crazyj4488
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Mar 24, 2005
- Messages
- 632
All of the pics seen in this photo journal were taken by me as I traveled the parks. They follow the report as closely as possible; most of them were taken at the time in which the content refers to. Click on the links to view the pics as you read. Enjoy!
WDW SOLO trip report May 23-27, 2005
Day 3 - Wednesday, May 25th
Losing my A*ss at a Drive-In Growing old in the LMA Lineup & Japanese Junk
Cast:
Me Jeff - 29 yr old male 10th time to WDW 1st SOLO Trip
Look Mom, I dont hate kids! Me and my Niece. One day shell make it to WDW!
Wed, May 25 Disney Studios Day
Stitch slobbered in my ear around 7:15 AM. I wiggled my way out of the protective fetal position those lights coming on inside Space Mountain had left me in and jumped out of bed. I was moving a bit slow and arrived at the Disney Studios after they had already let people through the turnstiles and up to the rope. I slide my way as close as possible to the rope as I could without disrespecting anyone and waited out the 15 minutes it took for them to open the park. It wasnt even 9:00 AM and the temperature had already reached a sultry 83 degrees with plenty of humidity. This was going to be a sweaty day for sure.
Those Charming Details at The Disney Studios Entrance
Studios Entrance 2
More Detailing. Remember that scene in Roger Rabbit when Roger goes nuts and flies out the window? Eddie Valiants Office looks to be right next door.
The Brown Derby
I headed straight down Sunset Blvd. to Rock n Roller Coaster with the rest of the crowd and found it down for technical reasons. On my way over to The Tower of Terror, I grabbed a Fastpass for Rockin just to make sure I had a guaranteed minimal wait when the attraction came back online.
My Favorite Shop on Sunset Blvd.
The Tower in the Morning
On this day, I threw my IPOD Mini into my small camera / cell phone holder just for the heck of it. I decided to crank up some Junkie XL tunes while standing in the short line for the Tower. The music in my ears did take away some from the wonderful theming in the queue area. The old time music they have playing on your way up to the hotel lobby really added to the atmosphere but I was trying something different out. No one around me seemed to be bothered by me zoning out to some tunes. I was minding my own business with a smile.
While heading through the dust covered lobby and into the library, I took a hard look at the glass enclosed hotel directory which is located right on the wall in front of you as you are guided either to the left or right by the cast member. If you look closely at the glass case, you will notice that there are some letters missing from the posted info on the board. Well, the letters that have fallen into the very bottom of the sign spell out, Evil Tower U r DoOmed. This was just another sign of how meticulous the imagineers had been while theming this incredible attraction. The Tower of Terror is definitely one of the best attractions Disney has ever dreamed up and it shows as soon as you enter the gated entrance.
I kept looking for those small details while making my way through the boiler room queue area. I noticed that each time an elevator was loaded and sent on its way, that a cable going into the ceiling started reeling itself around a noisy motorized pulley system while sparkling fiber optic effects fired near the mechanical system. You are convinced that something is quite wrong with the elevator you are about to get on. Its a shame that not many people in line seemed to take the time to notice what was going on.
Upon entering the elevator, my experience was heightened by the many Tower Virgins I had in my car. You could tell none of them knew what to expect and this was quite exciting for me since I knew people would start freaking out when the elevator started bouncing around in the dark. I was alone on this trip but I kept taking notice of the guests around me. Their reactions to the attractions really added to my own experience.
The last detail I noticed at the Tower was right near the end of the ride when the exit movie plays. There are stacks of old suitcases and other things lining the walls in front of the ride vehicle. To my left side there was a small barbers chair and sitting in the chair was one of those wooden little man dolls that ventriloquists use for their acts. It was wearing a suit and a bowtie and just sitting in that little barbers chair. That was some truly creepy stuff. I just kept staring at his big eyes. It was wild.
I headed straight back over to RNR to see if the ride had become operable yet. It was back in action so I entered the building. The only thing that bugged me about this attraction was the time it takes to complete the experience. The ride, itself, is about 75 seconds long but, each time you enter the attraction, it takes about 30 minutes to get out. I really cannot stand Aerosmith. I just think they are washed up has-beens that fit into Disneys budget at the time of development. I dont feel their identity takes away from the experience any as it is a fun ride, but Im just not into it. I put my IPOD on as soon as I entered the building and wore it throughout the entire ride. I enjoyed the experience much more with my own personal music selection.
Once you get the big two at The Studios out of the way, you are pretty much on easy-street for the remainder of the day unless you are there during the crowded season. I took another ride on The Tower and then enjoyed The Great Movie Ride experience after that.
Inside the Great Movie Ride
The park was pretty much empty so I took my time and relaxed a bit. On my way out of Manns Chinese Theater, I stopped by the pin shop under the sorcerers hat and picked up an Eeyore pin for Sally since it is her favorite character and a Jiminy Cricket pin for myself. Jiminy has always been the narrator for my favorite nighttime shows at The Magic Kingdom and hes just a smooth operator. Anyone elected to be someones conscious is pretty cool in my book. I felt like sticking his little pin on my clothing would be like wearing my own conscious while out and about.
My Conscious
This was the first time I bought into Disneys ingenious pin trading merchandising racket but I was, by no means, becoming a slave to their collectible jungle. I looked through all of the pins and was quite impressed with their quality. I decided that if you were going to get into the Disneyana craze, that this would be a good place to start.
On the first day of my trip, I was looking for a vending stand that served Churros but I didnt see one. I didnt even notice them selling them at The Magic Kingdom but I was there on a slow day and many of the vending carts were covered. As I left the pin trading shop, I finally saw a stand selling Churros. I practically ran over to get one.
After my cathartic experience with my Mexican pastry of sorts, I headed towards the Sounds Dangerous attraction. I had not heard any good things about it but had not checked it out the space since Drew Carey became a part of it. This was the most amazing waste of time Ive ever experienced at a Disney attraction. You sit down, put a pair of cheap germ ridden headphones on, and the lights go off for the entire show. You simply sit there in the dark listening to Drew Carey on a pair of headphones. I was dumbfounded over the inane nature of the whole thing and remembered the first sound production attraction in that same space being much better.
I was quite hungry after wasting 25 minutes with Drew Carey so I headed over to the Sci-Fi Diner. I knew I could get a seat without a reservation since it was well before Noon. Typically, it is a bit of a challenge to grab a spot at this eatery if you dont have something reserved. I found this restaurant to be the perfect spot for a solo traveler to eat at. All the seats are facing the movie screen at the front of the building so you arent left sitting in the middle of everyone feeling sorry for you since no one seems to love you. To be honest, this is the last place I would want to eat with someone else. The tables are ridiculously small. I think I would end up stabbing my dining partner with a fork after struggling with them over table space. My burger and fries were about to fall into my lap.
Sci-Fi Diner
The old sci-fi movie footage they played on the screen was great stuff. They even played a clip of my favorite Disneyland classic called Tomorrowland. The food was decent but nothing to write home about. I didnt find the burger to be of better quality than the ones you get at the counter service stops. Getting the same fast food burger for the bargain price of $11 was, like, awesome and stuff.
I then headed out into the New York backlot area of the park and took my time just enjoying myself. I was waiting for the 1:15 PM showing of the new Lights, Motors, and Action Stunt Show and had some time to kill.
Me looking extra happy in the backlot
The queue area for LMA isnt designed very well. The standby guests are left in the open to bake and it takes a good 35 minutes to load everyone into the huge stadium. There was a lot of pre-show fluff to keep guests busy but sitting around for close to an hour wasnt my idea of fun. I did enjoy the show and thought it was well produced. I thought that anyone into explosions, cars, and action would enjoy it thoroughly. I would rate it a 3.5 out of 5 stars and Im glad I was able to experience it. It, hands-down, annihilates the Indian Jones Stunt Show and effectively gives the green light for them to bulldoze that tired stunt attraction in order to put in an Indiana Jones themed ride like they have in Cali. I think thats a completely viable option if they would just provide the budget for it.
I was quite tired from walking and the heat was becoming unreasonable at this point. Therefore, I made my way to the front of the park to take one more ride on RNR. Again, it took 30 minutes just to make my way through the queue and there was nobody in the standby line outside. The IPOD helped me pass the time but I decided that RNR would be a one ride per trip for me from that point on. It just ate up too much time for a 75 second payoff.
After that, I happily made my way to my rental car and returned to my hotel. The Studios were practically on POPs doorstep so I was back to my room in no time. As I unloaded my pockets onto the bed, I noticed that my business credit card was missing. Lovely! I knew, right away, that I had left it at the Sci-Fi Diner. I quickly picked up the hotel phone and rang the front desk to tell them about my situation. It wasnt long before I was connected to the Diner and, luckily, I had my receipt and was able to tell them my waiters name and table number. They put me on hold for about 5 minutes and came back confirming that they had my card. The cast member gave me her name and told me she would be working until 7:00 PM. I thanked her for her help and told her that I would see her as soon as possible to pick it up.
I was too tired to immediately go back to The Studios so I decided to shower and take a nap. This detour was going to put a kink into my itinerary but I was used to adjusting my plans as needed.
Trying to nap at POP during the day was almost a futile effort. I could hear people chattering and kids screaming all around me. It was absolutely annoying and I came to the conclusion that a value resort is the last place on Disney property to be staying if you want peace and quiet. I was absolutely exhausted from walking around in the heat all morning and was desperately in need of some rest. I was just plain old frustrated and could do nothing but plug my ears with my IPOD ear buds and turn on some ambient music in order to drown out the turbo toilets and kids on crack running rampant around the resort.
I scored about an hour of quality rest and was out the door by 5:00 PM. Upon re-entering The Studios, I ran into the motorcar parade. The parade route effectively cut me off from the Sci-Fi Diner so I sat on the steps overlooking Echo Lake for about 15 minutes before I could go anywhere. None of Disneys daytime parades have ever interested me. They seem to be designed for the younger crowd but thats just my opinion on the matter. I do feel, however, that Disney pulls off some of the best parades known to man no matter what audience they are playing to.
Park details near Echo Lake
I had to wait around for the cast member, Julie, to come off her break since she had my card on her. I ended up grabbing a Diet Coke and cookie in the coffee shop connected to the diner in order to kill some time while Julie ran around buying things with my card. I could only hope she picked up one of those sexy sets of gold mouse ears to model for me.
After finally getting my card back and thanking Julie profusely, I took a ride on Star Tours which was a bit boring since it is in such dire need of a refurbishment. I even noticed C3POs hand was dangling lifelessly while yapping away in the queue area. He looked sort of ghetto as did the rest of the ride. The movie playing inside the simulator was in bad shape as well. The picture quality just wasnt up to par and this was becoming distracting. I vowed not to return to the attraction until they finished the refurbishment which was officially approved just a week prior to my arrival.
It was now time for me to get over to EPCOT. I had my fill of MGM and didnt plan on returning during the remainder of my trip. I think the combination of leaving my credit card behind like an absent-minded freak and the frustration over the amount of time wasted while trying to experience some of the best attractions at the park just left me feeling a bit exhausted. I was looking forward to a more relaxing time out at Future World.
I parked in EPCOTs main lot upon my arrival as I really wanted to do as much as I could in Future World. It was about 6:30 PM and many of the attractions closed around 7:00 PM. I was surprised to not see a soul at the parking plaza when I drove through. There was a sign up that said something about no one being on duty. I dont know if it was common practice for them not to charge for parking if you arrive in the evening or if this was just due to the low crowd conditions.
Immediately upon getting through the turnstiles, I went for Spaceship Earth. It was weird how excited I got each and every time I walked up the ramp to experience this attraction. Ive lost count how many rides Ive taken through the thing and it still gets me. I just love the journey from start to finish. Any one attraction with as much lasting appeal as Spaceship Earth is a fine display of Disney magic; plain and simple. With that said, it was no surprise that I stayed in my seat for a second ride. Yes, Spaceship Earth is my Disney World crack rock. Im a hopeless junkie who should be sent to the Six Flags rehab facility.
Since my stomach was in stable condition, it was time for Mission Space. I had planned on taking two rides much earlier in the day but my credit card mishap prevented that. I needed to conserve a bit of time because I wanted to travel around the World Showcase before I left. I was also planning on exiting the park before the end of Illuminations as to avoid the crowds. You see here? A healthy Spaceship Earth junkie never blames his or her addiction for a loss of time. You effectively use another situation as an excuse in order to mask the downward spiral. Write that down!
Spaceship Earth An Addiction
It was now nearing 7:30 PM and I didnt have a comfortable amount of time to spend in the World Showcase. Why they had to make the thing so darn big is beyond me? Walking around the world should be a little more convenient for us lazy Americans.
My first stop was at Mexico. I wanted to take a ride on El Rio Del Tiempo. Its quite dated in nature and seems to bore most people to death, but this trip was partially about experiencing the things I missed 3 weeks ago and enjoying some of those off the beaten path features of the parks.
El Rio Del Tiempo 1
El Rio Del Tiempo 2
El Rio Del Tiempo 3
People were already grabbing spots around the lagoon as I exited Mexico and headed towards Norway. This made me a bit nervous. I had to get some gift shopping done in Japan but I also wanted to take a quick tour of the shops in the other countries. My pace quickened as I made my tour but I slowed down for just a moment in order to take a good look at the Hong Kong Disneyland display in China. I found it fascinating and took pictures of all the displays. The one thing that just bowled me over was how they, basically, completely filled in the part of ocean that ran between two small mountain islands. The park was being built on top of this artificial land and the pictures of the site were just amazing. I was also quite interested in reading about the section of the park they were building specifically for picture taking since the Chinese people take this hobby so seriously.
Dragon in China
Park Entrance Hong Kong Disney
Park Entrance Details Hong Kong Disney
Filling in an ocean
Fantasy Gardens Details
Before my trip, I had been having serious thoughts about traveling to different parts of the world to experience each of the Disney parks and the exhibit in China only provided me with more motivation. Tokyos Disneysea has been on the top of my to-visit list for awhile now.
I would end my World Showcase excursion over in Japan because I needed some whacky gifts for the whacky people in my whacky life. Where better to score some whacktastic gifts than in a store which carries Japanese merchandise?! I walked around the gift shop for a solid 30 minutes picking out the oddest items I could get my hands on. Some of the stuff I bought is still in question. At one point, a cast member started interviewing me as I perused the anime section for a friend of mine at home who is into the stuff. I, admittedly, dont know too much about anime but I did know that Disney was a distributor for Project Ghibli which produces some pretty spectacular anime features such as Spirited Away and Princess Mononoke. I had a hard time communicating with the Japanese cast member but appreciated her picking me out of the small crowd in order to get some feedback. I honestly dont think my half-assed answers in response to my false interests in anime would win over any marketing pushes for the store but I, more or less, was simply trying to help the nice cast member complete her assigned task for the evening.
Whacky Japanese Merchandise 1
Whacky Japanese Merchandise 2
On my way out of the shop, I noticed a little area off to the side which featured an old tin toy display. It was an odd find but an interesting experience.
Japanese Mickey Tin Toy
After my Japanese experience, it was time to get the heck out of dodge before Illuminations ended. As I rushed to make my way around the remainder of the lagoon, I discovered an interesting experience unto itself. As I traveled around the World Showcase lagoon, I had the opportunity to view Illuminations, which was in progress, from many different angles. I usually grabbed a decent spot for the show before it started and didnt move until it was over. This is, obviously, the way most people experience the show. I have to say that viewing it while moving around the lagoon is quite rewarding. It truly took on a whole different meaning for me on this night and I was really happy with the opportunity.
As I was walking to my car in the EPCOT lot, I was thinking about possibly heading over to the Magic Kingdom after a short rest at the hotel room. It was an Extra Magic Hour evening at the MK and I could either rest up at the hotel or hit the path once again.
My plans for the evening were sealed when my cell phone rang while walking through the Journey section of the lot. It was my Sister from Austin, Texas calling about some job interviews she had been pursuing. My Sister is an internal medicine doctor and has been quite unhappy with the clinic she has been working at. Even though I was at Walt Disney World, I was more than happy to return to my hotel room, hope online with my laptop, and help her write a cover letter for a particular position she was seeking.
I got back to my room rather quickly, poured myself a drink, hoped online to retrieve an email from my Sister, and spent two hours drafting a great looking cover letter. The professional writing skills I had picked up from my Baylor business school college days werent completely going to waste these days. They aided me in my own business practice and I was able to help my sis out with an important task as I sat in my room at Disney World. Who would have thought a $75,000 education would be worth a damn thing these days, huh?
I didnt feel bad about missing out on the EMH over at the MK. I knew there would be a mess of people to navigate my way through and my body needed the rest more than anything.
After watching Conan OBrian, I switched on a podcast to listen to and turned out the lights. I was comfy and cozy in my bed when, all of a sudden, my entire room began to stink like smoke. I couldnt believe it. Throughout the week, I had eyed the unruly looking characters situated in the room next to me and I knew these would be the people to blame for being inconsiderate and disrespectful of the posted house rules. Therefore, I threw some clothes on and went outside to figure out if I was correct in my assumption. I could hear some noise coming from the room next to me and the smell got worse as I got closer to their door.
I grabbed a small metal flashlight from my bag to make sure my courtesy knock would scare the crap out of my neighbors. After banging loudly on their door, a man looking disheveled and quite startled appeared. I saw the smoke filled room behind him and started explaining to him that he was in a non-smoking room and I would appreciate a little respect in regards to those rules because my room now stunk to high heaven. He tried to play dumb with me so I basically called him dumb for playing dumb. He didnt like that at all but I stood my ground. I told him my polite request didnt need to be answered with an ignorant response. I also told him that we could handle the situation as civilized men or I could pick up my hotel phone and get gangsta Mickey all up in his crib (aka hotel security). He agreed to refrain from his smelly habit while in his room and we left it at that. I expected to be knocking on his door at least one more time before I left for the week. That glazed over look in his eyes left me with no hope and I could have sworn I smelled Marijuana burning in that room as well. Yay, lets all get stoned at Disney World. Woop Woop Dee Doo Revue time!!!
So after some more value resort adventures, I retreated back to my bed and dialed up a wake-up call for 7:15 AM before turning out the lights. I just couldnt live without my morning Stitch slobber. While entering my preferences on the phone, I listened carefully for the option to sic Stitch on my neighbors but it wasnt there. As I put my head on my pillow for a nights rest, I just couldnt understand why Disney still hadnt figured out a good use for such an annoying character. Maybe I would write a friendly suggestion letter to guest relations. These were the thoughts I was plagued with as I drifted away. It was another tiring day at the world for me.
WDW SOLO trip report May 23-27, 2005
Day 3 - Wednesday, May 25th
Losing my A*ss at a Drive-In Growing old in the LMA Lineup & Japanese Junk
Cast:
Me Jeff - 29 yr old male 10th time to WDW 1st SOLO Trip
Look Mom, I dont hate kids! Me and my Niece. One day shell make it to WDW!
Wed, May 25 Disney Studios Day
Stitch slobbered in my ear around 7:15 AM. I wiggled my way out of the protective fetal position those lights coming on inside Space Mountain had left me in and jumped out of bed. I was moving a bit slow and arrived at the Disney Studios after they had already let people through the turnstiles and up to the rope. I slide my way as close as possible to the rope as I could without disrespecting anyone and waited out the 15 minutes it took for them to open the park. It wasnt even 9:00 AM and the temperature had already reached a sultry 83 degrees with plenty of humidity. This was going to be a sweaty day for sure.
Those Charming Details at The Disney Studios Entrance
Studios Entrance 2
More Detailing. Remember that scene in Roger Rabbit when Roger goes nuts and flies out the window? Eddie Valiants Office looks to be right next door.
The Brown Derby
I headed straight down Sunset Blvd. to Rock n Roller Coaster with the rest of the crowd and found it down for technical reasons. On my way over to The Tower of Terror, I grabbed a Fastpass for Rockin just to make sure I had a guaranteed minimal wait when the attraction came back online.
My Favorite Shop on Sunset Blvd.
The Tower in the Morning
On this day, I threw my IPOD Mini into my small camera / cell phone holder just for the heck of it. I decided to crank up some Junkie XL tunes while standing in the short line for the Tower. The music in my ears did take away some from the wonderful theming in the queue area. The old time music they have playing on your way up to the hotel lobby really added to the atmosphere but I was trying something different out. No one around me seemed to be bothered by me zoning out to some tunes. I was minding my own business with a smile.
While heading through the dust covered lobby and into the library, I took a hard look at the glass enclosed hotel directory which is located right on the wall in front of you as you are guided either to the left or right by the cast member. If you look closely at the glass case, you will notice that there are some letters missing from the posted info on the board. Well, the letters that have fallen into the very bottom of the sign spell out, Evil Tower U r DoOmed. This was just another sign of how meticulous the imagineers had been while theming this incredible attraction. The Tower of Terror is definitely one of the best attractions Disney has ever dreamed up and it shows as soon as you enter the gated entrance.
I kept looking for those small details while making my way through the boiler room queue area. I noticed that each time an elevator was loaded and sent on its way, that a cable going into the ceiling started reeling itself around a noisy motorized pulley system while sparkling fiber optic effects fired near the mechanical system. You are convinced that something is quite wrong with the elevator you are about to get on. Its a shame that not many people in line seemed to take the time to notice what was going on.
Upon entering the elevator, my experience was heightened by the many Tower Virgins I had in my car. You could tell none of them knew what to expect and this was quite exciting for me since I knew people would start freaking out when the elevator started bouncing around in the dark. I was alone on this trip but I kept taking notice of the guests around me. Their reactions to the attractions really added to my own experience.
The last detail I noticed at the Tower was right near the end of the ride when the exit movie plays. There are stacks of old suitcases and other things lining the walls in front of the ride vehicle. To my left side there was a small barbers chair and sitting in the chair was one of those wooden little man dolls that ventriloquists use for their acts. It was wearing a suit and a bowtie and just sitting in that little barbers chair. That was some truly creepy stuff. I just kept staring at his big eyes. It was wild.
I headed straight back over to RNR to see if the ride had become operable yet. It was back in action so I entered the building. The only thing that bugged me about this attraction was the time it takes to complete the experience. The ride, itself, is about 75 seconds long but, each time you enter the attraction, it takes about 30 minutes to get out. I really cannot stand Aerosmith. I just think they are washed up has-beens that fit into Disneys budget at the time of development. I dont feel their identity takes away from the experience any as it is a fun ride, but Im just not into it. I put my IPOD on as soon as I entered the building and wore it throughout the entire ride. I enjoyed the experience much more with my own personal music selection.
Once you get the big two at The Studios out of the way, you are pretty much on easy-street for the remainder of the day unless you are there during the crowded season. I took another ride on The Tower and then enjoyed The Great Movie Ride experience after that.
Inside the Great Movie Ride
The park was pretty much empty so I took my time and relaxed a bit. On my way out of Manns Chinese Theater, I stopped by the pin shop under the sorcerers hat and picked up an Eeyore pin for Sally since it is her favorite character and a Jiminy Cricket pin for myself. Jiminy has always been the narrator for my favorite nighttime shows at The Magic Kingdom and hes just a smooth operator. Anyone elected to be someones conscious is pretty cool in my book. I felt like sticking his little pin on my clothing would be like wearing my own conscious while out and about.
My Conscious
This was the first time I bought into Disneys ingenious pin trading merchandising racket but I was, by no means, becoming a slave to their collectible jungle. I looked through all of the pins and was quite impressed with their quality. I decided that if you were going to get into the Disneyana craze, that this would be a good place to start.
On the first day of my trip, I was looking for a vending stand that served Churros but I didnt see one. I didnt even notice them selling them at The Magic Kingdom but I was there on a slow day and many of the vending carts were covered. As I left the pin trading shop, I finally saw a stand selling Churros. I practically ran over to get one.
After my cathartic experience with my Mexican pastry of sorts, I headed towards the Sounds Dangerous attraction. I had not heard any good things about it but had not checked it out the space since Drew Carey became a part of it. This was the most amazing waste of time Ive ever experienced at a Disney attraction. You sit down, put a pair of cheap germ ridden headphones on, and the lights go off for the entire show. You simply sit there in the dark listening to Drew Carey on a pair of headphones. I was dumbfounded over the inane nature of the whole thing and remembered the first sound production attraction in that same space being much better.
I was quite hungry after wasting 25 minutes with Drew Carey so I headed over to the Sci-Fi Diner. I knew I could get a seat without a reservation since it was well before Noon. Typically, it is a bit of a challenge to grab a spot at this eatery if you dont have something reserved. I found this restaurant to be the perfect spot for a solo traveler to eat at. All the seats are facing the movie screen at the front of the building so you arent left sitting in the middle of everyone feeling sorry for you since no one seems to love you. To be honest, this is the last place I would want to eat with someone else. The tables are ridiculously small. I think I would end up stabbing my dining partner with a fork after struggling with them over table space. My burger and fries were about to fall into my lap.
Sci-Fi Diner
The old sci-fi movie footage they played on the screen was great stuff. They even played a clip of my favorite Disneyland classic called Tomorrowland. The food was decent but nothing to write home about. I didnt find the burger to be of better quality than the ones you get at the counter service stops. Getting the same fast food burger for the bargain price of $11 was, like, awesome and stuff.
I then headed out into the New York backlot area of the park and took my time just enjoying myself. I was waiting for the 1:15 PM showing of the new Lights, Motors, and Action Stunt Show and had some time to kill.
Me looking extra happy in the backlot
The queue area for LMA isnt designed very well. The standby guests are left in the open to bake and it takes a good 35 minutes to load everyone into the huge stadium. There was a lot of pre-show fluff to keep guests busy but sitting around for close to an hour wasnt my idea of fun. I did enjoy the show and thought it was well produced. I thought that anyone into explosions, cars, and action would enjoy it thoroughly. I would rate it a 3.5 out of 5 stars and Im glad I was able to experience it. It, hands-down, annihilates the Indian Jones Stunt Show and effectively gives the green light for them to bulldoze that tired stunt attraction in order to put in an Indiana Jones themed ride like they have in Cali. I think thats a completely viable option if they would just provide the budget for it.
I was quite tired from walking and the heat was becoming unreasonable at this point. Therefore, I made my way to the front of the park to take one more ride on RNR. Again, it took 30 minutes just to make my way through the queue and there was nobody in the standby line outside. The IPOD helped me pass the time but I decided that RNR would be a one ride per trip for me from that point on. It just ate up too much time for a 75 second payoff.
After that, I happily made my way to my rental car and returned to my hotel. The Studios were practically on POPs doorstep so I was back to my room in no time. As I unloaded my pockets onto the bed, I noticed that my business credit card was missing. Lovely! I knew, right away, that I had left it at the Sci-Fi Diner. I quickly picked up the hotel phone and rang the front desk to tell them about my situation. It wasnt long before I was connected to the Diner and, luckily, I had my receipt and was able to tell them my waiters name and table number. They put me on hold for about 5 minutes and came back confirming that they had my card. The cast member gave me her name and told me she would be working until 7:00 PM. I thanked her for her help and told her that I would see her as soon as possible to pick it up.
I was too tired to immediately go back to The Studios so I decided to shower and take a nap. This detour was going to put a kink into my itinerary but I was used to adjusting my plans as needed.
Trying to nap at POP during the day was almost a futile effort. I could hear people chattering and kids screaming all around me. It was absolutely annoying and I came to the conclusion that a value resort is the last place on Disney property to be staying if you want peace and quiet. I was absolutely exhausted from walking around in the heat all morning and was desperately in need of some rest. I was just plain old frustrated and could do nothing but plug my ears with my IPOD ear buds and turn on some ambient music in order to drown out the turbo toilets and kids on crack running rampant around the resort.
I scored about an hour of quality rest and was out the door by 5:00 PM. Upon re-entering The Studios, I ran into the motorcar parade. The parade route effectively cut me off from the Sci-Fi Diner so I sat on the steps overlooking Echo Lake for about 15 minutes before I could go anywhere. None of Disneys daytime parades have ever interested me. They seem to be designed for the younger crowd but thats just my opinion on the matter. I do feel, however, that Disney pulls off some of the best parades known to man no matter what audience they are playing to.
Park details near Echo Lake
I had to wait around for the cast member, Julie, to come off her break since she had my card on her. I ended up grabbing a Diet Coke and cookie in the coffee shop connected to the diner in order to kill some time while Julie ran around buying things with my card. I could only hope she picked up one of those sexy sets of gold mouse ears to model for me.
After finally getting my card back and thanking Julie profusely, I took a ride on Star Tours which was a bit boring since it is in such dire need of a refurbishment. I even noticed C3POs hand was dangling lifelessly while yapping away in the queue area. He looked sort of ghetto as did the rest of the ride. The movie playing inside the simulator was in bad shape as well. The picture quality just wasnt up to par and this was becoming distracting. I vowed not to return to the attraction until they finished the refurbishment which was officially approved just a week prior to my arrival.
It was now time for me to get over to EPCOT. I had my fill of MGM and didnt plan on returning during the remainder of my trip. I think the combination of leaving my credit card behind like an absent-minded freak and the frustration over the amount of time wasted while trying to experience some of the best attractions at the park just left me feeling a bit exhausted. I was looking forward to a more relaxing time out at Future World.
I parked in EPCOTs main lot upon my arrival as I really wanted to do as much as I could in Future World. It was about 6:30 PM and many of the attractions closed around 7:00 PM. I was surprised to not see a soul at the parking plaza when I drove through. There was a sign up that said something about no one being on duty. I dont know if it was common practice for them not to charge for parking if you arrive in the evening or if this was just due to the low crowd conditions.
Immediately upon getting through the turnstiles, I went for Spaceship Earth. It was weird how excited I got each and every time I walked up the ramp to experience this attraction. Ive lost count how many rides Ive taken through the thing and it still gets me. I just love the journey from start to finish. Any one attraction with as much lasting appeal as Spaceship Earth is a fine display of Disney magic; plain and simple. With that said, it was no surprise that I stayed in my seat for a second ride. Yes, Spaceship Earth is my Disney World crack rock. Im a hopeless junkie who should be sent to the Six Flags rehab facility.
Since my stomach was in stable condition, it was time for Mission Space. I had planned on taking two rides much earlier in the day but my credit card mishap prevented that. I needed to conserve a bit of time because I wanted to travel around the World Showcase before I left. I was also planning on exiting the park before the end of Illuminations as to avoid the crowds. You see here? A healthy Spaceship Earth junkie never blames his or her addiction for a loss of time. You effectively use another situation as an excuse in order to mask the downward spiral. Write that down!
Spaceship Earth An Addiction
It was now nearing 7:30 PM and I didnt have a comfortable amount of time to spend in the World Showcase. Why they had to make the thing so darn big is beyond me? Walking around the world should be a little more convenient for us lazy Americans.
My first stop was at Mexico. I wanted to take a ride on El Rio Del Tiempo. Its quite dated in nature and seems to bore most people to death, but this trip was partially about experiencing the things I missed 3 weeks ago and enjoying some of those off the beaten path features of the parks.
El Rio Del Tiempo 1
El Rio Del Tiempo 2
El Rio Del Tiempo 3
People were already grabbing spots around the lagoon as I exited Mexico and headed towards Norway. This made me a bit nervous. I had to get some gift shopping done in Japan but I also wanted to take a quick tour of the shops in the other countries. My pace quickened as I made my tour but I slowed down for just a moment in order to take a good look at the Hong Kong Disneyland display in China. I found it fascinating and took pictures of all the displays. The one thing that just bowled me over was how they, basically, completely filled in the part of ocean that ran between two small mountain islands. The park was being built on top of this artificial land and the pictures of the site were just amazing. I was also quite interested in reading about the section of the park they were building specifically for picture taking since the Chinese people take this hobby so seriously.
Dragon in China
Park Entrance Hong Kong Disney
Park Entrance Details Hong Kong Disney
Filling in an ocean
Fantasy Gardens Details
Before my trip, I had been having serious thoughts about traveling to different parts of the world to experience each of the Disney parks and the exhibit in China only provided me with more motivation. Tokyos Disneysea has been on the top of my to-visit list for awhile now.
I would end my World Showcase excursion over in Japan because I needed some whacky gifts for the whacky people in my whacky life. Where better to score some whacktastic gifts than in a store which carries Japanese merchandise?! I walked around the gift shop for a solid 30 minutes picking out the oddest items I could get my hands on. Some of the stuff I bought is still in question. At one point, a cast member started interviewing me as I perused the anime section for a friend of mine at home who is into the stuff. I, admittedly, dont know too much about anime but I did know that Disney was a distributor for Project Ghibli which produces some pretty spectacular anime features such as Spirited Away and Princess Mononoke. I had a hard time communicating with the Japanese cast member but appreciated her picking me out of the small crowd in order to get some feedback. I honestly dont think my half-assed answers in response to my false interests in anime would win over any marketing pushes for the store but I, more or less, was simply trying to help the nice cast member complete her assigned task for the evening.
Whacky Japanese Merchandise 1
Whacky Japanese Merchandise 2
On my way out of the shop, I noticed a little area off to the side which featured an old tin toy display. It was an odd find but an interesting experience.
Japanese Mickey Tin Toy
After my Japanese experience, it was time to get the heck out of dodge before Illuminations ended. As I rushed to make my way around the remainder of the lagoon, I discovered an interesting experience unto itself. As I traveled around the World Showcase lagoon, I had the opportunity to view Illuminations, which was in progress, from many different angles. I usually grabbed a decent spot for the show before it started and didnt move until it was over. This is, obviously, the way most people experience the show. I have to say that viewing it while moving around the lagoon is quite rewarding. It truly took on a whole different meaning for me on this night and I was really happy with the opportunity.
As I was walking to my car in the EPCOT lot, I was thinking about possibly heading over to the Magic Kingdom after a short rest at the hotel room. It was an Extra Magic Hour evening at the MK and I could either rest up at the hotel or hit the path once again.
My plans for the evening were sealed when my cell phone rang while walking through the Journey section of the lot. It was my Sister from Austin, Texas calling about some job interviews she had been pursuing. My Sister is an internal medicine doctor and has been quite unhappy with the clinic she has been working at. Even though I was at Walt Disney World, I was more than happy to return to my hotel room, hope online with my laptop, and help her write a cover letter for a particular position she was seeking.
I got back to my room rather quickly, poured myself a drink, hoped online to retrieve an email from my Sister, and spent two hours drafting a great looking cover letter. The professional writing skills I had picked up from my Baylor business school college days werent completely going to waste these days. They aided me in my own business practice and I was able to help my sis out with an important task as I sat in my room at Disney World. Who would have thought a $75,000 education would be worth a damn thing these days, huh?
I didnt feel bad about missing out on the EMH over at the MK. I knew there would be a mess of people to navigate my way through and my body needed the rest more than anything.
After watching Conan OBrian, I switched on a podcast to listen to and turned out the lights. I was comfy and cozy in my bed when, all of a sudden, my entire room began to stink like smoke. I couldnt believe it. Throughout the week, I had eyed the unruly looking characters situated in the room next to me and I knew these would be the people to blame for being inconsiderate and disrespectful of the posted house rules. Therefore, I threw some clothes on and went outside to figure out if I was correct in my assumption. I could hear some noise coming from the room next to me and the smell got worse as I got closer to their door.
I grabbed a small metal flashlight from my bag to make sure my courtesy knock would scare the crap out of my neighbors. After banging loudly on their door, a man looking disheveled and quite startled appeared. I saw the smoke filled room behind him and started explaining to him that he was in a non-smoking room and I would appreciate a little respect in regards to those rules because my room now stunk to high heaven. He tried to play dumb with me so I basically called him dumb for playing dumb. He didnt like that at all but I stood my ground. I told him my polite request didnt need to be answered with an ignorant response. I also told him that we could handle the situation as civilized men or I could pick up my hotel phone and get gangsta Mickey all up in his crib (aka hotel security). He agreed to refrain from his smelly habit while in his room and we left it at that. I expected to be knocking on his door at least one more time before I left for the week. That glazed over look in his eyes left me with no hope and I could have sworn I smelled Marijuana burning in that room as well. Yay, lets all get stoned at Disney World. Woop Woop Dee Doo Revue time!!!
So after some more value resort adventures, I retreated back to my bed and dialed up a wake-up call for 7:15 AM before turning out the lights. I just couldnt live without my morning Stitch slobber. While entering my preferences on the phone, I listened carefully for the option to sic Stitch on my neighbors but it wasnt there. As I put my head on my pillow for a nights rest, I just couldnt understand why Disney still hadnt figured out a good use for such an annoying character. Maybe I would write a friendly suggestion letter to guest relations. These were the thoughts I was plagued with as I drifted away. It was another tiring day at the world for me.
--I think not) and then during the day.....catch a para or whatever and continue on my work duties. A little vacation thoughout my work day. 
Are the nighttime EMH that crowded? I've never been to them before. Glad you enjoyed the Tower of Terror. It's my personal favorite, for obvious reasons 
