MorningGlory
Space for rent
- Joined
- Feb 7, 2007
- Messages
- 761
Cast
Me. Paul. 34. Chief planner and taxi driver. Scared and excited at the thought of the big coasters.
DS9. Paul (now called junior for the sake of this report). Absolutely bursting at the thought of Disney. As scared as his dad of the coasters but isn't showing it (yet).
Dad. 60 something. Doesn't know how he is going to handle 9 hours without a cigarette!
Brother. John. 45. Possibly the most excited of us all. Definitely looking forward to meeting Mickey.
Day 11 – Sunday 24th June 2007
For previous instalments, check out my first day which has links to all the other days so far.
Since yesterday was such a long day with the drive to and from Tampa and the late hour we got back to the hotel from the baseball, we decided we would have a bit of a lie in today before heading to MGM for the last day of the Star Wars weekends.
We ended up being awake at around 10 and after some breakfast for Junior and OJ for me, me and Junior made our way to the park around 11ish. The weather was amazing yet again, warm and sunny. We got into the park around 11:30, and the difference between walking in during opening (as we did on our first visit to MGM) and going in when things are in full swing is marked. For a start, absolutely everywhere was packed to the gunnells!! We fought our way through the crowds (sans map – I know this place now hehe!) and made our way up to Star Tours as Junior loved this ride on our first visit, so it was a must-do again. Fastpasses in hand (think we only had around a 40 minute wait) we made our way over to Starring Rolls again for some sustenance. I then realised another folly of turning up to the park late – Starring Rolls had no bagels left!! Instead of the bagel and cream cheese that my mouth had been watering at the thought of, I had to make do with a croissant and jam!! Trust me, it just ain’t the same!
A quick cigarette in the smoking area beside Starring Rolls and we then made our way over to Star Tours to use up our fastpasses, catching some of the Jedi Training academy as we passed;
I promised Junior that we would definitely make the afternoon one as this was something he had been wanting to do, but we had never quite got there on time.
After doing Star Tours (brilliant again, we really enjoyed this ride both times we done it!) we had a quick mosey in the shop after the ride, during which Paul relieved me of some more dollars before we decided to amble up the boulevard to the Hollywood Tower Hotel area, as we didn’t get near here the first day. Could I get that elusive try on a rollercoaster!?! With no hint of what was to come later, me and Junior grabbed a couple of photos in front of the Hotel;
And, after getting some refreshment from one of the small carts, we got a couple of photos in front of the Rock’n’Roller coaster building;
Not only this, but we managed to get 2 fastpasses (!!!) albeit the return time wasn’t until after 6 this evening. Waiting for the Jedi Training academy to start, we took a slow walk around the area heading up towards Lights Motors Action when Paul decided he wanted to look like Darth Maul;
I’m past worrying about this lad now, and have accepted that if the chance ever arose, he would definitely move over to the Dark Side. I’m seriously doubting my parenting skills though!
We then caught up with the Power Rangers, and Paul HAD to have his photo taken with the green one
You can take the boy away from Celtic, but you can't take the Celtic away from the boy.....;
Then, against my better judgement, we ambled into the Chronicles of Narnia attraction. Except, there’s not much to attract you about it. It was nice to get a break from the heat and sun though, so it was probably worth it for that alone. There is some nice figures of the characters from the story at the end;
Walking back round towards the main square, we decided to go down and get a seat and catch some of the parade before heading up for the Jedi Training Academy. After a couple of minutes though, we were accosted by this pair of nutters;
In all seriousness, I think the 2nd one freaked Junior out a little cos he decided there and then that he didn’t want to see the parade any more, so we walked over to the Jedi training area, where there was already quite a few budding Jedis standing in line. After a quick headcount, we decided that Junior was still close enough to the front to be chosen (although I noised him up a few times, asking how on earth Darth Maul could get chosen for Jedi training! hehe) and we decided to wait it out. Then......the heavens opened!! Well, not quite at first. There was just a few drops of rain here and there, and quite a few people pulled out of the queue (wisely, as we later realised) but we seen it as a bonus as we were much nearer the front now. Pretty soon though, the rain was falling so heavily that it actually hurt! My ears sticking out of my baseball cap took an absolute pounding and I was completely soaked through. Then, much to our disappointment but to no surprise, the Jedi Master dude came out and told us that the Academy was cancelled. Gutted, we decided to make a run for it to the car and go for some lunch at the hotel, in the hope the weather would clear later to allow us to go back for R’n’R coaster.
Back at the hotel, we bumped into Dad, John, Kevin and Kathleen and we all stood outside the rooms watching a tremendous storm batter Disney;
I ended up looking myself out of our room and had to get the concierge up to let us back in!
By 6pm, and with no let-up whatsoever in the weather, I had given up altogether on getting on either R’n’R, or any other coaster in Florida on this holiday for that matter! We resigned ourselves to dinner in the hotel again which, like the first time, was surprisingly good! I had soup followed by Roast Turkey with all the trimmings which went down a treat, followed by a few beers at the hotel bar before we decided to have an early night in front of the TV watching Spongebob Squarepants. Oh joy!
Tomorrow: Our first ever visit to the Animal Kingdom.
p.s I know the last day I done was so long ago that you have probably all forgot it by now. Im sorry, honestly! Work has been hectic with the bad weather, and I barely even get on the net now never mind getting the chance to reminisce about our wonderful holiday and write it up.
Im near the finishing line now, so im gonna make a concerted effort to get it done as soon as!
Sorry again, and thanks for all the wonderful comments and encouragement i've had so far!
Me. Paul. 34. Chief planner and taxi driver. Scared and excited at the thought of the big coasters.
DS9. Paul (now called junior for the sake of this report). Absolutely bursting at the thought of Disney. As scared as his dad of the coasters but isn't showing it (yet).
Dad. 60 something. Doesn't know how he is going to handle 9 hours without a cigarette!
Brother. John. 45. Possibly the most excited of us all. Definitely looking forward to meeting Mickey.
Day 11 – Sunday 24th June 2007
For previous instalments, check out my first day which has links to all the other days so far.
Since yesterday was such a long day with the drive to and from Tampa and the late hour we got back to the hotel from the baseball, we decided we would have a bit of a lie in today before heading to MGM for the last day of the Star Wars weekends.
We ended up being awake at around 10 and after some breakfast for Junior and OJ for me, me and Junior made our way to the park around 11ish. The weather was amazing yet again, warm and sunny. We got into the park around 11:30, and the difference between walking in during opening (as we did on our first visit to MGM) and going in when things are in full swing is marked. For a start, absolutely everywhere was packed to the gunnells!! We fought our way through the crowds (sans map – I know this place now hehe!) and made our way up to Star Tours as Junior loved this ride on our first visit, so it was a must-do again. Fastpasses in hand (think we only had around a 40 minute wait) we made our way over to Starring Rolls again for some sustenance. I then realised another folly of turning up to the park late – Starring Rolls had no bagels left!! Instead of the bagel and cream cheese that my mouth had been watering at the thought of, I had to make do with a croissant and jam!! Trust me, it just ain’t the same!
A quick cigarette in the smoking area beside Starring Rolls and we then made our way over to Star Tours to use up our fastpasses, catching some of the Jedi Training academy as we passed;
I promised Junior that we would definitely make the afternoon one as this was something he had been wanting to do, but we had never quite got there on time.
After doing Star Tours (brilliant again, we really enjoyed this ride both times we done it!) we had a quick mosey in the shop after the ride, during which Paul relieved me of some more dollars before we decided to amble up the boulevard to the Hollywood Tower Hotel area, as we didn’t get near here the first day. Could I get that elusive try on a rollercoaster!?! With no hint of what was to come later, me and Junior grabbed a couple of photos in front of the Hotel;
And, after getting some refreshment from one of the small carts, we got a couple of photos in front of the Rock’n’Roller coaster building;
Not only this, but we managed to get 2 fastpasses (!!!) albeit the return time wasn’t until after 6 this evening. Waiting for the Jedi Training academy to start, we took a slow walk around the area heading up towards Lights Motors Action when Paul decided he wanted to look like Darth Maul;
I’m past worrying about this lad now, and have accepted that if the chance ever arose, he would definitely move over to the Dark Side. I’m seriously doubting my parenting skills though!
We then caught up with the Power Rangers, and Paul HAD to have his photo taken with the green one
You can take the boy away from Celtic, but you can't take the Celtic away from the boy.....;
Then, against my better judgement, we ambled into the Chronicles of Narnia attraction. Except, there’s not much to attract you about it. It was nice to get a break from the heat and sun though, so it was probably worth it for that alone. There is some nice figures of the characters from the story at the end;
Walking back round towards the main square, we decided to go down and get a seat and catch some of the parade before heading up for the Jedi Training Academy. After a couple of minutes though, we were accosted by this pair of nutters;
In all seriousness, I think the 2nd one freaked Junior out a little cos he decided there and then that he didn’t want to see the parade any more, so we walked over to the Jedi training area, where there was already quite a few budding Jedis standing in line. After a quick headcount, we decided that Junior was still close enough to the front to be chosen (although I noised him up a few times, asking how on earth Darth Maul could get chosen for Jedi training! hehe) and we decided to wait it out. Then......the heavens opened!! Well, not quite at first. There was just a few drops of rain here and there, and quite a few people pulled out of the queue (wisely, as we later realised) but we seen it as a bonus as we were much nearer the front now. Pretty soon though, the rain was falling so heavily that it actually hurt! My ears sticking out of my baseball cap took an absolute pounding and I was completely soaked through. Then, much to our disappointment but to no surprise, the Jedi Master dude came out and told us that the Academy was cancelled. Gutted, we decided to make a run for it to the car and go for some lunch at the hotel, in the hope the weather would clear later to allow us to go back for R’n’R coaster.
Back at the hotel, we bumped into Dad, John, Kevin and Kathleen and we all stood outside the rooms watching a tremendous storm batter Disney;
I ended up looking myself out of our room and had to get the concierge up to let us back in!
By 6pm, and with no let-up whatsoever in the weather, I had given up altogether on getting on either R’n’R, or any other coaster in Florida on this holiday for that matter! We resigned ourselves to dinner in the hotel again which, like the first time, was surprisingly good! I had soup followed by Roast Turkey with all the trimmings which went down a treat, followed by a few beers at the hotel bar before we decided to have an early night in front of the TV watching Spongebob Squarepants. Oh joy!
Tomorrow: Our first ever visit to the Animal Kingdom.
p.s I know the last day I done was so long ago that you have probably all forgot it by now. Im sorry, honestly! Work has been hectic with the bad weather, and I barely even get on the net now never mind getting the chance to reminisce about our wonderful holiday and write it up.
Im near the finishing line now, so im gonna make a concerted effort to get it done as soon as!
Sorry again, and thanks for all the wonderful comments and encouragement i've had so far!
