DAY 3 MONDAY 23rd OCTOBER 2006
The Cast:
Heather the trouble and strife er, I mean my dear wife (mad about Winnie-the-Pooh)
Daniel my 15 year old son (mad about Jack Skellington)
Rhiannon my 13 year old daughter (mad about Tinkerbell)
El Tel Me, so old I need to be carbon-dated (just mad in general)
The plan today was for a free day where we could do what we wanted and do a relaxed catch up on any things we had missed on the first two days (e.g. Expedition Everest) followed by a lazy afternoon at Typhoon Lagoon. The loss of my contact lens last night meant a serious bit of re-planning had to be done. I searched through the yellow pages in my room and found an optician on West Colonial Drive at the junction of Kirkman Road. I phoned and was told that if I was lucky they may have my lenses in stock. I didnt have my prescription with me so I booked an appointment for an eye test and lens fitting for 1pm.
We had breakfast at Mara and decided to spend the morning at Downtown Disney. We drove their (with my glasses on I hasten to add) so that I could drive off to the opticians (the others could catch the bus back).
We spent the morning at DD The World of Disney in particular. Heather and Rhiannon were in their element here fortunately Id previously told the bank that we were holidaying at WDW and not to assume that my account was being emptied by thieves
. I picked up the Wishes CD whilst I had the opportunity Id already caught snippets of the tune on Youtube and loved it.
Here's Daniel outside World of Disney. I think he ought to sign up for the crew don't you?
Daniel got fed up shopping with the girls so decided to come with me to the opticians (it must have been bad for him to prefer an opticians waiting room to being with the ladies). On the way to the car we both picked up some treats from Ghiardellis a hot fudge sundae for me and a mint choc chip wafer cone for Daniel. Yum!
We got to the 20/20 Eyecare Center and my eyes were tested by Dr Sobel. He said I was very fortunate as he did have my prescription in stock and they wouldnt have to be made up. I could have hugged him but being I British stiff-upper-lip kind of guy thought better of it. Duly fitted out with a new set of lenses and nearly $300 lighter (but hey, so what, I could see again), we headed back to AKL.
In the meantime Heather and Rhiannon had finished shopping and gone back to AKL to relax. They picked up the previous days ride photo from Dinosaur spot the genuine terror and the hammy acting:
We had an ADR at the Hollywood Brown Derby in for 4.30pm the meal part of the Fantasmic Dining Package so we headed off to Disney-MGM Studios for that. There was also an EMH evening at Disney Studios that day.
At the Brown Derby, I thought the meal, service and location was very good (more of that in the dining reviews when I get round to it). It were pretty full afterwards and the rides were busy (thats an EMH day for you I guess) so we wandered around the studios looking in shops until Fantasmic started. We nipped in the back entrance to Fantasmic situated near Oscars Gas Station at the entrance. Though we have seen Fantasmic twice before, it seemed even better this time. Probably because we didnt have to wait for an age before it started (and the Mexican Waves made the 30 mins go quickly)and mainly because the seats were very good (we got a very good view of everything especially the water spray screens). Fantastic Fantasmic. Heres a few somewhat blurry photos of the show:
Afterwards we headed for the rides and shows. I confess to being an abject chicken when it comes to rides though Ive been building my way up at each visit. The one thing I really hate is drops. Heather was keen to ride the Tower of Terror whilst Daniel, Rhiannon and I were not (this was a bit strange for Daniel as he is the biggest coaster junky of the lot of us, but he said he was still full from Dinner). Heather was duly miffed at our lack of backbone, so I decided we should head over to the Great Movie Ride because I knew she liked that. It helped a bit, but the subsequent ride on Star Tours brought her back to smiley land. We all enjoy Star Tours ever since our first Disney trip to DL Paris in 1998. We also had a good laugh at the Mr Potato Head Darth Tater products in the shop. Having rested our tums sufficiently, we headed of to the big rides RocknRoller Coaster and Tower of Terror. Daniel didnt want to try ToT today so Heather decided to ride it by herself. There would be other opportunities for Daniel and me to ride ToT. I took the kids on RnRC. Im okay with this ride as I built up to it on our last trip to DLP though I cant help but wince every time I see it launch other guests into the ride. Woo, hoo! It was great. Heres a picture of Daniel and Rhiannon outside. Daniel has obviously had too much cola again:
We met Heather at the exit from ToT and we all rode RnRC. The ride photo looked good, so we got it. You wouldnt believe Im a coaster chicken from this it's just an act of bravado for the camera:
It was now about 11pm so we decided to call it a day and headed back to the resort. The day hadnt turned out as planned but I was a happier bunny than the previous evening now that I was able to see clearly again.
Well tomorrow was planned to be a full day at Magic Kingdom up nice and early for a breakfast at the Pepper Market on the way, with dinner at the Crystal Palace and an evening at Mickeys Not So Scary Halloween Party. What could possibly go wrong?
The Cast:
Heather the trouble and strife er, I mean my dear wife (mad about Winnie-the-Pooh)
Daniel my 15 year old son (mad about Jack Skellington)
Rhiannon my 13 year old daughter (mad about Tinkerbell)
El Tel Me, so old I need to be carbon-dated (just mad in general)
The plan today was for a free day where we could do what we wanted and do a relaxed catch up on any things we had missed on the first two days (e.g. Expedition Everest) followed by a lazy afternoon at Typhoon Lagoon. The loss of my contact lens last night meant a serious bit of re-planning had to be done. I searched through the yellow pages in my room and found an optician on West Colonial Drive at the junction of Kirkman Road. I phoned and was told that if I was lucky they may have my lenses in stock. I didnt have my prescription with me so I booked an appointment for an eye test and lens fitting for 1pm.
We had breakfast at Mara and decided to spend the morning at Downtown Disney. We drove their (with my glasses on I hasten to add) so that I could drive off to the opticians (the others could catch the bus back).
We spent the morning at DD The World of Disney in particular. Heather and Rhiannon were in their element here fortunately Id previously told the bank that we were holidaying at WDW and not to assume that my account was being emptied by thieves
. I picked up the Wishes CD whilst I had the opportunity Id already caught snippets of the tune on Youtube and loved it. Here's Daniel outside World of Disney. I think he ought to sign up for the crew don't you?
Daniel got fed up shopping with the girls so decided to come with me to the opticians (it must have been bad for him to prefer an opticians waiting room to being with the ladies). On the way to the car we both picked up some treats from Ghiardellis a hot fudge sundae for me and a mint choc chip wafer cone for Daniel. Yum!
We got to the 20/20 Eyecare Center and my eyes were tested by Dr Sobel. He said I was very fortunate as he did have my prescription in stock and they wouldnt have to be made up. I could have hugged him but being I British stiff-upper-lip kind of guy thought better of it. Duly fitted out with a new set of lenses and nearly $300 lighter (but hey, so what, I could see again), we headed back to AKL.
In the meantime Heather and Rhiannon had finished shopping and gone back to AKL to relax. They picked up the previous days ride photo from Dinosaur spot the genuine terror and the hammy acting:
We had an ADR at the Hollywood Brown Derby in for 4.30pm the meal part of the Fantasmic Dining Package so we headed off to Disney-MGM Studios for that. There was also an EMH evening at Disney Studios that day.
At the Brown Derby, I thought the meal, service and location was very good (more of that in the dining reviews when I get round to it). It were pretty full afterwards and the rides were busy (thats an EMH day for you I guess) so we wandered around the studios looking in shops until Fantasmic started. We nipped in the back entrance to Fantasmic situated near Oscars Gas Station at the entrance. Though we have seen Fantasmic twice before, it seemed even better this time. Probably because we didnt have to wait for an age before it started (and the Mexican Waves made the 30 mins go quickly)and mainly because the seats were very good (we got a very good view of everything especially the water spray screens). Fantastic Fantasmic. Heres a few somewhat blurry photos of the show:
Afterwards we headed for the rides and shows. I confess to being an abject chicken when it comes to rides though Ive been building my way up at each visit. The one thing I really hate is drops. Heather was keen to ride the Tower of Terror whilst Daniel, Rhiannon and I were not (this was a bit strange for Daniel as he is the biggest coaster junky of the lot of us, but he said he was still full from Dinner). Heather was duly miffed at our lack of backbone, so I decided we should head over to the Great Movie Ride because I knew she liked that. It helped a bit, but the subsequent ride on Star Tours brought her back to smiley land. We all enjoy Star Tours ever since our first Disney trip to DL Paris in 1998. We also had a good laugh at the Mr Potato Head Darth Tater products in the shop. Having rested our tums sufficiently, we headed of to the big rides RocknRoller Coaster and Tower of Terror. Daniel didnt want to try ToT today so Heather decided to ride it by herself. There would be other opportunities for Daniel and me to ride ToT. I took the kids on RnRC. Im okay with this ride as I built up to it on our last trip to DLP though I cant help but wince every time I see it launch other guests into the ride. Woo, hoo! It was great. Heres a picture of Daniel and Rhiannon outside. Daniel has obviously had too much cola again:
We met Heather at the exit from ToT and we all rode RnRC. The ride photo looked good, so we got it. You wouldnt believe Im a coaster chicken from this it's just an act of bravado for the camera:
It was now about 11pm so we decided to call it a day and headed back to the resort. The day hadnt turned out as planned but I was a happier bunny than the previous evening now that I was able to see clearly again.
Well tomorrow was planned to be a full day at Magic Kingdom up nice and early for a breakfast at the Pepper Market on the way, with dinner at the Crystal Palace and an evening at Mickeys Not So Scary Halloween Party. What could possibly go wrong?
