off Kilter play before, and truth be told: she hates the bagpipe.
But we both have some eclectic musical tastes (we like both classical music and hard rock, and if you can mix the sounds together? awesome
) and will give almost anything a shot. It turned out to be a good call--Off Kilter is a lot of fun. They're very talented, and the bagpipe fits in seamlessly with the rock music. From my limited knowledge, they seem to be in the same ballpark musically as the Dropkick Murphys (Boston Irish band).
For their second number, they announced they would be singing a traditional song called "Brother John", but it was French-Canadian (I think). The lead singer said, "That's right! Not only do I play the world's most obnoxious instrument, but now I'm going to sing in French!"
We stayed for a couple of songs before hustling back to meet everyone at Test Track. At this point, Sarah really wanted to ride Mission: Space again, and there was no wait. My mom hadn't tried it, so she took Sarah to that one while we took Dave to Test Track. My dad was still feeling sick. Scotty opted to wait behind with him instead of riding, which was odd, because it seemed so out of character for him.
Dave was obviously much more excited for Test Track, now that he knew what to expect. Although given the context here, maybe he's a little too excited:
Dave's favorite color is red, and he was hoping against hope for a red car this time around. We wandered through the line, got up to the loading area, and...
We had a red car. I told you, this was the Best. Day. Ever.
It's amazing how much more fun this ride is when you don't have to coach a scared kid through it. Dave is an all-or-nothing kind of kid. When he's upset, he's REALLY upset. But when he's excited, he's REALLY excited. Excited Dave has an infectious joy that spreads contagiously. It's hard not to enjoy a ride through his eyes.
Julie tried to get a cool picture on the ride of our speed. Everything was lined up perfectly, except for one thing:
She took a few shots, and the speed doesn't show up on any of them. I know it was lit up when we rode it--we could see it clearly. No idea why it didn't show on camera.
We met up with the rest of the crew. Dave was excited and yelling about how awesome Test Track was, and Sarah was excited and yelling about how awesome Mission: Space was.
Oddly, Scotty was not doing any yelling about how awesome sitting on a bench was.
Sarah begged to do Mission: Space again, and with no line, we were up for it. It was going to be me, Sarah, my mother, and...Dave? We asked if he wanted to try it.
Dave got real quiet. He hemmed and hawed for 10 minutes or so. He was trying hard to work up the courage, and we told him over and over that we thought he could handle it. But it was ok if he didn't want to. I was hoping he'd overcome the fear. It's good for people to step out of their comfort zones and try new things, even if they seem scary.*
*(This does not apply to me and the Tower of Terror. Because I said so, that's why.)
After an eternity (mild exaggeration) of stewing, Dave finally made the call:
The Mission was a go for launch.
We filed into the Green (Sane) side of the line. When we got into the capsule, Sarah was the Navigator, Dave was the Commander, Mom was the Engineer, and I was the Pilot. Sarah immediately picked up on my seating position and asked if I knew how to fly the ship. "Fly? Yes. Land? No," I said.
Dave was quiet and trembling a bit, but holding it together. We blasted off, and flew through the heavens toward Mars. I helped Dave when it was his time to push the buttons, and noticed a smile on his face. We had a slight mishap on our landing (I warned you), but made it safely. Afterward, Sarah starting giving me crap. "You flew us right into a meteor shower! What kind of lousy pilot are you?" she demanded. Honestly, where does she get this stuff?
Here are two of our crew members:
And the idiot pilot. I'm starting to understand why we flew into a meteor shower:
Dave was bouncing all over the place, a huge grin on his face. "That was FUN!" he declared. While in the gift shop, we found an ID badge that said "Commander David". It was too perfect, and he deserved a reward for overcoming his fear.
Mission: Space.....
CONQUERED!
At this point, my parents were both not feeling well, so they headed back to the hotel. We stuck around because we wanted to watch Illuminations. It was going to be way past the kids' normal bedtime, but bedtimes don't matter on vacation.
Since it was near the end of the week and we'd seen just about all of the gift shops, we hit Mouse Gear to start piling up on souvenirs. The Disney Visa Rewards credits we'd worked so hard to save over the last few years made a disturbingly small dent in the bill.
Dinner was at the Electric Umbrella (never have figured out that name). I ordered a Royale with Cheese and the kids got their chicken nuggets, and we found outdoor seating by the fountain. At this point, the lights came on and we were treated to a show set to James Horner's terrific theme from The Rocketeer. I was amazed at how many people walked past the fountain without a second glance. To me, the fountain show is one of the most magical parts of Epcot, especially at night. It amazes me that more people don't stop to watch it.
After dinner, we found a spot to watch Illuminations and set up the tripod for the camera. Back on the 4th of July, we'd experimented and found that we got some nice fireworks pictures using a 5-second exposure. So we tried the same thing here. I think it was a bit of a mistake. The fireworks in the Illuminations show are more rapid-burst, and don't have the slow, graceful arcs of the ones at Wishes. We probably should have gone with a quicker exposure. Still, some of the shots look kinda cool:
The kids LOVED it. They had seen Wishes before, but not this show. As soon as the show started with the first burst of fireworks and fireballs, Dave shouted, "This is WAY better than the Magic Kingdom!" I think it's a cool show, too. I do agree with trennr's assessment: great beginning and ending, too much time spent on the spinning globe in the middle. But if you gave our family the choice of the art, grace and beauty of Wishes vs. the noise and spectacular pyrotechnics of Illuminations...
It's a tough call.
But we're fairly shallow people. We like pyrotechnics.
Fire! Fire!
With the show over, we joined the cattle call for the exit. The wait for the bus wasn't too terrible, as I recall. We walked all the way through the snaking line for the bus. As we did so, another family just ducked under the ropes and jumped ahead of us. Have a magical day, sir!
Still, we did get a sweet picture of the Big Golf Ball while leaving:
Upon arriving at Riverside for the evening, Julie went to pick up her coffee mug from DHS at the gift shop. It was marked "FRAGILE". "Must be Italian," I said. We made our way to the room and opened the door. We noticed two things. First, the maid had piled up all of the stuffed animals on the bed as though they were watching TV. This wasn't unusual; it had happened every night. The other thing we noticed was a plastic bag lying on the bed. That hadn't been there when we left.
Stapled to the bag was a small handwritten note:
Dear David,
I'm sorry I didn't have the trading cards when you asked for them, and I hope you weren't disappointed. I put together this bag with some gifts for you, including the trading cards, and I hope it makes your time here with us more magical. Mike Cochran, Bus Driver
We opened the bag. Inside were a
Disney Cruise Line notebook, a Disney World autograph book, stickers, a Mickey noisemaker, buttons for all 4 theme parks, a snow globe, a pirate sword (plastic, thank goodness), magnets, and yes, trading cards. We were flabbergasted. Dave looked like this:
I have no idea if this was just stuff he had collected over the years, or if he'd spent his own money, or had guest services put something together, or what. All I know is, the guy didn't have to do anything. Dave had collected cards from other drivers and had completely forgotten this. So had I, to tell the truth. Mr. Cochran went above and beyond the call of duty. And yes, it did make the stay more magical.
When I got home, I contacted Guest Services and gave them all the info on Mr. Cochran and what he did for us. Hopefully he got a commendation or an attaboy or some sort of special recognition, because he deserved it.
So, to sum this day up: Kona coffee, fun spy missions, happy kids with no whining or fighting, cultural experiences with international Cast Members, cheddar cheese soup, steak, chocolate cake, saving the world, cowbells, bagpipes, red cars, fears conquered, outdoor seating with a fountain show, pyrotechnics, and unexpected treasures waiting for my son in the room. Best. Day. Ever.
Coming Up Next: We begin our final day in the parks.
And Scotty conquers a ride!
Now Liesa (All7OfUs), on the other hand, will require several threads to spin her yarn. She only came up with the title she's using because "Iliad" and "Odyssey" were already taken.
