Sparky Takes on the World- Completed

[DisneyNutMary]

Background: In the past year, we have been to WDW 4 times, thanks to DVC, APs, and our DDE card, so this last trip I was wondering what I could possibly photograph, since I have hundreds of pictures of the World, and my kids enjoying it, sitting on discs and being ignored.
I nearly left the camera home, but I was afraid some magical moment would happen, and I would miss my chance to catch it all on film, to post for the world to see here on the internet.

During our December trip, Tommy bought a stuffed Husky in the Canada pavilion, and named him Sparky. The CM who rang us up logged Sparky’s adoption into the book there, and said we should bring Sparky in for visits on future trips. So Sparky was packed in Tommy’s backpack, ready to go visit his former home.

Take one stuffed dog, add one Disney nut who already has pictures of all the world, and the result is…. We need to take Sparky’s picture all around the World…. And I’m here to tell all about it.

Cast:
Me- Sparky’s personal photographer and journalist
Jimmy- my DH, and Sparky’s posing assistant
Bobby and Tommy- Sparky’s bodyguards
And the star of our TR…. Sparky the husky

Where: Room 2538, at the Villas at Wilderness Lodge

When: Feb 17- Feb 24, the President’s Day week off from school

Day 1 – Tensions Mount with JetBlue, will this trip even happen?

Friday, Feb 16, 9:30pm… it’s now less than 24 hours before our flight is scheduled to depart, so I decide to try to check-in for the flight online at JetBlue.com, I know I won’t be able to, because Bobby name is the same as someone on the TSA watch list, but I try anyway.
When I log onto the website, first thing I see is a notice about cancelled flights due to Wednesday’s bad weather. The same flight # I was scheduled to take Saturday night, was cancelled for Friday night.
The hyperventilation begins….what will we do? Will we have to drive down? Will we lose our reservations? My imagination starts working overtime to come up with worst-case scenarios and solutions.
I finally get to bed around 11 that night, but sleep does not come easily, I am haunted by thoughts of cancelled flights, and lost time with Mickey.

6am Saturday morning, Jimmy leaves for work, and I am up and at the computer checking my flight. JetBlue is all over the news, and I am frantic. I rush around getting the house cleaned, laundry done, and last minute preparations done. I get the car packed, all the while stopping at the computer every so often to check the flight status.
By 3pm the flight was delayed, but still scheduled.
4:30 we close down and lock up the house, and head out to church.
I pray all through the mass that our fight is not cancelled. When mass ends, we head out for the airport, drop off the car in long term parking, and take the AirTrain to the terminal.
We check in with the usual delay- thanks to the TSA and Bobby’s oh-so-common name. But I am finally able to relax a little after the boarding passes are in my hand.

We get ripped off…um, I mean eat…at the food court, and settle in at our gate to wait.
The wait was nerve wracking, there were announcements about delays on other flights, and ours was looking to be delayed also- they were having trouble getting crew with all of the cancelled flights. We finally took off about a half hour behind schedule.

It was a little past midnight when we landed, and we headed alone to the DME counter, while everyone else headed to the baggage claim- so long suckers!

Walked right up to the counter, checked in quickly and were immediately put onto the hottest bus ever- it had to be 100 degrees on that bus. I was dying! There were 3 other passengers besides us- and we waited for more, we waited and waited and waited, but no more came. Finally the Heat Miser decided to have mercy on me and head out to the World. He was merciful enough to go to WL first, which is a good thing because I was about to pass out from the heat. Floridians have zero tolerance for cold apparently.

We checked in, were handed keys with no names on them, and told we would have to return in the morning to have our names added to the cards, and our credit card added to our account.
We headed over to the villas, and were asleep within minutes of getting through the door.

Long day over, the fun starts tomorrow….

 

[DisneyNutMary]

Sunday Feb 18- A Tail of Winter Weather, and Headachus Interruptus

Sparky had a long day on Saturday, so he slept in, and stayed in the room today while the rest of us went about our day.
Jimmy called for the luggage, which arrived by Magical Express sometime during the night. Bell Services had it to our room in under 10 minutes.
We left the kids to watch tv and chill out while we took care of some business. We started at Check-In, where we got our names and our credit card added to our keys. This was no easy feat though, as the CM behind the desk Suzy Helpershoes tried desperately to get the computer to put our names on the cards. Half an hour later, after many trips through that door to parts unknown, and some help from Joe Smileymanager, we were finally all settled. We know things happen, and we didn’t complain, or ask questions the whole time, apparently the WDW gods like this, so they gave us a $50.00 credit for being so patient.
We immediately blew that $50 on 4 refillable mugs. They say length of stay on them, but some people can’t read, because we saw some really old, beat-up mugs going into and out of Roaring Fork all week!
We hopped on into the mercantile next for some bagels, cream cheese, butter, milk, and the Sunday paper. (Sparky likes to read the comics- Marmaduke cracks him up)
When we got back to the villa, the kids had given up on us, and had eaten some Pop-Tarts already. So we finished our coffee and Hot Cocoa and headed out to the bus stop.

Five minutes into our wait, and we had icicles hanging from out eyelashes- like those Eskimos you see on tv. Well, not really, but we were freezing, even in our long pants and fleece jackets.
The bus to MGM took forever to arrive, but we were glad for the heat when we finally did get on.
Once we were through the turnstiles, we went straight to RnR. The place was mobbed; I got FPs for later that day while Jimmy took the kids on ToT.
The wait for ToT said 30 minutes when they got on line, and 90 minutes when I passed by after getting the FPs. I went down into the photo viewing area to wait.
I had a nice conversation with a grandmother who was on her 1st trip to WDW in over 25 years, she and her hubby took their granddaughter- hubby and granddaughter were on TotT, she passed, too much excitement on that ride for her ;D.
Jimmy and the boys showed up soon after the grandmother left so we headed back out into the chilly air.

We had ADRs for lunch at 50s Prime Time at 1pm, so we headed that way and checked in at about 12:45. We had a short wait in my mother-in-law’s living room- um, I mean the waiting area, and soon 'mom' called us in to eat.

This was our first time here- we all ordered milkshakes, 3 vanilla, 1 chocolate. I ordered Pot Roast, Jimmy has Chicken Potpie, Bobby had meatloaf, and Tommy had a hot dog.
The food was good, we were too stuffed for dessert- which is too bad, because I really wanted s'mores. Our server was great, she picked on Tommy right from the start, made him set the table- but I think she sensed he was shy, because she didn’t go too far. She also did the airplane and the choo-choo train to try to get Bobby to eat his veggies.

It was great fun, I’d go back again.


More to come, I have to get to work now, though

 

[BamaGirl]

Great start! I can't wait for more and to see pictures of Sparky!

 

[NMAmy]

Great start! I'm glad you were able to get your flight out; I'd have been a nervous wreck.

Now, where the heck is Sparky?

 

[sharonW]

Hi, enjoying your TR so far. You sound like me,
always have to fit mass in before any trip or find
a church while on vacation. It never ceased to amaze
my kids that church is a must even on vacation! Glad
your flight wasn't cancelled and you were able to start
the magic on the right foot. Can't wait to hear more!!

 

[DisneyNutMary]

After lunch we headed back out into the cold, crowded park. Not ready for any thrills, with our full bellies, we went over to The Great Movie Ride- or as Jimmy calls it, the Great Movie Nap, because he always falls asleep in there. It was a nice break from the wind, but I wish they would update it and maybe change some of the scenes- there is so much to offer in the world of cinema, that they could change a few scenes to be up to date with the times and not hurt the entire story line.

As we exited, people were starting to line up for the parade, so we went around back, past ABC Commissary and up the side way to Star Tours. The parade had started already over there, and the area was mobbed. We are huge Star Wars fans, and we wanted to ride Star Tours. The FPs were for much later in the day- we were still recovering from our travels the day before, so that was a no-go. The Standby time said 30 minutes, but that line was at a complete halt. It looked as though parade watchers were clogging up the queue area.
We were too far to see the parade, but our choices were limited here. We took some pictures on the speed bike, and just waited out the parade.

After it passed, we headed over to the Indiana Jones Stunt Spectacular- we had really good seats near the front and center. Best of all- even though the stadium is open, we were out of the wind, so it wasn’t so cold in here.
After Indy, Bobby was starting to wear down from the lack of sleep- so we got a couple of sodas and went back to Star Tours; the standby was at 30 minutes, so we got in line. By this time, Bobby was shot- he was exhausted and had a headache. We got off the line without riding. I decided to take Bobby back to the villa, while Jimmy and Tommy used the RnR fastpasses.
There was a bus at the stop when we got there, and we made it back quickly. I gave Bobby some Tylenol and put him to bed while I unpacked.
Soon after, Jimmy and Tommy came in- Tommy decided to skip on the FPs and ride RnR another day when Bobby feels better.
Jimmy and I left the kids in the room, and went to Roaring Fork to bring back some dinner. We ate, relaxed, and got to watch Amazing Race- and recharge for the rest of the week.

Monday Feb 19- Sparky joins the fun!

Monday we were up and ready early, and while the kids got themselves ready, Jimmy and I went down to Roaring Fork for mug refills. After a quick breakfast in the room, we were out by the bus stop by 8am. There was an Epcot bus waiting, so we got on (what looked like) the line (it began at the bus door, and ended by the benches, you’d assume it was a line too!) Then the bus doors closed and it pulled away. We assumed it had a problem, until the AK bus pulled up a few minutes later, and this line we were on completely emptied onto it! That annoyed me, why would people line up at the door of a bus they do not intend to board? I would sic Sparky on them, but the bus pulled away! Maybe the Yeti will get them!

Our bus came soon after, and we were at Epcot in time for the opening celebration- but not close enough to hear anything. When the rope dropped, we joined the stampede… I wasn’t sure if I was at WDW or a Southwest Airlines gate, but we were definitely caught up in a sea of humanity. I pity anyone who tried to swim opposite this wave they would be trampled mercilessly. All for a bulkhead seat, um, I mean a seat on Soarin.
The stampede deposited us on a 45 minute Standby line for Soarin, and we were okay with that- we like to answer the trivia questions in the queue area, we also like to cram on that knowledge, then get on line later in the week, and impress everyone around us by answering all the questions right. Sparky liked the Antarctica mural, it reminded him of home, but the rainforest mural made him have to go. We just let him wee on the wall there; we figured no one would notice.

Here's Sparky waiting to ride Soarin

We were put in the center section, middle row, so even though we saw feet, we still had a great view of the screen.
When we landed safely back in Epcot, we headed over to Living with the Land- this was our first ride without a live guide- and I kind of liked it better this way, we had 1st row, so we, and Sparky, and an uninterrupted view.

Sparky gets the best seat on the ride

Tommy liked the greenhouse, he wished we could have a roof like that at home. So I took a picture of the roof- maybe I’ll hang it above his bunk bed and he can pretend it’s the roof.

He finds some Mickey pumpkins too

By the time we exited there, it was just around 10am- the Land pavilion was packed, and the wait for Soarin was 120 minutes- so we hightailed it out of there, and headed for the Seas with Nemo. Things looked okay until we got close enough to realize that the stream of people that stretched back to Innoventions was actually the line to get in, and not a crowded walkway. Sorry, Nemo, we have to shelve you for now.

We went to Journey into Imagination instead. Corny as it is, I love this ride. And so did Sparky, except he didn’t like the skunk smell- dogs have a very strong sense of smell, you know. Sparky was interested in playing in the What If? Labs, so we let him play for a bit before heading out.

We stopped and asked a CM where we could see Figment, and he pointed us up to Figment’s Place. How cool is that? We never knew Figment had his own place. Sparky was a bit intimidated by the big purple guy, but not me- I got a picture and a kiss from Figment.

 

[DisneyNutMary]

Sparky loves posing in front of the reverse waterfall- is it the waterrise then?

After visiting Figment, Tommy was thirsty- conveniently thirsty, because we happened to be walking past Club Cool. We stop in, and are happy to note that for the first time since converting from Ice Station Cool, they have every dispenser operating, and every flavor available. Tommy loves every flavor- including Beverly (so he says), but Sparky prefers the watermelon-flavored soda.

We have to practically pull Tommy out of there, it’s one of his favorite places in all of Epcot.

We headed to the other side of Future World and got FPs for Test Track, then went on Ellen’s Energy Adventure. Sparky didn’t like the dinosaurs- too big, and he didn’t like stupid Judy, but he did like Ellen, he thought she was funny- and not stupid at all, like stupid Judy calls her.

Our lunch ADR at Teppanyaki was approaching, so we entered World Showcase by way of Canada, so Sparky could visit his birthplace.

Sparky checks out the hats in Canada

We checked in and were soon seated with another family for lunch. The family was very nice, the chef was very entertaining and friendly, and the restaurant was very nice, but this was not my favorite meal. The food was a bit blander than I thought it would be.

We finished lunch just in time to go out and see Miyuki. The kids love her. She said she would only do 1 per family because it was so crowded in the park today. Bobby got picked and he chose a green monkey, which he shared with Tommy, who was sad about not being picked.

We took the boat back to FW, and headed straight for Test Track to use our FPs. The Standby line was at 120 minutes, and the FP line stretched waaayyy back. It was about a half hour before we were on the ride even with the FPs. Sparky loved the ride, especially the outside part; he loved the cool breeze in his fur. I liked the ride photo photopass at the end. I wish all the photo rides would get that feature.

Sparky likes Test Track

We left Epcot after TT and took the slow boat to MGM, stopping first by the International Gateway to say hi to Chip and Dale. Sparky is not so sure he likes 5-foot tall rodents, but he is learning to accept them- as they can eat him in one bite.
Once in MGM, we headed straight to RnR to get FPs, but they were all gone for the day… and the Standby line was 90 minutes. So we got some ice cream from Hollywood Scoops to ease our disappointment- but none for Sparky, he’s lactose intolerant.

We crossed the park and headed over to see Muppet Vision 3D. On the way in, we checked to see if the key was under the mat, and found not only the key, but also a Magical Moments certificate- Cool!

When we got out of Muppet Vision, the park was still a mad house, and EMH was scheduled for that night, so it wasn’t going to get better. I thought with the 1st showing of Fantasmic going on, that the RnR area would clear out a bit, so we headed that way, but no such luck- the FP machines did not re-open for EMH and the standby was still 90 minutes. We walked back up Hollywood Blvd and got pretzels and sodas, then we sat on a bench to enjoy our snack.

Feeling a little refreshed, we went back to check RnR again, but it was no better, so we got on line for the 8pm showing of Fantasmic. We wound up sitting on the far end of the arena, three rows from the back- the place was packed. We still had a pretty good view from there, but not as great as we’ve had in the past. As the Steamboat came out in the end, we left to beat the crowds out of there, and try RnR one last time. There was no change in the wait time, so we decided to call it a night and head home.

 

[pumba]

your trip and photos are GREAT........thanks so much for doing this......I love SParky.......I think when I do Soarin if I keep my eyes on the screen I dont see the feet dangling if we happen to be in that row........We did it 8 or so times last May.......I LOVE IT......thanks again for your trip and the food reviews TOO

 

[DisneyNutMary]

Tuesday Feb 20- Sparky takes on the Magic Kingdom

Magic Kingdom is my favorite park- this is what it’s ALL about for me. So we were up and dressed early, the forecast was for warmer weather today, so that made us happy. Jimmy and I went for our morning mug refill, then we were all on our way to the bus stop by 8 am- we chose to avoid the boat because it was still chilly in the morning, and we figured it would be colder on the dock than the covered bus stop.

Sparky likes the DVC topiary, he didn't even try to lift his leg at Mickey's feet.

Sparky likes looking out the window on the bus- but he wishes he could stick his head out.



We arrived at MK early enough to have a spot near the left tunnel, near the front. The CM guarding the tunnels looked like Cobra Bubbles, no one dared pass him even though there was no rope. It’s always interesting to hear the conversations going on around as you wait for the official opening; I was standing in front of a family, and one of the women was trying to convince the rest of the family how foolish it would be to have the hopper option on their tickets, I later wondered if she regretted not having it when the rides were all breaking down, and she couldn’t escape to another park…. Yes the rides in MK were having technical difficulties on 2/20, and the lines were ridiculously long as a result, we didn’t even return after dinner because of the wait times and frustration.

Sparky says "why is she mooning me?

Anyway, back to the morning, after the opening ceremony Cobra let us pass, and we headed straight to the Harmony Barbershop. We were first to arrive, so Tommy jumped into Penny’s chair and Bobby got in Michal’s chair- they weren’t in need of haircuts so we just got color and pixie dust. I had brought cash for this purpose, but I was glad to note for future visits that they now have the register that accepts room charge. $5.00 each for the color and dusting, and I tipped each $5.00 because it is soooo worth the $20.00 for the attention my kids got all day, and the enjoyment they get out of having their hair done.

I stopped at a Photopass photographer to have their picture taken, then we headed up Main Street and leftish to Liberty Square, then headed straight to Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, stopping only long enough to grab FPs for Splash Mountain. Sparky loved his ride in the pouch- he thinks the last car is the only way to go for the wildest ride in the wilderness!

Lime Green Mickey Head

After BTMRR, it was getting near 10am, and we had a mission to accomplish, so we walked over to the queue area for the rafts to Tom Sawyer’s Island, and managed to be 2nd in line. As 10am approached, the line behind us got longer and longer. A Dream Squad CM was hanging around the area, and she told everyone who joined the line about finding a paintbrush on the island…. things were starting to look bad, we were afraid we wouldn’t get one. So we huddled and came up with a game plan, Jimmy, Bobby and I each had our cell phone, so we would split up into two groups of two, and Jimmy and I would split if necessary- we would divide and conquer.

We were let onto the dock, and then the raft, as 2nd group on, we positioned ourselves off to the side but in position to be 1st or 2nd off the raft- game on boys! We stared down the competition in an effort to intimidate, Sparky growled, they acted like they didn’t notice. The raft docked, and we were off- Bobby and Tommy broke left toward the fort, Jimmy, Sparky and I broke right toward Aunt Polly’s. Jimmy and I searched futilely, then we got separated- mostly because I got bored and distracted.

I got lonely then, so I went back to the dock to wait for my family. I wondered why the dock was so empty (turns out I was on the wrong dock) so I started to pick up and arrange the checkers that were strewn about. Jimmy found me there a little while later, and he and Sparky were just standing around watching me, when something caught Jimmy’s, er Sparky’s, eye. Wedged between 2 crates was a paintbrush.

Woohoo, Sparky found a paintbrush.

Jimmy hid it in his pocket so no one would try to snatch it from him, then we went to the real dock and called the boys on the cell phone to meet us there. They had no luck finding anything, so they were pretty excited to see what we found.

Back in FrontierLand, Tommy exchanged the paintbrush for a Magical Moment certificate and a fastpass good for Splash Mountain or BTMRR.

We decided to use our SM fastpasses from earlier now, then head over to Pirates of the Caribbean before the line gets too long.

Sparky loved Splash- mostly because we protected him from getting splashed on. He was a little wary about PotC though. He liked the drop all right, but Davy Jones scared him, so he just growled at him. We were starting to get hungry, so I suggested Columbia Harbor House. Sadly, when we got there Bobby didn’t like anything on the menu. That’s a switch, because Tommy is usually the problem with food.

We went for the old standby instead- Cosmic Ray’s Café. Chicken strips- YUM
After lunch, the park was getting pretty crowded, so we grabbed FPs for Space Mountain and jumped on the TTA. As we passed through Space Mountain, I was surprised to see it was down; this was the 1st time I ever saw it with the lights on.

We went into CoP next for a relaxing ride through the past century.

Tomorrowland was too crowded, so we walked to the Toontown train station and went back to use our FP on BTMRR.
This side of the park was jammed too, and even with the FP we waited a while to board a train. The CM didn’t take our pass, so after BTMRR, Jimmy and the boys went back on Splash with it. The CM on Splash ripped the corner of it- but let us keep it as a souvenir.

We took a walk over to Aloha Isle and had some Dole Whips – Sparky liked the pineapple ice cream, but paid for it later- he’s lactose intolerant, you know.

Here's Sparky trying Tommy's chocolate/vanilla swirl

The park was too crowded to do anything, so we went back to Space Mountain to use our FPs then head back to WL for dinner.
SM was still down, and we waited about 45 min in the FP line, not moving. Others on the line were complaining to the CM about SM being down so long, and PotC was apparently also down. At that point we gave up, handed our FPs to the family behind us in line, and headed out to the boat dock.

Back at WL we took our time going up from the boat dock to the lodge; we looked around outside, stared longingly at the closed pool, took pictures from the overlook, then went and browsed in the Mercantile a bit.

Sparky says "this rodent is more my size"

Closed Pool :'(

Sparky loves WL

A little before 6 we checked in at Whispering Canyon Café, and didn’t have to wait long before being called in to eat. This is one of our favorite places to eat, for the food and the fun.

My boys lead the pack

...and pledge to never, ever set foot inside SeaWorld

After dinner, we retired to our villa, we spent the night watching American Idol, and I did a few loads of laundry before hitting the sack for the night.

Sparky likes this cage in the VWL lobby, mostly because he's OUTSIDE of it.

 

[DisneyNutMary]

Wednesday 2/21- Sparky vs the Yeti


After rising, getting ready and hitting the bus stop early, we were at Animal Kingdom for rope drop. And today was the first really warm day of the trip so far. We were on the bridge that overlooks Character Landing, and we could hardly hear a thing, though we did see Mickey Mouse way up in the distance.
When the rope was dropped, we made our way to EE, through DinoLand, stopping to note the times Finding Nemo would be playing.
I hopped on the fastpass line while the boys were supposed to get on the Standby line, I got the FPs as agreed, but they failed to go Standby. The wait time was long by then, so we went to DinoLand instead.

Bobby and Tommy rode Primeval Hurl, but they left Sparky behind, so he sat on the rail and watched them ride. I heard him whining his sad little doggie whine as his brothers passed by without him.

Poor Sparky, forgotten and alone

To cheer him up, we went on Triceratops Spin next, and Sparky got to man (er, dog) the controls.

Sparky takes control

We went over to ride Dinosaur, with a surprisingly short wait, I guess everyone is still at EE now. Sparky was intimidated by the dinos outside, so he chose to ride this one in the pouch- the poor little guy thought he’d be dinner for the Carnotaurus.

We went over to the Boneyard next, and Sparky though he’s died and gone to heaven. He got to dig here, and chew on bones, and play to his little heart’s content. I had to drag him out of there so we could go ride EE.

At EE we jumped on the Fastpass line, and got the last two rows on the train… Sparky was a little jumpy about the Yeti, so he rode in the pouch again. When he got off, he was stoked, he loved the ride, and he wanted to face the yeti head on, so I grabbed fastpasses for later.

We went to Kali next, and were on with another short wait. Jimmy and I try to sit ourselves on this ride, to evenly distribute the weight… it worked this time, because we got very little splash. Sparky didn’t want to chance getting wet, he hates that wet dog smell, so he rode in the center pouch.

We thought we’d ride the Kilimanjaro Safari next, so we headed up there, only to find all the fps gone, and a wait time over 2 hours. I wasn’t that interested in saving Big Red, so we took Sparky for a walk down to see the gorillas and meerkats. He liked the gorillas, but we were sad to find out that there were no meerkats- the area was being prepared for a new meerkat family.

Sparky looks at the Gorillas

Hunger was calling, so was Pizzafari. It ain’t Brooklyn pizza, but it was good enough to quiet our bellies. We had to run out of there to get to Finding Nemo in time to get a seat- and we wound up on a line the ended under the big brontosaurus in DinoLand. Things weren’t looking good for us getting a seat. The line moved slowly, and the lady behind me kept hitting me with her stroller- I think it was deliberate, too. The and her crew went around and cut in front of me, so I said something to her, and she just giggled- then proceeded to cut the people ahead of her again, she did this three more times that I could see. I could only hope she got crappy seats out of her rudeness.

We made it into the show, along with about 50 people after us. Our seats were on the way upper part, but the view was okay from there, we had no problems seeing or enjoying the show. It was a good show. Sparky liked the Seagulls that say “bye” as you are leaving- the rest of us didn’t like them so much after about 50 byes.
Outside, I saw psycho-stroller-line-cutting lady and her crew, and they couldn’t find their stroller… awww, too bad, NOT.

We had a date with a Yeti then, so off we went to meet him. We actually got the same seats again this time. Sparky sat with Jimmy and me, he posed for the camera, and when we got to the yeti, he bared his fangs and gave the meanest growl her could muster. Poor little guy tried so hard, but he couldn’t intimidate the big, ol’ yeti.

Sparky meets Everest

The afternoon was quite warm, so we went over to Kali again; we had fastpasses this time, so we had little wait and we were on. This time I took the brunt of the splash, and got pretty wet.

We were going to head back to VWL for a swim, but decided to stop at It’s Tough to be a Bug first. Sparky had fun with his bug-eye glasses, but he did not like this show at all!

So we went back to VWL.

We went down to the (not so) quiet pool, where Sparky soaked up some rays for a while, then relaxed by the hot tub a bit.

Sparky catches some rays

And chills out at the hot tub- that's one hot dog ;D

Rested and recharged, we got dressed and headed to DownTown Disney for the night. We started with Dinner at Rainforest Café, and while we waited for our table, we went to Once Upon a Toy and built lightsabers. After dinner, we browsed in World of Disney for a while- but it was way too crowded, so we left and got ice cream at Ghiradelli’s. YUM.

Forget Where's Waldo? Where's Sparky? Can you see him yet?

After ice cream, we hopped a bus back to the resort and hit the hay, tired, but ready for another early day tomorrow.

 

[KimAshton]

Love this trip report.

 

[DisneyNutMary]

Thursday 2/22- Sparky, did you see Steven Tyler’s hat?

Up and at ‘em pal, big doings going on… oops, it wasn’t Mickey that called, it was Stitch. I really miss the wake up call from Mickey.

Anyway, we weren’t rushing this morning, and we still wound up arriving at MGM in time for the opening ceremony. We were too far back, and too squished too the wall to really enjoy the opening. When the park officially opened, we followed the throng down to Rockin Rollercoaster. Jimmy and the boys went standby, and I got in the line for fastpasses. I met them when they got up to the FP area, and joined them in line… was I cutting? Maybe, but so many people were doing it, and no one in the line was complaining. I am not really fond of this new, temporary queue set-up, but I am certain it will work out well once the Single rider line is opened up.

We were soon into the building- after waiting all week for this, we are now able to ride twice with little wait- woohoo!

Sparky rode under Bobby’s butt the first time around. There was no pouch in the limo and Bobby panicked a bit, and stuck his hat and Sparky under his butt. Needless to say, Sparky was quite traumatized by the whole experience. He still has nightmares of being crushed by a giant butt.

When we exited, the wait for RnR and ToT were both 90 minutes. We headed up toward Star Tours. Long wait here, too, but we got on line anyway. Sparky always hopes for the chance to sit next to an Ewok, but none are ever on our transport, no Wookies either. We made it to Endor, but not without a firefight along the way, then we headed into the dump shop. Bobby saw a shirt here earlier in the week that he wanted, so we stopped to buy it, and browse around a bit too.

We were mostly wandering aimlessly, and headed down the Streets of America. Halfway down the street a truck drove up and stopped in front of us, and out jumped Mulch, Sweat and Shears. This is the first time we ever saw them perform. They were pretty good- Tommy loved them so much that he wanted to buy their CD (until he saw the price and I told him he’d have to pay with his own money)

After the show we went on the Backlot Tour. It’s a lot less backlotty since they cut into it for Lights, Motors, Action and took down Residential Street. It’s a bit boring now.

We rode the Great Movie Nap again, and this time Jimmy stayed awake for the whole ride. Then we headed down to use our Fastpasses. Sparky rode with Jimmy and me this time- in the nice safe pouch that this limo had. He liked the ride much better this time.

We were getting hungry, so we went of to the Backlot Express for chicken strips and burgers.

After lunch we went back to the WL to relax and grab some jackets for the evening.

Rested, and warm clothed, we took the bus over to Epcot for the afternoon. We took a ride on Spaceship Earth with no line- earlier in the week there was a 60-minute wait to ride. The lines were long for everything, so we went into Innoventions East (West? The one on the Land side). Tommy played a fire safety game, we played a pizza game, and we visited all the exhibits.

We took a walk up to World Showcase, but we were still early for our ADR at Le Cellier, so we walked down and caught Off Kilter playing. This was another first for us, and I really liked their music. I will have to make a point to see their show again on future visits.

After the show we checked in to Le Cellier, and were handed a pager. Tommy and I went down to the KidCot area, and he started a mask while we waited.

We were finally called in. One thing I noticed different from last time, the Multi Grain and Sourdough breadsticks were long, there were 2 of each, and they were put into the vase. The pretzel breadsticks were brought out on a plate, they were shorter, and we got three of them. We asked for more, but I think our server was a tad overworked, she forgot all about bringing them out to us. Jimmy and I both had Cheddar Cheese Soup, and I got steak, he got pork, and we shared them both. The food here is always tops on my list. Though Jimmy did like lunch better than dinner, he prefers to eat a lighter meal when he is having soup also.
After dinner, we snagged a spot for Illuminations, not a great spot, but okay for a family that arrives 5 minutes before the show starts. Sparky loved Illuminations- the fireworks, the big globe, the music. It even brought a tear to his little doggie eye.

We joined the herd out to the busses, and had an amazingly short wait for a bus back. I was happy to see so many people willing to give up their seats for parents holding babies and toddlers- none of the averted gazes that I normally see on a late night bus.

Back at WL, we went right to bed, tired and happy.

 

[DisneyNutMary]

Friday 2/23- Pirate Sparky Parties the Night Away

We took our time getting started today, and got to Epcot shortly after opening. We headed up the left side of the marble graveyard, and ran into the custodial staff. They pulled us in, and we got to toss basketballs into trash cans… it was a lot of fun, and we got Magical Moments Certificates for learning how to recycle with the custodial staff.
Test Track was a walk on when we got there, and Sparky loved it. He hung his head out the window and caught the breeze. For some reason, our ride photo didn’t show up, so no Test Track pic for Sparky’s collection.

We meandered over to the Land next, and grabbed Soaring FastPasses, then we headed over to The Seas with Nemo. The line for Nemo was much more manageable than it was earlier in the week. It was actually a walk-on. Sparky thought the Clammobiles were a good use of space that was being wasted. We went over to Turtle Talk with Crush, liked the bigger theater- but we also noticed it wasn’t much bigger, maybe an extra row or two of space, so it still has an intimate feel. And Crush was even picking kids from the back row of the theater to ask questions- so kids who prefer to sit with mom and dad can still participate. I hope they make use of the former Turtle Talk Theater, and not leave it to waste.

Sparky and I wanted to see some fish, but Bobby and Tommy did not- so in the democracy that is our family, mom gets the deciding vote, we took the escalator upstairs to look at the fishes. We saw that a Dolphin show was going to be staring in about 10 minutes, so we got spots by the railing to watch. The show was quite enjoyable, with a cast member in front of the tank, who communicated to an unseen CM- the both communicated with the dolphins. The show was more of a marine biology presentation on dolphins than anything. I found it educational, and I was glad the kids got a dose of learning in. On the way out, a CM had a table set up with some fish (to demonstrate what the dolphins are fed) and 2 skulls, a dolphin and a porpoise. I asked her a few questions, and got a marine biology lesson of my own. I never knew that dolphins don’t chew their food, and Epcot only has male dolphins, because outside of mating season, male and female dolphins don’t get along well. This morning’s education has me curious to do the Dolphins in Depth tour. Maybe sometime in the future I’ll go for it.

We went back to the Land for Soarin, and on the way in we decided to go watch the Circle of Life film. It was a what the heck moment. It’s a very educational film, hosted by Timon and Pumbaa. I am 2 for 2 this morning on the good mother scale- got my kids educated against their will, and they didn’t even realize it. During the film, Sparky took a nap. It was nice and cool in the theater, perfect for napping.

After the movie, we used out FPs for Soarin, and the Land was looking a bit crowded, I guess everyone was finally waking up and getting to the park.

We walked towards the Imagination Pavilion, and stopped outside for Mickey Bars. It was really starting to look more like earlier in the week, crowd-wise, now. We did not want to deal with crowds, so we decided to adjust our touring to avoid crowds. With one exception- Tommy wanted to ride Maelstrom, which we did, with a 30-minute wait.

Sparky visits the Viking Ship

World Showcase had something we weren’t interested in- crowds, so we went back to Future World, and went to the side of Innoventions that we hadn’t been into. We had a lot of fun in here, exploring the exhibits, and Bobby and Tommy made Robots at Fantastic Plastics…they were even voted 2nd and 3rd for the design part of the robot race.

I was mid-afternoon, so we decided to take the monorail over to MK because we had Pirate & Princess Party tickets. We got to the gate at about 3:40, and some people were already waiting for the Event entrances to open, so we decided to just wait it out, instead of having to search for wristbands and party maps later. 20 minutes (that felt like hours) later, we were able to use our party tickets to get into the park

We got loot bags, and party maps, and were on our way up Main Street toward Liberty Square shortly. I had made diner ADRs at Liberty Tree Tavern for 4:30, so our timing was perfect; we checked in and were called very shortly after. This was a great meal, the food was good, the service was great, and all of the characters were more than happy to pose with Sparky…. Pluto seemed quite excited actually. Jimmy and I thought the dessert was the best part of the meal- had we known it would be so good, we would have saved room for more dessert.

We rolled out of LTT, to a park filled with pirates and princesses arriving for the party. The kids all looked too cute for words- some of the parents looked funny, some looked cool, and some just looked ridiculous. But, hey, to each his own.

Haunted Mansion was a walk-on, and was great, as usual. But why do some people insist on screaming for no reason on this ride? It scares the kids, and is totally unnecessary.

Over in AdventureLand, we waited on monstrously long lines for The Jungle Cruise and Pirates of the Caribbean. But on the upside, we had and awesome JC skipper- she kept quoting Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (yes, the Gene Wilder one) and she let Bobby drive the boat in Shirley’s Temple…. We totally cracked up when she sang “snake, snake, snake… snake your Buddha” to the shake your booty tune. She rocked! And now, thanks to her, Bobby is licensed to captain the Jungle Cruise in 4 Disney Parks (no JC in Paris )
http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b7dd22b3127cce81a80f10522400000016108EbOGThuyaa[img]
It's hard to tell, but this is Sparky in the PotC queue, on the cannon platform

As we were walking toward FrontierLand, and Splash Mountain, we came upon our first “X” at Il Pirata Y El Perico and followed the small group ahead of us to get our loot. A handful of candy- woo-hoo. Then we came upon another “X” at the Tom Sawyer Island raft dock.
Crowds had really thinned out a lot, and we walked right onto Splash Mountain. At the end of our ride we were offered the chance to stay on- Jimmy and the kids did, I declined, I was wet enough, thank you. Sparky came with me, he was wet enough too.

When the boys rejoined me, we went over to BTMRR. It was a walk on, and when we got up to the front, the CM was putting us into the first car of the train- we asked if it would be okay for us to wait for the back, and he looked at us funny and said it’s a rougher ride back there. We answered, “we know” and he gave us another funny look and said “are you sure you want a rougher ride?” HUH? We headed to the back, completely puzzled- why would he think we wouldn’t?

We got our rough ride, exited, and rode again…. last car again, but this CM didn’t give us the funny look, just said ok. ???

[i]More to come after I upload some more pictures[/i]

 

[Montana Disney Fan]

LOL!! I hope Sparky didn't get sunburnt while sunbathing!!

What a hoot! Good job.

 

[DisneyNutMary]

We thought about riding again, but it was close to parade time, and we didn’t want to miss it.
On the way over to the parade route, we stopped at the “X” again for more candy. Then we walked up to the line 2 minutes before the start of the parade, and got great spots. The parade was great. I took lots of pictures, but none came out too good- because every time I went to snap a picture, the woman next to me swung her pirate sword right into my view. So, I have tons of pictures of this stupid sword. She giggled every time she swung it too- I got the feeling she was trying to get character interaction, but for the most part they ignored her, and concentrated on the kids along the parade route- and on their dance routines also. At first, I thought sword-swinging lady didn’t know she was getting into my shots, but by the end of the parade, I thought she was doing it on purpose, because every time I changed position to be away from her sword, she changed her swing to get into my new shot. This bothers me greatly- because I just want to watch and enjoy, and photograph the parade, and I don’t want to ruin it for anyone else- I can’t imagine why someone would go to such lengths to disrupt another person’s enjoyment. Rude!

When the parade passed, we followed it into the Hub then got spots in front of the castle for Dream Along with Mickey at the Forecourt Stage. We kept these same spots for the fireworks. We had a great view of both.

After the fireworks, we went to Tomorrowland. We rode Space Mountain, Buzz Lightyear and the Speedway… we also got beads and more candy at the “X” spots.

The kids rode the Tea Cups, and we went to Mickey’s Toon Town where the kids rode Goofy’s Barnstormer. We met Pirate Donald, Pirate Goofy, and Pirate Mickey. We also played for a while in the Pirate Playground- which was a carnival game type area, set up near the Toon Town train station. The kids played Dunk the Pirate, and Ring the Hook, etc, and the prizes were tattoos.

It was pretty late by this point, so we left Toon Town behind and headed out of the park to the WL boat dock. It was a very long day, but I think the Pirate & Princess party was well worth the cost of admission. I had expected long lines at the “X” spots, but there were no lines to speak of, anywhere. I wish there were more hours in the night, because there was so much we missed at the party, while we were enjoying ourselves in other party areas.

We made it back to our villa, and fell into bed exhausted.

 

[Montana Disney Fan]

What kind of camera do you guys have? Those shots on PotC turned out great along with the fireworks shots. Well done!

 

[DisneyNutMary]

What kind of camera do you guys have? Those shots on PotC turned out great along with the fireworks shots. Well done!

I have a Panasonic Lumix, with an optical stabilizer. Those shots were actually awful for what the camer is capable of, byt I kept moving it mid-shot, to enjoy the parade, fireworks,etc.

 

[DisneyNutMary]

Saturday, Feb 24- Sparky takes the Long Road Home

We woke up more slowly on Saturday morning, not at all excited to be going home. To make the bitter pill easier to swallow, I booked a late night flight home, so we have the whole day to play. But first, the depressing stuff. The Envelope of Doom did not show up on our doorknob, so we would have to go down to checkout and check it out. But first, we stopped at the airline check-in desk an got our boarding passes, we checked our luggage, and put our carry-on bags with Bell Services.
Then we headed to the Desk of Gloom, the check out desk. It’s so much less cheery here today than it was a week ago- or maybe it’s just me. I got my bill from an all too chipper CM, checked it over for accuracy- it looked good.

We had decided mid week that we wanted to eat at Whispering Canyon Café again, so we made ADR’s for this morning. We walked over there and checked in, and were seated right away.
We had a great server. His name was something or other, but I forget, because he goes by Ken B Crasey, he even had a pin with that name on it. Another CM came over and asked us if we feed our little doggy, so we said “Of course. He eats kibble” So she said she likes us, we’re the first family to ever answer yes to that question.
Jimmy, Tommy and I ordered the skillet and Bobby ordered French Toast. We asked Ken for ketchup, so he hollered that we need ketchup over here, and we were promptly delivered all of the ketchup bottles in ketchup jail…. Apparently they were misbehaving the night before and were put in jail.

Breakfast was yummy; Sparky says he liked the Mickey Waffles the best.
They rang the triangle to start the stick horse races as we were getting ready to leave, so we stuck around for them. The CM in charge dubbed Tommy Spanky, and he got to lead the group around the restaurant. He also came away with more than his fair share of wooden nickels.

Spanky leads the pack

"I.... state your name.... pledge to stay up late, jump on the bed, eats lots of sugar, and never...never, ever... to step foot.... inside Universal"

After the race, we left the restaurant and walked down to the boat dock.

Sparky stops to play on the railroad car before we leave for MK

It was a nice morning, and the Contemporary boat was just pulling in, so we decided to take that, and then catch a monorail to MK. Unfortunately, it was a longer ride than expected, because we had to stop at Fort Wilderness first.
At the Contemporary, the kids looked through the binoculars on the dock, then we headed in, and up to the monorail platform. We asked to ride up front, but it was occupied.

More to come

 

[Montana Disney Fan]

We had dinner at Whispering Canyon last Oct and loved it. Gunna have to try the waffles next time since Spark gave 'em the old thumbs up

 

[Linnie The Pooh]

Hi! I love your trip report and the way you tell things-very entertaining!! Great pics!!