They Tried To Make Me Go To Rehab, But I Said No No No! Updt 11/7: Solo no more Pg.27

Here come the villains! Captain Hook, Smee and the pirates of Neverland:

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One of my favorite floats: "Face The Darkest Fears". This one features many of the fabulous Disney villains:

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The Evil Queen from Snow White is the "star" of this float:

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The 18-foot-tall inflatable Chernabog hovers over the Evil Queen's head:

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Other villains surrounding the float include Jafar, Malificent, and Cruella De Vil:

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Ursula rounds up the roster of villains:

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I call this picture, "Backsides on Parade" :laughing: :

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The next one that passes by is the "As Long as There is Imagination Left in the World" float. This float was designed after the Crystal Castle located in the Crystal Arts Shop on Main Street, U.S.A. (btw, is it still there? I never did get a chance to peek at it). It features a two-tiered snow globe and ½-inch thick, molded acrylic “crystal” turrets and towers:

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I think Peter looks awfully cute in this photo:

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....So I showed it to Sam and tried to convince him to be Peter for Halloween this year. Didn't work. Sam stubbornly insists to be Captain Rex the Clonetrooper Commander from Star Wars instead. :(

At least I was successful in persuading Jake to be Captain Jack Sparrow!


Back to the parade. One of Walt's ink and paint girls:

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The three fairies from Sleeping Beauty: Flora, Fauna and Merriweather:

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Now I was a bit disappointed that Disney decided to shorten the parade by placing all the Princesses and their consorts on the "Kingdom of Dreams" float. Last year, Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Belle and Ariel each got their own respective floats. I wonder if they did this just for the particular parade I saw that day, or if this is how they do the parade now. Anyone?

In spite of the "shortened" version, I remain fascinated watching the royal Princesses pass in front of me:

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My favorite Princess, Ariel with Prince Eric:

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The Beast approaches:

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...And waves directly at me:

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Goofy, Chip and Dale say farewell at the end of the dreamy and magical parade:

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I didn't want the "dream" to end....so, like a little kid, I chased the parade down Main St. while it made its way around Town Square, and as it disappeared thru the gates to the right of the fire station.....


Then I had to "float" back to earth as I realized I had to leave the Kingdom of Magic. You see, I was required by my company (who paid for most of this trip ;) ) to register at the convention hotel, the Omni Orlando. :sad1:

So I head towards the train station, towards the exit:

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I ride the bus to the Boardwalk Inn:

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Then take a cab to:

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The Omni Orlando Resort.

Coming soon:
Registration, a Dis-meet, and a Magical Evening.
Stay Tuned!
 
Wonderful parade photos. I never really thought about the theming/meaning of all the floats so it was neat reading about it. :thumbsup2
 

You are full of such interesting information! I love all the pics. I do the same thing at parades. I take pictures the whole time. I love looking back through them. It's like you're there all over again. Can't wait to see more!
 
As always your pictures were wonderful :goodvibes I felt as if I was on Main Street watching the parade :cloud9:


Now I was a bit disappointed that Disney decided to shorten the parade by placing all the Princesses and their consorts on the "Kingdom of Dreams" float. Last year, Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Belle and Ariel each got their own respective floats. I wonder if they did this just for the particular parade I saw that day, or if this is how they do the parade now. Anyone?

When I saw the parade in August all the princesses were on the same float ::yes::
 
Those parade pics were great!! Glad to hear that the rain didn't rain on your parade! When I have seen that parade, the princesses were all on the same float. Can`t wait to hear all about the Omni!
 
Thanks for the wonderful pictures. A beautiful start to my day!

Thank you for starting your day here :) There'll be more to come soon....

You are full of such interesting information! I love all the pics. I do the same thing at parades. I take pictures the whole time. I love looking back through them. It's like you're there all over again. Can't wait to see more!

I see y'all are back home! :goodvibes Thanks for checking in. I love the Disney parades, heck I love parades in general. I wish I could go to the WDW Christmas Day parade in the future.

Those pictures were GREAT! That parade is so nice! :cloud9:

Thanks for the nice comment! I do go overboard sometimes with the parade photos :upsidedow. Can't help it, I love all the costumes and color!

I looove that parade! Great update! Booo for work... even if they did pay for most of the trip! ;)

I know, I was thinking the same thing, BOO for work! LOL!

Wonderful parade photos. I never really thought about the theming/meaning of all the floats so it was neat reading about it. :thumbsup2

I am glad you like the little bits of trivia I try to add-on here and there ;)
 
Those parade pics were great!! Glad to hear that the rain didn't rain on your parade! When I have seen that parade, the princesses were all on the same float. Can`t wait to hear all about the Omni!

As always your pictures were wonderful :goodvibes I felt as if I was on Main Street watching the parade :cloud9:

When I saw the parade in August all the princesses were on the same float ::yes::

Hi Snow and Tiff! :)

Thanks for letting me know about that. I really thought they shortened the parade just for that day because of the threat of rain.

For those of you who are interested in seeing the Princesses in their respective individual floats, please visit my old Oct '07 TR (shameless plug! LOL!).

But if you don't feel like sorting through all those pages, here's some of them. I really hope they decide to bring this back......

Cinderella and Prince Charming:

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Belle and the Beast:

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Ariel and Prince Eric:

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For some reason, I don't have the one of Sleeping Beauty and the Prince, but you can kinda see a very small bit of theirs between the Kingdom of Dreams float and Ariel's float here:

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I am guessing that Disney is trying to save some money by cutting down on the number of parade floats they have to fuel up. :( Oh well.....

Update coming soon, after I tackle the :laundy:

Jen :)
 
Recap: When I last left you, I was on my way out of WDW after viewing the Disney Dreams Come True Parade. Here's the tail end of it:

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The Fairygodmother waves farewell at the end of the parade:

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I took the bus to the BWI, then taxied to the Omni Orlando Resort down I-4 towards Davenport. It was probably a 20 minute ride.

As I looked out the window of the taxi, I could not help but notice how stark and bare the "outside" world was. The world beyond the Disney gates was colored in dull shades of green, grey and blue. I felt a little sad as I passed beneath the WDW gate arch, but of course I knew I'd be coming right back so that feeling quickly went away.

Btw, my taxi driver staunchly attempted to solicit my Presidential vote in favor of Obama during the entire ride to the Omni. I was undecided at that point, and still am, in fact. But I didn't want to be rude (plus my safety was in the driver's hands ;) ), so I smiled and repeatedly nodded in pretended agreement towards every statement he made. Hey, Momma taught me never to get into an arguement about sports, religion and politics, and I always take her advice to heart. Always. ;)

Anyhow, I finally arrived at the Omni after that politically-charged cab ride. I paid the driver, and made sure I got a receipt. The company was reimbursing this afterall :rolleyes1.

I walked into the beautiful lobby:

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I asked the concierge where the Rehab Summit registration desk was, and I was directed to go down one floor to where the ballrooms were. I found it very easily, and signed-in. I received my badge, paperwork and a thick spiral-bound book with the info on all the seminars I would be attending. All of this came inside a big blue bag that announced "Rehab Summit 2008" in huge letters.

Then I poked around the resort a little bit.

This is the view if you look up, as you step out back towards the pool area:

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The "formal" pool with cabanas dotted around it:

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The lazy river, and the fence that surrounds the pool/waterpark complex:

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This hotel was voted by Tripadvisor .com as #2 on the Top Ten Best pools in the US. (#1 was The Grand Hyatt in Hawaii if anyone's interested ;)) And for good reason.

Not only is there the very sophisticated formal pool I metioned earlier. The zero entry heated family pool which sports a 125-foot corkscrew water slide is quite impressive. Nearby is the 850-foot-long lazy river featuring waterfalls, water cannons, tunnels and canyons, winding through lush landscaping. There is also a pop-jet and fountain play area, and a sandy beach! It reminded me of Stormalong Bay without the Disney theming. The best way I can describe it is like the Contemporary and the BC plus the WL pool areas combined. It was pretty amazing.

A partial view of the pool recreation area from above:

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Wow. I know the boys would absolutely love this place! But did I decide to check-in here after our stay at OKW ends tomorrow? You'll have to stay tuned to find out ;)

I decide to take a taxi back to the BWI and take the bus from there to the MK. Btw, the Omni does have a WDW bus shuttle service, but because I didn't want to wait another hour for it to come, I made my company pay for another cab ride. :rolleyes1

Also, though I could have taken a cab all the way to the TTC to get to the Magic Kingdom, I chose to stop at the BWI to get as close as possible to I-4 - to save the company some bucks! LOL! See, I'm not all that bad! ;)

I almost tear up as my taxi approaches the Magic gates:

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I get off at the BWI, then walk leisurely towards the bus stop. This was the longest wait I had to endure for a bus ride. :confused3 Nearly 30 minutes, now that I think about it. I am glad I did ride from here though, because by a stroke of good fortune I had the pleasure of meeting a fellow DIS-er! A serendipitous DIS-meet! :yay:

And for that, you'll have to stay tuned!:goodvibes
 
What a beautiful hotel...I can't wait to find out if you decided to stay there :goodvibes

I'm looking forward to reading all about your DIS meet :surfweb:
 
Yay:yay: Yay:yay: Yay:yay: I am loving it. That pool is amazing. I am a bit partial to my Stormalong Bay, having just spent a week there:rolleyes1 I will have one of those in my backyard one day!:lmao:
 
Great parade pics!

And what a beautiful hotel! It does look really amazing! I often wonder about staying offsite, there are some really nice places, but then I think I'd miss being onsite too much.

Allyson
 
What a beautiful hotel...I can't wait to find out if you decided to stay there :goodvibes

I'm looking forward to reading all about your DIS meet :surfweb:

Hi Snow! I hand-wrote my next post on 4 pages of paper at work - I think I musta been too detailed about it but it was so fun to write! :)

Yay:yay: Yay:yay: Yay:yay: I am loving it. That pool is amazing. I am a bit partial to my Stormalong Bay, having just spent a week there:rolleyes1 I will have one of those in my backyard one day!:lmao:

Hey Talissa! I wish I could tell you if we stayed here or if we chose the POP! ;) Stay tuned...btw, if I stayed at the BC, I think I'd be partial to SAB too! Hope you post some wicked pics of that! :)

What a nice pool! Im inpressed! I cant wait to hear about your dis-meet!

Hi Tink! One DIS-meet chapter coming up! :)

That IS a nice pool! WOW!

Can't wait to hear about your meet! ;)

Hi! The pool complex was lovely! :) WIll the boys get to enjoy it? ;)

That hotel looks really nice!

Hi Lessa! It was very cool. I loved how it was so uncrowded and laid-back. It was a perfect convention location. :)

Great parade pics!

And what a beautiful hotel! It does look really amazing! I often wonder about staying offsite, there are some really nice places, but then I think I'd miss being onsite too much.

Allyson

Hi Allyson! I think that what you said weighed heavily on my mind when I was deciding where to stay after OKW. ;)
 
So after 30 minutes of waiting, the MK bus finally arrives at the BWI. Btw, the bus stop was full of DVC members who had just finished attending the members' welcome reception held regularly on this day/time at the BWI. And since there were plenty of folks who got on the bus, the only available seats were in the last few back rows, in the elevated tail-end section.

I took a forward-facing aisle seat, right beside a gentleman who had the window seat. In front of me sat a couple, a husband and a wife. Their seats faced the rear of the bus; we all sat facing each other.

The bus starts moving, headed to the Swan/Dolphin stop. It was a smooth ride UNTIL the bus makes a sharp turn and I almost slide off my seat, nearly falling into the aisle! :eek: The bus turns sharply once more, and I almost fall off my seat again! :laughing: I knew a fall would be inevitable if I didn't find something to hold on to! Problem was, there was nothing, no pole, no railing. Nothing......

.....Except for the seat backrest of the gentleman seated next to me! If I were to put my arm across his back and grab a hold of that, I would stabilize myself well enough to avoid the embarassment of sliding onto the floor! But then was the man gonna think I was trying to get fresh with him if I did that? :upsidedow I didn't want him to get the wrong idea that this solo travellin' gal was trying to take advantage of us being so closely seated. ;)

To avoid all that drama, I explained my situation to the man, and I boldly asked permission if I could put my right arm behind him. I remember babbling something like, "I didn't want you to think I was making a pass at you." :rotfl: The man was quite nice and readily said "of course!"

I had a very embarrassed smile on my face :blush: as I turned to the couple seated in front of me. They warmly smiled back. I noticed that the lady was wearing a lime-green top so I shyly asked her if she was on the DIS. She enthusiastically said, "yes" and gave her DIS screenname: Mickeypal1! Hi friend! :wave2:

I told her I was jakeandsamsmom on the DIS. We then had a truly nice chat while on the way to the MK. :chat: We compared the bus service between resorts, and discussed the current DVC incentives (they are members). I found out that like me, she enjoyed reading the TR section here, so I told her about mine (another shameless plug! LOL!). She recommended some very interesting TR's for me to check out (I did when I got home).

Our conversation was so refreshing, afterall I had been solo-ing it for two days now and the chatty person in me was dying to be set free!:hyper2: I felt like we had immediately connected and that we were on the same wavelength, partly because of the DIS, and more so because of our shared affection for the Mouse.

Eventually, our bus arrives at the MK. We wave goodbye to each other, and agree to look each other up on the DIS.

I walk towards the MK and run my ticket thru the machine. As I step through the turnstile, it suddenly dawns on me that I forgot to purchase the boys' park tickets at the ticket booth located outside the gates! :crazy2: So I exit the MK and proceed to the ticket window.

After my transaction, when I attempt to re-enter the MK, the ticket reader machine decides to violently spew out my ticket :confused3 while simultaneously sounding the loud shrill alarm,:headache: and repeatedly flashing its red LED light on and off! :faint: Geez, you'd think I was trying to break into the Cinderella Castle Suite! :eek:

People stopped to stare, and I tried to not make a big deal of it by smiling my Cheshire cat grin. :teeth: Thankfully, a young-ish CM came up and asked me, "Didn't you just enter the park?" I answered, "Yes, but I had to exit quickly to do business at the ticket window."

The CM then explains to me that Disney programs the ticket machine to sound the alarm if someone tries to use the same ticket in back to back attempts. The CM apologizes, and bypasses the machine. Finally, I am allowed to enter. Phew!

This whole ticket fiasco created a huge rumbly in my tumbly! So I swiftly walked over to a CS restaurant that was closed the last time I was at the MK:

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The Tomorrowland Terrace Noodle Station!

The moment I saw the photo of the Orange Chicken with White Rice on the menu, I knew I was set!

I paid, then carrying my food-laden tray, I walked around to find a good table. As I walk down one of the ramps, I strike up a conversation with an older CM who happened to speak a language I knew -- Filipino! I was quite excited to be able to practice my foreign language skills on him.

I gushed at how lucky he was to be able to work for Disney, and he jovially replied that he enjoyed seeing all the happy smiles (but whispered that the pay was not all that great! :ssst: ). I told him about my boys who were arriving tonight, because he seemed confused as to why I was dining all alone at the Magic Kingdom. I expalined to him the rationale of my solo trip. We shared more stories and laughs, and then it was time for him to get back to work.

I took a table facing Cinderella's Castle, then blissfully feasted on the delicious Chinese food!


What does a park commando do 3 hours before Spectromagic starts? Hmmm....
Stay tuned for the answer! :)
 












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