BONZO
<font color=660066>Has been known to go off topic!
- Joined
- Feb 16, 2001
- Messages
- 2,100
Day 12 - Saturday 30th August 2003
Cast list:
Shaun - 40 something 'If it's not alcoholic I won't drink it'
Alison - 30 something 'If it spins I won't even look at it'
Alexandra - 10 'If it goes upside down I'LL LOVE IT!'
Laura - 8 'If it's not pizza I won't eat it'
I was up early this morning mainly due to a restless night thinking about the missing bag and loads of kids screaming and running down the hallway. Grrr! (Alison: the rest of us didn't hear any noise! We all woke up at 9am ish!)
I had a very busy mind thinking about the missing bag and pins and how best to resolve it, but I couldnt think of anything else that we could do. I still felt very responsible about it somehow and just couldnt get over it.
We took breakfast in the concierge lounge and boy was it busy, mainly due to it being Labor day weekend I suppose. If you could picture the scene whereby youd throw bread to Pigeons in Trafalgar Square youd get the idea about the scrum!
The food was lovely though - 3 different sorts of bagels, butter, cream cheese, jam, fruit salad, cereals, 3 sorts of donuts and sliced bread. There was also a very slow toaster there so you could toast your bagels or bread - but we soon realised that it would be quicker to leave the bread out on the path to crisp up!
The weather was still incredibly hot so we were looking forward to going to BB for the last time this holiday. Surprisingly it wasnt as busy as wed expected (especially as we didn't arrive there til 11am) which was a nice bonus.
While we where there I noticed a very nice man dressed in speedos, flip flops and white socks! and to top it all he was VERY hairy all over Very strange indeed.
We did all our favourites - Lazy River, Teamboat Springs, Toboggan Racers, Chair Lift, Run off Rapids etc etc and then the girls spent a long time in the ski patrol training camp while we relaxed for a while. We decided we'd have one last go on Toboggan Racers so got the chair lift up again (we went in the single rider queue as the girls didn't mind riding alone - much quicker than queuing up as a family!). However we got nearly to the front of the line when the weather started to close in and the park was shut.
After the long trek back downhill we all got dressed and headed off to Downtown Disney.
As we hadnt heard anything about the bag and pins (we now assumed they'd been lost or stolen and therefore were gone for good). I took off to the Pin Trading shop and hoped that they still had some of the Mickey head bags left. To my relief they had a few still available so I bought Laura a replacement.(Golly I thought, this was going to be an expensive loss - the bag for $20 - plus about 14 pins at around $6 each - all plus tax. However, we felt we owed it to her to replace what had been taken/lost as it wasn't her fault).
We then headed back to the Disney Store to try and pick up some replacement pins for Laura. (We bought from here because we got 10% discount for being annual passholders). Luckily we managed to find direct replacements for most of them apart from a brass Mickey, name badge and another sundry one. Laura also chose the Tinkerbell lanyard starter set with 4 pins for $25 as it worked out as the best value for money. Alexandra was a bit upset about the all attention and goodies being lavished on Laura so we bought her a couple of extra pins.
Now that the troops were happy, including myself, (Alison: yes - he'd been rather grumpy over all this episode, as he felt guilty. We all suffer when Shaun feels bad! ) we headed over past the Pin Trading shop where we struck up conversation with some pin traders outside the shop. We told them of our story and they both looked for the elusive brass Mickey but no luck. However, one of the guys took pity on Laura and gave her a brass DLP pin for free!
Feeling in generous mood I popped back into the Disney Store and bought Alison a jewelled Mickey head necklace as a small token of thanks for all of the planning etc - see - I can revert from Mr Grumpy from time to time! - LOL
Troops all happy again we headed back to HRH for yet another swim and then the evening snacks in the Club Lounge. Tonight's offerings included hot chicken satay type kebabs, crudites, cheese, dips and chips and the wine and beer as before. We tried not to eat as much as the previous evening so as not to ruin the evening meal again!
On the plan for this evening was to return to the Magic Kingdom as it was one of the few nights during our holiday that Fantasy in the Sky fireworks and Spectromagic parade were on. We knew the park would be crowded but thought we'd manage to get something to eat and then catch a good place to view Spectro (even if we had to hold our places for an hour or so). After a very slow monorail ride from TTC (took about 15 mins due to problems ahead) we pulled into MK just as it was getting dusky. It felt really magical with all the lights on!
We stopped briefly to collect a show times leaflet and wow! What a surprise! There were going to be 2 Spectro parades that night! Excellent! That meant we could do rides and eat while the first one was going on and then watch the late one at 11pm which we thought may not be quite so crowded.
We headed straight to Buzz Lightyear and picked up some fastpasses (very surprised there were still some available considering it was Labour Day!) then off to ride It's a Small World and Haunted Mansion until we decided it was food time.
Feeling a bit peckish we went into Pecos Bills for a bit to eat as we just love the Fixins bar Mmmmm. We all had burgers and fries and added lots of extra onions/mushrooms/salad etc - until we all had more fixins than burger!
Just as we were about to sit down the fireworks started, so we moved to one of the outside tables to watch the view overhead. Although we weren't at the front of the castle and therefore didn't see Tink etc it was still a wonderful view.
By now it was time for our Buzz FPs so we headed over to Tomorrowland - doesn't this place look wonderful all lit up in the dark? Much better than in the day IMHO. Anyway, I won again (Alison: hmmmm, not sure about that!)
We realised with a jolt that it was only about 20 minutes until the late Spectro was about to start, and we were a bit gutted. We thought we'd lost any chance of having a reasonable view.
However the crowds were surprisingly light and we managed to get a kerbside seat just before the start.
The best view we've ever had! The CMs were doing a great job keeping everyone amused by running an impromptu Hula Hoop competition with the kids.
Spectromagic? well, what can you say that hasnt already been said? always very moving even though weve seen it dozens of times in the past dont know what it is but its always seems special and a lovely round-off to the day as a whole. Took ages to get back to the car - but no matter, we'd had a wonderful evening!
Drove back to HRH (about 1am!) with a happy heart only to find that there was a message on the answerphone.
Who was it from?......
Brits Count - Lots in BB and MK
Weather - hot and humid, generally sunny.
Rain impact - no rain, but the threatened storm meant we had to leave BB early.
Tomorrow's plan - Time to pack and go home
Cast list:
Shaun - 40 something 'If it's not alcoholic I won't drink it'
Alison - 30 something 'If it spins I won't even look at it'
Alexandra - 10 'If it goes upside down I'LL LOVE IT!'
Laura - 8 'If it's not pizza I won't eat it'
I was up early this morning mainly due to a restless night thinking about the missing bag and loads of kids screaming and running down the hallway. Grrr! (Alison: the rest of us didn't hear any noise! We all woke up at 9am ish!)
I had a very busy mind thinking about the missing bag and pins and how best to resolve it, but I couldnt think of anything else that we could do. I still felt very responsible about it somehow and just couldnt get over it.
We took breakfast in the concierge lounge and boy was it busy, mainly due to it being Labor day weekend I suppose. If you could picture the scene whereby youd throw bread to Pigeons in Trafalgar Square youd get the idea about the scrum!
The food was lovely though - 3 different sorts of bagels, butter, cream cheese, jam, fruit salad, cereals, 3 sorts of donuts and sliced bread. There was also a very slow toaster there so you could toast your bagels or bread - but we soon realised that it would be quicker to leave the bread out on the path to crisp up!
The weather was still incredibly hot so we were looking forward to going to BB for the last time this holiday. Surprisingly it wasnt as busy as wed expected (especially as we didn't arrive there til 11am) which was a nice bonus.
While we where there I noticed a very nice man dressed in speedos, flip flops and white socks! and to top it all he was VERY hairy all over Very strange indeed.
We did all our favourites - Lazy River, Teamboat Springs, Toboggan Racers, Chair Lift, Run off Rapids etc etc and then the girls spent a long time in the ski patrol training camp while we relaxed for a while. We decided we'd have one last go on Toboggan Racers so got the chair lift up again (we went in the single rider queue as the girls didn't mind riding alone - much quicker than queuing up as a family!). However we got nearly to the front of the line when the weather started to close in and the park was shut.
After the long trek back downhill we all got dressed and headed off to Downtown Disney.
As we hadnt heard anything about the bag and pins (we now assumed they'd been lost or stolen and therefore were gone for good). I took off to the Pin Trading shop and hoped that they still had some of the Mickey head bags left. To my relief they had a few still available so I bought Laura a replacement.(Golly I thought, this was going to be an expensive loss - the bag for $20 - plus about 14 pins at around $6 each - all plus tax. However, we felt we owed it to her to replace what had been taken/lost as it wasn't her fault).
We then headed back to the Disney Store to try and pick up some replacement pins for Laura. (We bought from here because we got 10% discount for being annual passholders). Luckily we managed to find direct replacements for most of them apart from a brass Mickey, name badge and another sundry one. Laura also chose the Tinkerbell lanyard starter set with 4 pins for $25 as it worked out as the best value for money. Alexandra was a bit upset about the all attention and goodies being lavished on Laura so we bought her a couple of extra pins.
Now that the troops were happy, including myself, (Alison: yes - he'd been rather grumpy over all this episode, as he felt guilty. We all suffer when Shaun feels bad! ) we headed over past the Pin Trading shop where we struck up conversation with some pin traders outside the shop. We told them of our story and they both looked for the elusive brass Mickey but no luck. However, one of the guys took pity on Laura and gave her a brass DLP pin for free!
Feeling in generous mood I popped back into the Disney Store and bought Alison a jewelled Mickey head necklace as a small token of thanks for all of the planning etc - see - I can revert from Mr Grumpy from time to time! - LOL
Troops all happy again we headed back to HRH for yet another swim and then the evening snacks in the Club Lounge. Tonight's offerings included hot chicken satay type kebabs, crudites, cheese, dips and chips and the wine and beer as before. We tried not to eat as much as the previous evening so as not to ruin the evening meal again!
On the plan for this evening was to return to the Magic Kingdom as it was one of the few nights during our holiday that Fantasy in the Sky fireworks and Spectromagic parade were on. We knew the park would be crowded but thought we'd manage to get something to eat and then catch a good place to view Spectro (even if we had to hold our places for an hour or so). After a very slow monorail ride from TTC (took about 15 mins due to problems ahead) we pulled into MK just as it was getting dusky. It felt really magical with all the lights on!
We stopped briefly to collect a show times leaflet and wow! What a surprise! There were going to be 2 Spectro parades that night! Excellent! That meant we could do rides and eat while the first one was going on and then watch the late one at 11pm which we thought may not be quite so crowded.
We headed straight to Buzz Lightyear and picked up some fastpasses (very surprised there were still some available considering it was Labour Day!) then off to ride It's a Small World and Haunted Mansion until we decided it was food time.
Feeling a bit peckish we went into Pecos Bills for a bit to eat as we just love the Fixins bar Mmmmm. We all had burgers and fries and added lots of extra onions/mushrooms/salad etc - until we all had more fixins than burger!
Just as we were about to sit down the fireworks started, so we moved to one of the outside tables to watch the view overhead. Although we weren't at the front of the castle and therefore didn't see Tink etc it was still a wonderful view.
By now it was time for our Buzz FPs so we headed over to Tomorrowland - doesn't this place look wonderful all lit up in the dark? Much better than in the day IMHO. Anyway, I won again (Alison: hmmmm, not sure about that!)
We realised with a jolt that it was only about 20 minutes until the late Spectro was about to start, and we were a bit gutted. We thought we'd lost any chance of having a reasonable view.
However the crowds were surprisingly light and we managed to get a kerbside seat just before the start.
The best view we've ever had! The CMs were doing a great job keeping everyone amused by running an impromptu Hula Hoop competition with the kids.
Spectromagic? well, what can you say that hasnt already been said? always very moving even though weve seen it dozens of times in the past dont know what it is but its always seems special and a lovely round-off to the day as a whole. Took ages to get back to the car - but no matter, we'd had a wonderful evening!
Drove back to HRH (about 1am!) with a happy heart only to find that there was a message on the answerphone.
Who was it from?......
Brits Count - Lots in BB and MK
Weather - hot and humid, generally sunny.
Rain impact - no rain, but the threatened storm meant we had to leave BB early.
Tomorrow's plan - Time to pack and go home
