We went back over to Expedition Everest and it was running again! However, we were about 10 minutes early for our FastPass time. DW, DM, and Hailey went to the Maharajah Jungle Trek and DF, DS and I looked in the Everest gift shop for a few minutes. Finally, our time came around and we went in. The FastPass taker saw my dad's LSU hat and asked if we were all LSU fans. We responded that we were, and he told me to hold on to the FastPasses to come back again later!
9/8/2009 12:45 PM EDT About to board Everest http://twitpic.com/gzami
Everest was a whole lot of fun. During the backwards motion part, I knew I didn't but it sure felt like I went upside down. To me, it seemed like a bigger, better version of the Matterhorn (not that the Matterhorn is bad at all).
I must have had trouble posting this tweet because it was much later than it should have been.
9/8/2009 2:26 PM Time to go through everest with fastpass: 9 minutes. Great ride; yeti seems to be in B mode FYI.
After the 9 minutes it took to go from the FastPass entrance to exiting the ride vehicles, we called the rest of the group who were in the Jungle Trek. They stopped where they were to wait for us, and also told us that a friend of my wife's and mine from college, Tommy, was working in the bat house. We saw him briefly, then caught up to the rest of the group. The tigers were all sleeping, and overall it just wasn't the best time of the day to go through the trek.
After the jungle trek, we took the trek to Camp Minnie-Mickey to catch the Festival of the Lion King. My mother thinks this is the greatest show on property, and I agree that it's good, but come on, Nemo's better.
Again, I would have liked a longer lens. We were in the back of the elephant section, and it was a bit difficult to get good shots.
Hailey really liked the show, and so did everyone else. By this time all our stomachs were growling though, so we headed to Flame Tree BBQ.
9/8/2009 2:27 PM EDT Late lunch at flame tree BBQ. Looks yummy.
Wife and I got ribs, Hailey got a hot dog, and my mother got a salad. My dad and sister decided they were going to Pizzafari instead. Ribs were slightly dry but still pretty good. Hailey wasn't as thrilled with her hot dog, but my sister gave her a piece of pizza. We had chocolate cake for dessert, which was okay.
9/8/2009 2:53 PM EDT Same birds that were at EPCOT are here begging for food along with some ducks.
After Flame Tree, we realized we had done everything we set out to do today, so we took some PhotoPass pictures near the Tree of Life and headed back to the hotel.
We pretty much knew we were going to go to Downtown Disney around dinner time. Now our favorite there is Earl of Sandwich, but I was wondering if there were anything else we might want to eat instead, so I decided to get interactive with the Tweeple (Twitter people).
9/8/2009 3:13 PM Hey followers: do you have CS suggestions for DD? We're fans of Earl of Sandwich and will probably go there unless you have a better idea.
Back at Pop, Hailey and my wife took a nap, and the rest of us watched TV or wandered around. I did a bit of random tweeting and walked over to the main building for a mug refill.
9/8/2009 4:37 PM EDT Forgot to mention... Hailey has it in her mind that Aurora flew in from CA to see her. The pressure will be on to see her tomorrow.
This all started from telling Hailey that Sleeping Beauty Castle is in
Disneyland in CA. Since Sleeping Beauty Castle is in DL, then Sleeping Beauty must be there too, right?
9/8/2009 4:44 PM EDT Raining at Pop. First real rain we have had all week. Had a sprinkle in MK.
On my way to the main hall, it started raining. It got worse after I got there, so I hung out there for a little while and wandered around the gift shop.
After resting up, we got back on the bus and headed to Downtown Disney; once we got there, the rain came back.
9/8/2009 6:21 PM EDT Waiting out the rain and getting princess my little pony stuff at once upon a toy.
One of Hailey's favorite things are her My Little Pony toys. When we found out they had Princess My Little Pony stuff, of course we had to get it. We also found out that as long as the lid of the box closes, they really don't care what kind of condition the box is in otherwise. We stuffed every outfit, every accessory, and two ponies into the box; it was bulging and a bit torn on one side, but the top closed!
My sister also got Hailey a set of Toy Story figurines.
After the rain let up, we headed over to the World of Disney. We spent a long time in here, but didn't buy a whole lot. My sister bought one thing that she sent back to the hotel, and I bought the navy photo album with the pewter-colored medallion in it and sent it back to the hotel also.
Hailey wanted pictures with the Princess statues outside of the WoD.
Walk like an Egyptian?
Finally, it was time for dinner.
9/8/2009 7:43 PM EDT By popular tweeting, we are eating at wolfgang puck express for dinner.
The tweets say about all I have to say about WPE. I thought it was decent, but I would have rathered Earl of Sandwich.
9/8/2009 8:22 PM EDT WPE: pretty good, had a rotieressie beef focaccia. Wife had Cali. turkey hero,
9/8/2009 8:24 PM EDT Everyone else had spaghetti. Except for the kids portion, it didn't have enough sauce. Requested & received more. Creme brûlée was decent.
I don't have many good pictures of Downtown Disney because my camera lens kept fogging up and I didn't have any lens tissues to wipe it with.
After dinner, we walked through the Christmas Shop and the Art of Disney. My wife and I also decided to go back to Once Upon a Toy and get some Potato Head parts. Hailey already has a Potato Head, and we were getting a big kick out of the various parts they had. We got ears, the hands that let you hold, Cinderella parts, Tinker Bell parts, Minnie Mouse parts, and some other random stuff (including a Mickey Bar). There was absolutely no room left in this box and it looked destroyed, but once again the top closed!
9/8/2009 9:28 PM EDT Heading back to Pop. Picked up some Potato Head parts and stared at the art inside Art of Disney. CRT in the morning!
The Art of Disney is one of my favorite stores, but I can't afford most of the stuff in it I would want. We saw the Precious Moments piece that was premiering Friday and my wife wasn't interested, so we scratched those plans. Instead, we saw the Dumbo and the Tea Cups pieces and she was going to think about which one she wanted.
Coming up: Cinderella's Royal Table, the search for Aurora, and will we get the 9/9/9 pin?
The food was standard fare, nothing really stood out as absolutely delicious.
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