jsmla
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Mar 19, 2001
- Messages
- 4,498
The man who goes alone can start today; but he who travels with another must wait till that other is ready.
Henry David Thoreau
Who: Jennifer, 45, solo
Where: Epcot
When: January 28, 2006
Another gorgeous Disney day! I just don't think the weather could get any better. It's marvelous. It's fantastic. It's lift-your-spirits-even-though-you're-weeding-the-flower-beds fantastic. And the best part is that I'm not weeding the flower beds. I'm getting ready for a morning at my favorite park.
Up by 7:00, a lie-in for me and for a change I'm starving. After last night's exertions I didn't feel much like dinner. Exercise makes me nauseous. Waaaay back in my high school days they forced you to take PE. Kids nowadays don't take PE. They take tennis or yoga or tai chi. Back in the '70s we had PE, the real McCoy: softball, basketball, volleyball and track presided over by a terrifying Amazon of a woman. She actually had a crew cut, really. Senior year we had to run 1 1/2 miles in some absurdly short period of time. We had to do this outside, in September, in South Louisiana. I needed that A to compensate for my disasterous performance in the volleyball unit, so I ran and ran and ran and finally made it. And as soon as I finished I stumbled right over to the nearest trash barrel and threw up. Right there in front of the bleachers and a goodly percentage of the class of 1978.
The food court at Pop is busy this morning, but nothing like I remember from last summer. Looks like a fairly good selection too. I opt for a huge chocolate chip muffin and a Diet Coke.
The question is should I drive or take the bus? Last night was prety traumatic, but I hate the bus. All I need to do is be extra careful to remember where the car is and make sure I keep track of the keys. Millions of people do this every day of their lives. Surely I can do it for one morning. I opt for the car.
Another beautiful drive through WDW. The Sucky '70s station is letting me down though, Ted Nugent. Still it's a quick trip to Epcot. This time I get to park in Imagine 58. Imagine 58 is very, very close to the front. Park the car, commit Imagine 58 to paper and clip the keys to the nifty little thingy in my bag. Walk over to Epcot and get in line for bag check. Did you ever notice that there's two kinds of bag checkers? The first type just has a quick poke around in your stuff and sends you on your way. The second type goes through everything, even through your personal private feminine stuff. She (and it's almost always a she) makes you pull out your Passporter and unzip every zipper. I chose a line presided over by a jolly looking gray haired gentleman. True to form, he barely glances in my bag.
I give Scott a call to pass the time while we wait for the park to open. Ordinarily I would never call Scott at 8:45 on a Saturday morning. That's asking for big trouble, but today I know he'll be up. Today's the first morning of the big cowboy thing and Scott's got a lot to do: bathe the horse, condition the horse's mane and tail (I'm not making this up.) and brush a checkerboard pattern onto the horse's butt. He got the idea for the last part from one of the World Showcase movies. I don't know if you've noticed it but the countries like to put horses in their movies. Horses and boats. He also gets all gussied up in his best cowboy outfit. Scott's so cute.
Time for rope drop. We don't get the bus full of characters today, just a few random ones milling about. I don't mind. I'll let you in on something scandalous: I couldn't care less about the characters. Heresy, I know. We all ODed on characters in the '90s. DD has a touch of the obsessive-compulsive about her. When she was little we hunted them down like Captain Ahab after Moby Dick. It was cute when she was 3. By the time she was 7 autograph collection had become a deadly mission. Whevever I made reservations for a meal I had only two questions: Do you have characters and will they sign DD's &%#$ autograph book? I've had breakfast with Mickey, Cinderella, Mary Poppins, Winnie the Pooh, Aladdin and Pocahantas. (Does anyone remember this one? It was held at Artist Point years ago.) I loitered around the possible greeting spots. I stood in that gosh darned awful Ariel line while everyone else rode Peter Pan. I stalked Eeyore for an entire day only to find out that Eeyore didn't give autographs. I actually got into fights with line jumpers, big screaming fights. All over characters. So I hope you'll forgive me if today I walk right past Mickey with a light and grateful heart.
Soarin is first on the plan for today. Almost everyone heads for Soarin. No problem for me. I have a post-doctoral degree in hustling over to rides. And I'm by myself, no stroller, no kids and no DH to slow me down. I'm right up there at the front of the pack. Getting to Soarin is a bit of an ordeal. Disney needs to do something about the whole escalator/stairs bit in the Land. It worked when most of the attractions there were snoozers. This morning the stairs were down right scary.
Soarin was great. I'm hoping Scott will give it a try this October. He's prone to motion sickness and skips most rides like this (He had a go at public vomiting after his first and only ride on Hulk at IOA.) but I know he would like Soarin. He loves hiking, kayaking, horseback riding and snow skiing. (Did you know that Bob Sehlinger of Unofficial Guide fame is a kayaker? It's true. We have a bunch of kayak books and he's a contributer to a couple of them. Small world isn't it? BTW the kayak books are very un-Disneylike. Walt would be shocked.) I got a FastPass for a second go on Soarin and hopped onto an almost empty boat for Listen to the Land. Scott likes this one. After Listen to the Land I noticed that there was only a short wait for the Circle of Life movie. This ranks right down there with Hall of Presidents for my family and I hadn't seen it in years so I decided to give it a go. Is it just me or is this film a tad weird for Disney? I mean there you sit watching a lecture on how important it is to protect the environment and how you should not despoil it with a huge themed recreational complex. Maybe I'm the only one but I find this just a tad bit hypocritical on Disney's part. I don't have a problem with huge themed recreational complexes. In fact I adore them. I just think it's a bit odd, that's all.
Next is Ellen's Energy Adventure. My favorite part of this attraction is not the actual ride. I like the pre-show. I think Ellen's a hoot. The crowds are building and Ellen is pretty full. Wonders of Life and Test Track are closed.
I was planning to walk over to World Showcase for lunch today but the lovely Disney landscaping department was at it again. I'm afraid of flowers. Since I'm driving I decide that it would be better to head back to Pop before I hit the Benadryl. I hate to see my FastPass go to waste so I find another single to pass it on to before I quit the park. I'm happy to say that I found the car (Imagine 58), found my keys and drove back to Pop in a very boring, but most reassuring, way. At Everything Pop I had got some fried chicken breast and pasta thing (warned you about the dining reports). Actually it was pretty good. Back in the room I ate about half and popped a benadryl. Lunch was followed by an afternoon of reading and dozing in the sunshine by the Hippy Dippy pool.
Good things:
Sunshine
Soarin
NOT messing up with the car
Not so good things:
The lovely Disney landscaping
Henry David Thoreau
Who: Jennifer, 45, solo
Where: Epcot
When: January 28, 2006
Another gorgeous Disney day! I just don't think the weather could get any better. It's marvelous. It's fantastic. It's lift-your-spirits-even-though-you're-weeding-the-flower-beds fantastic. And the best part is that I'm not weeding the flower beds. I'm getting ready for a morning at my favorite park.
Up by 7:00, a lie-in for me and for a change I'm starving. After last night's exertions I didn't feel much like dinner. Exercise makes me nauseous. Waaaay back in my high school days they forced you to take PE. Kids nowadays don't take PE. They take tennis or yoga or tai chi. Back in the '70s we had PE, the real McCoy: softball, basketball, volleyball and track presided over by a terrifying Amazon of a woman. She actually had a crew cut, really. Senior year we had to run 1 1/2 miles in some absurdly short period of time. We had to do this outside, in September, in South Louisiana. I needed that A to compensate for my disasterous performance in the volleyball unit, so I ran and ran and ran and finally made it. And as soon as I finished I stumbled right over to the nearest trash barrel and threw up. Right there in front of the bleachers and a goodly percentage of the class of 1978.
The food court at Pop is busy this morning, but nothing like I remember from last summer. Looks like a fairly good selection too. I opt for a huge chocolate chip muffin and a Diet Coke.
The question is should I drive or take the bus? Last night was prety traumatic, but I hate the bus. All I need to do is be extra careful to remember where the car is and make sure I keep track of the keys. Millions of people do this every day of their lives. Surely I can do it for one morning. I opt for the car.
Another beautiful drive through WDW. The Sucky '70s station is letting me down though, Ted Nugent. Still it's a quick trip to Epcot. This time I get to park in Imagine 58. Imagine 58 is very, very close to the front. Park the car, commit Imagine 58 to paper and clip the keys to the nifty little thingy in my bag. Walk over to Epcot and get in line for bag check. Did you ever notice that there's two kinds of bag checkers? The first type just has a quick poke around in your stuff and sends you on your way. The second type goes through everything, even through your personal private feminine stuff. She (and it's almost always a she) makes you pull out your Passporter and unzip every zipper. I chose a line presided over by a jolly looking gray haired gentleman. True to form, he barely glances in my bag.
I give Scott a call to pass the time while we wait for the park to open. Ordinarily I would never call Scott at 8:45 on a Saturday morning. That's asking for big trouble, but today I know he'll be up. Today's the first morning of the big cowboy thing and Scott's got a lot to do: bathe the horse, condition the horse's mane and tail (I'm not making this up.) and brush a checkerboard pattern onto the horse's butt. He got the idea for the last part from one of the World Showcase movies. I don't know if you've noticed it but the countries like to put horses in their movies. Horses and boats. He also gets all gussied up in his best cowboy outfit. Scott's so cute.
Time for rope drop. We don't get the bus full of characters today, just a few random ones milling about. I don't mind. I'll let you in on something scandalous: I couldn't care less about the characters. Heresy, I know. We all ODed on characters in the '90s. DD has a touch of the obsessive-compulsive about her. When she was little we hunted them down like Captain Ahab after Moby Dick. It was cute when she was 3. By the time she was 7 autograph collection had become a deadly mission. Whevever I made reservations for a meal I had only two questions: Do you have characters and will they sign DD's &%#$ autograph book? I've had breakfast with Mickey, Cinderella, Mary Poppins, Winnie the Pooh, Aladdin and Pocahantas. (Does anyone remember this one? It was held at Artist Point years ago.) I loitered around the possible greeting spots. I stood in that gosh darned awful Ariel line while everyone else rode Peter Pan. I stalked Eeyore for an entire day only to find out that Eeyore didn't give autographs. I actually got into fights with line jumpers, big screaming fights. All over characters. So I hope you'll forgive me if today I walk right past Mickey with a light and grateful heart.
Soarin is first on the plan for today. Almost everyone heads for Soarin. No problem for me. I have a post-doctoral degree in hustling over to rides. And I'm by myself, no stroller, no kids and no DH to slow me down. I'm right up there at the front of the pack. Getting to Soarin is a bit of an ordeal. Disney needs to do something about the whole escalator/stairs bit in the Land. It worked when most of the attractions there were snoozers. This morning the stairs were down right scary.
Soarin was great. I'm hoping Scott will give it a try this October. He's prone to motion sickness and skips most rides like this (He had a go at public vomiting after his first and only ride on Hulk at IOA.) but I know he would like Soarin. He loves hiking, kayaking, horseback riding and snow skiing. (Did you know that Bob Sehlinger of Unofficial Guide fame is a kayaker? It's true. We have a bunch of kayak books and he's a contributer to a couple of them. Small world isn't it? BTW the kayak books are very un-Disneylike. Walt would be shocked.) I got a FastPass for a second go on Soarin and hopped onto an almost empty boat for Listen to the Land. Scott likes this one. After Listen to the Land I noticed that there was only a short wait for the Circle of Life movie. This ranks right down there with Hall of Presidents for my family and I hadn't seen it in years so I decided to give it a go. Is it just me or is this film a tad weird for Disney? I mean there you sit watching a lecture on how important it is to protect the environment and how you should not despoil it with a huge themed recreational complex. Maybe I'm the only one but I find this just a tad bit hypocritical on Disney's part. I don't have a problem with huge themed recreational complexes. In fact I adore them. I just think it's a bit odd, that's all.
Next is Ellen's Energy Adventure. My favorite part of this attraction is not the actual ride. I like the pre-show. I think Ellen's a hoot. The crowds are building and Ellen is pretty full. Wonders of Life and Test Track are closed.
I was planning to walk over to World Showcase for lunch today but the lovely Disney landscaping department was at it again. I'm afraid of flowers. Since I'm driving I decide that it would be better to head back to Pop before I hit the Benadryl. I hate to see my FastPass go to waste so I find another single to pass it on to before I quit the park. I'm happy to say that I found the car (Imagine 58), found my keys and drove back to Pop in a very boring, but most reassuring, way. At Everything Pop I had got some fried chicken breast and pasta thing (warned you about the dining reports). Actually it was pretty good. Back in the room I ate about half and popped a benadryl. Lunch was followed by an afternoon of reading and dozing in the sunshine by the Hippy Dippy pool.
Good things:
Sunshine
Soarin
NOT messing up with the car
Not so good things:
The lovely Disney landscaping
I'm considering a future solo trip so it's great to read from someone who went solo.
