If it's Tuesday, this must be Epcot. ALL FINISHED, PLEASE MOVE ME OUT. SO TIRED.

[nebo]

Hey, boys and girls. I haven't got much time tonight, so this is gonna be an abbreviated version.

Um, why is the word "abbreviated" so long?

Yeah, I know, I plagiarized from the best. Steven Wright I believe.

But seriously folks, this was one hell of a day.
Illuminations, lunch at Coral Reef, Soarin, Davy Jones concert.

But wait.
There's more.

And a Simply Segway tour.
Not sure how to do a simple segue into it though.

Sorry. I'll shut up now.

Oh, by the way. I am totally serious about needing to know where the heck I can find a talking garbage can.

And Devine.
Please, if you have any info on them, post to me here. My life will just be a meaningless drab existence if these "feats" haven't been realized before I die.

And you know how old I am. Could be any day now.

Ok, where was I?

Oh yeah, sailor ready for bed?
Who was she anyway?

We got up that morning, Had to be at Epcot before opening so I didn't have to worry about "She Who Must Not Be Disturbed."

She actually beat me up.
And I had the black eye to prove it.

Just kidding honey. Honey?

Boy, this day is gonna last 3 weeks if I don't quit making stupid jokes.
It's true though, she was up before me. We got ready, and grabbed a Slim Jim for breakfast on the way to the bus stop.

What? Got something against Slim Jims? Hey, breakfast of champions.

Mr. and Mrs Nebo got to the park about 20 min. before opening. Perfect.

While normally, we don't have to be in "commando" mode anymore, I do still like being there at opening.
More excitement builds, and you know you have the whole day in front of you.

Gates open, and for some reason Epcot likes my fingers.
No problem.
We get to the holding area and wait another ten minutes.

I have come to the conclusion that I now know who the most powerful people are on the face of the planet.
Nope, not Bill Gates, or Kim Jung from North Korea, or even our Commander in Cheif, or even Oprah, .......

it's the cast members who control the rope walk.
Yep.

Nobody ever tries to pass them up on the way to wherever they are headed.
Nobody.

They should just put some of them on the Gaza strip.
Problem solved. Nobody's going anywhere they don't belong.

Oh shoot, think my soup is boiling over, sorry, gotta run.
tomorrow.

 

[riopooh]

Great report and great wiring!! Can't wait to hear more.

I'm very jealous of the empty nest trip idea - we are just past the peak of the cute kids era (DS 10 & DD 4) and headed towards those dreaded teen years where they knows everything and are too cool for Disney - we are trying for one more good trip before we hit that full force!! (DS 12 & DD 6). And of course having DD a little later in life means just when I'm recovering from the first wave, I get to do it all over again!

I'm also a little jealous of the getting rid of the DH for a couple of years idea -but I won't go there!!

Keep it coming!!!

 

[smidgy]

riopooh - do NOT get rid of the DH for a couple of years.. too many years wasted. hubby (nebo) is right about the power thing - even the poor CMs who walk to the stupid imagination pavillion - no one DARES pass them up (nebo still cracks me up!)
those rope guys have more power than a loan officer in control of your dream home! hee hee. (by the way, you would think there would be a little more imagination in a pavillion called IMAGINATION?) di

 

[smidgy]

oh yeah! one more thing. even though our DS, at the age of 15, looked like he had the perpetual "sean penn sneer" on his face the whole time on our last trip.. NOW(that he is 27) brags about what a great time he had on that trip and SINGS PRAISES about "dad is great! he's the best dad in the world! he gave us a great trip! NO ONE does DISNEY like my DAD does!" yay nebo!!!!

 

[weeks4vols]

They should just put some of them on the Gaza strip.
Problem solved. Nobody's going anywhere they don't belong.
*****************************************************



This needs to be nominated somewhere for 'post of the year'...if they have that around here...

 

[nebo]

Ok, where were we?

Oh yeah.
So, there we are, 150 miles down the Amazon River, in a boat with a blown engine, and running out of rations. Drifting. And I can hear the waterfall up ahead.
Oh, sorry, wrong trip report.

Ah, actually, we are in the group headed for "soarin".
Another group was headed for "Test Track", And the last was going to "Honey, I shrunk the Audience."
Only problem was, no one was in that group.

We are right behind the CM's with the rope.
And I see someone sneaking off to the side to get ahead.


They shot him.

Ok, ok, I'm kidding.

Nobody passes up those guys.

Down in "soarin", we pick our rows, and then the pre-show starts.
This is one of my favorite parts of the whole ride. Because someone in our group is going to say,,,,,,,,,,,,

"Hey, who is that guy? He looks familiar."

And I stand there and smile.

I know.

It's Patrick Warburton, who played Elaines boyfriend " Puddy" on Seinfeld.

Sometimes I tell them. Sometimes NOT.

Oh, the power, knowledge is Power.

I decide to be magnanimous this time, and say it out loud for most of the group to hear.

The guy who asked the question in the first place looked at the screen and said, " No, that's not it, somebody else."

So much for magnanimosity.

I really like this ride but to be honest, after doing it about 8 times now, I"m ready for a new installment on the video part.

After the ride, I look at her. She seems to be ok, she's done it before but the height thiing still gets to her.

We go over next door to "Living with the Land"

I remember doing this when we first came down to Disney in the earlly '90s
And I remember being bored.
Now? I like it. That's probably not a good sign is it?

Right baaaaackk, 'puter hates me, need to reboot.

 

[OhMari]

Introduction


Well, we tried. And most of these people just rent a cabin in Wisconsin for two weeks every year.

Every year.

This cracked me up. I cannot believe the people that do this. I'm from Wisconsin and I will never use my vacation days to stay in Wisconsin. You should have seen the traffic going up north for Labor Day weekend to stay in their cabins. I'll take the heat and warmth for my vacation to WDW anyday.

 

[nebo]

Yeah, I'm trying not to turn this into a "then we did this, then we did that" trip report.

So, we did "soarin", then we did "living with the land" and then we did " turtle talk with Crush".

I guess I expected a little more from turtle talk. I get the feeling it can vary a lot by what questions the kids in the front will ask.

Wander around for a bit, killing time, looking at the flowers.
Nothing comes close to the Epcot flower show in may.
Busch Gardens? Throw in the towel.

At almost noon, we head over to the Coral Reef for our lunch res.

Now, this was more her choice than mine
Me and fish don't always get along, and this place specializes in it.

But once she found that the Coral Reef was downgraded to a tropical storm from a Signature Restaurant, that's what she wanted.
Ok, I'll try it.

I can eat your normal friday night fish fry. It's usually deep fried cod.
No problem.

But that's about it.

Sorry, have to backtrack here.

Back in the 80's, we used to keep a small cruiser up on the Chain O lakes.
one afternoon, the four of us and two other couples stopped at a place called the Aquarium Lounge to escape all the deranged boaters out there.

Big mistake.
The gimmick here is if you swallow a minnow, you get to buy one of their logo shirts for 5 bucks.

Of course DF did it as soon as we sat down. Then, so did his wife

I cringed.

Then DF2 and his wife did it.
I'm shaking.
Don't like where this is heading.
Then, my wife, my first wife, the woman I entrusted every secret, insecurity I ever had, she did it.
She did it. shudder
The t- shirts were flowing.

It got worse.

My older son, "Hey! get one out for me, I can do this."

He is all of 7.

Another t-shirt.

I start to look at my 5 year old.
"Jer, don't even think about

"Daddy, daddy, where's my fish?" Yeah, he does it too. Another 5 dollar minnow. At this point I am doing my best to turn invisible.
I'm sick from just watching them.

At this point, my little buddy Jeremy turns against me.
"Dad, you're the only one left, you're gonna do it right?"

"No son, I already did this last year. No need to do this again. Beside's, they are running out of bait,,, er,, minnows.
Good old DF chimes in, "I don't think so Nebo, when we docked you said you were never here before."
Ah. Thank you for sharing.

I looked at my kids, with the illbegotten reverence in their eyes, staring up at me, and I told the bartender to take the smallest minnow he could find, and drop it into my JB and soda.

I'm the only one who had to use this tact.

I watched it swim around amoungst the ice cubes, until it started slowing down.
Guess it didn't like scotch.
Just before it went belly up, I took the whole drink down, fish, ice cubes and all.

I didn't want my throat to know the difference between fish and ice cubes.

Then I sat there and stared. Straight ahead. For about 10 minutes.

Praying.

Did that thing just flop in my stomach?

I was greener than the DIS ribbons green. On the verge of pulling a ZZub.
And not a La La fanny pack in sight. Then the bartender told me.
"Sorry, all out of t-shirts."

Figures.

There are other fish stories,

So here we are checking into Coral Reef.

She gives our name to the hostess, I ask for the non-cellphone section please.
Hostess laughs. " yeah, I wish."

Now I had talked to my friend at work who told me his wife is just like me about fish.
And that she always orders the mahi mahi cuz it doesn't taste like fish.

Ok, good enough for me.
I order it.

Diane orders the blackened catfish. A bottom feeder, one step up from a bullhead. Yuck!

Well, mrs coworker was right.
Didn't taste like fish.
Did'nt taste like anything.

"So, hows the mahi mahi?"

Dunno. Needs artificial flavoring.

We swap small pieces. She agrees. But her stupid catfish tasted pretty good. Obviously didn't come from the Chain O Lakes.
Oh, and the fake fish I ordered came on a bed of couscous.
That's what the menu called it.

But nowhere near the kind of couscous that you get in the Morrocco restaurant. That is basically flavored sand.
This stuff was made out of pasta it seemed. Little tiny balls that were impossible to chew. It would just squirt away from your teeth

The only way to chew it was to take your tongue and smash it against the roof of your mouth.

But, I digest.
No, actually this is a nice place for dinner or lunch, and we had a table right across from the aquarium windows that line one side of the wall.

sorry, gotta run.
I am disappointed in you folks though. After that heartfelt plea not one of you reading could tell me where to find Devine or a talking garbage can?
coming: a simple segue

 

[Shane6294]

I am really enjoying your report. It's important to venture into the world with a sense of humor.


As for Devine: I have seen her a few times on the pathway from Africa to Asia, closer to the Africa side, right past the bongo drum set up. She'll be the woman dressed as a tree.

I have also seen the talking trash cans in Tommorrowland across from the speedway in between Star Traders and Merchant of Venus. Its not always there but is pretty cool.

If you have a chance, you should try to catch the ferry to the Magic Kingdom just as Wishes is about to start. The ferry usually stops in the middle of the lake and the view is great. This is one of my favorite things to do in the world.

Have a great trip.

By the way, how are the crowds? We leave in two weeks.

 

[smidgy]

shane, apparently there is a meeting of the DISers at the hippy dippy pool at POP at 10pm sat night the 16th.
ps. you think nebo would like BLACKENED minnnows? he always LOVES when I try new recipes (NOT). mrs. nebo (aka diane)

 

[nebo]

Thanks for the Devine info Shane, and on the garbage cans.
Will be checking them out next week. Is it just me or does it seem like when all the DISers need to go cheaply, they stay at Pop?

And Ohmari, I saw all the lemmings heading north friday afternoon on the tollway and I couldn't agree with you more.
I'm goin south.

 

[wvgoofyfan]

Wonderful, wonderful.....subscribing here!

Hurry with more please!

DeVine: On the pathway from Africa to Asia, have seen her several times but never spotted her on my own....just looked for a group of people standing around and seemingly entranced by a tree! She is so cool and I did get a great picture once!

Talking trash can: At MK in Tomorrowland....have looked in vain and never, never had to opportunity to interact with him/her but heard he is quite funny.
Rumors have it that there is one at AK also, normally seen in or around the entrance.

Like most commando's I'm normally at the park entrance way too early....must be the 1st in line, must be the 1st in line....you know the drill.

Well, patiently waiting for more!


Yes- Cheap Dis'ers do stay a Pop for a Disney Fix....Seems we are taking over the resort the 1st week in October....see you all there!

 

[Shane6294]

Smidgy, I can hook y'all up with some great spicy minnow rubs. We call em minnas down here though.

I have seen the info on the POP dis parties. I hope to get to one of them.

I normally go to the world with a friend of mine and we naturally prefer to stay at the POFQ. This time with free dining the list grew to eleven and we had to be more budget conscious.

It seems the crowds have been very manageable lately. I hope this continues.

Have a great trip!

By the way, we have not eaten at a whole lot of table service restaurants yet. What is smidgy and nebo's favorite?

 

[nebo]

our very favorite restaurant is Le Cellier in Canada. you need to book early to get a dinner ADR, but lunch is still good. their moosehead beer/cheddar cheese soup with pretzel bread is to die for! the filets can be cut with a fork, and the maple creme brulee....yum! if you enjoy a fine steak, the filet with a bleu cheese demiglace is very good at concourse steakhouse at the contemporary resort. for seafood, the coral reef (ok, nebo doesn't agree, but the view of the aquarium is great. ) and for a new and dif. taste, Marrakesh in Morrocco, plus you get the belly dancers and it's not to hard to get an ADR. our fav. counter sevice is Flametree BBQ at AK
ooops! I see I am still logged in under nebo - this is smidgy(AKA diane) sorry. I'll humbly return to my own srceen name now.

 

[IWISHFORDISNEY]

Great trip report. You are a riot. Keep it coming. I almost peed myself with that description of the fish eating.

 

[Hersheybar417]

Great trip report! My DH and I are empty-nesters and don't have nearly this much fun when we go!

We saw DeVine once on one of the walkways at AK. We probably would have missed her if not for the crowd taking pictures of this vine-looking thing.

My DD, who did an internship at Disney, said the trash can is often at Tomorrowland, outside Auntie Gravity's ice cream shop. But he kind of comes and goes and it's a case of being at the right place at the right time. Good luck. And keep that great TR coming. We are all laughing like crazy here!

 

[nebo]

Wow!
I made somebody almost pee themselves. Man, it doesn't get any better than that.

"I AM SOMEBODY!"

thanks for reading people, I do appreciate it since, trust me, it takes a long time to type these out.

 

[Shane6294]

That will work. We have adrs at Concourse and le Cellier. I have eaten at Coral Reef (out of pocket) before and wasn't impressed although it has been a few years.

I actually added le cellier today and was still able to get a good time for lunch (11:50). I guess adrs are not that hard to get after all.

How much longer until your trip?

 

[nebo]

Boy. Can't believe she had to work tonight. Your "antagonist" is a bartender, and so, I had to go up and visit for awhile.

Now, home alone, guess there's no reason not to continue the report.
Swell.

After we eat dead fish, it's time to head over to Comunicore for the Simply Segway tour we reserved.
Oh, I'm sorry, Innovations.

We sign in and wait a little bit.
The rest of the group shows up, and they are all cast members. All of them.

They need so many hours to be Disney certified I guess.
They slap a name tag on my chest.
Steve.

Instructor comes whizzing in on a Segway, and we follow him to a private room in Innoventions. A short film, safety instructions, and we get to an area where we actually get on them.

As he's giving instructions, I can't hear him.
Ok, I'm about 6O percent deaf.

Yeah, yeah, I can't see, can't hear well, have a screwed up foot, did I mention the high blood pressure yet?
It's coming.

I'm a fine specimen of the Aryan race.
Hitler would have flushed me by the age of two.

Now, our instructor, "Phil", is a low talker.
Everybody, not just me, is doing the cupped hand to the ear thing.

Well, I just decide to actually move my segway closer.

We weren't supposed to move yet.
From that moment on, "Phil" had it in for me.

Sorry, I figured out how it works, and I was ready to go.
We started doing simple maneuvers, and he kept yelling at me to slow down.

Then he said, STEVEN, I want you to be the first to do the next step.
Wow, I look down, no, nameplate says Steve.

Now I know I'm in trouble. The only person that ever called my "Steven" was my mom.

When she was mad at me.
"Steven Alan, get in here right this minute."
You know the routine I'm sure.

So Phil wants me now to be the first to lead the group up the ramp, hard left, and then down the other ramp.
He's got that "cmon hot shot, show us" look in his eye.
Can't wait for me to screw up.

Fine.
I zip up the ramp, swing left, zip straight, nudder left, and zip right back down and into the same spot I started from.

Phil was unhappy.
"I told you to go slowly, you could have hurt someone not knowing what your doing."

By about now, I'm getting the whole picture and the only person that I'm thinking I could hurt was "Phil"
To be fair though, most people didn't pick it up as fast as I did.
Some had a hard time making it up the ramp, or, if they did, getting it to turn.

By the way, you are doing all this in front of anybody that happens to be in Innoventions at this time.

After awhile, they tell us that we're going outside to a courtyard for a bit.
Cool. I hang back, I wanna RIDE!
I'm the last "duck" in line and I'm having fun spinning and zipping around with all these people looking at us.
Then a big guy on a segway that doesn't look like mine pulls up and says knock it off.
These are expensive machines.

Great, Phil sent for backup.

There was this little path around thiis couryard that was ok at first but after awhile I got bored and just kinda stood off to the side.

Phil was right on one part of the training. At least concerning me.
I cannot stand still when I"m on the thing.
You have to balance yourself perfectly, if you lean a little forward, it moves forward. Lean a litttle back, it moves back.

They say it reads your mind, and it feels like it.
If you're thinking you want to go forward, you involuntarily (wow, don't make me use that word again), lean forward. And it moves.
My problem is my equilibrium is shoot.

Sorry, not shoot.
Shot.
Shot, not shoot

No really, I can't walk a straight line when I'm sober, that's why she always walks ahead of me.

If we ever did take one of those "moonlit walks along the beach", holding hands, odds are one of us would have drowned.

So, when Phil came over and lectured me on being too wild, my segway would just creep up a foot, then creep back a foot. Then creep up a foot, then back a foot.

I couldn't stop it.
He finally through his hands up and zipped away.
Bye Phil.

We really did have a great time, I recommend it. The funny thing is with the things that if you do something wrong, it growls at you.
When it was over and we were talking Diane said,
"It really is amazing how much it seems to read your mind. And know where you want it to go."

"Ah, so when you ran into that wall and we all heard it growling, it was just doing what your mind said you wanted to do?"

"Oh just shut up."

Ok, time out, soup is burning again. Back soon I hope.

 

[nebo]

After the Simply Phil experience, we had to head back to World Showcase.

Yep, it's time to see, at the American Gardens Theatre, where we just watched the Association sting up the place, ( that's a combination of "sing" and "stink",) a new headliner today, nobody less than, the amazing, incredible, ( yes, I am going for the alltime comma record,), THE TRUE HEART OF THE SIXTIES,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

DAVY JONES!

This was another line
Little wifey hates to be late.
Again, in the sun.

Can you say deja vu children?

Finally, the line moves, and as we are about to enter the " theater", there is an open pop stand/beer stand right before you walk in.

"What?"
Now? Where were you when we needed you?
We were dying out there. And you expect me to let 200 people past me while I order a couple of beers? I don't think so.

Besides, dehydration becomes me.
I'm getting used to finding a place to take a leak and having nothing come out.

Oh, did I just say that out loud?

Anyway, that little squirt from the Monkees just blew us away.

He sang good, he was clever, talked to the crowd, and even went out in the stands (in the sun) and kissed some of his more exuberant fans.

I'll never wash this cheek again.

Ok, stop it, don't turn off your computers, just kidding.

Really, he was an excellent showman.

From there we wandered over to Morocco, had a drink, then went to hear "Off Kilter"
Now, I have that confused look on my face, not sure if I like them or not.
The band is based on bagpipes, and some of the songs with a little bagpipes are terrific, but some others that are mostly themed around the pipes, well it gets old for me.

And they're in Canada.
Huh?
Sorry, never think of Canada and bagpipes in the same thought before.

When you think of Canada, you think of Dan Akyroyd, William Shatner, draft dodgers.

Oh, and Celine Dion.

Geesh!

Maybe our troops would be better served if they were stationed in Ontario.

Sorry Happyhaunt.

Ok, I think I've done enoughh damage for one night.
Coming up, your guess is as good as mine. No, no, The end of the longest day.
I hope.