wannabee princess
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jan 31, 2003
- Messages
- 652
Sunday, July 18, 2004
This morning we had an early wake-up call from Mickey so we could make our 7:30 PS for Boma. Since we were staying at AKL, this was not too early
We arrived, were wished a Happy Birthday and immediately seated. Dilly was our server, and he was a delight! He asked for our drink orders, and I immediately said Frunch! and a Pressed Pot of coffee! The boys all ordered the frunch after one ds asked what it was, and Dilly described it.
We had a delicious meal, eating plenty to keep us going for quite awhile, and Dilly brought out a Smoothie for both dh and I as a birthday treat. They were delicious!! We finished up and were on our way to the bus stop by 8:30. We got on a waiting bus to Epcot, and although the driver waited a bit, no one else got on board! We made the drive to the park, got birthday buttons at Guest Relations - I love the Epcot button the best!! - and were in before opening ceremonies! As we entered the turnstile, I saw the Goofy booklet, grabbed one for each ds, and off we went.
We were on the right side of the entrance rope (which is less crowded I think), saw a CM with a blowhorn making an announcement, but outside of hearing Test Track, we were clueless as to what he said. We watched the characters - many of whom we have never gotten autographs/pictures of - and took off at rope drop. We saw the characters stopping and somewhat reluctantly continued on to TT. The large majority of people (obviously those who heard what the CM said!) took off toward MS. We kept on toward TT, and were first in line! A CM was standing there stating that the ride was down and she had no idea how long - it could be 15 minutes or 2 hours! Dh and I looked at each other, decided that he and oldest ds would stay in line while youngest ds and I would go get FPs for later and head back to the characters. In case the ride was running before we got back, we picked a meeting spot.
Ds and I walked back over to the characters, and I grabbed out one of the Goofy Epcot Guides and a pen since we didn't have autograph books this trip (we figured we would do one trip without - wouldn't you know?!
). We walked up to Mushu, took picture and got autograph, made our way over to Prince John and Friar Tuck and repeated the process, made our way to Koda and Kenai, and were just getting in line for Mary Poppins when the characters were called back to the bus (oh well, we do have Mary from earlier trips). As we walked back to TT, we discussed how lucky we were to find the characters we never had gotten pictures with before.
When we walked up to TT, we saw that the line was moving, but we didn't see dh or ds, so we jumped on in, watching the crowds for them. We rode and exited, saw dh at our meeting spot alone - oldest had ridden in the single liner ride since we hadn't been at the meeting spot when they got there. Ds walked up seconds later. They said the ride had been opened right after we walked away! By this time, it was time for our FP time, so all four of us got on TT together. When we exited, we got another FP for later!
We made our way to Spaceship Earth, and a 15 minute wait was posted. We went ahead and did the wait (accurate). I love this ride! I think it is a ride Walt would love to take a friend on! We had several stopping times in the ride, and when we exited, we saw why - it was due to the handicap loading and unloading system.
Afterwards, we walked over to watch Journey into Imagination with Figment. There was a posted wait of 5 minutes, but we walked straight on. The boys played for a brief few minutes when we exited in the Imageworks, and we were on our way again. Now we headed towards Mission Space, because oldest ds wanted to ride it! He had wanted to in Dec., but at that time neither dh or I was willing to ride, and we weren't sure we wanted him to ride alone. Well, neither of us wanted to ride again, but ds said he was sure he would be fine. We saw that the single rider line said 10 minutes, so we told him to head in, we would wait right at the exit of the ride itself for him. We made our way through the store, into the "arcade" area - Advanced Training Lab.
I don't know if people don't realize this is there, because a LOT of people were sitting outside of the building (looking like people waiting for MS riders) and the store was very crowded with people standing around. Youngest ds had a great time playing Expedition Mars, and tried Space Race. Dh and I watched the exiting riders. Ten minutes, 15 minutes, 20 minutes, 25 minutes and now we are starting to worry a LOT! We took turns going to the outside (thinking he chickened out and was outside waiting for us), then as 30 minutes, 35 minutes went by, we really started to get very nervous. Dh is at this point saying that we will NEVER allow this child out of our sight again!! Then, dh starts to think that maybe ds chickened out and ran over to TT to ride that without telling us - he's already thinking this has to be the answer - when I say that I am going one more time to the entrance que. I walked up to the very front, see that the single rider line has a posted time of 45 minutes! compared to the 10 minutes when ds walked in. Now, I am thinking that that line must have gone beserk after we left ds. I head back to dh and tell him, and now it is almost 45 minutes from when we parted from ds. Yes, you guessed it, here he comes!! We were so relieved!!! He had a smile from ear to ear. He loved the ride!! He said the wait was a lot longer than 10! We said WE KNOW!!!!
Now, during this 45 minute wait, on one of the trips to the front of the building, it was POURING!!, and when we exited, the crowds were pretty non-existent, so we walked in what felt like an empty park to TT to use our FP from earlier. They kept announcing that due to the weather conditions you may get soaked on the ride
but we didn't have ponchos, so we thought oh well!! When we were on the ride, we had not a drop of rain! After the ride, we decide to head towards Canada, because we are going to head over to DS for the afternoon. As we make our way, dh asks if we are going to eat anything since it is almost 1pm. I am not really hungry, but say SURE! even though I am thinking -- it is prime lunch time and we have no PS and we aren't really heading toward any place that has a counter service. As we are walking, the rain starts again, and I said let's go to Le Cellier! We dash up, I tell dh I will see how long of a wait we will have (expecting a while), and am pleasantly suprised by a delightful CM (who wishes me a Happy Birthday) who says we can be seated in a few minutes. Two families ahead of us are taken right in, and then we are led to a table. Unknown to me, dh had removed his birthday button sometime in between our arrival at Epcot and our arrival at Le Cellier.
Marios is our server, and he is just great!! He wishes me a Happy Birthday, takes our orders and is very friendly. We place our order, and we take turns with youngest ds's Disney trivia game. We had a great time, the food came very promptly - delicious as always!!! - and Marios was very attentive, without being too much. He and oldest ds are whispering and giggling at one point, and when he left, ds is very "giddy". Then, Paul comes over and begins to play a Canadian trivia game with us. We are put on teams (me and youngest ds vs. dh and oldest ds). Paul is doing his very best to "help" my team since it is my birthday, but I had no idea that Shania Twain is from Canada (I am not a Shania fan, although as luck would have it, dh and oldest ds are! They of course say it is her music! HA!). About the time it is apparent that my team has lost, out comes Marios with a big piece of Canadian Club Cake on a plate with Happy Birthday written in chocolate!!! I was sooooo thrilled to have my birthday acknowledged by these delightful people when I had not even made a PS!!! All of us shared the cake - delicious!!! - and oldest ds tells that was why he was giggling with Marios earlier! Marios then gives me a birthday card signed by the entire staff!!!! Paul comes with Magical Moments certificates for the winners and the "runners up" to the Canadian trivia game and gives us stickers with Canada on them. A truly genuine Magical Moment for us!!!!!
We head out after and it is about 5 minutes until Off Kilter is going to play!!! I go to the Wood Cart, to buy a cd (a purchase I was sorry not to have made before), and asked the CM which one she suggested. She said the Etched in Stone one was her favorite, so I grabbed it, saw the Le Cellier pin and had to go ahead and have that since I have to commemorate our wonderful time and topped it off with an antenna topper with the Canadian flag. A different CM was checking me out, so I told her that the first (who was standing there) said that this was the best of the Off Kilter cds, and she said that she agreed.
By now, dh and the oldest ds had a bench saved for us, Off Kilter began, and we were delighting in the music, when the rain started back up
Dh said he would stay, but since we had no cover, I said that it was okay - I had the cd afterall now! We headed (very quickly) to the International Gateway (again no crowds whatsoever) and exited to the waiting boat for MGM. As the boat made it's way to MGM, the rain stopped again, and we exited at MGM ready to go. After a quick stop at Guest Relations (wanted to get birthday button but it is the same as MK), we checked the tips board and saw that RnRc had a 35 minute wait. Dh and oldest made their way to Rock n Roller Coaster and were going to get FPs for ToT, while youngest and I found a spot on the parade route to sit. We made plans to meet after the parade and as they took off, we discovered rude people. I had never had such a negative wait for a parade. The lady next to me (who was there before us) ended up getting pushed down from being right behind her daughter, to having about 2-3 people in between. Someone behind us was telling her friend that they would cancel the parade if it rained, so we all might as well leave (yeah right!). A very heavy rain came right before parade time, and I ended up using the guide map as an "umbrella" for me while I stood over ds. Finally the rain stopped, and the parade came (characters with umbrellas and everything).
Ds and I made our way to the meeting spot, and discovered that the 35 minute wait was definitely way off. We walked to the exit of RnRc (although that wasn't the original meeting spot) since we knew that they would have to pass us. Well, ds found a hidden Mickey while we waited - and this was one not in the book we had with us!!! We were sooooo excited! Finally, 1 hour and 15 minutes after they got in the standby line, here came dh and ds! Right at the end of the standby line (after they had waited for quite awhile) someone gave them both FPs to change lines! so they ended up being done sooner than it could have been. We got FPs for RnRc for later and off we went.
We headed to Great Movie Ride and although it was posted at 30 minute wait, we decided to do it - afterall youngest would ride this one! After waiting about 15 minutes and not moving at all, we ditched the line and headed to Star Tours. This had a wait posted of 15 minutes, and that was pretty accurate (it may have ended up at 20). We then tried to go back to GMR, but the 30 minutes was still posted, and the line was a LOT longer than it had been when we were there! So, we bypassed this an went to use our FPs for ToT. the boys didn't want to ride, so we sat them at the exit, jumped in the FP line and off we went. As I had on my birthday button (dh never put his back on), the elevator operator (wish I had her name to share - she made my day even more wonderful) told me Happy Birthday and asked my name. After we had all sat down, she made the announcement that it was my birthday and they were all going to sing to me!!!
Since ToT is my FAVORITE ride in the entire World, this was just too perfect for words!! I was ecstatic, and I had a huge smile on my face through the entire ride and the rest of the day!!
When we exited, the boys were waiting, and dh convinced oldest to ride ToT with me since we still had FPs, and I didn't want to leave without using them. Ds agreed reluctantly, and we walked right back on. Well, thanks to dh, ds found out that he really does love ToT - he has always seemed to have a love/hate relationship with this ride! Again, I had a huge smile throughout the ride. We made our way to RnRc to use our FPs, and the line for FP was almost wound around to the exit!! Since I was the only one who hadn't ridden it, I said that I didn't mind missing it this one trip. We got ice cream snacks at the cart between the two rides, and walked out of the park. I was a little sad, because I wanted to stay until the park closed, but it was a trip to celebrate dh's birthday too, and he was ready to go to the hotel and let the boys swim. The joy of not having only one chance at visiting the parks in a year, is that you know that you can always do something next trip!
We jumped on the bus to AKL - which was waiting at the stop - with one other family. This time, the bus stopped at the waterpark (no one got off or on) and back to the hotel to change into our swimming suits. The boys had a blast burning off energy, I went over to the pool bar and ordered a beer for dh and a Nyami Nyami for me, since I had read raves on the DIS. It was as delicious as I had read it was - YUMMY!!! Dh and I enjoyed our drinks and then headed over to the spa. Youngest ds was having a blast going over to look at the animals and listening to the CM there answering questions from other guests.
Around 9, we went up to our room to change, headed back to the Mara and ordered a light meal. Dh had great service, but the CM who waited on me left a lot to be desired. The food was fine, and as we finished, dh got up and although I thought he was getting a refill, he grabbed dessert....Zebra Domes! We finished our meal, and headed back to our room to enjoy our savanna view for one last night.
This morning we had an early wake-up call from Mickey so we could make our 7:30 PS for Boma. Since we were staying at AKL, this was not too early
We arrived, were wished a Happy Birthday and immediately seated. Dilly was our server, and he was a delight! He asked for our drink orders, and I immediately said Frunch! and a Pressed Pot of coffee! The boys all ordered the frunch after one ds asked what it was, and Dilly described it. We had a delicious meal, eating plenty to keep us going for quite awhile, and Dilly brought out a Smoothie for both dh and I as a birthday treat. They were delicious!! We finished up and were on our way to the bus stop by 8:30. We got on a waiting bus to Epcot, and although the driver waited a bit, no one else got on board! We made the drive to the park, got birthday buttons at Guest Relations - I love the Epcot button the best!! - and were in before opening ceremonies! As we entered the turnstile, I saw the Goofy booklet, grabbed one for each ds, and off we went.
We were on the right side of the entrance rope (which is less crowded I think), saw a CM with a blowhorn making an announcement, but outside of hearing Test Track, we were clueless as to what he said. We watched the characters - many of whom we have never gotten autographs/pictures of - and took off at rope drop. We saw the characters stopping and somewhat reluctantly continued on to TT. The large majority of people (obviously those who heard what the CM said!) took off toward MS. We kept on toward TT, and were first in line! A CM was standing there stating that the ride was down and she had no idea how long - it could be 15 minutes or 2 hours! Dh and I looked at each other, decided that he and oldest ds would stay in line while youngest ds and I would go get FPs for later and head back to the characters. In case the ride was running before we got back, we picked a meeting spot.
Ds and I walked back over to the characters, and I grabbed out one of the Goofy Epcot Guides and a pen since we didn't have autograph books this trip (we figured we would do one trip without - wouldn't you know?!
). We walked up to Mushu, took picture and got autograph, made our way over to Prince John and Friar Tuck and repeated the process, made our way to Koda and Kenai, and were just getting in line for Mary Poppins when the characters were called back to the bus (oh well, we do have Mary from earlier trips). As we walked back to TT, we discussed how lucky we were to find the characters we never had gotten pictures with before. When we walked up to TT, we saw that the line was moving, but we didn't see dh or ds, so we jumped on in, watching the crowds for them. We rode and exited, saw dh at our meeting spot alone - oldest had ridden in the single liner ride since we hadn't been at the meeting spot when they got there. Ds walked up seconds later. They said the ride had been opened right after we walked away! By this time, it was time for our FP time, so all four of us got on TT together. When we exited, we got another FP for later!
We made our way to Spaceship Earth, and a 15 minute wait was posted. We went ahead and did the wait (accurate). I love this ride! I think it is a ride Walt would love to take a friend on! We had several stopping times in the ride, and when we exited, we saw why - it was due to the handicap loading and unloading system.
Afterwards, we walked over to watch Journey into Imagination with Figment. There was a posted wait of 5 minutes, but we walked straight on. The boys played for a brief few minutes when we exited in the Imageworks, and we were on our way again. Now we headed towards Mission Space, because oldest ds wanted to ride it! He had wanted to in Dec., but at that time neither dh or I was willing to ride, and we weren't sure we wanted him to ride alone. Well, neither of us wanted to ride again, but ds said he was sure he would be fine. We saw that the single rider line said 10 minutes, so we told him to head in, we would wait right at the exit of the ride itself for him. We made our way through the store, into the "arcade" area - Advanced Training Lab.
I don't know if people don't realize this is there, because a LOT of people were sitting outside of the building (looking like people waiting for MS riders) and the store was very crowded with people standing around. Youngest ds had a great time playing Expedition Mars, and tried Space Race. Dh and I watched the exiting riders. Ten minutes, 15 minutes, 20 minutes, 25 minutes and now we are starting to worry a LOT! We took turns going to the outside (thinking he chickened out and was outside waiting for us), then as 30 minutes, 35 minutes went by, we really started to get very nervous. Dh is at this point saying that we will NEVER allow this child out of our sight again!! Then, dh starts to think that maybe ds chickened out and ran over to TT to ride that without telling us - he's already thinking this has to be the answer - when I say that I am going one more time to the entrance que. I walked up to the very front, see that the single rider line has a posted time of 45 minutes! compared to the 10 minutes when ds walked in. Now, I am thinking that that line must have gone beserk after we left ds. I head back to dh and tell him, and now it is almost 45 minutes from when we parted from ds. Yes, you guessed it, here he comes!! We were so relieved!!! He had a smile from ear to ear. He loved the ride!! He said the wait was a lot longer than 10!
We said WE KNOW!!!!Now, during this 45 minute wait, on one of the trips to the front of the building, it was POURING!!, and when we exited, the crowds were pretty non-existent, so we walked in what felt like an empty park to TT to use our FP from earlier. They kept announcing that due to the weather conditions you may get soaked on the ride
but we didn't have ponchos, so we thought oh well!! When we were on the ride, we had not a drop of rain! After the ride, we decide to head towards Canada, because we are going to head over to DS for the afternoon. As we make our way, dh asks if we are going to eat anything since it is almost 1pm. I am not really hungry, but say SURE! even though I am thinking -- it is prime lunch time and we have no PS and we aren't really heading toward any place that has a counter service. As we are walking, the rain starts again, and I said let's go to Le Cellier! We dash up, I tell dh I will see how long of a wait we will have (expecting a while), and am pleasantly suprised by a delightful CM (who wishes me a Happy Birthday) who says we can be seated in a few minutes. Two families ahead of us are taken right in, and then we are led to a table. Unknown to me, dh had removed his birthday button sometime in between our arrival at Epcot and our arrival at Le Cellier.Marios is our server, and he is just great!! He wishes me a Happy Birthday, takes our orders and is very friendly. We place our order, and we take turns with youngest ds's Disney trivia game. We had a great time, the food came very promptly - delicious as always!!! - and Marios was very attentive, without being too much. He and oldest ds are whispering and giggling at one point, and when he left, ds is very "giddy". Then, Paul comes over and begins to play a Canadian trivia game with us. We are put on teams (me and youngest ds vs. dh and oldest ds). Paul is doing his very best to "help" my team since it is my birthday, but I had no idea that Shania Twain is from Canada (I am not a Shania fan, although as luck would have it, dh and oldest ds are! They of course say it is her music! HA!). About the time it is apparent that my team has lost, out comes Marios with a big piece of Canadian Club Cake on a plate with Happy Birthday written in chocolate!!! I was sooooo thrilled to have my birthday acknowledged by these delightful people when I had not even made a PS!!! All of us shared the cake - delicious!!! - and oldest ds tells that was why he was giggling with Marios earlier! Marios then gives me a birthday card signed by the entire staff!!!! Paul comes with Magical Moments certificates for the winners and the "runners up" to the Canadian trivia game and gives us stickers with Canada on them. A truly genuine Magical Moment for us!!!!!
We head out after and it is about 5 minutes until Off Kilter is going to play!!! I go to the Wood Cart, to buy a cd (a purchase I was sorry not to have made before), and asked the CM which one she suggested. She said the Etched in Stone one was her favorite, so I grabbed it, saw the Le Cellier pin and had to go ahead and have that since I have to commemorate our wonderful time and topped it off with an antenna topper with the Canadian flag. A different CM was checking me out, so I told her that the first (who was standing there) said that this was the best of the Off Kilter cds, and she said that she agreed.
By now, dh and the oldest ds had a bench saved for us, Off Kilter began, and we were delighting in the music, when the rain started back up
Dh said he would stay, but since we had no cover, I said that it was okay - I had the cd afterall now! We headed (very quickly) to the International Gateway (again no crowds whatsoever) and exited to the waiting boat for MGM. As the boat made it's way to MGM, the rain stopped again, and we exited at MGM ready to go. After a quick stop at Guest Relations (wanted to get birthday button but it is the same as MK), we checked the tips board and saw that RnRc had a 35 minute wait. Dh and oldest made their way to Rock n Roller Coaster and were going to get FPs for ToT, while youngest and I found a spot on the parade route to sit. We made plans to meet after the parade and as they took off, we discovered rude people. I had never had such a negative wait for a parade. The lady next to me (who was there before us) ended up getting pushed down from being right behind her daughter, to having about 2-3 people in between. Someone behind us was telling her friend that they would cancel the parade if it rained, so we all might as well leave (yeah right!). A very heavy rain came right before parade time, and I ended up using the guide map as an "umbrella" for me while I stood over ds. Finally the rain stopped, and the parade came (characters with umbrellas and everything). Ds and I made our way to the meeting spot, and discovered that the 35 minute wait was definitely way off. We walked to the exit of RnRc (although that wasn't the original meeting spot) since we knew that they would have to pass us. Well, ds found a hidden Mickey while we waited - and this was one not in the book we had with us!!! We were sooooo excited! Finally, 1 hour and 15 minutes after they got in the standby line, here came dh and ds! Right at the end of the standby line (after they had waited for quite awhile) someone gave them both FPs to change lines! so they ended up being done sooner than it could have been. We got FPs for RnRc for later and off we went.
We headed to Great Movie Ride and although it was posted at 30 minute wait, we decided to do it - afterall youngest would ride this one! After waiting about 15 minutes and not moving at all, we ditched the line and headed to Star Tours. This had a wait posted of 15 minutes, and that was pretty accurate (it may have ended up at 20). We then tried to go back to GMR, but the 30 minutes was still posted, and the line was a LOT longer than it had been when we were there! So, we bypassed this an went to use our FPs for ToT. the boys didn't want to ride, so we sat them at the exit, jumped in the FP line and off we went. As I had on my birthday button (dh never put his back on), the elevator operator (wish I had her name to share - she made my day even more wonderful) told me Happy Birthday and asked my name. After we had all sat down, she made the announcement that it was my birthday and they were all going to sing to me!!!
Since ToT is my FAVORITE ride in the entire World, this was just too perfect for words!! I was ecstatic, and I had a huge smile on my face through the entire ride and the rest of the day!!When we exited, the boys were waiting, and dh convinced oldest to ride ToT with me since we still had FPs, and I didn't want to leave without using them. Ds agreed reluctantly, and we walked right back on. Well, thanks to dh, ds found out that he really does love ToT - he has always seemed to have a love/hate relationship with this ride! Again, I had a huge smile throughout the ride. We made our way to RnRc to use our FPs, and the line for FP was almost wound around to the exit!!
Since I was the only one who hadn't ridden it, I said that I didn't mind missing it this one trip. We got ice cream snacks at the cart between the two rides, and walked out of the park. I was a little sad, because I wanted to stay until the park closed, but it was a trip to celebrate dh's birthday too, and he was ready to go to the hotel and let the boys swim. The joy of not having only one chance at visiting the parks in a year, is that you know that you can always do something next trip!We jumped on the bus to AKL - which was waiting at the stop - with one other family. This time, the bus stopped at the waterpark (no one got off or on) and back to the hotel to change into our swimming suits. The boys had a blast burning off energy, I went over to the pool bar and ordered a beer for dh and a Nyami Nyami for me, since I had read raves on the DIS. It was as delicious as I had read it was - YUMMY!!! Dh and I enjoyed our drinks and then headed over to the spa. Youngest ds was having a blast going over to look at the animals and listening to the CM there answering questions from other guests.
Around 9, we went up to our room to change, headed back to the Mara and ordered a light meal. Dh had great service, but the CM who waited on me left a lot to be desired. The food was fine, and as we finished, dh got up and although I thought he was getting a refill, he grabbed dessert....Zebra Domes! We finished our meal, and headed back to our room to enjoy our savanna view for one last night.
