Weird and Ninja’s Pre-Disneymoon [Completed!]

[RachelNinja]

Monday, April 5: OUR Pavilion

Of course, the pavilion that we spent a lot of time in was the China pavilion. I think my dad's attitude just lifts up so much when we're there, so that's why we take advantage of it and explore! We saw that the Chinese acrobats were going to be out soon, so my parents and Matt staked out a spot while Howard and I went to explore. I didn't care so much about having a "front row seat" for it. I know they're talented, but we've watched it a lot as kids, so I like being able to do other things too.

I liked the pictures that Weird took of the gateway. Different perspective!

I'd look up what all the buildings are called because I used to know it after reading the Hidden Magic book, but now I don't remember. Temple of something?

This was one thing I wanted to try when we got inside. Apparently if you stand directly in the center and speak even in a whisper, you can hear your voice come back to you because the acoustics are perfect in there. We stood there and spoke. We could kind of hear our voices. Then when I got back home, I think I read that we were supposed to look UP at the center and speak ... oh ... whoops!

I like these shots too because I know a lot of people try to get one with it all centered. I like that it's off-centered. It's also not as dizzying.

I decided to sit on this chair like an important official!

That chair was in the room with the Tomb Warriors. I remember seeing a larger scale version of this at Splendid China, which used to be in Kissimmee near our timeshare. That doesn't exist anymore. My mom and I had gone with my dad's friend's wife and their daughter on the HOTTEST day imaginable. We were dripping with sweat; even my mom was sweating profusely and she NEVER sweats! Haha, it was nice to see a smaller scale version of this in the AC!

Mickey enjoyed the exhibit as well. I do have to say that I learned not to be so germaphobe-y on this trip with Mickey. Normally I wouldn't want to prop anything up, but it would make for better pics if I did. That's why I was willing to put his feet touching the floor in the pic with the gondola in Italy. My mom was surprised!

Mickey also wanted to sit on the chair I sat in. Too bad I took a blurry picture!

I also tried getting a picture of this one Tomb Warrior that looked particularly mean.

It took a few tries, and even so, this was the best I could do! I rarely take pics with flash anymore, so the ISO had to be really high. But that also meant that I had to keep the camera still. Gotta learn to prop my hand against something ... or buy a Gorillapod!

Finally we headed on back out.

I believe my mom and Matt went to find my dad. Haha, because obviously they all didn't save "front row seats" because they were with us! Dad did stay behind, I know. Weird and I were still eager to explore. I found this lion outside, and from other people's TRs, I knew that it was from a Kim Possible mission. I wonder what was there before the KP missions! I mean, what was there under the lion's paw.

We had fun looking at some of the merchandise. One of our friends really likes pandas, so this picture was taken for him! And because it's just cute! It'd actually be something that I could probably use since I'm a teacher and it's okay to use cutesy things! Oh and look, there's Joanna's house in the background!

I liked that they had ninjas of some sort, but I wish the little girl were cuter!

I saw these, and I immediately recognized them from the comic strip.

I propped them up so Weird could get a better picture.

Since we were in the area, I went upstairs to use my own clean bathroom in my apartment before exploring more. My apartment is right across the street from Joanna's apartment! Funny how we didn't know we were neighbors until a few months ago!

Here's me in that same picture spot during our February 2008 trip. It's going to be my thing, I guess! Didn't realize that I was one step lower in the original picture! Oh well. Also, a random thing that you can see is that in 2008, I was still fairly sick or just getting over being really sick. If you look at my legs, they were much thinner at that point! I don't like that I gained the weight back, but when my weight drops too much, I get really sick. The reason I lost all that weight in the first place was because I was majorly sick with gastrointestinal problems.

After the "bathroom break," we headed into the store. There were a TON of panda things! So cute! I have a stuffed panda at home with a Nautica t-shirt. I got it from my older brother when he used to use Nautica cologne and it was the free gift. His name is Berkley Watson Nautica because I figured he was a smart bear and those sounded like smart names. There really was no reason for me to tell you that.

This is Weird's picture of the same display.

Cute panda t-shirt!

A panda pillow pet!

I took a picture of the cow pillow pet because my cousin Nikki has something similar to it. It's not furry, but she got it AGES ago before pillow pets were popular. It used to be named "Steak," but I think it's just named "Cow" at this point.

(Too many photos, continued in the next post)

 

[RachelNinja]

(Continued from previous post)

These puppets were a little scary and funny at the same time! They actually look very similar to the puppets that are used at our church.

We, however, don't have a Communist puppet!

Weird took pictures of some of the bags that were there. I liked these messenger bags because of the fact that they already looked a little worn in and just a bit more ... vintage?

I loved THESE "bags" though! When I was in junior high or so, there was another girl at church in elementary school who had a little purse like this. It was basically a take-out container that had fancy material around it. Of course, it was much sturdier too. I loved it! Then years later when I was in high school, I saw a picture of Lucy Liu with a purse like this (funny to call it a bag) when she was all fancied up on the red carpet, and I REALLY wanted one! I remember asking the girl at church about hers; she said she had gotten it in Chinatown. Of course, at that point, I couldn't find it anywhere. I think I looked at these prices, and it was just too high! Especially for something that wouldn't be used that often.

There were also a ton of merchandise in the store dedicated to the zodiac animals. These entertain me because I don't know why anyone would want an animal like that on the front of his or her chest!

These are MUCH cuter than the ones above!

I got all excited to see that the rat and ox were together in the display because I'm a rat and Weird is an ox! I did check the sign and saw that it's because they're just in that order. Haha, no other reason, but still ... it was cute!

Now THIS was a cute display. It just looks like little cakes and pastries that you could get at a Chinese bakery.

Upon closer inspection, you can see that they're actually made out of towels!

We finally decided to leave the store and head out to where my family was. On the way, we passed by the Lotus Blossom Cafe. We actually looked at the menu because it smelled really good! Haha, yes, I know it's not real Chinese food, but I'm sure it can still be good!

We couldn't really get to where my family was because they were surrounded by people because the show had already started. We just stayed back and half-watched and half-looked around. I pointed this out to Weird.

This is Weird's zoom-ish picture. He doesn't have one of those large zoom lenses, so this was as close as he could get.

You can see it better in mine even though it's blurry. Basically, I remember reading in the Hidden Magic book or somewhere else that the guy at the pointiest part of the roof did something bad so he's being guarded by all those other people and animals behind him so that he can't escape.

I really should look up the proper story instead of making something up. Haha. This one is nice though because you can see the outline of all the figures.

Haha, can you tell that Weird was determined to get this picture from any and all angles?

This is where we were waiting. I actually really like this pic that I took of Weird! It's so crisp and clear on the point and shoot! Plus, I think he's cute! Hehe. The reason for this picture (other than the fact that I think my DBF is cute) is because you can see the ox and rat to the right of it!

Look at all those people! My family is somewhere in that picture. And look! The Joy of Tea stand is there! OoOo ... I should keep that in mind for next time!

We sat there and kept waiting, and then Weird took this picture of me because I had just joked about the fact that I was sitting in front of the part of the sign that said "Ageless Beauty."

Haha, see? Discover Ageless Beauty! Maybe no so much beauty, but ageless I can see! Haha, that's why people think I'm still in high school if I'm wearing "younger" clothes!

Okay, this is one big story that's actually going to take up more than just one or two lines. There are no pictures for this, and you'll see why after you read it. As Weird and I were sitting there, watching and waiting, we suddenly saw this little girl that was about 5 or 6 years old run near us looking around and scream, "Mommy? Mommy??? Mommy?!?" She was clearly lost and freaking out about it! I looked around to see if anyone was coming to help her, but no one was! I was hoping that her mom would hear her voice and turn around and realize that her little daughter had wandered off. However, none of that happened.

She started running past us towards the cafe. She stood there screaming, and she was obviously panicked and began crying too. I guess after I realized that her parent or guardian wasn't around, my teacher instinct kicked in. That's what my mom said after I related this story to her. I went up to the little girl and calmly spoke to her. I don't remember what I said exactly at this point since it's months later, but I did try to calm her down and told her that we'd "go to the man over there" (the cast member standing in front of the temple entrance) and ask him for help to find her mom. We scurried on over, and on the way, a black woman came by to help out by asking the little girl for her name and if she knew her mom's name and phone number. The little girl was also black, so I think it helped the situation to have a black woman ask for this information. Well, that's what I was thinking at the time.

Finally, after a few minutes, we saw a woman rushing over to us. She was actually a white woman, and she picked up her daughter and didn't seem as concerned as I would have been had I realized that my daughter was not with me (maybe she didn't want to make a big deal about it at that time because the girl was hysterical)! I just thought it was interesting that she was white because I was automatically looking for a black family frantically looking for their missing girl. Oh man, thank GOD that that situation was resolved!

The acrobat show ended, and we went to my family. I told my mom what happened, and that's when she said it must have been a teacher-type instinct that kicked in. I guess no one else wanted to get involved because they were a bit stunned like I was at first or they didn't know how to approach the girl whose parents might be nearby. I do kind of kick myself a bit for not reacting as quickly as I did. I wish I had done something 15 seconds earlier. I can still clearly hear the little girl's voice in my head and the terror that was in her calls for her mom. So I have mixed feelings about it ... disappointed in myself that I didn't do something sooner but also happy that I did eventually step up to help this little girl.

Well, with that incident behind us, we continued on to the next country!

 

[wdwgirl03]

Wow, you really did take your time exploring China! I love all the pictures. I think the one building is called the Temple of Heaven. I remember them showing it on TV during the Beijing Olympics!

When I was doing one of the KP missions my sister went into China and got a picture of those creepy puppets too. When we got home and were going through all our pics, I was like what the heck are those things?! LOL.

Good job helping the little girl find her mom.

 

[klacey1]

Wow, you guys really did thoroughly explore China! It's one of the countries we sort of forgot about and want to make sure we really look in next time. I like your "different" pictures-- and I agree, the off-center ceiling is easier on the eyes (not so disorienting/dizzying!).
It's good that you reacted-- and definitely don't kick yourself for not reacting sooner. We were in line for Peter Pan's Flight and this little girl started talking to my DBF. She wasn't lost (her parents were there, but talking to the people behind them), just chatty and friendly. DBF was a little hesitant-- not because he's mean, but just because he didn't know if the parents would be freaked out that a 25 year old was talking to their little girl! So it's always tough to know when to "spring to action"-- I'm sure the mom was grateful, even if she didn't seem too worried!

 

[therussells08]

Great updates! All of the pictures from the China pavilion are gorgeous!

I love all of the merchandise too! That is one thing I love about the WS- you can get some really unique souvenirs that you can't get anywhere else in WDW.

Ageless beauty definitely applies to you!! Everytime I see you I think of how young you look!

I think you did a great job helping the little girl. Situations like that can be really difficult because you don't want to scare the child and you don't want the parents to get freaked out if they see you talking to her. I think you handled it perfectly! It was nice of you to step in and help her when nobody else would.

 

[Jennifer48]

This is why I love reading your TRs...you crack me up!

There really was no reason for me to tell you that.

How scary about that little girl! So nice of you to help her out. I admit, when I hear a child like that I do stop and watch to see if they reunite with their family ok but I'm reluctant to actually assist. I think that's because at home, you hear of so many stories of parents suing people for helping their children in some form. Sad I know but that's the truth. I remember being at AK once and there was a little girl no older than 4 sitting on a bench all alone. I stopped right next to hear and waited and waited an no one came. I didn't want to talk to her in fear of scaring her so I made DH find a CM to come and talk to her. She didn't speak English very well but literally 20 minutes later, her mother showed up. Mom just took the child and left. No thank you to the CM or even apologizing for leaving her there. It made me so upset and you could tell the CM felt the same way.

 

[RachelNinja]

Wow, you really did take your time exploring China! I love all the pictures. I think the one building is called the Temple of Heaven. I remember them showing it on TV during the Beijing Olympics!

When I was doing one of the KP missions my sister went into China and got a picture of those creepy puppets too. When we got home and were going through all our pics, I was like what the heck are those things?! LOL.

Good job helping the little girl find her mom.

We definitely knew we had the time because dad's always content to spend time there! That sounds right, the Temple of Heaven! Haha, I just didn't want to write that and not be entirely sure, and I was much too lazy to Google it ... haha. Thanks!

Those puppets are the kinds of things that just come to life at night even without the help of anything Kingdom Keepers-related!!!

Thanks! I feel like I didn't do that much, but I'm happy I at least stepped in when I did.

Wow, you guys really did thoroughly explore China! It's one of the countries we sort of forgot about and want to make sure we really look in next time. I like your "different" pictures-- and I agree, the off-center ceiling is easier on the eyes (not so disorienting/dizzying!).
It's good that you reacted-- and definitely don't kick yourself for not reacting sooner. We were in line for Peter Pan's Flight and this little girl started talking to my DBF. She wasn't lost (her parents were there, but talking to the people behind them), just chatty and friendly. DBF was a little hesitant-- not because he's mean, but just because he didn't know if the parents would be freaked out that a 25 year old was talking to their little girl! So it's always tough to know when to "spring to action"-- I'm sure the mom was grateful, even if she didn't seem too worried!

Yup! There are so many things to see in that huge store in China! I didn't realize it all these years because I used to think, "Um, we're Chinese, and we go to Chinatown every Sunday. What more is there to see?" Haha, well, apparently there was a good amount to see!

Yeah, that's what I felt! I didn't want the parents to finally show up and be like, "What are you doing to my daughter?!?"

Great updates! All of the pictures from the China pavilion are gorgeous!

I love all of the merchandise too! That is one thing I love about the WS- you can get some really unique souvenirs that you can't get anywhere else in WDW.

Ageless beauty definitely applies to you!! Everytime I see you I think of how young you look!

I think you did a great job helping the little girl. Situations like that can be really difficult because you don't want to scare the child and you don't want the parents to get freaked out if they see you talking to her. I think you handled it perfectly! It was nice of you to step in and help her when nobody else would.

Definitely a ton of unique souvenirs! Too bad a lot of that uniqueness would cost a lot of money!

Haha, I agree that the ageless describes me, but I wouldn't say beauty! You too look very young for your age! Haha, we'll appreciate it when we're older. Right now I'm still mistaken for students! Maybe our job keeps us young yet ages us quickly at the same time. My first year is when I finally got one white hair. I blamed it on the kids and the stress, haha. But then after I got used to it, I think it's what's keeping me young.

Thanks for your encouragement! I'm sure everyone else was thinking the same thing. I saw a few people looking around because they were probably not wanting to get involved either. So difficult to do nice things these days.

This is why I love reading your TRs...you crack me up!

How scary about that little girl! So nice of you to help her out. I admit, when I hear a child like that I do stop and watch to see if they reunite with their family ok but I'm reluctant to actually assist. I think that's because at home, you hear of so many stories of parents suing people for helping their children in some form. Sad I know but that's the truth. I remember being at AK once and there was a little girl no older than 4 sitting on a bench all alone. I stopped right next to hear and waited and waited an no one came. I didn't want to talk to her in fear of scaring her so I made DH find a CM to come and talk to her. She didn't speak English very well but literally 20 minutes later, her mother showed up. Mom just took the child and left. No thank you to the CM or even apologizing for leaving her there. It made me so upset and you could tell the CM felt the same way.

Haha, funny thing is, I had to go back and find out where I wrote that comment. I had no clue what I was referencing! It was so random that I couldn't even remember!

YES, isn't it so terrible that it's difficult to help anyone anymore? But at the same time, I think that if I were a parent, I'd be cautious about anyone approaching my kid too. Of course, a lost kid is a totally different story. That's why I figured the smartest thing would be to bring the kid to a CM because it would be someone "official" taking care of it so it wouldn't look like I was doing anything fishy. I figure that I was also younger that it shouldn't be as bad as, let's say, an older man or something.

Whoa, to your story! That poor little girl! I guess not everyone knows about things like parent swap and all that. Maybe they went on a ride and figured that's all they could do.

 

[RachelNinja]

Monday, April 5: Goodbye World Showcase!

As we left the China pavilion and the stressful moment of the temporarily lost girl, I had a bit of a chuckle to pick my spirits back up. In front of us was this person walking barefoot! You can actually see that he has blisters or something on his feet. Guess it was less painful to walk barefoot than it was to keep the shoes on. Definitely needed some crocs or moleskin! I just kept thinking about all the germs he was picking up! Yuck!

Weird really liked this backstage picture in one of the pavilions. I don't know where it was, but we thought about where those stairs led.

We didn't stop to do anything in Norway, but I did take this picture of an ugly troll.

Weird took this picture in Norway though. Is this the Stave church? Um, the one with the Viking father and son statue? Yeah ...

BEAUTIFUL!

That sunset cast a gorgeous light on the Mexico pavilion!

We were on a mission in Mexico. I was there to make a pressed penny for Kristen (irky416), which was fun to get and send because I consider irky to be my first DIS friend! Even my mom learned to know who I was talking about when I said "irky" at home! When we went inside though, we came across another mission - trying to take a picture of the dark pavilion! I know the top photographers need to take the time to do this.

This was my picture. I propped my camera up on the pillar thing and snapped and was done.

This was Weird's picture. He stayed in one stop a lot longer and changed shutter speeds or something to allow more light to come in.

Weird's pictures are definitely better than mine, but I don't think mine was TOO horrible! This is another one of Weird's.

After I made the pennies for Irky, we headed to the ride with the Three Caballeros since we were there! And who doesn't love a leisurely boat ride? I purposely took this picture because I remember when Staci (stacikristine) and her hubby Michael stood next to the caballero that represented their nationalities!

This was my lovely attempt at capturing the restaurant. Imagine all the people there looking at us as we look at them!

We had front row seats, so I took a picture of my feet propped up on the front of the boat. It made it even more relaxing for some reason!

Weird did try to capture a picture of the inside atmosphere.

And here we are coming upon my favorite and least favorite scene!

Poor, poor pinata Donald! He's about to be whacked!

This ride was a lot harder to photograph than "it's a small world." I really liked this "alley" or whatever though because I really do feel like it's so authentic. Of course, my only taste of Mexico is the Mexico pavilion in Epcot, so I'm really not the best judge of that!

Weird's came out a little clearer but a little dizzying.

I wanted him to take a picture of the little fountain to the left because it reminded me of the fountain that's near POTC in MK. A few years ago, I used a picture of the MK fountain in a digital scrapbook with our comic selves.

And the last picture of the ride and of World Showcase is this blurry monstrosity. Haha, there was a hidden Mickey on the lower right hand corner of the float/boat thing made with 3 drums. You can actually kind of see it in the photo.

With that, we were finally done with World Showcase! I was glad that we started off on the right side because we've been to Mexico, Norway, and China so many times, so it really was different to explore the other countries! I still do think that more time is needed to explore, but that's what future trips are for! Especially future trips that don't include my dad nagging us to leave already! Haha.

 

[LilAnn]

Hi Rachel! I finally got caught up. Phew. Love all of your pictures of the WS. I love the WS, and love how you just feel like you are no longer in a theme park while you are there.

That was so awesome of you to go help out that little girl. I am always terrified of losing DD in a store, and especially in a place as large a Disney! It is hard to help out sometimes, though. I remember we were at the mall once (in front of the Disney Store, actually) and saw a little girl probably 3 or 4 years old climbing the railing. And this was on the second floor of the mall! DH grabbed hold of the girl so she wouldn't go over and we both just looked around for her parents. It took a bit before they saw us and came over. They thanked us after we told them what happened, but didn't seem as freaked out as we were. I mean, she was literally climbing up the railing and could have fallen over! We were both shaky for a while after that. We are now paranoid about DD whenever we walk on higher levels of malls and whatnot. So, long story short, glad that you were nice and helped the little girl out.

 

[therussells08]

Another great update! Ugh...I don't think I could stand walking around WDW barefoot. That just seems so gross! I mean, the parks at WDW are pretty much the cleanest theme parks I have ever been to, but still. There are an awful lot people walking through there everday!

I love those pics from the ride! They kind of make it look like it was going really fast even though I know it is a nice leisurely ride!

 

[Bridora]

Wow, I feel like I've achieved so much in catching myself up (again)! I just love your writing style, all your updates are wonderful!

I have to tell you though, that I love gnomes. Cute ones only, though, not creepy looking ones. You can tell which one are cute just by looking at them, because they're cute! I did purchase a Mickey gnome with a rain gauge on our trip, too!

I especially liked Weird's photo of Bambi & Thumper with the Canadian buildings in the background. I'm going to have to keep that in mind for future picture ideas...

Our 1st Kim Possible Mission took us to the tea shop in the UK! It was so much fun...good memories!

I know exactly how you feel about meeting characters. I don't know what do say to them, how to act toward them, where to look when I'm speaking to them...

I'm glad you enjoyed saving the UK! I think the KP Missions are a great addition because they really have you exploring countries you might otherwise just kind of skim over.

Love that picture of Mickey on the camel in Morocco!

I've never caught the candy maker in Japan, but that looks so neat! I agree that it's a beautiful pavilion!

The American pavilion is one that I definitely need to do some more exploring in, we've only ever been inside the tiny gift shop... I love your photo of the building!

Loved that series of photos with you & your frozen lemonade!

I love that area in the China pavilion where your apartment is--do you know of any openings? I'd love to move to that neighborhood!

And oh my goodness, I love the inside of Mexico! I always try to capture the mood in pictures. The San Angel Inn in one of my favorites places to dine! Such atmosphere! You guys got great pics of it--especially that 1st one of Weird's that you posted!

(gosh, I love a lot of things, don't I?)

 

[RachelNinja]

Hi Rachel! I finally got caught up. Phew. Love all of your pictures of the WS. I love the WS, and love how you just feel like you are no longer in a theme park while you are there.

That was so awesome of you to go help out that little girl. I am always terrified of losing DD in a store, and especially in a place as large a Disney! It is hard to help out sometimes, though. I remember we were at the mall once (in front of the Disney Store, actually) and saw a little girl probably 3 or 4 years old climbing the railing. And this was on the second floor of the mall! DH grabbed hold of the girl so she wouldn't go over and we both just looked around for her parents. It took a bit before they saw us and came over. They thanked us after we told them what happened, but didn't seem as freaked out as we were. I mean, she was literally climbing up the railing and could have fallen over! We were both shaky for a while after that. We are now paranoid about DD whenever we walk on higher levels of malls and whatnot. So, long story short, glad that you were nice and helped the little girl out.

I never fully got drawn into the World Showcase stuff until this past trip. I'm so so so eager to go back in February and explore when it's so much cooler out! Haha, I hate that you're really just in the sun at all times in the WS. I'm sure in February, the sun will be appreciated!

As silly as that monkey leash thing looks, I really understand the point of it! I just don't ever want to be in a situation or even a MOMENT when I don't know where my kids are. So frightening! I'm so paranoid even when going on class trips with my middle school students. I'm constantly counting heads all day long. I just know that I'm going to be just as protective over my little ones.

Crazy about that little girl and the railing!

Another great update! Ugh...I don't think I could stand walking around WDW barefoot. That just seems so gross! I mean, the parks at WDW are pretty much the cleanest theme parks I have ever been to, but still. There are an awful lot people walking through there everday!

I love those pics from the ride! They kind of make it look like it was going really fast even though I know it is a nice leisurely ride!

I just can't help thinking about how people get sick everywhere in WDW so those germs are also everywhere! Yuck! I mean, I think about the fact that when you go to the pool, you walk barefoot there. But there's chlorine and all that stuff! Haha. Some people might think I'm too much of a germaphobe, but I don't think I am!

Right? The one Weird took is as if we're speeding right through!

Wow, I feel like I've achieved so much in catching myself up (again)! I just love your writing style, all your updates are wonderful!

I have to tell you though, that I love gnomes. Cute ones only, though, not creepy looking ones. You can tell which one are cute just by looking at them, because they're cute! I did purchase a Mickey gnome with a rain gauge on our trip, too!

I especially liked Weird's photo of Bambi & Thumper with the Canadian buildings in the background. I'm going to have to keep that in mind for future picture ideas...

Our 1st Kim Possible Mission took us to the tea shop in the UK! It was so much fun...good memories!

I know exactly how you feel about meeting characters. I don't know what do say to them, how to act toward them, where to look when I'm speaking to them...

I'm glad you enjoyed saving the UK! I think the KP Missions are a great addition because they really have you exploring countries you might otherwise just kind of skim over.

Love that picture of Mickey on the camel in Morocco!

I've never caught the candy maker in Japan, but that looks so neat! I agree that it's a beautiful pavilion!

The American pavilion is one that I definitely need to do some more exploring in, we've only ever been inside the tiny gift shop... I love your photo of the building!

Loved that series of photos with you & your frozen lemonade!

I love that area in the China pavilion where your apartment is--do you know of any openings? I'd love to move to that neighborhood!

And oh my goodness, I love the inside of Mexico! I always try to capture the mood in pictures. The San Angel Inn in one of my favorites places to dine! Such atmosphere! You guys got great pics of it--especially that 1st one of Weird's that you posted!

(gosh, I love a lot of things, don't I?)

I'm so glad that you like reading my updates and that you like my writing style! I wish I had the patience to write more every day. Haha, my job just takes up all my time. Can't help it!

I read about how some people have fantastic character interactions, and I wish I could have that. Part of me can't get over the fact that it's not really the character. I mean, I just keep thinking, "What is this person (or the person in the costume) REALLY thinking?" Not to say that I wouldn't love to actually BE a character! That'd be really fun!

Despite the sudden sourness, that frozen lemonade really hit the spot! I was carrying the water around all day, but it wouldn't have given me that kind of a jolt! I grew up with my parents never buying anything more than we had to buy at places like theme parks (or anywhere for that matter!). Weird and I aren't spenders, but we know that we need something, we'll just get it. We would've faded really quickly if we didn't get it!

Haha, next time you're at the China pavilion, stop by! I can help you secure a spot and you can be a neighbor too!

 

[RachelNinja]

Monday, April 5: No to Ridley, Yes to 65 MPH

Did you ever think that the day would come when I'd be done with World Showcase? I sure didn't! Haha. Of course, we're still not done with Epcot though! Seriously. We were making our way towards the front of the park though. On the way, I saw the kiosks for the Kim Possible FPs. Made me want to try another mission! Can't wait to do that on my next trip!

It was starting to get dark, which was weird because when we're with my dad, we don't really stay at the parks late anymore. This really is the time when we'd be leaving if not even earlier than this!

We walked by MouseGear one last time. Wait, what's that?

Hold UP! Ridley Pearson? At Epcot? On WEDNESDAY?!? AGHHH! I couldn't believe it! We missed him by two days! And I purposely changed the park order to do Epcot first because I had seen that MK is usually more crowded on Mondays. I could've met the author of Kingdom Keepers? I was really upset about it. Weird said that we could return on Wednesday, but I just couldn't see "wasting" a park ticket day just because of that. Ahhh, disappointment.

Oh well. Life goes on, right? We actually went through MouseGear because our plan was to hit Test Track with the FP we got earlier in the day since the 4 of us (all but mom) didn't get to ride together yet. I saw these Marie hands, which I thought was cute because at that point, I had only seen Mickey and Stitch.

I thought these little guys were really cute too. Don't quite know what to do with something like this though!

I love the FP line for Test Track. I mean, I love the single rider line, but I was just so thrilled that I would be able to sit next to Weird on one of my all-time favorite rides at Disney!

There really is a lot to see from all parts of the queue. You really have to stand in all the lines to try to see it all.

We were intrigued by the kiddies in these pictures! I wonder if they're the kiddies of the Imagineers or CMs, and if so, I wonder how old they are at this point!

Of course, we were also on the lookout for Hidden Mickeys! I know this one isn't so hidden anymore, but I just like the way Weird took this picture because it includes the other stuff around it too.

Waiting to ride! Waiting for that 65mph!

Matt was really excited too. This is one of his favorite rides as well. In fact, he wants me to go get him a Test Track pin when I'm back in February 2011.

Before we got to the part where they direct us to a room, we saw these funny things! There's a Mickey koosh ball on the top shelf. I also thought it was funny that there was a sandwich on the second shelf!

I was literally like, 5 seconds late in taking this picture. Beforehand, there was no one around, and I wanted to get a picture of the baby dummy!

The one thing I don't like about Test Track is that you're clumped together with a group of people in the room. Then the doors open and everyone rushes to get to that single file line ahead of everyone else. I don't think it makes THAT much of a difference. I was content to just hang back and let the crowd go because I just don't like those squished situations. However, my dad was one of those people who just wanted to go, so of course, that meant we had to go too!

On the other side of the door, we looked down and saw a bag of Rold Gold pretzels! I know Weird and I were joking about it because we really like those pretzels. Something about going down to see if there were any left? Haha, obviously we were joking because I wouldn't want a snack that was touching the floor or that was touched by some grubby little hands!

I purposely took a picture of this CM directing people where to go because he was either really good at his job or really bad at his job. Um, I don't remember which it was. HAHA. I know that we had one experience where the guy seemed to be kind of lost and couldn't keep track of what to do. I'm guessing that was when we rode Test Track earlier in the morning since Weird's ride was messed up and we had to wait for him at the end. I think this guy was really efficient.

When we got up to the man, he asked how many people were in our party and my dad said two! I was like, "No, it's four!" Haha, my dad forgot that we were using FP and that we could all ride together! I said it kind of loud and abruptly because I was just like, "Hey! Don't leave us behind; the whole point was to ride together!" Haha. Anyway, we got on the ride, and I was eager to sit on the left side of the vehicle because as a single rider, you typically ride on the right side since you're added on. I was determined to find some of the secret things! I did see the ice cube tray in the cold room. You can kind of see it on top of that ... metal thing. It's kinda blue.

The funniest thing about the ride was that Weird and I were just acting crazy. Well, I guess the girls we were riding with thought it would be entertaining to put their fingers up to give us bunny ears, so that's why the one next to Weird added it to Weird's head. They were giggling about something while we were waiting for our car to come. I guess that's what was so funny! This was our ride photo!

And for some loud weirdness live, here's a video of us on the ride during the fast part on the track outside! The funny part of it is that it made my hair go all over the place! I tried to control, but after a while, I knew it was a lost cause and no amount of fixing it was going to make it stay!



After the ride and after we saw the picture, decided to "scare" the two girls a little bit and just follow them all the way out. Haha, it wasn't that we were angry, we just thought we'd scare 'em and make them THINK that we were angry for the bunny ears since we saw it only on the way out. Hehe, here are the girls. Don't wear identifying sweatshirts if you don't want to be found, hehe.

Of course, we were just kidding. Weird and I just got a kick out of that too. When we were leaving the Test Track area, we saw them reunite with their parents. Just to make sure they knew that we weren't really following them, we waved when they looked in our direction, and I said something like, "Have a good night!"

We were nearing the end of our Epcot visit! There was still one more ride that we had to do before leaving. Wait until the next update to find out what that ride was!

 

[wisblue]

Sarah and I actually were at Epcot on Wednesday the 7th. As she reported in her trip report, after we met you at MK we took the monorail to Epcot partly to get our free VISA picture. So, we could have met Ridley Pearson, though by 4 PM we were over at the Boardwalk for the DVC Welcome Home Wednesday event. We wouldn't have known he was there because we didn't go over to that side of the park that afternoon.

 

[RachelNinja]

Sarah and I actually were at Epcot on Wednesday the 7th. As she reported in her trip report, after we met you at MK we took the monorail to Epcot partly to get our free VISA picture. So, we could have met Ridley Pearson, though by 4 PM we were over at the Boardwalk for the DVC Welcome Home Wednesday event. We wouldn't have known he was there because we didn't go over to that side of the park that afternoon.

Yes, I remember that you guys went to Epcot! I was disappointed that I didn't look up the dates and times for the book signings because I had a feeling that he was going to be at Disney during that week. I was looking forward to the release of Kingdom Keepers 3. I saw it to Weird at the beginning of the trip that he'd be there, but I forgot to research it!

 

[Cat0727]

My photos of the Gran Fiesta Tour never come out either. it's a difficult ride to photograph.

Eww I've seen people (tourists) walk barefoot in NYC and I'm like Lol!

Aww they make Marie hands now?! those are so cute!

 

[not_Joanna_eggs]

I don't know what I'm going to do once you guys aren't in Epcot anymore. I'm not sure I can handle it

I love the Mexico pavilion. But I can't get good pictures of it. I always try to get my favorite part - the fiber-optic fireworks - but always fail.

Bummer to miss the signing by just 2 days. That totally sucks!

DH was reading over my shoulder, and he was like "I knew I liked Rachel, you're so weird that you don't like TT"

 

[SoonerGirl]

Really? We're getting ready to leave Epcot, but I've gotten comfortable here, there's no reason to leave....... I honestly can't believe we are still on your first park day! I love all the detail you put into your report though, totally makes me feel like I'm touring right along with you

The TT video with your hair all over the place was hilarious!

 

[HowWeird]

My photos of the Gran Fiesta Tour never come out either. it's a difficult ride to photograph.

Eww I've seen people (tourists) walk barefoot in NYC and I'm like Lol!

It's such a difficult ride to photograph! I mean, it feels like it's possibly bright enough, but unless you know your f-stops, exp, and ISO levels on the fly, it's really hard to get a good shot!

Walking barefoot in NYC could possibly be the most disgusting thing someone could possibly do. I won't even get into what people do to sidewalks because it's so gross! At least in WDW, you might step on some pixie dust

I don't know what I'm going to do once you guys aren't in Epcot anymore. I'm not sure I can handle it

I love the Mexico pavilion. But I can't get good pictures of it. I always try to get my favorite part - the fiber-optic fireworks - but always fail.

Bummer to miss the signing by just 2 days. That totally sucks!

DH was reading over my shoulder, and he was like "I knew I liked Rachel, you're so weird that you don't like TT"

Why don't I remember the fiber-optic fireworks ... guess we'll have to go again!

How could you not like TT? Is it the speed at the end or the twists and turns to get to it?

 

[not_Joanna_eggs]

Why don't I remember the fiber-optic fireworks ... guess we'll have to go again!

How could you not like TT? Is it the speed at the end or the twists and turns to get to it?

They're in the last "room" of the ride. They're cheezy, but in that awesome cheezy way that makes them the best-ever You definately have to go back. I'm sure Rachel will have to drag you

Um...it's the nap caused by extreme boredom on the ride that I don't like I want to like TT, but it's so boring to me - even the fast part, and I just don't know why (hece why my DH calls me weird)