larry's girl
Dead last finish is better than did not finish, wh
- Joined
- Dec 12, 2003
- Messages
- 675
Cast:
Susan - Trip report writer, lover of all things Disney - 39
Larry - Converted by Susan into extreme Disney fanatic - 46
Tara - Ready to go to Disney any time for any reason (or no reason) - 16
Day 4 - Saturday, October 23, 2004 - "I Think You Have What It Takes To Be a Great Disney Castmember!"
We decided to sleep in this morning - between the heat, the large crowds and the foot problems, we felt we needed the extra rest. It turned out to be a good decision, as we all felt better this morning - still sore and moving slowly, but with a bit more energy than yesterday evening. We hopped a bus to Disney-MGM Studios. Tara wanted to check out the Villains store, and that was all we planned to do in this park today. She loved the merchandise at this store, and selected some t-shirts to buy. When she went up to the cash register to pay for them, an interesting conversation took place with the CM ringing up the sale. First, a little background: Tara has been home schooling for several years now and is about a month short of graduating from high school. She plans to take a two-year course in commercial photography at a local technical school and to pursue photography as a livelihood. She had spoken briefly to several CM's on this trip about the WDW College Program, which interests her, and they had given her some general information about the requirements and expectations in the program. As we came into MGM that morning, one of the guests mistook Tara for a CM because she had on a guest of honor badge and asked her to take a picture of the guest and her family. Tara gladly complied and was tickled that someone actually thought she worked for Disney. So, when she went up to the cash register in the Villains store, the CM there started talking with her about the college program once again. They chatted for a few moments, with Tara telling her how much she loves Disney and how cool it would be to work there, and then the CM said, "Tara, I think you should seriously consider pursuing the college program. I think you have what it takes to be a great Disney castmember and you would be an asset to Disney." Well, Tara was greatly flattered and murmured her thanks as she paid for her purchases. Her dad and I shared a look that said, "We always knew our kid was wonderful and now other people are finding out, too!" And, of course, that is all she has talked about since then. So I am sure we will be gathering specific details before too long about what she needs to do to be considered for Disney's college program. I will keep you folks abreast of all the details!
Since the crowds were heavy and we had done what we came to MGM to do, we decided to catch the boat to Epcot. Once there, we began to think about lunch and chose Rose and Crown as a good spot - we had never eaten there and wanted to try it. Larry had a beer while we waited for our table, which he said was good but rather strong for him. We were very glad we chose to try Rose and Crown - the food was superb, the service was top notch and we had a great time. Our server's name was Claire. She was from Newcastle upon Tyne, which she told us is a rural area about 4 or 5 hours from London. She indicated she had only been waiting tables for a week and a half, but we thought she did a great job and told her and her manager that she was terrific. (We also tipped accordingly.) I am sure this will not be the last meal we have here.
After lunch, Tara wanted to go shopping in the China pavilion and I wanted to buy a bottle of the coco polada wine from the Florida booth. As we prepared to begin walking in that direction, Larry decided that he didn't really feel like walking in the parks anymore and he decided to go back to the room to relax. (Are you seeing a pattern here?) Actually, I was rather proud of him for doing what he wanted to do instead of feeling obligated to spend every minute with us. Vacation should be about everyone doing what they enjoy, which can be activities that are full of action or down time that is peaceful and relaxing. We knew that we would be together later in the day, so it did not bother either of us for him to "poop out" on us. Tara and I walked over to the Florida booth and while she looked at pins in a nearby booth, I waited in line to buy the bottle of wine. Unfortunately, they can't sell the bottle to you for you to carry it with you at the booth - they can send it up to the front of Epcot, which takes about three hours (not an option if you aren't going to be in the park for three hours), or they can have it delivered to your room (which will not work if you are going home the next day like we were). You have to go to the Festival Center to buy it by the bottle and carry it with you, which is next to the exit of Ice Station Cool back over in Future World. I wanted to argue that it made no sense to sell the wine by the glass in the booth, but not be able to sell a whole bottle that I could take with me. But I knew the CM's did not make the rules, and there was a long line of people behind me that I am sure would not have appreciated me making a fuss and lengthening their wait, so I just let it go and met up with Tara. We decided that I would go over to the Festival Center to buy the wine and she would walk over to the China pavilion to finish up her shopping there. We met back after making our purchases and headed back to our room.
After resting for a couple of hours, we decided to take the boat over to Ft. Wilderness and have dinner at Trail's End. As we were waiting to be seated (the wait was about 40 minutes), we watched a lady wander in and out of the restaurant bringing out food and eating on the porch where we were waiting. We still can't figure out how it was that she could just pick food up off the buffet and eat it without being seated in the restaurant. On one trip, she dropped what looked like a large cracker (I believe it was a cinnamon crisp off the dessert bar) onto the floor of the porch, picked it up and began eating it. Yuck!!! You really see some strange things at Disney sometimes. Dinner was very good and we were pleased with our restaurant choice. We stopped in the Trading Post so Tara could look at pins, and Larry bought a shirt and a CD there. As we came out, the Electric Water Pageant was playing and we got to see about 2/3's of that. Hopefully we will catch it again one day from the beginning. We made our way back to the Lodge (we got to see some of the fireworks from Magic Kingdom on the boat ride back - very cool) and went to bed.
Susan - Trip report writer, lover of all things Disney - 39
Larry - Converted by Susan into extreme Disney fanatic - 46
Tara - Ready to go to Disney any time for any reason (or no reason) - 16
Day 4 - Saturday, October 23, 2004 - "I Think You Have What It Takes To Be a Great Disney Castmember!"
We decided to sleep in this morning - between the heat, the large crowds and the foot problems, we felt we needed the extra rest. It turned out to be a good decision, as we all felt better this morning - still sore and moving slowly, but with a bit more energy than yesterday evening. We hopped a bus to Disney-MGM Studios. Tara wanted to check out the Villains store, and that was all we planned to do in this park today. She loved the merchandise at this store, and selected some t-shirts to buy. When she went up to the cash register to pay for them, an interesting conversation took place with the CM ringing up the sale. First, a little background: Tara has been home schooling for several years now and is about a month short of graduating from high school. She plans to take a two-year course in commercial photography at a local technical school and to pursue photography as a livelihood. She had spoken briefly to several CM's on this trip about the WDW College Program, which interests her, and they had given her some general information about the requirements and expectations in the program. As we came into MGM that morning, one of the guests mistook Tara for a CM because she had on a guest of honor badge and asked her to take a picture of the guest and her family. Tara gladly complied and was tickled that someone actually thought she worked for Disney. So, when she went up to the cash register in the Villains store, the CM there started talking with her about the college program once again. They chatted for a few moments, with Tara telling her how much she loves Disney and how cool it would be to work there, and then the CM said, "Tara, I think you should seriously consider pursuing the college program. I think you have what it takes to be a great Disney castmember and you would be an asset to Disney." Well, Tara was greatly flattered and murmured her thanks as she paid for her purchases. Her dad and I shared a look that said, "We always knew our kid was wonderful and now other people are finding out, too!" And, of course, that is all she has talked about since then. So I am sure we will be gathering specific details before too long about what she needs to do to be considered for Disney's college program. I will keep you folks abreast of all the details!
Since the crowds were heavy and we had done what we came to MGM to do, we decided to catch the boat to Epcot. Once there, we began to think about lunch and chose Rose and Crown as a good spot - we had never eaten there and wanted to try it. Larry had a beer while we waited for our table, which he said was good but rather strong for him. We were very glad we chose to try Rose and Crown - the food was superb, the service was top notch and we had a great time. Our server's name was Claire. She was from Newcastle upon Tyne, which she told us is a rural area about 4 or 5 hours from London. She indicated she had only been waiting tables for a week and a half, but we thought she did a great job and told her and her manager that she was terrific. (We also tipped accordingly.) I am sure this will not be the last meal we have here.
After lunch, Tara wanted to go shopping in the China pavilion and I wanted to buy a bottle of the coco polada wine from the Florida booth. As we prepared to begin walking in that direction, Larry decided that he didn't really feel like walking in the parks anymore and he decided to go back to the room to relax. (Are you seeing a pattern here?) Actually, I was rather proud of him for doing what he wanted to do instead of feeling obligated to spend every minute with us. Vacation should be about everyone doing what they enjoy, which can be activities that are full of action or down time that is peaceful and relaxing. We knew that we would be together later in the day, so it did not bother either of us for him to "poop out" on us. Tara and I walked over to the Florida booth and while she looked at pins in a nearby booth, I waited in line to buy the bottle of wine. Unfortunately, they can't sell the bottle to you for you to carry it with you at the booth - they can send it up to the front of Epcot, which takes about three hours (not an option if you aren't going to be in the park for three hours), or they can have it delivered to your room (which will not work if you are going home the next day like we were). You have to go to the Festival Center to buy it by the bottle and carry it with you, which is next to the exit of Ice Station Cool back over in Future World. I wanted to argue that it made no sense to sell the wine by the glass in the booth, but not be able to sell a whole bottle that I could take with me. But I knew the CM's did not make the rules, and there was a long line of people behind me that I am sure would not have appreciated me making a fuss and lengthening their wait, so I just let it go and met up with Tara. We decided that I would go over to the Festival Center to buy the wine and she would walk over to the China pavilion to finish up her shopping there. We met back after making our purchases and headed back to our room.
After resting for a couple of hours, we decided to take the boat over to Ft. Wilderness and have dinner at Trail's End. As we were waiting to be seated (the wait was about 40 minutes), we watched a lady wander in and out of the restaurant bringing out food and eating on the porch where we were waiting. We still can't figure out how it was that she could just pick food up off the buffet and eat it without being seated in the restaurant. On one trip, she dropped what looked like a large cracker (I believe it was a cinnamon crisp off the dessert bar) onto the floor of the porch, picked it up and began eating it. Yuck!!! You really see some strange things at Disney sometimes. Dinner was very good and we were pleased with our restaurant choice. We stopped in the Trading Post so Tara could look at pins, and Larry bought a shirt and a CD there. As we came out, the Electric Water Pageant was playing and we got to see about 2/3's of that. Hopefully we will catch it again one day from the beginning. We made our way back to the Lodge (we got to see some of the fireworks from Magic Kingdom on the boat ride back - very cool) and went to bed.
