Karen's weekend solo trip--Day 4--Sunday, July 31, 2005

[TLinden16]

Day 4--Sunday, July 31, 2005

I woke up bright and early Sunday morning to get ready for another long, busy day at Walt Disney World. My original plan was to head over to Blizzard Beach for a few hours, but I changed my plan on the fly, and decided to head over to MGM again. I left my room, walked out of the Swan, and started to walk to MGM, when I changed my plan on the fly yet again. It was hot and humid, and this would be my only time to go for a swim before leaving, so I decided to head back and go in the pool at the Swan.

The pool at the Swan was beautiful. It was beautifully landscaped. And huge! I’d hate to have to try to keep track of kids there. It’s so spread out that you could easily lose them from one section to the next. The pool was busy, but not crowded. There were people playing water volleyball, and lots of kids swimming under the waterfall.

After my swim, I got ready to head out for the day. I headed over to the Magic Kingdom. I decided to go to Tony’s for lunch. I got a side salad and baked ziti. I really enjoyed the salad. The dressing on it was fantastic. The baked ziti was good, but not what I expected it to be like. I’m used to having baked ziti that has more sauce and cheese in it. This was more like lasagna. I liked it, but didn’t love it.

After lunch, I had sometime to kill before my VMK tour, so I walked around for a while, just soaking up the atmosphere (and soaking wet from the humidity myself). I also managed to get a ride in on Splash Mountain, my favorite ride. As the tour time approached, I made my way over to VMK Central on Main Street. While I was waiting for my tour to begin, I jumped on VMK for a few minutes to see if any of my friends were online. I found CapeCAD online, and said hello.

There were eight people on my tour--a mom, dad, and daughter from New Jersey, four cast members who work at the Tower of Terror as part of the college program, a teenage boy, and myself. I’m blanking on the name of my tour guide, but I think it was either Melissa or Michelle. She noticed my DIS shirt, and commented on how much she loves DIS people.

Our tour guide told us a bit about VMK, and we all were asked us to share what our favorite things to do at the real Magic Kingdom and Virtual Magic Kingdom are with the group. I told everyone that Splash Mountain is my favorite thing at the real Magic Kingdom, and hosting friends at my virtual Jellyrolls is my favorite thing on VMK. She commented on how much she loves the real Jellyrolls.

We began our walk down Main Street, and made our way over to the Jungle Cruise. We were escorted right onto a boat at the unloading area. It actually worked out really well, as while we were on the ride, a storm hit, so we stayed relatively dry on the boat. She asked trivia questions, and I won a couple of virtual prizes along the way. She also pointed out the tribe member that says, “I love disco,” which I had heard about on a Keys to the Kingdom tour a few years ago, but could never identify the phrase “I love disco” again after that.
We then headed over to Frontierland, and got in the fast pass line for Big Thunder Mountain. We were told to note the names of the trains for virtual prizes. I road in the last row with our Tour Guide. We chatted about Jellyrolls while we waited, and she told me how much she loves Scotty.

After the ride, our guide awarded virtual prizes for the names of the trains. I got one of the prizes. We then headed over to the Haunted Mansion, where we were given the card for the Haunted Mansion quest, which would give us the chance to get even more prizes. We went in a backdoor at the Haunted Mansion, and got right on the ride.

After the ride, we headed back to VMK central to collect our prizes, and say goodbye. Overall, I enjoyed the VMK tour. It was nice getting on three attractions without waiting when the lines were so long. And I got some neat virtual prizes for my VMK character.

After the tour, I walked around the Magic Kingdom, and stopped to get some mouse ears so that I could get the VMK code for golden ears for my VMK character. I also signed on to VMK at VMK Central to see if any of my friends were online, and ran into a few folks.

I then headed out of the Magic Kingdom and got on the boat to head to the Polynesian, where I would be having dinner at Ohana. There was a long line to check in at Ohana, so I got in it, and waited. I was checked in by one of the nicest cast members I’ve ever encountered. He was just so pleasant, and had such a welcoming smile. When he saw I was alone, he said, “I’m hungry. Can I join you?” I said, “Sure.” As I turned to leave, he said, “Oh, I forgot to ask you. Is everyone in your party here?” I said, “No.” He smiled. It was nice to be greeted by such a nice guy. I saw a manager walking around, so I told him what a winner Christian is!

When my pager went off, I headed over to the podium to get to my table. Christian was waiting to take me to my table and said, “I was looking for you.” He showed me around the restaurant, grabbing some coconut pineapple bread along the way, and lead me to my talbe. I was seated at a great table right by the window overlooking the Magic Kingdom and the Grand Floridian.

I really enjoyed the food at Ohana. I don’t really like coconut, but I loved the coconut pineapple bread. I could have made a meal out of the starters. The chicken wings were awesome--very tangy and tasty. The salad was the best salad I had all week--it was a simple mixed green salad in a lime vinagerette. I had a second serving of that. The fried rice was also very tasty, as were the mixed veggies. I also liked the dipping sauces. The meat on the skewers were very good as well. The steak was a bit fatty, but it had a lot of flavor. The turkey was excellent. The pork was a bit dry, but the dipping sauce helped that.

I had an "It's a small world" experience at Ohana. A woman and her daughter walk over to me, and the woman says, "Excuse me. Are you Karen?" I said, “Yes,” and she introduced herself as Mackie's Mommy, a name I recognized from the resort boards! She recognized me from my old signature picture of me, Scotty, and Ray. So we chatted for a few minutes. They went back to their table, which was two over from mine.

A large family was seated at the table between Mackey's Mommy and me. While I was eating, the mom in the family turned to me and said, "Do you take solo trips here often?" I thought it odd that she phrased the question that way rather than saying, "Do you come here alone often?" and I wondered to myself if she could be a DISer, but I didn't say anything. We chatted for a few minutes, and then continued to enjoy our meals.

The woman's son and husband were wearing the same shirt. The little boy had fallen asleep on his father's shoulder. I couldn't help but notice how adorable they looked, so I got up and told the mom that she had to get a picture of them.

When I walked over, she noticed my DIS shirt, and asked me if I was a DISer! She told me that she was Scanne! I pointed out Mackie's Mommy to her. I was just floored by the fact that out of the entire restaurant, the three DISers wound up in three consecutive tables! We wound up taking a picture together since it was such a strange occurance!

After dinner, I had a bit of time before I had to meet my DIS friend PirateEast over at the Contemporary. It was raining out, so I decided I would stop over at the Grand Floridian and browse in the gift shop. I have to say that I was a bit annoyed in the store. A cast member kind of eyed me and followed me around like she thought I was going to steal something. I've never had anyone follow me around a shop like that before!

I sat and enjoyed the orchestra playing in the Grand Floridian for a while. It's just such a neat place to sit and people watch.

I then headed back over to the monorail and went to the Contemporary. I browsed around for a while and met up with PirateEast. I was very excited to meet PirateEast, who I had gotten to know in the DIS chat room in the past couple of years.

We walked over to the Magic Kingdom and grabbed a bus to the Boardwalk, where we would be spending a few hours at Jellyrolls. We grabbed a table in the front row. Before they started playing, Christian came over and chatted with us for a few minutes. While we were chatting with Christian, Michael came over and introduced himself. I said, "I'm Karen from Boston. I don't know if you've heard of me." Michael said, "I know who you are. I figured when you came in last night and stayed all night that you had to be someone." I told him that I send more people to the bar than anyone else, and he thanked me for that (Michael owns Jellyrolls). Chris and Michael did an interesting first set, but nothing really stood out.

Pete and Tommy took the stage at 9:00. I just adore Tommy. He is such a Jellyrolls legend. I put a tip on his piano to get him to play "Big Yellow Taxi" for me. He also played a couple of James Taylor songs, which are always fun to hear him sing. He asked the crowd who had been to Jellyrolls before, and then who was there for the first time. So, I cheered that it was my first time, and Tommy said, "Who are liars?" so I cheered again.

At one point, I got up to run to the ladies' room. They were doing a sing a long, and getting different tables to sing. As I stepped through the back, Pete pointed at PirateEast and told him to sing, much to PirateEast's surprise. I thought it was pretty funny.

All night, the piano players were making comments about me being a regular. At one point, Pete was talking about how it's more fun when people sing-a-long, and he said, "You're here all the time. I know you sing-a-long."

Jellyrolls was pretty dead on Sunday night, and it never really picked up. It was only about half full the entire night, and the crowd was dead. You know it's bad when you can't get people to sing-a-long to "If I Had A Million Dollars." PirateEast and I left the bar at 11:00. We walked by Michael on the way out, and he thanked us for coming.

It took a good 15 minutes to get through the gates. I have to say that having everyone stick their fingers in those biometric scanners is annoying at times. It's amazing to see how many people have a hard time with it. They don't know where to put their fingers, or they just sit there and poke their fingers at the signs. I'd say at least half of the people in front of me in lines to get in the parks just didn't get the scanners. It really slows things down. I always seem to get in the line that moves the slowest. If you see me in line, go to the next one even if it's twice as long. You'll get on the ride faster.

PirateEast needed to get back to Saratoga Springs, so we walked over to MGM, where he could catch a bus, and I could pop into the park for extra Magic Hours. I was even more disappointed by Extra Magic Hours at MGM than I had been at the Magic Kingdom the other night. The lines were horrendous. At midnight, the line for the Rock 'N Roller Coaster was an hour, and the line for the Tower of Terror was 45 minutes. The line for the Great Movie Ride was longer than I've seen it since it first opened!

The other thing I noticed at MGM is how miserable many people seemed to be. I saw one mom sitting on a bench with two little ones asleep in a stroller, and a third little one fighting sleep sitting on a bench. I saw another group arguing about what to do next. Everyone seemed hot and tired, but they were still pushing themselves. I saw so many cranky people at the Extra Magic Hours. People don't seem to be able to realize that when they are so hot and tired that they aren't having fun, you need to just go back to your resort.

And that's exactly what I did. A half hour after entering MGM, I wound up leaving MGM without visiting one attraction. I did sit on a bench for a few minutes, and soak up the atmosphere, but that got tiring pretty quickly because I only saw crabby people.

I walked back to the Swan. I jumped online to check my e-mail, and popped into VMK for a bit before changing and going to bed.

 

[Minniespal]

Enjoyed reading your report ~ Thanx for posting.

 

[LtlTee]

I'm enjoying your reports!

It must have been a very busy Dis week at the world -- we were in the Contemporary on Sunday on our way to the California Grill when I thought I saw someone in a Dis shirt going up the escalator ~ I'm guessing it was you!!

 

[TLinden16]

LOL. Wow. That was me. Because I was riding around on the escalators that evening. I had went down to use the rest rooms down there where they have you check in for the California Grill.

My DIS shirt sure attracted a lot of attention that day. I guess I should buy another.

Karen