The ‘Ohana Trip: 29 Jan – 4 Feb 2006
Walt Disney World

Day 1 – Sunday 1/29. 1 * Day 2 - Monday 1/30. 2 * Day 3- Tuesday 1/31. 4 * Day 4 - Wednesday, 2/1. 5
Day 5 - Thursday, 2/2. 7 * Day 6 - Friday  - 2/3. 9 * Day 7 - Saturday 2/4. 10 * Summary. 11

Photos from this Trip:

Walt Disney World - Jan/Feb 2006

Day 1 – Sunday 29 Jan

Cast of characters:  Me, Scott ,  James (brother)  & Kelly ( SiL)

Weather: hi 78 partly cloudy

Background:  attended a cousin’s wedding in Ft. Lauderdale.  We flew into Orlando on Friday drove down  to FtL. & spent some time with the family.

Went to the beach on Saturday during the day – wedding in the evening & reception following.

We’d been up rather late the night before (wedding reception), but still managed to get up a little before 6:00 am.  Had a little bit of stuff to pack – my parents (who drove down to Florida) had brought our dress-up clothes with them & we needed to get the suitcase back to them before we left.  We were ready to go by about 7:15, catching a quick breakfast at the hotel before we left.  Kelly wasn’t feeling well… she hadn’t had that much to drink the night before, but something wasn’t agreeing with her.

The traffic was MUCH lighter thru the Ft. Lauderdale area on a Sunday morning than a Friday afternoon… we got on the turnpike at Okechobee & stopped at the Ft. Pierce turnpike plaza around 9:00 to stretch & take a break. Kelly was feeling a bit better by then.  We got to the Orlando/Kissimmee area around 11…  we’re not familiar with the area (only drove once & came from the north that time), so we took a bit of time to find a grocery & gas station  - finally got to WDW about 11:45.  We checked in at Pop Century & our rooms were ready – we were in Building 10 in the 1970’s  & were pretty pleased with it.  Not too far from the front and fairly quiet. We took our luggage to the room & waited on the fridge delivery.   It came fairly quickly,  which was good, as we were awfully hungry by then!  We had lunch in the food court – pizza for Scott & I tried the shrimp lo mein, which was good.

The rental car (Jeep Cherokee – a bit cramped for 4 adults plus luggage) was due back by 2:00 – so we got back on the road, stopping by Epcot about 1:40 so Scott & I could activate our AP’s & pick up the Disney Dining Experience card we’d ordered.  The DDE card has turned out to be a really good deal for us so far – I just wish you could pick it up at any front gate.   The rental car dropoff went smoothly and an Alamo/National van was ready for us as soon as we left the building.

We got to Disney/MGM right around 2:00 …  ahhhhh!   We got pictures taken on Hollywood Blvd, then headed back to the thrill rides.  ToT was a walk-on, tho Scott declined to join us.  Whew….  I don’t know when I’ll be going on that again, myself!  If I could just get off the elevator before it hits the drop shaft…. J

We decided to keep the adrenaline high going & pretty much walked on to R&RC  around 2:30 – Scott joined us for this ride. We got back to the preshow & had to wait for it to cycle thru.  We then walked over to Star Tours – that was a little busier! 20 min posted wait with both queues open – but worth the wait, as always!

About 3:00 we checked out Muppet-4D – James & Kelly both really liked the show – then walked around that side of the park.  We got our picture taken with Mike & Sully, then found Stitch, Chip & Dale in the courtyard area in front of the hat.  No, I’m not sure why those 3 were together, either, but it made for a cute photo op!  James was wearing a t-shirt with an Anheiser-Busch logo on it – Stitch pointed at it, shook his head & then blocked the logo with his arm for the photo.  J

We’d made dinner reservations for the Sci-Fi Café at 5:00 – figuring that would give us a chance at decent seats at Fantasmic!, since it’s the slow season.  We arrived at the restaurant a little early & were seated by 4:50.   I tried the Reuben (sauerkraut-free, please) and Scott had a burger… and an Orbiting Oreo shake, which he shared.   Our first opportunity to use the DDE - we put all the orders on 1 check & James & Kelly paid us back – we saved about $12 on that meal.

We headed over to the amphitheater about 5:50, and got pretty good seats in the center section about 2/3 of the way up.  Scott got a pretzel & some sodas to snack on while we were waiting.  He also took some pictures of one of the more fun-loving vendors – I don’t remember his name, but he’s usually wearing most of the light-up accessories!   The show, as always, was wonderful…  Scott got some good pictures – including a great one of Sorcerer Mickey near the  end.  

We hadn’t made any additional plans for this night, since we weren’t sure how we’d feel after a late night Saturday & traveling all morning…  but we were doing pretty well, so decided to check out the EMH over at Magic Kingdom.  We made pretty good time getting out of the amphitheater & to the front of the park.  Caught a standing-room only bus to the TTC, then waited a bit for the express monorail once we got there….  seemed a bit less busy than the ferry.

We got to MK just as Wishes started… in retrospect, we probably should have stopped & watched … Kelly said later she was trying to watch & follow us at the same time.. oops! We cut thru the shops on the left to head over to Adventureland. I was hoping that the Jungle Cruise would be an EMH attraction… but no.  We did pick up our wristbands from a station over by El Pirata & then visited the scurvy swabs of the Spanish Main.  It was a walk-on & our boat was only ½ full – 2 other parties besides ours, I think. Most folks were probably still watching the fireworks.  We then hiked over to Big Thunder Mountain, which was basically a walk on as well. The fireworks were over by this time, but I still love this ride at night!    We decided to try to get on one more ride before calling it a night, so we walked over to Haunted Mansion – just a short wait outside the doors & then we were ushered in.   It was about 9:00 as we made our way to the front of the park. On our way, we stopped at the Hub to get some pictures taken in front of the Castle.  We got over to the bus stop just as ours was arriving and we got seats – yay!   Back to the hotel room just before 10:00 – wound down a bit and then off to dreamland!   James & Kelly said they went over to the pool for a bit – the water was warm, but the air was a bit chilly!  Today & Sunday turned out to be the warmest days we had.

Attraction count:  8 total in 2 different parks (includes Fantasmic! – not bad for a half-day!)

Mileage: 9.4 miles /22,636 steps  (seems high – maybe riding in the car jiggled the pedometer some?)

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Day 2 - Monday 1/30

Weather forecast:  Hi 73 with showers

Got up around 6:00 – were ready for James & Kelly to join us for breakfast by about 7 (we had their milk in our fridge). It was raining already – light, but steady, so we broke out the ponchos.  We got to the bus stop about 7:25 destination: Animal Kingdom.  We were hoping that Expedition Everest would be in soft opening today, as they’d just completed the AP & DVC Preview weekend. We got to the park gates about 7:50 and by the time we got thru the gates, it had stopped raining. James’ pass wasn’t working quite right, so we had a delay while he got a replacement.  We also asked at the front if EE would be running today, but the CM’s didn’t think so. 

We headed over to Harambe, stopping on the Africa bridge to get some pix of the Tree of Life & Everest/Kilimanjaro.  The Safari was a walk-on – the least busy I’d ever seen it!  We saw quite a few rhinos and several different animals on the savannah, but only one elephant.   We then meandered through the Pangani Trail and spent some time observing the gorillas… one of the younger males must’ve been feeling his oats, as we saw a couple of chest-beating displays.  We then went over to Asia on the off-chance that they’d decided to do a soft opening for EE after all … no luck. (At least not today…) . Since we already had our wet-weather gear on, we decided to brave Kali River Rapids, even tho it was a bit cool.  I don’t think we’d gone on this ride our last 2 trips ( Dec 04 & Feb 05).  We got moderately wet the first go-round, which was enough for James & Kelly… tho Scott and I stayed on for another ride – we didn’t even have to get off the raft!   We walked back past Everest & I stopped at the Tea Co. kiosk for a hot chai tea – yum! 

We got to Dinoland around 10 – James, Kelly & Scott went on Primeval Whirl while I finished my tea & caught up on my notes. We rode again – 2 & 2, then headed over to Camp Minnie-Mickey to catch the 10:40 show of Festival of the Lion King.   I think James & Kelly really enjoyed the show – I think it’s one of the best productions on site (tho I still miss Hunchback of Notre Dame!). Afterwards, James, Kelly & I went to It’s Tough to be a Bug (Scott doesn’t like the startle-factor of this show). We just missed getting in, so spent some time in the last room of the queue, looking at & taking pix of all the posters.

After ITTBAB, we had a nice lunch at Pizzafari around noon.   For being lunchtime, it wasn’t that busy at all – I think the on again-off again rain was keeping people away from this park. We used our Disney Dining Experience card and saved about $5 on all 4 meals, I think.  The rain got a little harder as we headed back towards the busses.  We got back to the room about 1:00 and made plans to get back together about 3 to go to the Magic Kingdom.  Spectromagic was running tonight and we planned to watch that and Wishes, since we’d only gotten a brief glimpse the night before.  I napped for a little bit & before we left, put on jeans & grabbed my long-sleeve denim shirt, as it was getting windier.  Since we were planning to be out the rest of the day & evening, I also grabbed my new string backpack (Pooh & Tigger silkscreen) and took both the poncho and a fleece jacket – which I was thankful for later, as it dropped to the mid 50’s that night.

We got out to the bus stop about 3 and were in MK just as the afternoon parade was ending, around 3:20.  In general, we had pretty good luck with the busses – I don’t remember any extremely long waits and only a couple of standing-room only trips.  We headed over to Tomorrowland to see Stitch escape – this time he visited Cinderella in her Castle!  Last time we saw him, he was riding Astro Orbiters.  Next up, was a walk-on visit to Space Mountain – both sides were open & we took left-hand line.  Sigh – a bit of a let-down compared to the spiffy new rehab at Disneyland, but still fun!  It had started to rain again, so we got right back in line about 3:45.   We then took a ride on the TTA while we waited for the weather to clear.  It got a bit better, so we visited with Mr. and Mrs. Incredible on our way out of Tomorrowland.

Fantasyland was our next stop for a spin on the Teacups (2 & 2) – I’m not sure who got their cup spinning faster: Scott or James!  We were both a bit woozy afterwards, so we rested a bit & got FP’s for all 4 of us for Peter Pan about 4:30 while James & Kelly went on Dumbo. Scott took a couple of pictures of them on the ride – very cute!   The sun was starting to peek out between the clouds by this time, but the wind was definitely picking up – I was glad I’d grabbed something warmer to put on later!  The FP window was about a half-hour away, so we went to Philharmagic – James & Kelly said that was the best 3-D show so far – I think it’s the best of all of them, especially since I’m not fond of the startle factor of ITTBAB or  HISTA.  By then, it was time to head towards the second star on the right and fly over Never-Neverland.  And since we were right across the walkway, who could resist a visit to the rehabbed  Small World?  Not us!   I really like the new queue/entry area & all the 3-D buildings …. wonder if they’ll dress it up for the holidays like they do in Disneyland?

By then, we were starting to think about dinner & where to pick out seats for Spectromagic.  We ended up at Casey’s for dinner & were able to snag a table somewhat close to Main Street.  We decided to stay there for the parade – James & Kelly dragged their chairs closer to the street for a better view, and Scott got a little closer for some good pictures. We were also able to peek thru the walkway gap for a good look at the lower portions of the floats.  I really like the Spectromagic music & try to catch the parade at least once a visit.  The afternoon parade is not as big of a deal to me, so we usually don’t go out of our way to watch it.

We then headed over to Adventureland for the fastest Jungle Cruise I’d ever been on – I think the skipper was ready to go home & had the boat on full throttle the whole time! I was a little disappointed that James & Kelly didn’t get the full corny-joke experience… oh well.  About 7:40 we headed back towards the Hub for the fireworks – found a nice spot on the walkway in front of Crystal Palace that was relatively tree-free. James & Kelly went to the Plaza for ice cream & got back about 10 min before the show started.  We really enjoy Wishes & Scott got some good photos of the fireworks.  We’ve talked a bit about getting a tripod or monopod for stuff like this, but neither of us want to carry it around all day! J   We decided to visit Pleasure Island tonight instead of Tuesday night, since James & Kelly were leaving Wednesday afternoon.  So we were on the move as soon as the finale was over, cutting thru the stores & were on the monorail to the Contemporary by about 8:40.   I was getting chilly by then, so pulled out the fleece jacket.

A Downtown Disney bus came by about 10 min later and we were on our way, with one quick stop at the Polynesian.  We got to the Marketplace about 9:00 – James & Kelly wanted to do a bit of shopping before we went to Pleasure Island… well…  we made stops at the scrapbook store, Christmas shop, the Under $10 store and the toy store, where we both got Potatohead parts.  We’ve got a toteful at home, but they keep making new pieces! World of Disney is a notorious time-sucker, so we didn’t even get to the PI gates until 10:25, where we discovered we’d just missed a show at the Comedy Warehouse.  We’d had an awfully long day, so decided to call it a night & come back tomorrow after Illuminations. We waited a bit for a bus at the PI stop and got back to Pop about 11:00.  We grabbed the mugs & got some sodas and snacks in the room – getting to bed about 11:45.  A fun-filled, but  LONG day!

Attraction count:  20 (includes repeat rides, Spectromagic & Wishes)

Mileage: 10.04 miles/ 24,141 steps

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Day 3- Tuesday 31 January

Weather: Hi 69 – showers am & mostly sunny pm

Another early morning (Epcot EMH), so up at 6:15 and ready to go a little after 7:00. At Epcot by 7:45, where they allowed us to enter 5 min later, lining us up just on the inside of Innoventions.   We scooted over to the right, angling for the shortest distance between us and Soarin’  J.  Right at 8:00 – the CM’s started pulling the rope back & leading the seething masses  oh so slowly over to the Land pavilion!  After a few crowded minutes, we ended up in row 2 on one of the first flights of the day! We grabbed FP’s (9:30 window) and then walked over to Mission Space.  Scott declined to join us & instead went to Mission Control – the line was pretty much a walk on & we had a blast! (so to speak).  I knew better than to try to ride it again right away, so we joined Scott.  He & James played the Space Race game, while Kelly & I looked around & browsed the gift shop.  It was about time to Soar over California again; the standby line was at 45 min – even with our FP we only got about ½ way thru the concourse before we caught up with the line.  We asked politely if we could sit in the first row – success!

It was about 10 when we exited Soarin’ & got a little snack at the food court.  Next stop – Figment! While I enjoy the fact that this attraction is almost always a walk on, I’m a bit concerned what that might mean for the future of it.  We played around a bit in the What If Labs then backtracked to the Living Seas.  Apparently, word has gotten out about Turtle Talk, as the line was HUGE! They had the queue snaking around thru most of the open area outside the auditorium, so we decided to try again later. About 11 we went over to Club Cool.  I’m not thrilled with the rehab – especially since they were out of two of the drinks – Germany & Mozambique.   James & Kelly both tried Beverly – we didn’t even have to trick/urge them!

We wanted to finish up Future World by early afternoon so we could go back to the hotel & rest for a bit,  so we went back over to Spaceship Earth – where there was actually a 10 min line!   Siemens hasn’t started much in the way of rehabs yet – hopefully we’ll see something in the cavernous exit room by the time we return in Oct or Dec.  

About 11:45 we got in line for Universe of Energy….  my personal energy level was kind of low, so I was looking forward to sitting (& maybe even napping) for a bit!   Despite the chance to sit for a while, this attraction is usually low on our list, but we wanted to make sure James & Kelly saw everything they were interested in.  We stopped at Gateway Gifts on the way out and were at the bus stop by about 1:00.  Back to the resort around 1:30 – ordered pizza & side dishes (saved about $5 using the DDE card) and took them back to the rooms.   We rested until about 4:30 & made dinner ressies at Rose & Crown for 6:50.    We were on the bus back to Epcot by 4:45.  On the way over, we discussed plans for the rest of the evening. We decided to skip Illuminations in favor of trying to get to the first Comedy Warehouse show at PI instead.  We got to Epcot about 5 and headed back over to the Living Seas – still a very long line to see Crush, but we decided to stick it out.  The theater is bigger than it seems, so we only had to wait for 1 show to cycle thru before it was our turn.   They’ve added a new element to the show since we saw it last in Feb 05 … I’m not sure if it’s a part of every show, so I won’t spoil it!

We looked around a little at Living Seas then headed over to World Showcase.  We rode Rio De Tiempo & stopped for margaritas for James & Kelly.  “Drinking Around the World” intrigued them, but we were a bit short on time by then.  Continued around to Norway & I held everyone’s drinks while they went on Maelstrom.  The sun was just starting to set and the Lagoon was just lovely.  I could see part of the Chinese acrobat show and that & general people watching kept me entertained while I waited.  It was a little after 6 when we called to cancel our ressie,  as there was no way we were going to get around the lagoon in 45 minutes. L We snacked our way around WS instead, funnel cakes & hot dogs, tabbouleh & baklava, and finally, fish & chips from the take-away window.

We decided to take the resort boat to the Boardwalk, look around there a bit & then catch a bus to DTD.  Got to the dock about  8 & a boat arrived fairly quickly. The weather was still fairly nice, so we rode in the back.  We got to the Boardwalk about 8:20 & cruised up & down, stopping at the bakery for dessert.  We didn’t have to wait at the bus stop for very long & were on our way to DTD  about 8:45.     We were pleasantly surprised to find that the cashier let us use our DDE card to get half-price admission for all 4 of us….  it’s only supposed to be the card holder & one guest, but we weren’t going to argue!  We arrived about 8:50 – plenty of time before the 9:05 show.  Scott got his first of 2 Leisure Suits that evening and we waited near the front of the line – ending up sitting at the tables in front – a first for us!

The show was a lot of fun – we recognized Joy & the dark haired woman from previous visits.  I’ve always wondered what kind of turnover they have & how many different performers rotate thru the show – same for the Adventurers’ Club.  Speaking of which –we arrived in the Lobby at AC about 10 & listened to Babylonia, Anelle (one of the maids) and Pamelia have a chat.  The Radiothon show was at 10:15 that evening – we sat kind of near the front.  Anelle flirted a bit with Scott & Pamelia pulled him up for her big song… he looked kinda cute in that boa!  Scott’s gotten involved in the AC shows several times – holding up Bessie the Educated Heifer & performing some other minor role that escapes me.   Lucky guy! J   After the radiothon, I was ready to call it a night – James & Kelly wanted to do a bit more shopping, so we parted ways.  Scott was getting a bit silly after not much dinner & 2 drinks, so we got snacks before returning to the room about 11:30.   Another long day, but we had  a lot of fun! 

Attraction count: 12 (includes Comedy Warehouse & Adventurers’ Club)

Mileage:  7.95 mi/19,126 steps

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Day 4 - Wednesday, 1 February

Weather: Hi 76 & sunny

Had reservations at the Crystal Palace this morning at 8:15 – so we were up by about 6:40 and at the bus stop by 7:30 – plenty of time.  We got in the park about 8:05 & took advantage of the early breakfast entry to get some good pix of a basically empty Main Street & an uncluttered Castle.  J  We were seated about 5 min before our ADR and dove right in to our meal.  Tigger, Eeyore, Pooh & Piglet all made the rounds – the restaurant was only about half-full, so they all got to come over & visit.   I particularly enjoyed the breakfast lasagna (Bananas Foster & blueberry cake) and the puffy French toast - yum!

We finished our meal just as the park was opening, so headed over to Fantasyland.  Snow White had noone in line, so that was our first stop.  The Many Adventures of Pooh was basically a walk on, then we explored Pooh’s Thotful Spot, as that had opened since our last visit. We squeezed into the tree to see the tribute to the Submarine attraction – sigh… I miss that!  At least they’re bringing it back (with Finding Nemo additions!) at Disneyland.

About 9:30 we got in a fairly short line at the Tomorrowland Indy Speedway & each took our own vehicle out on the track.  I normally take a pass on this ride, but with family & a short line, it was hard to resist.   By this time, Toontown was about ready to open, so we joined the little crowd that had gathered.  Eeyore, Pooh & Tigger came out to lead us into Toontown…. guess they finally finished their breakfast! J   We went to Barnstomer & caught the second “flight” …  Goofy and a lucky little girl had ridden together on the first flight of the day – cool!   We went to see Mickey, since there was a very short wait, and then toured Minnie’s house & took pictures of each other (couples) in the gazebo.

Next up – Toontown Hall of Fame…. it was about 10:30 and the lines were starting to build. We skipped the princesses in favor of Minnie, Pluto, Goofy & Donald.    We’d talked earlier about getting the Disney PhotoPass CD – instead of buying individual pictures from the Disney photographers, you can have them all copied to a CD for one price ($99) – and you also get the reproduction rights, so you can print them at your local photo store/Wal*Mart/CVS, what have you.   The Hall of Fame is one of 3 places on property you can have the CD made, so we stopped at the photo desk and asked about it.  We wanted to know if you could add the frames, signatures & or other “extras” that you can get on the printed photos – you sure can!    We also asked if we could make the CD now, so James & Kelly could review the pix and choose the add-ons,  but  then add our pictures from the rest of our trip on later.  Andrew  (who was VERY helpful – we made sure to fill out a comment card before leaving that day!) said that as long as we kept the receipt, we could have the current photos copied over & the additional photos added to a new CD at no extra charge!  :waytogo:

We had 50 photos taken so far (!!!) and spent about 40 min reviewing them & adding the “extras”.  Kelly does scrapbooking & was thrilled that she could get some pix pre-framed & dated.

It was nearly 11:20 when we passed by the teacups – Scott sat this trip out, so James, Kelly & I crammed all into 1 cup and really got it going!  Their digital camera takes video clips, so we passed that around while we spun – whee!   We walked back into Toontown to catch the train over to Frontierland, where we exited about 11:45 and went to BTMRR – fairly short wait (10 min).   Next up, James, Kelly & I went on Splash Mountain (not one of Scott’s favorites) – which had an even shorter line.  We sat in the last 2 rows of the log & barely got sprinkled. We hadn’t visited Henry at the Country Bear Jamboree yet, so that was our next stop. James wanted to check out the shooting range, so we hung around Frontierland for a little bit  while he tested his skills.  It had warmed up nicely by this time,  t-shirt & jeans was comfy & the sun was shining…. yay!

James & Kelly had to be back at the resort by 2:45 to catch the Magical Express back to the airport L, so we decided to get something to eat before leaving the Magic Kingdom.  I suggested Columbia Harbor House – we were ordering about 1:00.  I got a ½ tuna sandwich & clam chowder & I think Scott got a burger again…  good stuff! We hadn’t yet actually walked thru the castle – either it was blocked off for Cinderellabration or just wasn’t on our way, so we headed back to Main Street thru Fantasyland and the castle.  We then caught a ride back to the train station on one of the Main Street jitneys….  something we don’t normally have a chance to do!   We backtracked to the Emporium to do a bit of shopping and then headed out to the bus stop about 2:00 – a bus driver saw us coming up to the stop and waited for us – how nice!

James & Kelly got their laptop out to make a copy of the PhotoPass CD and we said our goodbyes…. I think they had a lot of fun, even if we did run them a bit ragged!   We went back to the room to rest for a bit – and about 4:30 decided to look around the resort.  We crossed the Generation Gap bridge – which is blocked by landscaping on the far end.   Thanks to the camera zoom lens, we were able to get a pretty good look at the the Legendary Years section of Pop Century.  The Decade Years are up, but unpainted & the buildings look in OK shape, despite the grapevine rumour that the hurricanes of the past 2 years did so much damage that they’ll eventually have to be razed.  I hope business picks up enough for WDW to make it worthwhile to start working on this part of the resort again.

We had talked about going to AK for its evening EMH, but decided to take it easy & just look around DTD and maybe visit PI.   We’d kind of hit the wall …  driving to Ft. Lauderdale & back, and then the non-stop touring really took it out of us!  We caught a bus to DTD and arrived about 5:10.  We looked around the Christmas store again, as well as the pet store and the pin pavilion. About 6:00 we decided to see how busy the Earl of Sandwich was… we hadn’t yet visited on of our favorite quick service restaurants!   It wasn’t busy at all, to our surprise … apparently the nice weather (best this week so far) was keeping people in the parks.   I ordered the jerked chicken sub – it was OK, but I think the American (turkey) is still my favorite. Scott really likes the Cannonballs meatball sandwich.  

We then did our big souvenir shopping at WOD (thank goodness for shipping to the resort!) and looked around Legoland.    One of our other plans for this trip was to find out more about the DVC, so we stopped & spoke with a rep for about 20 min & ended up making at appointment to go to the Open House at Saratoga Springs the next day.   We decided to pass on visiting PI, so caught the bus about 7:40 and were back to our room by 8:00…  an early night.  We watched some TV & headed off to dreamland early… with a small interruption about 10:30 by the next-door noisy family.. they were still using their outdoor voices   :tsk tsk:.

Attraction count: 14 (not bad for basically a half day)

Mileage: 4.44 mi/10,681 steps  (see above)

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Day 5 - Thursday, 2 February

Weather: High 78 – 20% chance of showers

Magic Kingdom morning EMH, and since we’d hit the sack early the night before, we were up and at ‘em by 7:20. There were a bunch of people lined up at the stop & we were the second-to-last couple in an SRO bus. The driver was one of the more talkative ones we’d had so far on the trip and got us to the park about ten til 8.   We saw the opening ceremony and were on Main Street a few minutes before 8:00.  We took our time down Main Street, heading towards Fantasyland.  We walked on to Peter Pan, then stood in a short line for Dumbo. We then visited with Pooh and after a turn (so to speak) on the Teacups, it was only 8:35, so we got in a short line for the Speedway.

Next stop: Space Mountain. Again – quite a short line, even though only one side was open – we still got all the way back to the loading room before catching up with the line,   I can’t imagine coming to WDW during any of the busy seasons (Easter, Christmas or mid-summer) anymore … I’ve my time already, visiting in the mid-late 80’s with my family!  For example, we visited Epcot during the Christmas season of 1982 and I swear there was a 2-3 hour line for everything! At Spaceship Earth, people were holding spots for each other & ducking out to get something to eat or drink!

After our Space Mountain “flight” – we headed towards the front of Tomorrowland and had a pleasant surprise – Buzz was open ahead of schedule!  The ride was supposed to still be in refurb til the end of the following week.. James & Kelly had been rather disappointed that it was closed during their visit.  Apparently, not too many people had noticed that Buzz was open at that point, as there was no line outside & not much of one inside, either.  We didn’t notice any major changes – just general spiffing up, it seems.

Around 9:30 we took a trip on the TTA, with an entire tram to ourselves. We then caught a show at the Carousel of Progress - so glad to see it open on a more permanent basis! – and then took a Mickey Bar break in the Hub.  Over to Adventureland, where we got our picture taken with Rafiki.  The photo spot was in the covered seating area right next to the bridge from the Hub & it was quite dark that time of day, so the photo didn’t come out very well.   About 10:30 we joined a rather long, but fast-moving Jungle Cruise line. We got to see them pull another boat out of the storage area &  about 20 min later we were stepping onto Irriwadi Irma. We had a much better skipper this time!  IMHO, the showman/womanship of the skipper really makes or breaks this attraction.  We then walked into the Tiki room – missing the preshow L, but we got good seats near the exit. It’s a challenge to get good photos of the birds (dark & lots of motion), but Scott got a couple of nice ones from our vantage point.

We got in the queue for PoTC about 11:00 – we wanted to experience this attraction a few more times before seeing its new incarnation on our next visit.  I just hope the spirit of the ride is kept intact & doesn’t get too dependent on the movie-related elements.   When we exited PoTC, we saw one of the photographers  posing people against a wall with a sword in their hand & taking their picture.  We wandered over & found out they were testing an extension of superimposing characters into guest photos.  I imagine most PassPorters have a photo with Tinkerbell standing on your hands or  Stitch popping out of the hat you’re holding – this is the next logical step.  Scott posed with the sword, as if he were fighting Captain Hook, while I played the damsel in distress. Of course we both hammed it up…  with amusing results.  (As soon as I can find the photo, I’ll upload & link it!)

It was about 11:30 when we went over to BTMRR – the lines were getting a bit longer (relatively speaking) – probably about 20 min, with most of the indoor, upstairs queue area being used & both trains running.  We stopped at Pecos Bill’s for lunch around noon & it was fairly busy.  I had the chicken salad, which was large & quite good, if you like the dressing, and of course, a burger for Scott!  After lunch, we meandered through Frontierland over to Liberty Square for another visit with the 999 happy haunts.  The hearse wasn’t in its usual place… I had read somewhere that Disney was using it as a prop for another superimposed photo setup, but we never did figure out where that was.  Oh well!

The HM was having some problems, too – the busts weren’t working quite right, as the projections seemed much darker than usual & I think Thurl was missing entirely, if I remember correctly.   However, we did spot Mr. Toad as a recent addition to the Pet Cemetery – check out the upper left side, near the fence. 

Our DVC Open House appointment was at 1:30, so we browsed thru a couple of the Main Street shops before arriving at the DVC storefront about 5 min early.  The CM escorted us out to the DVC van, which whisked us away to Saratoga Springs.  We had something to drink & a snack while waiting for Randy.  We sat & talked with him for a while, took the tour and then went through the materials.  It’s a gorgeous resort & I like being able to take a boat to DTD.  I also like that the points can be used at other resorts on site, as well as exchanged with other vacation companies.  

We had told Randy that we wanted to get to MGM in time to catch the last show at Lights, Motors, Action!, so he made sure to keep to a schedule that would get us back by then, something we appreciated.   Compared to the one other time-share type of presentation we’d been to (Las Vegas for free show tickets  - NOT WORTH IT), this was very low/no pressure & Randy was a pleasure to work with.  We were seriously considering joining DVC … but after some reflection once we returned home, we decided it probably wasn’t a good fit for us, as we don’t usually stay at the Deluxe level (the general price equivalent) and we have children to pass it down to.  We may revisit the idea in a few years, but for now, we’re happy staying at the Value or Moderate resorts with an occasional Annual Pass discount.

We arrived at MGM about 4:00 and headed back to LMA! – the stadium area was about 2/3 full when we got there & basically filled before the show.  We hadn’t seen this before & really enjoyed it!  It had a couple of surprises & lots of excitement – with a good look at how vehicle stunts are staged & filmed.  I think compliments the Indy Stunt Show nicely and I hope Disney’s planning on keeping them both.

We checked on the next showing of Voyage of the Little Mermaid, and since a show had just started, we went to the back entrance of the Animation Tour and looked around at the interactive displays for a bit.  Noone was signing autographs this late in the day – I think Chicken Little & friends had been there earlier.   About 5:30 we saw VotLM and then went to the  Great Movie Ride.  We got the gangster (a moll, actually!) and I told Scott to look for the in-joke in the Aliens scene.  One of the monitors down near the floor on the left side of the ride says something about welcoming aliens from the Glendale area to the Nostromo.  J. 

Since we’d already seen Fantasmic! this trip & had pooped out early the night before, we decided to head over  to Pleasure Island early & catch a couple of the shows at the Adventurers’ Club.  We left MGM about 6:40 to head back to Pop & made a quick stop by the room to drop off our purchases & documents from DVC.   We were back out at the DTD bus stop about 7:10.  The weather had been pretty nice all along  – in retrospect, I wish we’d scheduled our DVC tour for the following day!

We got to AC about 8:00 – just in time for the New Member Welcome show in the Library.  We visited Kiki the maid in the Treasure Room and participated in the Member Induction ceremony in the lobby, then caught the Balderdash show.  It’s interesting to note which actors are playing which characters on any given evening – in this trip we saw the same CM as Emil and a very Scottish version of Otis T. Wren, and another CM as Graves, then as Emil.   We also recognized a couple of guests from our visit earlier in this trip…  I imagine if we lived in the Orlando area, Scott and I would become AC “regulars”, too!   We left PI about 10 and got back to our room about 10:45 – another busy and fun day!

Attraction count:  19 (includes Adventurers’ Club, but not the DVC tour J  )

Mileage: 6.9 miles/16,606 steps

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Day 6 - Friday  - 3 February

Weather: showers, high 79

No morning EMH’s today, so we requested a 7:30 wakeup call & were at the bus stop by 8:35.  We got our Magical Express info – pickup scheduled for 2:25 tomorrow. L  It was already sprinkling & was a bit cool – I wore shorts, but also my long-sleeved denim shirt  - we kept our ponchos at the ready.   Arrived at AK a little before nine – checked with the CM’s on the status of Expedition Everest – they said as far as they knew, it was running today!  :waytogo:  We headed back to Asia and got right on the ride – I was torn between dawdling & examining the artifacts and getting on the ride – I figure I’ll have time to examine the queue later.  We were a little anxious, we’d been watching the progress on EE for the last few years & there were some steep-looking drops!

This is an absolutely awesome ride!  It’s more intense than BTMRR, but not quite as adrenaline-pumping as R&RC, IMHO. The Yeti is just incredible – seems at least 15-20 feet tall and the fastest-moving/most fluid AA I’ve ever seen.   The Imagineers really have something to be proud of in this attraction.  We went right back on it – this time sitting in the back of the train.  It started raining a bit harder while we were on the ride & by the time we were ready to exit the gift shop it was pouring!  It was getting awfully crowded in the shop, so after we made a few purchases (Scott scored one of the “scream like a girl” shirts – rumor was they were going to be pulled) we ventured out into the wet.  

We sloshed over to the Safari, which was also walk on.   We were a little surprised to see so many animals out – guess they don’t mind the rain as much as humans do!  The elephants in particular seemed to be having a grand time – they were hanging out by the watering hold and the 2 little ones were actually in the water.  About 10:15 we got some snacks & hot drinks and checked on Flights of Wonder.  Since the stage area is open-air, they cancelled the first show, with no promises about the rest of the day.   We heard some rumbles of thunder around this time & wondered if the bad weather were settling in for the day, as had been forecast.

Around 10:35 we headed towards the park entrance. We’d had our EE gift shop purchases sent to the front & weren’t quite sure if there had been enough time for them to arrive.  We lucked out – that wagon had just been brought up!  We also started talking about alternate plans for the day, since the parks would probably not be a lot of fun in the steady rain.  We considered renting a car & visiting the outlet stores and/or the mall, but figured that would be a bit pricey.  We decided instead to take a look at Old Key West & see if we could get a tour of the rooms. This would probably ge the main resort we’d stay at if we joined DVC, since it’s the least expensive, point-wise. 

We took the bus over to OKW & arrived around 11. We talked to the DVC rep, who turned us over to one of the resort CM’s, Eric. He was very helpful and personable – we toured one of the two-bedroom units & he showed us how the studio & the one-bedroom would look, since the 2nd bedroom is laid out very similar to the studio. I really like the looks of this resort (even in the dreary rain) and would consider renting points to stay here sometime.  We also looked around the main building area and by  noon, we were hanging around the bus stop to catch a ride to DTD … looking forward to a nice warm meal at Earl of Sandwich!  It was quite busy at the restaurant - including a group of CM’s & an EMT-type person… someone had slipped on the wet floor & hit his head pretty hard, it looked like.

After lunch (an American  & a Cannonballs), we walked thru the Marketplace over to the theater. It was packed – there wasn’t anything that we were particularly interested in starting any time soon, so we continued over to the bus stop. It was a bit cooler than it had been earlier & the wind was picking up, blowing our ponchos around a bit.  Maybe we’ll get some good rain jackets for our next trip!  While we waited at the bus stop – we saw several impressive lightning bolts – yeah, I can believe Orlando is the lightning capital of the Southeast!

We got back to our room about ten til 2 – I got some hot cocoa & Scott took a shower to warm up. We watched TV & snoozed for a while, after starting to pack up for tomorrow.   We decided to check out Epcot’s evening EMH about 6:00, as the rain had mostly blown over by that time.  It was definitely cooler – jeans & sweatshirt weather.   We went to chat with Crush again (saw the same “guest star”  appearance…. not sure if this is a permanent addition or not?) and visited our favorite purple Figment, then walked around World Showcase. I had a lamb schwarma sandwich in Morocco for dinner  & Scott had his All-American hot dog. 

We caught the 8:15 American Adventure showing, then trotted over to Norway just before Illuminations – there was NO line for Maelstrom, which kind of surprised us!  We caught the last half of Iluminations after our trip with the trolls, and I got dessert – a couple of lefse.    We said goodbye to Epcot with a trip on Spaceship Earth and a couple of PhotoPass pix, and got back to our room after 10:00. We finished our packing & got to bed around 11:30.

Attraction Count:  10 (includes visit to OKW & Illuminations – a slow day for us)

Mileage: not recorded.

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Day 7 - Saturday 4 February

NOTE: I forgot to grab my notebook, so jotted basic notes on a bit of paper, so today won’t be quite as thorough.

Finished packing & took our stuff to the main building. Since we were flying Delta, we were able to take advantage of the Resort Airline Check-In  - so we only had to hand our carryons over to Bell Services.  We decided to spend our last day at the Magic Kingdom, as it’s become a bit of a tradition for us.  

We got to the park around 9:00 and headed over to Tomorrowland for another Space Ranger Spin. We then curved around to Fantasyland to see Snow White & Philharmagic again, then over to Liberty Square to visit the 999 Happy Haunts once more. I wish I had asked about/looked around a little more for the hearse, as getting one of the ghostly photos I heard about (possibly over on Intercot?) would have been neat! 

On our way back over to Toontown to get our PhotoPass CD updated, we visited with Pooh.  Then on to Toontown – we ended up with nearly 100 photos total!   We took some time to add frames, autographs and other graphic elements to some of the pictures (the original files are kept in a separate folder). Once we were finished, we caught the train to Frontierland and rode Pirates again.  I’m very curious to see how much the upgrades change this attraction… tho I kind of wish that they’d left one of them (either WDW or DL) as is, preferably DL!  Took another tour through the jungle and finished up our trip with lunch at Casey’s. 

We waved goodbye to the castle with a tear & a smile, then got out to the bus stop by 1:00.  Back at Pop Century, we had a just little time to browse the gift shop & get one last Frozen Coke.   I wish they had these at POFQ!   We were out waiting for the Magical Express bus by about 2:10…  it came just a bit late, but we made good time to the airport – I was mildly surprised that they were showing Ice Age (a non Disney movie!) on the bus. It was so nice to not have to lug our luggage thru the twisty check in lines!  I’m glad to hear that  DME is continuing thru 2011,  and even more glad at the rumours that it will stay free!  We may use a towncar or rent a car in December to get to WDW (so we can make a grocery stop), but will probably take advantage of it for our return to the airport.    Our flight was more or less  on time – tho with the layover, we didn’t even get to the Indy aiport til after 11.  Between waiting for luggage and the LONG drive home, it was nearly 2 am before we walked in our own front door. Thankfully, we had all day Sunday to (begin to) recuperate!

Attraction count: 7 (including the train) – not bad for a short half-day!

Mileage – (not recorded)

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Summary

Overall – we had a wonderful time, especially when we got to  (re-)introduce my brother and his wife to the wonders of Walt Disney World.  While I doubt they’ll become as much of Disneyphiles as we are,  hopefully we’ll be able to make another joint trip someday in the future.   We did run them (and ourselves) a bit ragged – I ended up with another cold after this trip, possibly from being out in the rain, but more probably from being in the planes.  Dealing with sleep problems (apnea) drained my energy quite a bit, too.  If the CPAP machines work as well as they’re supposed to, I guess I’ll be making room in my carry-on for it, because I hated that sleepy, draggy feeling that came over me most days by late afternoon, even after a nap.

Our last 3 trips have been during the winter season – Dec 2004, Feb 2005 & Jan 2006, and I think this timeframe is the best for us.  We’ve visited during mid-May (our anniversary) on our previous trips, and while I kind of miss going to the water parks … I don’t miss the heat & humidity!  The crowd level during this time of year is also nearly nonexistent, though the higher number of refurbs is a drawback.   Scott  & I  have talked about maybe making 3 trips every 2 years – one in early December, one in mid-May and then perhaps in late Sept, then starting the cycle again the following spring.   I’d love to attend Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party sometime and the Flower and Garden Festival is always a visual treat.

New Experiences:  

Things We Missed: