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

[Hedy]

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.

I completely agree.

 

[LouDisney]

I am in and loving your TR!!!
I am going to have to check out your two books when I get back from my NYE trip.

 

[piglet50]

i am enjoying your tr very much. thanks for the comments on the cr's new decorating. we want to try this resort on our next trip.

 

[MeLaNie9]

I am really enjoying your TR! We were also in WDW in early Dec. It seems like so long ago already! We ate at both CP for breakfast and LeCellier for dinner for the first time and loved them both. Um - that puffed french toast...I don't think I've ever eaten so much at breakfast, and virtually all of what I ate was puffed french toast! LeCellier was by far my favorite meal of the trip. I don't particularly like steak and was a bit disappointed by the other offerings - didn't think I would like anything else so I ordered the filet with the cream cheese potatoes and during the few moments that I wasn't shoveling this into my mouth, I was raving about it. Best steak I have ever eaten and best WDW meal I've had!
The castle with the icicle lights was gorgeous - your picture is great!
We also have that Very Fast Walk down, even with the 2 kids (in strollers), but were slowed a bit on this trip by MIL and SIL...oh well, we still did almost everything on our plan (glaring omission was Space Mountain which neither DH nor I have ever ridden).
Looking forward to more...

 

[girlbomb]

Wow! I'm so happy to see you here, LouDisney! Hope you will have a GREAT NYE trip!

And great to see you too, piglet50 -- I hope you'll like the Contemporary as much as we do. But I'd monitor the Contemporary thread for more construction updates, as I hear it's not as much fun to stay there when they're working on the place, as they will be doing again this spring.

And thanks for jumping in and reading along, MeLaNie9! It DOES seem like early December was a long time ago, doesn't it? I hear the only cure for post-Disney syndrome like ours is planning another trip.

And now, more of Day Three of our shmoopy and DINKy Disney trip!

Our great moods were in full bloom as we left the theater and walked over to the Yak & Yeti for some lunch. We were really eager to eat here, and especially to try the cream cheese dumplings, but it had been impossible to make ADRs before arriving, and by now it was prime lunchtime and the crowds were thick. So we settled for the Y&Y counter service, which had shorter lines than we’re used to seeing at Flame Tree (our usual AK lunch spot).

Sadly, the cream cheese dumplings are only available at the table service Y&Y. We would have to make do with two containers of shrimp lo mein and a frozen lemonade. The lo mein was filling, but pretty greasy and bland; then again, our standards may be too high, as we live near some excellent Chinese restaurants that we order from frequently. Next year, we’ll probably try the table service Y&Y, or maybe Tusker House.

Time for ride number seven on Everest, thanks to the FPs I scored before Nemo. This time, we asked for the front car, which is its own kind of thrill. There’s nothing like getting to the top, where the track has been ripped off – you really feel like you’re going to go right over the edge! It took an extra five minutes to get the first car, but it was worth it to do it at least once.

Then we walked over to the Safari to get FPs for later. It was the peak of midday, and the park was getting a little crowded, so we decided to soak up the atmosphere for a while and not try to wait for any rides. We immediately lucked into a little bit of atmosphere, when we passed by a tall, thin tree that appeared to be walking – it was DeVine, gracefully making her way along the path from Africa to Asia, before settling into a spot between two trees, where she faded expertly into the background.

We walked around Camp MinnieMickey, which we’ve never seen before, and did a slow tour of the Pangani trail, highlights of which included the hippos, the meerkats, and the colobus monkeys.

(“It’s fun to do this trail slowly,” we said to each other. “You miss so much when you’re racing around.” And then we spent the rest of the day racing around, and missed the Maharajah Jungle Trek, the Affection Section, or the Oasis. )

People were starting to line up along the parade route, but we weren’t interested in seeing the parade – we decided to use the time to see some more attractions instead. There was no line for It’s Tough To Be A Bug; we just walked in, got our bug-eye glasses, and were seated in the theater within five minutes. We always enjoy this show, especially the end, where all the bugs leave the theater, and you can feel them passing under your seat. It’s a shame that it scares the little ones so badly – every time we’ve seen it, a frightened child has to be taken outside, and this time was no exception.

After ITTBAB, we wanted to catch Flights of Wonder.

This was funnier than we expected, with some great CMs playing different roles in the show. Overall, we thought it could be longer on information and shorter on Stupid Pet Tricks, but the birds are really impressive and beautiful,

By now, it was 3:30, and time for our Safari FPs – of course, we stopped at Everest for fresh ones before heading over to use these. We also stopped for a frozen banana, and wound up seeing the last few floats of the parade pass by. The floats are well-themed to the park, but I thought they were nowhere near as dazzling as the floats for some of the MK parades.

Despite the fact that the park felt crowded, by 3:45 the standby line for the safari was practically nil, and we saved no time at all using our FPs. The animals were out in force for our safari, and our guide was lively and easy to understand (we’ve had some duds in the past). He went easy on the “Little Red” subplot, which I appreciate – the animals are the real draw for this attraction, not the made-up story.

We got another Everest FP on our way over to Dinoland, and waited only five minutes for the Dinosaur ride. But somewhere in the Pleistocene era, or something, the ride broke down, and we were sitting in complete darkness and silence for a few minutes. Creepy! You couldn’t see your hand in front of your face, it was so dark. I knew we weren’t really in the Pleistocene, but I was still a little relieved when someone in our car pulled out his cellphone and used it to cast a little light around.

After a few minutes, the ride started up again, and brought us safely back to the present, but I felt like we hadn’t really had the full experience the way we were meant to, so we jumped on the line again. Of course, the line ground to a halt while they checked the ride out. Were just about to abandon it, when the CM ushered us into the pre-show, and soon we got the full, uninterrupted version of Dinosaur. Hard to say if it’s scarier with the lights on or off!

Having read the Imagineers’ Guide to AK, we stopped to appreciate some of the “backstory” that went into Dinoland. Apparently, the legend goes, a gas station owner named Chester and his wife Hester found some dinosaur bones on their property, and immediately tried to cash in on it by throwing up a tourist attraction and gift shop. A serious scientific institute followed shortly thereafter (this would be the Dinosaur building/ride); they clashed with the ticky-tacky Chester and Hester vibe. There’s more backstory involving the wacky grad students of the institute, but our heads were already spinning trying to keep up with the convoluted tale, so we just looked around, nodded, and jumped on a twenty-minute standby line for Primeval Whirl.

A little girl and her dad were sharing our time machine, and it was really fun to watch her reaction to the ride – she was trying to be cool in front of her younger brother, who was waving to her from the bottom of the ride with mom, but her hands were tight around that safety bar! I gave an exaggerated “whee!” for her benefit every time the car spun. I probably came off as demented.

We went back to Everest to use our FPs and get new ones, but the standby line was so short that we decided to do standby instead. It would save us our FP, and give us a chance to stop and look at the queue a little bit. Bill and I are both avid viewers of the Discovery Channel’s series about climbing Everest, and I’ve read four or five books about mountaineering, so we really appreciate all the detail that went into this attraction. But we only waited about ten minutes before we were once again seated in that tea train, climbing the mountain and then plunging back down again. Eeeek!

The standby line had built up again when we got off, so we used our first set of FPs for our ninth ride of the day. We still had one more set, but we wanted to save them for after sunset. In the meantime, we went back to Dinoland, and saw that the line for Triceratops Spin was close to nothing. Sure, it’s a ride for kids, but we’ve never been on it, so we hopped aboard and enjoyed a pretty view of the area while it spun. One more fifteen-minute standby ride on Primeval Whirl, and it was time for our tenth and final Expedition Everest of the day.

This ride is stunning after dark. The views of the park, and the rest of the Disney property, are so beautiful – I’m so glad we waited to use that last set of FPs. We had to hurry to leave the park to get to our 7pm reservations at Boma, but we stopped to take one last picture of the mountain on our way out.

Then it was off to the Animal Kingdom Lodge for what would be one of the best meals of the trip – stay tuned!

 

[Echo queen]

Great TR, I can really relate to your 360 wait, I just booked CR yesterday for Christmas week 2008.

I thought the tree lady in AK was just amazing.

 

[girlbomb]

Thanks, Echo Queen! We're back in the 300+ days club with you -- just booked our trip for next December.

Night Three: Adventures in Eating and Clubbing

We’d never seen the Animal Kingdom Lodge before, and when we walked through the front door we were instantly impressed.

I felt like I knew the place, from some of the trip reports I’d read, but seeing it in person was overwhelming. Grand, exciting, full of interesting details and evocative design, a pleasure to look at and explore – this place is a knockout. Unfortunately, there was a huge line at the Boma check-in, so I staked our place in line while Bill wandered around and took pictures. After ten minutes of getting nowhere, he relieved me in line so I could take a look around.

It took fifteen minutes just to check into Boma, and then another five before our pager went off and our table was ready, but once we were there, we were delighted. Everything at the buffet looked and smelled great. Our server, Stephen, was very personable, and recommended a good beer for Bill. Then it was off to the buffet! We were only slightly delayed by the mother who had entrusted her five-year-old with her own plate, pointing at each dish in turn and explaining what was in it before asking, “Do you think you might want some of that? Are you sure?”, while the line stacked up twenty people deep behind her.

But we got our food, and it was fantastic. Man, was this a great meal. The string beans with coconut curry, the potatoes with Afritude, the avocado/papaya/grapefruit salad, the kool slaai…I can’t even remember half of what went on my plate(s), but all of it was delicious. First Le Cellier, now Boma – the DIS recommendations were turning out to be some of the best meals we’d ever had on site. We finished with some of the famous zebra domes, and they too did not disappoint.

After dinner, we spent some more time looking around the lobby, and going out to see the animal enclosures in the back. How cool, to see a bunch of zebras and giraffes just hanging out, chilling, right there in the backyard! Except we wondered, as we wondered a few times at AK, if they were disturbed by the amount of human interaction to which they were subject. Maybe next year we’ll take the behind the scenes tour of AK that details how the animals are housed and cared for.

Then it was off to a different kind of animal adventure, at Pleasure Island, where the dress code seemed to mandate cleavage and/or tipsiness. Not that either of those is a bad thing – I’m often a fan of both – it’s just different from the parks, which are so laid back. We’ve never been to any of the clubs at Pleasure Island, and we skipped the whole Downtown Disney area on our last trip, but we heard such intriguing things about the Adventurer’s Club here on the boards that we put it on the schedule for this trip.

The next two and a half hours were epic. I have not laughed like that in a long, long time. Once again, I was bowled over by the talent of the performers that Disney attracts, their improvisation skills, and the way they interacted with the guests. Not to mention the Imagineering on that place, where mooseheads and masks talk, ships-in-bottles capsize and sink, and the head of security is made of wood and fastened to the wall:

There were hilarious sketches, raucous songs, and, apparently, some pretty stiff drinks (we didn’t have any, but we witnessed their effect). The hours flew by, and the only reason we eventually, reluctantly left was because we’d been up since 6am, running around for three days straight, and were risking our eyes crossing (and staying that way, as per our mothers’ warnings) by continuing to stay out. But we promised ourselves that we’d make room in our itinerary to come back later in the week, even if it meant knocking something else off the schedule.

So we splurged on another cab back to the Contemporary ($16 bucks total, including twenty percent tip), got back to the room, and got ready for bed. A day that starts with crying over a little boy’s happiness at Chef Mickey’s; takes you through ten rides on Everest, several awesome animal encounters, and a Broadway-quality show; sees you at one of the most creative and delicious dinners you’ve had in a while; and winds up with you laughing your butt off at an Adventurer’s Club – now that’s a great day at Disney.

 

[girlbomb]

Merry Christmas, everyone! We just finished watching the parade, and are getting ready to go see my folks for the day. I hope you all are having a wonderful holiday so far!

Day Four: Studios! And: So this is the Boardwalk…how do we get out of here?

Monday, December 10 was – yawn – just another gorgeous, sunny day promising great fun. How did we stand it? We were up by seven, grabbed our breakfast from the Tempo Grab n’ Go on the fourth floor of the Contemporary, then lucked into a quick ride to the Disney Hollywood Studios in time for rope drop. We’d made it through the turnstiles, and were watching the opening ceremony before rope drop, when we noticed the extremely excitable teenager from AK’s rope drop the day before.

Once again, he was bubbling over with enthusiasm. “Seven years, Dad,” he kept repeating. “I’ve waited seven years for this.” He and his mom and dad went over their itinerary – dad and son were racing to the Tower of Terror, while mom got FPs for Rock N’ Roller Coaster. I overheard them say something about FPs for Star Tours, and I leaned over to kibbitz. “You probably won’t need them,” I told them. “There’s never more than a ten-minute wait for Star Tours this time of year.”

This kicked off a conversation between me and Excitable Kid, who was fourteen, and had last been to Disney World at age seven. “I am so excited,” he stressed, as though his constant fidgeting and the spit flying from between his braces didn’t say it for him. “I’ve been waiting for seven years to ride this ride. We’re going to be first for the Tower of Terror. My family, we always like to be first. We were first yesterday at Expedition Everest, but it was down…”

I remember, I wanted to say, but just smiled instead. After all, we invest the same effort in getting to the parks early and powerwalking to the biggest ride. Who we were to judge Excitable Kid?

The family of the day said their famous line – “Hollywood, here we come!” Then the rope dropped, and we took off on the Very Fast Walk to the Tower of Terror. I was right up there with Excitable Kid, chatting the whole time, and we all wended our way through the queue and the pre-show to get on the same first elevator of the morning. “WOO!” he said, throwing his arms up into a V for victory. “First elevator! Seven years, Dad! Seven years!”

Bill and I had only been waiting one year, but we were pretty psyched too. We love the ToT. Last year, we rode it 24 times in the eight days we were at Disney, often four or five times in a row, when the line was short. And I never would have ridden this ride without Bill’s coaxing…

(Flashback music! Wavy monitor! Going back in time now…)

It was our very first night on our very first trip to the World, December 2, 2005, and I wasn’t sure Bill was enjoying himself. As noted, he’d been skeptical about the idea of going to Disney to begin with, and only agreed to come along because we were taking a dying teenager on a dream-making vacation. Then we realized we were going without her. Bill didn’t back out of the plan, and even started to absorb some of my excitement over the trip vicariously, but the day of or trip was a mess. First, we were delayed in the airport in New York for three hours because of weather; then on the plane, I quickly downed a half-bottle of red wine from the drinks cart (did I mention my fear of flying?) and threw it up in the bathroom. Yeah…I’m not always so much fun to travel with.

When we finally checked into the Contemporary, it was too late to get to the MK before closing and ride Space Mountain, as I’d planned, so we went to the TTC for a bus to the Studios, which had EMH that night. There we waited in a long line while two busses came and filled up without us getting on. We finally got on a third, crowded bus, and I could see that Bill was thinking, “Is this what I signed up for?” I was practically in tears on the bus, knowing that he was NOT having a good impression of the place so far.

We got to the park, and went on Star Tours, which I thought he’d like, being a big Star Wars fan. But the ride itself is…kind of not all that great, and I could feel the disappointment coming off him. Then it was off to the Muppets – come on, who doesn’t love the Muppets? The movie got a chuckle or two from him (the man was cranky, but he wasn’t dead), but I don’t think it overwhelmed him with how great Disney was. So we stopped at what was then called the Flatbread Café (I think – now it’s the Studios Catering Company counter service), and I asked him, “Well, what do you want to do?”

And he said those three dreaded words. “Tower of Terror.”

Well, the whole reason I don’t like flying is because I can’t stand the turbulence, especially that stomach-dropping feeling you get when the plane loses altitude. I also have a fear of heights. And rides with the name “Terror” in them. I think this is a reasonable fear. But I was willing to do anything to get Bill to have a good time at Disney World. So I said, “Okay.”

The screams of people riding the ride didn’t help ease my nerves as we waited the twenty minutes or so in the standby queue. That’s the only time I think I ever wished a line was longer – as long as we were on the line, we weren’t on the ride! Then we stepped inside the hotel library to watch the Twilight Zone video, and I really got spooked. But my resolve was firm as we threaded through the line in the boiler room. I was going on this ride, and I was going to survive it, no matter how much it terrified me.

And it terrified me! The zooming ascent, the way the doors opened to show you just how high above the park we were, and then the tantalizing wait – AHHHHHHH! Then the drop! And then it did it again! I screamed my brains out – I wish we’d bought the ride photo for my first trip on the ToT, because I am sure I was screaming louder than I ever had before, or since. I was shaking as I got off the ride, but I’d also had more fun than I could have imagined. “That was great!” I said, bursting with excitement and pride. “I want to do it again!”

Okay, so flash forward with me two years (music! waves!), and we’re back on the ToT. Here I am waiting to go into the library for the pre-show, demonstrating the terror we are about to experience.

My palms are sweaty, but I’m not scared anymore; now I’m just anticipatory and happy. I love the view of the park from the window, and I love the fact that the ride is randomized so you never know when or how far it’s going to drop next. We did the ride four times in a row, stopping for FPs on our way out, then we took a break from screaming our throats raw, and headed to the Rock N Roller Coaster...

(More soon, and thanks to everyone who's been reading!)

 

[Echo queen]

So, what types of food, goods does Tempo carry?

 

[girlbomb]

Echo queen, the Tempo Grab N Go is pretty handy for standard snack fare. For breakfast, they had muffins, bagels, yogurt, fresh fruit, fruit cups, and cold cereal -- they might have had some other options, but we were in and out too fast to notice them. They also have pre-made sandwiches and salads for lunch and dinner, as well as pizzas. I just looked for a menu on AllEars, but there isn't one -- strange!

And now back to Disney Hollywood Studios, where we've just ridden the Tower of Terror four times in a row!

There was only a ten minute wait posted for the Rock N Roller Coaster, so we chose the standby line rather than the single-rider line, which was a new addition since our last visit. It turns out we know the Aerosmith pre-show by heart, even after a year’s hiatus. It didn’t take very long at all for us to be seated in our stretch limo, and take off like a shot! This ride is too exciting – like Space Mountain, this is another ride that I would probably never be able to do if I could actually see what was happening, but since it’s in the dark, my fear of heights isn’t triggered.

My only complaint about this ride (since I have a complaint about almost all of them, it seems) is that it’s too short. Oh, and it batters your head around if you don’t keep it firmly squashed against the back of the headrest – if I’m wearing earrings, I always take them off and put them securely in my pocket, because otherwise the backs stab me in the side of the head. But RnR is a really fun ride that we like to do multiple times. And with the new single-rider line, it looked like we’d be able to do just that, without having to use FPs.

We hopped back on the standby line, but this time it stopped for about ten minutes, as though there were some kind of malfunction. I was starting to get annoyed, but then I remembered – I’d rather be standing in line at Disney than sitting at my desk back in New York. Hadn’t I made a promise to myself not to get used to being here, or to forget what a privilege it is? So I fixed my attitude, and the ride too was fixed, and we had ourselves another great upside-down trip around the track.

As we walked back down Sunset Boulevard, we saw a Photopass photographer standing right there, with a great view of the ToT in the background. And I know I keep saying this, but Photopass is yet another thing that I wouldn’t have really understood or tried to take advantage of if it weren’t for reading about it on the DIS, but this year it was on our list of to-do’s. It was already our fourth day and we hadn’t tried it yet – maybe now was that time.

We must have picked the snottiest Photopass kid ever. He was young and cute and oh so superior to us – when he told us to put our feet together, and then corrected us (“Your OWN feet. No, your OWN feet. Not one foot from each of you. Your OWN TWO FEET TOGETHER.”), he was just rolling his eyes at us all over the place. We were like, “Oooookay, Zac Efron, sorry we wasted your time.”

So we took a few snaps with our snappy photographer, and then went to catch the end of the 11:40 Jedi Training Academy on the other side of the park. “It’s so unfair that they only let kids do it,” Bill griped. “I’d be great with one of those light sabers.” Indeed, as we stood there watching cute but hapless six-year-olds swing fruitlessly at Darth Vader, Bill could hardly be contained from muttering under his breath, “They’re doing it all wrong!”

One of the highlights of last year’s trip for Bill was getting to meet Darth Vader, a meeting that went horribly awry, as the pictures show:

Nothing would have made him happier than getting his revenge with a light saber. But alas, he was twenty-something years too old. Still, we both enjoyed the elaborate set, the script, and the performances of the actors. This guy can really swing a cape!

After the Jedi Academy, we took a ride on Star Tours, for old times’ sake. Hey, remember when you were totally underwhelmed by Disney? I wanted to ask Bill. We lingered in the gift shop, where I just had to buy myself a Storm Trooper t-shirt, and a wrist sweatband for Bill for his morning workouts. We skimped on the souvenirs in previous years, and we regretted it – we wouldn’t make the same mistake this year.

Then it was off to the Muppets, a show I truly love. The pre-show is great, as is the pre-show waiting area. Bill and I are always quoting one of the jokes from the pre-show to each other:

Sam Eagle: Stop this foolishness at once!

Gonzo: What kind of foolishness would you like to see?

The Muppet 4-D movie is exactly the kind of foolishness we like to see. Jim Henson, you were a great man; it’s only fitting that your show wound up at the brainchild of another great man, our Uncle Walt.

After a quick stop for Greek salads at the Studios Catering Co. (pretty good, and one of the only salads they seem to serve in the parks that doesn’t have meat on it), we took a quick stroll through the Honey I Shrunk The Kids playground, just to admire the scenery. We’d never stopped in before, as we have no kids, and are a little too big for the slides ourselves , but it looks like heaven for a small child. Then we had to stop by the candy store so I could get a smore and Bill could get some fudge. Diet, meet window! Caution, meet wind!

As we were enjoying our candy, we caught a few minutes of a skit by Streetmosphere. The Hollywood Glee Club was singing “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” to the tune of “Joy to the World.” It was hilarious, and I kept singing it that way myself for the rest of the week.

We were ready to use our pre-lunch FPs for ToT, but there was no standby line whatsoever (?!?), so we rode standby three times in a row. By this point, we were ignoring the pre-show video (“a dimension of sound, a dimension of sight, a dimension of mind”) and just clustering by the door that opens to the boiler room like overeager jerks. There are always a few CMs who put their own spin on the boiler room spiel; they’re our favorites. Like the one who said, just before the door closed, “Oh, one more thing, very important…”

Back over to the Rock N Roller Coaster, this time to use the single-rider line, as the standby line was now posting a thirty minute wait. The new single-rider line here is great – between this one, and the one for Test Track, we were saving tons of time and FPs for other rides. We rode single-rider twice, and it took us maybe twenty minutes total. Then we walked over to the 2pm Indiana Jones Stunt Show about 15 minutes before it was due to start.

I was surprised to see it so full – we had to get seats way over to the right, but they still provided a good view. Or so I imagine. I was so tired by this time that I put my head down on Bill’s lap, waiting for the show to start, and I fell fast asleep right around the time Indy outran the giant boulder.

Something similar happened last year, when we went to go see Lights, Motors, Action – I picked one of the noisiest and most raucous shows, put my head down on Bill’s lap, and fell completely asleep. Do you know how tired you have to be to sleep through Lights, Motors, Action? It’s no Hall of Presidents!

Anyway, we’d wanted to see Indy one last time, as we hear rumors that it’s on its way out. Oh well – at least Bill saw it. And I caught some badly needed dozing.

(Up next: More DHS, and lost in the Boardwalk!)

 

[Marc A.]

"I'm a liberal feminist...."
Didn't know they were allowed on the premises...
Just kidding, love the report and your pics.

 

[girlbomb]

"I'm a liberal feminist...."
Didn't know they were allowed on the premises...
Just kidding, love the report and your pics.

I know! I'm either getting kicked out of the Disney club, or the liberal feminist club. Probably the liberal feminists.

Thanks for reading! More coming soon...

 

[Hedy]

I know! I'm either getting kicked out of the Disney club, or the liberal feminist club. Probably the liberal feminists.

Thanks for reading! More coming soon...

You and me both, sister.

 

[girlbomb]

Well then, Hedy, we'll just have to start our own club, won't we?

Now back to the Shmoopy DINKs adventure in gawking, riding, and face-stuffing!

After Grandma Girlbomb had her nap, we headed over to the Great Movie Ride, which was a walk-on. I love the movie clips they show before the ride, and the clips they chose for the ending of the ride, and some of the setpieces during the ride are great, but of course I have to find fault with everything, so I walked off the Great Movie Ride shaking my head.

“I just don’t understand the narrative,” I said to Bill. “I mean, the gangster wants to make a quick getaway, so he takes over the slowest-moving vehicle possible, and then it just sits there for an awkward minute before it even moves? And…we’re supposed to be his hostages? Or not? And then the ride operator comes back, and she says she went to get popcorn? I just don’t get the story they’re trying to tell.”

I know, I’m putting way too much thought into it. But it feels like such a near-miss, like if they straightened out the script a little bit, the whole thing would make much more sense. Or maybe they could just take us through scenes from movies without the logically faulty subplot. Anyway, I must really enjoy griping and quibbling, because I do it so often and so well.

So we went back to a ride with a perfectly understandable plot – Tower of Terror – and there was still no standby wait. “Is it normal for this ride to have no line?” I asked the CM at the podium before the libraries. “It’s the time of year,” she said. “This is the slowest it ever gets.” Her answer made me really smug – we managed to go during the slowest time of the year! And I’d worried that maybe the week after Thanksgiving was better than ours, or the second week of January. We got two more rides in on ToT, and then it was time to check in for our 3:50 “dinner” reservations at Hollywood & Vine.

Neither of us usually wants dinner at 3:50, but that’s what they offered us for the Fantasmic package, so we took it. We did the H&V Fantasmic package our first year, and it worked out well; last year we took our chances and saw it standby and had even better seats (aside from the kid behind us kicking us – oh, and the Pop Warner cheerleaders who would not stop cheering for the whole half hour before the show). This year, we were tempted to do without the package, but we were going to MGM on a night when there was only one showing of Fantasmic, not two, so we figured we’d rather be safe than sorry. Also, we like the buffet at Hollywood & Vine. It’s noisy, but the kids are always having a great time with the characters from Playhouse Disney, and that’s another big draw for me.

Well, they stopped having the characters at “between times.” But the food was as good (and rich) as ever, and we took our time indulging in plenty of it.

After lunch, we didn’t know what to do next. We’d been on Tower of Terror nine times already, so we were ready to give that a break, and Streetmosphere was nowhere to be seen. There weren’t any other shows we were interested in seeing (I could have seen Beauty and the Beast again, but Bill was satisfied with seeing it last year and had no desire to see it again), and neither of us felt like shlepping over to the Backlot Tour, (which used to be sooooo much better, in my opinion, before they gutted it to make room for LMA). And they took away Who Wants to be a Millionaire! We loved playing it on our first trip, and Bill was going to be next in the hot seat, when the show ended. Now we’ll never be able to win that cruise! Unless the Dream Team wants to help us out…

So we decided to check out the friendship boats I’d read about on the DIS, and to look around the Boardwalk, before it was time for us to be seated for Fantasmic. On our way out of the Studios, we met a much friendlier Photopass photographer:

And Bill took this shot of the gates, with the sky darkening behind us:

Then we located the boat launch, and had fun watching the Happiest Ducks on Earth waddle and swim around while we waited for the boat.

Once aboard, a young CM led us all in some Christmas carols, starting with “Frosty the Snowman.” As it happened, nobody on the boat actually knew too many of the words to Frosty, so she had to abandon that one for “Rudolph” (sung to its own tune, and not “Joy to the World”).

The boat ride was slow, and our time window was somewhat short, so we decided to get off at the Swan/Dolphin stop and walk over to the Boardwalk ourselves. We were headed in that direction, when we saw two gentlemen I’d noticed earlier at the park, wearing matching Mickey shirts, matching Mickey crocs, and Happy Anniversary pins.

“Happy Anniversary!” we hailed them as we passed, and they smiled and waved thanks. “How many years?”

“Twenty!” they said proudly. “But we’re not legally married.”

“Neither are we – we’re domestically partnered!” we told them. They gave us a big thumbs up, then went on their merry way.

So we hit the boardwalk, which looks like a fun and lively place to hang out:

None of the entertainers were there yet, but I understand that there are a lot of wandering performers after dark. Too bad we didn’t get a chance to experience the Boardwalk in all its glory – we realized almost as soon as we got there that we only had a half hour to get back to the Studios for Fantasmic. So we breezed past all the intriguing shops, and asked a CM where the walkway to the Studios could be found.

I could have sworn I understood the directions she gave us, which started with “Go through that building, and you’ll see the pool area…” But we went through that building, and we didn’t see a pool area, just a parking lot. We started darting around like we were on The Amazing Race (one of our favorite shows), looking for people who might be able to give us directions, but finally we had to go back through the building and ask someone else. By now, time was really getting short.

But we found the pool area (“Cool pool,” we noted, as we jogged past it), and we saw the walkway, so we felt better. A brisk walk back through the gates, a stop at the restroom, and then through the special entrance to the ampitheater. Good thing we got there when we did (a half hour before the show was due to start), and good thing we had the package – that theater was full! We got good seats in the reserved section, as close to the middle as you can get over there, and sat down to wait.

This show is stunning. This is our third time seeing it, and I am still amazed by everything that’s involved – videos projected onto screens of mist; elaborate fight scenes staged on a mountain; the brilliant costuming and choreography; the way they set a lake on fire…just jaw-droppingly cool. I couldn’t imagine a trip to the World without a viewing of Fantastmic.

We were on the aisle, so we made it out of the theater pretty quickly, and hopped right on the empty line for ToT, which we rode another three times in rapid succession. Then it was almost time for park closing, but we wanted to see the Osbourne Family Lights, so we walked back to that section of the park. We found the menorah, which seemed to be missing a few candles:

Then we wandered around gaping, and watched the lights dance. I kept hoping that they’d play my favorite holiday song, the song I most associate with being at Disney World in December, “The Most Wonderful Time of the Year,” but as long as we lingered, it didn’t play. Seems like they had a lot more contemporary holiday songs playing during the Osbourne lights this year instead of classics, at least while we were there.

It was time to head out of the park, as they were closing, and our feet were beat. The line for the bus was super-super-long, so we once again spoiled ourselves and hopped in a cab back to the Contemporary ($16, including tip). We were chatting with our driver, a really nice guy named Ken, when my song came on the radio – “The Most Wonderful Time!” It made my already great night to hear it playing.

Just as we stepped into our room, we heard a loud sonic BOOM. Wishes was starting! We rushed out on to the balcony, and had a grand view, even if there was no music or narration. What a treat, to see Wishes from our room, after a long day full of treats.

After Wishes, went to bed, and were asleep by ten o’clock. Our fourth wonderful day at Disney had come to an end.

(Coming soon: Yet More Epcot, and a Very Merry Christmas Party -- with tears!)

 

[LouDisney]

I am just now getting caught up...great updates
Don't you just love Boma? It's a must do for me each trip. I love walking around the AKL too, it's so beautiful.

 

[Hedy]

We were on the aisle, so we made it out of the theater pretty quickly, and hopped right on the empty line for ToT, which we rode another three times in rapid succession. Then it was almost time for park closing, but we wanted to see the Osbourne Family Lights, so we walked back to that section of the park. We found the menorah, which seemed to be missing a few candles:

I *think* that's actually a kwanzaa kinara.

 

[Goofydiane]

Sounds like a great time already! Enjoying reading about the multiple times you are riding the attractions - sounds like one of my trips.

Hope the rest of the week was just as much fun!

 

[Backstage_Gal]

Subbing, back later!

 

[tinawv]

Great TR. There is no doubt in my mind just by reading your trip report that you are an excellent writer. I would like to read your book "Have You Found Her". I have a feeling it is going to make me cry though.

Happy New Year.

 

[girlbomb]

Thanks for hanging in here with me, LouDisney!

I *think* that's actually a kwanzaa kinara.

And thanks for the correction, Hedy! Here I am calling myself a liberal, and I don't even know a Kwanzaa kinara when I see one.

I'm delighted to see you here, too, Goofydiane and Backstage Gal. Thanks for reading, and for saying hi.

Great TR. There is no doubt in my mind just by reading your trip report that you are an excellent writer. I would like to read your book "Have You Found Her". I have a feeling it is going to make me cry though.

Happy New Year.

And tinawv, I am honored by your remarks. A very happy new year to you as well!