EpcotMan returns from his week of bliss

[janjandis]

After dinner we decided to stroll through Downtown Disney for a little while. I eventually made my way to World of Disney where I easily found BEAN. For anyone reading this that may not know Bean is one of the regular visitors in the chat room. Well, she used to be before she started working for Disney. She still checks in a good bit. So I hung out and talked to Bean for a little bit. She tells me that I was her second DISer she has met. She met Jan a little earlier in the week. I guess I should also mention that it was at this time when the light bulb went off. I had totally forgotten that I was going to meet Jan myself at Yee Haw Bob at oh right about that time. Being at the mercy of transportation I couldn't jet off right then so I eventually talked to Jan an apologized for standing her up lol.


Hmmm, it was at this exact moment that I was asking some poor stranger "Hey! Are you Epcot Man?" and he looked at me like I head 3 heads and said Nooooooooooo and kinda slid back away from me!

 

[EpcotMan]

Ladies and Gentlemen, while you are a captive audience I decided to go ahead and do day five for you. That is if there is anyone out there still interested. I mean after all I am coming with these updates like lightening. I hope you can all keep up.lol

I believe I mentioned in the last report that day four was the last time that we did the free breakfast at the hotel. Now that I think about it I am pretty sure that we did it once again this morning. So nothing really worth talking about there. However, later on this day I should get into a little more details about the hotel for those of you that are interested in that.

First up for today is Animal Kingdom. Let me start off by saying that I really like this park, but I still can't seem to find enough things that I care to do to keep me there for a whole day. Now normally the first thing that I would do at AK is eat breakfast at the Rainforest Cafe. I started to suggest this that morning but I just didn't for some reason. I should have. So we get in and there are some cast members out just before you get in the oasis with some creatures in little glass encased boxes they are showing off and talking about. This caught Jett's attention for a few mins. One of them was a Scorpion and one of them was a Spider similar to a Tarantula. I don't exactly know what kind of species of arachnid it was. I am sure they said but....... Anyway we take a quick look to see if the ever elusive giant anteater is out. Nothing doing there so off we go to to Kilamanjaro Safari.

Now this is an attraction that I have skipped at times. I like it and all but I so rarely get to see the animals that I really want to see and the Truck can only slow down for so long before they have to get going again. If you go on this and get a good shot of the Lions the consider yourself blessed. What a hard life they have. Sleep 20 hours a day. I guess when you are the King of the Jungle you don't get called on that often. On this particular trip I did get to see a bit more active elephants and some rhino's so that was a plus. So after we managed to help capture the poachers yet again(these guys do a great job of policing this reserve don't they ) it is off to the Pangani Exploration Trail.

I like the trails better because you get the opportunity to slow down and actually watch the animals if you so choose to. Obviously you can spend more time on the ones that interest you the most as well. I particularly like this one for the Gorillas. I just like watching the interaction of primates that are the third closest to us in genetic make up. Another species on this tour that I particularly like watching are the meerkats. They have quite curious behavior. This time when we came through the were all standing in the same place and looking up and back and forth as though there was something swooping through the air or something swing back and forth above them and there was nothing to be found. I thought it was kinda funny because one came up and starting dong just like the other four out there at the time and it only took him a few seconds before he decided they were nuts and went back inside lol. After our stroll through Pangani we headed on over to Asia for the other walking trail Maharajah Jungle Trek.

This is the trail that I have probably walked the most. I think it is just because of timing and it's location in reference to Everest. This trail is fun to me for a couple of animals. The ones that stand out the most to me though are the bats and the tigers. The giant fruit bats interest me for some of the same reasons most of the animals there do people they are not something you are going to see very often. I also think it is interesting to see how some of them sleep. There was one in particular that caught my eye this time. He was apparently asleep and was hanging by only the one foot. On to my other favorite animal on this Trek the Tiger. Tigers seem to be a bit lazy themselves but unlike the Lions at least they were awake. Actually got to see one that was a bit active. Wants kinda of funny to me is to see how their habits really are similar to that of a house cat. They way the lie and play are all very similar. It was in this section that I noticed a rather attractive CM that was an intern there checking on the animals. So I paid attention to my animal instincts and followed her out the trail. Alas she went to a CM only interest. Well, the view was nice for a while. Anyway, from there it was on to Everest.

I say it was on to Everest. Laci and I were the only ones to ride this one. Jett opted out yet again so he and Heather went ahead and headed in the direction of Dinoland. Everest is awesome. The wait time then said something like 30 mins and it only took like 15 at best. I don't have the wait time figured out on Everest as well as I do other attractions at this point, but now I have something to build on at least. We rode close to the front for the first time. Every other time I have ridden this attraction I was near the back. One of the neat things about the front to me is that when you reach the point were it looks as though the track is gone you can see a lot in the distance. My favorite part about this ride is when it goes backward in the dark. I love how steep the turn is there. Ok so after Lace and I had conquered Everest and escaped the clutches of the Yeti we head on over to meet back up with Heather and Jett in Dinoland. There were on the Primeval Whirl when we got there. Heather said she had her eyes closed on this one. That kinda baffled me because I thought that closing your eyes was supposed to make you more award of the fact that you are spinning. I mean isn't that why they tell you not to close your eyes on Mission Space? Anyway I don't believe that one is high on her list. I for one can't believe she went through it in the first place. From here we let Jett play for a few mins over in the Boneyard and then we were a bit hungry so we had some lunch.

Lunch was at Restaurantasaurus. Yes I know that was probably the least of my choices as well but I was just going with the flow at this point. I did point out however as we passed by on the way out of dinoland that we could have eaten at Flame Tree. Restaurantasaurus is your basic CS place. Hot dogs, hamburgers, and chicken tenders. You know the place. Anyway after lunch we went on over to It's Tough To Be A Bug. The line was not that long and by the time we got into the lobby area right before the doors were suppose to open we get an announcement that the attraction is temporarily out of order. I did over hear a CM say something about and emergency as we were headed out. I can only assume some guest had something happen in the previous show. Seizure or something like that. So after filing out of there we went ahead and decided to file out of AK instead of hanging around.

It was at this point that I peeled off from the group for a while and did a little park hopping while they headed back to the room. I had already spoken with James and Robbie earlier and I told them that I would just meet up with them near the end of the day so I would have a ride back to our hotel. I took the first bus that showed up and it was going to the TTC. I thought that was just perfect and took it. From there I decided to go check out how the crowds were at MK.

Things really did seem to bad at that point. I first headed over to Tomorrowland and notice that Stitch's wait time is at 5 mins to no surprise. Also no shock that it was the shortest wait time of any attraction that wasn't constantly moving. Speaking of the one that is constantly moving I decided to take a ride on one of my favs the TTA. I was also hoping to get a look at Space Mountain on it but alas they have it covered up to the point where you can't see anything going on. I have a feeling this rehab is not going to be what it is cracked up to be by some ,but we shall see. From there I took a walk through Fantasyland and it seems typical. Peter Pan had the longest wait as usual at about 30 mins. So, not as busy as it could be that is for sure.

I decided to make a stop in Liberty Square and do the Haunted Mansion since the line was pretty much non existent. I had already seen the changes they had made to the Haunted Mansion in a couple of previous trips so it there is really nothing to report here. After that I decided to walk on around and see how the wait times were over at the mountains. BTM was about 20 and Splash was about 30 so not too bad once again.

I then head to Adventureland and took a ride on another one of my favs Pirates of the Caribbean. The wait time here might as well have been zero or else I probably wouldn't have bothered since I knew I was going to be coming back here. After pirates though I did decide to give a place that seemed not so special to me the first time a tried it a second chance. Aloha Aisle for the infamous dole whips. I decided I would give the pineapple float with the pineapple dole whip a try. Now, that was good! I must admit that won me over. When I had the dole whip just by itself the first time I was not really that impressed, but something about the combination of the pineapple juice and the dole whip was great. And I am not really a fan of pineapple.

After I finished of my dole whip and I headed out and decided to take a little trip over to Epcot since I had a little bit of time still. I got there and noticed that it was much emptier than the previous day and I came to the conclusion that if you want lower crowds go to the park that had EMH night hours the previous day. That was the best way I could explain the difference anyway. It makes sense though. So I went over to Mission Space and took another ride on it. This would be my second ride of the trip to this point. After I headed on over to World Showcase and got a little tast of the food and wine. Now mind you food and wine was not officially taking place until the next day. This was kinda the soft opening for the festival. I didn't stay very long because I had to head out soon, but I did get a taste at the Canada booth. I had the salmon. It was quite good. Did I mention that the food served at the Canada booth is from LeCellier. The have a small serving of their famous Cheddar Cheese Soup available their. So after I finish off my salmon I head for the exit.

Now I had not really spent anytime at the Wide World of Sports before so I was not really sure how the transportation worked. As it turned out I could not get a bus from Epcot to go to Wide World of Sports. I had to take a bus to DHS and catch a charter bus from there to Wide World of Sports. Now once the bus came to pick me up for the Studios I asked the bus driver where I needed to go. He told me where I needed to get on the bus and then he said don't worry about it I will drop you off at the right place. I wish I could remember the drivers name now so I could give him props. I believe it's always good to give CM's that "get it" special praise. So it was not very long I had to wait before the bus to WWOS came along. Good thing to because there was not going to be too many more buses making the stop. So the rest of my evening was spent watching a couple games at the ball park and retrieving home run balls.

Once we get back to the room we have discovered that the hotel's pool area is slowing but surely becoming redneck heaven for some of the teams participating in the lower divisions of the softball tournament. According to Heather and Laci earlier in the evening they were just trying to relax in the hot tub out there when the party started to heat up. I am not really sure how long the party was going on this evening, but I was too tired to care this night. It didn't take long before I was out for the evening. Tune in next time for our day at the Studios as well as the continuing story of pool party goers.

P.S. if there are some spelling our punctuation errors in this one I'm sorry.lol
I didn't take the time to thoroughly overlook it.

 

[cmskok]

Ooh! I love rednecks, if for nothing else than the sheer entertainment value! Hey, at least your hotel was good for something!

I have only really done the Pangani Trail once...I have to do it again!

Thanks for doing this at lightning speed!! Mine is crawling alone on day 2....

 

[kathyell]

This is the best picture I've been able to get of a lion(ess) on the Kilimanjaro Safari. It's not great, but pics of them seem to be rare.

I've been on it three times since then and they've either been too hidden away or I didn't get a good shot in time. So I agree with your lion assessment!

 

[Wannabinnc]

Wow Man, I'll bet your fingers are sore!! that was a ton of info, thanx, it was great. I also love TTA and it is usually the first ride we go on. Thanx for the walking trail information, I don't think we have ever done those. Will have to check them out. Enjoying it all, keep it coming!!!!

 

[newbydisney]

It is sad commentary that poor EM has to disclose to all of us that there may be errors in his post, thereby hoping to deflect the sharp tongues of those who lurk in the chat room. I personally am making a vow to tease EM less from now on...well at least til closer to midnight.

EM I am going to Epcot Nov 19. I was wondering since you won't be there if you would design an itinerary for us to follow keeping in mind we will have lunch at Sunshine Seasons and we have an ADR at Teppan Edo for 6:50 pm. We plan to show up a bit early and maybe make illuminations. We have seen it quite a few times so not too worried if we miss some of it.

 

[CLR4321]

This is the best picture I've been able to get of a lion(ess) on the Kilimanjaro Safari. It's not great, but pics of them seem to be rare.

I've been on it three times since then and they've either been too hidden away or I didn't get a good shot in time. So I agree with your lion assessment!

If I was a lion, I'd also be staying on top of the air conditioned rock at Kilimanjaro Safari.

 

[stitchaholic]

i'm in here lurking about too now ! great report, i a, lovin that dry sense of humour, but where are the pictures EM ??

 

[EpcotMan]

The pictures don't really exist believe it or not Stitch. I mean my sis in law and my friend Heather took some but I actually did not this time. I brought the camera, but I just ended up using the camcorder most of the time. I usually do a little of both. Can't really say why I didn't take any stills lol

 

[CLR4321]

The pictures don't really exist believe it or not Stitch. I mean my sis in law and my friend Heather took some but I actually did not this time. I brought the camera, but I just ended up using the camcorder most of the time. I usually do a little of both. Can't really say why I didn't take any stills lol

Youtube!!!!

 

[Wannabinnc]

Youuuuuu Whooooooo Man, where are you??? I miss reading your trip report, please come back and write more...........

 

[EpcotMan]

Okay it is kinda sad really that it has taken my this long to continue my TR, but I shall move on as best I can. Let's see where was I? Oh yes I was on the Studios day.

Now we had discussed just a little bit earlier in the week about which park we wanted to visit on what day. The thinking at the time was doing either Animal Kingdom or the Studios on Thurs and Friday saying that it really didn't matter which of the two would be the best day. As you could see from the previous update(which I think was still sometime this decade) that we went to AK on Thursday. There is one little thing that I somehow overlooked when planning this out. Friday was a Fantasmic day. Yikes! I can't believe I overlooked something like this. I guess first I should back up a little bit here and start from the beginning of the day.

So breakfast was kind of a mess this morning. Let me explain. Heather and Jett decided to go ahead and eat in the room that morning and Laci and I were going to get something either at the Hotel or at the Park. Now there is not really a ton of selection for quick service breakfast at the Studios. I will get to that in a moment. Well, Laci and my bro had a small spat and she decided to leave the room a little early that morning let's say. While Laci was off walking off a little steam, I went down to the breakfast at the Hotel. My plan was just to get a little something until we left and get some breakfast at the Studios. All I got was a bowl of cereal and some O.J. Laci found my outside eating. By that time she was over it. As I said it was a small spat. Not too much longer before Heather and Jett came downstairs and it was off to the Studios.

So we arrive at the Studios and of course it was busy as a Fantasmic day would be expected to be. I was smacking myself in the head for missing the fact that it was Fantasmic day still. Anyway, we decided to head straight for Toy Story Mania and get Fast Passes. I don't remember the exact time now(that's what I get for dragging this TR out so long) but it was approx an hours or so from the time we got there so it was not too bad for fast passes just yet. In the meantime Laci said she could hold out on breakfast for a little bit so we decided to go on the Backlot Tour. Either Heather said she had not been on this one or it had been a while so I was all for doing it.

One of the things that I noticed different about the Tour from the last time I had been on it was that it was now a recorded narration instead of a live one. The tram also seemed to be moving a bit faster than I remembered but that could just be me. I mean when we were going through the costume and set department if you were not looking right were you wanted to you were most likely going to miss it. The "boneyard" as it is called only had a few things that I didn't remember seeing before. For those that don't know a boneyard is a place for bigger props and such that has been used in movies. The most recent thing that I personally noticed different here was that the had the bone cages from Dead Man's Chest out there. I wonder how many people still recognize the spaceship as being from flight of the navigator, or that even remember flight of the navigator. The tour now goes past the set of Lights, Motors, Action were it used to go through that area. Just another part of the Backlot tour that has been reduced. The one thing they have on the tour that has been there since the beginning is Catastrophe Canyon. Even though it has been there for quite a long time and most of you have probably seen this before I am not going to go into details about it just in case some one reads this that has not been through there before. I will say that Catastrophe Canyon could use a little cosmetic work if they plan on keeping up the illusion. Once you exit the tram at the end they do have some rather neat and interesting props to look at from movies like Pirates of the Caribbean, Star Wars etc. So after the tour it was about time to head back over to Toy Story Mania for our fast pass time.

I will start off by first saying that if you can get fast passes at a decent time for this attraction do so. The attraction still has the new appeal to it even though it has been out now for almost two years. I can best describe this attraction as follows. If you like Buzz Lightyears Space Ranger Spin at MK then this is like Buzz on steroids. Similar concept in that it is a shooting game in which you also ride in a vehicle but it is in 3D and way better. In my opinion of course. The guns you use on this attraction seems to give you a much better range of motion than do the ones at Buzz as well. Oh yeah and you pull a string instead of a trigger. Kind of like you would a cannon. In fact I think they are referred to as cannons in this attraction. So after I kicked my fellow tourers butts in this game( no compo really I was the only one with experience) it we took a short detour through One Man's Dream.

This is a really neat exhibit on the life of Walt Disney. There are several neat things in here. You can even view a recreated version of Walt's office from his studios in California. There are several models of different theme park icons and attractions throughout the exhibit. There is even an audio animatronic that you can control. There is a five min movie at the very end of this tour that I have yet to see. There always seems to be some reason for us to leave before. I will make a point to watch in next time.

At this point Laci has yet to eat any breakfast at all so I was going to navigate us toward the Commissary. Guess what? The Commissary no longer serves breakfast anymore. The only counter service breakfast at all in the Studios is now served at Starring Rolls. So we make the walk toward Starring Rolls. It is now somewhere in the neighbor of between 10:30 and 11:00. We get there and they do have a rather limited in my opinion selection for breakfast. I didn't really see anything that appealed to me and Laci being a vegetarian found the selection even slimmer. So we ended up getting some fruit at one of the places on sunset blvd to hold over until we decided on where to go for lunch a bit later. Laci got some grapes and something else that escapes me at the moment. I decided to go ahead and get some sliced apples with caramel and a bottle of water. The caramel apples that the serve at various places on property are really good in quality. Something that I would definitely suggest as a snack. So from here we decided to head on down to the Tower of Terror.

The wait time for the Tower of Terror was approx 30 mins so we didn't find that to be too bad. Jett decided to chicken out once again and it ended up just being Laci and myself going on the Tower. This is my personal favorite at the Studios. One of the biggest reasons for me is the attention to detail. The queue line is one of the best in WDW. The lobby has several very authentic looking furniture. The " library " is very well done as well. There is one thing about this attraction that is really kind of weird to me. You go into the hotel through the lobby. You are then directed into the library. From the library you go through a hidden entrance that lead you to.........the boiler room? I mean the library is not suppose to be an elevator or anything in the illusion. Why is the boiler room right behind the library wall? No to mention why are we taking the maintenance service elevator in the first place. There are no clues at all that there is something wrong with this hotel now is there? What dumb guests we are. Anyway from there we went next door to the Rock n Roller coaster.

Now this is one that Heather had not been on before as well. At least this one was kinda hidden from Jett's eyes at the beginning so he went on it. By the time we got to the part of the queue were you can see the " limo " take off really fast he wanted to back out somewhat, but it was a bit too late. Once he got on it he loved it though. As far as I can tell Heather didn't get messed up on it. As I mention before she has problems with things that spin. It seems as though I remember her saying something about probably not going back on it though. So it must have affected her enough. I like this attraction because it mixes roller coasters and music. And not just any music. Aerosmith! What is there not to love? After we finished the Aerosmith concert I believe we headed toward the Great Movie Ride. Even if we didn't let's just say that we did because that is the next thing I am going to talk about.

So as we were going into the Great Movie Ride I was talking to Heather about how they have two different hijacking scenes to this attraction. She said that the only one that she had done was the western scene. This was a bit surprising to me because most of the times that I had done this attraction I had ended up in the gangster scene. So as we get a bit closer I could see that we were going to end up in the gangster scene line. I really prefer the western scene myself. I guess because I have scene it far fewer times. No to mention there is fire involved. I kinda sounded like a pyromaniac there didn't I? This is an attraction that over the years I personally think could afford some changes. However, I still enjoy the current version even thought I have seen it several times before. Once again I am just guessing here so I say we were off to the Magic of Disney Animation.

This is an attraction that I had not been to in a number of years. As a matter of fact I think it was 2001 when I had last been in this one so there were a few changes to the format. All for the better I believe. At the beginning you go through this neat little segment with an animator and Mushu from Milan. Very funny. I sound like I work for TBS or something. Anyway, after that short segment you are pretty much free to tour the rest of the attraction at your own pace. This I like because before you were kind of guided through. At least this way you get some options. We did decide to go the animating class. At least that is what I called it anyway. I don't recall the official name. In this class you take a few mins and learn how to draw a character. The animator was trying to find a character that no one had drawn before. After going through quite a few choices we finally settled on Pluto. I am not the mostly talented drawer in the world by any means, but with someone up there kind of guiding us along I though mine was not too bad. I will definitely give this one a try in the future. It was just about time for the first showing of Light's, Motors, Action at this point so we headed on over there.

We just barely made it in before the show started. As a matter of fact the show actually started while we were walking up the stairs to get seated. Which was a shame really because the opening scene of the show is really one of the best parts for me. It's kinda hard for me to talk too much about this show without giving anything away so I won't spend too much time on this one. I will say that it is worth it to see. A show that thus far has held more lasting appeal with me than has the Indiana Jones Stunt show.

After the show was over it was time for lunch so we headed in the directon of the Backlot Express. For those if you who join me in the chat room you probably have already heard me talking about how comfortable the seating was on the inside of this CS. The food is pretty much your typical burger, chicken finger, and hot dog meals, but this still remains one of my favorite places to get counter service at the Studios. Just goes to show the lack of CS variety that there is at the Studios I guess.

After lunch we noticed Darth Vader being taken down by a bunch of kids. Wow what a wimp Vader has turned out to be. I guess nobody gives the dark side any respect anymore when a bunch of kids with plastic swords can make him run and hide. So let me see where did we go after seeing Vader tuck his tails between his legs? I believe this was the point where we started slowly heading back toward the front gate. We did get to see one of my favorite street performers as we were on the way at. Francis Floot and Paige Turner. These are the best street performers they have in my opinion. So if you ever happen to see a tall skinny nerdy guy and a semi short red head with a bit of a high pitched annoying voice you might want to stop and see some really good improv.

Well that concludes our day at the Studios. Later that evening we were all at the Ball Park to watch the homerun derby for the Softball guys. You know I don't even remember what I had for dinner this night. Must not have been very memorable at all. Anyway tune in next time for the day at MK. Also known as the day I stood Chick up on a trip to Universal. See ya real soon!

 

[CLR4321]

Sounds like a good day! You mention 2 things that I wanted to try on my next trip, the Backlot Tour and One Man's Dream. For some reason I haven't tried either of these out. I also would like to try the western version of the Great Movie Ride. I've had the gangster one everytime so far. How do you know the difference though without asking a CM how to get to the western one? I will take note of the lack of breakfast food at DHS.

 

[EpcotMan]

Cam, may I call you Cam? It is more difficult to tell which line to get in during the slower times of year to get the western scene. However, I will say that if the line is all the way outside it eventually separates into two lines. The line on your right during these times would lead you to the front car most likely. If you hadn't noticed that there are two vehicles moving at the same time and the one in the front creates distance from the one in the rear at the beginning and the come closer together at about the time of the Munchkin land scene in which the come together just in time for the final scene. Front car is western kidnapper. Rear car is gangster kidnapper.

 

[EpcotMan]

So we have come to the day before the departure day. It's hard to believe that I am actually coming to the close of this TR. I have had several doubters that I would ever actually finish it and yes I have probably dragged this on to the point were fewer and fewer people care. Oh Well. I shall continue for those that have stuck it out. lol I hope my memory of this days is as accurate as possible. After all it was way back in September now that this trip actually took place. Ok here we go.

By this morning there were less and less people stirring in the morning time at our hotel. I can only assume it was because they were nursing hangovers from the pool party the night before. Heather, Jett, Laci, and I decided this morning for breakfast to go basically across the street to the Ihop for breakfast. It was good. It was fairly typical quality wise for Ihop in my experience. I have usually enjoyed the food and service that I have received at the Ihops I have been to. The only thing about this one that was a bit annoying was that it was in the middle of tourist central. I say that because you have the booth outside that is trying to get you to buy tickets to this and that. I am sure there are some people that find that to be very helpful but I see it as nothing more than someone begging for your tourist dollar. Anyway while we were at our table there was a guy that was doing balloon animals for tips. He had on an Ihop shirt so I can only assume that this was normal and this particular chain gave him the ok given the location. Did I mention that in the shirt pocket he had something that said tips and a five dollar bill showing? I guess it is possible that someone gave him five dollars for his simple tricks but I am leaning toward he put it there to influence you. I mean the guy comes over there and uses kids to make money basically. I guess to me it is just the most obvious and simplest form of using children to make money. I suppose I shouldn't ramble about this too much since it is really no different than department stores using toys at Christmas time to drain the parents wallets. Anyway I digress. Let's move on shall we?

Today was Mk day. Also known as the day I ditched Chick and Universal to go to the Magic Kingdom. Yes Chick had spoken to me a day or two before about going to Universal on this day and I eventually decided to stick with the others and go to MK. I guess I really didn't want to cheat on Disney any more than I had to. lol I guess I should also mention that this was a Saturday and MK was a bit crowded let's say. On with the day

The first land that we headed to was Tomorrowland. This was because Jett, really likes the Astro Orbiter. Now, Heather his mom can't handle this ride at all. I am sure you remembered from early in this report(if you can remember that far back) that Heather has issues with things that spin. So, Jett and I rode together on this one. The one thing that I can say about this one is that you do get a fairly good view of things. At least for those brief few seconds you can see them as you whiz by. You know these types of rides seem longer when you are on them than they do when you are waiting. Or maybe that is just me. Anyway the next thing we went on since we were in close proximity was one of my favorites. The Tomorrowland Transit Authority.

Now I know this ride is simple and all, but it is still one of my favorites. Nothing like a relaxing stroll through Tomorrowland. This would actually be my second ride on the TTA this trip as I mentioned the first trip in an earlier day. Since nothing really all that interesting happened on this go round. I will keep this paragraph short and move on to the next thing. Now what was the next thing? Oh yes, it was Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin.

Now this attraction has become a bit stale now to me. I mean since they added the more technologically advanced version with Toy Story Mania. It really makes this one look like a Dinosaur. Still, I had fun with it. I had the highest score amongst my group of course. I really shouldn't brag given the group. lol After we were done saving the universe from the Evil Emperor Zurg we decided to head across the way to Adventureland. I think.

Once in Adventureland we first decided to do some more spinning and go on Aladdin's Magic Carpets. Now for some reason Heather is able to handle this one. I can only come to the conclusion that there is some wacky combination of heights and spinning that messes with her head. I was in the front seat along with my sis n law Laci. The front seat was perfect for me because I was in control of how high we went. Now, someone like myself would never do a thing like make an attempt to stay at the same level as the Camel spit and try to get those to my outside wet. So after the spinning and spitting was over we decided to head to the Jungle Cruise.

Now it had been a while since I myself had been on the Jungle Cruise. If I am remembering correctly we decided to do this one because Heather wasn't sure if she had been on it before. This is a classic. I have told my Dad before that he would be a good fit for the job of skipper because he is all about some corny jokes. We had a decent skipper. I don't even remember his name right now so that tells me that it wasn't a ride that stood out like some of the skippers I had the privilege of riding with in the past. We managed to escape the threat of wild animals, natives, and being cornballed to death just in time to make it to Pirates of the Caribbean. Since I already went on this attraction in an earlier day as well I will just skip the details and move on to Frontierland.

The first attraction that we went on here was Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. I really don't remember how we managed to get Jett on this but we did. I can only guess that it is because it does not have an big drops or anything like that which is visible from the outside. This is nothing new to me but I am not sure if there are others that may not have noticed this yet. You know how when you are in line you can go to either the left side or the right side. Well, whichever side you chose you end up on the other side when you exit. There are plenty of people that have never really thought about this I guess. After our wild ride through the wilderness at least some of our party went on to tackle Splash Mountain.

Once again this was one that Heather had never been on. Laci and Jett opted out of this one for different reasons. Jett, because he was being a chicken and Laci because it seemed as though she still had visions of Atlantis still in her head. lol Now if I remember correctly when we got in line for this one it said 30 mins. As we were walking I noticed right away that the time had not been changed yet and in a big way. I told Heather there is not way that this line was 30 mins because we were lined up on the outside. I don't know how many of you can imagine what the queue line looks like in your head, but the line is normally about 20 to 30 mins from the steps and we were not going to reach those steps anytime soon. It was not long that we were in the line before Laci sent me a text that the time had changed to 50 mins. That seemed more accurate and sure enough it turned out to be just about that. Once we got to the front of the line Heather was saying how she didn't want to be in front. I told here that the "wet" factor was not as severe on this attraction as it was on Atlantis. I don't recall really getting very wet on this one unless you are in the log that is unfortunate enough to get caught at the bottom of the second lift while another flume is descending to the brier patch. Then you get the splash coming from the cannons. It turned out not to be a factor for us as we were sitting in the second seat and the log directly in front of us got the cannons. She was really impressed with the detail on this one. I agree. The details is the main reason this is one of my favs. Once we made it home to the brier patch our next venture was to find some food.

We elected to walk over to Liberty Square to get some lunch at the Columbia Harbor House since our next attraction was going to be the Haunted Mansion. Now, I have enjoyed the Harbor House the times I had been before, but this we turn out to be my worst experience thus far there. It doesn't as much surround the quality of the food as much as it does the service. I ordered the chicken and fish combo. Once I made it to the front where I was to pick up my order I waited for a few mins until the person behind me order was called. I thought it to be unusual, but saw no big deal to this point. After a few more mins the next person behind me order was called. At this point I was kind of expecting a cast member to realize that I was moving out of the way for people behind me, but no one ever did. So I told them that I had been waiting here for quite some time and that two people behind me orders had come and gone. The girl I mentioned it to was kinda of embarrassed as to what had happened and she made sure that I got mine next and she put a dessert on the tray for my inconvenience. At that point I don't know if it was the fact that I was ignored earlier or what but I really didn't enjoy the meal at all or the free dessert. It kinda soured my opinion on the Harbor House, but I am sure I shall give them a try again someday. However, it will probably be a while.

Ok so at this point I kinda feel like I have been rambling on for a while now so I am going to take a brief intermission on this day and pick up with part two a little bit later. I shall continue part two of this day with Fantasyland since once again I had already mention the Haunted Mansion in a previous day. I will try and pick this day back up in an hour or two.

 

[CLR4321]

Well I am glad to hear that you had a good time at MK while you ditched FLChick. I have also experienced the "skipped in line" thing at MK, but my experience was at Pecos Bills. We waited longer than you, it ended up being about 10 mins of people passing us up before my boyfriend stepped in and asked (I had taken my son to the restroom while he waited). I have found that CS inside MK isn't fabulous. But oh well, perhaps the new Fantasyland restaurants will alleviate some of the food traffic and things will be run a little better.

 

[FLChick]

Ok, here it is. My long awaited reply. Let's see what EM has in store for us .....

So breakfast was kind of a mess this morning. Let me explain. Heather and Jett decided to go ahead and eat in the room that morning and Laci and I were going to get something either at the Hotel or at the Park. Now there is not really a ton of selection for quick service breakfast at the Studios. I will get to that in a moment. Well, Laci and my bro had a small spat and she decided to leave the room a little early that morning let's say. While Laci was off walking off a little steam, I went down to the breakfast at the Hotel. My plan was just to get a little something until we left and get some breakfast at the Studios. All I got was a bowl of cereal and some O.J. Laci found my outside eating. By that time she was over it. As I said it was a small spat. Not too much longer before Heather and Jett came downstairs and it was off to the Studios.
Finally some drama. Now it is a real family vacation.


I wonder how many people still recognize the spaceship as being from flight of the navigator, or that even remember flight of the navigator.
Ok I recognized that when I was there Labor Day with Septbaby. I remember that movie. I loved it as a kid. My favorite part was when he was in the ship singing to the beach boys. Oh and not to mention the fact they were in Florida and flying over the coast. I always thought that was cool.


I will start off by first saying that if you can get fast passes at a decent time for this attraction do so. The attraction still has the new appeal to it even though it has been out now for almost two years. I can best describe this attraction as follows. If you like Buzz Lightyears Space Ranger Spin at MK then this is like Buzz on steroids. Hopefully one day I will make it on this ride. Buzz is one of my favorites.


This is a really neat exhibit on the life of Walt Disney. There are several neat things in here. You can even view a recreated version of Walt's office from his studios in California. There are several models of different theme park icons and attractions throughout the exhibit. There is even an audio animatronic that you can control. A favorite in DHS. I like being able to stroll through and check out all the old stuff.


There is one thing about this attraction that is really kind of weird to me. You go into the hotel through the lobby. You are then directed into the library. From the library you go through a hidden entrance that lead you to.........the boiler room? I mean the library is not suppose to be an elevator or anything in the illusion. Why is the boiler room right behind the library wall? No to mention why are we taking the maintenance service elevator in the first place. There are no clues at all that there is something wrong with this hotel now is there? What dumb guests we are.
Umm hello? The hotel is built in Florida. We don't have basements here. Had to put the boiler room somewhere!


We did get to see one of my favorite street performers as we were on the way at. Francis Floot and Paige Turner. These are the best street performers they have in my opinion. So if you ever happen to see a tall skinny nerdy guy and a semi short red head with a bit of a high pitched annoying voice you might want to stop and see some really good improv.
Only you would know the names of these people.


tune in next time for the day at MK. Also known as the day I stood Chick up on a trip to Universal. See ya real soon!
Oh this should be good!

So we have come to the day before the departure day. It's hard to believe that I am actually coming to the close of this TR. I have had several doubters that I would ever actually finish it and yes I have probably dragged this on to the point were fewer and fewer people care. Oh Well. I shall continue for those that have stuck it out. lol I hope my memory of this days is as accurate as possible. I'll be the judge of that! After all it was way back in September now that this trip actually took place. Ok here we go.

By this morning there were less and less people stirring in the morning time at our hotel. I can only assume it was because they were nursing hangovers from the pool party the night before. Heather, Jett, Laci, and I decided this morning for breakfast to go basically across the street to the Ihop for breakfast. It was good. It was fairly typical quality wise for Ihop in my experience. I have usually enjoyed the food and service that I have received at the Ihops I have been to. The only thing about this one that was a bit annoying was that it was in the middle of tourist ghetto . I say that because you have the booth outside that is trying to get you to buy tickets to this and that. I am sure there are some people that find that to be very helpful but I see it as nothing more than someone begging for your tourist dollar. Anyway while we were at our table there was a guy that was doing balloon animals for tips. He had on an Ihop shirt so I can only assume that this was normal and this particular chain gave him the ok given the location. Did I mention that in the shirt pocket he had something that said tips and a five dollar bill showing? I guess it is possible that someone gave him five dollars for his simple tricks but I am leaning toward he put it there to influence you. I mean the guy comes over there and uses kids to make money basically. I guess to me it is just the most obvious and simplest form of using children to make money. I suppose I shouldn't ramble about this too much since it is really no different than department stores using toys at Christmas time to drain the parents wallets. Anyway I digress. Let's move on shall we?

Today was Mk day. Also known as the day I ditched Chick and Universal to go to the Magic Kingdom. Yes Chick had spoken to me a day or two before about going to Universal on this day and I eventually decided to stick with the others and go to MK. I guess I really didn't want to cheat on Disney any more than I had to. lol I guess I should also mention that this was a Saturday and MK was a bit crowded let's say. On with the day

If i recall correctly you said it was a big mistake. That you should have gone to Universal. Did you forget this part? Oh, not to mention he forgot the part about being able to get into both Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure for FREE! But noooo, he had to be stubborn and go to the MK. See if I ever off you anything again!


Anyway the next thing we went on since we were in close proximity was one of my favorites. The Tomorrowland Transit Authority. Now I know this ride is simple and all, but it is still one of my favorites. Nothing like a relaxing stroll through Tomorrowland. This would actually be my second ride on the TTA this trip as I mentioned the first trip in an earlier day. Since nothing really all that interesting happened on this go round. I will keep this paragraph short and move on to the next thing. Now what was the next thing? Oh yes, it was Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin.
Love the TTA. Nice escape from the craziness of the park.

Now this attraction has become a bit stale now to me. Ok so far I was agreeing with you on rides as what's good and what's not. Now you have kinda pushed the limits. This might be a "dinosaur" but it is still tons of fun. I just know I could kick your butt on this ride!

The first attraction that we went on here was Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. I really don't remember how we managed to get Jett on this but we did. Ok so what did Jett think? This was my absolute favorite as a kid.

Once again this was one that Heather had never been on. Laci and Jett opted out of this one for different reasons... Ok too many people are opting out of too many rides? Did they pay to walk around the park or experience it? You could have gone to DTD for free and done the same thing if they wanted to skip so many rides. Btw, you are starting to redeem yourself with this next statement... -----> ....The details is the main reason this is one of my favs.

We elected to walk over to Liberty Square to get some lunch at the Columbia Harbor House since our next attraction was going to be the Haunted Mansion. Now, I have enjoyed the Harbor House the times I had been before, but this we turn out to be my worst experience thus far there. It doesn't as much surround the quality of the food as much as it does the service. I ordered the chicken and fish combo. Once I made it to the front where I was to pick up my order I waited for a few mins until the person behind me order was called. I thought it to be unusual, but saw no big deal to this point. After a few more mins the next person behind me order was called. At this point I was kind of expecting a cast member to realize that I was moving out of the way for people behind me, but no one ever did. So I told them that I had been waiting here for quite some time and that two people behind me orders had come and gone. The girl I mentioned it to was kinda of embarrassed as to what had happened and she made sure that I got mine next and she put a dessert on the tray for my inconvenience. At that point I don't know if it was the fact that I was ignored earlier or what but I really didn't enjoy the meal at all or the free dessert. It kinda soured my opinion on the Harbor House, but I am sure I shall give them a try again someday. However, it will probably be a while. Whine, whine, whine! Sheesh the poor girl only gets paid minimum wage and has to take care of everyone else in the park that decides to walk through those doors during her shift. Poor thing probably wasn't even in charge of your food and some stupid boy that is lazy as can be that took a break right as your order came in. I mean, come on, she tried to make it up to you the best way she could. It's not like she had the authority to refund your money or something. Give the poor thing a break! She more than likely has bigger issues to deal with than some old dude had to wait a couple minutes for his food.

Ok so at this point I kinda feel like I have been rambling on for a while now so I am going to take a brief intermission on this day and pick up with part two a little bit later. I shall continue part two of this day with Fantasyland since once again I had already mention the Haunted Mansion in a previous day. I will try and pick this day back up in an hour or two.

Ok now that I have finished reading both novels I'm wondering what happened next??? Where did you go??? What did you do??? That was a REALLY long hour or two. Be careful though because I WILL be watching the next post VERY carefully.

 

[Wannabinnc]

Wow, this is the longest hour or two I have ever waited!!! I'm glad I wasn't standing here waiting......let's go man, get a move on. FINE, I'll wait...............