Day 3 - Part 4
While we ate in Biergarten we made a plan for the afternoon. The girls needed to get over to DHS to audition for American Idol – not the normal auditions that occur every morning (I believe), but auditions for a PChef-only American Idol session that would take place the next night, when PChef had the park for the night. They needed to get there around 3pm, so we planned that we’d hit Test Track and use our fastpasses, and then they’d catch a bus to DHS. In the meantime, James and I would do “whatever”, eventually ending up at the Magic Kingdom to use his fastpasses for Buzz Lightyear.
We hoofed it out of the World Showcase, into Future World, and into the fastpass line at Test Track. After we got in line, Judy decided that she’d rather play it safe stomach-wise, and skip the ride this afternoon. She left and said that she’d meet us in the gift shop after the ride. So our car ride turned out to include the kids and I and two single-riders.
I learned on someone else’s thread that there’s a hidden Mickey in those Test Track photos and I had never noticed it before. I went back to look at last year’s pictures and sure enough, it was there then too.
Here are my shots from the ride. After all of the less-exciting tests, we finally accelerated toward “the barrier test”.
And then shot outside.
The view behind me.
And the view in front of me.
A fun ride, as always.
We found Judy in the gift shop and she and the girls took off for the auditions. I wished them luck and told Judy to take lots of pictures for me.
Now it was just James and I. It was about time for a bathroom break, but I thought, “let’s not just go to
any bathroom, let’s find Jordan’s favorite Epcot bathroom.” Since it is a touring destination all its own, I had researched how to find it before the trip. We walked over to the Journey into Imagination building, and as we approached the entrance, rather than going in, we turned right and walked around to the side of the building. We turned the corner and there it was. It was a surreal moment, let me tell you.
Here’s James, undoubtedly wondering why I asked him to pose in front of a bathroom.
We went in and…..yuck! It was pretty poorly maintained. There were puddles of water and toilet paper on the floor. It was in desperate need of janitorial attention. No one other than us came in or out while we were there, and that’s pretty rare at a Disney park, so it had privacy going for it, but that was all. No "savoring the moment" here -- we took care of business and left. After I got back home I read on Jordan’s thread that he found it in the same condition back in February, so it has lost its status as his favorite Disney park bathroom.
After the disappointment of the condition of Jordan’s favorite bathroom, we left the park and took the monorail over to the Magic Kingdom. It was a trip I was destined to take the moment that cast member wrote James a fastpass for Buzz and I had to promise that we would return to the Magic Kingdom in order to use it. We entered the park and as we walked up Main Street I decided to explore a side street since we had some time to kill. The little alley was about halfway up Main Street, on the right as you’re walking toward the castle.
I didn’t take a picture of the alley, but I saw that FairyGodmotherJen posted one on her thread, and she has graciously let me borrow it. So, here’s her picture of that particular alley.
Photo courtesy of FairyGodmotherJen. Thanks Jen!
We walked to the end of the alley and could hear the sounds of tap dancing and muisc instruction being given, coming from this second floor window.
An older couple was sitting on a bench nearby and wondered what in the world we were doing. They asked us if there was something up there. We told them what we could hear and they were amazed at all of the Disney details.
Okay, detour over, we made our way over to Buzz. We got in line and I realized that I had never taken a picture of the fastpass, and I needed to be thorough for my trip report, you know.
James helped me get all situated again and put my sunglasses and case in a side pocket of my backpack.
Then we boarded the Buzz ride and started battling the Evil Emperor Zurg. The ride stopped at one point and in addition to allowing me to rack-up major points, I got a picture inside the Buzz ride. I’m usually too busy shooting Z’s to take a picture.
Here’s me, Star Cadet, and James the Galactic Hero on the ride.
I don’t remember my score, but it was way-high and I beat James, maybe for the first time. He usually beats me on that ride.
We left Buzz at about 4 o’clock so decided to hit Monsters Inc. Laugh Floor. I thought about saving it to do with Judy and the girls, but they’ve been on it before and we still had time to kill. It was fun, but I think that’s a show that can never be as much fun as your first time seeing it, when you’re amazed that the cartoons are interacting with the audience via Disney magic.
We left Monsters Inc and started walking to leave the park. I stopped to get my sunglasses out of my backpack and…they weren’t there. I looked and looked and couldn’t find them. James insisted he did, in fact put them in the backpack. They hadn’t fallen when he put them in the pocket. I was glad that I still had my regular glasses at least, but the sunglasses were also prescription lenses. We left the park and started walking to the buses when I decided that I’d never have a better chance to find them and that I should go to Lost and Found. So we turned around and went back through bag-check and the turnstiles and went to City Hall. We waited for our turn to talk to a cast member and I described what I had lost. Then she went to a back room to check if they had them.
While we waited I took a water bottle out of a side pocket on my backpack and took a drink. When I saw her returning I tried to put the water bottle back, but something was blocking the way…my sunglasses!
In that split-second I debated on whether to admit that I’d found them or to act all forlorn and say something like, “oh well, let me know if you find them”.
You’d probably guess the latter, but no, I said, “they look a whole lot like this”, and held them up. “I just found them.”
Feeling dumber than usual
, but at least happy that I hadn’t lost my sunglasses, we left the park…again. I noticed that I had a text from Judy saying that they were heading back to the hotel after the girls’ American Idol auditions.
I texted her “how did it go?”
And she replied, “We will share when we see you.”
Doh! A trip report teaser in real life!
Up next: How the girls spent their Idol time
Link to next chapter
It's PERFECT! 
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