No Day But Today- FINAL post on page 40!

[__disneygirl]

Can't wait to see the Jack pics!

 

[WDW Poly Princess]

P.S. Not to jolly my roger, but I have the kickbuttingest pirate outfit and it's a shame I don't have anywhere to wear it. Maybe I'll just have to pop down to Disney to pillage and plunder with the rest of ye pirate wenches!

Come join the craziness in Oct! (Although I'm pretty sure that the costume I'm working on will be the kickbuttingest pirate outfit ever!)

 

[Disneyfan18951]

I can't wait to hear about the pirate lessons. I have never seen this before. I am going in 16 days and it is on top of my TO DO List.

Thanks for all the pictures.

 

[Brocktoon]

I have NO idea how I totally missed MGM on this trip!!! As you probably know, I usually just go to whatever park I'm in the mood for each day, and it somehow just never came up! I'm going to have to make sure to go there first on my next trip!

Tis a shame ... some of the best pics in all of WDW can be taken around the Hollywood Tower area. Especially some of the night shots. I guess there is always 'Disneyween'

Speaking of which, am I the only one who feels dirty combining the words Disney and ween? My vote goes towards WeenFest '07 Yes, it's been a LONG day at work ...

 

[WDW Poly Princess]

Tis a shame ... some of the best pics in all of WDW can be taken around the Hollywood Tower area. Especially some of the night shots. I guess there is always 'Disneyween'

Speaking of which, am I the only one who feels dirty combining the words Disney and ween? My vote goes towards WeenFest '07 Yes, it's been a LONG day at work ...

I know! The credit for the word "Disneyween" goes to my dear friend Kelly, who will be embarking on the journey with me- we got tired of typing out "our Halloween Disney trip"- she called it Disneyween, and it stuck!

Captain Jack Sparrow pics will be up later today- as well as a mention of my own pirate thing going on!

 

[sdy]

Bravo, Bravissima!

I just came across your trippie and have read it pretty much beginning to end.

Which does nothing for my professional life, but cheered me wholly in my personal DisLife. I have two (yes, two) trips coming up at the end of this year and have embarked upon the "semi-obsessive planning and fantasizing" pre-trip phase of my pre-WDW existence.

So.

Thank you.

For making coping that much easier.

Really, really.

xx, Sid

 

[WDW Poly Princess]

Dear Sdy's bosslady:

Kindly excuse Sid from work for Disney trip obsessing activities. You will have a much healthier and happier worker if Sid can get all of this crazy planning and dreaming done!

Thank you!
-The Dread Pirate Crystal

 

[WDW Poly Princess]

The Pirate Tutorial was either running late, or my clock was early, because it was at least 10 minutes late in starting! But oh, ladies, let me tell ya… TOTALLY worth the wait!

Blondeheroine’s request in Stitch’s thread was for some Captain Jack photos, and as you know I take your requests very seriously, so I took it upon myself to watch the entire pirate show, keeping a good eye on Jack the whole time, and clicking away. Ahh, yes, it’s a tough job, but it’s for the good of the DIS.

Jack Photos!!!

This guy was a great Jack! Most of the time, he looked just like him!

This is what happens when I try to take Jack pictures while paying more attention to him than my camera. I would hate to hear what Dr Freud would have to say about this shot!

Man, why didn’t I get to be part of Jack’s crew??

I was a little bummed that Jack dashed away right after the show- no chance to pose for a pic!

I keep forgetting to mention them, but there was at least one big Brazilian tour group at the World this week. I’ve heard about them for years, but the stories always have them there during the summer. Not this time! And I finally understand the stories! They were a very… enthusiastic… bunch!

The other thing on my must-do list today was Tom Sawyer Island. A weird thing to be on a must-do list, I know! But I haven’t been over there in years, and now that Disneyland is changing theirs to a pirate theme, I’m guessing that WDW’s will be changing soon as well, so I wanted to make sure I made it over this trip.

I’ve only been over to the island twice in the past, and both times I just stayed right near the Aunt Polly’s/raft dock area- I’ve never actually explored the island! This time, I really wanted to walk around and see what was there!

Waiting for the raft over, I had a Bad Shoe sighting! You can’t see them very well here, but they were plastic-looking platforms. This poor woman had to have been limping by the end of the day!

The map shows a LOT of stuff on TSI- how have I never seen any of it?

Apparently I need to head abck again, though, because I STILL haven’t seen a lot of it!

Are you ready for an embarrassing story about getting scared at Disney World?

The first thing I decided to do on TSI was check out one of the caves. Basically, there’s not a lot to see in them- they’re pitch black, and wind around. Probably an adventurous little kid’s dream! However, when you’re in there allll by yourself, and it’s totally dark, and you can’t see where you’re going? It gets a little creepy!

So I’m making my way through the cave, wishing I had a flashlight or something because it is DARK in there, and really hard to find the path sometimes! Eventually, I came to a part with a bunch of big stalagtite-type columns… and got stuck there! I could NOT figure out which way the path went from there- I kept going around in circles! I have no idea why, but something about it made me panic a little bit! I know I’m at Disney World, nothing bad is going to happen- it’s not even a real cave. If I’d been thinking, I would have realized that someone had to come along eventually, and I could just follow them out. My brain wasn’t thinking any of that though- it was thinking “AHHH! It’s dark and I’m lost and I want OUT!”. I finally gave up and just went back the way I came, out the entrance. To this day, I still don’t know how you get out of that freaking cave!

Doing the cave first was a really bad idea, because when I finally got back out (Air! Sunshine! Freedom!), I was actually a little nauseous! (I still can’t believe I freaked out at Disney World, y’all! Color me a little embarrassed!) It was really hot out today, I was feeling dehydrated, and all I had in my stomach was a coffee freezey thing. I found a nice shady spot to sit down for a while, and drank some water, which helped a lot. I really wanted to just get back to somewhere with AC so I could cool down, but I didn’t want to miss seeing the island AGAIN, so I decided to just keep going.

In retrospect, I think part of my feeling icky today was my body just getting tired. Anyone who has been to WDW for a week or more knows that after 5 or so days, the adrenaline of being there starts to wear off (for me anyway), and your body starts to realize what you’re doing to it. For me it almost always happens on Day 5- my body seems to have a lightbulb moment and say “Hey! Wait a second! You’re sleeping like two minutes a day… we’re walking about 15 miles a day… the food is different than I’m used to… This is wearing me out!” And then I get home a few days later, get sick about a day after I get home, and feel icky for a week while my body recovers. I guess the rebellion of my body lasted until day 8 this time thanks to spending one day at AKL hanging out, but I managed not to get sick after my trip this time, too!

So, after THAT long tangent- the place outside the cave I found to sit ended up being a great spot to see BTMRR!

I found Fort Langhorn, named after our old friend Samuel L. Clemens! (I’ve been reading the collected travel writings of Mark Twain, and nearly did this chapter of the report as a parody of “The Innocents Abroad”, but in the end I decided to spare you! )

Horsies!

I’m sure there was more to see at the fort, but I was really starting to feel icky and a little overheated, so I finally gave up on my island explorations and started back towards the raft.

I know this is a silly question, but is the windmill supposed to be broken?

I know it goes against the theme, but I wish there was somewhere air conditioned that you could pop into on hot days to cool off a little! If I was getting way too hot over there in January, I can only imagine what it’s like in the summer!

On my way back to the raft, my eye caught something by the whitewashed fence-

One of the paintbrushes! If you haven’t heard, early in the morning, the CMs hide some paintbrushes on the island (I think there are 3 or 4 of them?), and the people who find them get special front of the line passes.

Since it was just me, I decided to leave it there for a child to find later- it would be way more fun for them! But I was pretty excited to find one- I’ve never even seen one before!

My raft back over to the mainland was driven by Mary Kate Olsen:

Who knew she worked at Disney World?

More of day 8 still to come!

I wanted to add in a note here- I entered a contest today to be an honorary pirate at Disneyland for a day. My video submission wasn't that great, but I'm still hopeful! If I make it to the finalists, I'll be begging you guys to vote for me! Keep your fingers crossed, and if all goes well, you may get a Disneyland trip report this summer!

 

[truebelievers]

A picture like this requires a person to be very stealthy when shooting.

Also, I think that was very decent of you to leave the paintbrush for a kid to find. Good on ya.

 

[WDW Poly Princess]

A picture like this requires a person to be very stealthy when shooting.

Also, I think that was very decent of you to leave the paintbrush for a kid to find. Good on ya.

This is exactly why I love my camera! It has a flippy lens:

So I can hold my camera all nonchalantly like I'm looking at pictures I've taken, point the lens where I want, and voila! Stealthy photo taking!

 

[oybolshoi]

I've always wanted to check out Tom Sawyer's island but in all the years I've been to WDW it's never happened. And now, after reading about your scary cave adventure I'm not sure I want to...

I loved the picture of the paintbrush - I've always wondered what they look like.

Nice job!

 

[jodistar]

Wow great pictures of the Pirate tutorial! God, I missed a lot in my January trip -- Thank god I'm going back in October

 

[truebelievers]

This is exactly why I love my camera! It has a flippy lens:

So I can hold my camera all nonchalantly like I'm looking at pictures I've taken, point the lens where I want, and voila! Stealthy photo taking!

The picture you posted isn't showing up for me. Is it a Canon camera because mine has a flippy LCD too.

EDIT: Okay, NOW it's showing up and I can clearly see that it is definitely not the same camera I own, nor a Canon camera at all!

 

[newholidayx2]

thanks Crystal
its been a LLLOOOONNNNGGGG time since ive been on tom sawyers island - during this upcoming solo trip I'll have to make sure I get there!

 

[Philadisney]

There are horses on TSI? I had no idea! You learn something new every day.
I always wondered about the paintbrushes - how do people know to look for them? I know from the DIS, but is there a sign or something on the island instruction guests to seek them out? I never noticed one. Then again, I never noticed the horses, so perhaps I'm not the most observant. Anyway, thanks for another round of terrific pictures!

 

[WDW Poly Princess]

There are horses on TSI? I had no idea! You learn something new every day.
I always wondered about the paintbrushes - how do people know to look for them? I know from the DIS, but is there a sign or something on the island instruction guests to seek them out? I never noticed one. Then again, I never noticed the horses, so perhaps I'm not the most observant. Anyway, thanks for another round of terrific pictures!

Well, fake horses, but horses nonetheless!

I think that the raft drivers are supposed to tell the first boatloads of people about the paintbrushes. The island had been open for hours when I was there, though, so I thought it was weird that the paintbrush I saw was still not found! Maybe Mary Kate was slacking on her job?

Wow great pictures of the Pirate tutorial! God, I missed a lot in my January trip -- Thank god I'm going back in October

Do you think they put something in the water in Jan. that said "Come back in October?"

 

[tinkerbell87512]

I love the pics of Jack...mmmm wicked cute! lol. That was so nice of you to leave the paint brush for someone else.

I went over to tom sawyer island in the summer of 05 and it was sooo hot. Ugh it was awful. I think my brothers and I stayed about 30 minutes and we had to head back to "the main land" to go into some giftshops to cool off.

Im just loving your report. You definatly know how to tell a story.

 

[jodistar]

Do you think they put something in the water in Jan. that said "Come back in October?"

hmmmm...never thought about it that way. Could be, but that fine by me

 

[truebelievers]

Well, fake horses, but horses nonetheless!

I totally thought they were real from your picture. I'm such a tool!

 

[WDW Poly Princess]

I totally thought they were real from your picture. I'm such a tool!

Katie is actually an animatronic, too- I just wanted you guys to think I actually have friends.