OK, I'm pretty sure that my extended absence from the TR has probably put me on at least one milk carton by now (which, considering some of the
crud they've been putting on milk cartons lately, would probably be something of an improvement.) I promised at the last update that I wouldn't make people wait a month for the next one, then suggested that it meant I would make them wait two instead. So even though it's been more than a month and a half since I last updated this (and now more than six months since I got back from the trip) I am actually exceeding my (admittedly abysmal) standards by updating sooner than I planned on. At least that's what I keep telling myself (I don't think my psychiatrist is buying it though.)
So, without further ado...
Part 14: If You Can't Make it Here, You Can't Make it Anywhere (which, of course, I probably didn't do.)
When I woke up at the usual 7:30 alarm on this fine Florida morning, I felt almost entirely like crud, which is a distinct improvement over the past couple of days when I had awakened and felt entirely like crud. I suppose I could have finally been getting used to the whole routine, but With just a day left at the World, the standard "I'm just about to run out of vacation" panic seemed to be simmering at the back of my mind. Nonetheless, my standard night owl habits and perhaps a bit of residual jet lag led me to hit the snooze button for another hour of sleep, as I had the previous three days. Finally an hour later, I woke up, almost being somewhat ready to take on the day ahead.
As I prepared for the day and contemplated my plans, I realized that I had a choice to make: Either I could head back to DHS since I barely scratched the surface on the place the previous day before heading back to Epcot, or I could head for Animal Kingdom, which is the only park I had not yet made it to. I had already pretty much made the decision that I was most likely going to end up passing on Animal Kingdom on this trip, but I still hadn't quite decided what I was going to do with the day. About the only definite item on the agenda was Illuminations in the evening since I seem to have run out of proverbial steam an hour before it was scheduled, but besides that the plans were up in the air.
As with the previous day, I departed the hotel and headed for Downtown Disney, mostly with the intent of skipping the hotel buses. Although the Disney hotel buses to DTD aren't supposed to actually start running until 10:00, it turns out that buses to POFQ begin running at 8:30 (I'm not entirely sure on this, it might even be 7:30,) presumably to allow the DTD hotel-bus shunning miscreants such as myself to have some alternate route to the parks.) I can't recall exactly when I got there, but I believe the regular buses had begun running by that time as well. Nonetheless, I opted for the suggested bus to POFQ, where I got off the bus and since I hadn't really decided what I would be doing that day yet, I was going to take the first bus to a park that showed up. About five minutes later, that bus ended up being the one to DHS, so I hopped on and made my way over.
Upon arriving at the park, I was too late for the initial mad rush to Toy Story Mania, but I decided that I would give it a shot nonetheless.
Making my way over there, I found that not only were Fastpasses still available (I managed to grab one with a 2:50-3:50 return time) but the standby line showed a 45 minute wait.
Since apparently all the cool kids were riding this one, I decided that sounded almost reasonable, and decided to go for it. The actual wait turned out to be closer to 30 minutes, which provided plenty of time to get a good look at the queue, which is quite well done.
I especially liked this giant Viewmaster disc of old departed
Disneyland landmarks from the old Tomorrowland, back before they messed it up (but I digress.)
In spite of my inability to see 3D due to a laundry list of eye problems which render my left eye basically useless (but my right eye functions well enough for me to function normally,) I managed to apply the dubious skills gained from a life misspent on video games to the task at hand, and put up what I assumed to be a relatively decent score. The seat next to mine was unoccupied, hence the goose-egg from over there.
After getting off the ride, I decided to head over in the direction of the Great Movie Ride, but ultimately ended up taking the scenic route through the back of the park, where over near the notorious ABC Commisary (of Doom) I encountered some wet paint signs in a rather odd location. Oh well, I guess that answers the question about how they can get the trees to be so realistic here. I was wondering about that.
Upon arriving at the Great Movie Ride, the sign showed a 10-minute wait I intended to get in line, but instead got distracted by the various prints in the sidewalk, to the point that by the time I figured out what I was doing that 10-minute wait had somehow turned into a 40-minute wait, at which point I decided to just save the ride for the next visit. Instead, I decided to head back toward the part of the park where the Tower of Terror and Rock 'n Roller Coaster reside.
As I mentioned in a previous installment of the trip report it seems a bit odd to me that there was an entire gift shop of just Planet Hollywood merchandise at DTD, but you could sort of see the point since there was a Planet Hollywood there. This, on the other hand, is completely inexplicable. Besides, if I was inclined to shop with stars located anywhere north of the D-list, I seriously doubt that a gift shop full of vaguely Hollywood themed kitschy self-referential merchandise would be the place to do it.
Moving on, I reached the Rock 'n Roller Coaster and Tower of Terror. Both had fairly long lines, and with no sign telling how long the Single Rider line was, I decided to just grab a fastpass, but I still had a while before I could get one for RnRC (I never could quite bring myself to actually ride Tower of Terror, on this trip at least.)
In the meantime, once again I had not made any plans for food for the day (and in fact had headed for the parks without pausing for breakfast on the way out,) so I decided that a stop at guest services was in order to see if they could check on available lunch reservations. Although my original intention had been to head over to Epcot for lunch, when I got there they happened to have a 2:15 ADR available at 50s Prime Time, which I went ahead and grabbed. This left several hours to kill between now and then though.
As I wandered around a bit near the entrance, I saw one of the groups of street performers passing by, and since that sounded like a good excuse to not stand for a while, I followed them down the street where they set up their little show.
Since part of the schtick involved was that nobody was supposed to take any photos of the big important director guy, I don't have a lot of photos of that one Of course, all that probably would have happened would be that I ended up getting stuck in the act, but still. Beyond that, about all I remember was something about an overly pretentious movie director type, and a phone that rang way too much, but it was entertaining (and stationary) enough that I sat through the whole thing. Unfortunately, I never got the opportunity to question the Great Director Whatzizface about why my shares of In the Can Pictures were, well, in the can, but that's beside the point.
By the time that was done, it had just about reached the point where I could acquire another Fastpass, which I proceeded to acquire for Rock 'n Roller Coaster. Between the relatively close return times, the late lunch ADR and the fact that there was a good chance that there was going to be an annoyingly stationary parade somewhere in the middle of all that, it was going to make for an interesting time, but that time was still going to be a couple of hours away.
I still had several hours until lunchtime at this point, so I stopped to grab a pretzel before continuing onward in my wanderings through the park. I noted that it was beginning to get near time for the Lights Motors Action show, and began to head over in that direction. It is from there that I will pick up in the next semi-exciting episode of the trip report.
Coming Up Next: Part 15: Just Like Mom Used to Nag You About (Lights Motors Action, Lunch at 50s Prime Time and a Mad Scramble for More Midway Mania)