MLK Day at MGM and EPCOT

[tkd lisa]

I don't usually do reports for my one-day trips, because living in Tampa, we do a lot of one-day visits! But we did have quite a bit of magic on this day, so I thought I'd take the time to write it up.

Cast: Me, 42, single mom, LOVES living an hour from the mouse!
DD, almost 15, Stitch and thrill ride lover
DS, 13 1/2, enjoys his independence
DS's Girlfriend, almost 14, has had an AP since 2nd grade but has missed an awful lot of what we like about WDW

Background (skip it if you only care about the Disney part of trips!):

About 10 days before MLK day, I asked the kids if they'd like to each take a friend over to WDW for the day. DD has a good friend who we've taken before (her family has taken DD before too), and DS's girlfriend has met us at WDW for a few hours before, so the kids asked their respective invitees. According to the kids' reports, both guests were a go! Last Wednesday I called Disney Dining to see if I could get an ADR for Sci Fi since I thought all the teens would enjoy this. I was given a pretty wide choice of times, and picked 1:45 pm.

Friday evening, I asked both kids if they had confirmed the guests' were going and they said yes. DD's friend lives about 25 minutes away from us (and the wrong direction from Disney), so I suggested that she invite the friend to spend Sunday night with us. DD said that this wasn't possible, because her friend was going to do WDW with her parents on Sunday and wouldn't be home until late. So I asked her to call Saturday and set up a pick up time. Oh No!, Teenaged disaster! DD has LOST her friends' phone number, and it's dropped off the recent call list on the phone. I tried looking it up online and couldn't find it. So I just waited, expecting a phone call from them to confirm this minor detail. I did speak to DS's girlfriend's family and confirmed a 7:30 pickup for her (they just live down the road).

Monday morning we were up and out of the house by 7:25. DS's girlfriend was ready and waiting, and we headed south to pick up DD's friend. I debated over this, but decided that it was worth a bit of our time to not leave someone hanging there waiting on us. Unfortunately, it turned out that DD's friend had forgotten to mention these plans to her parents (hmmm, where have I heard that before?), so she wasn't allowed to go. Her dad apologized for our inconvenience, but we exchanged phone numbers so it wouldn't happen again!

On to the actual Disney part of the trip!

After a few traffic delays, we pulled into the MGM parking lot at 9:20. DS's GF has a regular AP, so no parking fee this time (we have seasonal passes). We had to stop by guest services to replace DS's AP. I think it made a trip through the washer, but DS denies all knowledge! He ended up with the Incredibles on his new pass. We still have the old style pass with attractions instead of characters.

As we were walking in, we decided that our must do's (focused on DS's GF since she hadn't done many of them) were: ToT, LMA, Animation Tour, and maybe Beauty and the Beast. DD wanted to do Backlot Tour, but the GF had been on that before, since it was one of the few rides her mom will do.

Once in the park, we headed down Sunset to visit Tower of Terror. All the kids were bummed that RnR was down for refurb. DS's GF had never been on ToT. It turns out that her parents don't do thrill rides. I quick stepped down to pick up FPs (return time 10:15-11:15), then we went through the standby line. The kids explained the backstory to DS's GF and by the time they were done, we were in the library, and quickly into our service elevator. This wasn't a particularly great series of drops, but it was still fun. DS's GF LOVED this ride! As soon as we stopped, she said "When are the FPs good? I want to go again!"

After the ride, we split into two groups. DS and GF headed to the back of the park to see the 10:30 LMA show. The next show was at 1:30 which was when we were eating lunch, so that was really the only chance to watch it. DD and I wanted to see the 10:45 B&B show. I had left my cell phone in the car, so DD headed over to see the VOLM while I retrieved the phone. Once back in the park, I watched a bit of the director street scene while waiting on DD. Several young girls were getting autographs from the director, and he was really playing it up.

DD and I got good seats just beneath the sound board and enjoyed the B&B show. The CM at the entrance said that 4 for a Dollar are off on Sunday and Monday so there was no pre-show. I had only seen B&B once before, and I really had missed a lot that time because I was taking picture. I can't believe the amount of costume changes they do in this show! It's really amazing that it all gets done! Once we were done, DD decided she didn't want to ride ToT again, so we gave away our FPs. We wandered down Sunset and checked out the villian shop. DD found a t-shirt that she thought would be perfect for me! It has Malificent and says "Don't hate me because I'm wicked!" I explained that I'm NEVER wicked, I'm just MOM! DD picked out a rope of licorice for a snack and we headed out.

Meanwhile, DS and his GF had enjoyed the LMA show. They left right at the very end to get back to use their ToT FPs, then headed back to the animation studio.

*** inserted later because I didn't remember it the first time!****
DD and I went over to the Great Movie Ride and they had LOTS of characters out in the courtyard there. I've always seen characters around the hat, but this was the first time I've seen them in the area by GMR. They had Baloo, The Little Red Hen (that's what DD said, I had no idea on that one!), Suzy and Perla (mice from Cinderella), King Louie, and MEEKO! Our first big Disney trip was right after Pocohantas came out, and we had some photos of the Pocohantas characters (including an autograph of Capt John Smith in my DS"s book) but I haven't seen many of them since. My kids are generally too big (in their mind) for the characters. DD will make an exception for Stitch, but that's about it. I was able to convince her to get a picture with Meeko. Here's a good shot of them.

***** end of insert

DD and I rode the Great Movie Ride (we had the time check card, which is actually a card there). We waited about 15 minutes for this, entirely in the room with the movie clips (we saw most of them twice). I had high hopes of getting the cowboy scene, since they had long cars with two CMs running. Turns out that the front section gets the cowboy scene, and we were in the back row. We did get stuck in the Tarzan scene (saw him swing across about a dozen times!) and our CM adlibbed some info about the Tarzan movies. Did you know that Johnny Weismuller wasn't their first choice? The real first choice? An unknown named Clark Gable! But they couldn't work around his Gone with the Wind schedule.

DD and I headed over to the animation studio to meet up with DS and his GF. We came in the back way and DD stopped to checkout the sketches of Mushu on the wall. As I mention later in the EPCOT segment, DD has gotten focused on dragons lately. Here's the photo.

Back last spring break, she bought a Stitch/Tower of Terror hat that she wears every time we go to Disney. It's the bellhop hat with Stitch ears coming out the side. She always gets comments on it, and we usually don't see another one. Here was our first magical moment of the day.

While I'm taking the picture of DD, one of the animators comes up and offers DD a signed, personalized sketch of Stitch that he had done for the last class. He said "Since I can tell you love Stitch, would you like this? Now I don't want to see this on ebay next week!" I assured him that this would be framed and in her bedroom right away! About this time, DS's GF came up. Turned out she hadn't wanted to draw, so she was playing with the computer games. The animator, Timmy, asked if we were going into the next class and I explained that I was waiting on my son. Timmy turned to DS's GF and said "Are you her son's girlfriend?" Then he turned to me and said "I know your son. He comes here a lot. He's really a very nice kid." To the GF he said "and he talks about you too!" It was really nice chatting with this guy, and reassuring to know that while DS is off on his own he's a good guest. Timmy had been the animator that my DS had when were were there at Christmas time. DS spent about an hour in the area, and helped them put out the supplies for the class, etc. They were teasing him that he could give the opening speech!

DS finished his class (they did Stitch again), and we headed out together. DS and GF were a little hungry and wanted a churro. We went over to the stand by GMR, where they decided they wanted to ride that. Since we had just gone on this, I gave them the snack money, and DD and I headed to the Backlot Tour. DS got the cowboy scene this time! DD and I volunteered and ended up as the deckhands. The other volunteers were there with their family, and that family was nice enough to take a few photos for us. Here's a couple of good ones.

After our 5 minutes of fame, we rejoined the group. There was a passporter family in the row in front of us on the tram. The lady said that she posts there, but didn't give her screen name.

After the tour, the 1:30 LMA show was just about to start, so the masses turned that way. We picked up DS and his GF at the theater and all headed over to Sci Fi.

I wrote a detailed review of that on the dining page. Here's the link if you're interested.

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1327391

Up next, afternoon at EPCOT.

 

[Bee]

I'm in!!!

 

[tkd lisa]

I did add a section to the first part of this trip. It's marked off by stars. I forgot something that DD and I did.

Anyway, on to EPCOT! We finished up in Sci Fi about 2:30 and decided to head down to EPCOT. No one was interested in the parade (my family typically only enjoys the evening ones). We walked down the Boardwalk side, waving hello to the resort we'll be visiting in March! We were at the International Gateway just after 3:00 and split up. DS and his GF wanted to go to Test Track (they usually ride single rider), and DD and I were going to catch some of the performances in World Showcase. I told DS that they had to re-join us after their ride since I thought they had spent enough alone time for the day.

DD and I went over to France where we waited a few minutes for the Serveur Amusent (sp???) to start. I've seen the last half of this many times, but never the beginning. I won't spoil it for those who haven't, but it does make a difference!! DD plopped down on the ground right in front of the rope, and really enjoyed the show! After it was done, she spotted the crepe stand. Now she's been asking for one of these since our free dining trip Labor Day weekend, but the timing has NEVER been right. I wasn't wasting cash on that trip when we had credits, and every other time the line has been long, or we'd just eaten. Once again, we had just eaten, so I promised we'd stop just before leaving the park today.

We started walking toward Mexico picking up a times guide on the way. DD was looking for some dragon merchandise. We just re-did her bedroom with an Asian theme (she LOVES anything from Japan), so she was looking for things to decorate with. About this time, DS calls and says they are in Norway so we headed over to meet them. They said the single rider line was 50 minutes, so they just got a frozen coke and headed to world showcase. We decide to wander toward Japan to see Miyuki the candy lady. But as we entered China, the drawbridge was going up to let the Illuminations boats go through. DS showed off a little bit by playing with those juggling sticks they have at the little store. He's fairly good at it. After about 5 minutes, an obnoxious 20 something guy comes up yelling "Hey, Watch this! I'm really good at these things!" And yes, you guessed it. 30 seconds later his stick came flying at my head. At about this time, the drawbridge was lowering, so DS put his away. The 20 something guy said "Oh, so you don't want to challenge me?" DS just shook his head and we left. Funny to see my 13 year old acting more responsibly than a 20 something!

DD changed her mind because she wanted to check out the stores in Germany for dragon stuff. She said that since they have the dragon battle on their statue, they must have dragon stuff in their shops! I gave her a phone and we kept going. She's seen Miyuki many times before. We got to Japan shortly after 4, just as the drums were starting. Miyuki was scheduled for 4:15, so we just waited. I had a nice chat with a family who was also waiting. They had the cutest 3 year old girl who really wanted a candy animal. They had caught at least one show already that day, but didn't get picked. Miyuki came and began and picked the little girl first thing! She chose a purple giraffe, which came out very nicely. Then our next magic! She picked DS! He asked for a crane. As Miyuki was making the crane, she told DS that the crane was the symbol for the New Year, and since the New Year was just starting, which makes it very lucky! She put a pink medallion on the back of the crane and signed it, which was the first time I've seen her do that. We watched the rest of the show. There was one group like you always see. I offered to let the child (probably about 6) in, and the whole family pushed past. Miyuki picked an adult lady, and a very polite 9ish year old girl, then she said she was out of taffy. People clapped and left (DS and GF went into the store). But the pushy father said "My daughter wants one. We can buy it in the store, right?" Miyuki said "No, sorry. Not for sale, only free here. Next show, 5:05". But they guy said "My daughter wants one!" Miyuki said "Sorry, no more taffy. Next show 5:05." She was so pleasant but the guy wouldn't quit. I finally said "Sir, if you come back she usually remembers who has been here before. The little girl at the beginning had been here before today." He finally left, and I made sure to thank Miyuki again for the candy.

By this time DD was done with her shopping, so we headed over to France. DD finally got her crepe. No one else wanted one, so I just finished up what she had left. The France movie didn’t start until 5, and none of them were interested anyway. We headed down to the UK, and they wanted to visit the toy store. They spent quite a bit of time just wandering in there. DD made a kidcot mask so that she could get the dragon charm they have there. By this time, the World Showcase Players were due, so we pulled up a bit of pavement to wait. I’ve seen the shows in Italy and the UK probably a half dozen times this year. But I’d never seen any of these performers, so maybe they’ve turned over the cast. Once they began, I realized this is another show that I had never seen the beginning of! This cast had some audience participation things that I’d never seen. They had “The Knight Salute”. It was a complicated hand snap/clap, face slap, whoo eeee kind of thing. Many times when I’ve seen this show, the lead actor stops and says “So what do you think of the show so far?” I always clap and say “yay!” but it turns out that you’re supposed to reply “Rubbish!” OOOH! That explains why they always looked at me funny! The show was excellent as always. GF really enjoyed this and had never done this either! In a great mood, we all headed over to actually RIDE test track.

The wait time was posted as 20 minutes. We got stopped just at the end of the line and were still through the pre-show within 15 minutes. My final GRRRR for the night came next. There was a group of 3 twenty something guys who had WAY too much to drink. They were in the standby line and were waving their beer glasses (I think they were the ½ yards from Rose and Crown) around. Then they were being extremely obnoxious to the CMs, etc. The family that was assigned the front seat of their car asked to be moved, they were that obnoxious! DS and I were in the front and back row of the car behind them. When they were at the seat belt check station, the CM was spending a lot of time arguing with them. They moved on, and immediately we all JERKED to a stop. Now this is just what I think happened, because I wasn’t in this car, BUT I think they unbuckled their seatbelts. The CM got a supervisor who spent about 4 minutes arguing with the guys. Eventually, he made them put their hands up in the air (presumably so they couldn’t unbuckle), then they moved on. I don’t know why anyone would think that was funny, or acceptable!

We were in a car with a nice family from Maine. They had two young girls who had never ridden before. As we were going through, I could hear DS talking to the girl (who was probably 5 or 6) in the backseat. I was worried that he was scaring her a bit. We went through the “barrier” and she let out a huge scream! I turned around to tell DS to knock it off, and realized that she sure looked like she was having fun! I turned to her dad and said “Is that a happy scream?” He assured me it was. After the ride, I told DS I thought he was scaring her, and he said “No Mom, she was having a really great time!” We rejoined everyone at the photo area, and headed back out the IG.

A nice pleasant walk back to MGM, and we were back in the car heading out by 6:45. MGM closed at 7:00, so we beat the rush. We were back home by 8:15, which was the end of a GREAT Disney day.

Hope you enjoyed it!

 

[Bee]

Very nice! I am jealous, as I live in Nebraska. I went to mapquest yesterday and it is 22.5 hrs to WDW and approx 21 hrs to Disneyland. I am smack dab in the middle. The candy girl sounds like Varucka (spelling) from Charlie and the Choc Factory. I want it and I want it NOW... makes me think of the oompa loompa song.. What do get do when your kid is a BRAT? (it is his fault)

I have never seen the candy lady.. hopefully some day I will get to see her. I read many nice things about her.

Your children sound very nice.
So glad you get to enjoy the World often..

Maybe, I will hear from you again.

 

[tkd lisa]

Honestly, it wasn't the girl, it was the dad. The girl was just quietly watching. And I guess the dad wasn't as bad as I made it sound. He just was insistent that there had to be some way to get one for his child. He didn't yell, he just wouldn't take no for an answer. Miyuki is wonderful to watch, but her accent can make her hard to understand. That's why I said something to him, hoping that maybe he just didn't understand her.

Thanks for the comments! And I understand about the distance. We lived in Indiana until 96, and near Washington DC until last year so I've done my share of wishing to live closer to WDW.