rcpalmerii
Texas Aggie & Jarhead
- Joined
- Jul 20, 2001
- Messages
- 27
Day 3 begins with us heading to the Animal Kingdom. We wanted to get an early start, so we decided to drive intead of waiting on the bus. Not a bad decision. The walk from the parking lot to the gate was not much further than from the bus stop. The problem came during baggage check. To those of you who have been to AK, you will know where I am talking about. They had the baggage check setup between the ticket buying booths with only 1 guard at each checking bags. I don't have a problem at all with the checks but they could have been a little more efficient at AK. Took about 45 minutes to get in the front gate. Once in, we headed over to Dinoland to ride Dinosaur. Jumped right on, no wait. Got off and went right back around again. Still no wait. I assume most people went to over to the safari ride. Fine with us. We have a wonderful safari type park an hour from us here in DFW that we are annual members of so we go to it all the time. For those interested or from the area you really should check it out. It is called Fossil Rim. But I digress, after playing around for awhile in the dino-dig area, my dd wants to be an archae-paleo-entomologist astronaut when she grows up. We headed over to TTBB. Walked right in, waited 5 minutes under the tree for the show ahead of us to finish and then sat down and watched the show. After leaving there we headed over to Asia to the tiger and bird habitats. Spent quite a bit of time wandering around in there looking for the different birds. From there we had to be at the GF for afternoon tea with Alice for my DD. She loved it except that we forgot her autograph book. We got her some Grand Floridian stationary but forgot to leave a pen. I went back to talk to a cm about leaving her a pen and she said that they had pens and that it would not be a problem. Well, when we picked her up afterward, she was upset that they would not sign her paper because she didn't have a pen. Pretty aggravating. I am writing a letter to Disney and the GF Mgr about that.
That was over around 3 so we decided to head over to Epcot again. I think it is my favorite park next to MK. We went to the Land and did the Living With the Land tour again, also HISTA, the Magic Ball (as DD calls it), also Ellens Energy Advent, the Boat ride in Mexico (another hidden treasure). We also ate at the Akershus in Norway. Wow, what great food. Loved the baked salmon and the other fish dishes. The Rignes beer was pretty good as well. From there we went over to innoventions and sent a couple of D-Mails home. DD came up with an idea to do a knock-knock joke. For those interested, here is the link to one of them. Disney Video D-Mail. DD also wanted to see Tom Morrow 2.0 at Innoventions. Had no clue who he was. But was kinda dissapointed to see that he only makes a token appearance there at the exit. Apparently he is on Disney Channel quite a bit. By then it was getting late and time to head back to the room for Hot Chocolate. It had turned off chilly, according to my wife. I thought it was great. Lows in the upper 50's/low 60's and highs in the low 70's. Perfect park weather!
On day 4, we headed back to Epcot to try and get DD into the Nestle Junior Chef class at the Land. I highly recommend it if you have little ones that love to help out in the kitchen. They get to help make chocolate chip cookies and then get to eat them afterward. Of course it is not the ones they made but they don't realize that because they come out hot and fresh. After spending most of the day at epcot wandering around World Showcase, we decided to head over to MK for Spectro and the fireworks. Since Saturday was the only time during our stay that it would be running. Got to MK around 4:30 pm. Boy was it crowded. But we still managed to get onto Haunted Mansion, Alien Extraterrorestrial and Aladdin before time to line up for the Parade. We found a perfect spot along the wall in the center courtyard (where the little bronze statues are) directly in front of the castle to view the parade. We lined up about 1 hour before hand because we were expecting to see the new Cinderella show before hand. Right as it was starting I headed over to Cosmic Rays to get some dinner for us while we were waiting. My DW said that right after the Fairy Godmother came out they came on the pa and said that due to circumstances the show was cancelled. Not sure what caused it. But we kept our place against the wall for the parade. Spectro is great. But I think I still like the MSELP better. I like the music. I know, I am weird. After the parade the fireworks were about 10 minutes later so we just hung out there. We were too close to the castle for the fireworks though. Most of them were behind the castle and not high enough. If we had been on the other side of the courtyard it would have been great. Of course Tinkerbell flying through the air is always a big hit too. After that it was time to head out. Now for our one big mistake, we drove to MK and parked in the main parking lot, so our only choice to get home was either monorail or boat to the TTC. Whoever designed that parking strategy should be shot! We decided to boat over. They forced anyone who has strollers or wheelchairs, over against the left side of the queue into a single line about 5 feet wide. We take a stroller to carry camera bags, ponchos, water and sometimes DD
. So needless to say, it took us until the 3rd boat to get across (Over an hour)!
That was the only low point to a good day 4. Back to ASMovies for hot chocolate and then to bed. We have an 8:20 appt with the Princesses to get ready for!
More to follow.......
That was over around 3 so we decided to head over to Epcot again. I think it is my favorite park next to MK. We went to the Land and did the Living With the Land tour again, also HISTA, the Magic Ball (as DD calls it), also Ellens Energy Advent, the Boat ride in Mexico (another hidden treasure). We also ate at the Akershus in Norway. Wow, what great food. Loved the baked salmon and the other fish dishes. The Rignes beer was pretty good as well. From there we went over to innoventions and sent a couple of D-Mails home. DD came up with an idea to do a knock-knock joke. For those interested, here is the link to one of them. Disney Video D-Mail. DD also wanted to see Tom Morrow 2.0 at Innoventions. Had no clue who he was. But was kinda dissapointed to see that he only makes a token appearance there at the exit. Apparently he is on Disney Channel quite a bit. By then it was getting late and time to head back to the room for Hot Chocolate. It had turned off chilly, according to my wife. I thought it was great. Lows in the upper 50's/low 60's and highs in the low 70's. Perfect park weather!
On day 4, we headed back to Epcot to try and get DD into the Nestle Junior Chef class at the Land. I highly recommend it if you have little ones that love to help out in the kitchen. They get to help make chocolate chip cookies and then get to eat them afterward. Of course it is not the ones they made but they don't realize that because they come out hot and fresh. After spending most of the day at epcot wandering around World Showcase, we decided to head over to MK for Spectro and the fireworks. Since Saturday was the only time during our stay that it would be running. Got to MK around 4:30 pm. Boy was it crowded. But we still managed to get onto Haunted Mansion, Alien Extraterrorestrial and Aladdin before time to line up for the Parade. We found a perfect spot along the wall in the center courtyard (where the little bronze statues are) directly in front of the castle to view the parade. We lined up about 1 hour before hand because we were expecting to see the new Cinderella show before hand. Right as it was starting I headed over to Cosmic Rays to get some dinner for us while we were waiting. My DW said that right after the Fairy Godmother came out they came on the pa and said that due to circumstances the show was cancelled. Not sure what caused it. But we kept our place against the wall for the parade. Spectro is great. But I think I still like the MSELP better. I like the music. I know, I am weird. After the parade the fireworks were about 10 minutes later so we just hung out there. We were too close to the castle for the fireworks though. Most of them were behind the castle and not high enough. If we had been on the other side of the courtyard it would have been great. Of course Tinkerbell flying through the air is always a big hit too. After that it was time to head out. Now for our one big mistake, we drove to MK and parked in the main parking lot, so our only choice to get home was either monorail or boat to the TTC. Whoever designed that parking strategy should be shot! We decided to boat over. They forced anyone who has strollers or wheelchairs, over against the left side of the queue into a single line about 5 feet wide. We take a stroller to carry camera bags, ponchos, water and sometimes DD
. So needless to say, it took us until the 3rd boat to get across (Over an hour)! That was the only low point to a good day 4. Back to ASMovies for hot chocolate and then to bed. We have an 8:20 appt with the Princesses to get ready for!More to follow.......
