Day 6 - MGM & EPCOT

pooky_uk

Mouseketeer
Joined
Sep 20, 2004
Messages
232
Day 6 – EE to MGM & Late Entry to Epcot!

Cast:

Me - mother and dutiful wife…and biggest kid of them all!! 34
DH – Affectionately known as Squirrel…ageing punk rocker and tattoos to boot…40
DD – our princess Millie…..6, and turns 7 in WDW!


The original plan here was to get to MGM for EE and stay all day and watch Fantasmic @ 7pm– however, the past dew days had taught me that trying to stay in the park for that length of time would be very tough on Millie…and us! So….we planned to be out of here quite early, back home for a couple of hours R & R then onto Epcot to do some of Futureworld and Illuminations of the Earth. This hopefully would mean we can bypass some of futureworld and spend more time in the worldshowcase on our designated Epcot day. We then planned to see Fantasmic on Millie’s birthday after spending the morning in MK! PHEW! Hope you’re still with me!! And yes, I can get blood out of a stone!

I think this was the first night that I had slept through! Woke up at 6.15am – Hubby did the room service run this morning!..so I will spare you of giving you anymore details of our morning ritual. We were up and at ‘em early (no surprise there!)…..caught the bus about 7.30 and we were in the park before 8!

This was the first time we arrived in a park to hear the opening music….pretty cool! Mind you, I was in a shop downloading the memory card from the camera at the time. It was pretty gloomy this morning – really foggy but the day was forecast to be hot so ..fingers crossed!

Well EE meant we had to hit the big 2 rides first so off we headed towards ToT and RnR – now surprisingly (as you will recall from my Seaworld report, Millie does not like “upside down” rides) Millie really REALLY wanted to go on RnR – I had heard that this was a pretty mean ride but, hey, I was not gonna say a word!!! You see, Millie has seen quite a few real limos and more recently it was my nieces 18th…..and she had a stretch limo to take her and her friends out; Millie was really taken with the limo and she thinks they are soooo cool!! So…..Millie has seen the RnR on the planning DVD and thinks this is fast limo ride!!!! And hasn’t a clue that it goes upside down – now as this ride is indoors she isn’t going to know any better is she?! *evil grin* First we see TOT looking quite eerie in the fog…

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….but the standby time is already 45mins!!! So we get 3 fastpasses…even though Millie is protesting rather loudly that there is no way she will go on that!! We’ll see…..fastpasses are for 9.10

Stand by for RnR is 15 mins so in the queue we get – loved the pre show with the Aerosmith video – really effective and Millie thinks they are the real deal! We are now getting very close to the front of the queue and Millie is saying she is scared!...mmm…..”like you were about Space Mountain?”….”yes” she grins …..”a good scared then” I respond…and she giggles (PHEW!)…just as I say that we see a limo take off….!!!!!!!!! Ahem, it was there a nanosecond ago….where did it go!!!!??? ……and my stomach does a leap and I give Millie a nervous smile trying to re-assure her that it’s a good scared (who I am kidding?! I’m pooping myself here!) DH just looked at me and laughed…”did you see THAT?!”…..gulp….I am now having second thoughts about Millie riding this…..but she didn’t bat an eye lid – I am even wondering if she saw that limo take off!!!

Next we’re in the limo – I’m sat with Millie and DH is in front of us on his lonesome – thankfully we were not at the front! Harnesses over our shoulders and a nervous look at Millie (and having second thoughts about whether I am a responsible mother!)..then I felt we had left our bodies behind as we are shot with so much force – I really cannot describe how FAST this thing takes off!!!! So much so I really DID feel the contents of my breakfast jump about in my stomach and to be honest I cannot remember too much of the ride – I was feeling really nauseous ( and I have never suffered on a coaster before!!)…..and I was worried how Millie was!! The music was great and really did add to the ride, I remember seeing lots of lights and signs!! It was an exhilarating ride and would have loved to have gone on it again to experience it more…..When we got off I was shaking slightly and really wobbly!!! Mille was grinning like a Cheshire cat but did say that she banged her head a few times. DH Loved it and bought some really naff hotrod flame dice to hang in our car! When we came outside I pointed to the upside-down car

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“Look Millie…..that’s what we were doing!”….she looks at me in disbelief….”what? upside down?”….”yup” I reply..LOL….then she looked nervous!!! And yup, you guessed it…giggled! And added that she didn’t want to ride it again!

We now had about 20 mins to kill before our fastpasses for ToT…..wanted to watch Beauty & the Beast but the first show didn’t start until 1.15pm so we just strolled around a few shops rather than head off to another part of the park.

9.10….ToT time! Millie had defiantly decided she did not want to ride this so DH went first and I waited with Millie by the exit where they display the on-ride pics – we chatted with the CM there who was lovely –she had a go at convincing Millie that if she could do RnR then ToT should be a piece of cake…..Didn’t push it with her any further. DH came off really laughing saying it was the funniest ride he had ever been on. Hmm….the name “Tower of TERROR” does not fill you with funniness!

I’m up next and even though I had a fastpass it was ages before I got on….I was sat with 2 other single riders right at the front…..a middle aged gent on my left and a lady of on my right. I was blabbing about how much I hate heights etc….and the lady said she hadn’t been on this since they had made it random…..I am really edgy at this stage waiting for the drop….”when does the drop come?” I ask the lady….”oh, you’ll know, the lift opens and you can see the…..”…….queue the lift opening!! SCREEEEAAMMMM……and I instinctively grab the wrists (very tightly) of the man and the lady either side of me……all 3 of us are really laughing! ….I hasten to add that I kept a firm grip on them throughout the Terror! I do wish I had bought the ride photo….it was classic!! And yes, I do agree….a very funny ride!!

Although Millie would have loved the ride I do think the pre-show would have been too atmospheric for her and would have spooked her a bit. It felt like Freddy Kruger was going to appear any moment when I was in the basement waiting to get into the lift!!
So the thrill rides done – what next? And to be honest, we didn’t really know what to do!! Hands-up here, I hadn’t really gen’d up enough on this park *hangs head in shame*

So we took a slow walk up towards Aerial’s grotto (which had a 40 mins stand by time) so went over to “The Great Movie Ride” – we enjoyed this:)

We headed up Mickey Avenue and we saw lots and lots of people dressed up for Mardi gras – well, not TOTALLY dressed up but were wearing loads of beads and the T Shirts ….and they were quite happily handing out beads! Millie was chuffed that a lovely little lad gave her some beads! She then had her face painted along Mickey Avenue in Mardis Gras style.

Turned into Streets of America and watched Muppets 3d – another great 3d show but nothing has come close to Mickey’s Philharmagic! When we came out the fog had lifted and it was glorious warm sunshine

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We were really taken with “Streets of America!” and could have spent ages just looking around but we were pretty tired and had only been here a few hours! This park was much more busier than the other parks and I guess we had been spoilt with the virtually non existent queues. We decided to give Star Tours a miss – well, Millie didn’t really want to do it and neither did DH…so I conceded (DH & I had done this in DLP).

Mooched down towards Commissionary lane to catch Sully & Mike….a small queue…..hugs and pics taken

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Had some lunch at the ABC Commissionary and sat outside in the baking sunshine…..

Millie and I spent time huddled over the map deciding what to do next…..and we plumped for Aerials grotto. I avoided mentioning the Beauty & the Beast – shame on me!! We had missed the 1 o/c show and the next one was at 2.30 and I was conscious that we were all flagging a bit and we had late entry planned for Epcot!...by the time we reached Ariel’s grotto there was still a long queue and fastpasses were far too late for us….so we waved goodbye to Aerials grotto. Millie was fine about this bless her *HUG*

So, we decided to call it a day here and strolled back to the hat….where Millie bought an MGM pin

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We did stop on Hollywood Boulevard to watch the hilarious scratch band (I’m not sure if that’s what they are called!! If it’s not, please don’t ask where I got that term from…I haven’t a clue!!!) So so funny….the girl in the red had to sing a song in the style of rap, and for the life of me I cannot remember the song!! They also sang “when you wish upon a star” in Elvis style!!!

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...you can just make out the Elvis sneer on the lady in red!

A quick photo and autograph with the Queen from snow white….

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On the bus and back home for some R n R……which turned into Millie and DH having a swim ?!....whilst I had 45 mins shut eye

5.30 and we head over to the foodcourt to grab some dinner and then off to Epcot. We get to Epcot at about 6.30 and get in the queue for our late entry wristbands – exciting stuff! The aim here was to try and get some of futureworld done this evening, before illuminations – this would then allow us more time to explore the world showcase on our designated Epcot day.

We are immediately taken with this park – it looks stunning at night, all lit up

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the pavements are great fun and spend quite a while just messing about!

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We then go onto Spaceship Earth which was a walk on – we really enjoyed this and Millie was full of questions about cavemen, Romans etc. when we came out as she is learning about “olden times” at school! ( now I can relate to an older post where people had listed their favoutrite smells, sights etc….many people had put “Rome Burning” and I hadn’t a clue what this was……now I know !).

Next over to Figment – again a walk on. GREAT FUN!!! Although I think I was the only person who could not smell the skunk – DH & Millie were gagging at the smell!!! The imagination lab was virtually deserted so we had great fun here too – spent ages making music with figment

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…..the sound mats were fun too and we were the only people on them! Also spent quite a while on the Kodak thing where you make a funny photo…which we emailed to my niece (it was the only email addy I could remember off my head!)

It was 8.15 already so we took a slow walk up to the showcase - all the railing space at the front of world showcase was full and Millie was shattered so we didn’t dare risk walking further up – we leant against a railing just down from Mexico – the plan was that Millie could have a kind of piggy back on DH and half stand on the railing to watch. We camped on the floor waiting for it to start…..and Millie fell asleep!!!

It started – Millie awoke (thankfully quite chirpy…I though she’d be all grumpy!) – Illuminations was amazing – we had heard this each night from our room…..but we just were not prepared for the sheer scale of this – fireworks everywhere! We couldn’t quite see the water effects properly (Millie could though!) but it was still an awesome show – again, I took some video footage on the camera although I really did not know where to point it – the fireworks were everywhere….at least we had the sound with it as well tough  DH & I both said would we love to see this again…..

Time to go and we walked really slowly back as Millie was really tired but being a real trooper …..

Before long we were on the bus….Millie fast asleep in my arms……and then DH carried her back to our room….

Forgot to mention earlier what mousekeeping had been up to today…..we came home to this when we got back from MGM!

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Our mousekeeper had obvioulsy realised that Millie likes leaving her notes in the morning! and yes, one more addition to the "cuddlies"...a Shamu!

Heads had hardly hit the pillow and we were soundo…

Tomorrow – another rest day……shopping at premium outlets and R n R by the pool 
 
You got lots done in on this day and what was left undone just gives you a place to start next visit. Thanks again for sharing your reports and photos.
 
Your reports have been great reading. Can't wait to read the next one!

Thanks,
Andy :cool1:
 
Arrr didn't Millie do well today, no wonder she had 40 winks, it sounded like a great day and you had some lovely photos too

mandymouse :earsgirl:
 

Hahaha! Your description of going on RnR is almost the same as mine with my son Danny! Like Millie, he didn't know the coaster went upside down and I er ... neglected to tell him! Shame on me. As we queued up to get into the limo he saw the one in front shoot off and he froze. It took some slight persuasion to get him onto the ride after that and he too banged his head on the way round. As he got off he had a huge smile across his face and his words were something like "That was brilliant Daddy! Lets do that again!".

So the next time he went on with Ruth (my dear wife) who absolutley and utterly hated the ride. She has sworn never to do it again! She was literally shaking with fear and the video of I took as she came out is very funny - she was not amused!
 
You really manage to capture that magical feeling in your reports :) (and I love all the photos!)
 
Another great report - thanks. I too thought ToT was hysterically funny and loved it, possibly my fave ride of all.
 
Another fab report, I too always feel a bit quesy when I get off R n R coaster but love it. The animals on the bed all look like they are playing bingo.

Sue :wave:
 
Wow, another brilliant day :cool1: I have this mad urge to ride Tower of Terror but I haven't quite managed it yet ;) Thanks for sharing your day with us, sounds like you had a great time.

Anz :earsgirl:
 
pooky_uk said:
I was in a shop downloading the memory card from the camera at the time.

Out of interest Pooky, what did you download the memory card onto; and how much did it cost? :) I'm taking my digital camera and my biggest worry is running out of memory!! :flower:

Enjoying your holiday reports, I think I will burst before my own holiday in May :Pinkbounc
 
Piglet, I know Pooky will reply anyway (shes nice like that!) I took a Canon Powershot A85 digital camera with me. Its a 4 mega pixel thingummybob-doobries. The camera takes Compact Flash cards and I took 4 x 512mb cards with me not knowing how much I'd use. In the two weeks I was there I took 1,033 photos and totally filled three cards and started on the fourth on the 12th day.

I know the size of the photo can be determined by the quality of the setting you have the camera on. I turned my camera onto full whack to try and get the best photos I could - but this made each picture weigh in between 1.6mb/2mb. If I had lowered the quality, the file size would've been smaller and I'd have got more shots on each card, so its swings and roundabouts.

Each 512mb CF card for my camera cost around £25/£30 and I ordered all of mine from the 'net. You'll need to check your camera to see what type of memory it takes. My suggestion would be to take more than you think you'll need!
 
Hi Piglet - I'm not a techie like Andru ;)!

So.....I had one 256mb memory card and downloaded it onto a CD every other day (as I dodn't want to run out of memory!). They have them in all the WDW parks - they don't have this facility at the shops in the WDW resorts nor do they have this facility in DTD (or seaworld)...so rather than spend money on extra memory cards, I just asked if they could empty my memory card onto CD...which they did ....@ $11. 5 CDS later and back at home.....they loaded up onto the PC with no problem and have had no problme in getting actual prints off here in the UK (altough I beleive they are cheaper to develop in the USA). I didn't have time to chose which pics I wanted actual prints of so that's why I just downloaded onto CD there and thought I'd worry about what pics I wanted etc. when I got home.

Phew, hope that's clear!?

Laura
 
Thanks for the info - and to AndRu too :)

I don't really want to buy any more memory cards as I will never need that much memory again (until I return to Disney!) so I will keep a look out for places to download my card.

I am also taking ye olde camera too, and plenty of films, so between the two I should be ok :flower:

When I booked this holiday I never realised there would be so much planning! I'm loving it, and these boards are full of info for a Disney first timer pirate:
 
The magic of mousekeeping! That should be listed as one of the ~top~ benefits of staying at an onsite resort. Our children's faces when mouskeeping had been and "sprinkled some magic" :wizard: were a picture.

Thank you so much for sharing your wonderful report and photo's! It sounds like you had a magical time.

:sunny:
 














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