Marla Hellwig
I'm not lost, it's called creative exploring
- Joined
- Mar 25, 2000
- Messages
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Two Gals from Ohio take on the World!
This is a repost of our trip from last July from the old boards - by request!
CAST:
Marla - me
Kara - daughter age 9
DAY 3:
Tuesday, July 18 Epcot - Garden Grill, MK, MSEP finally, couple of rumors, and E Night:
After we left the land we went to Imagination! Did Journey Into Your Imagination - I thought this was terrible - couldnt make heads or tail out of the whole purpose of ride. Had no wait for this ride at all - wonder why? Kara didnt remember much about the old ride from 97, but she did ask where was Figment? We did stop in small gift shop and bought each of us a small PVC Figment figure, hats and t shirts and had them shipped to our room.
Next was Honey, I Shrunk the Audience. Had about a 10 minute wait or so. The family in front of us was one of the families that had been selected to be the Grand Marshall for the Magical Moments parade on Monday. Parents said it was fun being in the parade, but felt like they couldnt enjoy their day at MK as had to be at a certain spot at a certain time, and felt that they spent the time from being selected around 9:15 to 2:30 clock watching and having to decide on how to spend their day. Said they all got ears with their names on them and a certificate.
Honey was the same. Still dont like the snake portion and it felt like there were more mice this time. Also when the dog sneezed, we really got it this time.
By now my feet were killing me and we also had a
Surprise PS at the Garden Grill at 5:00 p.m. So we slowly walked back to the Land and checked in about 4:50 p.m. We were seated immediately. It seemed like we were about the only ones here. All of the waiters and waitresses were just standing around.
In this restaurant you sit facing the Land ride and the restaurant revolves in a circle. It takes just about an hour to go the whole circuit.
The Garden Grill, Dinner, Tuesday, July 18, 2000
Adult Dinner Skillet 18.95 and Child Combo Meal 9.95. Prices included one each adult and child dessert.
You are served family style here. Karas dinner was chicken strips, very fat french fries, macaroni & cheese, and sprite. My dinner was flank steak, chicken breast, potato wedgies that had a little kick to them, sliced zucchini in a Mariana sauce, corn bread stuffing and corn on the cob. A salad with a vinaigrette dressing already on it was served first. Also you can order catfish - we skipped. You can order more food if wanted.
Kara did have me cut the corn off of the cob for her (due to braces) and she ate all of her chicken and fries. Didnt like the macaroni and cheese again. She did have some of my salad, steak and chicken. She was also tried the stuffing.
Kara's dessert was a large sugar cookie cut and shaped into a butterfly with icing and gummy worms. I got a really good strawberry short cake. Kara helped me finish the shortcake. But she didnt share her cookie with me! Plenty of ice tea for me and a soft drink and then a glass of milk to go with the cookie for Kara. When our waitress brought the bill, she brought Kara a clean take home cup.
Characters that night were Mickey Mouse, Chip, and Dale. They all were dressed in farmer type clothes. Each character came to our table at least 3 times. Kara had a really good time with Chip and Dale. They both would kiss her hand, she would kiss their nose, and they would stumble over their feet with a hand banging on their chest.
Soon we were waddling out of Epcot, got to monorail and rode back to TTC. Transferred to the MK monorail and went to the garden next to City Hall to get our E Night wrist bands. We unfortunately got on a monorail that was going through some required safety checks, and a training driver and it seemed to take forever to get to the MK.
Back out of the MK and to our room. Wanted to get some rest before E Night started. We walked back into the MK about 9:30, and found a place to watch the fireworks in front of the castle. Met a nice family from Scotland, and talked while waiting for the fireworks. We were able to see Tinkerbell fly from this location and had a good spot for the fireworks also. After the fireworks, we slowly made our way over to Splash Mt. to get a good spot to watch the 11 MSEP so I could video tape it.
On the way to Splash, stopped off at the Christmas store and bought some ornaments that were ½ price and had them shipped to the room.
I have always loved MSEP, and it brings back so many memories of my trips to Disneyland. Found a great spot to watch the parade. We were on the Splash side of the street right before the large gate that the parade comes and goes out of. We were at the "wrong" end for this parade tonight so it was about 11:20 before it reached us. I had a great spot to video tape from and not many people either.
While we were waiting for the parade to reach us we met a nice CM. Mike "Big Mike" from Thunder Mountain. He was assigned crowd control right in front of us and in between times of doing his crowd control job was able to talk with us. I asked him if Thunder had been "juiced" up and he explained.
Hopefully I have explained it fairly easy to understand. As the day goes on, the rails get "hot" The hotter they get the faster the cars go. Its kinda like hydroplaning on a wet street in a car. He also mentioned that later in the day, the back of the ride is definitely better to ride on.
Also asked about Fire Mountain and he said Disney wants to do whole area about the "dark side". Right now Disney wants to do Fire Mt., but the restraint system is back in the manufacturer hands. Currently there would be leg restraints, a waist restraint, and restraint that would come over your head like in Alien. Currently system is made with oil pressure and Disney doesnt want oil on the off chance that a guest would get oil on person or clothes. So it is back at the manufacturer to come up with a air system for the restraint system.
The new Aladdin ride is to be like Dumbo, but the story is that you will sit on top of the carpets during the ride.
Mike & I also talked about trips to Disneyland and the differences between the two parks. He also had been to Paris couple of times so was interesting to hear about differences between the three parks. Said he hoped to get to Tokyo some time also.
Kara got a kiss from Alice and a big wave from Pete.
Funny moment during the parade. The dwarfs were dancing along. Just as they passed us, I looked back to catch one more glance and I noticed one of the dwarfs had danced right out of his shoe. He was just standing there looking at it! After a couple of minutes, he kicked the shoe forward and danced up to it and kicked it again. This happened until he reached the gate and was out of sight. The poor thing, with his costume and the lights, couldnt bend over to pick up his shoe.
As soon as the parade was over, E Night started for us. Though by now it was close to midnight. We ended up riding Splash twice, Big Thunder twice, and the Haunted House once. By now it was about 1:30 and my feet were almost numb. Kara and I both agreed that it was time to call it a night and very slowly made our way up to the front of the park and to the monorail. We were in our room and Kara was asleep by 2:00 a.m.
The monorail people at the CR station were teasing us that we didnt stay until the end. But I had enough.
Each of our waits for Splash and Thunder was 10 - 15 min each and Haunted was less than 5. Kara for some reason does not like the Haunted House. This is one of my favorite rides of all times.
I was in bed by 2:20. The whole time we were walking out of the park, Kara kept telling me that she would be able to get up at 6:00 so we could ride RocknRoller first thing. Ha I kept telling myself. I made a wake up call for 8:00 a.m.
Wednesday is MGM / Studios. Will we make it? Will Kara get out of bed at 6:00 like she told me she would? Stay tuned . . .
[The plan for the day was to do Future World at Epcot. Have Surprise lunch at 12:40 p.m. at Coral Reef - Kara's lunch is free with my MKCC, and Surprise dinner at 5:00 at Garden Grill. Gotta do Test Track. It wasn't open when we were there in 1997, and Kara is a ride freak - will ride anything and everything! May try to catch one of the Lord of the Dance performances, but tonight is one of the 2 E Nights, so hoping to do at least one and maybe even both of themm, so don't think we will stay for ToN and Illuminations tonigith, but wait - I have something up my "sleeve" for tomorrow!
We followed the plan pretty well today. Just took it easy and didnt try to rush through any of the buildings. Have at least another full day planned for Epcot.
This is a repost of our trip from last July from the old boards - by request!
CAST:
Marla - me
Kara - daughter age 9
DAY 3:
Tuesday, July 18 Epcot - Garden Grill, MK, MSEP finally, couple of rumors, and E Night:
After we left the land we went to Imagination! Did Journey Into Your Imagination - I thought this was terrible - couldnt make heads or tail out of the whole purpose of ride. Had no wait for this ride at all - wonder why? Kara didnt remember much about the old ride from 97, but she did ask where was Figment? We did stop in small gift shop and bought each of us a small PVC Figment figure, hats and t shirts and had them shipped to our room.
Next was Honey, I Shrunk the Audience. Had about a 10 minute wait or so. The family in front of us was one of the families that had been selected to be the Grand Marshall for the Magical Moments parade on Monday. Parents said it was fun being in the parade, but felt like they couldnt enjoy their day at MK as had to be at a certain spot at a certain time, and felt that they spent the time from being selected around 9:15 to 2:30 clock watching and having to decide on how to spend their day. Said they all got ears with their names on them and a certificate.
Honey was the same. Still dont like the snake portion and it felt like there were more mice this time. Also when the dog sneezed, we really got it this time.
By now my feet were killing me and we also had a
Surprise PS at the Garden Grill at 5:00 p.m. So we slowly walked back to the Land and checked in about 4:50 p.m. We were seated immediately. It seemed like we were about the only ones here. All of the waiters and waitresses were just standing around.
In this restaurant you sit facing the Land ride and the restaurant revolves in a circle. It takes just about an hour to go the whole circuit.
The Garden Grill, Dinner, Tuesday, July 18, 2000
Adult Dinner Skillet 18.95 and Child Combo Meal 9.95. Prices included one each adult and child dessert.
You are served family style here. Karas dinner was chicken strips, very fat french fries, macaroni & cheese, and sprite. My dinner was flank steak, chicken breast, potato wedgies that had a little kick to them, sliced zucchini in a Mariana sauce, corn bread stuffing and corn on the cob. A salad with a vinaigrette dressing already on it was served first. Also you can order catfish - we skipped. You can order more food if wanted.
Kara did have me cut the corn off of the cob for her (due to braces) and she ate all of her chicken and fries. Didnt like the macaroni and cheese again. She did have some of my salad, steak and chicken. She was also tried the stuffing.
Kara's dessert was a large sugar cookie cut and shaped into a butterfly with icing and gummy worms. I got a really good strawberry short cake. Kara helped me finish the shortcake. But she didnt share her cookie with me! Plenty of ice tea for me and a soft drink and then a glass of milk to go with the cookie for Kara. When our waitress brought the bill, she brought Kara a clean take home cup.
Characters that night were Mickey Mouse, Chip, and Dale. They all were dressed in farmer type clothes. Each character came to our table at least 3 times. Kara had a really good time with Chip and Dale. They both would kiss her hand, she would kiss their nose, and they would stumble over their feet with a hand banging on their chest.
Soon we were waddling out of Epcot, got to monorail and rode back to TTC. Transferred to the MK monorail and went to the garden next to City Hall to get our E Night wrist bands. We unfortunately got on a monorail that was going through some required safety checks, and a training driver and it seemed to take forever to get to the MK.
Back out of the MK and to our room. Wanted to get some rest before E Night started. We walked back into the MK about 9:30, and found a place to watch the fireworks in front of the castle. Met a nice family from Scotland, and talked while waiting for the fireworks. We were able to see Tinkerbell fly from this location and had a good spot for the fireworks also. After the fireworks, we slowly made our way over to Splash Mt. to get a good spot to watch the 11 MSEP so I could video tape it.
On the way to Splash, stopped off at the Christmas store and bought some ornaments that were ½ price and had them shipped to the room.
I have always loved MSEP, and it brings back so many memories of my trips to Disneyland. Found a great spot to watch the parade. We were on the Splash side of the street right before the large gate that the parade comes and goes out of. We were at the "wrong" end for this parade tonight so it was about 11:20 before it reached us. I had a great spot to video tape from and not many people either.
While we were waiting for the parade to reach us we met a nice CM. Mike "Big Mike" from Thunder Mountain. He was assigned crowd control right in front of us and in between times of doing his crowd control job was able to talk with us. I asked him if Thunder had been "juiced" up and he explained.
Hopefully I have explained it fairly easy to understand. As the day goes on, the rails get "hot" The hotter they get the faster the cars go. Its kinda like hydroplaning on a wet street in a car. He also mentioned that later in the day, the back of the ride is definitely better to ride on.
Also asked about Fire Mountain and he said Disney wants to do whole area about the "dark side". Right now Disney wants to do Fire Mt., but the restraint system is back in the manufacturer hands. Currently there would be leg restraints, a waist restraint, and restraint that would come over your head like in Alien. Currently system is made with oil pressure and Disney doesnt want oil on the off chance that a guest would get oil on person or clothes. So it is back at the manufacturer to come up with a air system for the restraint system.
The new Aladdin ride is to be like Dumbo, but the story is that you will sit on top of the carpets during the ride.
Mike & I also talked about trips to Disneyland and the differences between the two parks. He also had been to Paris couple of times so was interesting to hear about differences between the three parks. Said he hoped to get to Tokyo some time also.
Kara got a kiss from Alice and a big wave from Pete.
Funny moment during the parade. The dwarfs were dancing along. Just as they passed us, I looked back to catch one more glance and I noticed one of the dwarfs had danced right out of his shoe. He was just standing there looking at it! After a couple of minutes, he kicked the shoe forward and danced up to it and kicked it again. This happened until he reached the gate and was out of sight. The poor thing, with his costume and the lights, couldnt bend over to pick up his shoe.
As soon as the parade was over, E Night started for us. Though by now it was close to midnight. We ended up riding Splash twice, Big Thunder twice, and the Haunted House once. By now it was about 1:30 and my feet were almost numb. Kara and I both agreed that it was time to call it a night and very slowly made our way up to the front of the park and to the monorail. We were in our room and Kara was asleep by 2:00 a.m.
The monorail people at the CR station were teasing us that we didnt stay until the end. But I had enough.
Each of our waits for Splash and Thunder was 10 - 15 min each and Haunted was less than 5. Kara for some reason does not like the Haunted House. This is one of my favorite rides of all times.
I was in bed by 2:20. The whole time we were walking out of the park, Kara kept telling me that she would be able to get up at 6:00 so we could ride RocknRoller first thing. Ha I kept telling myself. I made a wake up call for 8:00 a.m.
Wednesday is MGM / Studios. Will we make it? Will Kara get out of bed at 6:00 like she told me she would? Stay tuned . . .
[The plan for the day was to do Future World at Epcot. Have Surprise lunch at 12:40 p.m. at Coral Reef - Kara's lunch is free with my MKCC, and Surprise dinner at 5:00 at Garden Grill. Gotta do Test Track. It wasn't open when we were there in 1997, and Kara is a ride freak - will ride anything and everything! May try to catch one of the Lord of the Dance performances, but tonight is one of the 2 E Nights, so hoping to do at least one and maybe even both of themm, so don't think we will stay for ToN and Illuminations tonigith, but wait - I have something up my "sleeve" for tomorrow!
We followed the plan pretty well today. Just took it easy and didnt try to rush through any of the buildings. Have at least another full day planned for Epcot.
