The Ayn Rand Man Re-Discovers WDW and the Characters Trip Report 1/25/09 to 2/1/09

[Frank_Bullitt]

Please allow me to introduce myself, I'm a man of wealth and taste...
oops! Wrong intro, wrong crowd..

*Ahem*

For those of you who have just joined us, Aloha, and welcome to the Ayn Rand Man's Trip report...
The cast of characters...is me; a one man act, solo, pick yer cliche. I am a 30 year old guy who heads up the sales department at a software development firm, up until a week ago I only had a passing interest in Disney, but little did I know what this trip would do to me...
I went down to WDW for a conference and ended up staying to rediscover WDW and re-ingnite a love for the characters of WDW. I may be glossing over some of the details about the characters, but if I miss anything I posted a separate Character Observations post here
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2081725

On with the show!

Day One, January 25th, Sunday: Leis, Fruity Drinks, 125 foot plunges, and Plan 9 From Outer Space...

Sunday came very early, I do still do the road-warrior thing of sleeping in beds, but for whatever reason the airport hotel I was staying at had very uncomfortable beds. My flight was at 7am, I had a wake-up call at 5:45, but at 3am I was wide awake and couldn't sleep so I ended up watching POTC3 on my laptop (hey it got me in the mood
at 6am I took the airport shuttle to MCO (Kansas City international airport) and breezed through the checkpoint without issues.
My flight arrived at MCI at 10:50, waited in line about 15 minutes for the Magic Express check-in line and was on board and rolling within 30 minutes (I was in the sports jacket and grey fedora, in case any of you were there that Sunday morning)

I checked into the room and recieved the Mahalo greeting with the lei, which was a nice touch (better than the Orlando area biz hotels which are soooooo impersonal) the theming and details of the Grand Ceremonial House of the Poly are very very good. My room was in the Tahiti (sp?) building which was farther from the main building but close to the TTC.
After getting settled in I checked out the resort, and went to the Tambu Lounge to have some drinks. Normally I stick to boring cocktails like Martinis or Jack n'Cokes, but the CM Walter was very helpful in giving me pointers to some of the tropical drinks. I had a Passion Fruit Mojito which was very good, a Sunken Treasure, and a Mai Tai...they all tasted very good, although I wouldn't have `em here I figured since I was on vacation, why not?

After a quick trip to Captain Cooks for a Pork Sandwich to balance out all the booze in my system, I took a gamble and went to Blizzard Beach. I was the only one in the bus, and had a nice chat with the driver, who was from England. We talked about some parts of London that we both went to, and how expensive it is, and how magical it was to work at WDW. Blizzard beach was surprisingly good, the water was warm, I enjoyed the 'lazy creek' inner tube bit because I could wedge myself into the tube and just tune out. I did do Summit Plummet, and really liked it, except for the wedgie it gives ya
I closed the place down, then headed back to the room, at which point my check-in luggage 'magically' appeared in my room (I guess that's why they call it 'Magical Express') and I changed to go to Disney Hollywood Studios for my ADR at the Sci Fi Dine in.
There is alot of rumblings about the food and service of the Sci-Fi Dine-In being bad, and it is a worthy reputation. They did seat me fairly quickly, and I was a 'hitchhiker' with another couple at a car, the atmosphere was excellent. The cars, the starry night, and the clips with the cheesy 50's sci-fi/horror was great. My server must have been earning her ears, she was trying very hard, but was also very busy and flustered. I had the Baby-Back Ribs and baked beans, it was good but not great (I am a BBQ fan and close to Kansas City, the birthplace of barbeque so I am spoiled LOL). Overall I would rate it a 7, with the atmosphere a 9 and the food/service a 6.
I did ride the Hollywood Hotel Tower Of Terror several times, since it was an EMH night, and Rock n' Roller Coaster as well, but at 9am, my 30 year-old but feeling twice that body was telling me it was time to throw in the towel.

Tomorrow, the opening ceremony at Magic Kingdom, and later, asking what would John Galt Do if he was confronted by the Disney Princesses at Disney's Toontown Fair?

 

[Frank_Bullitt]

Day Two, January 26th, Monday: Magic Kingdom, The Opening Ceremony, Fear and Loathing in the Princess Room, and California (Grille) Dreamin'...

Monday morning came at 7am thanks to a wake-up call from Stitch, I had a morning presentation to give so I got dressed and after a stop at the Kona Island for some ‘go juice’ I decided to ride the monorail. It is very cool to ride, as cool as I remembered it, especially the spiel they say about please stepping away from the doors. Just before the Magic Kingdom stop the Blackberry rang and my contact said that my presentation was being pushed back to Wednesday. I took this as a sign to go to the Magic Kingdom, whether I was dressed for it or not.
The opening ceremony is cute and has a catchy tune that gets stuck in your head, then Mickey & co. come by on the train to open the Magic Kingdom. They select a family every morning to help with this, they ride the train from Toontown to Main Street Station. For those of you who want to know how to be selected, here’s how it goes: around 7:30-8am (about an hour before the park opens) a CM will approach a family and ask if they want to help Mickey. This is done completely at random, some families were large and Disney-fied to the max, another was just a father and young son dressed in NFL apparel, its strictly at the discretion of the CM. They don’t pick solos I guess because when they announce it they say “Smith Family from Tennessee” rather than “Mr. Smith”, plus it makes more sense. One of the CM’s at the gate filled me in on this, and when he heard it was my first time in a long time said “Well, be sure to get plenty of autographs!” and directed me to a small kiosk on the outside that sold autograph books, so I bought one.
Anyways, after the opening ceremony I made my way down Main Street, just taking in the sights. I was walking more or less in the middle and notice a Yellow-shirt CM. A CM who wears a yellow and white shirt with a red and white embroidered patch are the ‘character handlers’, sort of Blackwater Security detail for Mickey. Anyways, this yellow shirt was walking more or less to my left, then to my right I saw Alice, skipping along the streetcar tracks. She made her way over to the Fantasyland area of the Hub for the rope drop. It was surreal to say the least, but she wasn’t phased by a 30-something solo guy in a gray suit and a conference lanyard staring at her like an apparition, she did say hello to me before skipping off to the Teacups ride. I didn’t ride any of the rides, I was mostly still trying to absorb it all in, but I felt better having gone there.
I got a call from my contact, and he said the morning ‘breakout session’ at the conference was a bust, but suggested a counter-service place in France for lunch. The Boulangerie Patisserie (sp) is very nicely themed, and all the CM were from France so it was a plus. I had a Quiche Lorraine and a Kronnenbourg 1664, both very good, and spent an hour in the French pavilion before returning to the conference. At 4ish I got out of the conference and headed back to the Magic Kingdom. I rode the Haunted Mansion, which according to one of the Cm’s there it has been refurbished and it shows. It was much scarier than I remember, and the graveyard sequence is better. I did the POTC ride and enjoyed the addition of Jack Sparrow.
Then around 6ish in the evening I called to confirm reservations at the California Grille that evening, and decided to check out Toontown Fair, not really geared towards adults, but kids would love it. At the Judge’s Tent, there are two lines, one goes to Princess Rooms and one goes to Pixie Hollow. Interestingly enough I have heard on the boards that the wait time for the princesses is usually around an hour or more, but in this case the lines for Pixie Hollow were around 90-75 minute waits (as posted) but the lines for the princess room was around 15-30 minutes. I had a wild idea about waiting in line to see the princesses, figuring that it would take longer than 15 minutes and that I could leave on if it went longer on the grounds of “Don’t want to miss my ADR”. But it was exactly 15 minutes, and I had a nice chat with the father of a family there. Being as it was my first time to interact with the characters, I sort of invented a bull-story about ‘collecting autographs for my nieces’ but it didn’t stick. I’d like to say that I made it to the end of the line, but at the last minute when I was in the princess room, I got cold feet and asked one of the Yellowshirts if she could pass my book around, and muttering something about being late for a ressie I slinked off to one side and buried my face in my Blackberry. The autographs were nice, but I felt pretty silly being 30 years old and prepared to give a Powerpoint presentation to over a 100 total strangers but couldn’t pluck up enough pluck to ask for an autograph. I hopped on the train back to the Main Street station and made it early to my ADR at the Cali Grille. I ended up dining solo, because my contact couldn’t make it, but Rafael from Venezuela who was the host steered me into a very nice spot next to the window and said to watch for the fireworks.
I had the Sonoma Goat Cheese Ravioli with a Grey Goose Martini, the Pork Tenderloin with Polenta and Balsamic Smothered Mushrooms with a Pinot Grigio, and finished off the dinner with some Calvados. As I was polishing off the Calvados, 8pm rolled around, and Wishes started. They actually dimmed the lights and piped in the music, it was very heartwarming and spoke of wishes that everyone makes, complete with music and fireworks. It even melted the heart of this Ayn Rand Man, as I found myself dabbing away a moist eyelid, so that is saying something. Back to the Poly by 10ish, I called my contact to see what the schedule would be like tomorrow, and resolved to discover the ‘magic’ of Disney…

 

[Frank_Bullitt]

Day Three, January 27th, Tuesday: Epcot and the World Showcase, an Eye-Opener at Restaurant Marrakesh, Le Serveur Amusant in France, and the $15.95 pint of bourbon

Tuesday morning, another 7:30 wake-up call with Stitch shouting in your ear: “GOOOOOD MORNING! NO SLEEPIE! WAKE UP!” followed by the Mouse apologizing for Stitches’ behavior.
The conference started at 9:00am but I decided to be fashionably late and watched the opening ceremony at the Magic Kingdom. To be honest I was more afraid that someone from the conference saw me at the parks than being late. The morning conference was interesting but full of geekese…so at the lunchtime break I popped over to the World Showcase and did a walk-up to Restaurant Marrakesh.
The restaurant is top notch-decor wise. I had a nice conversation with Azizza in French and she recommended that Lamb Couscous with an Algerian red wine. It was very good, halfway through the meal two CM’s came to the center stage and began playing authentic Moroccan music… They even played a version of “Happy Birthday” to some guests at an adjacent table, which was funny. Then the belly dancer came out, and I spent a good portion of the time trying to finish my lunch and keep my eyeballs properly screwed back into my head. She was very talented, and I will leave it at that. Overall I would give the restaurant a 8, with 8.5 for the food and 9 for the atmosphere and service, I enjoyed it and the CM’s there were very friendly and helpful.

I then walked back through France and saw the serveur amusant show in front of the Chefs des France restaurant, which is basically a acrobatic act meets Laurel and Hardy, but silent. There are two men, a short, wiry fellow in a waiter’s getup and a larger heavyset guy in a chef’s outfit, the chef has a whistle and communicates with it, whereas the waiter merely pantomimes. The chef has the server place four bottles of champagne on a table, then balances a chair on it, then instructs the waiter to stand on it. As the waiter does acrobatics on the chair, the chef keeps having the waiter stack chairs one on top of the other, until it is like 10 chairs up…it was very funny the comical expressions on both the chef and the waiter was priceless.
A Character observation, there is a Belle from beauty and the beast meet and greet in France close to the restaurant, and on one occasion Belle left her meet and greet area to watch the show, it was pretty cute, actually.

In the afternoon I went back to the conference, went out with some of the guys to the cocktail bar at the Contemporary Resort, my contact and I decided to call it a night and go over the presentation tomorrow, over some home-made Jack and Cokes. The coke wasn’t a problem, but the booze was. At Trader Jack’s on the upper level of the Grand Ceremonial House there is a section that sells booze…imagine my surprise when I found out a pint of Jack Daniels costs almost $16!! Even at a Le Meridien in Paris it wasn’t that much…]
Anyways, long story short, I edited the PowerPoint presentation to my liking, practiced it one last time then went to bed.

Coming Up: Room Service in the Poly, more Magic Kingdom Madness, and more Fear & Loathing at Akershus…

 

[Frank_Bullitt]

Day Four, January 28, Wednesday: Room Service comes early, Test Track, and a Charlie-Foxtrot on the presentation, and being in a Fowl Mood in the Happiest Place on Earth...

The tweaking of the presentation went well into the night, and before I went to bed I had the idea of ordering room service for breakfast, so I took the little card and filled out the appropriate sections and left it on the doorknob. Honestly at the time I didn’t remember what I wrote down (a fair amount of that pint of bourbon had been consumed) so at 7am I was a bit shocked to be woken up by a knocking on my door. I felt bad for the CM delivering the room service, but if he is used to seeing a bedraggled & pie-eyed man in his pj’s answer the door, I imagine he’s seen worse.
I found out that I ordered the steak & eggs, over easy, with fried potatoes and muffins with orange juice. The juice was a welcome bit of rehydration after the previous night’s tippling, and the steak & eggs were great. I don’t know if they were worth the 20 odd dollars plus delivery and 20% gratuity, but it was a pleasant surprise. I called my contact and they said that the presentation would be in the afternoon, so rather than sit in my room and stew about it, I changed into ‘vacation clothes’ and checked out the Magic Kingdom again. I caught the tail end of the opening ceremony, and made a beeline to Tomorrowland for Space Mountain, it was good, although some of the effects were a bit dated. I rode the Haunted Mansion again, and Splash Mountain, and didn’t even get that wet.
I did catch the castle stage show Dream Along with Mickey, it was also very well-made and cute. I especially like that Mickey, Minnie, Donald and Goofy all blinked their eyes and their mouths moved. Donald’s expressions were priceless. I checked in with the conference, and still had some time, so I hopped a monorail back to the hotel, changed into conference clothes and then hoofed it to the TTC for the Epcot monorail.
At Epcot I still have over an hour and a half before my presentation, so I checked out Futureworld. There was a lot of neat stuff, I’m glad that Innovations was refurbished, and managed to squeeze in a ride at Test Track. The bit at the end where you go 60 mph was very cool. By that time it was time to get back to the conference, so I zipped through the World Showcase and to the conference.
The presentation could have gone better, I also had an ADR for Akershus at 7:50pm, which would have been plenty of time for me to finish the hour long presentation and have an hour for a ‘breakout session’ and another half hour or so for Q&A. Unfortunately the presentation was pushed back to late afternoon instead of morning, and with the setup issues and delays I didn’t get finished with it until almost 7pm.
By that time, I was exhausted and more than a little peeved (I was hoping to have enough time to go back to the hotel, change and get into the ‘mood’ for character dining), so I walked straight from the conference to the Norwegian pavilion in my conference suit. Wednesday evening I would have been easy to spot, just look for the guy in the gray suit with a black cloud over his head
When it came time to check in, I was still in ‘work mode’ and was actually giving serious consideration to cancelling dinner in favor of going to one of the bars at the Boardwalk and get blitzed with the other conference-ites. Fortunately I resisted the temptation and co confirmed my reservation. Inside, one of the 'perks' of paying 30 bucks for this meal is that you also get a free Photopass pic with Belle in her formal gown. I was still in '&$^#@ Exec mode’ versus ‘Guest at WDW’ mode, so I tried to resist getting my picture taken with Belle, the Yellowshirt was insistent, so I did, grumbling as I did. But when I walked into the room where Belle was, it was a change, she was very pretty and and flashed a smile that would have stampeded the biz conference, and all my irritation was gone. She complimented me on being such a ‘well-dressed prince’, and took my arm to pose for the pic. The pic didn’t turn out that well, although that was my fault for grimacing at the camera instead of smiling...not the fault of the Photopass CM or Belle. Once seated, Veronica was my server and she was very nice, and the Yellowshirt did approach me and asked if I wanted to see the Princesses. The princesses were Aurora, Jasmine, Ariel and Cinderella, all of which were very sweet and were able to make me smile and forget the troubles at the conference. The stupid rational adult tried to sabotage the experience again, and in a moment of panic I left for the Koldbord they approached. Fortunately it didn't work; Aurora doublebacked and said something like 'aha, there you are!' and was in completely love with my pink Hermes tie, saying it matched her dress. Ariel called me 'sailor' and was very sweet saying I should go out and have fun, Jasmine was very sweet too, Cinderella asked if my conference was a ‘royal conference’. All signed the autograph book, it was very neat to see some of the variations and flourishes in how they sign (Ariel writing ‘hugs and fishes’ and so forth). All in all, considering I wasn't in the best of moods, all of them went above and beyond the call of character duty to make this Ayn Rand Man smile.
So, after 4 princess characters and 2 Carlsburg beers I was feeling much better, I chatted up Tony the executive Chef for Akershus (he was from Long Island, NY) and left just as Illuminations was starting. Back at the hotel room, I resolved to see more characters and have more fun with them, versus just trying to do the ‘jerk executive working’.
Next, Thursday at Disney Hollywood Studios and a Character Encounter at the English Pavilion…

 

[Frank_Bullitt]

Day Five, January 29, Thursday: Disney Hollywood Studios, A Curiouser Encounter in England's Pavillion, and the best $8 I spent at Fantasmic!

Thursday morning came, and I was in a great mood because I wasn’t doing the conference today! So off to the parks I went, I did Hollywood Studios, and rode the Tower of Terror and RocknRollercoaster, Star Tours, and Muppets 3D. I didn’t do the Toy Story Mania, because the stand-by line was no less than 40 minutes, and FastPass was over 4 hours away. I ate a bean burger and potato salad at one of the counter service places on Hollywood Blvd (don’t remember the name but it was close to the Toluca Lake Turkey Leg stand), then took the water taxi to the International Gateway, where I had a surprising but very good character encounter.
Believe it or not, if someone were to ask me "Where in the `World is the best place to meet characters?" I would respond without hesitation: The World Showcase. Not only is it a great place to meet popular characters like Belle in France or Snow White in Germany, but because its the world showcase, the lines are much shorter.
Any WDW guide book will tell you that the character meet and greet in the England Pavillion is at the toy shop. And this is true, there is a meet and greet for Winnie the Pooh and Tigger. What they don't tell you is that there is also a Kodak photo spot opposite the fish and chips counter service place on the outside of the tea shop. This photo spot is also host to a Meet and Greet for Alice in Wonderland and Mary Poppins, which I found out about just as they came on. And when I mean, just as they came on, quite literally I was walking down the side street from the toy shop to the main drag and saw Alice skipping merrily past me. Needless to say I followed her and found the meet and greet without any line to speak of, so naturally I pulled out my autograph book and trusty Mont Blanc pen and stood in line.
Both characters were very nice and spent almost 5 minutes interacting with me.
Mary Poppins was very sweet and remarking that it might rain and that I shouldn’t be caught out in the rain, Alice was in the middle of talking to the flowers when I approached and became very friendly. She asked where I was from, to which I replied 'Kansas' and she said "Goodness, that must have been a long ride down the rabbit hole". Both signed my book, although she did give me a knowing wink when I used the excuse that 'it was for my nieces.'
The only thing that really ruined the ‘magic’ was after I said goodbye to the characters as I left there was some redneck off to the side in the street who asked me if I got (Alice's) number but anyways it was a very welcome surprise to meet with Alice and Mary Poppins.
True to the lady’s prediction the clouds rolled around and I bought a souvenir umbrella before going back to Hollywood Studios to catch Fantasmic! Now, I have heard that they will cancel it due to ‘inclement weather’ and as the rain started to come down at 6:30 (showing at 7pm) I was really dreading them to say it was cancelled. Then one of the CM’s said that no umbrellas were allowed in the amphitheater, and being that I didn’t want to get soaked to the skin I went to a cart and bought an $8 poncho. Ironically enough, as soon as he said the amount, the rain came pouring down. That is a great sales pitch, who’s gonna balk at a price when he’s getting soaked?
Anyways, the poncho on, I found a seat, squeegee’d as much water off the bench as possible so my butt wouldn’t be soaked, and took a seat. Due to my schedule it would be the only time I could see it, and I heard it was quite good. A shout out to the CM’s who made it possible, they did do the show even though there was a bit of rain sprinkling down still. The show was magnificent, lights and lasers, dancing water, the fight sequences from Pocahontas, all was top notch. And I know that it must have been a pain to do it in the rain, so kudos to all the CM’s who worked that night. The show wrapped up around 8ish, and I stopped by a kiosk selling beer and had a couple waiting for the stampeding herd to thin out. Then a bus back to the Poly, and off to sleep!

 

[Frank_Bullitt]

Day Six, January 30th, Friday: Animal Kingdom with an Encounter with a Yeti, Witty Jack and a Duck, and getting Wasted away again in Margaritaville...

At 7am another wakeup call from Stitch, and I don’t know about you but Stacy on the TV is really getting to me, “Mountain Triple Whammy, Space Mountain Big Thunder Mountain Splash Mountain WHAMWHAMWHAM”, it was cool the 1st 100 times, but why in the name of John Galt and Uncle Walt does the TV have to default to that channel?? Anyways, I decided to check out the Animal Kingdom, so after a quick breakfast of the School Bread leftover from Akershus I took the bus to AK. It was pretty cool, equal parts zoo and amusement park. I rode the Safari, which was okay but most of the animals were MIA and the CM didn’t seem that into it. The Kali River Rapids was very wet, and as an aspiring capitalist I didn’t appreciate the stab at the logging company...John Galt wept for the logging truck. After that I went to Dinoland to dry off, and rode Dinosaur. The queue was themed very well, and the pre-ride show was cool. The ride itself was very bumpy, I could see how someone could lose their lunch on the ride. The Carnosaur or T-Rex made me jump, so that is something. Then a long trek back to Asia to ride Expedition Everest. The ride from the queue to the mountain itself is all perfect, you don’t feel like you are riding a roller coast, you actually feel like you are climbing a mountain…as for the Abominable Snowman, he is really, really cool lookin’…
After that, there wasn’t much to keep an Ayn Rand Man’s attention, so I took a bus back to the Poly, checked messages, and on a whim called WDW-Dine to check on the availability of dining at Akershus again. There was a slot available on Saturday at 4:25pm, so I asked if there was availability at 1900 Park Fare (I had heard about it), and surprisingly enough, there was a 10:10am slot available. Sweet!! After that I headed over to the Magic Kingdom. For a late lunch I ate at Casey’s Corner, love their dogs…I know it’s just an all beef hotdog with Sauerkraut and spicy pickle relish, but it tasted so good! And I’ve had gourmet brats at overpriced eateries in Chicago and Manhattan, I don’t know if it’s the ‘magic’ or the atmosphere, but they are good! Okay, enough about the hot dogs, on the outside terrace they have a fellow who plays excellent tunes on the piano, he was playing something from “The Music Man” although I couldn’t place it. Then I took a leisurely stroll through Adventureland, past the Aladdin meet and greet where I swore I saw Jasmine throw a knowing look at me (might have been the pickle relish though) and on to Caribbean Plaza to ride POTC again. That is a ride I could do 10 times and not get sick of, the ship and fort battle is superb and Johnny Depp’s alter ego is great. As I left the ride (whoever came up with the idea of having a ride exit into a gift shop is diabolically clever, I want to hire him!!) I saw a crowd gathered around outside the queuing area. There was a pirate named Mack who was talking to the crowd about how to become a pirate, and trying to call out Jack Sparrow. Out of the crowd comes witty Jack, as he walked by he tapped some guy on the shoulder in passing and snuck up on Mack as the other pirate was berating the fact that Jack Sparrow wasn’t there…to which Sparrow corrected him by saying “Captain, captain Jack Sparrow!” The rest was a pirate tutorial that was very funny, and Jack was a dead ringer for Depp. Highly recommended for pirate fans, Depp fangirls and guys who like a good larf. From there I strolled through Adventureland, and into Frontierland.
In Frontierland just opposite the Golden Horseshoe Revue, Donald Duck does meet and greets in his 'Davy Crockett' getup. And, in the first hour of the park opening, he usually doesn't have much of a line. So I did what any fan of the Duck would do, and got his autograph and a pic. The Donald was very much in character, the kid before me when he got his picture, Donald covered up the mouse ears on the kid’s hat, and was jokingly 'hopping mad' that the kid had 5 mickey pins on his lanyard but no Duck ones. I got in the Duck's good graces because I was wearing a donald duck pin on my sportjacket lapel, and by saying that I preferred his cartoons to Mickey's as a kid, he got very animated (no pun intended) about that. After the pic and the autograph I said “Remember the Alamo!” as I left.
That kind of left me misty eyed, because the trip was winding down and I really and truly got into the spirit of Disney. I made it a point to stay for the “Share a Dream Come True” parade, which I enjoyed, I can tell you that if I saw it several months or even a week previous I would have scoffed at it for being ‘sappy’ but I loved it. I stuck around for another showing of “Dream Along with Mickey” then headed back to the hotel for some cocktails at the Lounge, then hopped on the first bus at the bus stop, which took me to the Hollywood Studios. On an impulse I checked out the “Walt, an American Dream”, it was very insightful, and had some very cool miniatures of the original Sleeping Beauty Castle, Cinderella Castle at WDW, the Disneyland Paris Castle and more, so it was good. I took the plunge and sat through the entire bit of “Beauty and the Beast, the Musical”. The production value was great, and I was amazed at Belle’s singing (and that IS her singing, not pulling an Ashlee Simpson). I actually was chocked up a the climax, and gave the performance a standing ovation. A quick stop by a refreshment stand for a beer, then off to the Animation Courtyard to check out “Voyages of the Little Mermaid.” And yeah, I was the only solo guy there, but y’know what? What happens in WDW, stays in WDW. The opening puppet act with the crab singing “Under the Sea” was great, Ursula was well-rendered and Ariel was wonderful. If this trip has taught me anything, it is that ANYONE can discover the magic, if only for the time they are at WDW. By this time it was getting late, and I decided to head back to the room and order up room service. I ordered up a medium-well 1/3 pound burger, crab cakes and some Heineken and settled in to watch the animated Robin Hood on the Toon Disney Channel…Burger: $15, Crab Cakes: $11.95, 6 bottles of Heineken: $40, delivery charge & gratuity $20, watching a cartoon you haven’t seen in 20 years…priceless.
Theeennn, I got a call from my contact. It appears that some high-ranking mucky-mucks that I was trying to court at the conference wanted to paint the town red, and wanted your Humble Friend and Narrator to join them. I looked at the three empties and the three full ones in the ice bucket and the comfy bed longingly, but business and duty calls. My contact drove (he drank diet-Red Bull, so he was our DD, remember, don’t drink and drive, kids!) myself and our German friends to Margaritaville, where we drank `ritas, listened to Jimmy Buffet and reasonable facsimiles karaoke to his music and tried with limited success to hit on the local female population. I had the most luck of the bunch (at 30 I was the young whelp of the bunch, hey I actually got carded at the door!!) but decided against closing the deal as the young lady in question would have to share a car ride with a carload of intoxicated middle-aged Germans and a younger but still drunk dude. I didn’t get back to the hotel room until 2am, I know I got there but I don’t know how I got to my room or how I got into bed….
Next: Saturday, How Hangovers Hurt More as you get Older, and Why it’s not good to Nurse a Hangover at 1900 Park Fare Brunch…

 

[Frank_Bullitt]

Day Seven, January 31st, Saturday, Channeling Johnny Cash, Last Full Day in the `World, 1900 Park Fare, and a happy reunion at Akershus and Toontown Fair...
Anyone heard the song from Johnny Cash about “Woke up Sunday mornin’ with no way to hold my head that didn’t hurt…” ? That is how Saturday arrived more me, my body painfully reminding me that I am 30 and not in college any more. After a cold shower and some “Smart Water” I felt well enough to stagger to the parks in time to see the opening ceremony for MK, still gets me every time. I checked out the Monsters, Inc Laugh Floor, and it was very good! The interaction with the monsters on screen and the audience was great, the jokes were suitably corny and the slug Roz was very funny. Highly recommended, but watch out if you go, you might be singled out to dance to the Monster’s Disco dance LOL.
1900 Park Fare was an experience I was dreading, for starters I was a bit fragile from the previous night (I had taken some clients out for a night on the town, and we all went to Margaritaville till the wee hours of the morning)
I had a 10:10 ADR for 1900 Park Fare, and debated cancelling it because of my current condition and how I had heard that it was very loud.
As it was I just went, figuring it was my last full day and I would kick myself if I didn’t. I posted a review of it in the Dining section of the Forum, but I’ll re-cap. I had heard how boistrous it could be ('organized bedlam' was the term most used) but it was surprisingly low Key. I arrived about 5 minutes early and was seated very quickly in the main room with the calliope and the buffet area. Lynette was my server and was busy but very helpful. I was surprised that it was much lower key than I was expecting, but I was in the main room, and it was fairly empty at 10:10, still it was a pleasant surprise. And that morning I was feeling somewhat fragile from the previous night so the Spicy Bloody Mary was a welcome addition, after two of those I was ready to tackle the buffet. The food is top notch, I have eaten at buffets in higher end hotels like Hyatt-Regency and Le Meriden and so forth, but this is better. It has the unique offerings that adults like but I also saw kid-friendly offerings, usually it's one or the other, so the wide variety was welcome. I would like especially to single out the lobster benedict (poached eggs with lobster meat in a hollandaise sauce) the strawberry soup was delish and the bacon was done just right. They also had a create your own omlette station.
The Characters were nice; that morning it was Pooh, Tigger, Alice and the Mad Hatter, and Mary Poppins. They were all very friendly, in spite of me being a 30 year old solo guy wearing a gray sports jacket and jeans and somewhat hungover.
Tigger ribbed me gently about working on my Blackberry and 'tasted' my drink, Pooh high-fived me and was happy to hear that I liked watching him when I was younger.
Alice was very energetic and friendly, she asked me where I was from and when I responded ‘Kansas’ she said “Really, do you know Dororthy?” Which elicited a chuckle from me and she told me that someone mistook her for Dorothy that morning, to which I replied, “Clearly they don’t know, Dorothy was a brunette.” She probably stayed at my table the longest, when she saw my Bloody Mary she said “Good Heavens, did they put something in your drink?” (referring to the celery), I replied “Well, that is the only thing you can keep down when you’re hungover.” She then said, “Oh, so you mean hungover like the chandelier?” There was more but I forgot most of it. By far it was the best character interaction I had on the trip.
Mary Poppins was very sweet and complimented me on being so well-dressed for breakfast. She asked if the conference I was attending was a “Nanny conference,” and she did call me on the 'just getting autographs for my nieces' excuse, but was very sweet about it, something like "You know, you don't have to pretend, we don't mind seeing nice well-mannered gentlemen like yourself." The Mad Hatter seemed someone sullen, probably because he had seen me shamelessly flirting with the ‘female’ face characters, I also was messing with him by asking server if he was an hallucination brought on by the DT’s, but it was a good experience.
All in all I give it a very resounding 2 thumbs up, I would probably recommend a later breakfast or very early to avoid the crowds, I believe someone on the forums said that the other room (narrow) was louder and to avoid it at all costs.
After Park Fare I took the ferry back to the Poly and hoofed it to the TTC to take the Epcot Monorail. I didn’t get a chance to ride Soarin’ but I did get ride Mission: Space. Because I was recovering from the previous night’s overindulgence I opted for the milder version, and it was very realistic. There are buttons, lever and toggle switches you can push, you are assigned as a Pilot, Engineer or two other roles (I don’t remember) I was the engineer, all I had to do was push a button, but it was very cool. I spent the remainder of the afternoon killing time in the World Showcase until my 4:25 ADR at Akershus. I did see where Belle did her meet and greet in France, as it was chilly that morning she was out in her blue dress and a cloak. I debated getting a pic with her, but the Beast was there as well, and I didn’t want to step on anyone’s toes. There were a lot more people in Epcot that day, there was some National Dance Competition that Disney World was hosting, so the place was wall-to-wall with high-schoolers in their dancing uniforms and school colors. They were very loud and more than a little annoying.
But 4:25 rolled around and I checked in at the desk and was ushered in shortly thereafter. I had acquired a last-minute ressie at Akershus for 4:25pm, and all of the CM's remembered me and said “Welcome back!” I even got Veronica again, and she was very happy to see me, she asked for my advice for what to take in college (she wanted to major in international business). Tony the executive chef stopped by my table and greeted me as an old friend, and offered to treat me to a shot of Aquavit.
All of the princesses remembered me from the first time, and were every bit as sweet. Jasmine remembered me and when I apologized for being in a “fowl mood” she said “That’s alright, Jafar puts me in a bad mood, too. Maybe he put a hex on your presentation!” Ariel was an absolute dear and even remembered my name (I vaguely remember giving her my name the first timie) remember giving it, but it was still cool!) and offered to get a picture with my ‘flashy memory box’. She also recommended the chocolate cake as it was her favorite, and made me promise to go and see her friend Nemo. Both Cindy and Aurora said 'welcome back, handsome prince", and the head host delivered me a shot of the Aquavit on a tray “With the compliments of the Head Chef.” Then Paul the Restaurant Manager stopped by my table to chat me up and make sure everything was satisfactory. I guess not too many ‘suits’ show up to the Princess Storybook Dining, but it was all very nice. And as the princesses left they all said goodbye to me, Ariel called me by my name and said to see her when I have another conference…needless to say between the wonderful service, the lovely princesses and the shot of aquavit I floated, rather than walked out of, Akershus on cloud 9.
I headed back over to the MK and did the whirlwind tour and re-rode all the rides that I had ridden, rested on a park bench doing ‘people watching’ and general felt that all was right in the world. I saw Spectromagic the parade, and was suitably impressed by all the lights, and then Wishes. Wishes did make me a bit sad, because it reminded me how great this place was, and that I would be leaving soon. As a pick-me-up I waltzed over to the Toontown Fair and picked up some of the parade and music CD’s, then saw that there was a 15 minute wait for the princesses. I smiled. It had been 6 days previous that I was the arrogant jerk who felt like he was too old to be getting his picture taken with princesses, and now I was a changed man. So I waited in line, oblivious to the weeping and gnashing of teeth that was going on in the “Pixie Hollow” line (105 minute wait!!). It was Aurora, Cindy and Belle in her yellow dress. All of them were very sweet, referring to your Humble Friend and Narrator as a “Handsome Prince”. Aurora showed me how to pose like a prince, Cinderella was very friendly and Belle loved my pink Brooks Brothers shirt. Photopass did an excellent job of taking the pictures (JoJo, one of the photo pass CM’s said that she had taken 1700 pics that day) I will have to get those pics uploaded soon. Finally, it was almost 9:30pm, so I bade farewell to the princesses and headed back to the Poly and prepared for my last morning in this magical place.
Next, the last Welcome Melody, the last Casey’s hotdog and Last Thoughts

 

[Frank_Bullitt]

Day Eight, February 1st, Sunday: Last Welcome Melody, the Last Casey’s hotdog and Last Thoughts
Sunday morning came early thanks to a 6am wake-up call. I was determined to be packed, checked out of my room, my luggage checked in at bell services and still make it in time for the opening ceremony of the MK. After a quick shower and getting dressed quickly, I started the process of gathering up my stuff and getting it packed away. The park maps and brochures were tough to look at, since each one had a specific magical memory, I couldn’t bring myself to toss `em so I went ahead stuffed them in my briefcase.
At 7 I was dressed and about 75% packed up, so I called bell services for help with my ponderous Samsonite and at exactly 7:15 they showed up and helped me with my luggage. I was checked out of my room and my luggage was stored with bell services, and I still had enough time to grab a cappuccino at Kona Island before catching the monorail to the MK one last time.
I heard the spiel say “For those of you who have just joined us, Aloha!” and almost chocked. At the MK I arrived early enough to see a lucky family being pulled aside by a CM to help Mickey open the MK, and watched the Opening Ceremony (I was easy to spot, btw, close to the center and waving a grey fedora at Mickey & co.) When the park opened I rode the Haunted Mansion one last time, POTC one last time, and Space Mountain. Then I walked around the park, checking out anything I had missed. I then rode the train from Frontierland back to Main Street and ate a cheese and sauerkraut hotdog, watched Dream Along with Mickey one last time and spent the last 20 minutes at the MK on the upper deck of Main Street Station looking out over Main Street Square. I saw Pluto and the chipmunks doing meet and greets in the square, off to one side where the firehouse was Daisy was greeting her fans, and in one corner by Tony’s Snow White was doing a meet and greet. It made me feel better, seeing all those people happy.
Then with a heavy heart I left my seat and walked out through the exit of the MK, some nice young lady with oversized Mickey gloves said “See you Real Soon!” to which I replied “Absolutely!” I rode the monorail back to the Poly, briefly chocked up again as it entered the TTC because the spiel said “If this concludes your visit to Walt Disney World we hope you enjoyed yourself and have a safe trip home…” Back at the Polynesian I went up to the Tambu Lounge and had one last Passion Mojito and then went down to the lounge area by bell services, where a TV was showing some Pluto cartoon. I saw a family come to check in, fresh off the Magic Express bus and get their lei’s, but instead of feeling depressed I smiled. Because that family is experiencing that same great feeling I felt on that Sunday a week ago (it seemed like an eternity ago), taking in all the cool sights for the first time. The bus Arrived, and the driver was a hoot, saying “If you are happy with my driving, you can call me Bill, but if for whatever reason you were dissatisfied, my name is Fred. I don’t like him.” And giving some whimsical commentary on some of the new attractions, including the Yak & Yeti” restaurant: “What were the guys in WDW thinking when they named this restaurant? Honestly who is going to go to a place to eat when the first name of the place is ‘Yack?’ and other stuff. The video was also pretty uplifting, sentimental without making a fella feel sad. At MCI, I got my ponderous suitcase checked in, got to my gate without a hitch and had a nice flight back. At 9 o’clock at night, I made it home and got to bed, dreaming up plans for my next trip to the `World

Final Thoughts: This trip proved one thing to me, it doesn’t matter how old you are, whether you are young, young at heart; Disney World has magic. It has that ability to change someone who only had a passing interest in Disney, who scoffed at folks who spoke of the ‘magic of Disney’ and ‘pixie dust’, to allow him if only for a brief time to regain that child-like sense of wonder and innocence that too often gets lost in the hustle and bustle of today’s business world. Even now, and it hasn’t even been a week yet, this morning I found in my suit jacket pocket a park hours brochure for the Magic Kingdom, and still remember the good times. It won’t last, probably in another month I will be saying to myself ‘what was I thinking?’ but it doesn’t matter. This trip has proven to me that you can take the magic home with you, as long as you believe in it. And at least for now, while those treasured memories are still fresh in my mind, I still believe. And you’d bet your bottom dollar I’m going back…

To all who have reached the bottom of this thread, I thank you, I will be posting pics (Photopass pics with your Humble Friend and Narrator are in the Character Observations post) but I leave you with this little quote from Mr. Cricket...

"Wishes can come true, if you believe in them with all your heart.
And the best part is, you'll never run out of wishes.
They're shining deep down inside of you.
'Cause that my friends is where the magic lives..."