Sorry for the delay folks. Holiday craziness and all. Back to early October........................
Our crew was last seen headed onto the boat for a quick trip to MGM for a couple of late night rides. Before this, I had only ridden TOT once. In April of ‘05, with my older son. He and his brother had been terrified at the prospect of this ride since our first trip in the late 90's. It probably has something to do with the name. They don’t like the HAUNTED mansion or the Tower of TERROR just because, as horror flick wimps and nightmare-prone youngsters, they would rather be thrown backwards in the dark at freakishly high speeds on Mount Everest(ish) than to come face to face with a quasi-spooky Disneyfied ghost. Of course, it probably didn’t help matters that we threatened them with a ride on the Tower of Terror (as punishment) everytime they started to act up on that first trip. Anywho, over the years, my now-teenager has heard from friends, schoolmates and cousins that the TOT is the BEST ride at WDW. So he reluctantly agreed to ride it with me last April. It was not a good experience. He was freaked out by the Twilight Zone music, by Rod Serling’s creepy voice, by the cobwebs, by the CMs and by the all-around scary atmosphere of the hotel. While riding in the elevator, he was just freaking the whole time. Not because of the drop. He barely noticed that. It was the ghosts. When the doors open? Yeah, those ghosts. So, in our “official” ride photo, he had his head buried in my chest, and I was trying to comfort him. I barely remember anything about the ride. The purpose of all that background is to say this: I was psyched to ride it with my friends. Not with Jay. He doesn’t mind ghosts, but he HATES drops. Splash is his limit. TOT is not even a consideration. So, for me, having some girls that were as psyched as me to ride it, and getting to ride it at NIGHT no less, was cause for some excitement. We hurried to the ride. Actually, I think #1, #4 and/or #7 first made another pit stop(!). THEN we hurried to the ride. Once again going AGAINST the crowd who was exiting the park. Which was closing in about 15 minutes. We got to TOT. Left Jay waiting outside. And flew in to ride what was probably the last run of the night. In the hotel, Jami had us pose for a “looking scared” picture:
We then proceeded to the infamous elevator. It was us and, I think, a guy and his daughter. I don’t have the official photo, but this is one that Jami (or Sher?) took of those of us sitting to her right, just after we strapped in:
So...we rode it. Had quite the drop sequence. I actually got to pay attention, and enjoyed it all the more because I was with my girls. We also “posed” for the picture, in a kind of “Home Alone” hands to the face kinda pose (but were in too much of a hurry to buy the pic). It was really fun. Perhaps someday soon I’ll get to ride it again. With friends. I’ve given up on the family.
Next up, Rock n’ Rollercoaster. Another brief aside. I am a child of the 70's and early 80's. Yeah, yeah, I know, I’m old. I’m also from Boston. I’m a BIG Aerosmith fan. They are one of my favorite bands. I love Steven Tyler. Joe Perry’s guitar riffs take me back to my high school days. And evoke memories of my “wild” (not really) youth. And sometimes of my old boyfriend, who was a rock musician who played a lot of Aerosmith on his guitar(s). But, really, it’s the music, and Steven, not so much the old boyfriend (really, Jay, honest!), that makes me love them. I like the rollercoaster part of this ride, too, but seeing the “guys” at the pre-show, and hearing the music blast in my ear, and all the neon lights, that’s the best. Of course, that take-off is not chopped liver, either. And this is a ride that Jay will do. No big drops. Just fast and curvy, which he can handle. (Okay, I know, that could be taken a couple of ways. But you know what I meant.) So we met up with him outside of TOT, and headed over to see the Bad Boys of Boston.
Something weird happened here. Of course, there was no line, so we fast-walked the way through the whole queue area. When we entered the room for the pre-show, everyone was just walking through. There were no CMs at the exit door, and the pre-show film was over. But the flow of people kept going, and the door was open, so we followed suit. This was (I think) our only unpleasant CM experience of the trip. I can’t even remember if it was a woman or man, but the CM over by the line distribution area started SCREAMING at us to get back into the pre-show area RIGHT NOW. I think he (she?) even threatened that we would get kicked out, or not be allowed to ride, or something like that. Geesh. Take a chill pill. If they had been properly staffed, or at least not LEFT THE DOOR OPEN, maybe the “illegal entry” wouldn’t have occurred. Hmph. But, other than the sour taste left by Mr. (Ms.?) Crankypants, it was no biggie. And we got to go back and see the pre-show, which was fun. And when the band’s manager calls Sal to get a limo, we all screamed out “SALADHEAD!!!!” in honor of Kimmie’s son Conor (see the Meanest Mama report for details). We also noted the “See Ya” salute given by Steven at the end of the flick. It was a hand-up-to-the-forehead, hold-your-middle-finger down with your thumb kinda thing. The nice CM at the loading dock helped us figure it our. This would be our photo pose. And, this photo I have. (I think Sher pulled a redneck photo op, here.).....
Whoosh! We had a blast, and as we were exiting, there was some talk of maybe trying to hit TOT one more time. But then we looked and realized that it was, like 12:25 a.m. The park was CLOSED. Bummer. We started walking out, and reality was starting to hit. This was it. Our last night. Jami ran with #1 & #7 to try to get something. I can’t remember what. I think there was a gift they needed to buy, or guest services was holding some previously purchased thing for them. Not sure. The bottom line was this, we started toward the bus area slowly, waiting for the number girls to catch up. But then, the WL bus pulled up. And we had to GO!!! We suspected (probably correctly) that this would be the last bus of the night. So we gave a quick hug to Sher and Horsey, who I think were there with us, and ran to our bus. We were sad we didn’t get to have a proper goodbye! In some ways, though, it may have been for the best. I hate goodbyes. And, again, I knew it wasn’t so much “goodbye”. These are women that we would see again. I had no doubt. (In fact, we have seen some of them again already!)
The rest of the trip was fairly uneventful. We got back to the WL, packed up a little, went to bed, got up the next morning, and had the evil envelope waiting for us at the door. We were a little slow and showed up for our breakfast ADR at Whispering Canyon quite late, but they happily accomodated us with little wait. I had miscalculated a bit, and on this kinda somber morning, the shenanigans of the Whispering Canyon weren’t ideal. I actually didn’t think they’d be so silly that early in the morning. But our waitress read us well, and played it down while at our table. We had a good meal, and headed out to wait for the ME bus. Got to the airport with plenty of time to spare, secured us a couple of emergency exit boarding passes on behalf of “Daddy Long Legs”, and settled down with the DVC info to review. Yes, you heard me right. Jay had it all ready and was calculating how many points we’d need, and what it would cost, and whether or not we REALLY needed a one bedroom with the kids, etc. By the time we got on the plane, I was cautiously optimistic that he might be sold. But I wouldn’t know the answer to that for at least another week. He put it all away, we took out our books, magazines, and work (not me!!), and headed home to our darling boys.
NEXT UP: Final Thoughts
But yes, the nice CM quickly made up for it, and in fairness, this was the only meanie CM I have encountered in my 4 trips to Diz in the past 2 years. So no complaints!
I do not like goodbyes. But as you said, we knew we would see each other again! And in fact we did just 6 weeks later! 
I must have spent ZERO time with those 3 cause I had no idea they were fascinated with restrooms.
Nope I don't think so...
I thought the same thing.
and an all around supersplendiferous Fastpass!!
