September 8 - Day 5 - Is today the first day of the rest of my Rock 'n' Roller Coaster Life?
When the alarm went off this morning I didn’t exactly feel awake, but I did want to get up right away so I could hustle to rope drop at HS. The challenge of the day was to get myself onto Rock 'n' Roller Coaster. I came to the thrill ride thing later in life and have not yet mastered the enjoyment of going upside down. I had promised myself to try the ride this trip (after not quite making it last December) so perhaps today was the day! I took a lovely wake up shower then checked in with the weather obsessed channel and Stacy while I had coffee and breakfast. It was predicted to be a hot and sunny day, with endless amounts of top 7 fun. After my experience with the heat yesterday, I made sure to re-soak my cooling neck wrap before setting out.
(Let me insert a plug here for the beautiful powers of the cooling neck wrap. Yesterday when it was a million degrees at the AK, I stayed relatively comfortable by periodically icing my wrap. What bliss a newly iced neck wrap was! Mine had been made in ultra cute Nemo fabric by a gal I found here on the DIS, so it was not only fantastically effective but adorable as well. I wore it every day, and never even opened the package of the mister I bought for the trip.)
I made the ultra short drive from the CBR to HS. I was parked close enough to walk in and was first in line at my turnstile. I waited there near a family with awesome organizational qualities. One of my favorites of their many cool accouterments was a small laminated map of the park attached to their stroller with a retractable line. The kids amused themselves by pulling it out and looking at it and then letting it jump back.
As I looked around the crowd (small but eager, especially the teenagers next to me all braces, long legs and excitement) I saw the cast member who was looking for a couple to be in the opening show. As I watched her talk to people one couple actually turned her down! Perhaps like me they were obsessed with making it to TSM as soon as possible.
I waited at the rope with the other early birds (long legged teens now bouncing up and down), watched the streetmosphere players welcome us to Hollywood and got ready for the power walk to
Pixar Place. The crowds were light, but there were still people who walked as though there was some dire threat to their getting on their ride of choice if anyone was near them. I almost took an elbow to the abdomen from a gal who was wildly clearing the area in her vicinity with forcible arms.
I got a fastpass without incident and walked through the queue of happy childhood memories, past Mr. Potato Head busy telling jokes and interacting with the crowd, and up into the carnival tent entrance into Andy’s bedroom. I saw new details today - the sweeping searchlights of the carnival grounds were in spirograph patterns and Mr. Potato Head was manning (or would that be potato-ing?) a Cotton Candy booth. I learned about some new easter eggs, improved my score and then ran around to get back in the queue. The crowds were so light that I rode four times in a row before the standby wait became prohibitive.
My fastpass was 30 minutes to maturity, so I walked over to the far end of Sunset Boulevard. There was the big guitar sculpture pointing the way toward my destiny. I ventured into the plaza in front of the ride. I still had apprehensions and I’d always chickened out before. Last December I went so far as to get a fastpass for the group ride during Mousefest, but when I missed the group ride because I was at another event I didn’t want to go by myself. Now that I had experience as a roller coaster security blanket it seemed mandatory to add this ride to my resume. After all, even if I completely hated it, it would be over in a short minute plus, and then I would get to see the queue. The standby wait was 10 minutes. My fate was sealed. The first reward was the cool view of the Tower of Terror from the outside part of the queue.
I walked right into the waiting area just outside the recording studio and looked at the memorabilia while waiting for the doors to open. This pre-show reminded me of the old back lot studio tour, and I enjoyed being able to see an attraction that was new to me. I loved the back alley loading area and tried to take in all the cool atmosphere and not worry too much about what was about to happen. I was in the first car, second row, which seemed like a good spot to me. I got my stuff stowed and protective harness locked and then we were off. The countdown part to the takeoff was just like the lead in to my first ride on the Tower of Terror with an ever building adrenaline fueled state of anticipation and hard pounding heart. I shrieked when the limousine rocketed forward into the Hollywood night.
It turned out to be great fun to rush through the dark and see the glowing landmarks all around. I especially loved the corkscrew section. I didn’t even look that scared:
Then I commemorated the moment via photopass:
My fastpass for TSM was just then good, so I walked back over to Pixar Place, got another fastpass and then rode again. My score was still increasing (I had no idea I was this competitive) and I was still seeing new things in the carnival backdrops and sets.
Then I wanted to go on RnRC again so I could appreciate the queue and the ride with less apprehension. Rode in the back this time, which I didn’t like as much. I had a little time before my fastpass for TSM would be ready, so I visited One Man’s Dream.
I love this attraction for its terrific displays of the evolution of all things Disney and never tire of looking at the cool models and artifacts. As a mini-museum it really hits the spot. I also love the movie and see it every visit as a moment of tribute to the fantastic gifts that Walt and Roy Disney and their phenomenal collaborators have given to all of us. When we are surrounded by dedication, passion, inventiveness and creativity in the parks I know that they flow in a direct current from the minds and hearts of the original creators.
At the risk of dating myself far too accurately, I am of the generation of girls who were dying to be in Karen's shoes, and thought that Cubby was the cutest thing ever.
Then it was time to ride TSM one last time for the day. The cars stopped early in their whirling transition from one game to the next for a couple of the games, so I didn’t get to play in all the sections. When we got off I asked if I could get another fastpass, and they just had me wait for a few minutes then put me back on the ride, so I got a bonus round.
My lunch ADR had rolled around so I walked over to the Prime Time Cafe and waited only a few moments in the lounge area before being seated. Here are the skinnies enjoying the classic 50’s decor.
I'm not sure what was happening with this family, but it was something like, "Pink? Why did the kitchen have to be so pink!"
I actually most wanted to order a sandwich, as it was such a hot day a hot meal seemed like too much but I had read so much about the pot roast here on the DIS that I ordered it even though I didn't quite want it. It was luscious as promised. Hearty comfort food with meat, vegetables and mashed pototoes with brown gravy. The pot roast was rich and meltingly tender. The mashed potato and gravy combination was my favorite part.
I was too full after eating every bit of my meal to attempt dessert, although one of my favorite props here is the View Master dessert menu. I looked longingly at the pictures of each of them with total appreciation.
After wandering through the restaurant appreciating the decor I hit the trail past Gertie the dinosaur headed toward the other side of the park.
Star Tours posted a 20 minute wait which seemed ridiculously long, so I passed by and back around the back of Muppets, where I saw this:
and these doors, which were so right up my humor alley:
And in honor of Jessica at ifwecandreamit and her Crate Appreciation Society:
I kept going back toward the central plaza and jumped on the Great Movie Ride. It would be great if they would update this ride with the new generation of animatronics. I always go once on a visit, but some of it is really pathetic. Especially in this weather, it qualified as a perfect sit down break in AC, and I liked seeing what new details I could pick out in the Indiana Jones section. When I came out into the plaza, people were gathering for the parade so I went to TOT and Towered twice, getting great suspended in air time on both rides. I hated this ride the first time I tried it, partially because I kept my eyes shut. For some reason I decided I had to try again, and from there it went to the top of my ride list.
The parade was winding down when I emerged from the old hotel. I decided to walk to the exit past the parade and head back for some resort time. I saw a little bit of the action - it is a different sort of parade with the stationary shows at specific locations. It is an active, brightly colored extremely kinetic experience. There were hundreds of tiny brightly colored bouncing balls everywhere. When the parade ended there were CMs clearing them off the roofs of the shops on Hollywood Boulevard and throwing them down to the guests below.
My feet had started to hurt so I took the tram to save some steps and drove back to my Caribbean hideaway. I iced my feet, had some fruit and nibbled on my Krispie treat and then took the skinnies out for a cruise around the resort. It was suddenly my last day here (how did that happen?) so I wanted to enjoy the beautiful grounds one more time.
They loved the hammock on Caribbean Cay.
Mickey and Pluto played hide and seek.
Watch out for the crocodile!!!
They wanted to get their own refillable mugs.
I went to make my daily check on the progress at the pool and the bartender at the pool bar told me it would be open tomorrow! When I told her I was checking out she told me I could use the pool on check out day and to just hang on to my key if I wanted to come by. Although it was tempting, since I would be checking in at the Poly, I would probably just save the new pool to be a special part of my December visit.
I went to the beach at Aruba and hung out in my favorite hammock in the sultry afternoon. I even dozed off for a bit. When I was finally willing to get up from my cozy floaty perch it was all at once emphatically time for a cheeseburger and ice cream.
In no time I was driving through the gates of the Beach Club. I love the colors of this resort. I don’t normally identify with pastels but they hit some great wavelengths here that are terrific to be around. I walked through the beautiful expansive lobby and around the Cape May Cafe to Beaches and Cream.
I sat at the counter this time, and my CM remembered waiting on me last January so we had a nice chat. The food here is basic classic diner fare. I’ve had more spectacular cheeseburgers, but the atmosphere is fun and the sundaes are levitating forces.
Of course I had to have another No Way Jose. Equal amounts of fudgy peanut butter bliss as last time. No picture, but it was the same fabulous sweet goblet of delight.
When the sugar rush hit I decided to walk to Epcot, do a little country sightseeing and see IllumiNations before heading home for the night. I went over through the International Gateway, and decided to go left to start with. I shopped in the U.K. and coveted lovely hardback editions of the original Mary Poppins books. The stories are fantastical, and Mary Poppins is a rather dark and edgy character. There is a quality to the books that is missing from the movie. I wanted to buy them all right then, but I still have some of them from my childhood, so decided to wait until I knew which ones I needed to have a complete collection. I looked at cool jewelry, toys and woolens.
I went by Canada and admired the variety of moose and bear related things available at their mercantile and then made my way to the viewing area directly across the lagoon from the American Adventure to wait for IllumiNations. I had my gorillapod with me so decided to stake out a spot and take some pictures of the fireworks. I found a lovely trash can/camera podium and spent some time getting things set up. The crowd slowly built (although nothing compared with other times of year) and sat in the open area between the two Gateway shops. A little boy named Cameron was completely fascinated by the camera and tripod so we had a lively discussion about what I was doing. A nice CM came and asked if I knew that it was likely that people would stand up once the show started. He said it happens about 75% of the time and he didn’t want my prep work to be in vain. I was expecting that so was ready, but appreciated his consideration.
We waited as the sky darkened and the lamps were lit. The pre-show announcements started periodically warning of the lowering of the lights and asking everyone to stay put so as not to come across an unexpected injury. The clock ticked on and 30 seconds before the start of the show the skies abruptly opened. Giant super soaker raindrops surged down. I jumped up with most of the rest of the crowd, shoved my camera under my bag and clothes and ran into the fortunately very near Gateway gift shop. The fireworks launched and the show went on while the crowd soggily regrouped. I got everything stowed away, put on my rain jacket and ventured outside to watch.
The crowds were fairly deep at the doorways and under the overhang of the shop. I watched for a bit, but couldn’t see that well so went back in and shopped for a few minutes instead. I checked back outside and the rain was slowing down. I decided to walk and view at the same time, so headed back to the International Gateway while watching the end of the show.
I slogged back to the car and drove back to the resort. It wasn’t hard to pack knowing that in the morning I’d be moving to the Polynesian. Aloha bound, I loaded everything I could into the car so that I could make a quick transition in the morning. Tomorrow morning features another early morning Crystal Palace breakfast, so I’ll be getting up extra early to check in, check my luggage and then head to the Magic Kingdom.
I am a fan of the tropical floral decor at the CBR so before bed I took a few moments to appreciate what will be Nemo’d by the time I come back again. Then I set my alarm for extra early o-dark thirty and tucked in to sleep.
Do they still have those yummy donuts?
