zulemara
<font color=royalblue>Oh Boy! I'm a WDW sailor!<br
- Joined
- Nov 28, 2007
- Messages
- 2,350
I had to take a week to write my trip report because the weekend was so emotional and I found that every video I watched, picture I looked at, or story I read just brought back the hurt I feel by the closing of Pleasure Island. Im at least able to write about it now, so here we go:
DBF(Ryan) and I booked our trip 2 weeks prior to departure. Last minute, yes, but I couldnt be happier with my decision. We went to bed Thursday night(sept 25th) at about 11pm CST. We slept until 2:30am, got up and got ready, and left our apartment at 3:30am. We drove about 150 miles from our apartment in La Crosse, WI to the Minneapolis airport. We arrived at the airport in our parking spot in 2 hours and 10 minutes. Needless to say, there was NO traffic. The trip would usually take at least 2.5 hours if not more.
We are very familiar with the airport and security was a breeze at that hour, so we were at the gate by 6am. Our plane departed at 7:30am with a Miami destination. I slept most of the flight or at least as much as you can on a plane. I had about 2 hours of intermittent sleep.
We landed in Miami at about noon EST. Our next flight was at 1:30PM EST so we had a little down time. We made it to the next gate and got some food from the Chilis stand. We boarded the next plane and left right on time. We touched down in Orlando at 2:15. Given the short flight, I got about 15 minutes of rest. Ryan didnt sleep at all on either flight. He was reading PDF files on his phone for a research proposal he was working on.
After landing in Orlando we called my friend Earl to pick us up. He got to the airport about 3 and took us to Disney!
First things first, I needed a new Cast Member ID, so we went to access control to get that taken care of. Then we went to the Plaza hotel on hotel plaza blvd and checked in. Earl and my other friend William were both going to Haloween horror nights, so they had to discuss on the phone how they were meeting. Once that was taken care of, Earl took us to MK. We had MNSSHP tickets ready to go and we entered the park at about 5:15. Earl went on Space Mountain with us and then left to meet up with William.
The party was awesome! I was hoping it would allow us some time together knowing the rest of the trip would have us surrounded by friends. Pretty much everything the podcast said was true. We walked onto EVERYTHING, saw the parade, the AMAZING fireworks, and even caught Stitchs dance party. Ryan is on a diet so we were pressed to find something relatively healthy and ended up at Cosmic Rays café. After eating we relaxed while waiting for the parade and fit rides in where we could.
We left the park at 11:30 and got back to our hotel about 12:30 and were showered and in bed by 1am. Wow, what a day! The last time we were there was xmas and of course the crowds were nuts, so it was really nice to see a much less crowded and more relaxing Magic Kingdom.
Saturday we woke up, got ready, and headed for EPCOT. William picked us up and off we went. We got to EPCOT about noon and planned on staying until 4. We got fastpasses for soarin right away. Our plan was to eat from the food and wine festival booths, but the lines were quite long and there were 6 or 7 of us in our party, so we ended up getting margaritas and then walking around the world showcase until we got to Italy. We were able to walk right in and get a table together. Lunch was good, but pricy! 50 dollars for 2 people and Ryan just had water! Of course Im a little spoiled. I havent had to deal with Disney prices for a while so Im not used to them yet.
After EPCOT we visited the DTD ticket booth to get our PI tickets. We needed cast tickets and we werent able to get them at EPCOT for whatever reason. We were taken back to our hotel by William. Then we showered and hopped on the DTD bus from our hotel.
We arrived at PI at about 6:15. We immediately headed to the Comedy Warehouse for the 6:55 show. We met a very nice lady in line who works for the Disney reservation center. I had a great conversation with her about a lot of things and I ended up writing disboards.com on the back of my business card and gave it to her. Hopefully she ends up visiting the boards and listening to the podcast!
The line for AC was wrapped all the way into the BET que. People had been camping out since 10:30am. Thats some dedication!
We were finally let into CW and I got to sit next to a phone.
Unfortunately as usual..it didnt ring for me. The atmosphere was electric. Carol was the keyboardist and if they hadnt quieted the crowd, they would have just kept cheering and clapping the entire length of the show! I really admire the entire casts ability to maintain positive energy. I was on the verge of crying and Carol was smiling and rockin the opening song.
Shortly after, the show started. I dont remember everything, but there were some great moments. Carol is going to be playing at the Rose and Crown so fans will be able to see her in another role. The most memorable moment of the show had to be when the cast did an improve country song called Im gonna eat eat eat and shop There was no cutting corners everyone knew exactly what they were referring to and it just gave the whole place more energy.
We left CW and were given the little iconic jaws on our way out. That was a great souvenir to take with us. On to Mannequins!
The line was full for Mannequins because it didnt open until 8. We were able to get in line and quickly get into the club. All 3 floors were open and they used the elevator to bring people into the club. I started the night by ordering 2 long beaches(long island with cranberry, OJ, and pineapple instead of coke and lemon)
The floor stopped about 9:15, which brought the energy down a little bit, but nothing was gonna stop this night.
The rest of the night really is a blur. What I can say is I had 5 long beaches from 8-2am and we danced the entire time! The lights were awesome and the music was good. DJ pea pod started with some 80s remixes and then when the other DJs got their turn they were playing more trance than house(house being remixes of songs) of course at that point everyone is just dancing anyway so it didnt really matter. That place is ALL about the light show anyway.
We went outside at midnight for the fireworks, so that was fun. Then we went back in the club for more dancing!
The dancing stopped at 2am, but the crowd wasnt gonna go anywhere without one more song! After a good 7-10 minutes of chanting, they turned off the lights and kicked the party up again for one more song.
After leaving Mannequins we kind of walked around for a bit before leaving PI. I said my last goodbyes to the CMs I knew as a door host and got one last picture in front of 8-trax. Im going to post a PI memory in someone elses thread so I wont go into it here, but needless to say PI holds a very special place in my heart and a part of me and many others, died on Saturday night.
After leaving, we went to Perkins for breakfast. We strolled into the hotel about 4:30 or 5am. My friends stayed in the hotel since they were taking us to the airport anyway. We slept for about 5 hours before getting up, packing, and heading to the airport.
We got to the airport about 11 for our flight at 12:15. We were both dehydrated, but we survived the day and managed to get enough sleep on the flight to drive home. We flew Orlando to Dallas and Dallas to Minneapolis. We landed about 7:30pm and drove home. We got home about 10 and basically crashed.
All in all, the weekend was everything I imagined it would be. I would have been so disappointed if I didnt go. Ryan kept saying I cant believe how much fun we had this weekend and that made it all worthwhile.
It should be noted that it was Oktoberfest in La Crosse this same weekend and I got a LOT of flack from my friends for leaving town on the weekend that brings thousands upon thousands into the city to drink and eat brats. Needless to say, I dont regret my decision one bit. Oktoberfest will be around for generations but for PI, there is no tomorrow.
Pictures located at http://s229.photobucket.com/albums/ee13/zulemara/PI%20Last%20Call/
DBF(Ryan) and I booked our trip 2 weeks prior to departure. Last minute, yes, but I couldnt be happier with my decision. We went to bed Thursday night(sept 25th) at about 11pm CST. We slept until 2:30am, got up and got ready, and left our apartment at 3:30am. We drove about 150 miles from our apartment in La Crosse, WI to the Minneapolis airport. We arrived at the airport in our parking spot in 2 hours and 10 minutes. Needless to say, there was NO traffic. The trip would usually take at least 2.5 hours if not more.
We are very familiar with the airport and security was a breeze at that hour, so we were at the gate by 6am. Our plane departed at 7:30am with a Miami destination. I slept most of the flight or at least as much as you can on a plane. I had about 2 hours of intermittent sleep.
We landed in Miami at about noon EST. Our next flight was at 1:30PM EST so we had a little down time. We made it to the next gate and got some food from the Chilis stand. We boarded the next plane and left right on time. We touched down in Orlando at 2:15. Given the short flight, I got about 15 minutes of rest. Ryan didnt sleep at all on either flight. He was reading PDF files on his phone for a research proposal he was working on.
After landing in Orlando we called my friend Earl to pick us up. He got to the airport about 3 and took us to Disney!
First things first, I needed a new Cast Member ID, so we went to access control to get that taken care of. Then we went to the Plaza hotel on hotel plaza blvd and checked in. Earl and my other friend William were both going to Haloween horror nights, so they had to discuss on the phone how they were meeting. Once that was taken care of, Earl took us to MK. We had MNSSHP tickets ready to go and we entered the park at about 5:15. Earl went on Space Mountain with us and then left to meet up with William.
The party was awesome! I was hoping it would allow us some time together knowing the rest of the trip would have us surrounded by friends. Pretty much everything the podcast said was true. We walked onto EVERYTHING, saw the parade, the AMAZING fireworks, and even caught Stitchs dance party. Ryan is on a diet so we were pressed to find something relatively healthy and ended up at Cosmic Rays café. After eating we relaxed while waiting for the parade and fit rides in where we could.
We left the park at 11:30 and got back to our hotel about 12:30 and were showered and in bed by 1am. Wow, what a day! The last time we were there was xmas and of course the crowds were nuts, so it was really nice to see a much less crowded and more relaxing Magic Kingdom.
Saturday we woke up, got ready, and headed for EPCOT. William picked us up and off we went. We got to EPCOT about noon and planned on staying until 4. We got fastpasses for soarin right away. Our plan was to eat from the food and wine festival booths, but the lines were quite long and there were 6 or 7 of us in our party, so we ended up getting margaritas and then walking around the world showcase until we got to Italy. We were able to walk right in and get a table together. Lunch was good, but pricy! 50 dollars for 2 people and Ryan just had water! Of course Im a little spoiled. I havent had to deal with Disney prices for a while so Im not used to them yet.
After EPCOT we visited the DTD ticket booth to get our PI tickets. We needed cast tickets and we werent able to get them at EPCOT for whatever reason. We were taken back to our hotel by William. Then we showered and hopped on the DTD bus from our hotel.
We arrived at PI at about 6:15. We immediately headed to the Comedy Warehouse for the 6:55 show. We met a very nice lady in line who works for the Disney reservation center. I had a great conversation with her about a lot of things and I ended up writing disboards.com on the back of my business card and gave it to her. Hopefully she ends up visiting the boards and listening to the podcast!
The line for AC was wrapped all the way into the BET que. People had been camping out since 10:30am. Thats some dedication!
We were finally let into CW and I got to sit next to a phone.
Unfortunately as usual..it didnt ring for me. The atmosphere was electric. Carol was the keyboardist and if they hadnt quieted the crowd, they would have just kept cheering and clapping the entire length of the show! I really admire the entire casts ability to maintain positive energy. I was on the verge of crying and Carol was smiling and rockin the opening song.
Shortly after, the show started. I dont remember everything, but there were some great moments. Carol is going to be playing at the Rose and Crown so fans will be able to see her in another role. The most memorable moment of the show had to be when the cast did an improve country song called Im gonna eat eat eat and shop There was no cutting corners everyone knew exactly what they were referring to and it just gave the whole place more energy.
We left CW and were given the little iconic jaws on our way out. That was a great souvenir to take with us. On to Mannequins!
The line was full for Mannequins because it didnt open until 8. We were able to get in line and quickly get into the club. All 3 floors were open and they used the elevator to bring people into the club. I started the night by ordering 2 long beaches(long island with cranberry, OJ, and pineapple instead of coke and lemon)
The floor stopped about 9:15, which brought the energy down a little bit, but nothing was gonna stop this night.
The rest of the night really is a blur. What I can say is I had 5 long beaches from 8-2am and we danced the entire time! The lights were awesome and the music was good. DJ pea pod started with some 80s remixes and then when the other DJs got their turn they were playing more trance than house(house being remixes of songs) of course at that point everyone is just dancing anyway so it didnt really matter. That place is ALL about the light show anyway.
We went outside at midnight for the fireworks, so that was fun. Then we went back in the club for more dancing!
The dancing stopped at 2am, but the crowd wasnt gonna go anywhere without one more song! After a good 7-10 minutes of chanting, they turned off the lights and kicked the party up again for one more song.
After leaving Mannequins we kind of walked around for a bit before leaving PI. I said my last goodbyes to the CMs I knew as a door host and got one last picture in front of 8-trax. Im going to post a PI memory in someone elses thread so I wont go into it here, but needless to say PI holds a very special place in my heart and a part of me and many others, died on Saturday night.
After leaving, we went to Perkins for breakfast. We strolled into the hotel about 4:30 or 5am. My friends stayed in the hotel since they were taking us to the airport anyway. We slept for about 5 hours before getting up, packing, and heading to the airport.
We got to the airport about 11 for our flight at 12:15. We were both dehydrated, but we survived the day and managed to get enough sleep on the flight to drive home. We flew Orlando to Dallas and Dallas to Minneapolis. We landed about 7:30pm and drove home. We got home about 10 and basically crashed.
All in all, the weekend was everything I imagined it would be. I would have been so disappointed if I didnt go. Ryan kept saying I cant believe how much fun we had this weekend and that made it all worthwhile.
It should be noted that it was Oktoberfest in La Crosse this same weekend and I got a LOT of flack from my friends for leaving town on the weekend that brings thousands upon thousands into the city to drink and eat brats. Needless to say, I dont regret my decision one bit. Oktoberfest will be around for generations but for PI, there is no tomorrow.
Pictures located at http://s229.photobucket.com/albums/ee13/zulemara/PI%20Last%20Call/
