Sun. Nov. 16th, 2008
Once again we were up early and at the park by 8:15am. We were going to scope out the stars autograph stations today. When we went by Toy Story Mania there was only a 20 minute wait, I secretly wanted to go, but we opted for fast passes later in the day, they were marked for 11:15 12:15pm.
Since Bill cant see over people we have to get to a station early for him to see.
We opted to go to someone we hadnt seen before, Brittney Underwood (Lanston from One Life to Live). We were the first ones there and got to talk to some CMs. They said SSW was fun yet scary at times. They both worked the Backlot Tour which was not running during SSW. They were with other CMs walking the Grand Motorcade route the night before. All the CMs walk behind the last car and the guests are supposed to walk behind them so everyone is up by the stage, well the CMs told us they were getting crushed by all the people, that at one point they were afraid they would be trampled. It made me scared for them.
Brittney came out and was so charming, this was her first SSW and she said she couldnt believe all the people were standing there just to see her.
We stood around a while, she said hi to us and Bill wanted to go. He wanted to see Bradford Anderson (Spinelli on General Hospital). Bradford is a really funny guy and you never know what he will do.
All the stars have VIP CMs in plaid with them as their handlers, Bradfords came out and told the crowd that Bradford was going to spend time with the fast pass and stand by people, try to get them all done as quickly as he could so then he could spend a little time with the other people behind the barricades. Many fans were rude shouting the stars name wanting them to turn around for a picture while they are signing autographs for the FP people. Bradford would not turn around for anyone, he had a plan and I think it worked well. Here he is after he is finally done with the FP people and the standbys:
He came down the barricade and was right in front of us, see the handler behind him:
He stopped signing looked at Bill and said: Hi, how are you doing? Are you having a good time? Thanks so much for waiting here to meet me It was very nice of him.
After that we had a little time so we decided to eat, we were close to the Studio Catering Co. and decided to go there. BAD IDEA, it was chilly that day, it was windy, and Studio Catering Co. was in the shade, we were freezing, yes we even me! There are no food pictures I wasnt even thinking about it.
Next up it was time to go see Kassie DePaiva (Blair Cramer, One Life to Live) or as I like to say Bills dream woman LMAO. We got there early enough where we were up next to the barricade directly in front of her table. Many people showed up to see her.
She joked and laughed with the crowd as she signed things. Then she started walking around to see all the people waiting behind the fence:
When she got to us, she hugged me and said:
Did you see me waving at you two yesterday afternoon? It was so great to see you there. People were looking at us like she knows you? I told her that it really touched us that she remembered us. She said how could I forget Bill? He was beaming. We told her goodbye and left to give other people a chance to be close to her.
When we left we noticed an area where CMs were going backstage, we had seen Kassie come out of there too. Bill and I thought bingo now we know where some of them come from. So we decided to hang out for a bit to see what would happen.
We werent there 5 minutes and CMs were walking Rebecca Budig (Greenlee Smythe, All My Children) backstage. She said hi but I never thought to ask if she would stop for a picture. I did get this, check out the shoes, the heels are so high:
She is stunning in person.
We knew it was about time for Kassies session to end, they were walking her back, she spotted us and came right over, she hugged me again telling me how much she appreciated us supporting her. I asked if she had time for a quick picture with Bill, she said of course:
I absolutely love the look on Bills face. The CM was asking her to go and she hugged me again and said goodbye. That woman gives great hugs!
While the crowds thinned we were deciding what to do next. A woman walked up to us and asked which soaps we liked, I told her all of them. She said they would be leaving and wanted to give us this:
It was a standby fast pass for Melissa Claire Eagan (Annie Lavery, All My Children). We thanked her that was so nice of her to do.
Then we saw Jason Tam (Markko Rivera, One Life to Live) get escorted to his station:
Apparently they brought him out too early because they turned him around to take him backstage again. I asked if he would mind a picture:
This is the look you will get from Bill if you are taking pictures fast. He gets surprised every time that people would take the time to stop for pictures.
We started to look at the schedule to see who else might come from that backstage area and it looked like Bree Williamson (Jessica/Tess/Bess Brennan, On Life to Live) would be next, but they took her another way. I did get these pictures though:
I saw the security was walking Laura Wright (Carly Jax, General Hospital) our way. She said hello and I boldly asked again if we could get a picture:
See the partial part of a guy on the right, he tried to talk to her as we were getting the picture, then he asked for an autograph. He seemed a little forward, then asked if he could kiss her, she looked shocked. She looked at me like did you hear that? She said no, I doubt my husband standing right over there would appreciate that. Then she told us goodbye and went backstage, he was creepy.
On the way to see Melissa Claire Egan, we saw Kristen Alderson (Starr Manning, One Life to Live). I got this shot as we were walking by:
Then we saw John-Paul Lavoisier headed to his session. A woman had made a shirt with her picture on it and he told her he would wear it, she was waiting there to see if he did, and he did it:
Here is where they corral us to wait for Melissa:
We had never been in a FP situation at SSW, we had no idea what to do, so we started talking to a lovely CM, Margaret. She said they would have Melissa do all the FP people and if there was time they would start sending the standbys to her in numerical order. We were # 30 so didnt hold out much hope but we were right by the rope and hoped to be able to at least see her.
Here she is walking up:
Smiling and chatting with fans:
After all the FP people were done Margaret started asking everyone to line up with their numbers. Many of the first numbers werent there, Bill looked at me like there was hope, so Margaret took people up to # 25. The handler then walked up to Margaret in front of us and said to stop the line after 3 more people. Then people holding passes 2 & 3 showed up wanting to be placed in front of everyone, Margaret told them they should have been there about 45 minutes ago, she couldnt cut them in front of people that had been waiting that long GO MARGARET!!
Margaret talked to the handler twice trying to get her to fit us in, but it was a no go. The handler said Melissa might say something to everyone as she walked by, apparently that wasnt good enough for Margaret, she asked us to get out what we wanted autographed and she would get Melissa to sign it. I said Bill was more interested in a picture than an autograph and Margaret started smiling and said let me take care of that.
The handler started walking toward us and Margaret said give me your camera. She stopped Melissa and took this:
Melissa asked us our names, thanked us for waiting all that time, and kept patting Bills arm or hand. That really touched me, some people seem to be afraid around Bill. It was very sweet of her. It makes me tear up typing about it. We told her we loved her character and hoped she stayed in Pine Valley for a long time, she said she hopes she stays too.
She then went to sign many things as she walked the line, she was so nice to all the standby people. We hung back and thanked Margaret once again for all she did for us.
We were supposed to try
MVMCP again this night but decided we were just too tired. We started going toward Toy Story Mania about 5:30pm to use our fast passes that we had gotten earlier and Bill was recognized again.
Minniekins from the DIS stopped us with her daughter. She was so great. Her daughter was lovely. It was so nice to talk to someone I had met online. They are both wonderful. Her daughter was nice enough to take this picture:
We said our goodbyes and went to ride TSM. As we were leaving the park we decided to go to DTD, I called Disney Dining and got us an ADR for Captn Jacks. We took a bus to Pop, then hopped on a DTD bus.
I am currently crazy about taking light fixture and coke machine pictures in WDW, dont ask my why I just do it. Here is one at DTD:
We got to Captn Jacks and got some yummy drinks:
Bills Bahama Mama (he loves these):
People always look at me weird when I pour his drink in his cup. His hand isnt strong enough to hold a regular glass, so we try to always carry a cup for him. Maybe they think he shouldnt be drinking?
We ordered dinner and I didnt take any pictures of it, but I did get a picture of the white chocolate raspberry cheesecake:
Continued in next post....
You guys had some prime seating and great pics! So was Bill in heaven or what with that personal wave from Kassie DePaiva? That was really cool she remembered you two and gave a personal hello. 
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knowing she recognized him.
I'm impressed.
Of course, this was 25 years ago when I was a teenager, but he still looks awfully good!
and when Bill is determined things happen 
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at you. 
I look forward to hearing more about the day! 
and it was ok for me too look because Bill was looking at the women 
