Stitch and Crystal do WDW - FINALLY finished~!

[WDW Poly Princess]

It was starting to look like it might rain, but luckily it was still holding out. We took the opportunity to take a few pictures in Italy

Oh yeah, check out those sexy shoes. The fish look all "Grr! Why aren't we on top of a hotel?"

Over in Morocco, we met up with “Joe”, the CM we had met the night before. We all apologized for missing each other the night before, since we had thought it was our fault, and he thought it was his! He said he was working until 6:30, and it was 5:45 now, so we decided to finish up our World Showcasing, and then come back to meet him.

First, we killed some time in Morocco:

Katie kept picking up this book every time we were in Morocco- I think she read it about three times over the course of the week. Who doesn’t love stories about camels?

Over in the UK, I found another example of how Disney seems to be obsessed with sticking lots of skulls in random places. Why are there skulls over the kidcot station??

Okay, this next picture requires a whole story.

A while back, Katie came to the Food & Wine festival with some friends. The key word there is probably “wine.” They were watching Illuminations when her friend Rachel started spinning around really fast and flailing her arms. Drawing from logic (and wine), Katie assumed that a spark from the fireworks must have hit her, and Rachel was on fire! So, everyone starts freaking out, but it turns out that there was just a bug after her. Therefore, every time we pass this spot, Katie has to stop and point out, “This is where Rachel caught on fire!”

You have your WDW landmarks, we have ours. In fact, we would be adding another landmark to the list later tonight, but I’m getting ahead of myself.

We went back over to Morocco, and just as we made it there, the skies opened up, and rain of biblical proportions started coming down. We met up with Joe, and tried to decide what to do, since just wandering around the Showcase wouldn’t work, unless maybe we built an ark. So, instead, we sat inside the Fez house, under the little part with a roof, and just talked for a while. We spent probably close to an hour just sitting around discussing the “how long have you been here”, “what do you do at home”, “what’s it like to work here” “how did you end up working here?” stuff, and Joe asked about us- we learned later that he has a really good memory- he remembered details we mentioned even days later.

(On a slightly out of order note, when we had been talking to some of the other CM’s in Morocco, Katie explained to one that she works as a children’s librarian, reading books to kids. The CM then told someone else that “This is Katie, she is a babysitter!” Um, close? Also, everyone seemed to have trouble with my name- they got Katie, but Crystal just didn’t translate somehow. Well, except for one CM, who said “Oh, Crystal! That is like my girlfriend in Texas!” Thus, I was introduced as “Crystal, like my girlfriend in Texas!” to several people.)

When the rain still hadn’t let up ages later, we went into the museum area in Morocco (can’t think of the name! Gallery something?) and Joe told us about the things they had on display there. Who needs the Hidden World Showcase tour when you can have your own private guided tour?

Katie in the museum type place

If you look around the door in the picture above, you’ll notice the carved details. The whole building is full of amazingly beautiful carved details like this- here’s a close up:

And yup, it was all hand-carved by people the King sent over!

The rain had *finally* stopped, so we wandered around for a while. We stopped in a few countries, and Joe introduced us to friends he had working there. In Italy, we had a somewhat surreal moment of Joe and his Italian friend having a conversation in French. Talk about multicultural! (Turns out Joe speaks Arabic, English, French, Italian, and German, if I remember correctly. Katie asked him if he was actually fluent in them, and he said “Well, not German.” Slacker!)

Just before Illuminations, we found a spot to watch it from in either Germany or Italy (I think it was Germany?) As we were standing there waiting for the show to start, I noticed that our torch wasn’t working. I mentioned it, and Joe said “Oh, no, it will come on later, it’s for suspense!” Um, okay! So, later in the show, he leans over and says “Hey, Crystal! Watch the torch!” Of course at that point, every other torch around the lagoon lights up, but ours doesn’t. “Oh. I guess it’s broken!” Torch #7, we love you, even if you don’t work!

We said our goodbyes (and took a picture of the three of us that turned out so very awful), and Joe got Katie’s number so we could try to meet up again. Katie was parked at Epcot, so she drove home from there, and I hopped on a bus back to OKW, where Stitch volunteered to clean up, since you only get housekeeping every four days there.

Day 3 Wrap-Up:

Number of Photos taken today: 138
Nuns spotted: 1
Animals seen eating other animals: None! Yay!
Number of times we’ve made it on Soarin so far: 0! How sad!

 

[Grammyof2]

Loving the report. I really agree with rule #1. I always try to follow it whenever I travel.

 

[VanniGirl]

Can't wait for more!!

 

[Velsignet]

On a slightly out of order note, when we had been talking to some of the other CM’s in Morocco, Katie explained to one that she works as a children’s librarian, reading books to kids. The CM then told someone else that “This is Katie, she is a babysitter!” Um, close? Also, everyone seemed to have trouble with my name- they got Katie, but Crystal just didn’t translate somehow. Well, except for one CM, who said “Oh, Crystal! That is like my girlfriend in Texas!” Thus, I was introduced as “Crystal, like my girlfriend in Texas!” to several people.

Wow, I'd actually forgotten about that! That was pretty funny!

 

[Philadisney]

your report is magical! and so are your pictures! hooray!
i bought the same exact blue crocs for my trip in may. i hope yours did not give you anymore blisters! eeek.

 

[snubie]

We are all patiently waiting for more. Please don't make me beg.

 

[Christina1]

*bump*....please post more!!!

 

[WDW Poly Princess]

Day 4- November 29, 2005

For the first time ever on vacation, I slept in till 11am!

After lazing around the room for a while, I went out to the hot tub for a few minutes. It was sprinkling a little bit of rain on and off, but I got the impression from how soaked everything was that it was mostly over now. Back in the room, I changed clothes, packed up my backpack, and was ready to go!

Now, I don’t know about you, but after five previous WDW trips, I have about ten photos of MGM total. I don’t know why exactly, but I never seem to take any pictures there! Therefore, I set a goal of 200 MGM pictures for this trip.

Sometimes MGM makes me a little bit sad, because it’s the one park I think my dad would have enjoyed. He spent most of his early twenties in Hollywood pursuiting acting, and given that this was in the mid 40’s, it’s probably the time when Hollywood was closest to the “Hollywood that never was” that’s portrayed at MGM. My dad also had a thing for antique cars, which are all over the park. I’d always snap pictures of them to show him when I got back, and he would stop at each one and talk about the year it was made, the one like it he had, and so on. Miss ya, dad!

I took the bus out to MGM, and got there around 12:45.

After a quick stop in the first shop for some postcards (the theory being that I could write them while I ate lunch), I went over to Pizza Planet for a pepperoni pizza. I used to LOVE pizza planet’s pizza- it was always overflowing with cheese, and just plain yummy (although from what I’ve seen on the boards, it was a love it or hate it thing), but the pizza I got today was just like what I got at Pizzafari yesterday. Good, but not what I had been in the mood for. I couldn’t believe how busy Pizza Planet was! Usually when I go upstairs to the upper level to eat, there is nobody there, or maybe one or two tables full. Today, almost every table upstairs was full! I found a seat where I could watch the people below in the arcade playing Dance Dance Revolution and air hockey.

Since Muppet Vision 3D was so close, I decided to go there next.

I love this show- although the 3D effects aren’t as good as in the other 3D movies, I think this one appeals to the largest audience, and there isn’t anything in it that makes the kids scared, which is always a plus. I love the store of Muppet store when you exit- it’s full of signs that say things like “Why are you looking here?” and “Chickens only beyond this point”. Also, for a reason I cant quite figure out, it is made to look like a hotel- I felt so at home!

Think those rooms are DVC?

I wandered up New York Street- this is one of my favorite parts of the park because there isn’t really anything here other than theming. Almost everyone just passes by, but if you stop and look closely, there is so much to see.

Even the decorations were decorated!

The displays in the windows on NY street are constantly changing, as if little businesses are opening and closing in between your trips. What a fun job it must be to update them! Here’s one that caught my eye:

And of course if you start walking in New York, and just keep going, sooner or later you’re going to end up in San Francisco!

Close-up of the San Fran mural:

Writer’s Stop was just around the corner, so I decided to stop in and check out what they had. I was ready to kill for caffeine at this point, so I bought an iced cappuccino, hoping it would be a suitable substitute for my beloved Starbucks frappuccino. The caffeine did its job, but it was nowhere near as yummy- it tasted just like cold watered down coffee. The accompanying chocolate chip cookie I bought was really good, though, and big! I only ate a few bites, and stuck the rest in my bag for later.

Next stop was Tatooine Traders, or Nerd Heaven, as I like to call it. I was hoping to find some cool Twi’lek stuff, since my character in Star Wars Galaxies is a Twilek. I didn’t find anything, but there was a Twi option at the booth where they put your face on the body of on of the characters. (Might have to come back for that on a day when I actually have makup on!) I saw a Star Wars shirt I’m considering buying, a great Darth Vader Who’s Your Daddy?” bumper sticker, a book about the costumes of Star Wars that I was afraid to look at the price of, and astronaut ice cream, which is my favorite thing to buy that (must go back for it later!)

Love Yoda I do!

I took this photo because the guy working the entrance looked like Joss Whedon.

More coming soon!

 

[DisneyDreamer2]

Wonderful reports! I love them. Thank You!

 

[WDW Poly Princess]

I wandered around the park just exploring and taking photos for a while. I found it particularly funny that the local birds seem to have chosen Dinosaur Gertie as a favorite place to perch.

Can’t blame the birds- Gertie is just cool in general!

Gertie’s footprints leading over to her spot in the lake

I decided to break up my “wandering around not really doing anything” with a stop inside One Man’s Dream. Last time I was in here (right after it first opened), I got yelled at by a CM when I pulled out my camera (I never saw any no photography signs!) I still didn’t see anything saying there was no photography, but I was still afraid someone would yell at me again, so I tried to be all sly taking pictures, which explains the slight blurriness.

Hey, look, some place called Disney World opened!

Just after I got into the area by the movie theater, the CM said that it was the last call for the movie, so I had to decide between getting in with no wait, or having lots of time to look around- I obviously went with the looking around. Being stuck in a room like that makes you really slow down and drink everything in in a way you normally wouldn’t. I still wish they had an exit for people who don’t want to stay for the movie (even though I love the movie and like to stay for it, but if you just miss getting in, you are stuck standing around for 20 mins, which could be really inconvenient.)

I spent a long time studying the big map of Epcot they had up- it is really cool if you get a chance to check it out!

I ended up down by Tower of Terror, which I considered riding, but the standby wait was forty minutes, and I was planning to leave the park soon, so fast pass wouldn’t work either. Instead, I wandered up the exit path to the gift shop. They have a neat selection of stuff here, including, for some reason, the Harry Potter books.

It also makes a good spot to take photos from.

I love that the “Valet Parking” is stroller/wheelchair parking! This actually remdins me of a story from work. As I’ve mentioned, I work front desk at a hotel, and a few months ago, I was faxed a reservation for a room, and in the request area, it said “Near the valet room”. Valet room? What on earth is a valet room? We’re not even a big enough hotel to have valet parking, and even if we did, why would you want to be near the room where the valets are? I passed the fax around the office, trying to figure out what it mean, and nobody could. I finally called the agency that had booked the room, and they couldn’t figure it out either! Finally the woman on the line said “Oh! Not valet room, Valet! They want to be near the Valet family!” I looked in the computer and yup! There was a reservation under the last name of Valet for the same date! OH! So, long story for no real reason, but I thought I’d tell it anyway.

 

[WDW Poly Princess]

And a few from around front, as well:

The wait time sign looms evilly overhead

I stopped in a store of Christmas items called “Once Upon a Time”, where I found a great ornament of the Partners statue that I fell in love with. It was only twelve dollars, and didn’t look breakable, so I decided to go ahead and buy it. (It made it home in great shape!)


The Villain store is down by TOT, and I love the decorations in this place!

A shot for Nightmare fans


The parade was going by as I headed out of the park, so I cut through the shops to avoid the crowds. I hopped on a bus to Transportation and ticket center (to get to Magic Kingdom, since there is for some reason no direct bus from MGM), and the wait for the TTC bus was only a few minutes. I left with a total of one hundred thirty eight photos- not quite two hundred, but still a lot more than I usually have! Here are a few others that I haven’t put in yet:

I don’t know what this building was, but it looked cool!

Up next- the rest of Day 4 at MK and WL

 

[popisme]

This is kinda OT but I was wondering what kind of camera do you use. My DH and I are looking into purchasing a Digital camera after using a 35mm SLR for 3 or 4 years. I am impressed with the clarity of your pictures and was wondering what camera you used.


Also your trip reports are great... We are going at the exact same time in 2006 so it is great to see how your trip when. I keep scanning the pictures to get an idea of the crowds.


Thanks again for your reports. Patiently waiting for the next installment.

 

[heaven2dc]

I really am enjoying your reports - can't wait for more!! Your pictures are so clear and was wondering the same thing as Popisme - which camera are you using? You have such a great eye for the out-of-ordinary pics and capture so much more than what I remember of WDW - you have inspired me to take it slower next trip!

 

[roberrl187]

Great trip report. I can't wait for more. Thanks

 

[WDW Poly Princess]

I used a Nikon Coolpix 995 (I think that's the number!) this trip- it is a little slower than my old one, but I like that it takes video clips, too!

I also use paint shop pro to sharpen things up a little when they need it

Thanks for reading!

 

[WDW Poly Princess]

Hi again! If you’ve made it this far, I am impressed!

When we left off, I was taking the bus from MGM to the TTC, en route to MK

A shot of Space from the monorail

One of the “Coming Attractions” posters at the entrance.

MK didn’t seem as crowded as the days before, but it was around 4 pm, and they would be closing at 6 for the Christmas party. The characters were out in full force around Main Street- I saw Chip & Dale (Chuck & Dave!), Goofy, and several others right near the entrance.

How about some Main Street photos?

You’ve probably read about this window on the boards- if you sit near it for a while, you’ll hear the singing and dancing lessons going on. Another window on the same street caught my eye, though-

So pretty for something that nobody ever sees!

Outside the Confectionary

And inside!

And of course, Walt’s window over the ice cream shop.

Inside the Main Street Cinema, you can now pick up brochures with scavenger hunts to do in the parks, which you can turn in for VMK prizes. I don’t play VMK, but I stopped in to pick up the hunts anyway, to do for fun. I also saw this cute display there-

My plan was to hit Tomorrowland to ride the TTA, and then go from there. On the way over, I spotted these guys hosting their own little parade.

I was amazed to see that the Carousel of Progress was actually open! This is my 6th trip, but the first time it has ever been open while I was there! There was almost no wait, and I was lucky enough to be in the same ride area as a guy who was having a ton of fun on it- clapping and singing along every time the song came on. Good times!

TTA was next- just remember that there is no bad dancing allowed on the ride!

 

[brneyegirl24]

I have loved reading your trip report so far. I'm going to WDW this year right after Thanksgiving so it's been great to read your report. I think I need you to travel with my DH, DD, and me on our trip so you can write a report for me. I can't tell ya how many times I've just cracked up laughing while reading your report! Please hurry with more!!!!!!

 

[WDW Poly Princess]

When we got to Space Mountain, I noticed that it looked a little light in there- I hoped that meant the ride was down and the lights were on, since I’d never seen it like that. I was in luck! Lights were on, and I snapped some video of the track, but it didn’t really turn out. I did catch the hidden mickey, though!

The sunset outside was really beautiful! I took a lot of pictures trying to capture it, but none of them are quite the same. So, here’s a combo of my sunset pictures and castle pictures!

There was about half an hour till the start of Mickey’s Very Mery Christmas Party, so I went out towards the park entrance. The CM’s were already out with See Ya Real Soon signs- a very cute touch!

It was still early, but I wasn’t really energetic enough for another park, so instead, I decided to go to WL to hang out for a while. There was a big line for the boat over to WL, but the ride was beautiful with the pink and blue sunset surrounding the lake.

At the Lodge, I stopped in the gift shop for some postcards, milk, and a t-shirt. I bought the same shirt that I did last year, because I left the last one in the room on accident, and they never found it. Hopefully I’ll be able to hold on to this one! My next stop was Roaring Forks to buy one of the brownies I love, which I took up to the sitting area on the 4th floor, which is my favorite place in the lodge to sit, watch what’s going on down in the lobby, and just relax. I really wish I were staying at the Lodge this trip! It’s so amazingly beautiful there, the transportation is great, and nothing is ever far away from your room.

My favorite sitting area on 4th floor

The strange thing was that they had the water that bubbles up in the lobby and flows out to the pool turned off. It looked really weird with the stream being dry!

After I ate my brownie and soaked up the resort for a while, I was ready to get back to my room and relax. To get back to OKW, I decided to take the bus to Downtown Disney, and then a bus from there to Old Key West, There was about a ten minute wait for the OKW bus at WL, so I called my mom to check in on things at home, and say hi to my cats. It was about 6:40 when the bus showed up, so I figured it would give me plenty of time to get back to the resort and grab some groceries, and still make it back to the room to watch Gilmore Girls at 8.

A woman on the bus was mad that there was no West Side stop, which she didn’t figure out until the bus was pulling off Downtown Disney property. She asked the driver to let her out there, and he said he couldn’t let people out anywhere other than bus stops. She yelled that she needed to go to West Side, and didn’t want to go all the way back to the resort again, and she wanted out here. He told her he could get in trouble for stopping anywhere other than the stops. She started yelling that he should have said that there was no West Side stop, and told them to get out at PI, which he told her that he had. The other couple on the bus told them they could just stay on the bus to get back to DD, and that there hadn’t been a west side bus stop in three years. The woman started complaining loudly again that the driver should have said something, and the driver actually yelled back that he had made an announcement (not sure if he was yelling to be heard or because he was annoyed!) If the lady hadn’t been so annoying and mean to the driver, I would have pointed out that there were boats from OKW to West Side, but at this point I didn’t want to get involved.

I decided to get off the bus at the Hospitality House to grab some groceries, with the plan to just hop on the next internal bus to get back to my bus stop. I went in the general store to shop around, and ended up with a bottle of milk (to go with my leftover cookie and brownie), an extra bottle of water, and a “lunchables deluxe”.

Grocery shopping, Old Key West style:

I went back out to the bus stop and waited. And waited. I waited so long that the condensation from my water bottle soaked the paper bag and my stuff fell out. When a DD bus finally came, I asked if they had done the other resort stops yet (the OKW/DD busses stop at the Hospitality House both first and last), and they had, so I decided to wait for the next one. About half an hour had passed, and I knew that I should have just walked back to my room by now, but I knew that if I left, a bus would show up, so I kept waiting. I finally decided that I would just get on the next Downtown Disney bus wether it had made the resort stops or not- even if it had to go to DD, it was only a few minutes there and back, so it would be better than waiting.

I ended up on the Downtown Disney bus with the Loudest Kid Ever. The bus contained me, an older couple, and a family of two parents and two sons, one of whom is now crowned Loudest Kid Ever. The LKE sat up front, and his dad and brother were in the back. As soon as we pulled out, LKE screamed “Dad, I can’t see you!” (being funny). He continued to yell back to his dad at full volume through most of the trip. Given that the bus was almost empty, a normal speaking voice would have worked just fine, but he seemed to really like to yell. He yelled about how he was tired of having to wait for his mom’s wheelchair to be loaded and unloaded. The other couple on the bus started talkingto him, apparently hoping to get him to quiet down, and asked him what he had done at MGM that day, to which he told them that the stunt show was boring, and then he went back to yelling back to his dad. I was so happy to see Marketplace!

My plan of just staying on the bus back to OKW was foiled because the bus was now going from DD to the Contemporary. So, I hopped off at Marketplace, and made my way over to the OKW bus stop. I waited there about ten minutes, and then decided to pop into the Christmas shop since it didn’t look crowed. I did a quick walk-through (It was around 8:15, so I gave up on making it back to OKW by 8 to watch Gilmore Girls), stopped by the restroom, and went back to the bus stop, and the bus still hadn’t come. It showed up about five minutes later, and I was finally on my way back to my room!

About this time I realized that Gilmore Girls wasn’t even on tonight because of the Felicity movie, so I felt a little better about not being back at the room yet.

I finally made it back to my room at 8:57. I had left WL at 6:40, so if you subtract the 5 mins I spent on my grocery stop, my travel time was 2 hours and 12 minutes.

Lesson learned? I really should have just walked!

I spent some time eating and going through the day’s photos, and then cleaned up the studio a little, since my towel and trash service was scheduled for the next day. Come on, you know you clean up for housekeeping, too!

Number of toes with blisters: two
Photos taken today: Two Hundred and fifty
Number of videos taken: twenty two

 

[Velsignet]

Yay! Now I can catch up on the days I missed! You should periodically mention that while you were having a fun-filled day at Disney, I was at work. You know... babysitting.

Katie

 

[Credit Man]

Really enjoying your report. You do Disney right.