PrincessTToo
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- May 11, 2003
- Messages
- 159
I woke up at 7:30 AM and housekeeping had already started making up rooms on my floor of the Swan by 8:00 AM. I put out the Do Not Disturb sign out until I finished getting ready. As I was leaving I heard the housekeeping person say something but didnt understand what she said or even if she was really talking to me. I figured out later that she said your door didnt shut because unless you pulled it hard it wouldnt lock. She must have shut it for me.
(BTW: I got a WSJ and a USA Today delivered to my door at the Swan.)
I took the coffee I had made in my room with me. The Swan has nice paper coffee cups with lids in the room. The coffee was ok but I was glad that I was going back home the next day to have some of my DHs wonderful coffee.
I walked slowly to Epcot. Although the boat beat me to Epcot, it was fun to see the resorts waking up including watching the guy rake the beach.
As I went through security at the Epcot International Gateway entrance one of the other guests asked the security CM what they were looking for. The CM said weapons. She said do you ever find any?. He said Lady, youd be surprised what people try to bring into the park. Now Im happy we all have to stop at security!
I had planned on stopping by the Espresso Coffee & Bakery in FW for some real coffee but the line was out the door. So I hoped that my $$ for the dolphin encounter included some real caffeine. I walked out of the park and over to Guest Relations and they said to wait by the yellow umbrella. I sat there next to a woman who was having a very personal discussion with her daughter-in-law so I moved to a spot further away. At 9:45 AM I came back to the umbrella and asked the guides Are you the guides for the Dolphin Encounter? She shot back You mean the Dolphins In Depth Tour. So I figured my mistake probably cost me any chance at getting any caffeine and Id probably not get anywhere near the dolphins. Fortunately she didnt lead much of the tour and the other tour guide hadnt heard my terrible gaffe.
They gathered us together over by the side of the Guest Relations area and introduced themselves and we all did the same. Then they asked what size T-shirt we wanted and what size shoes we wore. I won the biggest feet in the group prize which ended up being bigger booties for the wet part of the tour.
We walked backstage behind The Living Seas which was interesting in itself. Then we were each given keys to lockers and directed to the locker rooms to lock up our personal stuff. We were told to take off all our shiny objects (rings, earrings, etc.) but my wedding ring wouldnt come off. They said if it falls off while were in the aquarium, they cant recover it. It was on so tight that I wasnt too worried about losing it.
Next we had a short session outlining the different anatomical parts of the dolphin and how to interact with them. We were told not to touch them anywhere where we didnt want to be touched (private parts). Not to touch their snouts or their blow holes. We were told not to bend down over them or to get down on our knees in the aquarium. We were told they didnt like to be kneaded or scratched like a dog which meant I couldnt give them one of my world famous doggy butt rubs. There were so many donts that I couldnt figure out what we could do with the dolphins.
At this point they also told us that the interaction with the dolphins was entirely voluntary. Voluntary on the part of the dolphins, that is. The tour guide said that only twice in all the years of the tour have the dolphins refused to interact with the guests. Both times it was in spring and she said the dolphins think a lot more about baseball during spring than interacting with guests.
After the lecture we went to a separate room which had two small pools that each had doors to a larger part of the aquarium. There we got to see the dolphins for the first time. They both came in and were really checking us all out. Then we got to see a film on how they train the dolphins. But I kept looking over my shoulder to watch the dolphins instead.
Then the tour guide talked about how they test intelligence. The tour guide asked if anyone knew was Simon was. I was the only one who raised their hand so she handed me the Simon box. I didnt tell her that twenty years ago it was a favorite game at drinking parties. And I guess I got a little too into it because she said well, weve never had anyone go this long before. The game ended just as I was deciding that maybe I should take a dive. Since the tour guide for this portion was the chick who was still mad at me for the Dolphin Encounter remark, I didnt bother to tell her that I used to give IQ tests for a living and I didnt consider Simon a really adequate intelligence test.
Then she told us that one of the reasons they train the dolphins was to make it easier to do veterinary exams on them. Part of the film showed them having the dolphins slide up onto the scales on the edge of the aquarium to get weighed. All I could think was that my DD (darling dog) is very smart but he still wont get on the scale at the vets office!
I think the most interesting thing she told us during this part of the tour was that every dolphin has a signature call that acts as a name. And these calls are passed down from generation to generation with very subtle differences between mother and child. Every time they meet a new dolphin they make their call. When a dolphin meets another dolphin that has a similar call they dont mate which prevents inbreeding. Now thats smart.
Next we were given lab coats and led onstage through The Living Seas and then backstage again to watch a live dolphin training session. They said we had to wear the lab coats onstage to make sure we didnt pick up any strays. She also told us that if any guests ask us a question that we should just answer thats confidential information.
Once backstage again, we watched a dolphin training session from a catwalk around the big aquarium. They were training the dolphin to touch a ball with his snout in a rhythm based on a visual clue. She showed the dolphin a Batman doll and he pounded the ball slowly twice (da-da-da-da-da-da BAT MAN). There was another CM on the catwalk recording the session and she would give the trainer the go ahead as soon as the recording was complete. The dolphin was so smart that he started to watch the CM doing the recording instead of the trainer. It was at this point that I realized that the dolphins were very intelligent but not any more than some dogs I know. Now I just think of them as Border Collies/Golden Retrievers in 400 pound rubber suits.
We were then lead to a very nice conference room to return our lab coats and have some pop/coffee (yeah, caffeine!) and a lecture on ecology. They also showed us a film of a tourist being warned not to feed wild dolphins and then they showed her getting bitten by a dolphin after feeding it. After the film we had to sign release forms. At this point I thought about looking for the chicken exit. But I just kept thinking of a dog in a rubber suit and that relaxed me.
Then we were directed back to the locker room to change into our wet suits. I was so glad the women in my group were so nice. The wet suit was very intimidating and we were all laughing trying to get into them. After I managed to get into mine I immediately regretted yesterdays fries at ESPN, the dinner at the Brown Derby and especially the pecans while watching TV. Fortunately there was only one man in our group and he was a scuba-diver so he was used to seeing women in wet suits.
The time had finally come to get into the tank with the dolphins. We separated into two groups of four. Four people to a dolphin/trainer. The first thing they did was take pictures of us with a dolphin. I was so confused because they posed us kneeling in the water with our arm around the dolphin. So much for the dolphin donts. Then we got to do hand signals to get them to do a trick. The best part was when the trainer had the dolphin roll over sideways and we all got to pat him. I leaned over him and gave him one of my famous doggy belly rubs. He was so digging it. I wish I could have gotten a picture of that. After we finished with one dolphin/trainer we switched to the other dolphin/trainer and went through the same routine. Both dolphins seemed to love the patting more than anything. Well, actually they loved the fish treats more than anything. I guess they dont know that fish are friends, not food!
Speaking of fish, while we were waiting for our turns with the dolphins I noticed the big fish swimming around our feet. We were so engrossed with the dolphins that we didnt notice that we were actually in an aquarium with lots of other critters.
After we were done playing with the dolphins, we were lead back to the locker rooms to change back into our street clothes. They had really nice showers with separate changing stalls and all the amenities.
After we were all done, they led us back to the nice conference room. First we got our t-shirts and then we got our pictures with the dolphins. I just burst out laughing when I saw mine. They caught me in the middle of the saying Good Boy. My mouth was in a big O. They had the dolphin posed with his mouth open so it looked like he was laughing. I think its my absolute all time favorite picture of me!
They gave us another shot at the free pop so we all took a can and then we were led back to Guest Relations outside Epcot. I said goodbye to all my new friends and told the tour guide that I was going to come back in January. Its definitely a tour you can do many times.
BTW: The guy in our group had done the scuba diving tour in the Living Seas and he said it was great.
Another BTW: The money for the Dolphins in Depth tour goes to Disney Wildlife Conservation Fund. I dont know what they do but it sounds good.
And another BTW: Bob, the dolphin, is out for stud at the Boston Aquarium. Hope hes having a good time there.
After the tour, I slowly walked back through Epcot and back to the Swan. I dropped off my tour booty in my room and hung up my bathing suit and then went for a long lunch at the Gullivers Grill restaurant in the Swan. Knowing it would be a few months before I had to get in a wet suit again, I had their veggie burger and fries. Its really good and comes on pretzel bread. I also had a wonderful green iced tea with mint. It was so good I ordered one to go. I charged the lunch to my room so I could get SPG points for it. And I used my Disney Club discount for the last time. I only ate half the burger so I got a doggy bag. Or should I call it a dolphin bag?
After dropping off my leftovers in my room, I went to the boat dock and started chatting with a guy waiting there with three women. He was greeting all the CMs by name and they were all giving him hearty handshakes or hugs. Turns out he was another retiree that used to work on the boats. But he transferred to busses. He says he loves the busses. I cant figure that one out. The boats seem so laid back and the busses seem so not.
I sat next to him on the boat to MGM and asked which one of the women was his wife. His pointed to the first woman and said this is wife 1, then this is wife 2 and this is wife 3. I said I guess that makes me wife 4. Actually, he said they were there for a high school reunion. I dont know if he was pulling my leg or not, but I thought it was great that they kept in touch.
I started chatting with one of the wives as we went through security and through the gates. It turns out she also has fibromyalgia so I was telling her about how RnRC presses on the pressure points in my back and it takes a while to recover but its worth the pain. I dont think I convinced her to give it a try.
I could have stayed with that group all day but figured Id better get going. So I said goodbye and walked towards ToT. It was a 70 minute wait again and no FPs. Not being able to ride ToT was the only big disappointment of the trip. So I got a FP for RnRC and on the way out I ran into my friends again. I asked the guy if he couldnt see about ToT running again. He laughed and said hed see what he could do about it.
I then walked over to Millionaire. It was 40 minutes until the next show so I went to see the Muppets. There was a kid in the preshow that started screaming as soon as the Muppets came on the TV screens. And not screaming in a good way. His parents spent the entire preshow trying to convince him that the Muppets are ok. My favorite argument of theirs was you liked Bear in the Big Blue House and hes a muppet. The kid wasnt buying it so eventually they took him outside. Ive never seen a kid react so badly to the Muppets before. But then I dont like clowns and no amount of reasoning can talk me out of that.
After the Muppets, I just made it in time for the next show of Millionaire. I made it into the top 10 but lost out on a question about which newspaper was recently redesigned. Since I had just seen the WSJ that morning I guessed one of the other papers. But WSJ was the answer.
By then it was time for RnRC. While waiting in the long FP line I got into a conversation with two British teenage girls. They had FPs to ToT and were afraid to go. I tried hard to convince them that if they liked RnRC that they wouldnt have any trouble with ToT. I should have been smart and tried to get them to give me their FPs but Im too nice. Ill be back in January and can ride ToT to my hearts content. I couldnt stand the thought of them coming so far and not riding it.
While I was standing in line waiting for my RnRC car, I asked the man in front of me if it was ok if I sat next to him. One time I just hopped in next to a young man and he was so mad because I was in the picture with him and his friends. So now I always ask first. The man was also British and I told him that my grandfather was from Leichester. The man said that the young man he was with was from a town close to Leichester. I said maybe were related. The young man just stared at me. I guess they dont get the American sense of humor.
After RnRC I left to catch the boat back to the Swan. I started talking to the couple who were up behind me in line at the dock. We started talking about Mission: Space. Ive never talked anyone out of a ride before but after talking to them for a while I decided that they really wouldnt do well on that ride. I think I convinced them it wasnt for them.
Once I got back to the Swan, I took a short shower and changed into my costume for MNSSHP. If you call a Vikings jersey and shorts a costume!
(BTW: I got a WSJ and a USA Today delivered to my door at the Swan.)
I took the coffee I had made in my room with me. The Swan has nice paper coffee cups with lids in the room. The coffee was ok but I was glad that I was going back home the next day to have some of my DHs wonderful coffee.
I walked slowly to Epcot. Although the boat beat me to Epcot, it was fun to see the resorts waking up including watching the guy rake the beach.
As I went through security at the Epcot International Gateway entrance one of the other guests asked the security CM what they were looking for. The CM said weapons. She said do you ever find any?. He said Lady, youd be surprised what people try to bring into the park. Now Im happy we all have to stop at security!
I had planned on stopping by the Espresso Coffee & Bakery in FW for some real coffee but the line was out the door. So I hoped that my $$ for the dolphin encounter included some real caffeine. I walked out of the park and over to Guest Relations and they said to wait by the yellow umbrella. I sat there next to a woman who was having a very personal discussion with her daughter-in-law so I moved to a spot further away. At 9:45 AM I came back to the umbrella and asked the guides Are you the guides for the Dolphin Encounter? She shot back You mean the Dolphins In Depth Tour. So I figured my mistake probably cost me any chance at getting any caffeine and Id probably not get anywhere near the dolphins. Fortunately she didnt lead much of the tour and the other tour guide hadnt heard my terrible gaffe.
They gathered us together over by the side of the Guest Relations area and introduced themselves and we all did the same. Then they asked what size T-shirt we wanted and what size shoes we wore. I won the biggest feet in the group prize which ended up being bigger booties for the wet part of the tour.
We walked backstage behind The Living Seas which was interesting in itself. Then we were each given keys to lockers and directed to the locker rooms to lock up our personal stuff. We were told to take off all our shiny objects (rings, earrings, etc.) but my wedding ring wouldnt come off. They said if it falls off while were in the aquarium, they cant recover it. It was on so tight that I wasnt too worried about losing it.
Next we had a short session outlining the different anatomical parts of the dolphin and how to interact with them. We were told not to touch them anywhere where we didnt want to be touched (private parts). Not to touch their snouts or their blow holes. We were told not to bend down over them or to get down on our knees in the aquarium. We were told they didnt like to be kneaded or scratched like a dog which meant I couldnt give them one of my world famous doggy butt rubs. There were so many donts that I couldnt figure out what we could do with the dolphins.
At this point they also told us that the interaction with the dolphins was entirely voluntary. Voluntary on the part of the dolphins, that is. The tour guide said that only twice in all the years of the tour have the dolphins refused to interact with the guests. Both times it was in spring and she said the dolphins think a lot more about baseball during spring than interacting with guests.
After the lecture we went to a separate room which had two small pools that each had doors to a larger part of the aquarium. There we got to see the dolphins for the first time. They both came in and were really checking us all out. Then we got to see a film on how they train the dolphins. But I kept looking over my shoulder to watch the dolphins instead.
Then the tour guide talked about how they test intelligence. The tour guide asked if anyone knew was Simon was. I was the only one who raised their hand so she handed me the Simon box. I didnt tell her that twenty years ago it was a favorite game at drinking parties. And I guess I got a little too into it because she said well, weve never had anyone go this long before. The game ended just as I was deciding that maybe I should take a dive. Since the tour guide for this portion was the chick who was still mad at me for the Dolphin Encounter remark, I didnt bother to tell her that I used to give IQ tests for a living and I didnt consider Simon a really adequate intelligence test.
Then she told us that one of the reasons they train the dolphins was to make it easier to do veterinary exams on them. Part of the film showed them having the dolphins slide up onto the scales on the edge of the aquarium to get weighed. All I could think was that my DD (darling dog) is very smart but he still wont get on the scale at the vets office!
I think the most interesting thing she told us during this part of the tour was that every dolphin has a signature call that acts as a name. And these calls are passed down from generation to generation with very subtle differences between mother and child. Every time they meet a new dolphin they make their call. When a dolphin meets another dolphin that has a similar call they dont mate which prevents inbreeding. Now thats smart.
Next we were given lab coats and led onstage through The Living Seas and then backstage again to watch a live dolphin training session. They said we had to wear the lab coats onstage to make sure we didnt pick up any strays. She also told us that if any guests ask us a question that we should just answer thats confidential information.
Once backstage again, we watched a dolphin training session from a catwalk around the big aquarium. They were training the dolphin to touch a ball with his snout in a rhythm based on a visual clue. She showed the dolphin a Batman doll and he pounded the ball slowly twice (da-da-da-da-da-da BAT MAN). There was another CM on the catwalk recording the session and she would give the trainer the go ahead as soon as the recording was complete. The dolphin was so smart that he started to watch the CM doing the recording instead of the trainer. It was at this point that I realized that the dolphins were very intelligent but not any more than some dogs I know. Now I just think of them as Border Collies/Golden Retrievers in 400 pound rubber suits.
We were then lead to a very nice conference room to return our lab coats and have some pop/coffee (yeah, caffeine!) and a lecture on ecology. They also showed us a film of a tourist being warned not to feed wild dolphins and then they showed her getting bitten by a dolphin after feeding it. After the film we had to sign release forms. At this point I thought about looking for the chicken exit. But I just kept thinking of a dog in a rubber suit and that relaxed me.
Then we were directed back to the locker room to change into our wet suits. I was so glad the women in my group were so nice. The wet suit was very intimidating and we were all laughing trying to get into them. After I managed to get into mine I immediately regretted yesterdays fries at ESPN, the dinner at the Brown Derby and especially the pecans while watching TV. Fortunately there was only one man in our group and he was a scuba-diver so he was used to seeing women in wet suits.
The time had finally come to get into the tank with the dolphins. We separated into two groups of four. Four people to a dolphin/trainer. The first thing they did was take pictures of us with a dolphin. I was so confused because they posed us kneeling in the water with our arm around the dolphin. So much for the dolphin donts. Then we got to do hand signals to get them to do a trick. The best part was when the trainer had the dolphin roll over sideways and we all got to pat him. I leaned over him and gave him one of my famous doggy belly rubs. He was so digging it. I wish I could have gotten a picture of that. After we finished with one dolphin/trainer we switched to the other dolphin/trainer and went through the same routine. Both dolphins seemed to love the patting more than anything. Well, actually they loved the fish treats more than anything. I guess they dont know that fish are friends, not food!
Speaking of fish, while we were waiting for our turns with the dolphins I noticed the big fish swimming around our feet. We were so engrossed with the dolphins that we didnt notice that we were actually in an aquarium with lots of other critters.
After we were done playing with the dolphins, we were lead back to the locker rooms to change back into our street clothes. They had really nice showers with separate changing stalls and all the amenities.
After we were all done, they led us back to the nice conference room. First we got our t-shirts and then we got our pictures with the dolphins. I just burst out laughing when I saw mine. They caught me in the middle of the saying Good Boy. My mouth was in a big O. They had the dolphin posed with his mouth open so it looked like he was laughing. I think its my absolute all time favorite picture of me!
They gave us another shot at the free pop so we all took a can and then we were led back to Guest Relations outside Epcot. I said goodbye to all my new friends and told the tour guide that I was going to come back in January. Its definitely a tour you can do many times.
BTW: The guy in our group had done the scuba diving tour in the Living Seas and he said it was great.
Another BTW: The money for the Dolphins in Depth tour goes to Disney Wildlife Conservation Fund. I dont know what they do but it sounds good.
And another BTW: Bob, the dolphin, is out for stud at the Boston Aquarium. Hope hes having a good time there.
After the tour, I slowly walked back through Epcot and back to the Swan. I dropped off my tour booty in my room and hung up my bathing suit and then went for a long lunch at the Gullivers Grill restaurant in the Swan. Knowing it would be a few months before I had to get in a wet suit again, I had their veggie burger and fries. Its really good and comes on pretzel bread. I also had a wonderful green iced tea with mint. It was so good I ordered one to go. I charged the lunch to my room so I could get SPG points for it. And I used my Disney Club discount for the last time. I only ate half the burger so I got a doggy bag. Or should I call it a dolphin bag?
After dropping off my leftovers in my room, I went to the boat dock and started chatting with a guy waiting there with three women. He was greeting all the CMs by name and they were all giving him hearty handshakes or hugs. Turns out he was another retiree that used to work on the boats. But he transferred to busses. He says he loves the busses. I cant figure that one out. The boats seem so laid back and the busses seem so not.
I sat next to him on the boat to MGM and asked which one of the women was his wife. His pointed to the first woman and said this is wife 1, then this is wife 2 and this is wife 3. I said I guess that makes me wife 4. Actually, he said they were there for a high school reunion. I dont know if he was pulling my leg or not, but I thought it was great that they kept in touch.
I started chatting with one of the wives as we went through security and through the gates. It turns out she also has fibromyalgia so I was telling her about how RnRC presses on the pressure points in my back and it takes a while to recover but its worth the pain. I dont think I convinced her to give it a try.
I could have stayed with that group all day but figured Id better get going. So I said goodbye and walked towards ToT. It was a 70 minute wait again and no FPs. Not being able to ride ToT was the only big disappointment of the trip. So I got a FP for RnRC and on the way out I ran into my friends again. I asked the guy if he couldnt see about ToT running again. He laughed and said hed see what he could do about it.
I then walked over to Millionaire. It was 40 minutes until the next show so I went to see the Muppets. There was a kid in the preshow that started screaming as soon as the Muppets came on the TV screens. And not screaming in a good way. His parents spent the entire preshow trying to convince him that the Muppets are ok. My favorite argument of theirs was you liked Bear in the Big Blue House and hes a muppet. The kid wasnt buying it so eventually they took him outside. Ive never seen a kid react so badly to the Muppets before. But then I dont like clowns and no amount of reasoning can talk me out of that.
After the Muppets, I just made it in time for the next show of Millionaire. I made it into the top 10 but lost out on a question about which newspaper was recently redesigned. Since I had just seen the WSJ that morning I guessed one of the other papers. But WSJ was the answer.
By then it was time for RnRC. While waiting in the long FP line I got into a conversation with two British teenage girls. They had FPs to ToT and were afraid to go. I tried hard to convince them that if they liked RnRC that they wouldnt have any trouble with ToT. I should have been smart and tried to get them to give me their FPs but Im too nice. Ill be back in January and can ride ToT to my hearts content. I couldnt stand the thought of them coming so far and not riding it.
While I was standing in line waiting for my RnRC car, I asked the man in front of me if it was ok if I sat next to him. One time I just hopped in next to a young man and he was so mad because I was in the picture with him and his friends. So now I always ask first. The man was also British and I told him that my grandfather was from Leichester. The man said that the young man he was with was from a town close to Leichester. I said maybe were related. The young man just stared at me. I guess they dont get the American sense of humor.
After RnRC I left to catch the boat back to the Swan. I started talking to the couple who were up behind me in line at the dock. We started talking about Mission: Space. Ive never talked anyone out of a ride before but after talking to them for a while I decided that they really wouldnt do well on that ride. I think I convinced them it wasnt for them.
Once I got back to the Swan, I took a short shower and changed into my costume for MNSSHP. If you call a Vikings jersey and shorts a costume!
