Sunday at Magic Kingdom, otherwise known as what do you mean they dont sell alcohol in this park?
We woke early on Saturday morning with good intentions: we fully intended to leave our home at 9 am sharp so that we could be at the front gates no later than 10. But then, sometime after breakfast, I turned on the Xbox 360. What happens to a roomful of geeks when you turn on an Xbox 360?
They start playing games.
Its all downhill from there.
I think we left the house at around 10, which should be an indicator to you that we exercised an enormous amount of restraint considering all of the geeky gaming options available on this console.
We were joined on our journey by Mat, a good friend of mine and Lionels and another recent Disney convert. The five of us piled into our little SUV and headed for the hills, iPod plugged in and skipping around from ABBA to Beastie Boys and back again to Elvis. To say my musical taste is eclectic would be an understatement.
We were all in agreement about our first stop: Monsters Inc Laugh Floor! Since viewing the most recent Travel Channel special on Disney, we have been looking forward to this show. As we waited in line, I could not help but squeal MIKE WAZOWSKI! every few moments. To me, it was funnier each time. I cannot say the same was true for my companions.
Inside, discovered that they like to include the audience even more than I had anticipated, and there was a big sign asking for our jokes to possibly be included in the show! I texted my best (also my worst) to the big man himself:
Me and Mat, champion texters:
What do you call a fish with no eyes?
A fsh.
Drumroll, please!
Actually, I texted this twice. The first time, I forgot to put in the requested header. The second time, I realized I forgot to include my name and hometown. For a girl with an eye for detail, I was having a hard time with these simple directions. I attempted a third text, but lost it (I stink at texting. In case you had not figured that out by now.) before I managed to hit send. Ah well. I did, however, get two great responses:
Got your joke. ROTFLOL. Thx 4 that MW
and
Thx 4 the joke! Even Roz giggled (which was disturbing). Well try to use it in the show. Mike Wazowski
Even monsters text better than me.
Though my joke was passed over, the show was still very enjoyable. The entire thing is tailored to the audience, and the animation is fantastic! When I see things like this, I cant help but marvel at the amazing abilities of the Imagineers.
Mike Wazowski, making fun of "that guy":
After the show, we got fast passes for Space Mountain (which had a 60 minute wait seriously, people, are you insane?) and got in line for Buzz Lightyear. This has become one of my favorite rides at MK. I love the Toy Story universe, and beating my husband with my mad lazer shooting skillz (yo) is one of my long-running fantasies.
I got the lowest score of the bunch. Again, this should not be much of a shock to anyone.
With 30 minutes to kill before our fast passes would be ready, we did the best thing you can do before you ride a rickety little indoor roller coaster: we stuffed ourselves silly at Cosmic Rays Starlight Café. My one complaint about this place is that there is never anywhere to sit. The five of us bunched around the only available table, which had barely enough room for our flimsy little paper troughs, let alone our beverages. We ate over our laps as we watched the rest of the poor souls carrying around trays of food, looking wistfully over the heads of the crowds in the hopes that someone, somewhere, might get up and leave before their burgers turned icy cold.
Seriously, Disney, what gives?
Once satiated, we headed back for Space Mountain where we discovered that everyone else with a fast pass had arrived mere moments before us. We waited for about 15 minutes in a line adjacent to the standby passengers, where the air was incredibly muggy and it was getting rather hard to breathe. I lean towards claustrophobia on occasion, and I was starting to get a little antsy when finally they opened the gates for our side. We ran, not walked, to the boarding corral and grumbled about our so-called fast passes (even though they had still saved us a good 45 minutes). Once on the ride, all was forgiven and we squealed like children as we twisted and turned our way through the galaxy.
My childhood memories were pouring back into me, and I demanded that we all get on the People Mover next thats the Tomorrowland Transit Authority to the rest of yall. They can change the name, but it will always be the People Mover to me. My party grudgingly rode with me and only let out the occasional grumble about what a lame ride it was. I retort: nostalgia is NOT lame! At least I wasnt forcing anyone to go and see the Carousel of Progress
..
Sarah, Me and Lionel: having the most fun EVAR!
Cameron and Mat: seriously, when does this thing let off?
I do believe we spent most of our time in Tomorrowland, though we did make it to a few other attractions before calling it a day. Because in Florida? In July? Around mid-day? Its hot. Like, really really REALLY hot. All the water in the world could not keep us hydrated as we sweated off pounds of salty fluid. Nasty.
We hit the favorites: Jungle Cruise, Swiss Family Robinson Treehouse, and Pirates of the Caribbean. But before we could make it to Big Thunder Mountain or the Haunted Mansion, we were all rather spent.
Did I mention Sarah is Canadian? In Florida? In July?
We decided to pack it in around 3 pm, as the even the relative noobs had been on the rest of the classic rides. Besides, it was getting to be thunderstorm-oclock, and that is generally not the most pleasant time to be walking across a steamy theme park parking lot trying to find your car.
As the monorail ride in was rather unpleasant (sweaty people in small enclosed spaces, you do the deductive reasoning) we opted to take the fairy back. Aaaaaaaand, we missed it by mere seconds. Seriously, the guys saw us standing there, and they waved and signed something with both palms that we naively took to mean hey kids, well be back in ten minutes because we really, really care.
Yeah, more like 20. And somewhere in there, the skies opened up. We had to sprint to the ferry, along with the rest of the crowd that had formed during our supposed 10 minute wait, over a slick walkway and through a rather impressive thunderstorm.
Up there somewhere is some land....we think.
I believe this is one of the only times I have ever been cold at the Magic Kingdom.
The good news is that even though it took us almost an hour to get to our car (which is another one of the reasons this is our least frequently visited park its so hard to actually LEAVE) most of the rain had stopped by then. Back in the car, we were all thinking the same thing until Lionel finally said it out loud:
Wow. We SMELL!
Pretty much sums up the day.
Next: I have to go back to work? Blasphemy!
I love that movie...I'm a teen of the eighties!!!
(Of course, you'll have some adult beverages in your state room, so maybe this isn't too big a stretch!)
a trippie within a trippie.
