ANOTHER WDW trip- Presidents Week at Pop! FINALLY finished 5/10- post 71

[a*lil*bit*goofy]

awesome report! and i am enjoying the video right now, i am going to rate it a 5! :O)

 

[LtlTee]

Awesome! I just love reports with pictures, and the video is even better!
Thanks!

 

[WDW Poly Princess]

After leaving Animal Kingdom, I went back over to Pop Century to meet up with my sister. It was around 11:30 now, and I’d been up and running around since 6:30, so I was ready for a nap, but that wasn’t going to happen for a while! Of course, as I’ve mentioned, it takes my sister *forever* to get ready to go anywhere (and then when you think you’re finally leaving, she realizes that she forgot her camera, or forgot to put eyeliner on, or something, and she has to go back to the room while you sit by the pool. Not that I speak from experience!) Anyway, we finally made it over to Epcot at 1 pm!

Oh, Epcot, I missed you so much in the two months we spent apart!

A bird hanging out on Leave a Legacy

Our first stop was Innoventions for some internet postcards!

We decided to start off over at the Living Seas, which I still love, even though they’ve totally changed it around. I really hope they bring back the hydrolators and the ride (or at least fix it so that you don’t have to enter through the exit!) soon! I didn’t even realize until I was looking through some old photos that the eels are gone! Or maybe they’re still there, just behind all of the construction in progress?

Does anyone else remember when Crush was brand new, and the CMs had to stand outside and beg people to go watch? Well, my friends, those days are gone! LOOK at this LINE!

Crazy!! I think they may need to build a bigger theater for Crush that can hold more people!

After Seas, we went over to the Land to see if there were any Soarin fastpasses left. It was 2:30, so of course there weren’t any, so we went down to the food court to find something to eat. I wasn’t really in the mood for food until I saw this piece of chocolate cake!!

SO yummy!

I was really getting tired (have I mentioned that I am SO not a commando style person?) but the World Showcase was so close, I couldn’t resist going in to just a country or two! However, first we had to stop for SSE photos. I like taking pictures of SSE, so now you get to see a bunch of them!

And a really weird picture- as we were standing around, we noticed this faded skywriting overhead!

I thought the area over Disney was a no-fly zone? And what the heck does it say??

Being female, we had to stop at the little store near the WS entrance for some shopping.

I though I left Stitch at home this trip, but it looks like he followed me here!

Eventually, we did make it to Mexico!

Yes, I’m still obsessed with the cool carvings that they sell here and no, I *still* haven’t bought one! I’m holding out for just the right one. That doesn’t stop me from taking a lot of photos, though!

If I had $250 to spend on one of these, I’d totally get a dragon.

I think this is supposed to be a rabbit, but it reminds me of Stitch!

Okay, are you ready for me to admit the stupidest mistake ever? Our goal in WS today was to pick up a lucky cat for my mom, since that was the souvenir she requested. I usually buy them every year, because it’s hard to find such a cute souvenir for $2.50 at WDW! So, the stupid part? For some reason, I’ll blame lack of sleep, I was leading us towards China to buy the cats! It wasn’t until I walked into the shop in China that I realized it was the wrong country! D’oh! This was especially bad because I was already so tired I wanted to lay down on a bench and nap, and I’d just led us in totally the wrong direction!

As things at Disney tend to do, though, it worked out in our favor! As we left the China shop, we ran into Mulan, who had just walked out, with nobody else around!

My nephew called and said that he had left Blizzard Beach, and was on his way to Epcot, so we walked up towards the front of the park, and I decided to take that opportunity to take a break!

I had planned to just go back to Pop for a nap, but as I was walking to the bus stop, the urge to go visit my beloved Polynesian popped up, so I went to that bus stop instead. I have accepted that I am powerless to resist the call of my favorite resorts! (I did manage to resist the urge to kiss the floor of the Polynesian’s lobby, and beg the front desk CM’s to give me a room. But man, after just one night at Pop, I was so happy to be back at my real “home” resort!!)

Oh, hey, did I mention that besides being addicted to resorts, I also have a bit of a brownie addiction? Yeah, I do. So here.

Not even close to being as yummy as the Wilderness Lodge ones, but it worked.

I spent a little over an hour at the Poly, just hanging out on the beach and relaxing. Mmm, home sweet home!

My sister called to let me know they were going over to MGM, so I gave up my plan of a nap in favor of hitting a 3rd park today.

When did they move the Polynesian bus stop? You used to wait right outside of the Great Ceremonial House, but now it’s a bit down the path. Strange! Anyway, I took the bus to MK, and switched to the Pop bus there, so I could meet up with the family. I couldn’t believe that even this late in the day, there was STILL a huge line to check in at Pop! Those poor front desk people! (I should point out that I’m typing this up from the front desk at work. I am SO glad I don’t work at Pop!)

So, now it seems that some kind of time warp happened. My photo of the bus stop at the Polynesian was taken at 6:13pm, but then the photo of the front desk as we left Pop for MGM was taken at 9:20pm! What the heck did we do for three hours? I can assume that it took me about an hour to get back to Pop from the Poly, so that accounts for an hour, but what about the other two? Did I have to wait for my family to get back from Epcot? Or did we just have to sit around waiting on my sister for two hours? I honestly have no idea, so let’s make something up! Here’s what happened- I was sitting at the bus stop at the Polynesian when a huge crowd of CM’s came up to welcome the Princess of the resort home with gifts of mickey rice krispy treats and a complimentary DVC membership. They wanted me to stay there with them, living in a lagoon view room for the rest of the year, but I had to leave them to be with my family, because I knew they’d be totally lost at MGM without me. I finally slipped out quietly while they were doing ceremonial dances in my honor, with promises to return soon.

Better? I think so.

So, where were we? Oh yeah, MGM! The strangest phenomenom happened at MGM- it was my sister’s favorite park! Is MGM really anyone’s favorite park? I can think of like.. three people! (My own personal list has Epcot first, MK and AK tied for 2nd, and MGM 3rd). I’ve tried to love MGM, I really have, and given that I am a huge (HUGE) movie nerd, I’m surprised that I don’t love it more, but somehow it’s just never been my favorite. So needless to say, I was a little surprised that it became my sister’s favorite! (And Jesse’s 2nd favorite after Blizzard Beach!)

(The rest of Day 2 coming soon in the next post!)

 

[WDW Poly Princess]

An intermision to catch up on some replies:

I was also, with my family at the very crowed Disney Feb 18th to the 25th and guess what, I left my Disney ticket on the fastpass machine. I really almost fainted. A very "NICE" person turned it in to a CM. When the CM gave it to me, I started to cry (real tears) Thank you so much!!!

Wow! Was it in Tomorrowland? That's crazy!

I thought the song was great too. It's by Savage Garden and its called aptly enough "The Animal Song", you can find it on their album "Affirmation", not that I'm a fan or anything

Isn't that the greatest CD ever?

Love your report! Wish I was poolside with my coffee at a foggy POP right now.
THe pictures are beautiful, what camera are you using?

My trusty Nikon coolpix 995. I do use Paint Shop Pro now and then to make them a bit sharper and crop out random arms and legs that pop up in photos- it is my dear friend!


Okay, back to typing for me!

 

[fizz13]

keep typing girl, loving it all,
Claire xx

 

[WDW Poly Princess]

Okay, in between posts, I remembered what we did in that weird 3 hour gap. We ordered pizza.

No, stop laughing, I’m serious!

We ordered Pizza at Disney World. I am so ashamed.

You have no idea how much this crushed my very soul. No wonder I repressed the memory!

It went down pretty much like this:

Sister- “I’m hungry, let’s order pizza!”
Me- “Um, really? Okay. Wait, I don’t know if Pop has the pizza delivery like All Stars does…is there a button marked pizza on the phone?”
Sister- “I think I have a coupon for Pizza Hut.”
Me- (long silence) Um, we could just eat somewhere at MGM…
Sister- “No, pizza sounds good.”
Me- But… we’re at Disney World! We can just eat at Pizza Planet when we get there…
Sister- “Nah, this will be cheaper.” (opens up the phone book)

I am so, so sorry, beloved Disney chefs, who work so hard to make yummy food for all of us on vacation! Please don’t judge me. If it makes you feel any better, they didn’t consult me on the pizza toppings, so I ended up not even getting any of it.

Note to self, introduce family to the Food Porn Thread on the restaurant board, so that such a tragedy can never again take place.

Okay, back to the story! MGM!

We didn’t get to MGM until after 9:30, and they were open till 11, so we didn’t have a ton of time. First stop, Muppets!

The Jim Henson Muppet you can spot up in the rafters.

Next, Star Tours, which had practically no wait!

R2 is my favorite!

And then, the most important stop of the night- TOT! We only had time for one ride before the park closed, but they both loved it, so it’s on our “to do again” list!

On the way out, we stopped in the candy/villain store, which I’m sure the poor people who work there are still grumpy about. If you think it takes my sister a long time to get ready to go to the parks, you should see how long it takes to get her out of a store! The poor CMs were just standing there patiently, obviously thinking “Get these crazy people out of the store so we can go home already!”, but I couldn’t drag my sister out! I am so sorry, CM people!

I have always loved these Siamese cats in the villains store, but now someone had stuck hats on them, which made them even cuter!

FINALLY, about 40 minutes after the park was closed, I got my sister out of the store (where they bought bottles of soda, even though we had refillable mugs and would be back at the resort in 10 minutes- these people confuse me!!!), and we made it out of the park, and back to the resort!

We stopped in the resort gift shop to pick up Jesse’s shirt from MK the day before, but they had accidentally given it to the wrong person! (Apparently someone else had the same last name!) They promised to get him a new one, and have it there within the next couple of days. Crazyness!

I’ve heard all about the Mr. Potatoheads, but this is the first trip that I’ve seen them!

Found these in the 70’s box in the lobby- I love that the Polynesian has been around pretty much forever!

And so Day 2 FINALLY comes to an end! Coming up in day 3, we have a slightly more crowded AK and way too much food at the AK Lodge!

 

[WDW Poly Princess]

Day 3

Believe it or not, the plan for day 3 was for *everyone* to get up early! Of course, when the clock went off at 7:30, I was the only one who woke up. I let them sleep for a little while longer while I got ready, and then kicked them out of bed (or in Jesse’s case, just kicked him) until they got up so they could get ready while I went for breakfast. I picked up a chocolate croissant, and once again, Mabel was at the register. (If you’re going to Pop anytime soon, say hi to Mabel! I think I tend to form attachments to the people who feed me.)

They were finally ready to leave at 9am (9! We have an Animal Kingdom to get to, people!) but between bus waiting, stopping for drink refills, long bus ride, etc, it was almost 10am before we got there. Then, just after we got through the gates, my sister’s husband called, so we sat around for about 10 minutes while she talked to him. Yeah, I’m impatient when it comes to safaris!

The required “we have to stop and take photos on the way to the safari” photos:

Yeah, it’s a tree.

And that’s a nephew with a tree.

Did I mention that I had no makeup on this trip? (And dude, how many blue tie-dye shirts with wolves on them does my sister have??)

Random monkeys painted on the wall near the restroom.

When we got to the safari, there was about an hour until the fastpass return time, so we picked some up (there was a big line just to *get* fastpasses! I had to wait about 5 minutes!!!), and then went to the Pangani Forest trail.

The gorillas were asleep today, so instead, you get this picture of a mouse that lives in the same building as the naked mole rats:

And this one of a meerkat with some kind of antelope thing? Not sure what they’re called, but they are so statuesque and shiny, they look fake!

We shopped in Harambe for a little while to kill time until our Fastpass time, and then went to get in line. Oh, my goodness- I have NEVER seen a fastpass return line like this before! It was huge!

This is the line to get into the fastpass line!

The fastpass line wait ended up being 20 minutes! At this point I was casting a few glances of blame towards my family for that whole “we didn’t get here till 11” thing, but I didn’t say anything. I was glad that I was here yesterday, though, when it was nice and cool and uncrowded!

How about some safari pictures?

Check out the rearview mirror!

“Nobody calls them Thompson’s gazelles! They are tummies! Tommies!!”

This is a normal picture of whatever this animal is. And then we have….

This may be the funniest photo I’ve ever taken. Look at it for a few seconds, you’ll see why.

And we’ll end the safari photos with this super cute baby elephant!

We did a little more shopping in Harambe (LOVE the store there! I wish I could afford one of the Zulu baskets!)

We were getting hungry, so I suggested that we go eat at the Rainforest Cafe. First, however, we walked over to Asia to pick up fastpasses for Everest, so that we could ride when we got back.

Gotta stop for one more photo at Drinkwalla!

It was 1PM when we got our FP, which had a return time of 3:45-4:45- the perfect amount of time to go grab some lunch and relax for a while!

Unfortunatly when we got out to the RFC, there was about an hour wait, and we just weren't up for that, so I suggested that we go to the Mara at AKL instead- we could get a break from the heat, and they could see what a deluxe resort was like!

I’m pretty sure it’s the law that if you arrive at AKL by bus, you have to enter through the Zwadi marketplace instead of the regular entrance. Nobody can resist the gift shop! Muahahah!

I now have two of these giraffes- love them! And they’re totally affordable! (The medium sized ones are like $12!)

After the gift shop, we stopped to look around the lobby, and I ended up with this amusing photo that makes it look like my sister’s head is on display!

(No sisters were decapitated in the making of this photo!)

We followed our rumbling tummies down to the Mara. If you read my last report, you probably know that I’m in love with the Mara. No, it isn’t the same as the yummy variety of Boma, but it won’t cost you $22 per person, either!

Oh fine, you all know I was just here for the zebra domes.

Apparently a lot of other people thought that the Mara sounded good today, too, because there was a pretty long line for food! I got a cheese pizza and zebra domes, my sister got the African stew in a bread bowl and zebra domes (I guess I raved about them too much!), and I think Jesse got chicken fingers and fries.

Pizza!

Zebra domes with stew in the background (I tried a bite of the stew, and it was yummy!)

The awesome “tree” inside the Mara.

 

[Sweedee]

I have had the best time reading this! Thanks for entertaining our family this evening! I would love to print out that pic of the meerkat asking for bunny! The face is soooooo funny! Looking forward to your next post!

 

[WDW Poly Princess]

So, we had a bunch of food, and we pretty much sat there and ate and ate and ate! I ended up being so stuffed from my pizza that I gave my sister the haf of my zebra domes! After we’d stuffed ourselves silly, we went back up to the lobby to go out to arusha rock to see the animals. Unfortunatly, they were all off on their afternoon break or whatever it is that they do mid afternoon, but I did get to talk to a super cute South African CM who was working there. (Hey, sis, remember when you said you’d get me a souvenir? I want that one!)

Cute South African Guy even pointed out the hidden mickey on the outside of the Lodge for us!

Look right about in the middle of the photo

About this time, I started feeling a little queasy, which quickly escalated to really queasy. I decided that stuffing myself silly at Mara and then going out in the heat wasn’t the best idea, so I found a chair just inside the lodge, and plopped down to rest. Jesse took an awesome photo of me looking totally awful sitting there, but he still hasn’t e-mailed me his photos (must call and nag again!) So instead, you’ll have to settle for this one I took of him:

(The huge lunch plus crazy day didn’t make him feel too great, either!)

I stayed in my chair for about 15 minutes until I felt less like I was going to die, and then went back outside with my sister and nephew. Of course, then my brother in law called, so we had some time to kill!

Now, don’t these chairs look all the same size from this angle?

They are not.

Sitting in the chair, I couldn’t figure out why my hips barely fit in it- I didn’t eat THAT much at lunch! Then my sister confirmed that yup, I was in one of the kids’ chairs.

Oops.

It was getting close to time for our fastpass return time, so we took the bus back over to AK, where we were surprised to see a bunch of characters hanging out at the entrance! There were practically no lines, so we got photos with Baloo, Donald, Goofy, and Minnie, all within about 10 minutes! Goofy was the most fun (as usual), and he loved it when Jesse did the “goofy laugh” (that huh-hyuk! kind of noise)

We made it back to Everest at 4:42 (our fastpass window ended at 4:45!)--It was time for Everest!

You know I wouldn’t miss taking pictures in line!

The line has some really cool theming, but the fastpass line made the ride practically a walk-on, so I didn’t get time to snap many!

Our review of the ride? Two big thumbs up! We all LOVED it! You must ride, soon!

Our only disappointment was that the cameras to take the on ride photos weren’t set up yet! Sad! The gift shop does have some really cool yeti themed merchandise, though!

We didn’t have a lot of time left before the park closed, but we did have just enough time to go catch the last Festival of the Lion King show- hooray! (I could watch this show all day!)

Neither my favorite singer guy nor my favorite dancer chick were there, but it was still great!

The fire twirling guy actually lost his flaming stick thing while he was twirling it! Jesse got a great video of it yet, but he hasn’t sent me that yet, either! I’ll share when I get it, though.

On the way out of the park, my sister noticed this cool waterfall:

Cool!

We decided to go over to Disney Quest for the evening- this was a big one on Jesse’s to do list! There was no direct bus from AK to Downtown Disney, so we decided to take the bus to Pop for a quick break first. I was totally worn out (SO not a commando Disney person!!!) but I decided to go to DQ anyway, since I never get to go with other people.

DQ was pretty crowded- we went down to the virtual reality ride area first, and had to wait about 10 minutes for the jungle cruise ride/game. It was interesting, but not a must-do. The lines for the other big attractions were pretty long, so we decided to split up and try them again later when the crowds weren’t quite so big.

Know the problem with splitting up when only one of you has a cell phone whose batteries aren’t dead? It is HARD to find the rest of your group again here!

DQ was open until 11, and we stayed until they kicked us out! Thelma did the Mickey drawing class, and really liked it! (I got there a minute too late, and there were no free seats left!), and she and Jesse made a coaster on CyberSpace Mountain, and bought the DVD of their ride. I played a lot of Ms Pac Man, and then spent a little time on the internet up in the Wonderland Café. (Did I mention that the only internet access Pop Century offers is dial-up? Unfair!)

I was pretty much falling asleep by now (it was almost midnight, and I’d been up since 7:30!) so Thelma and Jesse went to Planet Hollywood for some food, and I walked zombie-like to the bus stop to go home!

The only bad thing about getting back to Pop? They had the sprinklers on over in the 50s section, and they were flooding the sidewalks- my jeans got soaked on the walk back to our room, and I was freeeeeezing!

I fell asleep pretty quickly, and barely even heard it when Thelma & Jesse got back. Mmmm, sleep!

Coming up in Day 4- Quite possibly the busiest day I’ve EVER had at WDW!

 

[a*lil*bit*goofy]

OMG i saw this picture:

and thought omg that thing has a little thing growing out of his behind! LMAO then i read your caption saying how it was a funny picture... funny is right!

your positioning for the pic was perfect. LOLOL

 

[Sweedee]

not to be too picky or anything...but we have a houseful of people here waiting for your continuance!

 

[MomofCKJ]

Really enjoying your report! Can't wait for the rest!

Allyson

 

[WDW Poly Princess]

Day 4

All of these super long days must be getting to me, because I slept in until 9:45 today! Amazing! Thelma and Jesse wanted to sleep even later, so I decided to go to Magic Kingdom and have breakfast from the Main Street bakery. On the way to the bus stop, I stopped at the front desk to ask for a printout of our room charges so far, so I could make sure we were still on budget- it only took them a second to print it out for me- very convenient! The bus line for MK was huge, so when a MGM bus pulled up, I decided to just go there and get some breakfast at Starring Rolls Bakery instead.

I had never been to Starring Rolls before, but I heard they had yummy things, so I wanted to check it out. I was thrilled to find that they had the good chocolate croissants! I picked one up, but then I saw the cheesecake! I couldn’t resist, so I got that, too. Hey, it’s vacation!

I took my food outside, and sat near the entrance of the Brown Derby to enjoy the sunshine!

Breakfast of Champions! (There was no way I could eat all of this- I ended up sticking the croissant in my backpack for later!)

Close-up of the yummy cheesecake

The empty outdoor seating area of the Brown Derby. The CMs were just setting up the tables, since they’d be opening soon.

I love how the building behind the Brown Derby is painted to look like sky!

I wasn’t really in the mood for MGM, so I decided that what I really wanted was to go visit the WL, so I took the bus from MGM over to my 2nd favorite resort, and was the only one on the bus! Always nice to have a private “limo” driving you around property!

I usually spend a LOT of time on my trips just hanging out at my resort, relaxing and enjoying the place. So I took this morning as a chance to catch up on some of that! I love the parks, but the peace of just hanging out by the fireplace at the WL nourishes my soul.

Some WL pics:

My favorite sitting area at WL. There is no better place to relax in the world, as far as I’m concerned!

I really want this watercolor painting!

I wanted to stop by Roaring Forks and see how the construction was coming. They still had the left side closed down, but the right side (where you pick up food from the window, with the seating area) had been set up with some limited offerings. They actually had a lot more in there than I expected (including my beloved WL brownies, which I skipped since I’d just eaten cheesecake and had a croissant in my bag.)

After some time relaxing at the Lodge, I was ready to go over to Magic Kingdom for a while. I really just wanted some time to wander around and take photos, and maybe ride the HM. I took the boat over to MK (LOVE the boat ride from WL to MK!), and spent about a half hour at MK just wandering around.

I decided to go hang out on the Polynesian beach for a while again, so I took the monorail over (so far today I’ve taken the bus, boat, AND monorail!). As we passed through the Contemporary, I noticed that they had part of it sealed off. Strange!

Back at the Poly!

While I was sitting on the beach, I noticed that my water bottle left a flower-shaped imprint in the sand!

 

[WDW Poly Princess]

After my relaxing time on the Polynesian beach, I decided to walk over and check out the Wedding Pavilion. I’ve seen it from far away, but never had a chance to go see it up close. Luckily, there were no weddings going on today, so I got to take my time and wander around.

I don’t know if you can usually get inside to look around, or if I just got lucky since they were painting today! They had a big fan set up in the chapel, probably to dry paint, and some various other equipment scattered around.

It’s hard to tell from the photos, but the pavilion is SO pretty! I was ready to go find some random stranger to marry!

Think the guy painting is available?

The other building of the wedding pavilion is where they do the planning, and you can only get in with an appointment, but that doesn’t mean you can’t peek in the windows!

One of the cool cakes inside the building.

My sister *finally* called me around 1:30 to tell me that they were awake now, and we made plans to meet up at MGM while Jesse went back to Blizzard beach, and I walked over to the Grand Floridian to catch the bus.

Let’s review, shall we? While my family has been asleep, I’ve been to: MGM, Wilderness Lodge, MK, Polynesian, Wedding Pavilion, and GF!

I think the main problem we had on this trip is that we’ve got different ways of doing things- I like to get up early, hit the parks, and spend the afternoon relaxing, and they like to sleep in, and then stay out late. This ended up with me already being pretty tired by the time they woke up each day, which made it hard when they wanted me to stay out with them till the parks closed, and I was worn out and grumpy! Add that to the difference in mentalities (“This is our first trip, and we want to see everything!” vs. “Yeah, I’ve done that before, leave me here with my brownie and my view of the lagoon!”), and I’m surprised that we didn’t kill each other!

I met my sister at the MGM entrance, and we went over to ride the Great Movie Ride, which I always love. I know there have been rumors of it being closed, but I wish that instead, they’d just update it a little. How great would it be to have a LOTR scene, maybe when they’re at the Council of Rivendell? A Star Wars scene would be really neat, too, even though the park already has Star Tours. And while I’m on the topic of additions, what if MGM added a ride like the GMR that was dedicated to TV? You could start back with I Love Lucy, move through Gilligan’s Island, to the Brady Bunch, ride through the coffee shop of Friends, past tribal council of Survivor, past Buffy and her friends hanging out in the Sunnydale library, and end up on Wisteria Lane, or maybe in the ER of Grey’s Anatomy. I’d ride it!

Oh, wait, was I writing a trip report? Sorry for the tangent!

We stopped in the ABC Commisary for my sister to get a drink, because the lines at the drink carts outside were like 20 people long! While she waited in line for her drink, I looked around. I’m not sure if the stuff on display here rotates, but right now it was Lost stuff. Here’s some Charlie stuff for you Lost fans!

Our next stop was Millionare. If you haven’t been, they decide who gets to be in the hot seat next like this: The whole audience plays along during the game, and you get points for getting the right answer and more points the faster you get it. They check in every now and then to see who in the audience is leading, and when the current person is out, the audience member with the highest score gets to play next! So while the first person is playing, they check in on the audience scores when she hits 1000 points, and seat 174 is #1. Hey, I’m seat 174! Go me! Well, a while later, when she hits 32,000, they check again, and I’m still #1! Two questions later, the woman is out, and they check the scores again, but somehow I’ve dropped down to #2! Booooo! There goes my shot at a free Disney cruise!

Just after we got out of Millionare, Jesse called me to say he was on his way to MGM, but that his phone battery was almost dead. Unfortunatly, Thelma’s phone *was* dead. We somehow managed to meet up with him anyway, and decided to go see if we could get into Mama Melrose for lunch. They were totally booked up, and I was exhausted, so I suggested a few other places for them to eat, and I went back to Pop Century for a nap! We made plans to meet up later for the 2nd showing of Fantasmic, and I was off!

Here are some MGM photos in no particular order:

Stitch was determined to be on this trip with us!

I like that I caught this at just the right second so that the guy on the left looks like he’s wearing those flowers on his head.

They were doing some major refurbishing on NY Street!

I’d never noticed this before! A staircase on NY Street, supposedly leading down to the subway! (It actually goes nowhere.)

I took the bus back to Pop (after waiting about 40 minutes for it! Yeesh! They always know when I’m sleepy!) I spent some time just laying around reading, and a while later, just as I was starting to fall asleep, my phone rang- it was my sister calling to say that there was only one Fantasmic tonight, and it was at 7:30. It was already about 6, so chances are I wouldn’t make it over in time to get a good seat, so I told them to go on without me, and reminded them that they needed to get there about an hour early to get a good seat, since the parks were so busy. They called a little while later, waking me up from my nap, and said they were eating dinner at Hollywood & Vine. I glanced at the clock- it was 7:30. “Um, what time is Fantasmic again?” I asked them. “7:30” “But it’s 7:30 now, and you’re still eating?” Yup. They missed Fantasmic! Crazy kids! I checked the schedule on TV, and said that we could still make Wishes at 10:00, so we made plans to meet back up at MK for that, and I went back to my nap!

I really was tempted to just stay asleep, but I wanted to be with my family when they saw Wishes for the first time (and to make sure they didn’t miss it! They were now 0 for 2 of the shows they’d tried to go to!) I somehow made it to MK in time!

One quick castle photo before Wishes starts-

And now a few Wishes photos:

Yeah, I realize that this is probably the best Disney photo ever taken.

We had about an hour before Spectro, so Jesse & I decided to ride Haunted Mansion while Thelma did some shopping. The timing worked out perfectly, and we met up afterwards to watch the parade from in front of the Hall of Presidents.

I entertained myself by watching the cute Haunted Mansion CM who was working “crowd control” for the parade (if you can call it that- it was the 2nd Spectro of the night, so there were about 5 people around.) As if just being a cute HM CM wasn’t enough, he started waltzing down the street with another CM to the Spectro music as the parade approached, which means that I’ll probably have to marry him now. Cute HM CM, whoever you are, call me!

 

[WDW Poly Princess]

I can never get good photos of Spectro, so you only get two!

After the parade ended, we took our time wandering down Main Street, exploring the shops. That led to this lovely photo of Jesse in princess hat.

Now that’s quality entertainment!

We got out of the park around midnight, and went back to Pop for some much needed sleep!

Coming up in Day 5- A whole day at Epcot, and some good old fashioned Kungaloosh!

 

[roberrl187]

Great photos of WL. I loved them. Thanks for sharing.

 

[heaven2dc]

Enjoying your report (great again as always ). I can empathize with you regarding "family" trips - I'm the one getting up early and see what I can at a leisurely pace until my afternoon nap, then if my feet hold up, hit the parks again in the evening. I've only been once but during the 10 days we were there with "family" it was frustrating waiting for people to get up (and I'm not asking them to be up at 6 a.m, 8 or even 9 would be fine but noon???!!! ) This is why I need a solo trip

I think from your earlier trip report with your friend you looked much happier - just a thought

 

[Joann]

Love your trip reports!! You now know 4 more ppl who love MGM , it is my families favorite park. Every time we go the day we arrive, we drop our luggage in the room and off to MGM we go. Animal kingdom is my second favorite park aswell as my daughters as we are BIG animal lovers... shows as we own 13 animals from 2 dogs a chinchilla a frog a guinnie pig( sp?) and 8 parrots, 1 of them being an endangered one in the wild. can't wait for more!

 

[a*lil*bit*goofy]

can u please share your technique for such awesome pics of the fireworks at the castle? flash on or off (ok so i am a dolt what can i say) tripod? did u set camera to 'fireworks' or what? thanks!

 

[fizz13]

Hi Crystal
Spectacular work once again girl, yes that trippie castle photo is very cool . Can't imagine how frustrating it must have been for you with your opposing touring methods, but props to you for doing what you wanted anyway, otherwise you would have been a very unhappy bunny (was that a meerkat? )
Anyway, keep up the good work as always, your loyal reader,
Claire xx