The Hopping Mad Easter Tour - 2004 - Part 9

BONZO

<font color=660066>Has been known to go off topic!
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Feb 16, 2001
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Cast list: -

Shaun - 40 something ‘If it’s high fat, high sugar I’ll eat it’
Alison - 30 something 'If it’s not Atkins I won’t eat it’
Alexandra - 10 ‘Can we play mini-golf? Can we? Can we? Can we? Can we?’
Laura - 8 'If I’m tall enough I’ll ride it'


Sunday 4th April 2004



Up with the Mickey alarm (we all love this but it’s Alison that wins the race to the ‘Up and at ‘em’ call on the phone each day!) at 7:30 today and decided to head to the Pepper Market food court for breakfast this morning.

Alexandra - Mickey waffles, syrup, Orange Juice and fruit
Laura - Croissant and toast
Alison - Egg combo
Me - Egg, bacon, sausage, potato and bacon, muffin

Total cost $26

Similar food to Golden Corral but not such good value - but that’s the “penalty” for eating on-site.

A pleasant wander back around the lake to our room and after popping back into the room for teeth brushing etc we jump in the car and it’s time to head to MGM. Due to a bit of dithering we arrived about 20 mins late and it’s almost to much to bear for Alison who appears to be in commando mode! Straight over to Tower of Terror for FP’s, where the standby line was already at 60 minutes! After we got those we went straight over to ride Rock n Roller Coaster although Laura is a bit hesitant. With a bit of cajoling she was ok and we all watched the G Force records movie. I just love the next bit as you see all the other people setting off (or should I say blasting off - LOL) We crept closer and closer until it was finally our turn - and wow! I love this ride! It was the first time the girls had done this ride and they both loved it and wanted to do it again!

We tried to do The Great Movie Ride next but it was down so Alexandra and I rode Star Tours - a little dated now but good fun all the same. Onto Tower of Terror, but not really Alexandra’s cup of tea so she sits it out. We all went to the Fast Pass line but they wouldn’t let Alexandra in and have access to the “Chicken Run” - I thought that this a little unfair but Alexandra was ok with it luckily, and just sat outside in the sun to wait for us. Anyway, the ride is first class as always and the new drop sequences are brilliant! I really think this is one of the best rides in Disney for complete theming - in the ride queue, the ride itself - everything.

Next we wandered over to Who Wants To Be A Millionaire and we just manage to squeeze into the next show. Alison does really well and gets to No. 2 on the leader board just before the guy in the chair loses. (The Fastest Finger question was “Put these American Vice-Presidents in order” - absolutely no idea - hadn’t heard of a couple of them! LOL) Never mind, it’s all about the experience! We grabbed more fast passes for Rock n Roller Coaster before checking our watches and deciding that we needed to make a move for lunch.

We came out of the park at about 1:30 (this is for a reason - as you will see later in the day!) and went back to the hotel via Subway (not the subway, I mean via the restaurant Subway on the 192!). What a crazy system they operate for preparing and purchasing a couple of rolls!



Between us we had: -


2 x Wraps
2 x 6” subs
1 x Large drink
1 x bag of crisps

Cost about $18

Had a swim in the Dig site pool and a turn in the hot tub - blimey the water’s scorching and nearly took the top layer of my skin off! Back to the room to change and then down to the bus stop where we only had a couple of minutes wait to catch the bus back to MGM.

Back at MGM we placed our fleece jackets and various gifts (you’ll see who for later!) into a locker and went over to the hat to meet up with the Hunts at 3pm as arranged. We waited for a couple of minutes but they were nowhere to be seen. With FP’s for RnRC burning a hole in our pockets we decided to make a dash for it. Another great ride and the girls still loved it! Back to the hat and still no sign of the Hunts so we went on The Great Movie Ride as the queue was reasonable. We all enjoy this ride - come on now - who else sings along to all the film theme songs? J

As we came out of the ride we met up with the Hunts under the hat at about 4:50. It turned out that they had arrived about five past three - far too late for us! -LOL

We had priority seatings for dinner tonight at the 1950’s Prime Time Café so headed over there just as the Stars and Cars parade was starting and nearly got snagged on the wrong side of the road. We managed to dodge over the road and stood and watched for a while - before we felt the bar drinks calling us. We sat in the bar / reception area and Bob and I reminisced about some of the items on the wall like the wire guitar and blue faced lady picture - tres chic!


Our server was Sister Rebecca and was really a good sport although I was told off a couple of times - I mean I only left some green beans and tried to hide them. Auntie Rebecca came over and by means of making an aircraft noise, force fed them to me. Even Alison managed to get in on the act with her “sugar free” milk shake. She poured it all into the glass and “whoosh”, it went all over the table and Auntie Rebecca had to go and fetch a bib!



Oh - you want to know about the food eh?

Kids meals: - Nuggets, hot dogs etc
Me: Meat loaf, garlic mashed potatoes and green beans followed by Cherry Cobbler
Alison: Pot roast and veggies followed by sugar free Vanilla Ice cream (made into a milk shake)

Various sodas to drink, and then coffee

Total cost about $80 including 15% service charge (which was because there were 8 of us).

We said goodnight to the Hunts and headed off for Shaun’s highlight of the trip. On the way out of the park we even remembered to collect out fleeces and the gifts from the locker! (Well, Alison remembered!)

We caught one of the Friendship boats from the dock at MGM over to the Yacht & Beach Club - as we were going to do an Illuminations Cruise! And not only that, it was on the Breathless!! Wow! I never thought we’d get to do this - we tried lots of times to get an Illuminations Cruise for this holiday - but no luck. Ah well - it just wasn’t meant to be we thought. Until…..Alison received a PM from a US friend from another Disney website asking if our family would like to join their family on the Breathless! Well, after Alison nearly bit her hand off accepting the offer - we decided we wouldn’t tell the girls until the last minute. So it wasn’t until we drew up at the marina at the Yacht and Beach Club that we told them. They were almost as impressed as I was!

We had a quick look around both the Yacht and Beach resorts for future reference and then went over to the marina to meet up with the Debra, Bob and James. We said our “hello’s” and handed over our UK gifts (Big bar of Dairy Milk, Harrods Bear, Scottish shortcake, Thornton’s fudge selection), which appeared to be well received. Our driver appeared and gave us the safety run through and helped us aboard The Breathless - WOW!

Technical bit: - Breathless is the motor boat named after the Dick Tracy character. It is a 24 foot ChrisCraft reproduction of a 1930 runabout powered by MerCruiser 350 cubic inch engine reaching speeds of 50 mph! It has bench seats and can accommodate 6-7 persons. The boat is not covered I.e. open top.


We got onboard and were handed some neat fleecy rugs to keep our legs warm - but feeling really glad that we bought our fleece jumpers with us in the morning. The driver took us for a spin around the waterways and before reaching the International Gateway Bridge he said “Shall we open her up?” - well of course! And Whooosh! - the whole front of the boat lifted out of the water while the screws at the back were trying to pull us down into the water - what a blast!


Huge grins from everyone we headed for the bridge and moored up at the central span to watch Illuminations - truly a view that I shan’t forget in a very long time indeed.

As there is only one of these on Disney property it is by far the swankiest way to get around - You really feel like royalty in this thing - sell your house, sell your Granny, anything to get this trip!

We fell over ourselves thanking Debra and family for their offer (and they wouldn’t accept any $$$ from us either!)


They very kindly gave us a lift back to the Coronado Springs resort and with feelings of amazement and huge fixed grins we went to bed happy. Oh, Alexandra had been on about a flippin’ Churro all day, so Alison went with her to the Pepper Market to get one.

Weather - Lovely - about 80, clear and sunny.


Plan for tomorrow - a relaxing day, DD and DQ for all of us - and our best ever ‘worst parenting’ moment!
 
Wow, that cruise sounds fab - I've always wanted to do that, may have to try and sort something out when we finally get our last minute holiday booked. Sounds like you had a wonderful time :Pinkbounc

Anz :earsgirl:
 
Great report ~ Thanx for sharing.
 
Wow........I bet that was the best way ever to see the Illuminations :)
 

sounds like a great day and a brilliant evening:jester:
 
You do manage to do a lot each day don't you. It must be all the e-numbers in the toast you keep you going.
Your cruise sounds fabulous, I must go back and do one.

Love always
Veronica
 
..... when I saw you at the meet you still had stars in your eyes from the IllumiNations Cruise :) ! Just as it should be! I remember that privileged feeling well and how special the evening was and I'd recommend this cruise highly to anyone, with the pontoon or Breathless.
 














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