The Shmoopy DINKs 3rd Annual Xmas Trip - new 2/3: The Origin Story

[girlbomb]

Fellow DISsers, my love and appreciation for you has been strong since the moment I stumbled upon this wonderful community almost a year ago, but never has it been stronger than it is right now, having just returned two days ago from the best trip ever, thanks in large part to the help and wisdom of you fine people. And the only way I know how to express my gratitude (besides becoming a site supporter – why can't I figure out how to do so?) is to write a trip report, like the many delightful and informative reports that kept me sane all year between Disney fixes. I hope you'll get as much out of it as I've gotten from yours.

So let's meet the cast!

I'm Janice, a 38-year-old author, teacher, and volunteer from New York City. I'm a liberal feminist with a past so checkered, it's practically plaid – not exactly the type of person you'd think would become a hardcore Disney World fan! I'd been to Disney World once as a kid, but only for a day or two; I was lucky enough to return for ten days at the age of 21 with my mom and my 8-year-old half-brother. We had a wonderful time, but I didn't think about going back to Disney for many years after that – not until I met a very special young woman through my volunteer work. But we'll get to her in a minute…

First, please meet my Dear Domestic Partner, Bill. Bill is a 32-year-old graphics editor from Long Island – a brilliant, handsome, and funny comic book geek and Star Wars fan who somehow never had any interest in going to Disney World. He even scoffed at the idea when I first mentioned it, two and a half years ago: "Why would we want to go there?" he asked.

Um, maybe because it's a place specifically designed to enhance human happiness! But he'd find that out soon enough.

Bill and I have been together since 2002, after meeting online, and we got domestically partnered in 2005. We opted for domestic partnership because we have a lot of friends and family who do not have the legal right to marry, and we don't want to do it until they can. But I refer to him on the DIS as my DH, since DDP has a whole other meaning here.

Finally, the missing member of our party -- Samantha Dunleavy. As mentioned, I met Sam through my volunteer work at a shelter for homeless teens here in New York City, a shelter where I myself spent a few months as a fifteen-year-old runaway back in 1984. I met Sam around Thanksgiving of 2004, when I was thirty-five and she was nineteen years old – the product of terribly abusive, drug addicted parents, she'd been on her own on the streets since the age of twelve, and had only recently come in out of the cold to try to get sober and make a better life for herself. From the outside, Sam looked like a really tough case – scarred, tattooed, and riddled with track marks – but she was so sensitive, smart, and charismatic that I couldn't help taking a special interest in her.

I followed Sam's case over the next eleven months as she went from the shelter, to a detox facility, to a psych ward, to a thirty-day rehab, to a halfway house, to a rented room of her own, and finally to a hospital in the Bronx, where the effects of her former lifestyle were finally catching up with her. By this time, we'd become fast friends, and I was petitioning to become her legal guardian. Early on in our friendship, I'd made her a promise – "You stay sober for a year," I told her, "and Bill and I will take you to Disney World" – we'd been talking about our trip constantly throughout the months of ups and downs. Now she'd managed to get sober and stay that way, but her health was so dire. Would she be able to make it?

I'm sad to report that Samantha was not able to make it to Disney with us. But not for the reasons you might think. I'd say more, but I've already said it – my second book, Have You Found Her, is coming out from Random House on February 12th, and it contains the entire Samantha Dunleavy story. For now, it must suffice to say that Bill and I took our first trip to Disney World in December of 2005 alone, just the two of us – no kids, adopted or otherwise. And as sad as it was to go without Sam, after planning the trip around her for almost a year, we still had one of the greatest times of our lives.

So great that we went back last December, and as soon as we got home, we started planning our December 2007 trip. That's when I found the DIS boards! You'd think that after two years of carefully planned trips, organized with the help of the Unofficial Guide, we'd be pros, but I didn't know what pro Disney planning was until I started reading these boards. Thanks to you people, this trip included:

An amazing meal at Le Cellier
Two great nights at the Adventurers Club
A trip on the friendship boat between Epcot and the Studios
A Segway tour of the World Showcase
Perfect views of Spectro Magic and Wishes
And ninety million sentences that began "I read on the DIS boards…"

It also included tears of joy, tears of laughter, and even a few tears of sadness when it was time to leave. Magic moments? We had 'em! Testy moments? There were a few. We managed to pack just about everything into this trip…except sleep. So now that we've got the intros out of the way, I think it's time to begin the report!

 

[Glendamax]

Hey! LOVE the "blue" pics!!!!

I love your intro! Here's my favorite line:

Um, maybe because it's a place specifically designed to enhance human happiness!

Great Line! :

 

[girlbomb]

Thanks for the comment, Ms. Max! You're one of my TR heroes. It's great to read about your adventures the same week we were there!



And now, another installment of the Shmoopy DINKs report:

Pre-tripping

We made our reservations almost as soon as we got home from our December 2006 trip, in January 2007, so we were looking forward to a Kingdom view from a Tower room at Disney's Contemporary Hotel. Woohoo! We love the Contemporary – that's where we stayed in 2005, but we didn't make ressies fast enough for the 2006 trip, so we had to settle for the Grand Floridian. I know, "settling" for one of the grandest resorts on the property – touch luck, right? But as nice as the GF is, we feel it lacks the excitement and energy of the Contemporary (not to mention the walkway to the MK, which we use all the time). So we were delighted to know that we'd be back at our favorite hotel, overlooking the most magical view we could imagine.

We'd gone during the first week of December for our first two trips, but this year we decided to avoid Pop Warner week (we'd had our fill of chanting, stomping, trampling teenagers in the parks), so we made reservations for Friday, December 7 through Sunday, December 16. Nine luxurious days to spend in the happiest of happy places! We shelled out the $15 for Tour Guide Mike, compared his best days against the Unofficial Guide's, and exactly 180 days before we were due to leave, I dialed WDW-DINE to set up a bunch of dining reservations at the most recommended restaurants on the DIS (as well as some old favorites we'd tried and liked before), based on the parks we'd chosen for each day of our trip. Oh, that Excel spreadsheet filled up so nicely – what fun it was to plan and plan and plan some more. Even Bill, who was once so skeptical about Disney World, had become a planning addict – he'd realized that the next best thing to being there was thinking about being there!

The countdown was excruciating; the days before our departure date crawled. Last year, I experienced that weird sensation that many others here have noted – the pre-trip depression that comes from realizing, "It's almost here, which means it's almost over" – but this year I only felt happy and excited leading up to December 7. Shopping for things like Purell and ponchos was a thrill – I was the happiest person at the drugstore, which mystified and annoyed my fellow New Yorkers – why is that woman so smiley? The only thing I didn't do was buy an extra pair of shorts, as I'd put on a few pounds since the summer and most of mine were a little too tight; that would be a decision I'd regret. But we were ridiculously prepared for everything else – for rain, sun, and temperatures of 40 degrees and under, which we had in 2006 – and, mostly, for fun.

So we woke up at 5am on Friday the 7th, kissed our three cats goodbye and told them not to torture the catsitter, got out the door at 6am and to JFK airport by 6:40. Our 8:15 flight left 15 minutes late, but that was nothing compared to the two previous years – in 2005, our 10am flight didn't leave until 1pm because of snow, and in 2006, we were delayed in leaving by three hours because JetBlue didn't have a flight crew for our scheduled flight. This year, we flew Delta, and it was a pleasure – JetBlue may have been a few dollars cheaper, but Delta was on time getting into MCO. That's especially important when you've been waiting to get to your destination all year, and doubly-especially important when you're a fearful and anxious traveler like me.

I was bouncing with excitement as we took the tram to the main terminal, and headed down to Level B to meet the Magical Express. There they were, those friendly attendants with their puffy Mickey gloves, waving us right onto a bus that left within five minutes – and no need to pick up our bags! Oh boy oh boy oh boy, I kept saying, as we craned out the window soaking up the sight of the Orlando sunshine and the familiar landmarks; then the welcome video kicked in, and I almost burst into tears. We drove through the arch, and two minutes later, there was the monorail, zipping past on its track. "We're here," I said to Bill, squeezing his hand with my sweaty one. "I can't believe it, we're here."

 

[AmericanCaesar]

More! I love the way this is unfolding!

 

[Hedy]

You're pretty awesome. Glad you had a good time!

 

[girlbomb]

Hedy, thank you so much! It's an honor -- I know how very famous you are.

And AmCaesar, I think you might be biased towards this particular trip report, though I'm not sure why...

First day at Disney

So there we were on the Magical Express, watching the welcome video and seething with anticipation. 330 days since we'd made our reservations, and this day was finally here – we were back in Disney!

The bus made a quick stop at the Wilderness Lodge (a word we always have to pronounce as "WILderness," like they do in the safety announcement on Big Thunder Mountain Railroad), and a little boy on the bus was crying and squalling to his dad as they disembarked, "I don't wanna stay here!" Bill and I exchanged raised eyebrows and shrugged at each other – maybe he was a Contemporary fan, like us.

Then we were dropped off at the Contemporary. We scrambled off the bus, the doors to the hotel opened, and we got our first hit of that smell. What is that smell at the Disney resorts? Is it carpet cleaner? Air freshener? Extra oxygen? Crack cocaine? I don't know, but it always makes me want to gather up a bunch of air in a plastic bag and take it home and huff it.

They were re-doing the lobby, so it was a little humdrum-looking with the construction barriers up, but the lobby was never the selling point of the Contemporary – it's being in that main atrium on the 4th floor with the monorail zipping through, or looking down over the railing from your floor onto the lively scene at Chef Mickey's. (The barriers would come down two days before we left – here's a picture of the newly refurbished lobby – pretty nice, and the couches were comfy.)

It took all of two minutes to check in, and we were assured that our room was in fact overlooking the Magic Kingdom, so we were psyched. Our room was not yet ready (it was only 12:15, so we weren't surprised), but our park passes certainly were. So we pulled out the fanny pack I'd pre-packed from my carry-on bag, checked our carry-ons and winter coats at the valet, and hit that red brick walkway to the MK.

The smile on my face was threatening to split my head open like a Muppet's as Bill and I power-walked to the front gate. I grinned at the families passing us in the opposite direction – why weren't they all grinning in return? Didn't they know they were at DISNEY WORLD? Some of them looked happy enough, but others looked complacent, or tired; some of the kids were fussy, and one teenager was complaining about something as we passed by. Complaining! At Disney World! Whereas I felt like I was going to explode from happiness! I swore to myself right then that I would not forget for a single second of the next nine days how lucky and grateful we were to be there.

My heart was pounding as we rounded the gate, and I was chipper as a chipmunk passing through bag check and the turnstile, greeting every CM who greeted me and wished me a good day with a hearty "Hello! Thank you! You too!" Bill's cheeks were flushed too, as we passed under the train station and stepped onto Main Street, noting the enormous Christmas tree with its big bright star on top and all the garlands hung everywhere. The Christmas music was audible under the bustle of the crowd, and my eyes started to fill. Any second now, we were going to see it…

There she was, beautiful and promising as ever, a beacon of all the good times and happy feelings to come. The smell of the bakery wafted over us as we stood there on Main Street taking in the sight for a second – but just for a second. We had business to attend to.

We hurried across the bridge to Tomorrowland, dizzy from all the sights, smells, and sounds we've come to love and cherish – the buttery popcorn, the metal palm trees, the spacey electronic music playing ever so faintly. The announcement from the TTA as it passed overhead; the sight of kids clutching balloons and adults in funny hats. The big white spaceport, with its elegant spires – SPACE MOUNTAIN! Fast Pass us, please!

It's the primary rule of Disney for us: Always have a Fast Pass. And the corollary: Always know when you can get your next one, and get it right away. If you find that you can't use the FP because of the return time, you can always give it to someone else, which is fun to do, and enhances your Disney Karma. Never wait on the standby, unless you must.

Since it was our first day, and the standby wait was only 20 minutes (at 12:30 in the afternoon! Not bad…), we made an exception and jumped on line. This is Bill's favorite ride in all the parks, and I like it too – last year, we rode it 30 times in eight days, no exaggeration! So a lot of my Disney memories are of the two of us standing in the queue just before boarding, or whizzing around the track with the starfield around us, or striding past the robot and his robot dog on our way out to get another Fast Pass to ride again.

You are cleared for takeoff! The first ride of the vacation is always the best, and this one didn't disappoint. By the end of our vacation, I could draw a picture of the track for you (right turn, left turn, quick hop up), but the first ride was new to us all over again. Those three little dips come as a real surprise when you've forgotten where they are, and each one got a happy "EEK!" out of me. By the end, we were laughing with exhilaration, and couldn't wait to ride again.

So with our FPs ripening in our pockets, we went off to get a bite to eat. I'd heard from these boards that the Main Street Bakery was an often-overlooked place to get a good lunch, so that's where we headed. It would give us another chance to appreciate Main Street, since we sped through it so quickly on our way to Space Mountain. Though it was prime lunchtime, there were only three or four people ahead of us in line, and in no time at all we had procured ourselves some sandwiches – tomato, mozzarella, and pesto for me; turkey and brie for Bill (quite good, we agreed; I especially liked the salty focaccia bread on mine). We wolfed them down, then wandered back to SM, as our FPs had already matured (we stopped to get new ones, of course) – the second ride was even better than the first, as we tried the left-hand track this time, and it seemed to be going faster. Funny how that happens sometimes!

Our next stop was one I'd been looking forward to since I read about it here – Monsters Inc. I remembered that the reviews of the soft openings were poor, but that once the attraction had officially opened, people had good things to say about it. There was hardly any line, so it took maybe five minutes for us to get to the pre-show (cute enough), and then we took our seats in the theater.

I thought this show was charming – sure, the humor is for kids, but so what? Whoever was doing the improvising had such great timing and such a sweetness to him, it was really adorable. We walked out saying, "That was cute; we'll have to do it again sometime." But first, we had to use our second set of Space Mountain FPs, and get thirds. (Are you sick of us going on this ride yet? Because we're not. Three times and counting…)

Then it was time to hit the newly renovated Haunted Mansion, another of our favorites. We'd tried to stay "unspoiled" and not read any reviews of the new additions and changes, so we were thrilled and impressed by what we saw. The new scenes are great, the old scenes looked crisper, and the soundtrack has been much improved. It was terrific to see an old favorite restored so beautifully.

We walked through Frontierland to Big Thunder Mountain to pick up some FPs – the only thing better than having a Fast Pass in your pocket is having multiple FPs – and picked up some soft serve ice cream at Mrs. Potts on our way back through Fantasyland. Just strolling through the various lands was such a thrill – every building, sign, and piece of pavement reminded us that we were in an extraordinary place. And we couldn't believe how light and amiable the crowds were on a Friday afternoon. This was starting out to be a ridiculously good vacation...

 

[katie26]

Whoa! I loved your book... it's cool to see you here! (And also, to see another kid-less New Yorker who didn't expect to fall in love with Disney, yet did anyway...)

That's an intensely gorgeous picture of the castle. Can't wait to hear about the rest of the trip!

 

[girlbomb]

Thanks, katie26! It's a pleasure to meet you, especially as we have so much in common. I should mention that the lovely photos are all taken by Bill -- the one of the castle was taken just before the 5:45 castle lighting ceremony. More trip reporting tomorrow, but for tonight...sleep!

 

[girlbomb]

And we're back!

So it's our first day of vacation, we've been at the MK for a little over two hours, and we've just taken Ride Four on Space Mountain. Then it was back to Frontierland to use our BTMRR FPs. On the way, we noticed that the wait for Splash was 20 minutes, so we jumped on line, and within ten minutes we were seated in a damp log, watching the cautionary tale of Brer Rabbit unfold. We got a proper dousing from the splash cannons that went off as we were rounding the first mild bend; then there they were, all our old friends – the drumming porcupine with the Rastafarian quills and the sleepy eyes, the peppy gophers just before the big drop, and the three possums, Pansy, Poppy, and Petunia. My pet name for Bill is Poppy, and we used to have a beautiful, fluffy, pink-nosed kitty named Petunia (now deceased), so I always get a smile out of seeing their mailboxes. And then there's the splash…

Aaaaaah! This is a much bigger drop than I ever thought I could handle, but something about the way Disney does drops makes it okay for me, and it's more fun than scary (though there's always that split second of "what did I get myself into?" before the plunge). We got off grinning and wet, checked out our ride photos (my mouth is always wide open), and then took off for BTMRR.

If "this here is the wildest ride in the WILderness," then, in my opinion, the WILderness is pretty sedate. I enjoy the ride, but it's not exactly a thriller – it's zippy enough, but one of the best things about it is the brief park views from on high. I think I'd feel let down if I waited for 50 minutes for a ride, as we saw some folks doing the next weekend. Good thing we're devotees of the Fast Pass.

After BTMRR, we walked over to Pirates, which had a ten minute wait posted. Bill and I gaped at each other – could our luck with wait times really be this good? We were used to short lines in the first week of December, but we figured that by midafternoon, we'd be stuck waiting on some 30-40 minute lines, at least. But no – we zipped right through the line and onto a boat. Wow, that Jack Sparrow animatronic is good. That's one lifelike pirate! I wasn't sure whether we'd be getting to see the "real" Jack Sparrow, live and in the flesh, while we were in the parks, as I'd heard conflicting reports about whether or not he was making appearances, so I soaked up all the Johnny Depp-ness I could from the ride.

Well, the bakery was calling to us again – lunch had been so good, we decided to go back for cupcakes. Normally, our diet does not include ice cream and cupcakes on the same day, or even in the same week, but this is Disney, and anything goes while we're here. Besides, with all the criss-crossing of the park, we usually come home only a pound or two heavier than when we left. Or so we like to tell ourselves…

By now, it was almost 5:45 – four hours in the park just sped by! – so we stopped to watch the castle lighting ceremony. This was really breathtaking – though I'd seen pictures of the castle lit up with the icicle lights, seeing it transform piece by piece as the sky darkened behind it was so beautiful.

After the castle lighting, we decided to walk back to the Contemporary and check in to our room. "I can't believe this is just our first day," said Bill, "and it's already been so great."

"And it's only half over," I reminded him. "We still have our dinner reservations at Le Cellier to look forward to."

Though we'd never been there before, we heard such rave reviews from the DIS boards, and we'd perused the menus on AllEars.net, so we knew this was going to be one of the dining highlights of our trip. And it seems it's the highlight of lots of other people's trips, too – when I called for an ADR at our 180-day mark, I was told that there were no more tables for two at 8pm. We happily accepted 9pm, though it meant we'd miss Illuminations on our first night. We'd never seen Illuminations in full on our last two trips (shocking, I know!), but we had plans to go back to Epcot the next night and catch it after an 8pm dinner at Marrakesh.

So we got back to the Contemporary and found our room, which had a spectacular view:

Just the greatest view ever. We had a bay view the first year we were at the Contemporary, which was pretty, and we had another bay view from the GF in 2006 – again, pretty, but NOTHING like looking out the window and seeing the lights, colors, and motion of the Magic Kingdom. The rooms had been redesigned since our last trip – we were kind of sad ahead of time that we wouldn't be back in the bright, wacky, pop-art rooms of the old Contemporary, but the new room was really lovely, and spacious, too. Helpful DISsers had warned us about the flat sinks, lack of counter space, and towel racks too far from the shower, so we were prepared for those tiny drawbacks; I thought the automatic nightlights more than made up for them. Also, in 2005, I was freezing in our over-air conditioned room, so I thought the new thermostats were great, and I was able to sleep much more comfortably.

We hugged and kissed and shmooped around for a while, reveling in our happiness – not just the happiness of being in Disney, but the joy of being there with someone else who appreciates it, and appreciates you. Bill and I can be happy anywhere, whether it's on a crowded subway or standing in line at the grocery store, but it's no surprise that our happiness is amplified when we're a) on vacation, and b) at Disney World. So we were slightly delayed in getting out of the room, but soon enough, we were ready to hit the monorail for our first ride to Epcot...

 

[Glendamax]

Thanks for your description of Splash Mountain. I still can't work up the courage to get on it. Everyone says it's not bad. But when I look at that drop - WHEW!!!

Your pic of the castle is GORGEOUS! It was harder to photograph than I thought!

I'll be around for more!

 

[girlbomb]

Glendamax, I hear you! I was definitely wary of going over that drop the first time -- had I not been encouraged by Bill, I probably never would have done it. I wish there were a way for people to experience the ride without the drop, because the rest of it is adorable (and quite placid). But if you ever decide to do it, you can take comfort in knowing that the drop lasts, literally, for about one and a half seconds -- you can say "one, one thousa--," and it's done.



Back to the report, and our first night at Epcot!

I still had my maniac grin on as we rode the elevator down to the fourth floor, and quickly boarded the monorail that had just pulled in. The monorail has another one of those signature Disney smells – it always smells like band-aids to me, though I've heard that in the summer it can smell a lot worse.

If you're just joining us, welcome! Well, thank you, monorail voice! We've missed you too. The 4 train from Fourteenth Street has nothing on you. It goes to crummy places like work, whereas you take us to the Ticket and Transportation Center, where we can transfer for any bus we choose, or the monorail to Epcot! Which is another awesome ride – I love the way the monorail loops through the park before dropping you off at the station. We overheard one monorail attendant call the loop "the teardrop," as in, "We've got one in the teardrop, time to move it along." Gotta love the behind-the-show lingo.

For us, Epcot has historically been an underappreciated park – it didn't help that we saw much of it in the rain on our first two trips. It seems like they cancel a lot of the performances in World Showcase in the rain, or maybe we just didn't stick around and give them a chance to appear, and when you can't amble through World Showcase happening upon the shows, you're bound to miss a lot of the atmosphere. So we were hoping that the beautiful, sunny 80 degree day we'd just had – now turned into a lovely 65 degree evening – was a portent of more great weather to come, and that we'd finally be able to give Epcot the fair shake it deserved.

The wait times for Soarin' were posted on those helpful displays as 60 minutes, with no FPs left for the day, and we didn't have all that much time before our reservation, nor were we going to wait on any 60 minute lines when we knew we'd be back to the park multiple times before the trip was through. But we'd heard that Test Track had instituted a single rider line since last year, so we headed off in that direction. Standby was 45 minutes, so we opted for single rider – as shmoopy and in love as we are, Bill and I would rather minimize our time in line than wait for 45 minutes to ride in the same car.

The single rider line took maybe ten minutes, and then we were off. I'd forgotten so much about this ride over the year, including the part where the truck comes right at you, so it was as much fun as it was the first time we rode it in 2005. Maybe it's only going 60 miles per hour, but with the wind in your hair and those banked curves, it feels so much faster! And, like so many outdoor rides at Disney, it has a whole other feeling to it when you ride it at night.

We reconvened after the ride, and started heading towards Canada, pausing to take note of the fountain, which was choreographed to the Christmas songs playing in the background, and the whirligigs lining the corridor between the Innoventions buildings. We made a quick stop at Club Cool, where I loaded up on my favorite watermelon soda from China, and Bill helped himself to a cupful of Beverly – he actually likes the stuff! And I admit, I don't think it's that bad either. "It tastes like baby aspirin," I said, after a tentative sip, and Bill shook his head at me.

"Don't tell me you've been in the baby aspirin again," he said.

We still had about 30 minutes before our reservation, so we walked past the lighted archway and tree, then looked around the Canada pavilion, stopping in the shop, where we bought a selection of three ice wines (pricey, but yummy), and some maple candy – one box for my friend Stephanie, who turned me onto the stuff a few years ago, and one box for us. Then we checked in a little early, and were seated at five minutes to nine.

I'd heard that the tables were close together, and that the restaurant could be noisy, but we didn't find either of those things to be a problem – in New York, you get used to sitting right on top of your neighbors at crowded restaurants, and the noise is a given. We thought the dining room had a great atmosphere, and afforded us plenty of privacy to converse, as long as we kept our voices down (unlike the woman a few tables away, who was going over her touring plan at top volume – "Now we know where to find her," I said to Bill. "Yeah," he replied. "And how to avoid her.")

Our server was Mo, and he was terrific, recommending the perfect beer to complement Bill's filet (a Unibreu, but I didn't note which one). I was sad to hear that the cheese soup had bacon in it, as I'd been looking forward to trying it, but I don't eat meat (only fish). Still, I got to eat it vicariously through Bill, and he said it was excellent. My shrimp cocktail was delicious, with a spicy hint of wasabi in it. Bill raved about his filet, and my squash ravioli was very good, too. He ordered whisky chocolate cake for dessert, but I was full, and could only manage to steal one or two bites – yum! We eat very well here in the city, but this was a real treat. Le Cellier was every bit as good as promised, and more.

It was Extra Magic Hours, so we stopped at the bridge between France and England to get bracelets, even though we were quickly tiring after our big meal and our long day of traveling and fun. We just couldn't leave yet, so we decided to see O Canada, which is one of the many attractions we've missed in our past two trips. I love the CircleVision movies – they really give you the sensation of motion, and they're so beautifully filmed. It was a really satisfying ending to a wonderful evening.

But the evening was definitely ending – by now, it was about 10:30, and we'd been up and moving since 5am. Last year, I pushed myself too hard on our Disney trip, and wound up getting a terrible bronchial infection about four days in; I promised myself that I would take it easier this trip and start heading back to the hotel before exhaustion kicked in, not after. It was so tempting to stop by Soarin' on our way out, or to check out the Nemo ride, but we did the smart thing and went right to the monorail and back to the hotel.

The beds had been turned down, and the curtains shut, so we flung them open and basked in the view one more time before turning in. The castle glowed purple and green, the Astro Orbiter circled its planets; across the lagoon, the Grand Floridian's white lights sparkled, and a monorail glided across its track. All was right with the world. We brushed and washed and changed into sleepy clothes, set the alarm for 6:45, and kissed each other goodnight – tomorrow, we'd be waking up for our first full day in the happiest place on earth.

Ten seconds later, I was fast asleep.

 

[Hedy]

I agree with you about Le Cellier (I'm a vegetarian and my mom is a pescetarian, so my family thought it was hysterical we went-highlight of our trip).

 

[girlbomb]

Hedy, I'm hanging on your trip report, and your food report! It's important for us vegetarians and pescetarians to stick together and swap info.

Day Two: Second verse, very similar to the first

Saturday, December 8 dawned before our sleepy eyes, as we woke to the 6:45 alarm and popped up to see if it was all still there, this purportedly magical kingdom – and it was! Right outside our window! Still glorious, even in the first light of morning. There was no delay as we set about showering and getting ready – who needs coffee, when you've got the excitement of a year's worth of waiting motivating you? I had to turn on our friend Stacy as we dressed, since she might have changed her Top Seventy Million Must Sees since last year – nope, it looked like everything was the same, including her hyper-perky delivery. (Did you know she's 37 years old? I want to know her secret for staying so young and excitable. Maybe it's having the best job in the world?)

We were out the door by 7:45, and the Contemporary was already in full swing – we could hear the celebration song at Chef Mickey's as we waited for the elevator. We hustled down the walkway to the MK in the warm sunshine, and went in through the turnstile marked "Character Breakfast." We love us some Character Breakfasts at the Crystal Palace, though I doubt we ever would have tried it, except for a mistake I made on our first trip in 2005…

(Here's where your computer monitor should dissolve into hazy waves, indicating a flashback. Flashback music, please! All right, now we're in the past…)

It was the second day of our trip, and I must have misread the Times Guide, because I thought the MK had EMH that morning, so we were at the gate at 7:45. Unfortunately, the park didn't open until 9, so I'd got us there an hour and a quarter early. D'oh! I was kicking myself and apologizing to Bill for depriving us of an hour of sleep, when a friendly CM asked us if we were there for the Character Breakfast.

"What's that?" we asked (so naïve!), and she told us that the Crystal Palace had a breakfast with Pooh and friends that allowed you early access to the park. "We'd love to do that," I said with regret, "but we don't have reservations." No problem, she told us – at this time of year, they probably weren't sold out, so if we wanted to try walking up, we could probably get a table.

Oh, anonymous CM, how we thank thee! Because of that friendly hint, we were able to walk into the park when it was nearly empty (such a cool experience), get ourselves a huge, delicious breakfast, and get out in time to position ourselves right by the rope to Tomorrowland for rope drop. At first, we were wary of the whole "character interaction" thing, because we were Cool, Cynical New Yorkers who Knew Better than to suspend any disbelief while we were at Disney, but by our third character breakfast, we were hugging and snapping pictures with the whole gang. Now it's a must-do for every day that we plan to open the MK…

(Okay, flash forward again…hazy waves, hazy waves, music, music…)

…Like today! We waltzed down a near-empty Main Street, the smells and the sounds already percolating in the air, and checked in at the CP, admiring our surroundings (ducks! castle! little girls in princess dresses!) as we waited the five minutes to be seated. "Have you joined us for breakfast before?" asked the friendly server who showed us to our table. Oh yeah, we assured her; we're old pros. We'll just be over here by the puffed French toast, making pigs of ourselves, thanks.

I know this is heresy, but I think the breakfast lasagna is a little bit too sweet. And yet I was able to stomach the puffed French toast, the chocolate croissants, and the Krispy Kreme donut holes that found their way onto my plate. (This was after, of course, the sensible plate of smoked salmon, fresh fruit, hardboiled egg whites, and – hooray! – vegetarian sausage I started with. I'm so glad they started serving veggie sausage; it's a staple of our diet back home.)

Our pals Tigger, Piglet, Pooh, and Eeyore came around, and we greeted each of them with delight. "We've been thinking of you, Eeyore," Bill told the mopey donkey. "We know how seasonal affective disorder can exacerbate depression." Eeyore nodded balefully, but indicated that our company was a tonic to his poor, tortured soul. As his is to ours.

After two or three plates full of breakfast, we were ready to settle up and head over to rope drop. We were horribly spoiled on out first trip, when we struck up an early-morning conversation with a friendly CM manning the Tomorrowland rope who saw us stake our place ten minutes before anyone else was even in sight – he noted our Just Married pins and gave us a stack of eight FPs good for any ride in the park (thanks, Alan! We've never forgotten you…). But since then, we haven't seen any CMs at the rope until a minute or two before the stampede begins. Doesn't stop us from standing there looking humble and deserving and conversational, though, just in case any should wander by.

Soon enough, the hordes had agglomerated behind us, the "good morning!" announcement was made, and it was time for the Very Fast Walk That Isn't a Run over to Space Mountain. Bill and I are both Very Fast Walkers, and we were in the second car to leave the space station that morning – whoo! What a way to wake up. At home, we usually awaken to cats stepping on our full bladders, then we exercise before showering. This beat the heck out of our regular morning routine, and it still got our heart rates up! We zipped through the exit and back onto the ride three more times in rapid succession before it built up to a fifteen-minute wait; then we got our FPs for later, and went over for a second look at the Haunted Mansion – every bit as thrilling as the first.

Another walk-on to Splash (with a stop to get Splash FPs), a walk-on to BTMRR, a walk-on to Pirates, an FP ride on Splash, a stop to get Big Thunder FPs, and an FP ride on Space Mountain just as our window was due to expire. Then we had to take a minute to congratulate ourselves. It was only 11:40, and we'd done 5 Space Mountains, 2 Splashes, a Mansion, a Pirates, and a Big Thunder, only criss-crossing the park once – man, we're good! We definitely deserved some lunch...

 

[girlbomb]

Lunchtime!

So we stopped at Cosmic Ray's for a perfectly serviceable bacon cheeseburger (Bill), a decent veggie burger (me), and two orders of fries (us). The toppings bar is great – it allows you to make a whole side salad on top of your burger, if you choose, which I did. And yet, we weren't quite full enough to make our stomachs hurt, so we stopped at the Enchanted Grove for a strawberry swirl. Yum! Not as good as the Dole Whip, in my opinion, but definitely tasty, especially as the sun got higher in the sky and the temperature hit a lovely 80-something degrees.

Having been so productive at hitting our favorite rides in the morning, we slowed down a little, and jumped on the TTA, which is always the perfect move when we don't know what we want to do next. Why not take a relaxing tour of Tomorrowland? Then we browsed around Sir Mickey's to look for the giant raising the roof:

Then it was over to Tink's Treasures to see her sparkle in her drawer. We have two good friends who are expecting a little girl any day now, and it was so tempting for me to load up on every single baby item we saw, but I practiced restraint – I knew we had plenty of shops yet to browse, and I had to pace myself.

Then it was time for the Pirate Tutorial over in Adventureland. Yo ho! A cutie patootie's life for me! Bill was very accommodating of my desire to see the famous Jack Sparrow, whose pictures I'd admired on these here boards, so we got ourselves some seats on the stone wall and waited for the show to start. It was about five minutes late in starting – "Pirates aren't known for their promptness," noted Bill – but it was worth it. That Jack is fantastic! Soooooo cute, and so true to the character.

He skedaddled pretty quickly after the tutorial, no doubt to escape the throngs of women who would have otherwise mobbed him. I knew they were doing autograph signings later, but I didn't want to ask Bill to wait in line with me so I could fawn over some other guy – after all, he hasn't dumped me for Ariel yet, despite her cute clamshell bikini top.

We used our last FP for Big Thunder, and then it was decision time. We had reservations for Marakesh at 8pm, so we knew we'd be hopping to Epcot – did we want to do so sooner rather than later? Even after all the time we'd spent in MK the day before and that morning, there was so much we hadn't done there yet, and yet I was getting itchy to get back to Epcot. Maybe we'd even get there early enough to get FPs for Soarin', one of my favorite rides in the whole World.

So we stopped back at the room to freshen up a little, and then just managed to catch a monorail as it was about to leave for the TTC. At the TTC, we just managed to catch the connection to Epcot. I was anxious about our decision on the way over – should we have just stayed at the MK? There weren't going to be any Soarin' FPs by 4pm on a Saturday; what had I been thinking? But then we got to the park, and before we could even check out what was happening over at The Land, we noticed that there seemed to be some kind of line in front of Spaceship Earth, almost like people were getting ready to ride it.

We'd been disappointed to learn, in the weeks before our departure, that Spaceship Earth's re-opening had been delayed until February, and was not going to be open when we were there – maybe, the rumors said, it might re-open on the 15th, the day before we were due to depart. But now it looked like we had stumbled into one of the previews – what luck! Our park-hopping gamble had paid off, and with perfect timing; if we hadn't caught those two monorails exactly when we did, we might have missed our big chance to see SE on our trip.

Well, the door in the construction barrier opened, and the line quickly snaked us onto the ride. Hee hee! There was plenty of palm slapping and self-congratulation as we seated ourselves in the vehicle. Spaceship Earth has only been a one- or two-time ride per trip for us, so I don't know it as well as I know some of the other rides, but it seemed to me that the first part of the ride had been faithfully restored, with few changes to the scenes. I know that a lot of purists are upset over the new Judi Dench narration, and I loved the old Jeremy Irons version myself, but I thought they did a great job of updating the story, which was a little outdated. Any version of the "future of communication" that doesn't involve the internet as we know it is going to seem hopelessly dated (I'm talking to you, Carousel of Progress!), so I was glad to see that this version had been upgraded to the digital age.

The descent, however, was disappointing. The blue starfield that you descend through is beautiful, but lacks a narrative. And the touch screen display that asks you to choose your own future was a cool nod to the old Horizons ride, but ours didn't work, and so we were looking at a grey screen for most of the descent. Still, we were super-psyched and grateful to have lucked into a preview of the ride, and we spent a few fun minutes poking around the interactive displays at the end. It turns out that I would be a rotten remote-control surgeon – probably best that I learn and accept this about myself now, before I go applying for one of those space station medical positions.

We couldn't have been happier as we left SE, and headed over to check out the wait boards. As predicted, Soarin' was all sold out of FPs, and the line was over an hour. But the Nemo ride, which we missed last year due to long lines, had a ten minute wait. So we went over to The Seas, and threaded our way through the queue.

Walking just ahead of us in line was a woman with two kids. They were all carrying these long plastic tubes of…could it be?…Goofy Powder! I became somewhat of a Goofy powder addict during our 2005 trip (of course, the folks back home smirked when I told them I was addicted to Goofy Powder – "We thought you gave that up back in the 80s," they said), but last year it was nowhere to be found. When I asked a CM at the Main Street Confectionary last year where the Goofy Powder was, she said they had stopped selling it, because it was "unhygienic." Huh? But apparently, there was Goofy Powder to be had somewhere in the parks again this year, and I was going to get me some.

"Excuse me," I asked. "Where did you get that?"

The woman looked at me like I was nuts. "Imagination," she said. I didn't even have time to thank her, before her daughter (who looked to be about four years old) took off, pushing in front of some people winding their way through the line ahead of her. Without stopping, or even saying "excuse me" to others, her mother and brother pushed ahead to catch up. Bill and I shook our heads – how rude! But at least she'd paused before line jumping to give me the info I needed.

I thought the Nemo ride was cute enough for kids, though I was disappointed that we didn't see more of the real fish in between the animated ones. The sea turtle scene was pretty cool, the way the waves washed over you; I felt like I was being tossed in the ocean, and I liked that. But Bill gave it a big thumbs down. "Charmless," he decreed, and I knew we wouldn't be giving it a second chance.

We walked around looking at the aquarium and manatee tanks for a while (the manatees appeared to be at lunch, or something, as they were absent from their tank). One of the only things we love as much as going to Disney is going snorkeling and scuba diving (though we've only tried it once, we're eager to do it again and get certified), so it was cool to see a group of divers go into the big tank and swim around. Maybe if we get certified by next year, we'll take the diving tour, but it doesn't look likely that that'll happen – we’ve kind of blown the vacation budget on the World (heh). And though we heard good things about it, we passed up making reservations for the snorkeling tour, because there's too much other great stuff to do at Epcot, and snorkeling the tank doesn't seem like a thrill compared to some of the other places we've snorkeled in the Virgin Islands.

As we were getting ready to leave the pavilion, a CM said they were just about to seat the next Turtle Talk show, so we scooted right in and got seats. As with Monsters Inc., I was impressed with Crush's improv skills, and how sweetly he interacted with the kids. We didn't feel the need to do it again on this trip, as we would Monsters Inc., but we were glad to have seen what all the fuss was about, and will probably go back next year.

(Up next: More Epcot, Marrakesh, and the Shmoopy DINKs are scolded!)

 

[AmericanCaesar]

Sorry about that Nemo... I just thought the ride was lacking 3-D jump-out-at-you-ness.

 

[Starwater]

Subscribing!

 

[katie26]

You got to ride SE! I'm so jealous!

I became somewhat of a Goofy powder addict during our 2005 trip (of course, the folks back home smirked when I told them I was addicted to Goofy Powder – "We thought you gave that up back in the 80s," they said)

And though we heard good things about it, we passed up making reservations for the snorkeling tour, because there's too much other great stuff to do at Epcot, and snorkeling the tank doesn't seem like a thrill compared to some of the other places we've snorkeled in the Virgin Islands.

Duuude! No way, it was awesome! Sea turtles everywhere! But I definitely want to get scuba certified before I go back to Disney so I can do the Dive Quest.

Loving your TR!

 

[girlbomb]

Thanks for subscribing, Starwater. And thanks for sticking with me, katie26. If you recommend the snorkeling tour, we'll definitely reconsider it fro next year!

And now, back to Day Two: Mo' Epcot, Please!

By now, I was pestering Bill to take me over to Imagination so I could get some Goofy Powder, not realizing that they sell it pretty much everywhere these days. We skipped the ride and went straight to the gift shop, where I happily filled my tube with the perfect mix of flavors. I also had to pick up a stuffed Figment for my friend Naomi, so I scored one of those. He was so cute and soft, I seriously debated getting one for myself, but I resisted – I didn’t want Tex, my stuffed armadillo, to get jealous.

With Goofy Powder in hand (and mouth), and Figment safely tucked inside my fanny pack (which I wear with pride! Love the fanny pack, people; embrace its awesome utility!), we headed over for another single rider trip on Test Track. Again, the single rider line got us into cars within five minutes – what a bonus! Is it strange that I like the smell of the corrosive acid they use? Probably…

Then we did Mission: Space, the green side – I did the orange side in 2005, and they should call that side green, because that's what color I turned. I'm not usually prone to motion sickness – Bill spins a mean teacup, and while I walk off wobbly, I never get sick – but this ride had me thinking almost immediately, "I'm going to throw up." Fortunately, I made it through the ride without making it unpleasant for my cabinmates, but I was queasy for a half hour afterwards.

(Note: The only other thing at Disney that left me feeling sick was our trip to Disney Quest in 2005. Those virtual reality games with the headsets were too much for me, and I could barely walk for an hour afterwards. Beware!)

Fortunately, Mission: Space green was a go for me. The only hitch was when someone passed gas in the briefing room – eeeeyagh. It was like Stitch’s Great Escape in there for a minute. But the ride itself was cool, even if Commander Bill insisted on pushing all the buttons and flipping all the switches multiple times during our flight. We must have gone in and out of hypersleep eighteen times!

Then we stopped at Mouse Gears to look for a t-shirt for Bill's brother, Kevin. Kevin's a little too cool for Disney World, but there was this vintage-looking EPCOT t-shirt that caught our eye, so we snapped that up, along with some plastic 2007 drinking glasses to add to our collection.

By now, it was time to hit the World Showcase, so we ambled in that direction. We'd seen Canada the night before, but we did a quick browse through England, where nothing much grabbed our attention. We've read the Imagineers guide, so we knew the historical significance of the buildings, which was cool, but other than that, there doesn't seem to be too much to see when there isn't a performance going on.

Off to France! On a tip from the DIS, we looked for the Beast's library – a pretty little room – and I sampled a few of the perfumes for sale. We also knew we'd be back to sample the pastries, as we had "snack around the world" written on our schedules for Thursday. And for the first time, we walked slowly and paid attention to the details of the area. "There's the International Gateway," I said, pointing it out to Bill. Even after two years of trips and careful study of the Unofficial Guide, I hadn't even realized that there was a back entrance to EPCOT before I read about it on the DIS. This year, another thing on our schedule was "boat from MGM to EPCOT."

We watched the Impressions de France film, and, as with the Canada film, I left thinking, "We've got to go there someday." I couldn't believe we'd been to EPCOT for two years without ever seeing O Canada, Impressions de France, the movie in China, or Illuminations! What had we been doing with our time? Probably waiting on the old standby line for Test Track.

Then it was time for dinner at Marrakesh. The waiting area was crowded when we checked in ten minutes early, but we were seated promptly. The restaurant itself struck us as kind of a big noisy box – the furniture and décor was nice enough, but it lacked a lot of the charm of some of the other restaurants. Our server was efficient but not especially chummy – maybe he was rushed. And the food was just so-so. Bill had the chicken bastilla, which combined chicken and fruit and cinnamon in the same dish – he's an adventurous eater, but this was disconcerting to him. His shish kebab was "just okay," he reported. I had the seafood platter – the appetizer was yummy, but the main course was bland, and the rice was like airplane food. Still, it came quickly (so quickly that it can’t have been made to order), and the belly dancer was diverting. So was the bill – $110, without dessert. We happily paid that much at Le Cellier, but for mediocre food, it stung a little.

We grabbed a honeydew kaki gori for dessert from the stand in Japan, and started looking for a good spot for Illuminations. By now, it was a little after nine, and most of the spots along the railing were taken. Bill thought we should position ourselves towards the Future World side of the lagoon, so we could exit the park quickly after the show, so we found some decent spots over there, our view only slightly blocked by the crowd in front of us, and some trees overhead.

Illuminations is impressive – probably more so when you have a better view – but it didn't grab me emotionally the way Wishes or Fantasmic does. Technically, it's a bigger and better show than Wishes, and I enjoyed watching it, but in a distanced, intellectual way, like, "Wow, that's impeccably timed, and probably really hard to pull off." I'm glad we finally saw the whole thing, though, rather than just flashes of it while running from attraction to attraction, as we did in years past. Maybe it was the anxiety of thinking, "We've got to get to the monorail station immediately after this ends so we can get back to the room before we collapse," that made it less than stellar for me.

Indeed, lots of people started hotfooting it out of the park even before the show had ended, which increased my anxiety. And as soon as we saw what appeared to be the finale, we took off in our patented Very Fast Walk towards the exit. We caught a monorail pretty quickly, and it filled up fast. Just before the doors shut, a couple with two kids got on and stood in front of us. I was thinking about giving up my seat to the little boy, who was maybe eight years old, when he started whacking Bill in the leg with his sword and coughing this horrible, phlegmy, racking cough right at us.

"Cover your mouth," said his mom, absently, so the little boy raised one forearm a few inches from his mouth and continued to cough right in our faces. My priorities quickly changed from his comfort to our well-being – I was NOT going to get sick the way I did last year. I spent the last four days of our vacation in physical misery last year, and when I got home, I was on antibiotics for two weeks trying to shake that bug. Bill and I shot each other alarmed looks and tried not to breathe in.

The dad was carrying what looked like a five-year-old in his arms, and he shot us a couple of meaningful glances. When we disembarked a minute later, he said pointedly to his wife so we could overhear, "You'd think that a couple of twenty-five year olds would give up their seat for a sleepy child."

Wow! I didn't know what to react to first – the idea that adults at Disney should automatically give up their seats for tired kids? Because if so, no adult would ever be sitting down anywhere on the property. There will always be tired kids around, and tired seniors, too – I'm more likely to give up my seat to the latter, frankly, as kids rebound much faster. Also, I griped internally, who told you to keep your kids out to the point of exhaustion, especially when your son is so obviously sick? I know it wasn't me or Bill.

Look, I'm not a heartless creep – I give up seats for other people all the time, both here in the city and while we're at Disney – but I was irked that the dad thought they were entitled to sit down, when there were plenty of other tired kids and adults on the monorail that night. I probably should have given up my seat anyway; that's probably why the comment stung so much. I find that criticism hurts the most when you agree with it. Still, I couldn't be too stung – I mean, the guy thought I was twenty-five! At thirty-eight, that makes you my best friend.

Anyway, they survived the four-minute monorail trip, and so did we, though we made sure to take an extra dose of Emergen-C when we got back to the room around 10:30. I made a few notes for my trip report, we admired the view, and then it was time for bed. Tomorrow was our Animal Kingdom day, and we were getting an early start. Like there's any other kind of start for us in Disney!

 

[Glendamax]

Fortunately, Mission: Space green was a go for me. The only hitch was when someone passed gas in the briefing room – eeeeyagh. It was like Stitch’s Great Escape in there for a minute.

OK - I don't know how I've forgotten to mention this in my report as well. I must've walked through at least 4 nasty farts a day! I HATED it! But it's even worse when you're with someone - like DISers you're just meeting - cuz I'm sure they're thinking it's a good chance I did it!

As for the monorail incident. I probably wouldn't have given up my seat either! The only way I would've done it, is if they were SUPER miserable and I wasnt! HA!

Looking forward to more!

 

[girlbomb]

Glendamax, I'm grateful for your input on the monorail situation. I actually agonized over it for a while. I definitely want to be a pixie-dust-spreading type of Disney goer, not the kind that people single out as rude!

And I doubt the people you were with thought that you were to blame for the gas in the parks, any more than you blamed them. The people here seem to have too much consideration for others for that.

Day Three: Animals and Adventurers

The alarm rang at 6am on Sunday, December 9, our third day in the World, and I groaned, briefly regretting those 7am ADRs for Chef Mickey's we'd made so blithely all those months ago (we’d never eaten there before, but we’d stayed right above it, and it looked like fun; besides, we like the character breakfast at Crystal Palace so much we thought we’d try another). But who needs sleep, when there's fun to be had? Bill and I got up and ready to go before the sun could fully struggle out of bed.

We checked in downstairs at Chef Mickey's, and we were some of the first people seated, which surprised me – back in 2005, it seemed like the restaurant started seating at 6am (or so the noise that regularly woke us up indicated). We were given a table in the room off to the right – I would have preferred the main room, but this was okay. The buffet was comparable to the one at the Crystal Palace, so we loaded up our plates and amused ourselves watching the kids being seated at the tables around us.

I know I'm a rotten, Grinch-y monorail-seat-hogger (see previous installment), but I really do love watching happy kids at Disney – it's like a vitamin I didn't know I was lacking. Vitamin Vicarious Joy. I think Bill sometimes worries that I'm going to get seduced by all the cuteness around us and start clamoring for a kid of our own, but he needn't – I'm very happy being a childless auntie to my friends' kids.

There was one little boy who was eating breakfast with his two dads, amusing himself quietly while waiting for the characters to make their way around to our section of the restaurant. When Mickey came into the room with his arms wide open, the little boy's mouth fell open with awe, and he turned to his dads. "I love you," he said softly. Well, I lost it. Just started crying into my veggie sausage, dabbing my eyes with my green napkin, and feeling grateful that I’d been allowed to witness this moment. Bill smiled at me and took my hand across the table. He knew there'd be plenty of happy tears like this to come.

"Minnie!" I exclaimed, when I got to meet her. "You're my fashion icon!" She giggled and indicated her pleasure. And really, you've got to give it up for Minnie – when we first toured her house in Toontown last year, we noticed how professionally and creatively accomplished she is – a painter, a quilter, the publisher of a magazine. A gal after my own heart. Then came Goofy. "Goofy, we've been talking to each other in your voice since we got here," we told him. "The joke never gets old." Which it doesn't, especially when we had Goofy speaking in Yiddish phrases: "Hyuk! What is this chazzerai? Garsh! You're giving me shpielkis!"

So we were all laughed and cried and fed, and it was time to head over to Animal Kingdom. After a few bad experiences waiting for AK busses in years past, we decided to skip the anxiety this year and budget for a cab. It was $20 with tip – extravagant, I know, but worth it, to us. We jumped in a cab sitting right in front of the Contemporary and got over to the gates of AK within ten minutes.

The family in front of us in line contained two women with full hairdos and makeup jobs, and I mean full. Like, there were little holes in the ozone layer right above these women's heads from all the hair spray they'd used, and their necks did not match the color of their pancaked faces. I really wanted to see them after they'd gone on Kali River Rapids.

After the gates opened, and we were stationed up front by the ropes, we noticed another family: a mom, a dad, and their teenaged son, who was frothing at the mouth with excitement. I couldn't help but smile at his eagerness, even though I just knew he was going to trample us on the way to Everest. Sure enough, when the rope dropped and we all took off on that Very Fast Walk behind the cast members, the kid nearly stumbled over his own feet to get there first. To bad for him – when we got there, the ride was down for an unspecified amount of time.

Boy, were people pissed off. "We're (unprintabled)," said one guy loudly behind us. "We ran to get here early, and now we're (unprintabled)." That's right, I felt like saying, you might as well go to the airport right now and fly home! The whole trip is ruined! Let's start a class action lawsuit! Bill and I just stood there smiling at the entrance to the ride, trusting our past experience, which told us that rides are rarely down for more than twenty minutes at a time. And our patience paid off – within ten minutes, the CM unlatched the chain to the entry, and we breezed through the queue and onto the first train of the day.

Woohoo! I LOVE Everest! It might even be my favorite ride in the parks, next to Soarin' and Space Mountain. I was terrified the first time I went on it last year, but now I love love love it. I wish the drop was even bigger! We noticed this year that the vulture was gone from the top of the mountain – "Maybe the Yeti ate it," suggested Bill. And then we sped through the near-empty line again for another four rides in rapid succession, stopping between rides two and three to get FPs, before it stacked up to a fifteen-minute wait. I checked my watch – we’d knocked off five rides in an hour, and that's with a ten-minute delay while the ride was down. We were off to another stellar start.

I noticed something unusual about the FPs we were holding – it said that we could get new ones before the window for the current ones had opened. I was glad I checked them so carefully, as this would benefit us all day long. So we got a second set of Everest FPs and then headed over to Kali River Rapids. It was too cold during our past two trips to ride it, but here we were in the midst of another sunny eighty degree day, and I’d prepared for this ride by reading up on it in advance on the DIS, and stuffing two ponchos into my fanny pack. So we poncho’d up and breezed through the empty line – almost too quickly, as we didn’t stop and appreciate the beautifully detailed queue.

(Note: Not only did I put on my poncho, I put on my extra chin.)

We got into a raft with a group of Australians, none of whom seemed prepared for the dousing we’d been promised, in their t-shirts and shorts. They looked askance at our ponchos, like we were wimps who couldn’t stand a little splash – they’d learn for themselves, I thought, as we took off on the adventure.

Well, the ride is pretty, but it’s short, and I spent most of it bracing myself for the dousing, so I don’t know if I fully appreciated the experience. And when the fateful moment came, the velocity of the fall flipped my poncho up to expose my lap, and a bucketful of water got me right in the shorts! Argh! But it’s good that Bill and I were wearing our ponchos – as wet as we both got, we were definitely in the seats that got hit the worst, and we would have been soaked to the bone without the protection we had.

So we disembarked and de-poncho’d, and went to the bathrooms to try to dry off a little. But one of the air blowers in the women’s room wasn’t working, and the other was occupied by a woman in a thin, soaked peasant skirt who was desperately trying to dry it in order to protect her modesty. I would have to put up with wet shorts – and, worse, wet undies.

But it was sunny, and we had damp but valid FPs in our pocket for Everest, so we were still in good moods as we took our sixth EE ride of the morning – last car, this time, and super speedy! Then we wanted to see the Nemo show. Not only were the DIS reviews great, but a friend here in the city knows someone who worked on the technical side of it, so we walked over to the theater a half hour before the 11:30 show was due to start, and got decent seats high up in the middle section.

We were eligible for new FPs at 11:10, so I left Bill to hold our seats and scooted back to Everest for another set, then made it back to our seats with five minutes to spare. By this point, it was standing room only.

WOW, is this show stunning. We’ve seen our share of Broadway shows, and this ranks with the best of them. The score and the script were great, the acting and singing were terrific, and the stagecraft was unbelievable. The puppetry, the acrobatics, the set pieces, the projections – it was a technical tour de force. And with such heart and feeling behind it! I loved it, and can’t wait to see it again next year. I only wished there were programs – the actors, writers, and technicians behind the show (as with every show at Disney) deserve so much credit.

Coming up next: Yak & Yeti, Boma, and...uh, some other stuff in between the meals!