Cast of characters:
Me (23, missed my Disney b-day by 2 days), WDW vet, map reader extraordinaire, could draw a map of all parks and all attractions at any given moment
Spanky (23), WDW vet, knows where ALL the bathrooms in the parks are
Celeste (26), WDW vet, Epcot lover, likes to annoy us by reading Star Wars trivia books while in line
Rosie (21), WDW vet, really needs to publish Smoker's Guide to Disney by finding all the smoking places in all the parks
Saturday, May 17 - The Marathon Day
This is the day that never ends....Well, it actually DOES end, but it is pretty long
Well, today is Early Entry Day at MGM so we again get up at 6:45, shower and eat and head out around 7:45. We didn't feel like waiting for the boat, so we walked to the park. It only took like 15 minutes, so that was not too bad. We went in through the side entrances again around 8:15 after waiting in line so we had our tasks of the day already set out from the previous day. Our first task was to sign up for trivia again and we got numbers 9-11. Rosie didn't play because she really was not too up on her trivia. I do believe that she would answer all questions with either Yoda or Tatooine. She may get lucky once, but she really preferred to be the spectator on this one. After this, we went over to Tatooine Traders and I got the villains box set of pins (extremely awesome I must say and only a mere $55) and Maria got the coin. No wait, whatsoever. Stupid us waited in line for an hour the day before because we didn't think that hey, we could go when there are no lines. No, that would be smart. Lines were the task of the day yesterday. Today's task is to do as much as humanly possible in the shortest amount of time. We then headed over to get our Fastpasses for WWtBaM. Since it was still before 9, this was not open. We sat outside the rope for this to open (it was only like a 10 minute wait). Finally at 9, we went and got our FPs for the 11:30 show. Strangely, they were not checking passes, so we went back 5 minutes later and got FPs for the 12:30 show as well. Well, it was their fault for doing it this way. We would have been able to see both shows, but as it was, we just ran from one right into the line for the next one. It was just easier to do it this way. We then went to see One Man's Dream, walking through it and then watching the movie. Ahh, air-conditioning. After this, we headed to watch the short movie on Episode 2 at 10:00. That was okay. It had its funny moments, but most of it I had seen before. If you have ever seen the R2D2 Behind the Dome, this does not even come close to that hilarity. I love that short. This has some good outtakes, but really, I was there for the AC and to see if they had anything for Episode 3.
After the movie, we decided to get seats for the 11:00 parade, which started like 15 minutes late. We posted ourselves at the end of the parade route by the stage next to Star Tours. I took quite a few pics, and then it was time to book it over to WWtBaM. We ran across the park and through the HISTK playground to get there as fast as possible. We got there at 11:20 and were seated in the very last row. Whoops. Should have gotten there earlier. Darn them for starting the parade late. So after a good 5 minutes of them wasting time with the Jawas, although it was cute, we watched a 12 year old girl get into the hotseat. I think she randomly pressed the buttons. Despite some help from the audience and the host, she got out on the 1,000 point question. Spanky got on the board at #8, but a 17 y/o boy got into the seat next. Did he win the 1,000,000 with 2 lifelines left? Yeah. He was good. It was funny since they were giving extra prizes on top of the pins, like a year's membership to the Fan Club and a magazine subscription, but every time they did this, he was like, um, I already have that. It was funny, believe me. Celeste managed to get herself on the board at #9 in this game. I got a question wrong so I was just playing for the heck of it at this point. After the show, we ran around and got back into line for the 12:30 show. Both people did okay in this show, around the 125,000 question or so. I managed to get on the board at #9 at one point, so I deemed myself the biggest trivia dork of our group since I had both specified Star Wars trivia AND general trivia as well.
After this, it was time for lunch, so we headed over to Pizza Planet . Since Spanky needed her Centipede fix, I took one of the 2-way radios and gave her the other one. Rosie went in search of a smoking place, Celeste was playing games. I had the goal of watching the entire pre-show of the Muppets from beginning to end. it really is funny. After that, we decided it was time to stalk some more characters so we got Zam Wessel and Jango Fett pics and also ones with Kit Fitsko and Mace Windu, who was the same guy I stalked the day before. After this, we went over to ToT for two walk-on rides there. Maria decided that she needed a nap so she went back to the hotel room then to take a nap. The rest of us headed over to try and get Darth Maul and Queen Amidala. Due to the impending rain, they were not coming out. Apparently, they are not allowed outside in ANY type of rain. We went to Sounds Dangerous then and looked out for the characters: still not there. We decided that it was time to get a little riding of some rides in. Crazy idea, I know. We walked on to ToT twice and after the third time, finally got a good picture. While Rosie was buying the picture, Spanky decided that she would not make it to the end of the day if she did not take a nap. We unloaded some of the stuff that we would not need later in the day on her, gave her a 2 way radio and sent her on her way. Wuss. Deciding that all we needed was ice cream, we stopped and got a some and headed off to stalk Amidala and Darth Maul some more. Still not out. Apparently there is a "system" in the area. We went over to the AD Stars of the Saga presentation. I had to tape the entire thing since Spanky was not there and it was SO funny. He is so cute. We were thoroughly entertained by AD all weekend. Basically, he told us all about being C3PO and the other characters that he played through the years. There was some really cute interaction with R2D2 at the end. Anthony Daniels is such a nice, genuine man. After this, we went and got in line for Amidala since it had yet to rain and got our autographs and pictures. Yeah, I'm 23 and I was getting autographs of the characters. I think it will look cute when I actually get around to doing my scrapbook. After her, we got in line for Darth Maul. He was scaring my friends, but not me. For some reason, he decided that he would intimidate me by staring me down. We have a pic of that somewhere, not sure where that one ended up. He was rather cool, down to the cool colored contacts that he had in: yellow with red specks. Nice. The only costume that I complained about the whole weekend was Greedo. Come on, at least TRY to hide the zipper, man!
After this, we went over to RnRC, but apparently someone got sick on the ride before we got in line, so the 5 minute posted wait turned into 20, so we did the unthinkable: bailed on the line. Never had we done this before, but time was limited so we had to jet. We ran through the ABC area only to see the parade in process. We stood at the back of the crowds, waiting for the 5:30 parade to finish. After this, Celeste and I signed in for trivia. Spanky had not shown up yet, so we kept in contact with her through the 2-ways. If anyone had one, we were the girls singing Brick House into them for a little while, just in case she could actually hear us. Apparently you can pick up the signal from on the boat that was being sent from the Prime Time Cafe. Well, trivia went bad for me. Celeste and I got out on the same question. It was the number of the trash compactor that Han, Luke and Leia were stuck in. I knew it, but in the last moment, I changed my answer and chose it as Leia's cell number. Why did I question myself? Oh well. Celeste was trying not to have someone copy off her and mistakenly put up the wrong answer. She was actually quite shocked that she did that. Oh well, we were both out now. Rosie and I ran over and got Chewbacca's autograph and picture. Just when we got the pictures with the emperor, Spanky showed up. Apparently some people need to nap and shower and eat in the middle of the day. Craziness I tell you. Simply madness. Since it was now 6:45, it was time for dinner, so we decided to leave MGM and head over to Magic Kingdom. We had tickets for the e-ride night, so we jumped onto the MK bus and rode to the TTC. After jamming ourselves on a quite crowded monorail and refraining myself from singing the monorail song from the Simpsons, we rode off to the MK. In the distance, there was some really nasty lightning bolts, so maybe we would get some rain after all. (Note: it never actually did anything that night). We all knew what our destination was to be, so after getting through security, we made a beeline to Tomorrowland. People were already staking out seats for Spectro an hour and a half before it started. We had seen this the previous July and would be seeing it again in August so we skipped the parade and rode rides during that time instead. We stopped at Space Mountain, went to the arcade and got our wristbands. They are a nice sassy green with sparkles on them. Since we were all set there, it was finally time for some cheese, I mean dinner. We had to go to Cosmic Rays because of the free cheese and ensure that yes, it really was a Disney trip. We cannot go to Disney and not eat the cheese. That would be unthinkable! un-American even!
So, after eating our fill of the cheese (and some chicken and fries), we headed off to fantasyland. We hit Snow White where we waited for about 5 minutes in line. After telling some bad jokes to each other to entertain ourselves, we made it through the ride. Thank goodness that boulder didn't fall on us! We skipped the carousel and Dumbo, not quite sure why. We headed over to Pan and waited for about 15 minutes in line. I would like to say that this was the longest line, but Tatooine Traders won that. I will say that this was the longest line for a ride that we waited in. Well, after flying apparently through the alternate dimensions (to Neverland), we managed to get ourselves back on Earth and to MK none the less. Wow. Good job on that ride. We headed over to Small World with no wait. There were maybe 10 people on our boat. The guy in the high booth started to squirt us with his water bottle so I yelled "the Small World is NOT a water ride." His compatriot then came around the side of the booth and scared us. Always a good start to the Small World. After traveling through the world to the utopia place, we headed over to Haunted Mansion. There was no one in line so we walked up to the door. We had to wait like 3 minutes, so I took the time to show everyone Leota's tombstone. People really did not believe me until I made them stare at it. Funny times. Well, we got through the stretching room and headed out to the doombuggies. The 2 CM's there were funny. They were randomly just slapping their hands down on the rail in front of people who were walking through the queue, scaring them. Rosie decided to do the same to them. Rosie and Spanky got the first car and Celeste and I got the second. As revenge, the CM crossed in front of our car, and peeked around the back of Rosie's, scaring her. Of course we tried to scare each other during the ride. Rosie got me by reaching out and grabbing me during part of it and I got Spanky by doing the same. This was not as good as the poking of Celeste during the exact moment of the glass breaking on ToT, but fun just the same. After this, we headed off to find a bathroom and then headed over to Frontierland. We sat outside of the Country Bears and walked the fireworks from there. That is where I determined that all male CMs in Frontierland should be named Hoss and the girls should be Becky Sue. I think that would be a nice touch. After the fireworks, which is a nice display but nothing compared to the fireworks that a local trailer park put on for a Country Music festival which are rumored to cost 1.5 million, they were pretty. We went to the Bears and were thoroughly entertained. We always miss that during the day due to the abundance of strollers in front. (Side note: strollers should never be used as weapons. I have, in the past, seen them used as such. If that is the case, I am so putting a cowcatcher the day comes that I have to push one around the parks. At least go all the way if I have to, you know?). After this, the e-ride had started so we went over to BTMR and rode in the front car there. We went over to Splash Mountain and got thoroughly soaked. It isn't the drop that got us but those geysers at the end. Hate them at night. Last year, we rode this over and over but this year we decided that once was enough. We took another spin on BTMR and then headed over to Tomorrowland. to ride on SM. We managed to do SM 3 times in a row before they closed off the one side and were running one side only. We went over to Buzz and did that 3 times in a row, all of our scored being rather low. We then decided to take a break and get a drink. After a quick pitstop, we went on TTA, which was a nice change of pace that my friends had never gone on before. After this, we did another 2 rides at SM and another 2 at Buzz. Since it was now 12:45, we started to head out. We made it as far as the castle where we saw Mickey and Minnie dancing. It was too cute. We started to dance with Pluto and Goofy and got some good pictures. Mine did not come out because I did not put the nightvision on my camera but the others did. Finally, after Mickey come on the loud speakers, we started to head out. Yeah, we left the characters there. Usually the characters leave us, but tonight, we turned the tables. (evil laughter here). So we took the trip down to the busses, found the one for the Swan/Dolphin/Yacht Club/Beach Club/Boardwalk. Yeah, lots of people there. After taking the tour, we got back to the hotel around 1:30. After stopping for some more pop in my trusty mug, it was time to head up to the room. We finally got to bed around 2:30 or so. So if you are doing your math correctly folks, that was a 17 hour park day, beating our previous record of 15 by 2 whole hours. I originally had a plan to stop at Epcot too, but we decided that since we had done all the events for the SWW, we would go to Epcot on Sunday. Whew. That was a long report.
Tomorrow: Epcot, shopping at DTD!
Me (23, missed my Disney b-day by 2 days), WDW vet, map reader extraordinaire, could draw a map of all parks and all attractions at any given moment
Spanky (23), WDW vet, knows where ALL the bathrooms in the parks are
Celeste (26), WDW vet, Epcot lover, likes to annoy us by reading Star Wars trivia books while in line
Rosie (21), WDW vet, really needs to publish Smoker's Guide to Disney by finding all the smoking places in all the parks
Saturday, May 17 - The Marathon Day
This is the day that never ends....Well, it actually DOES end, but it is pretty long
Well, today is Early Entry Day at MGM so we again get up at 6:45, shower and eat and head out around 7:45. We didn't feel like waiting for the boat, so we walked to the park. It only took like 15 minutes, so that was not too bad. We went in through the side entrances again around 8:15 after waiting in line so we had our tasks of the day already set out from the previous day. Our first task was to sign up for trivia again and we got numbers 9-11. Rosie didn't play because she really was not too up on her trivia. I do believe that she would answer all questions with either Yoda or Tatooine. She may get lucky once, but she really preferred to be the spectator on this one. After this, we went over to Tatooine Traders and I got the villains box set of pins (extremely awesome I must say and only a mere $55) and Maria got the coin. No wait, whatsoever. Stupid us waited in line for an hour the day before because we didn't think that hey, we could go when there are no lines. No, that would be smart. Lines were the task of the day yesterday. Today's task is to do as much as humanly possible in the shortest amount of time. We then headed over to get our Fastpasses for WWtBaM. Since it was still before 9, this was not open. We sat outside the rope for this to open (it was only like a 10 minute wait). Finally at 9, we went and got our FPs for the 11:30 show. Strangely, they were not checking passes, so we went back 5 minutes later and got FPs for the 12:30 show as well. Well, it was their fault for doing it this way. We would have been able to see both shows, but as it was, we just ran from one right into the line for the next one. It was just easier to do it this way. We then went to see One Man's Dream, walking through it and then watching the movie. Ahh, air-conditioning. After this, we headed to watch the short movie on Episode 2 at 10:00. That was okay. It had its funny moments, but most of it I had seen before. If you have ever seen the R2D2 Behind the Dome, this does not even come close to that hilarity. I love that short. This has some good outtakes, but really, I was there for the AC and to see if they had anything for Episode 3.
After the movie, we decided to get seats for the 11:00 parade, which started like 15 minutes late. We posted ourselves at the end of the parade route by the stage next to Star Tours. I took quite a few pics, and then it was time to book it over to WWtBaM. We ran across the park and through the HISTK playground to get there as fast as possible. We got there at 11:20 and were seated in the very last row. Whoops. Should have gotten there earlier. Darn them for starting the parade late. So after a good 5 minutes of them wasting time with the Jawas, although it was cute, we watched a 12 year old girl get into the hotseat. I think she randomly pressed the buttons. Despite some help from the audience and the host, she got out on the 1,000 point question. Spanky got on the board at #8, but a 17 y/o boy got into the seat next. Did he win the 1,000,000 with 2 lifelines left? Yeah. He was good. It was funny since they were giving extra prizes on top of the pins, like a year's membership to the Fan Club and a magazine subscription, but every time they did this, he was like, um, I already have that. It was funny, believe me. Celeste managed to get herself on the board at #9 in this game. I got a question wrong so I was just playing for the heck of it at this point. After the show, we ran around and got back into line for the 12:30 show. Both people did okay in this show, around the 125,000 question or so. I managed to get on the board at #9 at one point, so I deemed myself the biggest trivia dork of our group since I had both specified Star Wars trivia AND general trivia as well.
After this, it was time for lunch, so we headed over to Pizza Planet . Since Spanky needed her Centipede fix, I took one of the 2-way radios and gave her the other one. Rosie went in search of a smoking place, Celeste was playing games. I had the goal of watching the entire pre-show of the Muppets from beginning to end. it really is funny. After that, we decided it was time to stalk some more characters so we got Zam Wessel and Jango Fett pics and also ones with Kit Fitsko and Mace Windu, who was the same guy I stalked the day before. After this, we went over to ToT for two walk-on rides there. Maria decided that she needed a nap so she went back to the hotel room then to take a nap. The rest of us headed over to try and get Darth Maul and Queen Amidala. Due to the impending rain, they were not coming out. Apparently, they are not allowed outside in ANY type of rain. We went to Sounds Dangerous then and looked out for the characters: still not there. We decided that it was time to get a little riding of some rides in. Crazy idea, I know. We walked on to ToT twice and after the third time, finally got a good picture. While Rosie was buying the picture, Spanky decided that she would not make it to the end of the day if she did not take a nap. We unloaded some of the stuff that we would not need later in the day on her, gave her a 2 way radio and sent her on her way. Wuss. Deciding that all we needed was ice cream, we stopped and got a some and headed off to stalk Amidala and Darth Maul some more. Still not out. Apparently there is a "system" in the area. We went over to the AD Stars of the Saga presentation. I had to tape the entire thing since Spanky was not there and it was SO funny. He is so cute. We were thoroughly entertained by AD all weekend. Basically, he told us all about being C3PO and the other characters that he played through the years. There was some really cute interaction with R2D2 at the end. Anthony Daniels is such a nice, genuine man. After this, we went and got in line for Amidala since it had yet to rain and got our autographs and pictures. Yeah, I'm 23 and I was getting autographs of the characters. I think it will look cute when I actually get around to doing my scrapbook. After her, we got in line for Darth Maul. He was scaring my friends, but not me. For some reason, he decided that he would intimidate me by staring me down. We have a pic of that somewhere, not sure where that one ended up. He was rather cool, down to the cool colored contacts that he had in: yellow with red specks. Nice. The only costume that I complained about the whole weekend was Greedo. Come on, at least TRY to hide the zipper, man!
After this, we went over to RnRC, but apparently someone got sick on the ride before we got in line, so the 5 minute posted wait turned into 20, so we did the unthinkable: bailed on the line. Never had we done this before, but time was limited so we had to jet. We ran through the ABC area only to see the parade in process. We stood at the back of the crowds, waiting for the 5:30 parade to finish. After this, Celeste and I signed in for trivia. Spanky had not shown up yet, so we kept in contact with her through the 2-ways. If anyone had one, we were the girls singing Brick House into them for a little while, just in case she could actually hear us. Apparently you can pick up the signal from on the boat that was being sent from the Prime Time Cafe. Well, trivia went bad for me. Celeste and I got out on the same question. It was the number of the trash compactor that Han, Luke and Leia were stuck in. I knew it, but in the last moment, I changed my answer and chose it as Leia's cell number. Why did I question myself? Oh well. Celeste was trying not to have someone copy off her and mistakenly put up the wrong answer. She was actually quite shocked that she did that. Oh well, we were both out now. Rosie and I ran over and got Chewbacca's autograph and picture. Just when we got the pictures with the emperor, Spanky showed up. Apparently some people need to nap and shower and eat in the middle of the day. Craziness I tell you. Simply madness. Since it was now 6:45, it was time for dinner, so we decided to leave MGM and head over to Magic Kingdom. We had tickets for the e-ride night, so we jumped onto the MK bus and rode to the TTC. After jamming ourselves on a quite crowded monorail and refraining myself from singing the monorail song from the Simpsons, we rode off to the MK. In the distance, there was some really nasty lightning bolts, so maybe we would get some rain after all. (Note: it never actually did anything that night). We all knew what our destination was to be, so after getting through security, we made a beeline to Tomorrowland. People were already staking out seats for Spectro an hour and a half before it started. We had seen this the previous July and would be seeing it again in August so we skipped the parade and rode rides during that time instead. We stopped at Space Mountain, went to the arcade and got our wristbands. They are a nice sassy green with sparkles on them. Since we were all set there, it was finally time for some cheese, I mean dinner. We had to go to Cosmic Rays because of the free cheese and ensure that yes, it really was a Disney trip. We cannot go to Disney and not eat the cheese. That would be unthinkable! un-American even!
So, after eating our fill of the cheese (and some chicken and fries), we headed off to fantasyland. We hit Snow White where we waited for about 5 minutes in line. After telling some bad jokes to each other to entertain ourselves, we made it through the ride. Thank goodness that boulder didn't fall on us! We skipped the carousel and Dumbo, not quite sure why. We headed over to Pan and waited for about 15 minutes in line. I would like to say that this was the longest line, but Tatooine Traders won that. I will say that this was the longest line for a ride that we waited in. Well, after flying apparently through the alternate dimensions (to Neverland), we managed to get ourselves back on Earth and to MK none the less. Wow. Good job on that ride. We headed over to Small World with no wait. There were maybe 10 people on our boat. The guy in the high booth started to squirt us with his water bottle so I yelled "the Small World is NOT a water ride." His compatriot then came around the side of the booth and scared us. Always a good start to the Small World. After traveling through the world to the utopia place, we headed over to Haunted Mansion. There was no one in line so we walked up to the door. We had to wait like 3 minutes, so I took the time to show everyone Leota's tombstone. People really did not believe me until I made them stare at it. Funny times. Well, we got through the stretching room and headed out to the doombuggies. The 2 CM's there were funny. They were randomly just slapping their hands down on the rail in front of people who were walking through the queue, scaring them. Rosie decided to do the same to them. Rosie and Spanky got the first car and Celeste and I got the second. As revenge, the CM crossed in front of our car, and peeked around the back of Rosie's, scaring her. Of course we tried to scare each other during the ride. Rosie got me by reaching out and grabbing me during part of it and I got Spanky by doing the same. This was not as good as the poking of Celeste during the exact moment of the glass breaking on ToT, but fun just the same. After this, we headed off to find a bathroom and then headed over to Frontierland. We sat outside of the Country Bears and walked the fireworks from there. That is where I determined that all male CMs in Frontierland should be named Hoss and the girls should be Becky Sue. I think that would be a nice touch. After the fireworks, which is a nice display but nothing compared to the fireworks that a local trailer park put on for a Country Music festival which are rumored to cost 1.5 million, they were pretty. We went to the Bears and were thoroughly entertained. We always miss that during the day due to the abundance of strollers in front. (Side note: strollers should never be used as weapons. I have, in the past, seen them used as such. If that is the case, I am so putting a cowcatcher the day comes that I have to push one around the parks. At least go all the way if I have to, you know?). After this, the e-ride had started so we went over to BTMR and rode in the front car there. We went over to Splash Mountain and got thoroughly soaked. It isn't the drop that got us but those geysers at the end. Hate them at night. Last year, we rode this over and over but this year we decided that once was enough. We took another spin on BTMR and then headed over to Tomorrowland. to ride on SM. We managed to do SM 3 times in a row before they closed off the one side and were running one side only. We went over to Buzz and did that 3 times in a row, all of our scored being rather low. We then decided to take a break and get a drink. After a quick pitstop, we went on TTA, which was a nice change of pace that my friends had never gone on before. After this, we did another 2 rides at SM and another 2 at Buzz. Since it was now 12:45, we started to head out. We made it as far as the castle where we saw Mickey and Minnie dancing. It was too cute. We started to dance with Pluto and Goofy and got some good pictures. Mine did not come out because I did not put the nightvision on my camera but the others did. Finally, after Mickey come on the loud speakers, we started to head out. Yeah, we left the characters there. Usually the characters leave us, but tonight, we turned the tables. (evil laughter here). So we took the trip down to the busses, found the one for the Swan/Dolphin/Yacht Club/Beach Club/Boardwalk. Yeah, lots of people there. After taking the tour, we got back to the hotel around 1:30. After stopping for some more pop in my trusty mug, it was time to head up to the room. We finally got to bed around 2:30 or so. So if you are doing your math correctly folks, that was a 17 hour park day, beating our previous record of 15 by 2 whole hours. I originally had a plan to stop at Epcot too, but we decided that since we had done all the events for the SWW, we would go to Epcot on Sunday. Whew. That was a long report.
Tomorrow: Epcot, shopping at DTD!
Wait a minute, even when I was young (way back when), I couldn't handle that!
