B'rer Karen
<font color=purple>DIS Veteran<br><font color=deep
- Joined
- Jan 27, 2001
- Messages
- 1,813
3/10/03
Sadly, this was the last day of my trip (David wasnt leaving for another 2 days, but he was switching hotels). We packed everything and then drove over to the Custom House where David dropped his bags off to be transferred to his next hotel, The Dolphin. We then drove to the Transportation and Ticket Center and parked the car. We took the monorail to the Magic Kingdom. I need to ride my favorites one more time. First we headed to Splash Mountain, then the Haunted Mansion. Next we did something that I dont think Ive done since my first visit to Disney as a child. We explored Tom Sawyers Island. Supposedly they have paintbrushes hidden on the island and if you find one, you get a fast pass to one of the rides. So we did some exploring all the while looking for paintbrushes. On the island they have a couple of caves. We walked into one of them and oh my gosh, it was pitch black. You had to feel your way around the cave to get out. I dont know how it doesnt scare the crap out of little kids because I was scared! We played for a while but never did find any paintbrushes, so we headed back to the mainland. Since we hadnt gotten in that one last ride on Buzz Lightyear during e-night, we decided to do that now. We went to get in line, and the line looked really long. The sign said 20 minutes, but that didnt seem possible. We figured it was probably going to be about 30 minutes, so we might as well wait since the fast pass return time was an hour away and we had other things to get in. Well the wait definitely wasnt 20 minutes, it was more like 45. When we walked off the ride, there were people everywhere! As David so aptly put it, spring break had sprung. Luckily we got so much done in the first four days because we wouldnt get as much done today. We headed out of the park, making a quick detour to the Aloha Isle stand so I could get one last dole whip. We made our way up Main Street and when I got to the top, I turned around to say good-bye. After taking a moment, we left. We took the monorail to the TTC and then the monorail to Epcot.
Once at Epcot we had wanted to do Test Track again, so we went to see what the wait was. It was something like 60 minutes, so we thought wed get a fast pass. The fast pass return time was 6 pm! (It was only around 12:30 at this point and we were spending the evening in MGM). We inquired as to the wait for the single rider line and were told that was only 10 minutes, so that is what we did. We got through the line very quickly. When I got in the car, I was with a young boy and his grandfather. They were both cute. The grandfather was in the middle and he turns to me and says, I should warn you, hes a crazy driver. I looked at the boy and said, Oh man, I better, get out of here! Then, as were going through the ride, we come to the part where they do the brake test without the anti-lock brakes. I turned to the kid and I said, Who taught you how to drive? That made him laugh. As we got off the ride I said to him, I am NEVER getting in a car with you again! He probably thought I was a crazy lady, but he laughed!
After Test Track we were hungry, so we walked over to the Land pavilion to eat at the Sunshine Season Food Fair. Its counter service with a lot of different choices. David got a fajita baked potato. I got a cheese and bacon baked potato, side salad, and a cookie. With full bellies we head to the attraction Food Rocks, which is a cute show about good nutrition. Then we did the Living with the Land boat ride. Par of this ride takes you through the greenhouses they have at Epcot with their new ways of growing food, which is fairly interesting.
When we left The Land, David wanted to get a few more pictures of Canada since it had been raining the night before. Then we continued on to the International Gateway to catch the boat to MGM. We got to MGM and decided to see what the wait times were for Tower of Terror and Rock n Roller Coaster, and then either ride or get Fast Passes. We made our way down the crowded Sunset Boulevard and saw that the sign said there was a 90-minute wait!! Not only that, but all the fast passes had been given out for the day. It was only 3:30. (To put it in perspective, on Saturday there was a 15-minute wait.) This was unbelievable, but it was the spring break crowd. As sad as I always am to leave Disney, knowing that the crowds were going to be like this made it easier.
Since we couldnt ride Tower of Terror, we decided to check out Rock n Roller Coaster. They still had fast passes, so we each got one and then headed down to Who Wants to be a Millionaire. We got in, got seated, and got ready for the show. They started the show, as usual, with the fastest finger question to pick the first contestant. Well something went wrong because no ones key pads lit up. It took some time to get it worked out, and when they did, they used the same fastest finger question, and I still got it wrong, even with all that time to memorize the order! It was a pretty easy one too. Well with that major delay, they ended up only having one contestant, which was a bummer. So I said we just had to do one more show.
I got back in line for the next show and held our place while David walked around for a little bit. He met up with me just as we were being let into the soundstage. This was it, our last chance to get in the hot seat. At one point, they were at the break for the 32,000 level and they showed the audience top 10 and David was number 1! All he had to do was hope the contestant would mess up and that he could continue getting the correct answer quickly and hed be in. Well on the very next question, the contestant messed up, but it was a really hard question and David didnt get it. So we played along with the next contestant, but then the game was over and our hopes were dashed.
We still had a little time before our fast pass for Rock n Roller coaster, so we browsed some stores. Then we got in line for RnR. Right as we got past the pre-show area to the point where you can see the cars launching, a problem developed. We never quite figured out what was going on, but a car was left at the launching position for the longest time, and a CM went up to talk to someone in the car. Then all the lights came on and we were told there would be a delay. After a few minutes two people, who appeared to be a mother and teenage son, walked by as if they had been taken off the ride. Then the ride started up again. While this was all very interesting, it was seriously messing with our timeline!
After RnR, we grabbed some food from Rosies Redhots and carried it into the Hollywood Hills Amphitheater to get a seat for Fantasmic. The show was at 7, it was about 6:20 at this point, and the theater was already extremely full. We got seated the second section from the end on the left. We were a little too close to the front for my liking, but luckily it wasnt windy so we didnt get any over spray. We ate and then waited for the show to start, which it did promptly at 7. It was entertaining as always. While Illuminations is my favorite nighttime show, I do really like Fantasmic.
The show ended around 7:25, which gave us plenty of time to make our way back to the TTC. Fighting the crowd out of the theater was the hardest part. We made our way out of MGM and got on the bus to the TTC. Then we had to find the car. I remembered which section we were in; we were just having a hard time finding it! We finally got to the car and made our way out of Walt Disney World. David dropped me at the airport (after a little confusion) around 9:00 pm, and my flight was at 9:40. I had an uneventful flight home, and was shocked at the cold when I got here (I was still wearing shorts!). My brother picked me up, and I got home and in bed a little after midnight. Another long, exhausting, but fun day.
We packed a lot in to just 5 days. We had a blast and I cant wait to go back for 9 days in September. I keep saying that next time Im going to take it a little easier, a little slower pace. Do you think I can actually do that?
Sadly, this was the last day of my trip (David wasnt leaving for another 2 days, but he was switching hotels). We packed everything and then drove over to the Custom House where David dropped his bags off to be transferred to his next hotel, The Dolphin. We then drove to the Transportation and Ticket Center and parked the car. We took the monorail to the Magic Kingdom. I need to ride my favorites one more time. First we headed to Splash Mountain, then the Haunted Mansion. Next we did something that I dont think Ive done since my first visit to Disney as a child. We explored Tom Sawyers Island. Supposedly they have paintbrushes hidden on the island and if you find one, you get a fast pass to one of the rides. So we did some exploring all the while looking for paintbrushes. On the island they have a couple of caves. We walked into one of them and oh my gosh, it was pitch black. You had to feel your way around the cave to get out. I dont know how it doesnt scare the crap out of little kids because I was scared! We played for a while but never did find any paintbrushes, so we headed back to the mainland. Since we hadnt gotten in that one last ride on Buzz Lightyear during e-night, we decided to do that now. We went to get in line, and the line looked really long. The sign said 20 minutes, but that didnt seem possible. We figured it was probably going to be about 30 minutes, so we might as well wait since the fast pass return time was an hour away and we had other things to get in. Well the wait definitely wasnt 20 minutes, it was more like 45. When we walked off the ride, there were people everywhere! As David so aptly put it, spring break had sprung. Luckily we got so much done in the first four days because we wouldnt get as much done today. We headed out of the park, making a quick detour to the Aloha Isle stand so I could get one last dole whip. We made our way up Main Street and when I got to the top, I turned around to say good-bye. After taking a moment, we left. We took the monorail to the TTC and then the monorail to Epcot.
Once at Epcot we had wanted to do Test Track again, so we went to see what the wait was. It was something like 60 minutes, so we thought wed get a fast pass. The fast pass return time was 6 pm! (It was only around 12:30 at this point and we were spending the evening in MGM). We inquired as to the wait for the single rider line and were told that was only 10 minutes, so that is what we did. We got through the line very quickly. When I got in the car, I was with a young boy and his grandfather. They were both cute. The grandfather was in the middle and he turns to me and says, I should warn you, hes a crazy driver. I looked at the boy and said, Oh man, I better, get out of here! Then, as were going through the ride, we come to the part where they do the brake test without the anti-lock brakes. I turned to the kid and I said, Who taught you how to drive? That made him laugh. As we got off the ride I said to him, I am NEVER getting in a car with you again! He probably thought I was a crazy lady, but he laughed!
After Test Track we were hungry, so we walked over to the Land pavilion to eat at the Sunshine Season Food Fair. Its counter service with a lot of different choices. David got a fajita baked potato. I got a cheese and bacon baked potato, side salad, and a cookie. With full bellies we head to the attraction Food Rocks, which is a cute show about good nutrition. Then we did the Living with the Land boat ride. Par of this ride takes you through the greenhouses they have at Epcot with their new ways of growing food, which is fairly interesting.
When we left The Land, David wanted to get a few more pictures of Canada since it had been raining the night before. Then we continued on to the International Gateway to catch the boat to MGM. We got to MGM and decided to see what the wait times were for Tower of Terror and Rock n Roller Coaster, and then either ride or get Fast Passes. We made our way down the crowded Sunset Boulevard and saw that the sign said there was a 90-minute wait!! Not only that, but all the fast passes had been given out for the day. It was only 3:30. (To put it in perspective, on Saturday there was a 15-minute wait.) This was unbelievable, but it was the spring break crowd. As sad as I always am to leave Disney, knowing that the crowds were going to be like this made it easier.
Since we couldnt ride Tower of Terror, we decided to check out Rock n Roller Coaster. They still had fast passes, so we each got one and then headed down to Who Wants to be a Millionaire. We got in, got seated, and got ready for the show. They started the show, as usual, with the fastest finger question to pick the first contestant. Well something went wrong because no ones key pads lit up. It took some time to get it worked out, and when they did, they used the same fastest finger question, and I still got it wrong, even with all that time to memorize the order! It was a pretty easy one too. Well with that major delay, they ended up only having one contestant, which was a bummer. So I said we just had to do one more show.
I got back in line for the next show and held our place while David walked around for a little bit. He met up with me just as we were being let into the soundstage. This was it, our last chance to get in the hot seat. At one point, they were at the break for the 32,000 level and they showed the audience top 10 and David was number 1! All he had to do was hope the contestant would mess up and that he could continue getting the correct answer quickly and hed be in. Well on the very next question, the contestant messed up, but it was a really hard question and David didnt get it. So we played along with the next contestant, but then the game was over and our hopes were dashed.
We still had a little time before our fast pass for Rock n Roller coaster, so we browsed some stores. Then we got in line for RnR. Right as we got past the pre-show area to the point where you can see the cars launching, a problem developed. We never quite figured out what was going on, but a car was left at the launching position for the longest time, and a CM went up to talk to someone in the car. Then all the lights came on and we were told there would be a delay. After a few minutes two people, who appeared to be a mother and teenage son, walked by as if they had been taken off the ride. Then the ride started up again. While this was all very interesting, it was seriously messing with our timeline!
After RnR, we grabbed some food from Rosies Redhots and carried it into the Hollywood Hills Amphitheater to get a seat for Fantasmic. The show was at 7, it was about 6:20 at this point, and the theater was already extremely full. We got seated the second section from the end on the left. We were a little too close to the front for my liking, but luckily it wasnt windy so we didnt get any over spray. We ate and then waited for the show to start, which it did promptly at 7. It was entertaining as always. While Illuminations is my favorite nighttime show, I do really like Fantasmic.
The show ended around 7:25, which gave us plenty of time to make our way back to the TTC. Fighting the crowd out of the theater was the hardest part. We made our way out of MGM and got on the bus to the TTC. Then we had to find the car. I remembered which section we were in; we were just having a hard time finding it! We finally got to the car and made our way out of Walt Disney World. David dropped me at the airport (after a little confusion) around 9:00 pm, and my flight was at 9:40. I had an uneventful flight home, and was shocked at the cold when I got here (I was still wearing shorts!). My brother picked me up, and I got home and in bed a little after midnight. Another long, exhausting, but fun day.
We packed a lot in to just 5 days. We had a blast and I cant wait to go back for 9 days in September. I keep saying that next time Im going to take it a little easier, a little slower pace. Do you think I can actually do that?
My 8 year old and I are embarking on our 4th Disney trip in October with 5 days CBR and 4 day Wonder. I think I am going to atempt my first trip report then. I find myself daydreaming constantly about our next trip.... People think I am crazy
(What do they know, obviously they have allowed themselves to completely grow up)
