Isn't 21 a Little Old For This? (4/29 - The FINALE)

[Eight]

HAHA OMG I was hyperventilating just reading about that buffalo encounter!!! What a great story! Your parents are so adventurous- that's really so awesome that you get to travel to all of those extraordinarily special destinations. I also completely LOVE your magical moment certificate; I had no idea the Harambe school was even in there- I'll have to check it out next time. Both times I've been to AK I've been rushed so I haven't even been able to walk through the trails w/ the gorillas or tigers or anything. Love that AK! Your hippo pic is also super great- it's so difficult to take good pics from that insane safari bus.

I'm glad you liked the story! I think I'll have to find a way to work in the other crazy thing that happened the day before on that trip.. I'm so grateful my parents love to travel as much as I do. I think you need to go to AK sometime and not be rushed. I feel like there are so many little details all around the park that make it really special. And definitely go on the trails. They're pretty fun (and detailed!).

It is really hard to take good pictures from the vehicle. I always feel like, "okay, let's just stop here so I can take a non-blurry photo of this animal." I'm also used to using a DLSR for wildlife photography, and it's really frustrating to use a point and shoot. I want to take my DSLR someday, but I think it would be a pain carrying it around all day.

 

[Eight]

I leave for Disney World exactly three weeks from today! Oh man, I'm so, so psyched. I'm doing a PTR for this trip, but I've been working on a side update to fill you in on some of the details. Should have that up pretty soon as well.

Anyway.

I don't quite remember where these were taken, must be somewhere around Discovery Island, but I love the octopus.

I had decided I wanted to ride Dinosaur. My mom kept telling me that last time I rode it, I didn't like it, but I did not remember this, so I insisted upon riding it.

Guess what.

I didn't like it.

This is probably a really unpopular opinion, but I think Dinosaur is, well, kind of terrible. And that if you love Dinosaur, then you've probably never ridden the Indiana Jones ride at Disneyland. Because the Indiana Jones ride is about a million and three times cooler. Dinosaur is like its less awesome and obnoxiously loud little sibling. Indiana Jones Adventure: Temple of the Forbidden Eye has all these great effects and details, and Dinosaur, um... well, it has some audio animatronic dinosaurs. Which sounds kind of cool in theory, right? And you know, it would be, if it weren't fact that no one bothered enough to make it feel like you're actually in the jungle. I mean, in Indiana Jones, I can believe I'm in this crazy temple and oh shoot, I really should not have just looked in to the eye of the Mara, but with Dinosaur, I feel like I'm in a box. With some audio animatronic dinosaurs. And honestly, if I really wanted to see some audio animatronic dinosaurs, I could have gone to the Pacific Science Center in Seattle.

But anyway.

We rode Expedition Everest for the fourth time, and journeyed through the Maharajah Jungle Trek. Oh, you know what's coming by now.

 

[Eight]

We then trekked back to Africa to stake out some spots for the parade.

I really love Mickey's Jammin' Jungle Parade. I think the floats and the costumes are so creative!

The monkey is my favorite.

Then it was time for Expedition Everest for the fifth time. Surprisingly, I didn't take any pictures that round!

To cap off our day at Animal Kingdom, we decided to catch the last showing of Finding Nemo: The Musical.

I love musicals and I love Finding Nemo, so naturally I love Finding Nemo: The Musical. Actually, I shouldn't say that, because I love acrobatics and I love the Lion King, yet I'm really not a fan of Festival of the Lion King. I'll save that discussion for another day though. But go figure.

But I really do love Finding Nemo: The Musical. I think it's very well staged, the puppets are fantastic, and while I don't think the score is quite worthy of a Tony award, it's cute and fits the show well.

When we got there, we arrived about a half hour before the show started, and we were some of the only people in the theater. As a result, we changed seats about four times before finding the perfect spot.

That's the view from where we sat.

I felt kind of sad that by the time the show started, the theater was only half full. I thought more people should have showed up for this wonderful show.

I really wanted to take pictures, but there was an usher sitting on the stairs next to me, and for whatever reason, I was paranoid that if I tried to take pictures, he'd yell at me or something. Finally I couldn't stand it any longer, and I just had to take some pictures.

I'm sure you're all surprised to find out that the usher did not yell at me. But most of them didn't turn out..

Since the park was closed by the time the show ended, we drove back to Kidani Village, rested for a bit, and had dinner at Boma.

Boma was just as delicious as I had remembered. The only let down was there wasn't as much stuff I wanted to try as there had been before, but everything I had was really, really good. Especially the brownie bite I had. I love Zebra Domes, but this brownie was perfect.

By the time we got back to our room for the night, I was exhausted. My mom went to another cultural talk (this time on Swaziland), but I laid on the couch and watched TV. And then I went to bed pretty early. It was very exciting, I assure you.

 

[Eight]

Since I'm not doing a PTR, but I really wanted to talk about my June trip, I thought I'd do a quick update.
So here's the who, where, when, and why for this trip.

Who: Me! (Obviously.) I'll be going with a friend of mine, and I'm pretty excited as I've never gone to Disney World without family before, and she's never been at all.

Where: The Poly! We were originally going to stay at the Contemporary because for the last three trips I've been saying that my next trip I'll stay at the Contemporary. And then I always ended up staying at AKL. As thrilled as I was to stay at the Contemporary, my friend and I decided to change because we wanted to stay somewhere with more of a fun theme. The Polynesian was the obvious choice for us, and I'm pretty psyched about it.

When: Late June for five nights. I'm not too crazy about the crowds we'll encounter, but it had to be late June because, although Disney World is enough of a reason to go to Orlando, it's not the only reason...

Why: If Disney World is not the only reason we're going, then what's the other? It's not Universal Studios. It's not SeaWorld. It's not even another theme park. But it is shining, gleaming, streaming, flaxen, and waxen!

Get it?

It's Hair!

If you're not familiar with Hair, it's a musical from the 60s, and I'm terrible at summarizing things, so if you're really curious about the plot, I'd just read the Wikipedia page. There was a revival on Broadway in 2009, but sadly, it closed last June. However, there's a touring production of the show, and it'll be in Orlando at the end of June. Soo....

I've tried writing this next section about three different times, but I can't. I would like to write about Hair and why it's so important to me, and why I'm so happy to be seeing it again in June, but I really just cannot do that without it being overly long or sounding absolutely crazy.

Short version: I've seen it 14, soon to be 16 times, and in many ways, I love it just as much as I love Disney.
So you know I must love it a lot.

Anyway, that concludes the who, where, when, and why of this trip. 20 days until I leave, and I just cannot wait! Two of my favorite things combined for one trip? I think it'll be fantastic!

 

[magichusky]

What a fabulous update! I just really adore AK- can't wait to go back! I've never been down the Maharaja Trail so I particularly enjoyed those pics. And the one of you and the duckbill outside Dinosaur is so hilarious!!! I'm actually terribly amused by Dinosaur: the ride, but I'm just a sucker for dinos (Jurassic Park is pretty much my fav movie of all time). My other fav movie of all time, conveniently enough, is Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, so I must say that I agree and totally prefer IJ: Temple of the Forbidden Eye. There was a WAY cleverer use of space on that ride, and all of the optical illusions really take the cake. People still don't believe me when I tell them that the car is actually stationary at the very end right before you speed down the hill underneath the massive, stone ball that's 'rolling' towards you.

SO exciting for your upcoming WDW Poly extravaganza! I've always wanted to stay there, pretty much mainly for the reason that I REALLY need to go down the volcano pool slide at some point.

 

[Eight]

What a fabulous update! I just really adore AK- can't wait to go back! I've never been down the Maharaja Trail so I particularly enjoyed those pics. And the one of you and the duckbill outside Dinosaur is so hilarious!!! I'm actually terribly amused by Dinosaur: the ride, but I'm just a sucker for dinos (Jurassic Park is pretty much my fav movie of all time). My other fav movie of all time, conveniently enough, is Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, so I must say that I agree and totally prefer IJ: Temple of the Forbidden Eye. There was a WAY cleverer use of space on that ride, and all of the optical illusions really take the cake. People still don't believe me when I tell them that the car is actually stationary at the very end right before you speed down the hill underneath the massive, stone ball that's 'rolling' towards you.

SO exciting for your upcoming WDW Poly extravaganza! I've always wanted to stay there, pretty much mainly for the reason that I REALLY need to go down the volcano pool slide at some point.

Haha, I feel like I need a disclaimer for the duckbill photo that says something like, "I kind of don't recommend attempting to do this because it really hurts!" Sadly, this is not the first time I've hurt myself posing with statues...

I think one of the things that bugs me so much about Dinosaur is that it came after Indiana Jones. So I feel like if they made this amazing ride a couple years before Dinosaur, they could have done something even better with Dinosaur. Oh well.

I'm really excited because this is the first time I'll be in Disney World when it's actually warm enough to use the pool! Only 15 days! I cannot wait!

 

[Eight]

Haha, remember when I said I was going to try and finish this TR before I left for my June trip? So not going to happen. I leave on Thursday! I can hardly believe it's so soon! Time to start getting everything together...

Sorry for such a short update today. It's been a bit hectic at my house, we got another dog. Her name is Binti, and she's very cute and sweet, but it's been a lot of work.

That's her. Although she got a haircut yesterday, so she doesn't really look quite so furry anymore.

Anyway.

Friday, January 28 2011

I had originally planned on doing the surfing lesson this morning, I ended up cancelling that because it was so cold! If you noticed, I'm wearing a sweatshirt in all the pictures from the day before. That, and I was starting to feel a little sick. So we decided to take it easy that morning, and I slept in until 9:20.

Since we hadn't had anything besides the surf lesson planned for that morning, we took the opportunity to go to Downtown Disney. Our first stop was D-Street, because they had released some Vinylmation that morning.

Our next stop was at the magnet store as my aunt had asked us to pick up a Florida magnet for her. A classy Florida magnet, no less. Three words that really don't belong in the same sentence together. We finally found one that wasn't too tacky, but yeah, classy Florida magnets don't really exist.

We walked through the remains of Pleasure Island, which was a little depressing.

It's so weird that they haven't done anything with the buildings, and they're just sitting there, empty.

I also find it depressing that they closed the Adventurer's Club before I turned 21. I went there once in 2008, for all of about 15 minutes, until they kicked out all the people who didn't have a wristband or something like that. I don't really remember exactly, but I remember thinking, "man, I can't until I'm 21 and can come here!"

Ha. That never happened.

We had lunch at Planet Hollywood, which was pretty good. I wasn't expecting it to be too great, but I ended up being pleasantly surprised by the food. Not that it was anything special, but it was tasty. And really, since I'm no food snob, that's all I can ask for.

After lunch, we went over to the other side, and looked around.

I had this great little moment in the art shop. I was walking around, and the song Just Around the Riverbend came on. I can't lie, this song is on my iPod and plays quite frequently in my car. So without even really thinking about it, I starting singing along under my breath. Then I heard another voice singing along quietly too. I looked over, and this girl about my age doing the same thing I was. So there were we, two girls in our twenties, singing Just Around the Riverbend to ourselves. I can't quite explain why this moment stands out to me so much, but it was just so Disney to me. I loved it.

 

[Eight]

I didn't want to leave off on such a boring update, so get ready for another!

Having seen what we wanted to see at Downtown Disney, it was time to drive to the Magic Kingdom!

We got to the TTC, and there was a huge line for the monorail, and a boat pulled away right as we walked up to the dock. Not so perfect timing. We decided to wait for the next boat. I'm not sure what our reasoning was, except that it seemed more fun. Of course, after waiting a while, we were pretty sure the monorail would have been faster, but at that point, it's like you don't want to change, you know? So we waited.

Finally it boarded, and we were the first ones on.

I love this picture. It looks way better full sized though.

Made it!

We were surprised at how crowded it was, which was kind of disappointing as we thought it would be much less busy. I hate to say it, but that disappointment kind of set the mood for the rest of afternoon/night. It's not like we were in really bad moods or anything, but I wasn't quite feeling the magic, so to speak. I don't do well in crowds (and I'm sure you're wondering why I'm going in June. trust me, i'm a little worried myself.), so to see how busy it was when I wasn't mentally prepared to handle that, well, it was a little tough.

Plus, I was starting to feel like I was catching a cold.

Still, we were going to try and make the most of it. Our first stop was to get FPs for Space Mountain since that's one of my favorite rides (although Space Mountain at Disneyland is soo much better..). Then we rode one of my other favorite rides, the TTA!

I have no clue what it is about the TTA, but I love it. My mom likes to make fun of me for it, but I love the TTA. I seriously wish they had one at Disneyland. It's so relaxing, and you get to see all the rides, and there's a nice breeze, and you get to sit down for a while, and what's not to love about it?

Since our FPs for Space Mountain wouldn't be good for a couple of hours, we journeyed to Fanstasyland to watch Mickey's Philharmagic, which I also seriously wish they had at Disneyland. It's so cute! It was really crowded in the area before you go in, and I was starting to get sensory overloaded. I was almost tempted to leave, but before I was serious enough to do that, we were let in.

I don't feel a great sense of need to do most of the rides in Fantasyland, with the exception of Philharmagic, so we headed out of there, but not before getting some FPs for Peter Pan. Which is throwing me off, because I don't remember spending two hours in the park by that point, but maybe we had. I don't know. It's a minor plot point, so we can ignore it.

Because I love the Princess and the Frog (and especially Tiana's Showboat Jubilee. I'll refrain from posting pictures like I did in my Disneyland TR, just know I love it. like a lot), I really wanted to meet Tiana and Naveen on this trip, since you can't meet them together anymore at Disneyland. Which I find sad. Because yeah, even though I was 20 at the time, I met them a couple of times, and they were always fun. So that was one of my goals for this trip. After we left Fantasyland, I was determined to find out where their meet and greet was, so I could, you know, meet them. I found it, but unfortunately, the line was closed. I knew I would be back to the Magic Kingdom on Tuesday, since we were having breakfast then, so I figured I'd try and meet them then.

We were about to go on Pirates, when I noticed that the last showing of the pirate tutorial for the day was starting soon, so I insisted we watch. Even though I was 21, I still hoped that Jack Sparrow would pick me. Because come on, it's Jack Sparrow. One of my favorite Disneyland memories involves Jack Sparrow, and I'm debating whether or not I should tell that story now or save it for another time.

I think I'll save it.

It's pretty good though.

Obviously I didn't get picked (huh, i wonder why...), but I still love watching this show. Very cute, and like I said, it's Jack Sparrow. Of course it's fun.

We rode Pirates next, which, like Space Mountain, is way better at Disneyland. Just saying.

It was then time for our FPs for Space Mountain, we headed back there. After we rode, I was getting hungry, so we got dinner at Cosmic Ray's Starlight Café, and sat there for quite some time.

Because I was really starting to feel sick.

 

[Eight]

So, I'm back home.

I had the most amazing time, which makes it even harder to go back to real life. I think it was even better than the Jan - Feb trip. It was a ton of fun, with really no bad moments. A couple of awkward ones, sure, but nothing really bad.

I'm trying to figure out if I want to write anything about this trip. Part of me really, really wants to, since it was so much fun, but I didn't really write down any notes or take many pictures, so I'm not sure how well I'd remember everything.

Plus, I don't know how my friend feels about it either.

I'm debating working on it now, and starting a seperate thread for it when I'm done with this TR, embedding little anecdotes about that trip within this TR, or just doing a quick recap with some pictures on this TR.

Haven't really decided yet.

Do you have any thoughts? I'd appreciate them, because I'm being really indecisve.

I'm heading over to eastern WA today for the 4th, but I plan on taking my photos with me so I can do another update for this TR. So you can expect one soon.

Until then, take care!

-Rachel

 

[Eight]

Remember how I said I was taking my photos with me so I could update?

For some reason, the disc I burned won't load on my laptop, so I don't have them. I'm going to see they'll work on my dad's laptop, and if they do, hopefully get an update up later today or tomorrow.

While you're waiting, here's a teaser for June TR.

Let's face it, traveling with another person can be an ordeal. There are a lot of things you might have differences in, from small things like food to larger things like what you want to do while traveling. Traveling with another person requires patience and flexibility.

If you know me well, you'd probably say I'm lacking in both patience and flexibility. Since you may not know me well, I'll be the first to tell you it's true.

I'll also tell you that I hate crowds, hot weather, and humidity.

Knowing that, perhaps you're wondering why I took a trip in late June to Walt Disney World with someone I had never traveled with before. A trip that would surely test my patience and flexibility with crowds, hot weather and humidity.

Honestly, in the weeks leading up to this trip, I wondered if I was setting myself up for disaster. I imagined stampeding crowds, unbearable heat, and oh yeah, how in the world was I going to get along with my traveling partner for six days, when the only times I had really hung out with her were to discuss this trip*?

I was stressed.

And slightly terrified.

And expecting the worst.

So how did it end up being quite possibly the best trip to WDW ever?


*I suppose that needs a bit of clarifying. I've acutally been around her many, many times, but mostly in group settings with other people.


I'm hoping to work on that TR, while finishing up this one, and posting the June one when this complete. As I said, I'm hoping to. It may not work out as I plan.

To those of you in the US, happy 4th of July! And to those who don't, happy Monday!

Take care!

 

[magichusky]

I'm absolutely dying to hear about this DL Jack Sparrow story! I love how if you don't look at someone dressed up as JS too hard they look pretty convincing, but if you inspect them even just a little bit, they look ridiculous! However, I did see a JS at DL once who genuinely appeared quite accurate.

I'm so very sorry that you were becoming ill in the world! I was horrified b/c one of my Mom's 8 yr old students passed on a cold/virus to my Mom and then she passed it to me literally days before we left for our December trip. Subsequently I was coughing during our entire stay and practically choking during most of the rides, particularly on EE!

The June trip sounds so great! I despise humidity as well and my parents absolutely refuse to travel to Florida unless it's December or something. When I went in April I found the weather disgusting- I don't know how people deal w/ it! The desert is far more appealing I think. Can't wait to hear all about it!!

 

[Eight]

I'm absolutely dying to hear about this DL Jack Sparrow story! I love how if you don't look at someone dressed up as JS too hard they look pretty convincing, but if you inspect them even just a little bit, they look ridiculous! However, I did see a JS at DL once who genuinely appeared quite accurate.

I'm so very sorry that you were becoming ill in the world! I was horrified b/c one of my Mom's 8 yr old students passed on a cold/virus to my Mom and then she passed it to me literally days before we left for our December trip. Subsequently I was coughing during our entire stay and practically choking during most of the rides, particularly on EE!

The June trip sounds so great! I despise humidity as well and my parents absolutely refuse to travel to Florida unless it's December or something. When I went in April I found the weather disgusting- I don't know how people deal w/ it! The desert is far more appealing I think. Can't wait to hear all about it!!

Haha, I agree. This Jack Sparrow looked oddly tanned. The one I would see in June looked better.

Oh no! I didn't realize that (or maybe you mentioned in your TR, and I forgout about it). Being sick at Disney World is so frustrating, because there's so much you want to do, but at least for me, I know I needed to rest and take it easy.

Yeah, I don't think I could deal with that humidity for longer than a few weeks, let alone a whole summer of it.

 

[Eight]

I don't even know where I am in this TR anymore!

Okay, I do, because I just read the last installment, but seriously, it's been forever.

So let's jump right in.

After we sat at Cosmic Ray's for quite sometime while I complained about feeling sick, we decided to do Fantasyland.

My mom and I are both immune to it's a small world, and actually, we both kind of like it, plus there was no line, so we rode that first.

The geese were my favorite when I was a kid. I don't know why.

Then we rode Peter Pan, where I decided the one in Disneyland was better. Why I decided that, I cannot tell you for I do not remember, but apparently I decided that. I do like that WDW's has a Fast Pass, since I rarely ride the one at Disneyland because the line is always so long. But yeah, Disneyland > WDW.

However, WDW's Haunted Mansion > Disneyland's Haunted Mansion. Yup. It's the staircase scene that puts WDW's on top. Obviously, that is what we rode next.

By that time it was around 7:15, so we got our spots right in front of the castle for Wishes which was at 8.

To give you an idea of where we were.

And we waited. And waited.

Until the preshow!

Which I thought was really cute. I mean, it's really hard to see most of the photographs, but the animation on the castle looked awesome! It was better than I expected.

And then Wishes. Where I took like a million pictures. Yeah, a million. Like, literally.

Okay, at least one hundred.

And this picture, of all the backs of cameras.

Well, I thought it was kind of amusing.

I have to admit, I was a little disappointed by it. Maybe it was because we were right in front of the castle, but we couldn't see a lot of the fireworks. I still enjoyed it, but perhaps that is the advantage of having a smaller castle at Disneyland. You can see the fireworks better.

I think I still got some cool pictures though.

Not too bad for a point and shoot.

I'm pretty sure the parked closed at 8 that night, which meant it was crazy getting out of there after the fireworks. It took us about an hour to get to our car. That was a little frustrating.

I went to bed early again, since I didn't want to feel even more sick the next day.

Spoiler alert! It didn't help.

Coming up next: DHS and a fairly drastic change of plans

 

[jelloarms]

Dude, that backs of the cameras shot IS amusing!

 

[slightlyvolcom]

This update was great! So many good photos that you don't usually see. You're so lucky you were able to stay in the Animal Kingdom lodge, that place looks amazing! I've only been to Disneyland (even though I have ben roughly 20 times), but I can't wait for my first Walt Disney World trip (hopefully after the Fantasyland expansion)!

 

[Eight]

Dude, that backs of the cameras shot IS amusing!

I'm glad I'm not the only one who thinks so! Oh, people and their cameras...

This update was great! So many good photos that you don't usually see. You're so lucky you were able to stay in the Animal Kingdom lodge, that place looks amazing! I've only been to Disneyland (even though I have ben roughly 20 times), but I can't wait for my first Walt Disney World trip (hopefully after the Fantasyland expansion)!

Thank you! Animal Kingdom Lodge is pretty amazing, I love it there. It's probably my favorite resort, although after my last trip, the Poly ranks up there too. I hope you get the chance to go to WDW! I've been to Disneyland many, many times too, and I absolutely love it, but WDW is such a different experience.

 

[magichusky]

I found that hilarious that we both had the same observations of the WDW Fantasy Land in comparison to DL! I also decided that the DL Peter Pan was superior (I, too, can't remember exactly what it was- I think the WDW version was missing that big island you fly around) but really like the staircase room in the WDW HM. I think what I like better about the DL HM though is that guests enter through the front door of the house however in WDW they enter on the side after passing the front door in the queue, so in DL it really feels like you're going inside the house. Plus, the windows inside the WDW HM don't have the fake thunder storm the way the DL windows do, which was always one of my favorite parts.

I also thought that the pic of all of the guests' cameras during the fireworks was really funny! It's mind boggling how many people visit WDW, and each one of those people is always looking for that "perfect shot." I see people taking pictures of the weirdest things at WDW! I wish I could get my point and shoot to behave that nicely for fireworks- those are fabulous pics!

 

[Eight]

I found that hilarious that we both had the same observations of the WDW Fantasy Land in comparison to DL! I also decided that the DL Peter Pan was superior (I, too, can't remember exactly what it was- I think the WDW version was missing that big island you fly around) but really like the staircase room in the WDW HM. I think what I like better about the DL HM though is that guests enter through the front door of the house however in WDW they enter on the side after passing the front door in the queue, so in DL it really feels like you're going inside the house. Plus, the windows inside the WDW HM don't have the fake thunder storm the way the DL windows do, which was always one of my favorite parts.

I also thought that the pic of all of the guests' cameras during the fireworks was really funny! It's mind boggling how many people visit WDW, and each one of those people is always looking for that "perfect shot." I see people taking pictures of the weirdest things at WDW! I wish I could get my point and shoot to behave that nicely for fireworks- those are fabulous pics!

That's it! That's why the Disneyland Peter Pan is better, WDW is missing the island! I don't know, that ten seconds of ride time somehow that makes the attraction like 100x better at Disneyland.

I never really thought about the entering the house aspect, that's an interesting perspective. Now that I think about that, it definitely gives Disneyland some extra points in my comparison chart.

You're right, people do take pictures of the weirdest things at WDW. Somewhat related, and probably an unpopular opinion, I have to admit, I've never understood the food picture thing. Granted, I did take one at Le Cellier of my chocolate moose dessert because it was just so cute, but I guess I just don't get the mentality when it's like pictures of a QS pizza? I don't know.

 

[Eight]

Hello, hello!

Remember me?

No?

Okay, that's cool.

I started college again about a month ago, and I have been overwhelmed with work! And when I do have free time, I just want to sleep...

Although, I should mention that I've manged to squeeze in two trips to Disneyland in the past month, so I guess it hasn't been all work. I may post a few pictures if I have time later..

Anyway, I'm going to get in a quick update here before my class in an hour.

If you'll recall, I had spent the previous night at the Magic Kingdom, and I was starting to feel a bit sick.

I woke up the next morning feeling pretty awful. Our original plan had been to go to Kona that morning, but I said, forget it. I just wanted to sleep. I finally got up around 8:45. I think we had been planning on going to MK this day, but my notes say we decided to go to DHS instead. I think it was because it had been kind of crowded at the Magic Kingdom the night before, and we were afraid that it would be even more crowded on a Saturday. I don't remember which day then we had planned on going to DHS, but we cancelled the lunch reservations we had for that day, and were able to get a reservation at 50s Prime Time Cafe for today. While I was at it, I made a reservation for Kona for the next day, since I still really wanted to go there.

By the time we got to DHS around 10:30, there were long lines for everything. TSMM fast passes were for 6 that evening! We didn't anticipate staying that late, so we didn't get any.

We were able to get fast passes for Rock n Roller Coaster, though I don't recall what time they were for.

I'm one of those people who hates waiting more than 20 or 25 minutes for a ride, and as it were, all the lines were longer than that. Finally, my mom convinced me to wait in line for Tower of Terror, since we both love that ride, even though it had a 40 minute wait time. Thankfully, the sign was wrong, and the line was really only about 20 minutes, yes!

We decided to go over to the Animation building since we'd never been over there, at least not that I could recall.

I found a new obsession there.

The drawing classes.

See, I've never been good at drawing. I'm pretty bad. I always hated assignments in school where I had to draw something.

But this? This where they tell you exactly where to draw the lines and how big to make them? Well, I'm not as bad at that. I'm definitely not great, but at least my Dale and Pluto looked like Dale and Pluto, not amorphous blobs.

That was fun.

Suddenly, there was a change in the plans. As we were having lunch at 50s Prime Time Cafe, my mom had a suggestion.

So bit of backstory here. We had originally planned on leaving Tuesday morning after breakfast, and driving south to visit a family friend, and then fly home Wednesday.

Also, remember that it was crowded, and I was feeling sick, and those two things definitely don't mix well.

What if, my mom suggested, what if we went and visited our friend tomorrow instead, and came back on Monday, and then spend Tuesday here when you're hopefully feeling better.

Hm.

It sounded like a good idea, but would it even be possible?

 

[magichusky]

How terrible that a random illness was ruining your trip to the World! How rude that not only was the Tower still shrouded in scaffolding, but the wait time was falsely advertised! DHS is ridiculous about updating wait times; I've been on several major rides there in which the actual wait time was truly less than half of the advertised time. I went in the TSM queue in November, which was advertised as 50 min, and totally waited for 20 min. Love that you went to 50's Prime Time- I went to the Sci Fi Drive-in earlier this month (which was the first TS dining experience I'd ever had in DHS) and completely adored it, even though the food was pretty overpriced.