Boys Behaving Badly Tour, June 2004 (Mike’s 40th!) – Part 1

[Mike Jones]

The Cast: Mike (39/40) & Scott (43), temporary escapees from their respective families.

Pre-Trip Stuff

For anyone unaware, this short-break to WDW evolved around my desire to see Illuminations on my 40th birthday. My DW hit the big four-oh last year and we celebrated the event to her specification – when asked what I wanted to do, I contacted Val (Cinders Mum on the Dibb) for some prices to take Heather and self off to WDW for a few days. H then dropped the bombshell – she didn’t want to do long-haul for less than 2 weeks!

Oh well, I can improvise! My best buddy, Scott was hoping to take his brats, sorry, darling children to the World in a year or two…. what a better way to help a friend than to give them a selective tour of Orlando in advance? (All to ensure the best time possible for his two kids, of course!) The thick plottened: we managed to sell the idea to our nearest and dearest, and the die was cast!

The basic plan was to stay near to WDW and spend 3 days there, plus a day at Universal. Flights were booked through Val, with Virgin, flying on Saturday June 12th from Manchester to Orlando International. Accommodation was reserved at the Best Western, Lake Buena Vista, within walking distance of Downtown Disney and the Dis transport in case we wanted to take a drink or two! It soon became clear that the relatively early flight (14:30 arrival) would probably allow us to ‘do’ a park in the evening. Thus a 4 day basic hopper pass was ordered from Mapleleaf Tickets in Kissimmee. We also wanted at least a day at Universal, but had to get a 2 day, 2 park pass to permit roaming between both sites, even if only on the same day. This gained momentum, and, in order to extract maximum benefit from the passes, I decided to book one night at the ‘budget’ Royal Pacific Resort at Universal. For the time being, we secured a basic, 2 door car from Dollar (although we had designs on an upgrade more suited to our childless situation!)

Last twist – you may recall that we did a two-centre holiday last Christmas, with the final week being at Siesta Key on the Gulf. We loved it here. While on the island, we formed a habit of taking breakfast at the Broken Egg Restaurant, the area’s most popular breakfast venue, situated in the ‘Village’. Would it be possible to drive over to SK, near Sarasota, get an early breakfast and then get back in reasonable time for the bulk of the day to be spent at Epcot? This was pencilled into the itinerary. Then we decided that two legs of the 125 mile journey might be a bit tiring in one day, and so, only a week or three ago, we made reservations for the Best Western in Siesta Key Village for one night.

The dates crept closer. Feedback from friends, enemies, family and Dibbers seemed reasonably split between “you selfish *******s, how could you do this without your family (especially your children!??)” and “you lucky *******s, how can I persuade myfamily to let me do this thing?!”

Scott’s a single parent, so his preparations included organising his (grown up ) nephew, Simon, to house and kiddy-sit for the duration.

Day 1 – Saturday 12th June 2004 - The Journey, & Epcot


Weather: Manchester – cool and dull, rain by flight-time. Orlando – Hot!Thunderstorms and heavy rain before Illuminations.

Option A – the short version!

Up at 400am, picked Scott up at 500am, drove to airport via off-site parking, caught a Virgin 747 at 1045 to Orlando, hired a sports car, found the hotel at DTD, did some shopping, went to Epcot, rode Mission Space, mooched the WS, watched Illuminations, drove back to hotel, had several beers and went to bed! Oh, and it was sunny, hot with a bit of a thunderstorm and downpour!

Option B – the Full Monty!

I woke up at 400am after a fairly broken night (too excited!) and had a coffee on the swing seat outside, with Meg for company. Showered and dressed, before (gently) rousing my DW, DS and DD to say goodbye. Easy 5 mile drive to Scott’s house in Bolton – his loved ones, including his GF, Diane, have actually got up with him! Had a final check of the documents before (generally) tearless goodbyes and away down the M61 to Manchester Airport… as soon as we hit the motorway I whacked the Illuminations CD on the stereo at full belt, just to get the mood going. (Not that we needed it!) Had a text off my colleague, Helen, wishing us a good time, so gave her a call (05:10!) – seems she’s been up for hours! (Hmmm.. mental note.. see if there’s anything useful she could do at work if she’s prone to this insomnia in future!)

We left my car at APH at Sharston, a few minutes from the airport. We were quickly processed and taken to Terminal 2 with a couple of other groups, arriving at 05:45. The Virgin desks were’nt attended yet, but there were already 12 or so people in line (see how easy I slip back into the vernacular?). More piled up behind us until a good 60-70 people were waiting by 06:00. Although the news had been full of warnings of increased security at all ports, due to the possibility of troublemakers trying to travel to the Euro04 shindig in Portugal, we saw no more than the usual precautions in place. (And there were a fair number of footy fans drinking quite heavily the other side of immigration!)

We checked in fine, and, although we didn’t get an upgrade (ok mate, long sleeves rolled up, earrings back in!) we did get our ‘reserved’ seats at the rear of the plane. We collected our currency ($1.85 = £1 when purchased some weeks ago!) from Travelex and then passed peacefully enough (after a body search for Scott! It must be that metal plate in his head from the war!) through immigration to the departure lounge. It’s bedlam! Never seen it so busy. On closer inspection, much of the crowd comprises a 747 full of transferring PIA passengers and a large number of England football fans who appear to be under the impression that Portugal has stopped selling alcohol for the duration of the tournament, as they are quaffing significant amounts of the stuff at the tavern – it’s only 06:45 for goodness sake! I reckon I must be getting old!

We adjourned to the ‘Village Grill’ (Hah! Yeah, right!Village? Grill? B******s! Transport Caff!) and, with three and a half hours still to kill, joined a fairly lengthy line (there I go again – they’ll be offering me citizenship soon!) waiting for brekkie. A couple of girls from Ilkley were ahead of us in the queue, clearly ticked off about something – turns out they’d been at the airport since 05:00 for an 08:00 flight to the Balearics, but were advised on arrival of an 8 hour delay! Their afternoon beach plans were in tatters, and to add insult to injury, they’d been compensated with an £8 voucher for food! Considering my distinctly average breakfast cost just shy of eight quid with a bottle of water, I reckon they’d been short-changed!

Just at the end of this tale of woe we all jumped out of our skins as an enormous crash occurred to our side. A cast member, oops, server, had been pushing a tall, shelved trolley laden with trays of heavy crockery, when one of the trays slid out and smashed to the floor. The tray itself, and, we feared, several of the broken shards hit a 4 year old boy square on the head and shoulders. He was very distraught, and his parents were obviously concerned that he’d suffered serious injury. To say that the café was strewn with dirty plates and litter, with only 2 or 3 staff in evidence, the response from the operators was fairly impressive – within seconds a trio of managers had appeared from behind the scenes (why weren’t you cleaning up, you lazy gits?) and medics were summoned. After the child calmed a little, it didn’t seem that he’d been more than badly frightened and slightly bruised. One of his family later confirmed that this was, happily, the case.

Drama over, we struggled to find somewhere to eat our less than impressive repast before camping near WH Smiths and completing the Visa Waivers (isn’t it much easier to get these ahead of the flight?). We chatted (and commiserated!) with some Man City supporters on their way to Euro 2004 and then had a wander through Duty Free. I got Heather some perfume and Scott bought his cigs for the week. I also paid a visit to Smiths and chose a book for the flight (one of my pre-flight, ritual treats!) – quick plug; “The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time” by Mark Haddon – quite outstanding! Read it – it has helped me with my understanding of Asperger’s Syndrome and both delighted and touched me at the same time.

The weather is truly awful outside now – bucketing down! Glad I’m not staying here today! It’s 09:00 now, and a check on the flight board confirms all is well for our 10:25 departure time. DD rang me on my mobile to say goodbye again. A short time later we heard an announcement about imminent pre-boarding of our flight for first class and passengers with disabilities, so we moved up to the lounge area next to gate 206 – this was conveniently next to a smoking area, handy for Scott, who’s a very nervous flier! VA 747 ‘Honey Pie’ was on stand (always encouraging to see that your taxi has actually arrived!). We were boarded immediately after the posh classes, as they were loading from the back, and walked the 500 yards or so back to the tail.. wow.. these babies are big! Back two seats on the left (looking for’ard), 64A and C..no one behind us, so we can recline for Britain! Both monitors seem to work, and there’s a handy space for gear to the left, where the 3rd seat should have been (rows 62, 63 & 64 are in the narrower, tail section and reduce down from 3 to 2 wide). I reset my wrist-watch to US time – 05:10 – and settle in.

We took off at 10:45 UK (05:45 US) through broken cloud. Scott clenched his fists and stared at the floor for 10 minutes or so, but calmed down when we levelled off. It took a while to get the entertainment system to work properly (not as flexible as the US Airways interactive system we enjoyed at Christmas, where you can pause and restart films, programmes etc to suit) but after the first drinks (large scotch for me, beer for Scott) it worked ok. I watched an episode of the Simpsons, part of Down & Out in Beverley Hills, & Alistair McGowans Posh & Becks during lunch. The meal was served at 12:00 UK (07:00 US): Scott had beef stew (7/10) and I had chicken pasta (8/10). It came with a tasty Mediterranean salad and wine, served in a real glass! (The wine, silly, not the salad!) It became quite bumpy during dinner, so we were belted in.

By 08:10 (all US times only from now on) the turbulence had dropped off again and we went for a wander up and down the aisles for a minute or two – we calculated that we’d done 9-12 miles over the ground, so I’m not missing my exercise! I got quite tired at this point and dozed for just over an hour, before someone stuck their hip in my face squeezing past one of the cabin staff. We stood behind our seats for a while, having a stretch and a chat to fellow passengers. It’s now about 09:45, round about ½ way through the flight. We took some photos of ourselves, and a couple of the cabin.

I watched a bit more of D&OIBH, catching the end this time. The cabin crew dished out choc ices and more drinks. The views down across the northern US/Canada were starting to get interesting – you don’t appreciate how huge this continent is until you fly over it for an hour and never see any sign of human intervention! I spotted some ultra light sunglasses in the in flight mag made by the same company as my regular specs, so I treated myself (not as if I’m getting much else for my birthday after all!)

Time passing a bit more slowly now. I don’t know about the rest of you, but I get into a sort of ‘zone’ towards the middle of long-haul – I feel like I could be there all my life, in that aluminium tube, watching films and being fed occasional drinks and food by kindly warders. Watched a bit more tv and film, played a bit of Nintendo. We got a snack lunch around 12:00 – a lovely tuna/onion/sweetcorn roll and a giant cookie. The views have changed now, too – coastal, with an occasional road and a very occasional building. Scott was just saying “It’s a pity the kids aren’t here, as we might have had their spare sarnies!” when the guy opposite said his kids’ lunches were going spare! Result! Two more tuna rolls and cookies!

Time passed. 12:45 – loads more cloud. 13:20 – descending quite quickly now, seatbelts on. Passed through the clouds and get some cracking vistas towards the Atlantic coast. We landed smoothly at 13:47. Right! Let's get all those hard-learned tips put to work!!

Off after the bulk of passengers, but no worries. I’m heading right in the immigration hall. Scott says: I thought you always head left at queues? Not here, mate! We join probably the longest line on the right, to the side of the ‘US Citizens’ posts. These quickly finish processing their handful of Americans, and open for the rest of us! We are through in minutes, leaving at least 2/3rds of the plane behind us! Scott is queried about the Arab stamps in his passport, but the official seems happy with his Tunisia explanation.

We retrieve our cases – virtually the first off the carousel – and take the tram thingy to the main building. We go down one floor to the baggage hall, where we split up – Scott to watch for the bags in the event that they are through quickly, me to the Dollar desk on the ground floor. It’s like there’s been an evacuation, completely empty! I radio Scott to join me and we haggle over the upgrade from our Neon to a Chrysler Sebring. (And it is worth negotiating, people, we got $50 off the price the assistant first tried!)

We pop back upstairs grab our cases off the belt and then descend for the garage. Looking back into the car hall, we can see lines of 60 – 80 people at all the suppliers! Thanks for the advice, everyone! We’ve got from tarmac to freeway in 1.25 hours exactly, including a long taxi! A bit of fun follows, as, of course, we desire to travel topless….but can we find the switchgear or controls for removing the hood? We sort it eventually, cram our two cases into the tiny boot (forget this car if you have 4 people and luggage!) bung in a CD, don our shades and we’re off! Car thermometer advises that it is 94 degrees F! We head for the north exits on to the Beeline 528 (two lots of .75 cents tolls) and I4. We come off at the 535 (Kissimmee and Lake Buena Vista), and then things unravel slightly! After turning right, I fail to spot the turn off left towards Downtown Disney (I know, I know, there’s a huge ‘Walt Disney World’ sign at the end!) so we travel a mile or so north to confirm the error, throw a U-turn and recover the mistake. The Best Western Hotel LBV is the first one along the road from the Crossroads towards DTD, and easily spotted. We park up, and check in. First impressions are very good – I think it has been refurbed in recent years, and the lobby is tiled, airy and cool. They ask if we wish to upgrade our room to a WDW view, but we tell them we prefer to spend the $10 a night on beer! We get 1006 (tenth floor, not first!) and drag our sweaty, laden bodies up in the elevator. The hotel is a peculiar shape, like a 3 sided hat, and we never head the right way towards the rooms on a single occasion!

The room is fine. Very spacious, with two king-sized beds, full size bathroom, and a balcony overlooking the I4 and Kissimmee. Road noise is not a problem even during peak hours, as it’s far enough away, and to be honest, I quite like the busy aspect. Later, after dark, we discover we can see the Golden Corrall on the 535 (where we intend to have breakfast tomorrow) and the Skycoaster at Old Town. The temperature is melting us, and we strip off to our underpants to admire the view and phone home! (Apologies to anyone watching from the hotel across the way.. I know it wasn’t pretty!)

We unpack the basics (quick debate about actually emptying the cases and hanging things up, but, typical bloke-style, we find it more convenient to leave stuff in the cases!) before showering and driving across to Goodings for water, beer, coffee and filters. Leaving the stuff in the trunk (see how easily I’m slipping back into the lingo?) we head off for Epcot, sans roof! We arrive at 5:15pm and park up front in Adventure 32, within walking distance of the gates. I’m home!

We enter my favourite park and head towards Innoventions Plaza to check the line times for Test Track and Mission:Space. The weather is getting a bit ‘heavy’ with an odd spot of rain, although it remains very hot.

There’s a CM at the info board and we ask him what the wait for M:S is. “You guys want to ride Mission Space?” he asks. “Yep” we reply. “Well let me see what I can do for you..” ..he pulls out his wallet and gives us two ‘anytime’ FastPasses! God bless the Disney Corporation!! Yelling our gratitude, we leg it off through the Breezeway to M:S, where there is a 30 minute wait time – not for us there isn’t!! We are straight in, and take station in the inner training area with a young girl, who’s ridden before, and her dad, who hasn’t. Scott gets to be Navigator and I am assigned Pilot. And we’re off….WHOOOAAAA!!!! Brilliant! Absolutely brilliant! Wobbling slightly, we exit through the store to find that it’s hammering down!! The store is packed with folk in t-shirts, many of them obviously here from outside, as they are soaked! Like good boy scouts we are prepared! I bought disposable ponchos before the trip from a website based company (£8 for 10!) and so we pull them on and leave the crowds. Walking across the plaza, we are literally paddling! It’s pouring down our legs, but it’s like a warm shower and amuses us greatly! Passing the fountain I spot someone coming out of Ice station Cool, so we enter, although I am disappointed that the snow machine is switched off. We try the various brews, and my joke at getting Scott to try the Beverly falls a bit flat, as the sod seems to like it! I don’t think he has any taste buds!

We’re hungry now, and wade towards the World showcase in search of dinner. The rain is so hard we can’t actually see the American adventure across the lake! We spot a ferry in station and take it across to Morocco, before walking down the eerily quiet avenues to Japan. As we climb up to the Yakitori House, we discover where all the people are!! Hiding inside any building! The place is packed, but few of them are buying food, so we are quickly served.. two Shogun Combos! Whether it’s the size of us, or the amount of water we are displacing onto the floor, space appears at a table and we enjoy the meal! $7.45 each.

We do a guy-browse through the store – takes about 5 minutes, as opposed to my DW’s usual 45-50 minutes per venue! Sploshing on, we make our way to America, where we have a cursory look at the store – seems rude to handle the goods while dripping vigorously, so we soon leave and enter the Liberty Tavern for our second course – cheeseburgers, fries and coffee! $7.86 each.

It’s 7:00pm now, and still raining hard. We carry on anti-clockwise to China, laughing at the temperature of the water. Stopping under the trees at the right of the entrance for a nicotine fix (it’s ok, it’s an approved spot, have a look at a park map!) we see a fair number of people entering the ‘temple’. We join them to discover that the Dragon Legend Acrobats are performing inside. We take a seat and enjoy the show.

For anyone who hasn’t seen this troupe yet, make sure you do! They are fantastic! Young teen and preteen boys and girls of incredible skill. The girls are first up, and they perform intricate and befuddling formations and pyramids, ending with a tower of disjointed, child contortionists! Next, the boys…. after a warm up, they perform an incredible juggling routine with hats – sounds a bit mundane, but it had the crowd in hysterics!

The show ends to rapturous applause, before an invitation to view the circlevision show next door. I remembered this without great enthusiasm, but we walked in. I’m glad we did – the show has been significantly updated and was very enjoyable!

On leaving the theatre, we find that the rain has stopped and the sun is baking once again. We make our way via the German restrooms to Italy, where the Statue Lady is just arriving. Although a crowd gathers, no-one steps forward for a minute or two, and then a few children come out to pose for photos. Yours truly gets in on the act as well! As usual, a few hats get removed and one or two pony tails are held tight!

It’s 8:05pm now and we get espressos from a vendor cart near the US pavilion to liven ourselves up a bit – we are definitely flagging somewhat now. The clouds are much more broken, and it looks like Illuminations will be dry. (Does anyone have experience of the show actually being cancelled by bad weather?) The sunset is better than I would have expected.

We browse the Morocco ‘soukh’ before continuing on to France, where we have a brief look at the stores (I love the smell in the perfume shop!) and then to the bridge where crowds have gathered for viewing the fireworks. We take up station on the little plaza below the bridge and enjoy the warm-up music. The “Ladies & Gentlemen, Boys & Girls, in only 10 minutes…” announcements get my heart pumping! Then: the gravelly voice of the narrator, the ‘puff’ as he blows out the lights….and…”BOOM……………… BOOM…………….. BOOM………BOOM… BOOM…BOOM..BOOM…. WHHEEEEE!!!……” it starts, and my day is complete! The show is superb, although if being hyper-critical, the soundtrack could have been a little louder. We’ll try to stand closer to the speakers on Monday.

The last crackles die down from the final crescendo and the the soft tones of Kellie Coffey singing ‘Promise’ invite us to walk home:

“Every evening, brings an ending, every day becomes a legacy, every sunset leads to morning, with the promise of opportunity. We can reach, for the stars we find along the way, dreaming as we learn to love every day. Promise… you will take my hand, as tomorrow comes, we’ll go on….”

That’s it…I’m wrecked! We walk slowly through UK and Canada, where the song ends and is followed by the Tapestry of Dreams music… “Way-la, way-la hay-la..” … I feel exhausted but happy, Scott seems to be the same. Passing through Innoventions Plaza I stop for a few photos of the globe.

We return to the car, and join the throngs heading for the roads. We take a slightly bizarre route back to the Hotel, probably due to my fatigue! It’s 10:10 now, and although weary, we’ve got 6 cold beers in the trunk! It’d be a crime to let them get warm, wouldn’t it? We find a pleasant solution and spend the next hour or so on the balcony, watching the ever-changing scene below, taking a few photographs of the lights.

We finally give in at 11:30 pm, and I take a shower before slumping into bed. It’s been a seriously lonnng day, but I’m back home!

Goodnight!


Mike

Tomorrow: Unexpectedly early start! MGM, Celebration, thunderstorms, Siesta Key, much drinking!

 

[KayleeUK]

What a great first day

 

[highlander447]

Great first day report is great as always

 

[MsPennieLane]

wow Mike, what a wonderful first day, I feel as if I'm there with you

Anz

 

[Minniespal]

Great report ~ Thanx for sharing.