What an amazing, wonderful, top ten kind of day!
We begin by grabbing an early bus and over to MK by 8:30. We enter through the PS entrance and meet our group for the "Keys to the Kingdom" tour. There are about 12 in our group. I feel very comfortable around fellow disney geeks. There was even a couple who did the same as us, left the kids and home and came down to play! Our CM was Rae, and she simply oozes Disney. She has worked there for six years, and has had many jobs including portraying characters (hint: she is very short). We learned so much that we did not know, she pointed out so many illusions, and history, and backstage stuff. It was incredible! We also got detailed info and rode on Haunted Mansion, Pirates and the Jungle Cruise without waiting in lines. Lunch was included, set up in the private section of the Columbia Harbour House. I had never eaten here before, and it was great food. No one seems to know about the upstairs, and it is not crowded. Will eat here from now on at MK. I highly recommend this 5 hour tour!
We then head over to Epcot as we know Mission Space was open for testing on Monday from about 4 till 7 ish. We get to the path leading to M:S about 3:15. A CM stationed on the path asks if he can help us. "Nope, just looking". A 2nd CM is stationed right in front of the building. We chat him up, but he is giving away nothing. Except, as we told him we knew it was open yesterday, he did say "Well, we do need testers" and smiled. That was enough for us. We went to sit in the shade and started chatting to to guys next to us. Turned out they were CMs from Planet Hollywood. They were watching us before and making bets as to wether we were "natives" and knew what was going on.
We spent a lot of time chatting with them and talking about crowds. Many people would come and gather in front of MS just because others were there. They had no idea about the ride, what was going on, just crowd (lemming) mentality.
These CMS knew the signs to look for (security around, planet on the outside spinning, tour groups visible). Finally, around 4, a pretty big crowd (maybe 200) has gathered and CM from MS comes out to tell us the ride is not open until August 15, go away. Our new CM friends wink and tell us this is standard procedure right before opening. Very few leave. Around 4:30, those who had the perserverance to withstand the blistering sunshine, sweating masses and tedium are duly rewarded.
This ride has been described in detail other places. All I will say is OMG! WOW! DO NOT MISS! You really feel like you are in space. We did not feel nauseous, okay, maybe just a little bit stirred up, but it was FANTASTIC! We high fived our new-found CM friends goodbye, and I was a little Disney misty, both from the ride and our new friends.
After this, we need a drink. As we have not walked enough today, we decide to walk the world. First stop, frozen margaritas at Mexico. Amble on towards Morroco. We have PS's for tomorrow night, but decide to see if we can get in tonight as we are here. Hostess in front of building says "sure". Hostess in back says "no". We decide to cancel our PS there for tomorrow night. We amble on to England, take a chance and see if they have anything available. They do because they opened that little public eating area next door as part of the restaurant due to larger than usual crowds due to a convention.
We have a wonderful meal, under the trees with a light breeze. DH has fish and chips, of course, and I have bangers and mash. Very satisfying and a wonderful way to prolong the joy of the day.
A mere 12 hours from start to finish, and we are on our way back home to AKL for some well-earned pool and hot tub time. What a day!
We begin by grabbing an early bus and over to MK by 8:30. We enter through the PS entrance and meet our group for the "Keys to the Kingdom" tour. There are about 12 in our group. I feel very comfortable around fellow disney geeks. There was even a couple who did the same as us, left the kids and home and came down to play! Our CM was Rae, and she simply oozes Disney. She has worked there for six years, and has had many jobs including portraying characters (hint: she is very short). We learned so much that we did not know, she pointed out so many illusions, and history, and backstage stuff. It was incredible! We also got detailed info and rode on Haunted Mansion, Pirates and the Jungle Cruise without waiting in lines. Lunch was included, set up in the private section of the Columbia Harbour House. I had never eaten here before, and it was great food. No one seems to know about the upstairs, and it is not crowded. Will eat here from now on at MK. I highly recommend this 5 hour tour!
We then head over to Epcot as we know Mission Space was open for testing on Monday from about 4 till 7 ish. We get to the path leading to M:S about 3:15. A CM stationed on the path asks if he can help us. "Nope, just looking". A 2nd CM is stationed right in front of the building. We chat him up, but he is giving away nothing. Except, as we told him we knew it was open yesterday, he did say "Well, we do need testers" and smiled. That was enough for us. We went to sit in the shade and started chatting to to guys next to us. Turned out they were CMs from Planet Hollywood. They were watching us before and making bets as to wether we were "natives" and knew what was going on.
We spent a lot of time chatting with them and talking about crowds. Many people would come and gather in front of MS just because others were there. They had no idea about the ride, what was going on, just crowd (lemming) mentality.
These CMS knew the signs to look for (security around, planet on the outside spinning, tour groups visible). Finally, around 4, a pretty big crowd (maybe 200) has gathered and CM from MS comes out to tell us the ride is not open until August 15, go away. Our new CM friends wink and tell us this is standard procedure right before opening. Very few leave. Around 4:30, those who had the perserverance to withstand the blistering sunshine, sweating masses and tedium are duly rewarded.
This ride has been described in detail other places. All I will say is OMG! WOW! DO NOT MISS! You really feel like you are in space. We did not feel nauseous, okay, maybe just a little bit stirred up, but it was FANTASTIC! We high fived our new-found CM friends goodbye, and I was a little Disney misty, both from the ride and our new friends.
After this, we need a drink. As we have not walked enough today, we decide to walk the world. First stop, frozen margaritas at Mexico. Amble on towards Morroco. We have PS's for tomorrow night, but decide to see if we can get in tonight as we are here. Hostess in front of building says "sure". Hostess in back says "no". We decide to cancel our PS there for tomorrow night. We amble on to England, take a chance and see if they have anything available. They do because they opened that little public eating area next door as part of the restaurant due to larger than usual crowds due to a convention.
We have a wonderful meal, under the trees with a light breeze. DH has fish and chips, of course, and I have bangers and mash. Very satisfying and a wonderful way to prolong the joy of the day.
A mere 12 hours from start to finish, and we are on our way back home to AKL for some well-earned pool and hot tub time. What a day!
