The Mickey Mint Addicts’ Stash Ran Out, So I Went Trick-Or-Treating (Oct 2006)

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TRIP INDEX

[post=18809741]Pre-Trip Report (Post Trip)[/post]

[post=18809792]Day 1 (Oct 25) - Arrival, Epcot, Le Cellier[/post]

[post=18830650]Day 2, Part 1 (Oct 26) - Dolphins in Depth[/post]

[post=18830795]Day 2, Part 2 (Oct 26) - Rose & Crown, MGM[/post]

[post=18841793]Day 3, Part 1 (Oct 27) - Magic Kingdom[/post]

[post=18905586]Day 3, Part 2 (Oct 27) - Animal Kingdom Lodge, Boma's[/post]

[post=18946885]Day 4, Part 1 (Oct 28) - Animal Kingdom[/post]

[post=19008021]Day 4, Part 2 (Oct 28) - MGM, Epcot[/post]

[post=19008208]Day 5, Part 1 (Oct 29) - Animal Kingdom[/post]

[post=19053647]Day 5, Part 2 (Oct 29) - Epcot, Coral Reef[/post]

[post=19070517]Day 6 (Oct 30) - MGM, Epcot, Les Chefs de France[/post]

[post=19071369]Day 7, Part 1 (Oct 31) - 1900 Park Fair, Epcot[/post]

[post=19087544]Day 7, Part 2 (Oct 31) - Liberty Tree Tavern, MNSSHP[/post]

[post=19139741]Day 8 (Nov 1) - MGM, Epcot, L'Originale Alfredo di Roma[/post]

[post=19158326]Day 9 (Nov 2) - Downtown Disney, Epcot, Spectromagic[/post]

[post=19193140]Day 10 (Nov 3) - Crystal Palace, MK, Epcot, Home[/post]


Pre-trip Report (Post-Trip): Okay, so I’m writing this 7 months later, so the term “pre-trip” report seemed a touch inaccurate. And I am nothing if not a stickler for accuracy. I would never embellish, hyperbolize, or deadpan just for the sake of the humor. Really. Never. Not in a million years (or a million dreams, neither of which I will ever personally see).

With that little disclaimer out of the way, let’s get to know our cast:

Me (Jenn): Turned 25 during this trip. Was temporarily in-between long-term careers (read: woefully unemployed) at the time of this trip and therefore had plenty of time to indulge in a 10 day trip. Grew up a Disney fan (thanks, Mom), currently rediscovering her love for Disney as an adult. Last seen (with her post-knocking father) in the unsurpassed , the incomparable, the spit-out-your-coffee-at-your-computer-funny (and be thankful that liquid wasn’t really from a seagull - that makes sense if you’ve read the report, I promise) [thread=977789]2 Mickey Mint Addicts Do The World[/thread].

Megan: Also 25. Had just recently earned her Masters’ degree, which always deserves a Disney trip. Likes Disney World, but secretly goes there just for the food.

So after my December 2005 trip, I was eager to return to the World. But my father, not so much. He’s a trip every two or three years kind of guy. So I had to find a new traveling companion. Enter one of my best friends, Megan. I met Megan while we both attended the College of William & Mary - proud alma mater of Glenn Close, Jon Stewart, Mike Tomlin (new head coach of the Steelers)... oh yeah, and some of those guys from the Hall of Presidents, too. In fact, she likes to remind me that I actually first met her when I rejected her as a potential roommate (after having known her for about 15 minutes). She’s never let me live that down. Fortunately, she weathered my rejection well, we became good friends, and we’ve stayed in touch since we graduated.

When I offered to take her to Disney World, she thought about it. When I suggested we do the dining plan, she jumped at it. We thought about doing the trip in the spring, but she wasn’t going to finish her Masters’ until August, so it had to be after that. Well, if it’s going to be in the fall, why not hit the Food & Wine Festival? Especially since Megan truly goes to WDW for the food (and Chip & Dale). And then, if we’re going to be there during October and November... why not schedule it for my birthday? Which, since my birthday’s November 1st, would also mean that we could do Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party. Ah, the stars align. So it was settled, we would be going October 25th - November 3rd.

Since we were going for the Food & Wine Fest and I’m a huge Epcot fan anyway, I thought I’d like to stay at one of the Epcot resorts. Unfortunately, they were a little out of my budget range. But then I heard about renting DVC points here on the boards, and I looked a little more closely into that. I found a wonderful (WONDERFUL) DVC member who was willing to rent me 130 points at the Boardwalk Villas for a preferred studio (we were making this reservation about 8 months in advance, so all the standard rooms were already gone - it is the time of the F&W Fest, after all) at $10 a point. $1300 for 9 nights - it came to about $145 a night for a studio at an Epcot area resort - now THAT is budget friendly!!! Plus we could get the dining plan without buying a package since we were staying on DVC points. This, too, was budget friendly, since I could get our park tickets through a Mousesavers discount at a better price than through Disney direct.

So we had our lodgings. Next I decided to tackle our potential ADRs, so I asked Megan to send me a list of restaurants that she would like to try. She did so, the very next day in fact - a list of 31 restaurants!!! So I called her back, and explained that we would only be there for 10 days, and even at 3 square meals a day, all at table service restaurants (which we were definitely not going to do, by the way), we still couldn’t hit 31 restaurants. Plus, we were on the dining plan, which meant we had a set limit of 9 table service credits (the dining plan goes off of how many nights you’re staying, not how many days). So could she please narrow the list down to some number a little closer to 9????? She did - to 26.

Well, the good news was that nearly all of the restaurants I wanted were somewhere on the list of 26. So I picked those I threw in one that she had on her list that I didn’t have on mine, and one that I had that she didn’t, and we had our 9 restaurants. I also got our tickets for MNSSHP - we decided to go on Halloween itself. Since we were only arriving less than a week before Halloween, all of the parties would probably be around the same, crowd-wise, and the atmosphere on Halloween itself figured to be lots of fun (neither of us had ever been to MNSSHP before). And, as a birthday present to myself, I decided to book us on the Dolphins in Depth tour. I had wanted to do it on my previous trip, but they were renovating at the time and the tour wasn’t running. So we were going to do it now - and Megan loves dolphins more than I do, so she certainly didn’t mind! Wow, this was going to be one packed trip. Thank goodness we had 10 days to squeeze it all in.

But it was coming up on 180 days prior, so I needed to hammer out a definitive schedule - and then try and stick to it! Like a true planner, I subscribed to Tour Guide Mike, and using his best days schedule (with a dash of “winging it”), I booked our dining ADRs, party, and tour. Here was our tentative schedule:

Wednesday, October 25th: Dinner - Le Cellier

Thursday, October 26th: Dolphins in Depth, Lunch - Rose & Crown

Friday, October 27th: Dinner - Boma

Sunday, October 29th: Dinner - Coral Reef

Monday, October 30th: Dinner - Chefs de France

Tuesday, October 31st: Brunch - 1900 Park Fair, Dinner - Liberty Tree Tavern, MNSSHP

Wednesday, November 1st: Dinner - Alfredo’s

Friday, November 3rd: Breakfast - Crystal Palace

I promise, I’ll try and give a detailed dining experience for those of you interested, but I didn’t take any pictures of our food - Megan would have disowned me right then and there. Oh, and when I was making my ADRs, I mentioned to the very helpful agent at Disney Dining that it was my birthday on Nov 1st and could she please note that on the reservation? And she said, “Of course! In fact, I’m going to put it on all of your reservations!” I explained that that was not necessary - I’m not really into big public celebrations, just one would be fine, thank you. But she insisted - she said there was just something magical about celebrating your birthday at Disney World, and I should enjoy it the entire time. Well, if you insist So I’ll have bonus birthday dessert reports, too. So the ADRs were done, I booked our airfare, and then I was all set. But it was still only April, and all I could do was wait... and try not to change those ADRs too often!!!

Even with the slingshot assist of hindsight, the wait will take six months, so we’ll have to put you into hypersleep. Don’t worry, it’ll only seem like a second or two to you. I’ll give you a wake-up call when we get to Disney.

 

[camillatin]

Rise and shine. Let’s go team - we’ve got a flight to catch!

So our flight was at 8:50 a.m. from Dulles International Airport. After arriving at the airport at 7:45 a.m. or so (a little later than I would have liked, but it worked out fine), we tried to find the easy check-in line. I had printed out our boarding passes ahead of time so that all we had to do was check our luggage, but that was easier said than done when we couldn’t find the line. We found the regular United check-in line, but not the easy line. So we asked a very helpful employee at the regular line who pointed out the easy line... all the way on the other side of the building. Excellent - nothing like dragging your luggage around in a half-awake, caffeine-starved stupor. Yeah, I’m not a morning person.

Anyway, we got to that easy line (around the construction that is ubiquitous at Dulles), checked our bags, successfully made it through security, and boarded the People Mover to head to Terminal C. Actually, I think they’re called Mobile Lounges now instead of People Movers. If you’ve never been to Dulles, basically there’s a building for check-in and security, and then two other separate buildings for actual planes. It’s somewhat like MCO in that respect, except there’s no fancy mini-monorail (although I believe there is something similar coming as part of the current construction). Instead, you take a cute little bus - the Mobile Lounge. There’s nothing “Lounge” about it - it’s a bus, but extra wide, and most of the seats have been removed and replaced with poles so you’re forced to stand. It’s quite an experience when you’ve only recently woken up, especially when, as in this case, I’m so tightly packed between fellow riders that the handrail became out of reach at some point, but I couldn’t really go far anyway. It’s a great way to meet people and discover what brand of deodorant they use.

So we arrive at Terminal C, the plane is listed as on-time, and we have 15 minutes until boarding starts. Great - I’m going to Starbucks. So I’m in line at Starbucks, and in front of me is a pilot. Another guy, apparently his co-pilot, is walking through the terminal when he sees the pilot in line and says, “Hey, pass me the security stuff and I’ll get started on the list.” So the pilot hands him the paperwork, and the co-pilot leaves. As the line inches forward, I realize there’s some of the paperwork still on the ground - it must have been dropped in the transfer. So I hand it to the pilot, and he turns to me and says, “Oh, this is the Homeland Security stuff. I’m afraid we won’t be able to fly today since the paperwork was out of my hands.” The whole line groaned - you do not make jokes about Homeland Security. It’s not funny, and we haven’t had our coffee.

So one hot chocolate later, I’m sitting in a chair while Megan shops. A nice woman comes up to me and asks what the last announcement was over the loudspeaker, so I repeated it to the best of my ability - I hadn’t really been listening all that intently. She then asks if I’ve heard anything about the flight to Pittsburgh that leaves in 15 minutes, and I said no. She says that they (I’m not sure who “they” is - I presume it’s the same “they” that Tour Guide Mike refers to) sent her to this gate. This gate, by the way, is a completely random gate that I sat down at, and it doesn’t appear to have a flight listed anytime in the near future. That’s why it had empty chairs.

Anyway, I pointed out the monitors that would tell her what gate she needed. So she goes over and looks and comes back and says, “I’m supposed to be at A3.” Uh, lady, that’s a different building. So I tell her that, and her eyes get wide, and I point out the door to the people mover to Terminal A. She ran off, thanking me as she ran. My good deed for that day.

So we boarded our flight uneventfully, and as it turns out, we were surrounded by people eager to go to Florida. The whole plane was boarded early, and we took off 10 minutes early. When we landed 15 minutes early, our pilot came on the loudspeaker and gave the quote of the day: “Ladies and Gentlemen, we’ve arrived here in Orlando 15 minutes early. In the unlikely event that your future United flight should be late, we’d like you to think of these as rollover minutes, and please subtract these from any late time. Thank you.”

We took the mini-monorail to the main terminal, and although I was hungry at this point (having only had a hot chocolate the entire day), Megan was excited and wanted to go catch the Magical Express bus. So we joined the really long DME line. I’m not sure why it was so long since when we went to check in, it literally took 45 seconds. “2 adults?” “Yes.” “And how many pieces of luggage?” “2.” “Boardwalk Villas?” “Yes.” “And your return flight info is correct?” “Yes.” “Thanks, have a magical day.” Couldn’t be easier. We joined our BWV line and were promptly put on a bus within a few minutes. DME stopped at Caribbean Beach, and then at BWI. So then we joined the long line for check-in at BWI.

While in line, the manager was coming around to apologize for the wait and make small talk. He asked where we were from, and how long we were staying. When I replied, “10 days”, he said, “Wow, that’s great. How did you manage to get so much time for vacation?” I replied, “Unemployment.” He replied that he had been there, and then moved on quickly.

Check-in took an unusually long time, as our CM was earning her ears and struggling. The manager supervising her explained that the computer system was new, so she was learning it, too. But we weren’t in a hurry, so it wasn’t a problem. We received room 2053. This would be both a blessing and a curse. Nice short walk to the room, lovely view of the Village Green, even some view of Illuminations. But really, really noisy. Really noisy. We were just above a storage room that the Boardwalk entertainers used, and the carts would come rolling by and the music would start promptly at 7 a.m., and well let’s just say that all plans for sleeping in were foiled quickly.

At this point, I would normally show you all the lovely pictures of the interior of our lovely room. Yes, I know, I’m a little crazy if I’m taking pictures of the room. Megan was actually okay with me taking pics of the room, but she did mock me when I took a pic of the bathroom. Unfortunately, my memory stick died (more on that later), so all I have are pictures I took later in the trip, which are all exterior. You didn’t want to see the interior of the room after we spread out all of our junk, trust me.

Our room was under one of those arches, just above the Wyland Gallery.

I promise that there will be TONS of pictures once we get to the later stages of the trip. My apologies for the dearth so far. Blame my memory stick. Where was I? Oh, yes. I was still hungry, so we stopped at the Boardwalk Bakery. Yummy brownies. I could tell that the diet was going to go real well here. Well-fed and happy, we walked to Epcot, and Megan decided to start with Spaceship Earth (a tradition in her family). We followed that with the Universe of Energy (a tradition in my family) and the new Finding Nemo ride at the Seas - all of these were walk-ons.

The Nemo ride was still officially in soft opening, and it actually stopped in the middle of our ride. However, it was during the part where you’re swimming with the turtles in the EAC, and because of all the turtles swimming past, we couldn’t tell we had stopped. But when we were still in the EAC five minutes later, we decided maybe this wasn’t normal. And sure enough, when we looked at the ground, it was clear we weren’t moving. But when we looked back up at the turtles, wow, the optical illusion of motion is amazing. During our extended stay, we found that the EAC made you think deep thoughts, dude. [Picture all of this conversation in the voice of Chong] I said, “You know, if Ellen had only appeared in Spaceship Earth, we’d have an all-Ellen day so far.” Megan’s reply, “That would rock.” Me, “Rock on, dude.” Megan, “Dude?” Me, “Chill. Mellow out, dude. Surf the EAC and become one with your inner peace. Ohmmmmmm.” Megan, “Okay, stop snorting whatever the turtle’s snorting.”

But I loved what the turtle was snorting, so, after our EAC excursion, we headed to Turtle Talk. We also saw a fish feeding and a manatee health check - if you only do the Nemo ride and Turtle Talk without exploring the rest of the Seas, you’re missing so much!!! Then it was just about time for our dinner at Le Cellier, so we headed there - via the Food & Wine booths. We didn’t dare actually try any of the food right before dinner, but we did make some mental notes of things to try later. Megan was especially delighted to find spanakopia at the Greece booth. I, being the stickler for accuracy that I am, pointed out that the Greek letters they used did not actually spell out spanakopia. They used rho once, which looks like the English letter “p”, but is pronounced like an “r”. So they actually spelled it more like Sranakopia. This is what a B.A. in Ancient Greek is good for. That, and unemployment.

And then we had dinner at Le Cellier. It was excellent. If you’re reading this report solely for the humor (in which case you must be desperate for a laugh!), you can skip this part. Nothing funny about the food. I had a Caesar Salad for an appetizer, which was good but I found the dressing to be salty. For the rest of the trip, I asked for the dressing on the side (and found that while some restaurants used the same salty Caesar Salad dressing, others had a better version). Megan had the shrimp cocktail and enjoyed it immensely. For the main course, I had the Mushroom Filet Mignon - best steak I’ve ever had!!!!! Megan had the New York Strip Steak and was equally impressed. One quick note on steaks: they seem to cook them one less setting than I’m used to, meaning that, in order to get what I consider a Medium steak, I ordered a Medium Well. If you ordered Medium, you got Medium Rare. I’m told that it’s a geographical thing, but just be aware, Disney’s steak labels may be different than what you’re used to. And for dessert, I had the Creme Brulee (which includes both a Vanilla - okay, but not spectacular, and a Maple - that was amazing) and Megan had a sorbet, I think, which wasn’t particularly memorable, obviously. Our waitress was very nice and very informative about Canada, including how each of the breadsticks represented an area of Canada. Oh that was the other thing Megan loved - those pretzel breadsticks! Overall, we would highly, highly recommend this restaurant.

After that huge dinner, we had leftovers, so we headed back to the room to put them in the fridge. We also stopped at the Screen Door General Store and bought a ½ gallon of milk to go with all the leftovers, and then we called it a night. After a refreshing shower, I was pleasantly surprised to find that I could see some of the Illuminations fireworks from our balcony. I couldn’t see all of them, but the highest ones were visible, and the loudest parts of the soundtrack were audible, and, best of all, I could be in my pajamas. Oh, to be in Walt Disney World, in your pajamas, watching fireworks. What more could you ask for?

Yeah, that was rhetorical. Stop asking that I find some better jokes.

 

[camillatin]

I had planned that we would sleep in a little this morning since our tour wasn’t until 9:45 a.m. But the Boardwalk music came on at 7 a.m., so that was when I woke up. Megan was remarkably successful at sleeping through it (maybe I’m just overly sensitive to music), so I headed down to the Boardwalk Bakery and picked us up breakfast (snack credits rock!). After a leisurely breakfast and getting ready, we made it to the International Gateway in time for opening - a rare occurrence, as it would turn out. When I had made the reservation for the Dolphins in Depth program, the reservations agent said to be at the Living Seas at 9:15 (for a 9:45 start). So we were there at 9:10. But when I asked a CM outside the Seas, she said we needed to go to the front gate. This actually made some sense, since I thought that they said admission was not required. So we headed to the main gate - we had now walked the entire length of Epcot, and look here, it’s not even 9:15 a.m. yet.

At the main gate, there weren’t any signs designating where we should wait, so I asked what appeared to be a very busy woman with a clipboard. She said to wait under the umbrella, where there were 4 talkative people already waiting. We took a seat next to them. Sure enough, one of them came over, asked if we were there for the dolphin tour, and struck up a conversation. He (and his party - his wife and her parents) were from Boston - no, really, the accent’s hahdly noticeable Just kidding. Anyway, we eventually were joined by two more women (a mother and daughter, I believe), and then we were welcomed by Diane and Karen (I took detailed notes, didn’t I?). They gave us the usual lecture on backstage etiquette (no photos, please), explained that any possible dolphin participation is all voluntary and therefore no dolphin interaction is guaranteed, had us sign away our lives in a waiver (although it paled in comparison to the Richard Petty Driving Experience waiver - I lovingly refer to that one as the “It’s okay, it’s always been my dream to die and not get compensated for it” waiver), and asked for our shirt (for the souvenir t-shirt) and shoe (for the booties) size. Only later did it dawn on me that they didn’t ask for a wetsuit size... wow, they must be really good at sizing you up just by looking at you. An intimidating skill, indeed. Kind of reminds me of the plastic surgeons who say they can see every flaw even while looking at a fully-clothed individual.

So we walked backstage, and we started talking to Diane and Karen. They were very nice and clearly loved their jobs. Diane was from Minnesota, and she said she called up her parents one day and said, “Mom, Dad, you know how I’m here in Florida for spring break? Well, I don’t think I’m coming back.” She said they were thrilled. Karen was older - I forget what she said she had done previously, but her husband had retirement funds in Enron and something else that went belly up, so she wanted to get a job to support him so he didn’t have to work so much, and she found this, her dream job. They were incredibly happy employees. That was something that impressed me throughout the entire tour - every employee we met seemed to love their job so much and was so happy to share their knowledge with us. It was just a thoroughly enjoyable experience.

So after some initial information, they took us to meet the dolphins. This was great, but they made the mistake of trying to tell us important information while we were still in the same room as the dolphins. I found this made for a lack of concentration on everyone’s part... why listen to the lecture when there’s a dolphin swimming right over there? I do remember that they showed us three things they feed the dolphins - herring, squid and something else (as I said... distracting dolphins!). So Karen asked everyone what they would prefer to eat if they were a dolphin, and one by one, every single person each answered herring. Until she got to me - I’m sorry, I just can’t be the same as everyone else. Surely you’ve noticed this trip report is a little odd. So I answered squid. In case you were wondering, the dolphins do prefer herring, which gives them protein. Squid, on the other hand, provides the water they need. Karen also illustrated some of their training techniques and needed a volunteer, so Megan got to “be” a dolphin. She was very convincing as a marine mammal - I think she missed her true calling. And then they took us to the locker room to change into wetsuits.

I don’t know if you’ve ever worn a wetsuit before. I hadn’t. I can honestly say that there is not a single item of clothing in my closet less flattering than that wetsuit. And then they made us walk a long way backstage in them (the whole time I crossed my fingers that we wouldn’t pass any hot guys). And the booties weren’t any better. They were sort of the opposite of high heels - the toes were taller than the heel. I found that very difficult to walk in. Thankfully, once you’re near the dolphins, you forget completely about your wardrobe. Priorities.

And then we were introduced to the dolphins, Rainier and Kyper (and their trainers, Dave and Kim). They split our 8 person group into several smaller groups so that we could have more individual dolphin interaction, plus I think it’s a little less overwhelming for the dolphins. Rainier was a pro, since he’s been at the Seas for a while now, but Kyper was relatively new. So we were asked not to give Kyper commands, but instead to encourage him to come close to us. Kim told us that it was very important that he be used to coming close to strangers since they have a very large veterinary staff that they share with Animal Kingdom, and therefore Kyper might need to be medically treated by someone he considered a stranger. So our job was to stand still until Kyper came as close to us as Kim wanted, and then we could give him a rubdown. And boy! did he love that rubdown. Megan was closer to his tail, while I was near his head. And once we started the rubdown, Kyper decided that he was just going to relax - meaning he decided to rest the entire weight of his head on my leg! And he’s not a featherweight, let me tell you. But it was just amazing.

Our interaction with Kyper complete, it was now time to meet Rainier. His trainer, Dave, showed us several commands to have Rainier perform behaviors. After showing us one particular hand signal, Dave asked us to signal Rainier - and then ducked. Unfortunately for him, Rainier chose to ignore us at that moment. So when Dave said try again, Megan and I gave him a Look, knowing full well what that signal must mean. But we did it anyway, and promptly got soaked as Rainier splashed us heartily - all in good fun.

Wow, look how long today’s report is, and I’m only up to 12:00 p.m. Well, what the report lacks in humor, it makes up in loquaciousness. We’ll just have to split day 2 into two parts... in which case, I really should leave you on a cliffhanger. Unfortunately, I’m not at a very suspenseful moment, am I? Well, let's see what I can do about that.

Will we be able to tear ourselves away from our new dolphin friends? Will we be able to wash all the saltwater from our hair? Will those uberconstricting wetsuits actually peel off, or will we need to find some lard and grease ourselves up? Stay tuned...

 

[camillatin]

Of course, as part of the Dolphins in Depth tour, you get your picture taken with a dolphin - in our case, Rainier. This was an incredible feeling - when you’re cradling this dolphin in your arms, you can feel that he is just pure muscle, and I was overwhelmed by his potential power. But his good nature meant that, although he was still a wild animal and must be respected as such, he was gracious as he posed for a picture, and he truly seemed to enjoy the human interaction.

I share a happy moment with Rainier.

Oh, I forgot to mention one other thing about wardrobe. Just a note to any individuals with long-ish hair who may be thinking about taking the tour. You will be required to pull your hair back, and they will provide you with the hairband to do so. They use safe hairbands so that, in case it were to fall out, it would not be harmful to the dolphin if he swallowed it. Just an FYI.

At the end of the tour (after we had changed out of the wetsuits - good riddance! - and no lard required thankfully) we were given our photos, a souvenir t-shirt, a Conservation Fund button, and a survey for suggestions to help improve the experience. They gave the bag containing the goodies to Megan, and she immediately pulled out the photos to see how they had turned out. She opened the first one and handed it to me, stating, “That one’s yours.” She then eagerly pulled out the second one, flipped it open, and gave the quote of the day: “Oh my picture’s good!!!” I (jokingly) replied, “Gee, thanks.” Diane and Karen cracked up because that was how they interpreted it, too. It really came out as if she was saying that my picture was her picture’s ugly stepsister. She (probably) didn’t mean it, but it came out that way. So I didn’t let her live that down the rest of the trip. Whenever we got a bit tired of each other (as friends are prone to do during 10 days of togetherness), I would just say, “My picture’s good!”, and we’d crack up.

At the conclusion of our tour, they walked us back to the front gate - because admission is not required, that’s where they had to leave us. Since Megan and I wanted to go back to BWV to change, that meant that we walked the entire length of Epcot - that would be twice in less than 4 hours, for those of you keeping track. This is one of the many days that contributed to my weight loss while still on the dining plan.

I should just summarize our Dolphins in Depth experience here for anyone considering it: Do it!!! It was lots of fun, the dolphins were amazing, the people running the tour were so kind and knowledgeable, and we’ll never forget it. It runs Monday-Friday at 9:45 a.m., and at the time we took it, it cost $150 per person. The cost may have gone up since then, but there are discounts available, including 15% off for AP holders.

My personal infomercial complete, next up was lunch at the Rose & Crown. For appetizers, Megan had the salad (nothing special, she said) while I had the fruit and cheese plate (pretty good, although there was one cheese I didn’t particularly care for. But it was fun to sample). As an entree, Megan had the beef stew, which she enjoyed quite a bit. I had the chicken pasty, which was just okay, although quite large and filling - it could have easily made two meals instead of one. For dessert, Megan had the warm apple crumble, which she wasn’t overly impressed with, while I had the Bailey’s Irish Coffee Trifle, which was truly the best dessert I had anywhere the entire trip. I’m not kidding - I would go to the Rose & Crown just for that dessert! And then I was pleasantly surprised when our waitress started singing happy birthday to me and brought me a card signed by the entire staff (which was incredibly sweet). She also brought a special birthday dessert. It was a strawberry shortcake, which Megan ate since she didn’t particularly like her dessert, and a dark chocolate decoration that said Happy Birthday, which I ate since I’m all about the dark chocolate. In case you may be looking for a place to celebrate your birthday, we would heartily recommend Rose & Crown. The birthday card was sweet, the atmosphere was fun, and the strawberry shortcake was declared by our expert, Megan, to be absolutely delicious. As far as the restaurant overall, it was good but not spectacular. A step below last night’s Le Cellier.

At the Rose & Crown, they also gave me a birthday crown... which I promptly took off. I’m not a crown person. So Megan wore it instead. As we were on our way back to the room with more leftovers, we ran into Chip and Dale at the International Gateway. This was the first of many characters we saw there, and frankly they never seemed busy. I don’t think anyone looks for them there. Anyway, Megan got her picture taken with the chipmunks (her favorites) and they had a good time with her. Chip especially was trying to kiss her and he didn’t want to let her go. He also took her birthday crown and wore it for the picture. Dale, on the other hand, tried to steal the leftovers from me as I was trying to take the picture. They were absolutely darling and so very much in character. Unfortunately, this wonderfully cute picture of Megan and Chip is on the dead memory stick. She will never forgive Sandisk for this, let me tell you.

After dropping off the leftovers, we headed over to MGM. It was nearly 4 p.m. by this point, so we expected the wait times at the big rides to be atrocious, but when we consulted the big board, it said 5 minutes for Tower of Terror. So we went there, and rode it several times (it’s one of Megan’s favorites). We also caught the Voyage of the Little Mermaid, did some shopping (Megan’s idea, not mine), and Muppetvision (my favorite). Then Megan wanted to get dinner, but she wanted to eat at the Flatbread Grill... which apparently had closed 10 minutes earlier. Here we learned an important lesson - the times guide lists not only the showtimes, but also the operating hours for restaurants. We had presumed that all restaurants were open until park closing time, but we were wrong. Oh well, now we knew for next time.

So we headed to the food stands down near Fantasmic, got a quick dinner, and headed into the Fantasmic theatre. It was a little crowded by this point, but we actually found really nice seats in the middle down in the front. Excellent seats, except we discovered that the wind was blowing the mist from the water screens (for the projections) right onto us! I had to protect the camera from getting wet, but I still managed to take some excellent pictures. Well, I’m going to say they’re excellent because they’re on the dead memory stick, so it’s not as if you could prove otherwise.

After Fantasmic, we headed back to the hotel. Megan wasn’t tired and decided to go to Jellyrolls. I stayed in and watched Illuminations from the balcony (I’m a bit of a homebody, even at Disney) - there’s just something about the fireworks in pajamas phenomenon that I just can’t get enough of. Megan came home and said that I would have loved the guy at Jellyrolls - apparently he sang Rainbow Connection in an excellent Kermit voice. We also apparently received an invitation to join some guys on a double date, which Megan turned down. She was, however, happier now that she had been hit on. She had very recently gone through a hard break-up - one of those times when you fall too hard, too fast for a guy that, as it turned out, didn’t feel the same. So she was going through the “no one will ever find me attractive again” phase - I see some nodding heads through the computer screen, you know what I’m talking about. Anyway, my thanks to those guys, whoever they are, that dispelled that crazy notion from her head. And on that happy note, it was time for sleep - we had an entire Magic Kingdom to conquer the next day!

 

[Nynaeve]

Great trip report so far!!
I feel your pain, I've lost some pictures when our computer kept crashing. So I know how it is when you miss all the great pics you took.
But, I still want to see and read more! Keep it coming!!

 

[camillatin]

Hey, Nynaeve, thanks for reading! I was beginning to think that I was just talking to myself, so it’s nice to know someone’s reading! And I appreciate the commiseration on the lost pictures. I spent weeks trying to recover them - I really wanted to see them, but alas, it was not to be. Fortunately, I didn’t lose the entire trip. Anyway, thanks for the encouragement

Day 3, Part 1 - Friday, October 27th, 2006
So the day started when I awoke at 4:45 a.m. It wasn’t planned, I just had this dream that was so fantastic that it woke me up, and I couldn’t get back to sleep. So I had about 5 hours of sleep, and that’s when I really get fun. More bad puns, more goofy yet mindless grins, and more random laughter for reasons known only to the running dialogue in my head. Fortunately, Megan found this to be entertaining and not annoying, or it could have been a very long day for her indeed.

For breakfast, we indulged in some leftovers. For me, this was the steak from Le Cellier. Now, in a DVC studio, you have a fridge, microwave, mugs, paper plates, and plastic silverware. So it was a very convenient room for leftovers. However, I had some slight concerns about my ability to cut my steak after it was reheated in a microwave using only a plastic knife. As it turned out, these fears were completely unfounded. The steak still cut like butter. This has become my new standard for a good steak. If I can refrigerate it, reheat it in a microwave, and still cut it easily with a plastic knife, well, that’s a steakhouse to which I will return.

Since I’m already talking it up, I should mention how much we loved our DVC experience. It’s a little different than the normal resort experience, but we found these differences to be negligible or even preferred. For example, when staying on DVC points, you don’t receive Housekeeping every day unless you pay extra. Instead, for our 10 day stay, Housekeeping would come twice, once for a full cleaning, and once to empty the trash and replace supplies. Initially I wasn’t sure if this would be enough, but it turned out to be just right. In fact, the service the entire time was excellent - the room was clean and ready when we arrived, it was cleaned well on the appropriate days, and the staff was always very friendly, saying “Welcome home!” with a smile. The only issue we had was that we often had leftovers in our room, and later in the week we ran out of plastic silverware.

We tried to rewash the silverware when possible (did I mention we had a nice large kitchen-type sink with dishwashing soap provided), but sometimes plastic silverware breaks (although not on that steak!). So we were running low, and we made a mental note that the next time we saw the housekeeping staff, we’d ask them for some more silverware. As we were leaving our room one day, one of the housekeepers was coming down the hallway with her large cart of supplies. She saw me exiting the room and stopped to let me pass. Unfortunately, she didn’t see that Megan was behind me, and pretty much nearly ran her down. As Megan dove out of the way (unharmed), the housekeeper stopped, horrified, and apologized until she ran out of ways to say sorry in English and switched to her native language. After we laughed and told her it was fine, no big deal, everything was okay, she asked if there was anything we needed for our room. So Megan said, “Well actually we could use some more silverware.” So the housekeeper handed Megan a big, I mean HUGE, stack of silverware. “Anything else?”, she asks, “Soap? Shampoo? Anything?” So Megan said, “Well maybe one more bar of soap.” Megan was handed several bars of soap, shampoo, towels - you name it, she was given it. Apparently the secret is to let yourself nearly be run down by a housekeeping cart. Later in the week, I could have used another trash bag, but we appeared to be out. I told Megan I was going to push her out into the hallway the next time I saw a housekeeping cart - these are the sacrifices I was willing to make!

But back to Friday. So Friday was our first Magic Kingdom day. This was exciting - especially to Megan. Whereas I am an Epcot girl, she’s a classic Magic Kingdom fan. So at opening, she took us straight to Fantasyland. First up, The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh. Somewhere in the heffalump and woozle section, Megan realized that she had never seen the whole movie, because she didn’t know about the heffalumps and woozles. This, clearly, was an egregious oversight, and if our room had a VCR, we would have corrected the problem immediately. I tried to explain the best I could, but how exactly DO you explain a heffalump or a woozle? Best reference I had was that some elephants and weasels started snorting the same thing the turtle was snorting. As did the animators responsible.

So after Pooh (and our exploration of the gift shop - Megan is the quintessential guest for whom the gift shop at the end of the ride was designed, since she just can’t resist it), we headed to Philharmagic. I know, we weren’t being good Tour Guide Mike subscribers. But frankly, the MK was pretty empty, so I wasn’t worried about it - plus I love Philharmagic, so I wasn’t complaining. If only they could bottle that scent they put out for the pies during the “Be Our Guest” number - wouldn’t that make a fabulous room air freshener? Next we hit Snow White, Peter Pan’s Flight, and It’s a Small World in quick succession. So far our longest wait time was about 3 minutes at Peter Pan. It was a good day at the Magic Kingdom. Then Megan wanted to ride Dumbo and the carousel. I’m not big on things that only go around in a circle... I feel so trapped in an infinite cycle, destined to only reach an end that is inevitably the same as where I began. Just kidding - I get bored.

So we decided to split up - Megan would do Dumbo and Cinderella’s Carousel, while I headed over to the Haunted Mansion. The Mansion was a walk-on. I should mention, this was the first time I had ever ridden a ride alone (odd way to start, huh?), and when I got to the part where our host says, “I will pull the safety bar down for you”, the CM standing there leaned into me and said, “No one ever rides the Haunted Mansion alone. You’ll have company later.” Loved that! After I finished, I walked back to Dumbo, just in time to get a picture of Megan on the ride. So her wait couldn’t have been too long - how long does the Haunted Mansion take? 10, 15 minutes total? So it was a fantastic day at the Magic Kingdom, crowd-wise. Next Megan walked on to the carousel, so I took a picture or two of her on that, too. But the best part of those pictures was the little girl (about 6 years old or so) in front of Megan. She totally was into the whole princess thing (dress, tiara, and all), and she was giving the royal wave every time she saw I had my camera raised, even though she clearly had no idea who I was or why I was taking a picture of her. If ever a child deserved the title “Diva”, it was that girl. She was fantastic. Use your imagination here for the picture (the good news is that the stick dies this evening, so I will finally have pictures after that point!).

So by this time, we had completed all of Fantasyland (minus the teacups), and we decided it was a good time for an early lunch. We hit Pinocchio’s Village Haus, where I discovered just how much food came with a counter service lunch (amazingly enough, we hadn’t used a counter service credit before)... pizza, salad, milkshake (that counts as the dessert in the counter service credit, by the way), and a bottled water... way too much. So I gave Megan half of my pizza, and I didn’t finish the salad (come on, I gotta finish the milkshake!). I know, if Disney didn’t give you that much food, people would complain they went hungry. But still... wow.

Then it was off to the big mountains. We got a fastpass for Big Thunder and rode Splash Mountain. Splash was a walk-on - they couldn’t get enough people to fill the boats. It wasn’t cold, but it wasn’t really hot yet, either, so there weren’t too many brave volunteers. We were in the third row, and we got hit right off the bat by an incoming boat - you know where I’m talking about, at the bottom of the big hill, before you even go inside the mountain. So yeah, we were pretty wet for the entire ride - which gets really cold when you get deep inside the mountain! But on the big hill, we got very little splash (in contrast to the first two rows, who got soaked - again).

Next we hit Pirates of the Caribbean. This was our first time seeing the new Johnny Depp animatronics, which are absolutely fantastic. I especially loved the first one. We were in the back of the boat, so I turned around after we had passed him, and they have him programmed to turn and look at your boat just after you’ve passed so it looks like he’s watching you leave - good stuff! Then it was time for the Jungle Cruise. We had a very interesting guide... he was very deadpan, which I didn’t mind at all - in fact, I found him quite funny, but he also gave off the impression he didn’t want to be there. I couldn’t tell if that was part of the act or what. But by the end of the ride, there was a bit of a backup, so we had to sit in the boat a few minutes before we could unload. And while you could hear the guides in all the other boats entertaining their audience, our guide just remained silent, allowing us to listen to the other guides... who were funny, don’t get me wrong, it was just odd.

And as we were in line for the Jungle Cruise (before the ride - it was about a 10 or 15 minute wait), the mother in line behind us asked, “Pardon me, but what did you ride to get wet?” And I replied, “Splash Mountain.” And the mom turned to her daughter and said, “Oh, you would like that one.” So I said, “Yeah, if you’re in the back two rows like we were, you only get mildly wet. The front two rows get soaked.” And the mother replied, “That’s what you call mildly wet?... [turns to daughter] Yeah, we’re not going on that then.” So I think I gave a glimmer of hope to a child, only to snatch it away again 10 seconds later as I opened my big mouth. Sorry, kid.

Coming up: Requiem for a Memory Stick (aka we finish the Magic Kingdom and head to Boma)

 

[lizzyd]

Great trip report. I am looking forward to hearing more.

 

[roberrl187]

Great report.

 

[camillatin]

I hope everyone had a fun (and safe) Memorial Day weekend! Thanks to lizzyd and roberrl187 for reading

Day 3, Part 2 - Friday, October 27, 2006

So after the Jungle Cruise, we stopped by the Enchanted Tiki Room, used our FastPasses on Big Thunder, and then we made the decision to hit Tomorrowland instead of the parade. Upon arrival there, we discovered that we needed a FastPass for Space Mountain (well, the sign said that the standby wait was 40 minutes, but I suspect that was an overestimation. The standby line looked much shorter than that when we used our FastPasses). So we grabbed the FPs and hit Buzz Lightyear (which had a less than 5 minute wait). There I discovered that Megan was just as bad as I was at this ride. She couldn’t steer and shoot at the same time, so I became the designated driver. We then went a second time, after which she decided that we were not going to ride in the same car anymore - apparently I turned the car every time she had the perfect shot lined up. Hey, it’s the only way I can win - I certainly won’t win on skill. And I loved the picture of Megan on this ride - she’s so serious, Zurg should be cowering from her intensity. Given that both of us scored less than 10,000, he really didn’t have anything to fear. But if looks could kill, well, High Score Megan!

After a trip on the Tomorrowland Transit Authority and a spin on the Carousel of Progress (Megan didn’t want to sing along with me, how can you not? Everybody now, "It's a Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow, shining at the end of every day"), it was time to use our FastPass on Space Mountain. After yet another trip on Buzz Lightyear (it was a 5 minute or less wait the entire trip, so we tried often to improve our scores. Sadly, we were apparently beyond help), we decided to call it a day and head over to the Animal Kingdom Lodge, where we had reservations for dinner at Boma. We had some time before dinner, so we explored the hotel. I had stayed there before, but Megan had not, and she wandered around the lobby, looking upward with awe. I love watching someone else who sees something at Disney for the first time. It’s always so magical.

After taking a few pictures of the lobby, we headed to the overlook. As I turned my camera back on to take more pictures, it told me that my memory stick was not formatted correctly. This seemed odd - it was formatted correctly a few minutes ago when it was taking pictures of the lobby. So I turned it off and turned it back on. Not formatted. I took out the memory stick and put it back in. Not formatted. I took out the batteries and put them back in. Not formatted. After much frustration and consternation, I decided to switch to internal memory and deal with the memory stick once we got back to BWV. Unfortunately, the internal memory is only 8 MB, so I only snapped a few shots. But look, pictures!!!

An Ostrich at AKL.

A Reticulated Giraffe (or two) and a Blesbok at AKL.

Dusk at AKL. Makes you want to live there, doesn’t it?

As the final footnote to the memory stick saga, I never got it to work again. Apparently this is a known problem with Sandisk memory sticks in Sony cameras. I found out (after the fact, of course) that I should have reformatted the brand new memory stick using the camera as soon as I bought it, before I started taking any pictures at all. But since it worked just fine when I took some practice pictures at home, I never imagined that it would stop working randomly in the middle of vacation. And I tried lots of memory recovery programs on the stick, but none ever worked. The best I could do was see that I had used 320 MB (over 100 pictures in 2 ½ days), but none of that data was recoverable. Calling the companies didn’t help much, either. Sandisk blamed Sony’s camera, Sony blamed Sandisk’s stick. So lesson learned there. Fortunately, I had brought a backup memory stick (since the Sandisk one was new), and I switched to old reliable when we got back to BWV. The downside was that it was 1/4 the size of the Sandisk stick, but of course the upside was that I knew it worked.

We had dinner at Boma, a first for both Megan and myself. It wasn’t my favorite - I personally found many of the available dishes (it’s a buffet) to be a little spicy for my taste, but Megan enjoyed it a great deal. She especially enjoyed that there were so many foods she had never tried before. If you’re not into spicy food, but would like to try the restaurant anyway, there’s plenty of plain dishes (especially vegetarian entrees) at Boma, so don’t despair. They also gave me a very sweet birthday card where all the staff signed Happy Birthday in their respective African languages, which was pretty cool.

After dinner, we went out to the Uzima overlook near the pool (we hadn’t been out there yet before dinner). Here they will give you night goggles so you can see the animals’ activity in the dark, and we saw lots of animals (and the night vision is pretty cool, too). We also made a, um, friend... There were two guides there to help guests find and identify animals, and to answer any questions we might have. One of them started talking to us quite a bit, and he was very informative. But then he started asking questions of us, including our phone number. I told him (quite honestly) that I had no idea what our phone number was at the hotel. It seemed like a nice way to let him down easily. But he persisted, to the point where he actually told the guide who came out to relieve him (apparently it was the end of his shift) that he’d like to stay for a while with us. Unfortunately for him, Megan was interested in the other guide, not him. So he went home empty-handed (and having worked an extra half hour for nothing).

By the time we caught the bus from AKL to Epcot to walk back to our hotel, I had been up for nearly 16 hours already and was getting tired. But Megan discovered it was EMH night at Epcot and really wanted to stay. So we did. After getting our wristbands (it’s much faster if you bypass the line near Spaceship Earth, where all the newly incoming guests gravitate, and instead go near Innoventions), we made a quick tour through the Seas and then headed to Soarin’. The standby line was a little lengthy, and the FastPasses weren’t turned back on yet (it was just a few minutes shy of 9), so we hit Living with the Land. We hadn’t been on the automated version yet, so we tried it. It’s not bad, but I miss a live guide.

Now a few minutes past 9, we returned to Soarin’ only to discover that the FPs still were not on. Best we could tell, they never turned them on for EMH. So we got in the standby queue, which I believe was listed as 25 minutes. And it was actually less than that, until we were at the last part where you stand on the arrows and watch the pre-show video (reminding you to stow your Mickey ears )... and the ride broke. Since we were literally the next group to board, we decided to wait it out.

In line behind us were two newlyweds, and the bride was convinced that she was cursed. Apparently many, many things had broken down while she was riding. It was funny at first because I thought she was being jovial, but then I realized she was serious. She seriously believed she was cursed and was causing the rides to break down... she was a little scary at that point. The wait was a little longer than I hoped (probably about 15 minutes or so), but it’s one of those situations where you don’t want to leave the line because you’re sure that as soon as you do, it will be fixed and you missed your chance. So we waited it out. Fortunately, I love this ride, so as soon as I’m actually gliding amongst the rivers, mountains, and orange groves, I forget all about the wait.

After Soarin’, Megan decided she was done. I protested - I hadn’t gotten that wristband for only one ride! But that’s where I was mistaken. I had. So back to the room we walked, and I think I finally fell asleep after midnight, because nothing says vacation like 20 hour days!

Coming up: We escape the Yeti, but not the Potato Heads!

 

[camillatin]

We were a little slow in getting moving Saturday morning, so we arrived at the Animal Kingdom about an hour after opening. We headed straight to Expedition Everest, since neither of us had ever been on it. And (drumroll, please)... it was broken. So we got a fastpass. I think our return time was about 11:40, which didn’t seem bad at all, given the circumstances... for some reason a lot - A LOT - of people were in the standby line instead of FastPassing. I thought a FastPass return time of about 90 minutes later was a no-brainer. Next we headed to Kilimanjaro Safari, but on our way there we encountered Baloo and King Louie. Megan wanted to have her picture taken with them, which was quite a fun experience. Baloo was trying to play keepaway with Megan as the prize, and after fighting back for a minute or two, Louie made a gesture as if the effort wasn’t worth it and walked off. It was hilarious.

Baloo tries to take Megan away, while Louie begs her to stay with him.

After sharing a few laughs with Baloo and Louie (and their handler, who must be entertained all day long), we made it to the Safari. As we approached the loading area at the end of the queue, we were pulled out of line to join a handicapped bus. Apparently they had several wheelchair families, but not enough to fill the entire bus, so they pulled a couple of us from the main line. We had a great driver... I forget his name, but he was hilarious and informative. He said he used to work the Jungle Cruise, and it showed. He had a bad joke for every occasion. Due to the location of the handicapped loading area, we actually got a bit of a backstage tour and he had a lot of extra time to fill, so his humor was much appreciated. And he struck a nice balance between the scripted storyline and animal information. But here comes the best part - I have pictures!

A mother and baby African Elephant

Grant’s Zebras

Scimitar Horned Oryx

Okay, so maybe I gave the pictures a little more buildup than they deserved. But don’t worry, what they lack in quality, they make up for in quantity. Next up was the Pangani Forest Exploration Trail. Here I took the infamous meerkat pictures. I took two pictures of the meerkat, and as it happened, the only difference between the two pictures is that in one, he’s looking left, and in the other he’s looking right. Megan discovered this one night while flipping through the pictures on the camera, and just sat flipping between the two pictures laughing, for at least 10 minutes. It is kind of fun...

Meerkat looking left...

and Meerkat looking right (now imagine the endless hours of fun if you could just flip back and forth )

Next we had lunch at Tusker House. This is one of my favorite counter service restaurants in all of WDW. I had the salmon (with rice and vegetables), while Megan had the 1/4 chicken. Both were excellent and highly recommended. For dessert, I had the chocolate cake, which was not very good, while she had the carrot cake (as recommended by our cashier). The carrot cake, I’m told, was excellent as well, but you can skip the chocolate cake (and I like chocolate, so that’s saying a lot).

Now full and happy, it was time for our fastpasses for Everest. Wow, that one’s a fun ride. Really exhilarating. Unfortunately, somehow Megan and I both managed to miss the animatronic Yeti on this ride - we saw the big, projected shadow of the Yeti, but totally missed the animatronic one. Because I knew it should be there - they had only shown it in every single commercial for the ride, plus it was well covered on Stacy’s top 7 (million) things to do at WDW - this gave us an excuse to ride it again. Since the standby line was 45 minutes and the FastPasses were for at least 4 hours later, we decided that tomorrow seemed okay. The beauty of a long trip.

Next we took the train to the Conservation Station. I actually had never been there before, but Megan loves Tamarins (which can be found at the Station, or more accurately on the path to the Station), so off we went. Pocahontas and Rafiki were there posing for pictures. So I took Megan’s picture with Rafiki. It was actually quite sad - Rafiki had no shortage of guests wanting a picture, while Pocahontas just stood there alone. I almost felt sorry for her and went to get a picture taken, but I hate having my picture taken, so instead I waved and smiled. I don’t think she felt any better, but I tried. I also got a nice action shot of a turtle... no kidding! They were teaching her to recycle (she pushed the aluminum can until it fell into the recycling bin), and I loved the idea of a turtle action shot. I don’t think I actually believed that a turtle could go fast enough to be blurry in the photo, but sure enough, she did! Sorry, it just makes me laugh.

Megan and Rafiki, doing a little song and dance.

Turtle action shot!

After returning on the train, we saw Flights of Wonder. In preparing this report, I’ve discovered that I took some nice pics of the birds while they were posing, and some not-so-nice blurry action shots. You win some, you lose some. Here’s the less blurry ones (did I mention that, as much as I love taking pictures, I actually have no idea what I’m doing?)

Owl

Bald Eagle

Blue & Gold Macaw and a Hawk (at least, I think it’s a hawk... if anybody knows what species, please help me out!)

After the show we did the Maharajah Jungle Trek, where I discovered that the animals did not seem to be as active as when we were here in December. It was the middle of the afternoon by now, and I think it may have been a little hot for them. But that also meant that they were holding still for photo opportunities.

Komodo Dragon

Tiger

Eld’s Deer

That particular day, it wasn’t too hot for Florida, but it was warm enough that we rode Kali River Rapids. I had never ridden this, as I usually came in December or similarly cool times of the year. It was okay, but I personally prefer Roman Rapids at our local Busch Gardens, which is also a raft ride - Kali was just a little too long without getting wet (I know, they’re trying to teach me a message about the environment, but I just wanted to get wet!). We didn’t get very wet here at all - the really wet part hit the guy with the poncho (he seemed to sense he was doomed from the start).

Next was Dinosaur, which quickly became Megan’s new favorite ride (she had never ridden this before). So we rode it many, many times in a row. The funny part was, well, two parts actually - 1) Megan was scared stiff, yet she loved it. The first ride picture, she was ducked down so far in the seat that you could hardly see her. Accounting for this, I attempted to put bunny ears on her for the ride photo the second time we rode, but unfortunately she moved to the side that time instead of ducking (although she never even noticed the bunny ears - she was too busy sizing up the Carnotaurus). The result was that I appeared to be giving the “peace out” sign to the camera, mellow hippie that I am Well, at least I look relaxed when a large, carnivorous dinosaur is coming toward me. 2) After our fourth or fifth ride, Megan and I got into an argument over which species of dinosaurs were included in the ride. I knew which species were included, because they announce the species of each one as you see it on the ride, and by this point I practically had it memorized. And somehow I still lost the argument...

As we exited Dinosaur, Megan browsed the gift shop. It had one of those build a Mr. Potato Head displays, and we were approached by a CM who asked if we would like to build Mr. Potato Heads to put on display for the day - of course we would! So we built our Mr. Potato Heads and were awarded a Year of a Million Dreams certificate for building the “spud of the day”. Not a free DVC membership for life, but a fun prize nonetheless. Note the style of my spud - He’s a KISS wannabe, with a rockin’ guitar and tongue to match, yet he can’t resist a Mickey ice cream bar. My dream guy in a Potato Head

That’s my Mr. Potato Head on the left (Megan’s is on the right).

Next we hit Primeval Whirl, where we rode with a little girl and her Mom. The little girl, about halfway through the ride, started screaming “I’m gonna be sick”, so Megan and I spent the ride jostling to stay out of the way of any potential sickness that may come from her direction. After we got off the ride, Megan discovered she had lost her sunglasses somewhere today and also that she didn’t really feel well after Primeval Whirl either. So we went to sit down to wait for the parade and recover from Primeval Whirl. The parade was cute, but personally I’d rank it 3rd of the 3 day parades (with Magic Kingdom first and Disney-MGM Studios second). And now, more photos (I’m making up for lost time here)!

Megan’s old friends, King Louie and Baloo

Rafiki

Chip and Dale

Minnie Mouse

Brer Rabbit and Goofy

Terk gets up close and personal

Donald Duck

We made our exit right after the parade, as I shall now demonstrate. Exit - Stage Left!

 

[camillatin]

So when I last left you, we had just viewed the parade at Animal Kingdom and were heading to MGM. So one bus ride later, we headed to Tower of Terror - Megan’s second favorite ride... are you noticing a pattern? Apparently her idea of fun is to be scared. Because she’s legitimately scared on both this and Dinosaur... but she loves it. Anyway, we hit that a couple of times (no waiting!), and headed to Muppetvision 3D, because it makes me happy, that’s why. After that, Megan decided she was going to shop for a book (she’d nearly finished the one she’d brought for the trip) and then head back to the hotel. She wasn’t feeling well (the long-lasting effects of Primeval Whirl, I think). I, on the other hand, decided to head to my favorite park, Epcot - and I decided to walk there, because I was determined not to let the Dining Plan ruin my diet! On the way, I took this picture, which I love.

The Tower of Terror (as seen from the walkway to the Boardwalk).

Alone in Epcot, I did a quick tour of some of my favorite things - dinner at Sunshine Seasons in the land (grilled salmon - excellent!), the Seas, Figment, and Mission Space - before arriving in World Showcase for Illuminations. I was pleasantly surprised to find a nice spot for viewing the fireworks, despite the fact that I only arrived about 10 minutes prior to 9. And Illuminations was wonderful, as always. And I took some pictures (surprise, surprise):

After Illuminations, I returned to the room to find that Megan was feeling a bit better. She went to bed early that night, got a good night’s sleep, we didn’t set an alarm for the next morning, and she suffered no long-term effects. In fact, I think her recovery went too well, because she actually wanted to go on Primeval Whirl again the next day...

 

[camillatin]

Sunday morning brought the end of daylight savings time, so for once, I was not awakened by the Boardwalk music. This also meant that, despite the fact that we did not set an alarm, we actually made it to a park opening on time... ish. We technically were 5 minutes late, but that was not our fault... the bus didn’t come for a very long time. By the end of the trip, they had someone from transportation actually standing at the Boardwalk bus stop with a clipboard and a walkie-talkie to straighten out some of these issues. I don’t mind the bus waits, but in this particular case it was clear there were issues. Three Magic Kingdom buses would come within 5 minutes (no exaggeration), and then none would come for 30 minutes (we observed all of this while we waited for the Animal Kingdom bus - also a bad sign). So hopefully they were working to resolve that.

Anyway, we headed a little opposite everyone else today, as we headed straight for Dinosaur. Megan was making progress, by the way, in that she looked a little less terrified in every ride picture. But still wary, very wary of the large dinosaur. And when discussing the ride, it became apparent that she had totally missed the large Carnotaurus right at the end that comes out at you from above - so I made sure to point it out this time. I don’t think she appreciated that...

I believe we rode it a second time, and then we finally moved on. Megan wanted to go on Primeval Whirl, I did not. I actually didn’t have that much trouble with the ride itself, but I really didn’t want to go on with someone who hadn’t felt well after riding it the day before. Call me crazy, but I don’t enjoy watching people vomit. I told her she could go on it by herself, but she chose not to, as I expected she would if I didn’t go. So the day remained vomit-free (and there was much rejoicing).

We then hit It’s Tough To Be A Bug - can I just tell you how much I love the posters there? They parody famous Broadway musicals - next time you’re waiting to go into the theatre, be sure to walk around and read the posters! We also explored the Tree of Life and surrounding wildlife... as seen below.

After tearing Megan away from the parrots (they’re actually pretty cute in the picture - Disney World brings everyone closer together - even parrots), we headed to Camp Minnie-Mickey. On the way there, Megan had her picture taken with Stitch. She loves Stitch... I didn’t have the heart to tell her I never saw the movie. If he wasn’t so strangely ubiquitous at Disney World, I wouldn’t have any idea who he was. But he enjoyed showing off his strength for Megan.

And then we had a dilemma. The Festival of the Lion King show didn’t start for nearly an hour, but if we saw the Pocahontas show, we’d barely be done in time for the Lion King, and then we might not get in. I was leaning toward Pocahontas followed by Lion King (I’m not picky about where I sit, and with only 2 of us, we can usually find a seat somewhere, even last minute), but then Megan saw that the line for the Lion King was already forming, so we went to that. I, being the Disney guru, took us to the far left door while everyone else crowded to the right since I knew that they all led to the same theatre. This allowed us to be at the front of our line - which didn’t matter, except it meant we could sit down in the shade. This is my only reason for being a Disney guru - my family’s Irish, so I’m pasty pale and I need to know where the shade is.

The Lion King was amazing, as always. We actually were right next to the door where they bring out the floats and dancers, which turned out to be quite fun. The Tumble Monkeys would climb into our bleachers and randomly scare/entertain people while they were waiting to go on. I had never realized that they did that before. It was very funny. And on a side note, Megan, being a primatologist, has this thing about monkeys vs. apes. The easiest way (apparently) to tell the difference is that monkeys have tails, apes do not. She has even taught her four year old nephew that Curious George is an ape, not a monkey. I’m not kidding - she really has a thing about this. So if you ever meet Megan, don’t call them Tumble Monkeys. They’re Tumble Apes. I’m just warning you so you can learn from my mistakes. Trust me - it’s not pretty.

After picking up some FastPasses for Everest, we had an early lunch at Tusker House again (once you eat there, you just don’t need to eat anywhere else). We also saw a boat that I could never quite explain on the way to Everest. It was carrying Mickey, Minnie, etc. and they waved, but they didn’t really get close to shore. I don’t know where the boat went or why it existed. Megan thought they should allow guests on the boat with the characters, but since they didn’t, I was thinking maybe it transported them back and forth to Camp Minnie-Mickey somehow? I have no idea. Personally, I was hoping for a Disney re-enactment of Titanic... but knowing Disney, they’d put a happy ending on it somehow. The iceberg and the ship would realize that they really had an undying love for each other, at which time the iceberg would reveal that he was secretly a prince in disguise, making the ship (gasp) a princess - just the thing she had been dreaming of her entire life! Alright, then the day would no longer have been vomit-free.

With some time to kill before our Everest Fastpasses, we found Devine - well, I found the crowd which signified Devine must be nearby, because crowds never form just to look at horticulture. I then pointed her out to Megan, who seemed less than impressed. So we went shopping. Did you know they have Muppet stuff at the Animal Kingdom? I know, I can’t explain it either - I mean, I know Kermit’s a frog, but is he really Animal Kingdom material? But they had this great, old-school Electric Mayhem shirt, except they didn’t have in my size. So I asked, and they only had two sizes... both too big. So I began a quest for this shirt (and sadly, came home without it - it appears they only carry two sizes anywhere). Megan shopped for sunglasses (since she lost hers the day before), but couldn’t find any “cute” enough. The Disney marketing machine was failing - we weren’t spending enough money! That’s okay, we’d make up for lost time at Downtown Disney later in the week.

Several stores and one Mickey ice cream bar later (that would be Megan’s, I was trying not to spoil dinner), it was time for our FastPasses on Expedition Everest. And we finally saw the animatronic Yeti! The first time I think we were looking for Hidden Mickeys, and somehow we missed the giant, not-so-hidden Yeti. Yeah, we’re weird like that.

After two more spins on Dinosaur (I swear, I could recite the species of each dinosaur right along with the ride at this point), we called it a day at the Animal Kingdom. Our dinner was not for a couple hours yet, but it was at Coral Reef so we planned to go to Epcot. Unfortunately, an Epcot bus was nowhere to be found. After two MGM buses and two TTC buses appeared instead, we finally took that second TTC bus (as we were boarding that, the Epcot bus was of course pulling in the drive). But we turned it into a productive detour - while at the TTC, we stopped at the Lost and Found to try and find Megan’s sunglasses (FYI: anything you lose at the parks goes to the central Lost & Found at the TTC - we didn't know that, so we asked guest services at Animal Kingdom and that's where they directed us).

So we walk in and Megan says, “I lost a pair of sunglasses at Animal Kingdom yesterday.” So the CM says, “No problem. What did they look like?” Megan looks at me with a look of panic, and I (very helpfully) shrug my shoulders, so she turns back to the CM and says, “Uh, round and uh... dark.” And we both put on that helpless-young-female smile and hoped for the best. Fortunately, the CM was very kind and helpful. He brought out a big bin of sunglasses from Animal Kingdom, and sure enough, there they were! So many thanks to whoever turned them in at AK, as well as to the Lost & Found CM. Now happy (and well-shaded), we hopped the monorail to Epcot.

 

[camillatin]

Once at Epcot, we hit Character Connection. It was completely empty. I mean, devoid of guests. So Megan posed with Mickey, Pluto, and Goofy before they had to go on a break. It didn’t take long (5, 10 minutes?), and even after the break, there were still only 2 or 3 other families in the place, so there was lots of individual interaction. Especially with Chip and Dale - Megan’s favorites.

Is it just me, or is Megan in the exact same pose in the last two pictures? I swear, she could be a cardboard cutout. Anyway, with her character interaction quota for the day fulfilled, I dragged Megan to the World Showcase Players show in the UK. She says she hates the live entertainment at Epcot, she only wants to do the rides and meet characters. But she was pleasantly surprised at how funny they were, and said we HAD to catch their show in Italy. Fine by me - I had every intention of dragging her to that, too, whether she wanted to go or not, but it’s even better when you can let her think it was her idea. We then made the mistake of catching the Canada movie... okay, so I kind of like the song (call me cheesy), but the movie does look pretty outdated. Hopefully the rumored new movie will do it justice - the country is definitely beautiful. And then we hit the Seas (yes, I spent a lot of time there - I find it relaxing, plus it only seemed appropriate since we were going to go eat some of their little friends in a few minutes).

So we arrived at the Coral Reef, Megan checked in, and we sat down to wait until our name was called. Within a couple minutes, the seating host walked directly toward us and asked, “Camillatin?” And we replied yes, but I commented to Megan as he took us toward our table that it seemed as if he knew who he was looking for. She said that we were the only party of two in the waiting area, and I accepted that, sortof. We were seated on an upper tier, so we weren’t all that close to the aquarium. But it was still a nice view. The problem was the acoustics. They’re absolutely terrible... I mean you have to shout to each other to be heard. This makes for fun conversation - just make sure you’re not talking about anything you don’t want your neighbors to hear.

Then our waiter came, and he handed a birthday card to Megan. First of all, the card was really just a souvenir menu... seriously, with the prices listed and everything. Compared to the nice birthday cards that everybody signed at the other restaurants, it seemed... really unclassy. I know, it’s free, and I’m not complaining - it just didn’t seem as thoughtful as what the other restaurants did - Coral Reef had the unfortunate timing to follow Boma’s and Rose & Crown, and that may have been its downfall.

Second, the reason the waiter handed the birthday card to Megan was apparently the same reason the seating host had walked straight toward us in the waiting area. Apparently, when they know it’s your birthday, they make a notation for your waiter so he knows who in your party is having the birthday. In this case, Megan checked us in, but the reservation was under my name (and said it was my birthday), so they presumed that she was me. Therefore, on the ticket that prints when they’re ready to seat you, they had added “f ls orange” - a female in a long sleeve orange shirt. Megan to a T. So with that mystery solved, we got to know our waiter a little better than perhaps we wanted to.

He started out by asking about my birthday. He said, “Let me guess, you’re turning 18?” I replied, “No... 25.” And he exclaimed, “Oh my, that’s even better!” I really had no idea how to take that statement, I’ll let you draw your own conclusions. I’m not sure why he thought I looked 18, although in his defense, a waitress did guess that later in the week. I don’t think I look that young...

(Tangential story alert) In college, we were at an Olive Garden on my roommate’s birthday - she was turning 21, I was about 8 months shy of my 21st birthday. The waitress handed the wine list to me and I, in turn, handed it to my roommate. I also explained to the confused woman that I, in fact, was not 21, but that my roommate was turning 21 today. She exclaimed, “You’re kidding! I thought you (meaning me) were her mother!” So even if you figure she underestimated my roommate’s age severely and guessed 14 (that girl did and still does look young), that would put me at least 30 to reasonably be her mother.

But now I’m 18 again. Which is fine, and I’m sure I’ll reach an age when I long to look 18 again. Then when he brought our appetizers, our waiter asked if Megan and I were sisters. I told him, “No, just friends who went to the same college.” He replied, “Oh really? Well, you’re both beautiful. Just beautiful.” He then comes back with drink refills - “Really, I mean it. Just lovely.” I’ll spare you the sheer number of synonyms for beautiful that we received with each course - you get the idea. Sadly, we were on the dining plan, so he was doing all of this for naught - the tip was included. But I think Megan may have left him an extra dollar or two - calling her beautiful is apparently the fastest way to her wallet.

Now for the food section, because I know that’s really why you’re putting up with my storytelling. As an appetizer, I ordered the Seafood and Crab Souffle. But the waiter made a face and said, “It is very fishy...” So I switched to the Caesar Salad. I probably should have just tried it anyway - I don’t mind fishy, that’s why I was eating in a seafood restaurant, but I chickened out from the face he made. And Megan had the Lobster soup. My salad was nothing special at all, but Megan did enjoy her soup, so we’d recommend that. For entrees, I had the Shrimp Pasta, which I didn’t particularly like. It had a very Asian feel to it, and I prefer a more Italian-like Shrimp Pasta. Megan had the steak, which apparently paled in comparison to the one she had at Le Cellier (although I suspect the same could be said of most steaks). And for dessert, I had the chocolate wave, while Megan had a cheesecake. The cheesecake was nothing exciting, but the chocolate wave was everything everyone says on these boards. A must-have. They also brought us something extra for my birthday, although for the life of me I can’t remember what it was. Megan ate it, since I was too all-consumed with my chocolate wave.

On a side note, I’m looking at allearsnet, and I’m noticing that the menu has changed a great deal at Coral Reef. The shrimp pasta is now with a different sauce, and the “fishy” souffle is no longer there. So, while we weren’t particularly impressed with the food when we went, I might be willing to give the new menu a try. I would say go once for the atmosphere, especially if you’re on the dining plan. If you’re not on the dining plan, it’s a little expensive for food that isn’t quite as good as most of the other Epcot restaurants, but the aquarium is just amazing. Watching the animals, especially one turtle who likes to nap near the window, is just an amazing dinner backdrop. That is, if you can block out the fact that you’re eating their relatives. I think that may have been why Megan got a steak at a seafood restaurant.

After a quick trip back to the fridge (the leftover chocolate wave must be preserved at all costs!), we took a spin on Test Track. We also rode Maelstrom, and they weren’t even running the movie. They pushed everyone out through the emergency exit after the ride - I loved that they had just thrown in the towel! We then found a nice spot for Illuminations, enjoyed the show, and strolled peacefully back to the Boardwalk. A relaxing ending to a lovely day.

Today’s quote of the day really isn’t about Disney, but I heard it while I was working on my Disney trip report - that counts, right? Of course it does, I make the rules. Anyway, I was watching a show on TLC about a family with 15 kids (all biologically theirs) and a 16th on the way. So the show chronicled what it’s like to have 15 kids, and what it’s like to trying to care for 15 WHILE YOU’RE PREGNANT (I’m exhausted just thinking about it), and all the trials and tribulations that come with that. Apparently the ad department at TLC has a sense of humor, because when it was time for the commercial break, the voiceover announced the quote of the day: “This show is sponsored by Nuva-Ring, the exciting new method of birth control.”

 

[camillatin]

Still benefitting from the end of Daylight Savings Time, we made it to MGM by park opening - which unfortunately meant that we had to stand there for the pre-show about how we’re all in a movie. I’m sorry, it’s just not entertaining. I don’t mind the whole movie-making concept, but can’t they make it more entertaining? Isn’t that what movies are about, entertainment? Yeah, okay, rant over. So we walked (quickly) with the rest of the crowd to Tower of Terror. Which we rode very promptly and, by choosing the left side instead of the right at the fork in the road, we rode with hardly anyone else in our car. Seriously, it was a pick-your-own-row type of deal. Never had that before, but liked it very much. The front row of Tower of Terror is absolutely the best - much like Soarin’, it engulfs you in the ride experience as opposed to the reality when you can see all the people in front of you.

And then since the line was so fast (and Megan loves to be scared), we rode it again. Unfortunately, it was more full this time, so we were in the back row. Incidentally with someone from Roanoke - he pointed this out to us when he saw my William & Mary shirt. I got more comments on that shirt, it was amazing. Apparently it’s a conversation piece. Next up was Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster. I have to say, this ride has the best music while you wait in line (although nothing tops the Muppets plaza area for music - seriously, that’s the only reason I eat at Toy Story Pizza Planet, so I can sit outside and listen to Muppets music). Here, we learned that the guy checking our safety harnesses had worked at Busch Gardens Williamsburg - also mentioned when he saw my shirt. I told you, conversation piece. Having never been on Rock ‘n’ Roller before, I must say that I appreciate the countdown to launch that Steven gives you.

(Tangential story alert - again) We went to Islands of Adventure when I was in high school - it wasn’t scheduled to be opened yet but they finished construction early, so it had a soft opening. This also meant that it was the emptiest I have seen any major theme park in my life - I’m not kidding, you could literally walk around an entire “land” and not see another guest - fantastic! Anyway, we unsuspectingly rode the Incredible Hulk without knowing anything about the ride. So we’re sitting there expecting a nice relaxing ride up a hill, pulled by a chain, when suddenly without warning we are thrown out of the tunnel like a meteorite hurtling through the atmosphere, and we never quite recovered the rest of the day. I think my soul never quite caught up to my body on that one. So I appreciated the countdown here - plus I knew more about the ride before going on it. See, I can be taught.

Anyway, after we arrived safely at the Aerosmith concert, we noticed the characters were out in force at the big hat. So Megan got in line to see Donald - the others she had already seen in the same costumes at Character Connection in Epcot. The interesting part was, I thought that those costumes were supposed to be futuristic especially for Epcot. Apparently I was wrong - they’re the Million Dreams costumes, because Megan noticed they were the same ones that they wear in the Mickey’s Dream show at the castle. Donald doesn’t have a dream, so he doesn’t have a funky costume. By the way, we didn’t figure that out until I think our last day there, but I’m giving you the benefit of hindsight. Nice, isn’t it? I also took a picture (while I had the camera out) of Sorcerer Mickey, and you can notice behind him just how empty the park was. What a lovely sight.

Next we took in a few shows that Megan had never seen before: Lights, Motor, Action and Indiana Jones. Both were entertaining, as always, but I don’t know that either of us felt a need to see them again this trip. We also did the Backlot Tour (it’s just not the same since they stopped filming actual shows there) and the Great Movie Ride (love this one, except for the Gene Kelly mannequin - doesn’t do him justice!) before grabbing lunch at Toy Story Pizza Planet. Here again, a ton of food - salad, pizza, cookie, and drink. But fabulous music at the outdoor seating area (it’s all Muppets, all the time)! Now full and happy, we headed to Sounds Dangerous to complete the trifecta with a quick nap (okay, Megan watched the show, I napped - try it sometime, it’s the best sleep ever. No other room ever goes that dark for the perfect sleep), Star Tours (where I discovered that the underseat compartments don’t actually work - my water bottle came flying out halfway through. I felt something rolling over my foot and made a nice grab to save it), and One Man’s Dream. We had seen so much already, and it was only mid-afternoon, so we decided to head back to the room, refresh, and head over to Epcot (ultimately for dinner).

The Tower of Terror (as seen from the path back to the Boardwalk).

Back at the Boardwalk Villas, I enjoyed the beautiful weather by relaxing on our balcony. While out there, I overheard the sweetest quote of the day: A father was walking through the Village Green (that’s the Boardwalk Inn’s courtyard, for those who haven’t been there) with his son, who appeared to be about 4 or 5 years old. The boy was of that age where they start asking questions about everything, and he clearly had a pressing question for his father on this occasion.

Little boy: “Why are we here?”

Dad: [with a look of concern, as I think for a moment he thought his son was getting existential and asking why are we here on the planet, and no parent is ever prepared for that question] “Why are we here, at Disney World?”

Boy: “Yes.”

Dad: “Well, we’re here because you like Disney World.”

Boy: “I do?”

Dad: “Yes, you do.”

Boy: [with the biggest grin you’ve ever seen] “Okay.”

And he took his dad’s hand and walked off to enjoy the place he apparently liked.

Now refreshed, we headed to Epcot, where we promptly hit Maelstrom again (Megan loves that one, although I’m not sure that it’s really as scary as her other favorites, Tower of Terror and Dinosaur. Maybe she’s really scared of trolls...). We also hit Test Track, and then Megan wanted to shop, so I suggested we split up for a while. I headed off to the Seas, Figment, and Ellen’s Energy Adventure. Energy was actually so empty that all the crowd filed into 1 single car (there's 6 cars available), except for myself and one other party. It was so empty that I was able to take a picture (without flash, of course).

Apparently the dinosaurs mistook the guests for plants and ate everyone...

That’s a dolphin at the bottom of the picture, in case you can’t tell... Mad photography skills, I know.

And then I met Megan in France, because it was time for dinner at Les Chefs de France. We had a delightfully bubbly waitress. She was just a giant walking smile, very sweet. For appetizers, I had a salad (it was normal - what can you say about a salad?), while Megan had the French Onion Soup and would highly (HIGHLY!) recommend that. For an entree, I had the Gratin de macaroni (not as good as I hoped, sadly), while Megan had the ½ chicken. She really liked the mashed potatoes (I don’t ask, I just repeat the report). And for dessert, I had the creme brulee (which was good), while Megan had the apple tart (which she said was fine). They also brought an extra dessert which was a cupcake with a candle. Ooooooh, fire. And the entire wait staff came to sing Happy Birthday to me in French! When they came to sing, the waitress asked whose birthday it was, and Megan and I both pointed to me. As the waitress handed me a birthday card, I noticed she had two of them in her hand. The waitress saw me looking at it and sheepishly said, “I brought two. I thought you might be twins.” Of course, she thought I was 18 as well, so I was a little concerned about her eyesight.

So then after dinner we went on El Rio del Tiempo and Maelstrom (again!) and then found a nice spot for Illuminations. Incidentally, I’ve neglected to mention the Eat to the Beat concerts. We never actually went to one, but we frequently could hear the concert while we were at Epcot... that’s quite a sound system they’ve got there. So a few nights prior, I heard Gloria Gaynor do “I Will Survive”, and it was clearly a crowd favorite. Women especially were stopping in their tracks in the middle of World Showcase to dance, and Gloria could still belt it out. This night, we heard the SOS Band, but they never did a tune that I recognized as their signature hit. I’m still not sure what their signature hit was.

So as we were exiting through the International Gateway that evening, I was explaining the NCAA’s ruling on William & Mary’s logo to Megan. If you’re unfamiliar with the situation, basically W&M teams are known as “The Tribe”, and our logo is a “W&M” with two feathers at the top. The NCAA felt that this was offensive to Native Americans, despite the fact that W&M had obtained the blessing of the local Native American tribes, so they ruled that the feathers had to be removed from all official school items, but the “Tribe” name could stay. Don’t ask, no one understands the NCAA.

Anyway, Megan doesn’t follow sports at all and was unaware of the whole controversy, but as an alumna I felt she needed to know so she could go buy all the merchandise with feathers on it while she still could - after all, they’ll be collector’s pieces soon. After I had finished explaining the situation, she asked, “So what is W&M going to do?” And the guy in front of us turned around and said, grinning, “Continue to be beaten mercilessly by George Mason!” Apparently he had seen my W&M shirt (see, the conversation piece strikes again) and had been listening intently to our conversation, looking for a way to interject that he had gone to George Mason. Even now, I am still astounded by the response to that shirt, but it was fun, and a nice way to meet people.

Back at the room, Megan looked through the day’s pictures, and we went to sleep knowing that we could sleep in a bit the next day - Halloween!

 

[camillatin]

Happy Halloween! Yes, it seems odd to say that when it’s currently 90 degrees outside here in Virginia. That’s what I get for waiting so long to write this trip report. Anyway, since we were attending MNSSHP that night (and planned to stay all the way until it closed at midnight), I had planned a pretty light morning. It started with breakfast at 1900 Park Fair. So we walked all the way through Epcot (again) and took the monorail to the Grand Floridian. I had never been here before, but it is a beautiful hotel. We even saw Mickey and Minnie on the second floor - I’ve stayed at several WDW hotels, and that was a first.

We checked in for breakfast, and discovered that there would be a bit of a wait - actually, as it turned out, the longest wait of our entire trip at about 20 minutes. Usually we checked in 5-10 minutes before our reservation time and we were seated within 5 minutes. Everywhere. Even Le Cellier... I guess we were just lucky. So while we waited, we had our pictures taken with Mary Poppins, who reminded me to stand up straight.

1900 Park Fair was quite fun. It was our first character meal of the trip, although we were going to make up for lost time today with two. Our waitress brought me a special birthday placemat and crown, which I only wore long enough for Megan to see it on my head - she was at the buffet at the time the waitress brought it. As I said, I’m not a crown girl. First to stop by our table was Alice (of Alice in Wonderland fame), who talked with us for quite a while. She asked me, “Oh, you’re a Halloween baby?” And I told her that no, my actual birthday was the next day, but we were celebrating today. And she replied, “Oh, I don’t blame you one bit. What’s better than a party?” And she also said that she would be at MNSSHP that night and we should say hello. We didn’t... oops.

Next up was the Mad Hatter. He didn’t really seem to know what to say to us, and he wasn’t even going to take a picture until Megan asked him. I don’t think he was being rude, he just seemed to presume that we were there for the food, not the characters. Which did happen once when I was in high school - my family was hungry, we went in a restaurant, we started eating, and then we discovered there were characters. Anyway, the Hatter left quickly, but we did manage to snap a pic.

Next up was Tigger. Tigger was great. He saw my birthday crown and put it on his head and posed for a great picture and gave me hugs and was just really sweet.

Then Pooh Bear came, and I thought it would be a cute idea to have him pose in the crown, too. Well, I forgot that the characters can’t see really well, and I didn’t tell him what I was doing, and as I moved to put the crown on his head, he moved away like I was trying to punch him. I laughed and tried to explain, but he didn’t seem to trust me much after that. He did, however, warm up to Megan.

About this time, our waitress came back with a crown for Megan, which she loved. So Megan had a silver crown, which she wore, and I had a gold crown, which remained on the table. By this time, we had finished eating and had seen all of the characters, so Megan headed to the restroom and then we were going to leave. After Megan had taken about 5 steps from the table, I saw one of the wait staff, cupcake in hand, running after her, exclaiming, “Where is she going? We need to sing to her! She can’t leave yet! Nooooooooooo!”

It was hilarious. This woman is running through the restaurant, racing after Megan while balancing a cupcake! Apparently she had been told which table, and when she saw Megan wearing the birthday crown, she just presumed (understandably so) that Megan was the birthday girl, and she never stopped to ask me. So she chased Megan all the way to the bathroom, where Megan explained that no, she just had a crown to make her feel good, and that it was actually my birthday. So after Megan returned to the table, and I wiped the tears that were streaming down my face from laughing so hard at the sight of this woman and cupcake running after Megan (I’m still laughing now - funniest thing I’ve ever seen), the woman successfully delivered the cupcake and had everyone sing to me. Oh man, that was a well-traveled cupcake.

So now we had originally planned to go back to the hotel, swim, maybe take a nap, relax, etc. But my memory stick (now 1/4 of the size I had expected to be using) was just about full, and I knew we’d take a lot of pics at MNSSHP that night. So I asked the concierge at the hotel, and he said they could transfer it to a CD at the Spaceship Earth photo center store. So I headed there, while Megan took a swim. Fortunately, the transfer only took less than an hour - I’m not sure exactly how long. I dropped it off and came back for it a little over an hour later and it was ready. While I was in the area, I finally took a picture of Spaceship Earth and the entrance to Epcot - because we always entered through the Int’l Gateway, I hadn’t yet taken the obligatory pic of the big ball. So here you go (with a bonus picture of the Food & Wine Beauty & the Beast topiaries).

And since I was at Epcot, I rode Spaceship Earth (the first time I’ve been on it in years where it didn’t stop at least once during the ride - inevitably near the foul-smelling Rome is burning section), Soarin’, stopped by the Seas, took a solo spin or two on Test Track, and did a lap around the World Showcase to keep up my exercise-calorie ratio. By then it was time to head back to the room to refresh and catch the bus to the Magic Kingdom for the party.

On my way out of the park, I passed Snow White at the International Gateway, and she provided today’s quote of the day: A little boy, maybe 8 or so, had apparently just had his picture taken with Snow White. It appeared to have been his parents’ idea, not his. And apparently Snow White had kissed him, leaving a very noticeable lipstick print on his cheek. As he was walking away, lots of other adults were commenting on what a handsome prince he was, to be kissed by a princess like that, and it was clear he was embarrassed. So he tried to rub the lipstick off. Snow White, however, saw this and shouted after him in the sweetest voice, “You can’t rub it off, you’ll only rub it in!”

 

[roberrl187]

Snow White, however, saw this and shouted after him in the sweetest voice, “You can’t rub it off, you’ll only rub it in!”

I am really enjoying your report. The quotes are the best. I can just picture the boy's face when Snow White kissed him.

 

[camillatin]

Special thanks to my small but devoted fan base who continue to read my ramblings! (and by small, I apparently mean party of one - roberrl187, I think you're the only one not frightened away by now )

I had wanted to go in costume to Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party (hereafter MNSSHP, because this report is long-winded enough already), but Megan wasn’t keen on that idea, and I felt a little stupid going in costume if she wasn’t - in hindsight, I totally should have gone for it. Instead we went as totally boring tourists. I apparently could have used my Philadelphia Eagles jersey that I slept in (#20 - Brian Dawkins rocks) as a costume - half the costumes at the party were football jerseys. Apparently all the same people who wore their team’s jersey on Sunday (did I mention that? They were everywhere!) decided that it also made a perfect Halloween costume on Tuesday.

So we arrived at the Magic Kingdom around 4, and since I know many people ask this question every year, we were able to use our MNSSHP tickets to get in then (although the party technically didn’t start for quite a while) and we got our wristbands right at the gate. We had a few minutes before our ADR, so we hit the Haunted Mansion, and then headed to dinner at Liberty Tree Tavern. This was easily the best character meal we did. Our waiter was a very kind, sweet man - he could be a hypnotist, his voice was that soothing. The food was good - hearty, homestyle fare (perfect for that late October/fall feeling). It’s a family-style meal, meaning you are brought large dishes of all the available food for your whole party to share, and you can get refills on anything and everything you want. In case you’re curious, there was turkey, roast beef, macaroni & cheese (the Stouffer’s kind, for the mac & cheese connoisseurs among you), stuffing, green beans, mashed potatoes, and the all important salad. Oh, and cobbler for dessert (apple? cherry? I can’t remember, sorry - I ate the cupcake they brought me instead). With just the two of us, they brought us smaller servings of the family style dishes (with the assurance that we could have more of anything - just ask), but even that was way too much food. You will most definitely not go hungry here - think of it as Thanksgiving, but with no family fights over whether or not the turkey needs basted again.

But you don’t go to a character meal for the food! At Liberty Tree, you meet Minnie, Chip & Dale, Goofy, and Pluto. And since it was MNSSHP, the characters are in costumes (see pictures below) - actually most of the wait staff was also in costume. All of the characters were very fun and spent a long time with everyone, including a great deal of patience for a little boy next to us who was a little afraid of them. He had a Curious George doll, and I even saw one of the chipmunks get his picture taken with Curious George, in an effort to convince the boy that he was okay. They were very sweet. Megan loves the chipmunks, so this was a great night for her too. And I think I got hit on by Goofy (now there’s a sentence I never thought I’d type). Either that or he took pity on me because he thought I was an idiot. I couldn’t figure out what his costume was as I saw him coming toward the table. Megan said he was supposed to be Zorro, but I told her that couldn’t be right since Zorro dresses in all black. So when Goofy came, I asked him who he was supposed to be, and he made the sign of a “Z”. So I said, “But Zorro dresses in all black!” And Goofy gave me a big hug and started kissing up my arm and all that. I think he felt pity for someone without an imagination He came back several times, too. Megan was pretty sure that I could have gotten Goofy to go home with us. But that would have been an awfully big doggy bag... Sorry, couldn’t resist. :

In case you’re wondering, that last one is Megan’s doing. They had decorated our table with Mickey-shaped confetti for my birthday, and that was just too enticing to Megan, so in between characters she constructed that message. So Liberty Tree was just a lot of fun. Especially on Halloween - it made the whole exercise of calling 180 days ahead of time (which seemed somewhat silly at the time) worth it. I highly recommend it - I had read how great it was to eat at Liberty Tree before MNSSHP, and for us, it really did live up to the hype on the boards. And in case you’re thinking of doing the same thing, our ADR was for 4:30 p.m., which gave us plenty of time to finish dinner. The party started at 7 p.m., but I had read that the hour of 6-7 was actually a great time to hit some rides before the MNSSHP really started - we actually finished dinner right around 6 p.m., so it worked out perfectly.

So now it was time to hit some rides before we get this party started! We rode Big Thunder twice, Splash Mountain (I brought a jacket, which I would use again as it cooled down closer to midnight), and Pirates of the Caribbean. There were virtually no crowds on any of these - seriously, it was fantastic. At 7, when the party actually started, we hit a candy line. This was a mistake. They were checking wristbands at the candy line, and it took more than 10 minutes just to get into the candy section. But Megan needed candy. In hindsight, it would have been wiser to wait a while longer - the longer the night went on, the shorter the candy lines were, and the more candy they gave her as they became desperate to give it away.

At this point we realized we didn’t have a times guide or map or whatever for the party. So we swung back to Main Street to grab that - I was expecting to find maps at the wristband distributions, but it turns out we couldn’t find where the distribution sites were without a map. Oops. So then while we were there we caught the first Villains show. It wasn’t really that great, as I’m not sure that Villains breakdancing really strikes fear in my heart. Being the first show, it was pretty crowded, so we didn’t stay for the meet & greet afterwards. This was also compounded by the crowd (mob, horde, throng - pick one) waiting near the castle for the first parade. We didn’t have small children and we were well-rested, so we planned to see the second parade. If you can at all manage it, this is what you should do, too, if you’re going to any of the MNSSHP that are sell-out crowds (which I believe is many weekends, anything near Halloween, and sometimes the first one as well). Avoid the first parade at all costs.

After carefully winding through the masses, we hit Tomorrowland. We took a couple of turns on Buzz Lightyear, hit Space Mountain, Megan went through another candy line, and then we took on Fantasyland. We did a spin on the teacups, where Megan apparently likes to spin them as fast as possible the entire time. That backfired a bit, since Megan was dizzy afterwards. I wasn’t, I was bored. Going around in a circle, even a smaller, faster circle than Dumbo or the carousel, still doesn’t impress me (yes, I have high standards). We also did Pooh, Peter Pan, and Small World - these were all walk-ons. I think most parties with small children were viewing the first parade at the time, so if you want an empty Fantasyland - that’s the time to go!

After one more spin on Big Thunder, we went to watch the fireworks. Hallowishes was wonderful, and we had a nice view from the bridge between Adventureland and Main Street. At this point, we could go do something else... or we could rest and wait for the parade. So we found a seat for the parade. We didn’t have any trouble finding a nice spot right at the rope in Frontierland. We sat down because 1) the people who came in late could stand behind us and still have a good view, and 2) we were on day 7 of a Disney trip, so we were feeling old and tired. I took a ton of pictures of the parade. Unfortunately, I didn’t get a good shot of the headless horseman... I got the head of the horse, actually, but not much else. I was so worried about being too late that I was actually a hair early. But here’s the beginning of the parade.

So the parade was fun, until the Pirates of the Caribbean float landed in front of us. I mean, right in front of us. And after a few minutes, it struck me that the float was still right in front of us. Hmm, it must be slowing down at the turn to Liberty Square up ahead. So I took more pictures, and they turned out well since the float wasn’t moving!

Ten minutes later, the Pirates float was still right in front of us. Now you have to understand, this made Megan’s year (you can count her among the many Johnny Depp devotees). Captain Jack was right in front of us for, all told, 15 minutes. I kid you not. At first he just kept waving and drunkenly singing along with the song, but after a while you could tell even he was bored. So he kept shouting down to us in the crowd. He was hilarious. Megan kept prodding me to take more pictures, and as I did (many, many pictures), Capt Jack shouted down, “That’s it, Missy. More pictures of me. I’m apparently not going anywhere!”

After singing along to the float’s soundtrack with a rousing rendition of “Yo, ho, yo, ho” he shouted, “Does anyone else have this song stuck in their head now?” And of course he’s doing all of this with that wonderful drunken pirate accent. It was just fabulous. Eventually (much to Megan’s disappointment) they hooked the float up to some sort of lawn-mower looking contraption, which pushed (not pulled, pushed) the float through the rest of the parade. But it was literally 15 minutes of heaven for Megan... It’s now the Year of a Million-and-One Dreams!

After wiping Megan’s drool off the camera (she had taken it to look at the pictures of Capt Jack as he drove off), the parade continued - you know I think she was really hoping the float would be broken and Capt Jack would have to climb down right in front of her... never mind that that would have cancelled the parade. Anyway, the parade continued. The Haunted Mansion folks were right behind the pirates, and the poor bloodhound that they have to recreate the gravedigger and his dog was looking bored after 15 minutes of sitting. Incidentally the dog on the ride looks nothing like a bloodhound. But whatever. So the parade was fun and (bonus!) extra long.

Next up was the Haunted Mansion - a must do twice on Halloween! We also hit Big Thunder and Spalsh Mountain again - no waits at all. Then it was off to Tomorrowland - we took a few spins on Space Mountain (in the very front of the car, which Megan declared to be her favorite location - it’s so far from the back, you know), a few spins on Buzz Lightyear (375,500 - my highest score yet, if you don’t count the one where the car stalled and I cheated, and yes I took a picture of the score, which I will spare you), and a few runs through the candy line (where they were literally throwing the candy at you - it was the end of the last night of the party - generous doesn’t begin to describe the handfuls). It was now midnight (that's the actual time on the clock of the Main Street Station - isn't that cool?) and the party had ended, so we made our way slowly to the exit, stopping to take many pictures of the wonderful Halloween decorations on our way out of the park.

And as we walked down Main Street, it was now officially my birthday!

 

[camillatin]

Even after getting back to the room at 12:45 a.m., I think I still awoke about 7:30 a.m. So I went out to the balcony to take in the morning for a little while until Megan woke up. It’s really a lovely place, the Boardwalk. Anyway, we got up and around, and we arrived at MGM about ½ hour after opening. I had planned on doing Epcot all day for my birthday, but we hadn’t gotten to see Beauty and the Beast yet, and I can always go for the Muppets (and Megan won’t complain about Tower of Terror), so I decided to do those and then head to Epcot in time for lunch.

So we hit the Muppets first. This was great. I love doing the Muppets early in the morning. It’s just so much fun - a great way to start the day.

Do what Fozzie says!

I think I could have used this as my own unemployment ad...

And then it was off to Tower of Terror (twice) and Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster - the more I think about it, the more we were incredibly lucky on crowds, really, the entire trip. We really never had to wait for anything (if it had a posted wait, we either got a FastPass, or we just came back to it another time and the wait would be non-existent). By this point it was really raining quite hard (the only real rain day we had on our entire trip, so we can’t complain), so we decided to go sit at the Beauty and the Beast theater and wait for the show under a nice, dry roof. This was also handy, since I got to see 4 for a Dollar for the first time. I had never made it to a show early enough before! They were a lot of fun - Megan especially loved it, and had Love Potion #9 stuck in her head for the rest of the day, except she didn’t really know the words, which made her version way more interesting... She and my father would make a wonderful singing team, since neither one would know the lyrics!

That was really all I wanted to do at MGM, so we headed back to the hotel to pick up jackets (the rain had temporarily subsided, but I was definitely concerned that it would pick up again - just one of those days) and then it was off to Epcot. We headed straight for Soarin’ to pick up FastPasses, which had a surprisingly short return time - I think it was for about an hour after we picked them up. So we had an early lunch at Sunshine Seasons, where Megan discovered that you could get any dessert from their bakery there as part of the dining plan - this made her day! When we still had some time to kill before our FPs, we did Living with the Land again. This time, the automated narration had some problems and cut in and out, leaving entire rooms silent. Actually, I kind of enjoyed this. Sailing silently through the rainforest and the desert was very serene. They should consider leaving it that way.

By then it was time for Soarin’, which was wonderful as always. We also hit Figment, and then we headed off to finish what we hadn’t yet done in World Showcase - oddly enough, although we always entered through the Int’l Gateway, we spent more time in Future World. So we hit the American Adventure, and caught the pre-show - which was not the Voices of Liberty, unfortunately. I always enjoy them, but I’m guessing they were on vacation or something. So we had a bluegrass group instead. They were very talented, and it was a bench to sit on indoors (rain had popped up again) - bonus! And I always enjoy the American Adventure (Megan tolerated it because it was my birthday - to her, it's like being back in college, forced to take a history class).

After that we sped through Germany and such rather quickly, also stopping for Maelstrom and El Rio del Tiempo. After pointing out the spot on the bridge where I was bird-bombed last year (Megan never read my trip report, so this was all news to her), we proceeded to Test Track. And there seemed to be a pretty lengthy line, so we got in the single rider line. But that was unnecessary, as it turned out, since the posted wait time of 40 minutes was completely wrong - more like 10. We also rode Mission Space, and Megan even rode the green side with me since it was my birthday (normally she does the orange, while I do the green). This was when I decided that there’s no better birthday present than Gary Sinise.

Next up was the Universe of Energy, and since Megan knows that it’s one of my favorite rides, she decided we should ride in the front row. That was a first for me, and I must say it reminded me of the first date I ever went on... (everybody’s favorite - the tangential story alert) I went on my first date ever with my boyfriend-at-the-time to see Jurassic Park. He was a very sweet guy, but as we walked into the theater, he headed straight for the front row of seats. I hadn’t yet seen the movie, but I understood that it was a dinosaur movie and would probably be pretty loud, as the Tyrannosaurus Rex roars through the gigantic theater speakers, so I asked if we could sit somewhere else. He turned to me with a look of compassion and said, “Oh, of course. I’m so sorry. No problem.” So we left that row and headed back down the aisle... one entire row back to the second row. Ah, men.

Anyway, it was a great birthday so far. But at this point Megan and I decided to split up just for an hour or two and meet back for Off Kilter. So I walked around a bit taking pictures and then caught the World Showcase Players' show again in the UK. If you haven’t seen the show, you should. But I’ll also explain a little bit so you’ll understand the story. Basically they’re comedians telling the tale of King Arthur and the Quest for the Holy Grail, and they recruit audience members to help tell the story. And boy, those audience members sure are entertaining during the Food and Wine Fest. At this particular show, every single audience volunteer had to hand their drink to their friend/family before they could go up on stage. This included the audience member playing King Arthur, who also happened to supply the quote of the day:

Narrator (played by a professional): “King, call your knights to come forth.”

King Arthur (audience member): “Knights, come forth.”

Narrator: “No, call them by name.”

King: [motioning to the knight with the “L” on his tunic] “Lancelot, come forth!” [He then looks, confused, at the other knight, who has a “G” on his tunic. For the life of him, he just couldn’t remember what that “G” could possibly stand for, and he racked his brain for quite a while before finally seizing upon the answer.] “Uh, G, uh, guh, uh, uh... Geraldo, come forth!”

Geraldo. Gotta love wine. (In case you’re wondering, it’s Galahad). Anyway, Megan and I met up in Canada to watch Off Kilter. But for whatever reason, we decided we weren’t really in the mood for their show - I know, they’re supposed to be funny and a great show, and I’ll try and catch them next time. Instead, we strolled around, did some shopping and browsing of the food and wine booths, and talked a lot. Trips are funny like that - you talk a lot in the beginning, then somewhere in the middle you run out of things to say, and then by the end, you’re all talkative again.

That evening we dined at Alfredo’s. For appetizers, I had the Caesar salad (the dressing was the good kind, not the super salty kind like Le Cellier) while Megan had the Pasta e Fagioli (she said the soup was good). As entrees we both had the Trittico di Pasta, which is a sampler of Lasagna, Ziti, and mushroom Gnocchi. I heartily recommend it!!! For dessert, I had an excellent Tiramisu, while Megan had gelato - also excellent. I know some people don’t particularly recommend this restaurant, but I’ve always had excellent food there, and I would definitely recommend it, especially if you’re on the dining plan (otherwise, it’s a little expensive).

Ironically, this was one of only two restaurants that didn’t do anything for my birthday. They actually had an accordion player come sing to the other people who were having a birthday, and I could really go without that kind of embarrassment, so I was just fine that nothing happened. So during the singing, you’re supposed to twirl your napkin. Well I didn’t, and one of the waiters came up to me and playfully chided me about not twirling. I told him I couldn’t twirl and talk at the same time, and he replied, “Twirl now, talk later.” In truth, the reason I wasn’t twirling was because I can’t. I discovered this at an Eagles playoff game. They handed out free towels to twirl, and when twirling time came, every single time I failed miserably. I hit myself, hit my neighbor, wrapped the thing around my wrist, or it went flying out of my hand. I kid you not. If I was a Steelers fan, they’d disown me.

So after dinner we found a quiet spot for Illuminations, enjoyed the pleasant walk back to the Boardwalk, and discovered that, on CSI:NY that night, the episode claimed it was Gary Sinise’s character’s birthday that day. See, I told you he was the perfect birthday present!

And here is my favorite picture I took that day:

 

[WDW Poly Princess]

Glad to see your report- I loved your last one! Plus I love reading about MNSSHP since we're going this year!

That sucks about your memory stick! I'd be heartbroken! Glad that the rest of the pictures made it, though!

No mention of mickey mints yet! Have you broken the addiction?

 

[camillatin]

Hey, a repeat reader! Thanks, WDW Poly Princess, for reading - you'll love MNSSHP. It's really a ton of fun! And don't worry, the Mickey Mints will be making a special cameo (a la Keith Richards) by the end of our trip!

Day 9 - Thursday, November 2, 2006

Thursday was our next to last day, and boy, did we make the most of our remaining time. We began at Downtown Disney, because neither of us had ever been there. We also still had some people back home for whom we had not yet bought presents, and this is not acceptable - they hear you’ve been to Disney, they expect a gift. No wonder Disney vacations are expensive. So we hit Downtown right as it opened, and within 15 minutes, I had spent 10 of those minutes looking for Megan. So I decided we would split up, accomplish our shopping, and then meet back for lunch. It was just too hard to try and shop without losing sight of each other. Look out, Downtown Disney, I’m on a shopping mission!

Nessie’s not in Scotland, she’s across from the LEGO store in Downtown Disney!

Several hours later, with several large bags of gifts for my father, 2 dogs, ex-roommate, dogsitter, other assorted friends, and (most importantly) myself - and with a much lighter wallet - I went to Earl of Sandwich to wait for Megan. I snagged an outside table since it was lovely weather. Unfortunately, this put me near the carousel, which I discovered played one 30-second song over and over and over and over... if I were the CM there, I’d shoot myself - or the sound system. Either way. I had the Florentine sandwich at the Earl, which I would heartily recommend. Also, it’s huge - if you’re looking for a smaller lunch, consider splitting a sandwich. Sorry, I don’t remember what Megan had exactly, but it was also delicious. It can get a bit crowded around lunchtime, though (and this was on a Thursday during a non-crowded season), so it’s best to have one member of your party save the table while the other one gets the food.

Now full and loaded down with loot, we decided to head back to the hotel to drop off our booty. We hadn’t made any plans as to what exactly we would do this day, but rather had left it open to do our favorite things again. In Megan’s case, this meant her two favorite rides (Tower of Terror and Dinosaur), so she wanted to hit MGM and Animal Kingdom. I, on the other hand, wanted to do a few things at Epcot again and then watch Spectromagic and Wishes at the Magic Kingdom. We hadn’t yet seen these, and I consider them a must-see for any trip. So we decided to split up. Between the two of us, we hit all four parks, plus Downtown Disney, in one day. It’s our last full day - gotta make the most of it!

So I can’t really tell you much of what Megan did, other than she enjoyed it. And she definitely rode Dinosaur and Tower of Terror many, many times. So here’s what I did. I went to Epcot. I did all of my favorites again, including Spaceship Earth, the Seas, Soarin’, Romeo & Edna, Test Track, and Mission Space - and all in just a few hours! The crowds were virtually non-existent this day at all four parks (we should know!), with nearly everything a walk-on. And as evening approached, I hopped the monorail to the Magic Kingdom.

Once at the MK, I hit Pirates of the Caribbean, and then decided I was hungry. So I went to Pecos Bill’s, where I had a slight problem using the dining plan - the only problem we encountered the entire trip, so I’m counting it as an isolated incident. I ordered a Peanut Butter Chocolate cake (a pre-packaged dessert sold at various places around the parks, including Sunshine Seasons, in case you might want it) and a bottled water (yeah, I know, nutritious dinner, right?) and wanted to use two snack credits. But this confused the cashier to no end, and in the end, I’m still not sure she got it right. I flashed an apologetic smile to the poor people behind me, but I’m guessing that even my dazzling grin couldn’t compensate for the ten-minute wait I put them through. So if they’re reading this, sorry. But the peanut butter-chocolate cake was worth it.

I rode the Haunted Mansion again and then I thought I should grab a spot for Spectro. As it turned out, this was unnecessary. Frontierland never really filled up for the parade - people walked up as it was starting and found places right at the rope. Can’t beat that. Anyway, I happened to grab a spot right next to the DVC booth in Frontierland, so I chatted to the nice DVC rep for a while. She was very nice, very talkative, and very bored... nobody was really shopping - technically, she said, she’s supposed to stay open during the parade, but it’s rather difficult to sell the properties when there’s no lighting.

I enjoyed the parade very much. And I got a very special picture of Donald Duck on the last float - he saw that I was taking a picture and gestured that he was very happy I was taking a picture of him... he still has that chip on his shoulder that everything’s about Mickey Mouse, apparently.

Then I headed for Main Street. I’ve never seen Wishes from the front of the castle, and I decided I’d try to see that tonight, plus I’d try to catch Illuminations. Ambitious, I know, but it’s the last night. So I went 2/3 of the way down Main Street and sat on the curb for a few minutes until the show started. I couldn’t really get any pictures of Wishes from this location (you’re just sort of standing in a very large herd of people in the middle of the street), but it was nice to see the castle effects, and I just love the musical score for this show. So I enjoyed that, and then booked it to the monorail - where I caught the second train, no less.

I made it to Epcot at quarter til nine, so I was walking with great speed toward the World Showcase when I came across a group of people standing around a stroller. Apparently, the stroller had a child in it... and the child didn’t belong to any of them. They just found the random stroller with random child and couldn’t find the parent. Well, there were about 4 adults there, so I figured they had it covered. So I kept going.

Next thing I know, I see a security guard, so I thought I’d tell him about the problem. As I’m walking toward him, he’s staring at me, and I couldn’t for the life of me figure out why. Broccoli in my teeth? Finally, he says, “Excuse me, miss, but I need to see your...” Now as he’s saying this, I’m thinking, he needs to see my ticket? My driver’s license? What can I have possibly done that was illegal? I’m the picture of innocence!!! (I am - it just masks the incredibly mischievous underbelly.) But then he says “Excuse me, miss, but I need to see your smile.” So I smile (mostly from relief... can you imagine me being thrown out of the park? Hi, Dad, I need you to come bail me out of Disney jail... Ooh maybe I’d get locked up in the Pirates jail with the doggy with the key, that would be fun... oh, right, back to the story), and then tell him there’s a lost child situation and point him in the right direction. As he’s walking away, he turns around and smiles at me, apparently checking to make sure that I was, in fact, still smiling. A nice reminder not to get too commando... but I had a show to catch!

So I made it to Illuminations on time, caught the show from Italy, and then took some lovely night pictures all around the lagoon. That’s my favorite time. Everyone’s booking for the exit, and you can really stop and enjoy the scenery a little without anybody else. Another joy of being able to walk to your hotel. Megan beat me back to the room by hours, where she said she had a wonderful day but was now exhausted. Plus we had an early breakfast at Crystal Palace the next morning, so it was early to bed!