BONZO
<font color=660066>Has been known to go off topic!
- Joined
- Feb 16, 2001
- Messages
- 2,100
Day 4 - Friday 22nd 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 won't ride it'
Laura - 8 'If it's not pizza I won't eat it'
The room Kommandant made sure that we were up bright and early today , and with no time to waste going off-site we ate in the Roaring Forks. Alison had cereal and yoghurt, Laura had toast and bacon, Alexandra and I had the breakfast plate - eggs, bacon hash browns etc.Together with 2 orange juices this came to $23 - you pay a high price for convenience!!
We finished off breakfast and headed over to the pontoon (the one you can just glimpse from the previous pic), to catch the first ferry of the day to MK at 08:30. The boat transportation was very good all the time we stayed at the WL - can't speak for the buses as we didn't use them at all.
We arrived just as the park was officially being declared open, so we saw the characters arrive on the steam train and then do the countdown to opening! After a quick bag check - "yes sir----it's a bag" we were in. We realized at this point that nearly all the voices we could hear around us were British - it was the start of the realisation that there were SO many Brits in Orlando that the UK must have been deserted!!
You know, it's funny that even after my first trip 15 years ago, the trip down Main Street USA to Cindys still brings a lump to the throat - "How much is this costing me?" - sniff! - LOL
Ok - plan of action is to get all the headline rides done first, so across the hub to - erm, right .no left aha ..Front-ier land! - LOL
1st stop - Big Thunder Mountain Railroad - This was far better than I ever remembered, so much faster, longer and better themed. Real shame about the recent events in California
Next - Splash Mountain - and blimey, you really get your moneys worth with this ride - sooo long, I don't think that there's anything to compare to this in the UK.
Over to Adventureland for Jungle Cruise and Pirate of the Caribbean then over to Fantasyland.
It's a Small World - well, what can be said about this ride? - you love it or hate it, there's no indifference. Me?, there's something about that 60's Kitsch and bright colours that really do something me - no surprise there then I hear you say! - LOL
Time for another go on Splash Mountain and then....
SHOWBIZ! - SHOWBIZ! - 'HELLO' MAGAZINE MOMENT
By this time it was nearly 11:00 and it had started to rain. We took shelter under cover at the BTMR Fastpass Booths, where my eye settled on a lady with bright red hair. No - not a Scottish titian colour but much more vibrant, I mean VIVID red. I kept on thinking that I knew this woman from somewhere? - old girlfriend? Jessica Rabbit ?
Soon all was revealed - it was Jonathan Ross and his family. Must've been nice for him to go to somewhere like Disney and not be pestered by people even though there were more Brits there than Americans.
We sheltered for about 10 minutes until it lightened up a bit then we worked our way round to Fantasyland again (via the store/restaurant fronts for shelter) and picked up Fastpasses for Winnie the Pooh and then carried on to Tomorrowland. It was still raining so we hopped on to the Wedway people mover (have trouble calling it the Tomorrowland Transit Authority!) and then Buzz Lightyear. I got an appalling score that I'm too ashamed to mention (even Laura beat me - and she gave up half way round!!)Then back to Fantasyland to use our FP for Winnie the Pooh and get another for Peter Pan. It was about 1pm now, so we went into Cosmic Ray's for lunch - we all had different things - chicken strips and fries for Alexandra, just fries for Laura, 2 different sandwiches for Alison and I.
We sat and ate on the balcony and watched the rain absolutely pouring down - there were great pools of water everywhere. Once we finished lunch the rain stopped and we were just walking past the Indy Speedway when they re opened it so we jumped into the (very short) queue. The girls love this ride - even though Laura is too short to drive!
Went back to use our Peter Pan fastpasses and thought we'd just let the girls go on the Goofy's barnstormer rollercoaster in Mickey's Toontown before we went - uh oh! Big Mistake! They got off the ride and spotted the Hall of Fame Tent - character time! We thought we'd be in there for ages but it wasn't too bad actually, only about 5 minutes for each group of characters. Again this holiday the girls loved meeting the characters for autographs etc.
We decided to head on back to WL now - we needed a swim!
What was nice was that every time we went back to WL, the guard would always say "Welcome home sir", which I always thought was a nice touch.
We all had a shortish swim before the pool was closed because of 'inclement weather approaching' ie lightning. It started poring with rain within about 5 minutes so we headed back to the room (via Roaring Forks with the refillable mugs) and chilled out for a while.
After 30 mins or so it was still pouring with rain so we decided to go and get the "Hidden Mickey Hunt" sheets. Good grief this is tough - I'm real glad that the CM last time showed me one or two otherwise it'd be near impossible. I'm not saying anything here in case it acts as a spoiler, although the restaurant can be very helpful
(Alison - Actually CMs everywhere were useful - I wouldn't have found any otherwise!! LOL)
The funny thing was that as we moved around WL, the place was leaking like a sieve with security staff running around placing buckets and towels in strategic places - very bizzare.
Enough of this nonsense - lets get down to some serious business! - bundled the kids off to the Cubs Den and ran off to do E-Ride night like good responsible parents.
It rained throughout the E ride night but we didn't let it ruin our bit of fun on our own! There were 9 rides open - Splash Mountain, Space Mountain, Big Thunder Mountain, Haunted Mansion, Country Bear Jamboree, Alien Encounter, Buzz Lightyear, TTA and Astro Orbiter. We did all of them except Country Bear Jamboree (AAAARRRGGGHHHH!!!! - hate that!) and Astro Orbiter (Alison doesn't do spinning rides!)
It wasn't busy at all - (as you'd expect with only a few thousand tickets sold!). Our only disappointment was that when we went to get our favourite burger from Pecos Bill's, it was closing up an hour earlier than advertised. So on the way out we popped into Casey's Corner up a couple of half pound hot dogs! Yummy!
We got the head of the queue and then the till roll ran out - ok you may think but this meant that they wouldn't take our money - grrrrr!
This appeared to go on for ever until the half-wit worked that he was trying to put the thing in backwards - well, I knew where I wanted to place it!
Face fed it's back to WL via the boat to pick up the kids from Cubs Den. They enjoyed it there but found it a bit on the young side (or at least Alexandra did) - they both said they prefered the Neverland Club at the Polynesian. Dinner was included - they could choose off a menu of about 6 different items I think. They did some arts and crafts stuff, played lots of computer games and when we got there to pick them up they'd just taken part in a vote to choose a Disney film to watch although they didn't stay to see it.
Overall it's an expensive option (cost is $10 per child per hour) - but it was nice for us to have just one evening on our own - doing rides like Space Mountain and Alien Encounter that the girls don't do.
So we went back to the room and crashed at about 10.45pm (still raining outside!)
Brits Count - lots and lots!
Weather - hot and sunny til about 11am then a heavy shower, a break then rained more or less permanently.
Rain impact - we coped but got a bit fed up with being wet after a while. Good job we'd done most of the rides in the morning!
Tomorrow's plan - OK, into commando mode - the alarm's on for 7am to do the Storybook Breakfast at Epcot!
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 won't ride it'
Laura - 8 'If it's not pizza I won't eat it'
The room Kommandant made sure that we were up bright and early today , and with no time to waste going off-site we ate in the Roaring Forks. Alison had cereal and yoghurt, Laura had toast and bacon, Alexandra and I had the breakfast plate - eggs, bacon hash browns etc.Together with 2 orange juices this came to $23 - you pay a high price for convenience!!
We finished off breakfast and headed over to the pontoon (the one you can just glimpse from the previous pic), to catch the first ferry of the day to MK at 08:30. The boat transportation was very good all the time we stayed at the WL - can't speak for the buses as we didn't use them at all.
We arrived just as the park was officially being declared open, so we saw the characters arrive on the steam train and then do the countdown to opening! After a quick bag check - "yes sir----it's a bag" we were in. We realized at this point that nearly all the voices we could hear around us were British - it was the start of the realisation that there were SO many Brits in Orlando that the UK must have been deserted!!
You know, it's funny that even after my first trip 15 years ago, the trip down Main Street USA to Cindys still brings a lump to the throat - "How much is this costing me?" - sniff! - LOL
Ok - plan of action is to get all the headline rides done first, so across the hub to - erm, right .no left aha ..Front-ier land! - LOL
1st stop - Big Thunder Mountain Railroad - This was far better than I ever remembered, so much faster, longer and better themed. Real shame about the recent events in California
Next - Splash Mountain - and blimey, you really get your moneys worth with this ride - sooo long, I don't think that there's anything to compare to this in the UK.
Over to Adventureland for Jungle Cruise and Pirate of the Caribbean then over to Fantasyland.
It's a Small World - well, what can be said about this ride? - you love it or hate it, there's no indifference. Me?, there's something about that 60's Kitsch and bright colours that really do something me - no surprise there then I hear you say! - LOL
Time for another go on Splash Mountain and then....
SHOWBIZ! - SHOWBIZ! - 'HELLO' MAGAZINE MOMENT
By this time it was nearly 11:00 and it had started to rain. We took shelter under cover at the BTMR Fastpass Booths, where my eye settled on a lady with bright red hair. No - not a Scottish titian colour but much more vibrant, I mean VIVID red. I kept on thinking that I knew this woman from somewhere? - old girlfriend? Jessica Rabbit ?
Soon all was revealed - it was Jonathan Ross and his family. Must've been nice for him to go to somewhere like Disney and not be pestered by people even though there were more Brits there than Americans.
We sheltered for about 10 minutes until it lightened up a bit then we worked our way round to Fantasyland again (via the store/restaurant fronts for shelter) and picked up Fastpasses for Winnie the Pooh and then carried on to Tomorrowland. It was still raining so we hopped on to the Wedway people mover (have trouble calling it the Tomorrowland Transit Authority!) and then Buzz Lightyear. I got an appalling score that I'm too ashamed to mention (even Laura beat me - and she gave up half way round!!)Then back to Fantasyland to use our FP for Winnie the Pooh and get another for Peter Pan. It was about 1pm now, so we went into Cosmic Ray's for lunch - we all had different things - chicken strips and fries for Alexandra, just fries for Laura, 2 different sandwiches for Alison and I.
We sat and ate on the balcony and watched the rain absolutely pouring down - there were great pools of water everywhere. Once we finished lunch the rain stopped and we were just walking past the Indy Speedway when they re opened it so we jumped into the (very short) queue. The girls love this ride - even though Laura is too short to drive!
Went back to use our Peter Pan fastpasses and thought we'd just let the girls go on the Goofy's barnstormer rollercoaster in Mickey's Toontown before we went - uh oh! Big Mistake! They got off the ride and spotted the Hall of Fame Tent - character time! We thought we'd be in there for ages but it wasn't too bad actually, only about 5 minutes for each group of characters. Again this holiday the girls loved meeting the characters for autographs etc.
We decided to head on back to WL now - we needed a swim!
What was nice was that every time we went back to WL, the guard would always say "Welcome home sir", which I always thought was a nice touch.
We all had a shortish swim before the pool was closed because of 'inclement weather approaching' ie lightning. It started poring with rain within about 5 minutes so we headed back to the room (via Roaring Forks with the refillable mugs) and chilled out for a while.
After 30 mins or so it was still pouring with rain so we decided to go and get the "Hidden Mickey Hunt" sheets. Good grief this is tough - I'm real glad that the CM last time showed me one or two otherwise it'd be near impossible. I'm not saying anything here in case it acts as a spoiler, although the restaurant can be very helpful
(Alison - Actually CMs everywhere were useful - I wouldn't have found any otherwise!! LOL)
The funny thing was that as we moved around WL, the place was leaking like a sieve with security staff running around placing buckets and towels in strategic places - very bizzare.
Enough of this nonsense - lets get down to some serious business! - bundled the kids off to the Cubs Den and ran off to do E-Ride night like good responsible parents.
It rained throughout the E ride night but we didn't let it ruin our bit of fun on our own! There were 9 rides open - Splash Mountain, Space Mountain, Big Thunder Mountain, Haunted Mansion, Country Bear Jamboree, Alien Encounter, Buzz Lightyear, TTA and Astro Orbiter. We did all of them except Country Bear Jamboree (AAAARRRGGGHHHH!!!! - hate that!) and Astro Orbiter (Alison doesn't do spinning rides!)
It wasn't busy at all - (as you'd expect with only a few thousand tickets sold!). Our only disappointment was that when we went to get our favourite burger from Pecos Bill's, it was closing up an hour earlier than advertised. So on the way out we popped into Casey's Corner up a couple of half pound hot dogs! Yummy!
We got the head of the queue and then the till roll ran out - ok you may think but this meant that they wouldn't take our money - grrrrr!
This appeared to go on for ever until the half-wit worked that he was trying to put the thing in backwards - well, I knew where I wanted to place it!
Face fed it's back to WL via the boat to pick up the kids from Cubs Den. They enjoyed it there but found it a bit on the young side (or at least Alexandra did) - they both said they prefered the Neverland Club at the Polynesian. Dinner was included - they could choose off a menu of about 6 different items I think. They did some arts and crafts stuff, played lots of computer games and when we got there to pick them up they'd just taken part in a vote to choose a Disney film to watch although they didn't stay to see it.
Overall it's an expensive option (cost is $10 per child per hour) - but it was nice for us to have just one evening on our own - doing rides like Space Mountain and Alien Encounter that the girls don't do.
So we went back to the room and crashed at about 10.45pm (still raining outside!)
Brits Count - lots and lots!
Weather - hot and sunny til about 11am then a heavy shower, a break then rained more or less permanently.
Rain impact - we coped but got a bit fed up with being wet after a while. Good job we'd done most of the rides in the morning!
Tomorrow's plan - OK, into commando mode - the alarm's on for 7am to do the Storybook Breakfast at Epcot!
I think the Ross family must have shares in Disney - it's one of their favourite places to holiday, they visit a couple of times a year. Apparently Jonathan and Mrs Ross are coaster addicts
