An oldie but a goodie: WDW Aug 2003-AKL

[Lyn-CA]

I am because I found our trip report from our Aug. 2003 jaunt to WDW. I typed it up, printed it and thought I didn't save it. So last night, I was cleaning out some old documents on our PC when lo and behold, I found this gem. [I am currently working on a more current trip report of my birthday trip to Disneyland just this past weekend] Happy reading!

Dear Readers,

I am reliving our wondrous trip to the World. For those who cherish lots of detail, have I got a trip report for you! For those who prefer short and sweet, this ain’t your cup of tea.

CAST OF CHARACTERS:

Lyn: 30-something; the nuttier Disney nut; Grandmaster planner and trip reporter.
Rob: 30-something+5; DH or DN=Disney nut; goes along for the ride and has a blast.

Everybody neat and pretty? Now on with the show!

PROLOGUE:

Fairytale Vacation Package! Three magic words! We didn’t have plans to go back to Disneyworld this year but once I read about this great offer, I made calculations and concluded that it was too good of a deal to pass up. I talked to Rob and convinced him that we have to take advantage of this offer.

I knew exactly where I wanted us to stay too--Animal Kingdom Lodge. We saved tons of cash, close to $1000 with the package, which I booked with Dreams Unltd. First, I booked standard view but after much contemplating--and convincing Rob, I switched to Savannah view to avoid any disappointment in case we’re not given an upgrade. In the end, we still saved tons of cashola.

We feel so blessed that we stayed at the beautiful Animal Kingdom Lodge. It’s unlike nowhere else with theming to the max! It’s our favorite resort so far. We’ll stay here again in a heartbeat, although as with the restaurants, we’d like to try out different resorts in future trips. So far, I’ve chosen POR (post-refurbishment) and Boardwalk.

I lined up our daily itinerary based on where to dine. I gave my PS list to Regina at Dreams and got all of them no problem.

Thankfully this is our 3rd trip (within 6 years) so we didn’t have to do commando touring. Our main objectives were to ride favorites and try out as many new restaurants. We felt like we were almost on a cruise because we ended up doing one buffet per day.

Going during the summer meant heat and crowds. We kept this in mind and prayed that we be drenched in patience and the spirit of good old-fashioned fun. It seemed to work. Even when our buddy, Murphy (of Murphy’s Law) surfaced once in a while, we still took it all in stride.

We noticed that most CMs were friendly. Even the clueless people simply became fodder for our amusement. For those of you familiar with the Darwin awards, there were some Darwin award candidates, nay, frontrunners, and we were tempted to go up to them and say, “You really don’t have to go out of your way just to amuse us, really.”

Having experienced the summer heat and crowds though, it’s safe to say we prefer the Spring (been in May 00) or Fall (been in early Oct 98).

AUGUST 1, FRIDAY

We were dropped off at OAK but our plane was delayed 3 hours in CHI (bad weather). To compensate, we were given Economy Plus seats with more legroom. We had to take a shuttle to SFO but first, the shuttle went around in circles twice! (to drop off one driver, headed back to 880N, then turned around again to head to San Mateo bridge.) After a brief layover in LAX, we took the red-eye flight to MCO and slept ~ 4-5 hours.

AUG. 2, SATURDAY

We arrived at a quiet MCO at 6:20 am. We headed to National Car rental and picked out a gold Toyota Corolla (midsize). We drove via 192 and paid two $1 tolls. At the last toll, we didn’t have .25 change. We waited until other cars showed up for help.

We arrived at Animal Kingdom Lodge and checked in. Our room was not ready but we had our Ultimate Park Hoppers activated to start charging privileges. We left our bags at the bell desk and headed to buffet #1 at Boma’s. {$36} We ate breads, crispy bacon, eggs, good pork loin, fruits, etc. We also tried the quinoa, pap, and a few glasses of Frunch.

After breakfast, we organized our bags and drove to Animal Kingdom. We took the tram, got to the gate and then I realized that I left my pass in the car. We walked back to the car, got the pass then walked back to the gate. After a quick security check, we’re in. We headed straight to the Safari. Rob was still tired and only half-awake. We saw lots of animals—crocs, hippos, etc. and one giraffe even came right up to ride vehicle. After, we took Pangani trail to view the gorillas.

Next, we took the train to Conservation station and Rafiki’s Planet watch. Air conditioning is the best thing since sliced bread. Enjoyed Songs of the Rainforest. At the lobby area, we saw 4 characters: Rafiki, Pocahontas, etc.

Our next stop was lunch at Tusker House in Harambe. {$25.54} We got the Meal plus certificates. I had salmon with rice and Rob had the fried chicken sandwich. Both were just OK.

After lunch, we went to DinoLand. We rode Dinosaur twice. Next, we rode Primeval Whirl but we found Mulholland Madness at California Adventure was much better. We headed next to the Bugs show and enjoyed it as always. Afterwards, we passed by Flame Tree and I mentioned to Rob that this was open seasonally. Rob said, “Then let’s get some Q.” We ordered ribs and enjoyed them at the seating area by the water. The ribs were good (dry rub style). {$9.05}

We trekked to Asia and rode Kali. Luckily, we just got sprayed but the rest of our group got soaked. We viewed the tigers and bats next and then it was time to wait for the parade. I secured a bench while Rob went to the bathroom. It started to sprinkle so I moved across to a bench outside the Outfitters shop. Rob came back with Mickey bars from our Meal plus.

We were so lucky to end up outside the shop because it started to rain, then pour, then thunder and lightning. I tried to nap anyway. Parade time came and went and it just kept raining. After one hour, we decided to bite the bullet and buy Mickey ponchos {$12.00} and sloshed our way out to the parking lot.

At this point, I had to use the bathroom desperately and the pouring rain was NOT helping. We got back to Animal Kingdom Lodge, where I barely made it to the bathroom off the lobby. I went in and almost forgot I needed to go badly because I got distracted by how COOL the bathroom was. The detailing on the sink counter was just too much for me. You see, I am a visual person (as opposed to being primarily auditory or kinesthetic.) But I digress.

I called for our room number as the front desk was swamped. We got room #2415-Zebra trail (5 doors down from the common area). It had 2 queen beds and a great view of the Arusha savannah. We animal-watched then unpacked. We also moved our PS for Jiko from 5:30 to 8:20 pm to take a much-needed nap.

Once we got ready, we tracked down the storyteller. Since it was still raining, we had the storytelling indoors. We heard why the sky is far away and the hat seller and the monkeys. Afterwards, we toured the different viewing areas, Arusha rock, etc.

Next, we had dinner at Jiko’s. Our server was indifferent. He didn’t even bother to explain the menu offerings. We had the BBQ chicken flatbread to start. Rob had salmon and Savannah beer while I had quail in pomegranate sauce. {$73.50} For dessert, we went to Mara for prepacked zebra domes and chocolate mousse. {$7.96}

We went to Winter/Summerland mini-golf. We started with the Summer course and luckily, we were able to play through past a large group. {$20.79} We had fun so we then did the Winter course. {$10.40}

After, we left the “World” and went to Walmart. There was a long line for Rob’s purchase. I decided I would regret not picking up earplugs so I went in search. I found good ones but then I had to wait in a long, sloowww line to pay. We decided we’d never leave the “World” again. Well, at least not until we absolutely have to next Saturday. We went to bed early, as in 1:30 in the early morning.

AUGUST 3, SUNDAY

Mickey called around 10ish.

“Rob, Mickey said to get up, there’s big doin’s today.”

We decided before bed that we would sacrifice the French toast loaf at Main St. bakery for much needed sleep. It’s a shame really, because we haven’t had it before.

We got ready and took Le Bus to Magic Kingdom. After a quick security check, we’re in. Well, that’s not entirely true. We seemed to pick the entrance line where people didn’t have their passes out so they would have to dig through all their stuff, or AP finger scans weren’t working right, etc.

We took our first walk down Main Street. I still couldn’t believe we were actually here. We saw lots of characters out and the long lines to meet the characters. We went straight to buffet #2 at Crystal Palace {$42.15}, via the air-conditioned shops. We checked in and got called shortly.

A quick digression. We had 13 Priority Seatings this trip. Our last name, of German origin, the kind that has to be spelled out each time, wasn’t pronounced correctly once, except in Germany. Whenever they called out a name that you couldn’t quite understand, I had a feeling it was us. I would go up to the CM, look at the card they were holding and sure enough, it was us. See how little things like this make for amusing memories?!

We sat on the right-hand side of the buffet. Tigger and Piglet came by right away. We were hungry but we didn’t dare get food until after we said hi to Tigger and Piglet. Rob seemed excited because as he saw the character headed our way, he stood up and sort of escorted them or steered them over to our table. We took pictures, high fives for Rob and kisses on back of my hand. We got food and started to chow down on chicken, salmon, pork loin (Boma’s was better), etc. We also tried the chicken fingers and pizza from the kiddie offering.

We waited for Pooh before getting dessert, at least I did anyway, as Rob’s plate had cookies each time he got food. Pooh seemed headed our way and Rob was about to escort him but Pooh turned abruptly and walked off. I jokingly told Rob “Union rules, even Pooh’s gotta take a break.” Once Pooh returned though, he went straight to our table.

Time to get dessert. We got little pieces and slivers of each offering-- brownie bites were good but the rest were OK, which is why I can’t quite remember them.

We finished up our lunch but Eeyore was still working the other side of the restaurant. So, we waited at the lobby area and as Eeyore came by, we asked him for a quick picture. We also got a picture in front of the topiaries before we left.

Outside, we had a sweet lady who offered to take our picture with the castle in the background. My first thought was she’s a fellow DIS’er. I didn’t dare ask her though because I didn’t want to alarm Rob by talking in Disney “code” again.

We went to ride Pirates with just a 15-minute wait. We prefer the Disneyland version however, with the two big drops. We did love the movie with Johnny Depp as Cap n’ Jack. Hey, isn’t this a restaurant in Downtown Disney?

Next we saw Hall of Presidents. Then it got close to parade time so we parked ourselves outside the Heritage House shop. We had about half an hour to go so we took turns going into the shop for the A/C. I also bought a red, white and blue pen. We watched the parade then headed to Country Bears. We weren’t sure if we wanted to see the show but we stayed in the air-conditioned waiting area. As soon as the doors opened, we left and went to Goofy’s Country dancing instead. We sat upstairs and watched the kids having fun with Goofy, Woody, Jessie, Bullseye, and Chip and Dale.

It was time for our Fastpass at Haunted Mansion. I wanted to find the wedding ring at the exit but got distracted as it was raining so we poncho’d.

Next up was another favorite, Carousel of Progress. We de-poncho’d and went in. I love this ride. I love the song. We seemed to be surrounded by first timers though because I was happily singing “It’s a great big beautiful tomorrow” and got back “crazy lady” stares from the people around me.

After the Carousel, we rode Tomorrowland Transit Authority then Alien Encounter. The pre-show to Alien seemed tedious for some reason. Then, mid-show, two people walked out. I don’t know how they got out of their restraints. Shortly after, the CM announced the show was over and we all had to get out. Did the two people who left cause the ride to break down? We can’t cross Alien off the “Done” list. We’ll have to try again later in the week.

We took the bus from Magic Kingdom to Old Key West for dinner at Olivia’s. {$56.35} We asked the driver to please let us know when Olivia’s stop is. He said the last one—out of maybe 6 or 7. It started to rain when we got off at the right stop and then followed the signs to Olivia. We shouldn’t have done that because we went around in a circle in the driveway. See what hunger does? We should’ve walked straight past the lobby and turned around the corner.

We checked in and got called shortly. “ The L-mumble-something-incomprehensible party of 2.” That’s us. We asked our server for the fried chicken which is normally just served at lunch. She checked with the kitchen, they had it so we ordered it. We got the conch chowder (just OK, IMHO) and 2 orders of the fried chicken. We realized once we got our plates that we should’ve shared. The chicken and mashed potatoes were good. We didn’t quite finish because we wanted the key lime meringue pie. Yum, yum---yum, yum, yum!!! We wolfed down that key lime meringue pie in less than 60 seconds.

We waddled out of Olivia’s to the bus stop. After a quick wait, we were off to Downtown Disney. We wanted Pleasure Island but ended up at the Westside instead. See what gluttony does? J Backtrack to Pleasure Island where we saw 2 comedy shows back-to-back. Neither one was particularly great. For the 2nd show, we were seated right below the stage. They used my suggestion “psychic” for one of the acts.

Next stop, Adventurer’s Club. We got initiated and then did the Hoopla!

We took the bus back to Animal Kingdom Lodge, set up our wake-up call and off to dreamland….

AUGUST 4, MONDAY

No early entry today so we slept in…til 8 am.

“Rob, Mickey says to get up.”

No breakfast for us, we’re still stuffed from our big dinner.

Our first park today was Epcot. We parked in Create section. We headed to Test Track and did single riders 2x in a row. I don’t seem to mind the pre-show on this-it’s quick and simple. We got separate cars both times. Rob also got front row both times-- lucky duck!

We both had to use the bathroom at Electric Umbrella before and after Test Track. Rob was out in 15.8 seconds while little old me was still waiting in a DMV-ish line.

Next was Mission Space. We both got a little nauseous. IMHO, the ride is sort of like Star Tours when maneuvering through the crevices, but instead of one large screen, each rider had a small individual screen. Been there, done that! Am I getting old or what? I just don’t get along well with virtual reality.

Off to Ellen’s Energy Adventure. I liked this show last time but found it way too long this time. We missed our PS for Marrakesh so we decided to forgo lamb.
Instead, we went to Beaches and Cream. {$22.00} There was no wait for counter seats. We learned from last night’s pig-out at Olivia’s to just share from now on. We split a burger with onion rings but had a malt shake each. Sharing was a smart move—split portions were just right. We watched the CM’s work behind the counter and a few suits came in to observe or something.

This next part of the trip was hubby’s choice. As he says, “Hey, it’s my trip too.” We drove to the Wide World of Sports to see the Bucs at training camp. The Bucs official website stated they were back this afternoon. When we got there, we found out they weren’t.

OK, plan B. We went back to the lodge to grab our swimsuits, then off to Blizzard Beach. We lined up for the chairlift then rode Teamboat springs and Cool Runnings. We’ve been there around one hour when the skies opened up and poured buckets. We grabbed our drenched towels and sloshed out to the car.

Back to the lodge to dry off, watch the animals, and take a long, restful nap. Aren’t naps just better when it’s raining?

While getting ready, I had Rob change our PS to a later time. Now he gets to experience first-hand how it’s done and what information they need. Maybe he’ll do all our PS on future trips. Yeah right, dream on…

We took Le Bus to Magic Kingdom for buffet #3 at Liberty Tree. {$54} What a delightful place! I’m so glad we were finally able to go. We had skipped our PS here from the last 2 trips. We checked in and waited. A father and son walked in and the son saw the characters going around. The dad told the son that they’ll eat there so the son can play with the characters. Dad goes up to the counter and was told they weren’t taking any walk-ins.

“Calling L-mumble-something-incomprehensible, party of two.” That be us! We sat in the George and Martha Washington room. We had a great meal – turkey, yummy ham, mash & gravy, etc. Makes you wish it was thanksgiving every day. Were we just hungry or is the food really good. No seconds though—it’s hard to breathe when you’re stuffed to the gills.

Minnie came over and I told her, “Look whose shirt I’m wearing.” I was wearing my Mickey shirt and Minnie pretended to blush. Very cute. After Minnie, we got the 2 mice from Cinderella, Pluto and Meeko (or the chipmunk according to the kids at the next table).

We’re so efficient with the characters—quick pictures, very brief interaction. They gotta love that!

We walked through Liberty Square and I told Rob how there were no bathrooms in keeping with the colonial period. Soon as I told him, Rob had to go to the bathroom.

When we got near Main Street, the ropes were up for Spectromagic and Fantasy in the Sky. Time to park ourselves. We staked our claim about 6 rows back from the rope and waited. Right before the parade, a big family--we’ll call them the “last-minute family” wiggled their way in all around us. The woman behind me got upset and told “last-minute Dad’ to move as he was sitting on her daughter’s foot and blocking her daughter’s view. “Last-minute Dad” moved but his kids stayed, butted right up against Rob. Sigh.

Spectromagic was SPECTACULAR! I like it better than Main St. Elec. Parade. Lots of people left after Spectro. We stayed put for the fireworks but, unfortunately, there was a big tree blocking our view. No biggie though because we at least we saw Tinkerbelle fly.

We headed out past the people waiting for the second Spectro at 10 pm and took a standing-room only bus back to the lodge.

All of a sudden, the munchies hit. No, we didn’t just “smoke” anything. It’s more like a “been-a-long-but-fun-day-so-we-cap-it-off-with-a-midnight-snack type of munchies.”

We stopped by the front desk to ask what time Mara closed. A cool CM said it’s 10 minutes to closing, so we ran down and started the junk food raid. Another cool CM said, “No rush, take your time. We won’t close until you’re done.” In other words, spend, spend, spend!!!

Hmmm, if we got the same exact things from Walmart the night before, the total would be a lot less. But hey, when in Disney….

We got Cheetos, big old warm chocolate chip cookies, juice, and candy bars. {$17.28}

Umm, excuse me while I leave my trip report to hunt down some junk food…

Ok, back to the trip report.

We also decided to take advantage of the 24/7 pool. We picked the spot right below the bridge and started to do laps. We had to work off some of them calories from the buffets, don’t ya know. Out of the blue, these 2 obnoxious kids started diving in repeatedly and landing just a few inches away from where we were. Rob asked them to please watch out to make sure they don’t land on our heads! Did they listen? Of course NOT. We moved to the far end of the pool where I got to slap Rob twice in the face—to kill the mosquitoes that used it as a landing pad.

Convinced that we worked off 1/16th calories off a single Cheeto from swimming, we headed back to the room.

AUGUST 5, TUESDAY

Our first early entry this trip is to one of my favorite parks, MGM Studios. My other favorite parks are Epcot, Magic Kingdom and Animal Kingdom. Speaking of favorites, my favorite water parks are Blizzard Beach and Typhoon Lagoon. My favorite mini-golf courses are Winter/Summerland and Fantasia Gardens. OK, enough of the favorites, back to early entry.

I woke up and started getting ready before Mickey’s wake-up call. Rob didn’t pick it up. I asked him, “Who called?” No answer. Now comes my veiled threat. “OK, today’s our MGM day so you can take Le Bus or drive and I’ll meet you for our 11:30 PS at Brown Derby.”

He’s up and ready! He picks up the free USA Today outside our door – a move he’ll regret later in the day.

We park at MGM, security check and we’re in. Off to Tower of Terror. I like this pre-show a lot. I got to ride it 4x but Rob only 3x. Here’s what happened. For 2 TOT rides, we waited in short standby lines. We had fastpasses for our third ride but, while in line at Rock n’ Roller, Rob threw away the USA Today paper, along with his Tower of Terror fastpass.

He got upset. I got upset. It didn’t help that we were hungry so off to Starring Rolls.
As we waited in a long line, I showed Rob that our bags had a compartment specially designed to hold our passes and fastpasses, which is why we bought them especially for our Disney trips in the first place. Lecture over. We got chocolate scones, chocolate croissants and milk. All breakfast foods should contain chocolate.

After breakfast, I used my Fastpass and rode Tower alone. Before I did, Rob asked me for my pass so he can get 2 more Fastpasses. I hesitated at first, but he assured me he wouldn’t lose passes of any kind whatsoever anymore.

We rode Rock n’ Roller again with Fastpass.

Off to lunch at Brown Derby. {$54} We checked in and waited for it to open. I like getting to the restaurant before opening. The servers kinda line up then escort the diners into the dining room. “L-mumble-something-incomprehensible party.” Right here.

We sat one table over from our last time here. Two servers came over, one was earning his “ears” or in-training for you non-Disney-speaking folks.

We already knew what we wanted but we let our server go through the specials for the sake of the CM in training. We ordered the yummy lobster bisque, the yummy Cobb, and the yummy orecchiette pasta in yummy mushroom sauce. For dessert, we had the grapefruit cake but found it wasn’t as grapefruit-y as the last time we had it. Rob thinks it’s because we drank lemonade and the lemony taste cancelled out the grapefruit taste. Who knows?

We used our Fastpass for Tower after lunch. It’s definitely more enjoyable with Rob at my side. We love that tickle-in-the-tummy feeling, which is enhanced if you raise your arms way up, by the way.

Off to the Backlot Tour. There’s a delay of some sort so a lot of people left. Not a lot of exciting things to look at though, and Catastrophe Canyon portion was delayed so it really killed the anticipation. It also started to rain after the flash flood. More water, more water, more water!

We grabbed our ponchos from the car then rode the Great Movie Ride with the gangster. Next up was One Man’s Dream where we viewed the displays and saw the 10 minute movie.

Chow time again so it’s off to buffet #4 at Hollywood and Vine. {$49} We saw lots of people get turned away. “L-mumble-something-incomprehensible?” Present. We ate pork loin (Boma’s still better), turkey, so-so roast beef, lo mein, yummy corn polenta and nuggets. For dessert--velvet cake, upside down cake, brownies, shortcake, etc.

Uhmm, excuse me whilst I leave my trip report and go find some dessert.

I’m back.

OK, now this next part we need to keep secret from my commando alter ego. So, sshh…

After dinner, we sat by the bench and just people-watched. Yup, it was a stop-and- smell-the-roses-moment. Well, actually it was more of a stop-and-stare-at-hideous- fashion-faux-pas-and-bad-shoes-moment. {Thanks Zurg for making me aware of the bad shoe phenomena.}

Our comments (just to each other of course, never within earshot of the victims) went something like: (all in good fun of course)

“How can she walk in those?”
“Dude, the ‘80’s called. They want their look back.”

Woman in stilettos: “Look at me, I’m so trendy.” Ten years later, “Look at me, I have heel spurs!”

“Sir, there’s a monkey on your back. Oh, my bad, that’s your back hair.”

Time for our Fantasmic reserved seating. We got there about 40 minutes before the show. We sat behind a boy in full Pirate regalia. Rob decided to egg him on and they exchanged ‘Arrgghhs’ back and forth. I made small talk with a cool CM.

Me: “How many people does the stadium hold?”
CM: “What’s your guess?”
Me: “50,000?”
CM: “You’re off by about 42,000.”
Me: “Now I know what a crowd of 8,000 looks like.”

This conversation killed all of one minute so 39 more minutes to show time. I made notes for the trip report and missed out on “the wave.” Aw, shucks.

Fantasmic was FANTASTIC, just as Spectromagic was SPECTACULAR! I loved it! It was worth stuffing our faces silly at Hollywood and Vine just to have reserved seating to make sure we didn’t miss out on it.

We headed out to the lot and played peek-a-boo with our rental car. We went around in circles and saw the same cars over and over, except for ours. Finally, we found it and it was back to the lodge.

AUGUST 6, WEDNESDAY

“Rob, Mickey says to get up.”

Rob gets up no problem today. Why, you ask? It’s our second attempt to see the Bucs training camp. I’m somewhat dragging my feet. We drive over to Wide World of Sports. Rob is in his mecca but I could care less.

We find 2 seats under the covered stands. I need to use the bathroom, which is clear across Timbuktu. I took my time and on the way back, I got chocolate chip muffins and juice. All breakfast foods should contain chocolate.

I’m starting to get hot as the morning wore on. There were no fans except for my small hand-held fan whose batteries just happen to be dying. When I get hot, I get cranky. When I get cranky, I take it out on Rob. When the training session ended, Rob stood in line for autographs. Rob never got any autographs. I took it out on Rob. Another lecture ensued.

The drive to Epcot wasn’t fun but as we neared the park, I started to get back into the Disney spirit. Apologies all around and all’s well until…Beverly.

On the way to World Showcase, we detoured into Ice Station Cool. I decide to be Ms. Practical Joker.

“Oh, make sure you try the Beverly. That’s everyone’s favorite.”

Rob takes a big swig, winces, and says, “That’s not funny.” Uh-oh, Rob was gonna get upset again but he decided to just let it go. Lucky me!

By the way, this was our first time going “bagless” into the park to bypass security. We just had passes, hats and sunglasses.

Time for chow. We checked in for PS at Chefs de France. {$36} We got there before they opened so we went through the “opening parade of diners.”

They called what sounded like our name. “L-mumble-something-incomprehensible” party, still mispronounced, only this time, with a French accent. On the way to our table, there were about 4 CMs along the way.

CM 1: “Bon jour.”
CM 2: “Bon jour.”
CM 3: “Bon jour.”
CM 4: “Bon jour.”

This reminded us of the village scene from Beauty and the Beast so it tickled us something funny. Guess you had to be there.

We forgot our lesson about sharing food. Rob ordered the French menu—onion soup, ham & cheese, and crème brulee while I ordered the chicken crepe. Unlike typical French cuisine, the portions here were huge.

Rob’s food was all yummy. I fed Rob my chicken crepe, pretending to give him a taste, but actually it was my secret plot to get him to eat my food while I ate most of his yummier food.

We saw the chair act from inside the restaurant and saw the end on our way out. We saw “Impressions de France” next and then went into the Perfumerie but found the smells way too strong.

In Italy, we watched the living statue. To this day, I can’t believe I’m still hearing people say, “That’s a real person.” Why yes, genius, if it wasn’t a real person, then it would be a dead statue, wouldn’t it?! We also saw the Masquerade.

Over to China. We saw the acrobats (Bravo!) and the boy who spun the plates. How do you say, “Kids, don’t try this at home!” in Chinese? We also saw the movie in China. Rob remembered that we saw this last time but I can’t remember ever seeing it.

Time to catch Voices of Liberty at American Adventure. I recognized two performers from previous trips. Their performance seemed a lot shorter this time. We go into the theater. Rob and I made a bet that we should try and stay awake for once and see the entire show. We don’t know who won the bet because it’s hard to monitor each other with our eyes closed.

Off to Norway where we rode the Maelstrom and got stuck in the holding area before the movie. We skipped the movie and got rice cream instead. It’s still good as ever.

Mexico was our next stop where El Rio Del Tiempo was a walk on. Upon exiting, we caught Las Carnales and then watched the glass/crystal artist.

Back to Future World for buffet #5 at Garden Grill. {$53} We were supposed to get re-hitched. It was even noted on our PS. Our server, though, was absent-minded as it was her last day before vacation. She kept forgetting stuff and as she put down the potatoes, she accidentally stuck her thumb in the food. She took off to get a new batch. Sigh.

The food was just OK. I think my taste buds were affected by the sub-par service.

Pluto, Chip and Dale came by twice. Farmer Mickey headed our way, but just like Pooh did at Crystal Palace, went to take his break instead. We took pictures with him later on. No rehitching here. No going back to Garden Grill either, at least for me anyway.

On the way out of the Land, these girls were protesting because security wouldn’t let them in. It was almost 7 pm and the Land had been closed since 6 pm. They did not have PS at Garden Grill but they wanted in regardless. Sigh.

At this very moment, Rob had a stroke of genius. Since we were going to Jellyrolls after Illuminations, Rob suggested we move the car from the Epcot lot to Boardwalk. So we did. From Boardwalk, we boated over to World Showcase and staked out spots on the bridge between France and UK. We saw the Illuminations cruises parked/docked right below us.

Now, there was this woman--we’ll call her “Ms. Stubborn,” who decided to take up the last 10 inches between me and another party by stretching out her arm and holding onto the railing. Funny thing was, the rest of her party was a few feet away up the bridge with lots more room. Now get this! She’s calling over to them to join her in her 10 inches of space. Now, logic dictates that it would be easier, simpler, smarter for HER to join them instead. Sigh.

I sat down and took a nap with my back against the railing. I woke up a few minutes before Illuminations. Rob told me “Ms. Stubborn” continued to call her party over. She was apparently pointing down at the space I happened to be napping in, as if to say, “Look, she’s sleeping, she won’t know if you all snuck in here and we’ll just roll her away.”

I hereby nominate “Ms. Stubborn” for the Darwin awards!

After another great Illuminations, we boated back to the Boardwalk. We got to Jellyrolls, ready to pay the cover charge with our Disney pass. No can do. I asked Rob if he had cash. He said all he had was the pass because that’s what I told him to bring. I asked him if he had Visa. Nope. OK, no Jellyrolls this time. Besides, we were there about 3 minutes and already the smell of cigarette smoke was overwhelming.

We went to ESPN gift shop for a quick browse then stopped by Boardwalk Bakery for breakfast goodies – cinnamon rolls and a cherry turnover. {$6.16}

Back to the lodge where instead of dueling pianos, we did dueling washers and dryers and swam as we waited for the laundry.

AUGUST 7, THURSDAY

Today was supposed to be another early entry at Magic Kingdom but we decided to return to Blizzard Beach since we got rained out after just 1 hour last Monday.

I was ready first and told Rob specifically, that all we needed were towels and passes!!! We drive over to Blizzard Beach and we are just about to turn into the parking lot.

Rob: “I don’t have the passes.”
Me: “Where are they?”
Rob: “They’re back in the room.”

OK, how do we get into the room to get the passes when our passes are our room keys? Such events would normally cause me to go ballistic but I opted for an attitude adjustment, and looked at the bright (and funny) side.

We drove back to the lodge and talked to a nice CM at the front desk. We explained what happened and she issued us new passes and told us the old ones were deactivated. I started to head to our room but Rob reminded me that we use our new passes now so there’s really no need to go back to the room. Duh!

As we exit the lodge, we rub the good luck shield even more thoroughly. It’s a good thing that we did as you’ll see later. Back to Blizzard Beach. We wait in a long, hot, slow-moving line to enter. Once we go through, we drop off our towels and Rob gets on the chairlift for Summit. I watch at the landing by the lifeguard chair but learned that there is over an hour wait. I forgo the chair lift and climbed up the steep stairs, the ones that never seemed to end. I got in line for Slush Gusher. Eventually, I meet up with Rob who’s still in line for Summit. Good thing, I didn’t wait down there. I went down Slush, which was still pretty steep and got rewarded a major wedgie.

Rob still has another ½ hour to go. I’m back waiting by the lifeguard chair and this is where I offer unsolicited help to the lifeguard. The line for Summit was slowed down because of these clueless people who insisted on taking their sweet old time getting out of the slide. The lifeguard needed to wait until the whole slide landing area is cleared before she can safely send down the next victim. These clueless people would insist on waiting AT THE BOTTOM OF THE SLIDE for their friends/family to come down so they can share their ‘Summit Plummet life-changing moment’ with each other, right there, AT THE BOTTOM OF THE SLIDE, where people are coming down at a high rate of speed, right behind them!!! At one point, this clueless girl crossed over the slide-TWICE! The lifeguard just about had a heart attack.

I was getting extremely impatient. Finally, I couldn’t take it anymore so I yelled out to some lame-O (who decided to hang out AT THE BOTTOM OF THE SLIDE), “Get out of the way, you are holding up all those people waiting to go down.” I looked up at the lifeguard, who cracked a smile.

Finally, it was Rob’s turn. In the blink of an eye, he came down. We then did Toboggan racers, snowstormers and downhill double dipper. Sometime around here, Rob realized that he lost the car key when he came down Summit. He had it secured in a single pocket in his swim trunks but the water pressure was so great that it pushed the key right out. We reported this to the lifeguard and she told us to check back later with Guest Relations.

Next was Runoff Rapids--twice with Rob and once as a single tuber. At our 4th attempt, it started to rain. We were second to the next in line when the park closed. We sloshed our way down to grabbed our drenched towels. We went by Guest relations to see if they found the key. At first, the CM produced a single key to a completely different car. Then, he looked again and produced a second key and voila, it was ours. The good luck shield at the lodge really works. We happily sloshed back out to the parking lot and drove back to the lodge.

We went to Mara to pick up a quick lunch. We had a turkey wrap, chips, juice and zebra domes/chocolate mousse. {$16.68} We ate at the balcony and watched the animals. We were so careful NOT to drop even a single crumb of food out in the savannah.

After lunch, my body just shut down. It was so confused earlier in the morning at Blizzard Beach because it alternated from hot, to cold, then wet. We took another great nap.

We got ready and drove to Ft. Wilderness. We turned at the main entrance then had to u-turn to the second entrance for Pioneer Hall. We parked then took Le Bus to the Settlement. We walked around the Trading Post and browsed.

To kill time, we took a boat to Contemporary. We took the monorail resort all the way around. Then, as we pulled back into the Contemporary, it started to pour. We waited for the boat back to Ft. Wilderness. We got on with a drunk woman who was beet red and LOUD! They got off at Wilderness Lodge and the boat CM made a comment that she hoped drunk woman would be OK.

We took a private boat (just the two of us) to Ft. Wilderness. We headed into the buffet #6 at Trail’s End. {$39} The CMs there were very friendly. We also saw the Hoop De Doo players as we waited. We got seated just a few steps away from the food. We had ribs, fried chicken, pizza, cornbread, apple cobbler, etc. and yet again, we were stuffed. We ordered hot tea with dessert. I told Rob this is the place to be for women at PMS time because they had all the fatty foods we usually crave.

It rained past the wagon ride time and the water pageant so we missed both. We took the bus back to the Depot. We stopped at every stop and we, along with a mother and son on the bus, found this very funny. The driver would call out if there was someone for the next stop and sure enough, there was. Finally, we got to our car and I drove out but took the wrong turn and ended up at the Contemporary. I took the other way back and eventually found the lodge.

AUGUST 8, FRIDAY

“Rob, Mickey says to get up.”

We got ready, drove to Epcot and parked at Amaze section. We then walked up to take the monorail to Magic Kingdom after about 15 min. wait.

Once at the Magic Kingdom, we rode Splash twice on standby line. We rode Big Thunder then took the train to Tomorrowland. The line was already 2 hours for Space Mtn. so we got Fastpasses instead.

We walked to Toontown using the “secret path.” There, we saw a bunch of characters and no lines to see them. We took pictures with Robin Hood, Gepetto, Prince John, and the 2 villains that diverted Pinocchio from school. We had a really cute picture with Prince John where all three of us were sucking our thumbs, as Prince John was just a big baby!

After pictures, we took the train to Main Street. We rode Pirates again before heading to lunch at the Plaza Restaurant. {$25} We saw the Mayor too. We also saw lots of people without PS being turned away. We ended up sharing a reuben sandwich but as usual ordered 2 malted shakes.

Next, we headed to Fantasyland and rode Small World. We waited in a short line for Jungle Cruise. We don’t mind waiting in this line because we look at all the funny signs and listen for the funny announcements. The ride itself though, wasn’t as funny bec. our skipper was earning her ears. The only one that seemed to interact with her was her trainer.

Then it was time for our Fastpass for Space Mtn. We found the ride to be much darker and faster which is a good thing and it now resembles the one at Disneyland a lot closer.

Next, we took the monorail back to Epcot. We headed to the Land for Food Rocks. So cute! So pun-ny! We’re so glad we were able to see this now that they are going to replace this with Soarin’. We then got Fastpasses for the Land boat ride.

We headed to Journey into Imagination, which was a walk-on. Very cute except for the stinky part. Back to the Land boat ride. We were squished in with 2 other adults in the last row.

We skipped Wonders of Life and the Living Seas and went to World Showcase. We started with the movie, O Canada. Then, over to Italy where we saw a different living statue. I watched nearby while Rob watched by the bridge near the gondolas. When I met up with Rob, a nice woman, who was looking for her hubby, offered to take our picture.

We headed to American Adventure to catch Voices of Liberty again. Instead, we saw American Vybe. We enjoyed them as well.

Time for buffet #7 at Biergarten. {$64} Our name was called, pronounced correctly for the first and only time ever on this trip. The CM who led us to our table was chatting away with us so we had to backtrack to our table. We were sat with a family of 6, toward the back so that we were closer to the food than the stage. Rob ordered beer and I ordered a vanilla milkshake. We ate beets, sauerbraten, sausages, spatzle, soup and desserts. The sausages were all very good. I was a bit disappointed in the sauerbraten though.

Musikaten performed and played the chicken dance. Oy, oy, oy!!! Unfortunately, the diners weren’t into it as no one got up to dance, except for a CM and a little kid.

While I was in line for the buffet, behind an old man, this woman and her kid just cut in front of the old man. The old man looked at me in frustration, so in his defense, I spoke up and told her that the line for the buffet started back there. She said oops, then left. The old man smiled and thanked me.

The desserts were so-so IMHO, so we went to the Patisserie in France. I got a Marvelous and Chocolate éclair to go.

We left Epcot and drove to Pleasure Island. We did this in lieu of E-night at Magic Kingdom, as I wanted to go back to the Adventurers Club.

At the Adventurers Club, we went through another induction, then a library show. We went into the treasure room next followed by the mask room. Somehow, their show times were off a bit so the mask room show started then stopped abruptly. We stayed out by the bar, ordered Kungaloosh and Samantha’s passion potion {$12}, and waited until Babylonia came on. The show was ruined a bit by this obnoxious drunk woman who thought it was funny that she was monopolizing the conversation. Luckily, she left. After a few minutes, we left too.

Back at AKL, we ate the Marvelous, although I didn’t find it as marvelous as the name implies. After our midnight snack, we packed all our stuff and retired for the night.

AUGUST 9, SATURDAY

“Rob, Mickey says to get up.”

We asked for a late checkout but since they were booked solid, we didn’t get it. We did express check-out and brought our two carry-on bags out to the car. We headed to early entry at MGM and on the way, ate the chocolate éclair for breakfast. All breakfast foods should contain chocolate.

We waited for rope drop then power-walked to Tower. We rode it 2x with no wait. We then got Fastpasses for Rock n Roller.

Next, we rode Great Movie Ride and got a woman gangster. We rode Rock n Roller, then Tower twice more with Fastpass.

At 11 am, it was time for our PS at Sci Fi. {$22} Again, lots of non-PS people turned away. We sat in a car behind a family of three. Rob and I shared a burger but had a malted shake each. We just love the milkshakes at Disney World. I was telling Rob that once we got home, it’s back to plain bread and water with lemon for our meals. J We also enjoyed the flicks that were showing on the screen, by the way.

After lunch, we went to the 12:15 Indiana Jones show. I didn’t like it all that much. I thought there was too much lag time in between the stunts. The dad of the family next to us got picked so his kids were excited. Before the show ended, it started to rain. There was a stampede to get out of the stadium, but the clueless people then stopped right at the exit and blocked the way. Sigh.

We walked in the light rain to Tower and rode it one last time for a total of 5 rides.
We left MGM and got gas at the Exxon across the way.

We went back to the lodge to finish off our film and take pictures of the other Savannahs. We also stopped by the Zawadi Marketplace to get our Philharmagic print and pin.

Rob drove to the airport in a downpour. We returned the rental car at National.

At security check, I had a whole bunch of change. We got paranoid from not having any change for the tolls and of course, this time, we had way too much change. I kept trying to ask the screeners what to do with my change but got no answer. Finally, this one screener yelled at me to put my change in the basket. I told her that’s what I’ve been trying to find out so she apologized.

We ate at Nathan’s and then waited for our flight. We flew to Chicago where it was sunny, then changed planes for our flight home.

EPILOGUE:

Since we’ve been back, we scoured our library to see Disney movies and the movies from the Great Movie Ride. So far we’ve seen:

Wizard of Oz, Who Framed Roger Rabbit?, Jungle Book, Casablanca, Singing in the Rain, Public Enemy, Footlight Parade, Robin Hood (Disney’s animated)…

Seeing these movies seemed to prolong our trip somehow.

We were also able to visit ESPN Zone at Downtown Disney in Anaheim last Aug. 22, as we were down in the L.A. area to see “The Producers” with Jason Alexander and Martin Short. Well, that’s our story and we’re stickin’ to it!

 

[Minniespal]

Great report ~ Thanx for sharing.