Day 1: Saturday 2 Dec 2006 * Day 2: Sunday 3 Dec 2006 * Day 3 – Monday 4 Dec 2006
Day 4: Tuesday 5 Dec 2006 * Day 5: Wednesday 6 Dec 2006 * Day 6: Thursday 7 Dec 2006
Day 7: Friday 8 Dec 2006 * Day 8: Saturday 9 Dec 2006 * Day 9: Sunday 20 Dec 2006
Day 10: Monday 11 Dec 2006
Walt Disney World - December 2006 - Part I * Walt Disney World - December 2006 - Part II
Walt Disney World - December 2006 - Part III * Walt Disney World - December 2006 - Part IV
Weather: Partly cloudy, temperatures in the mid 80’s – quite a change from
We started off our Disney vacation the night before, attending the 2006 edition of Disney On Ice: Princess Wishes. We had very good seats, only about 7 rows up from the ice and in a corner. The security personnel fussed about Scott’s camera being a “professional camera” & wouldn’t let him bring it in, so I’m afraid we can’t share any pictures. L
The show was basically highlights from about a half-dozen Disney Princess films, with Aladdin and The Little Mermaid having the longest set pieces. Tinkerbell introduced each section, with a grand finale ball with all the princesses and their princes at the end, as well as Mickey, Minnie, Pluto and Goofy. The costumes were lovely; I especially liked they way they handled Ariel in her mermaid form (and Aladdin was a hunk, clad only in a vest & loose pants – rawr!) The skating was pretty spectacular, with lots of couple work and lifts. I’m not a big figure skating fan, but I can appreciate all the hard work that goes into a show like this.
We took advantage of a Stay and Park program at a local hotel – the LaQuinta Inn. The hotel itself isn’t anything special - our room smelled kind of musty & was a bit worn around the edges – but the price to stay the night before & park in their lot is not much more than it would cost to park at the airport (or even offsite) anyways, plus we don’t have to get up at o’dark-thirty and drive an hour and a half to get to the airport for a morning flight! We got back to our room about 9:30 and went to bed soon after that.
Woke up about 4:15 - our flight was at 7:20 and the shuttle to the airport only runs every half-hour. This LaQuinta does offer a nice complimentary breakfast, with make-your-own waffles and biscuits and gravy! We caught the 5:30 shuttle and were on our way to the airport. Unfortunately, my suitcase got a bit manhandled in the shuttle and one of the wheels broke off! It was my nearly-new Mickey suitcase, too L
We got our bags checked, thru security and seated at the gate by 6:00 – plenty of time. I wouldn’t have minded getting a little more sleep, but Scott & I are both “early birds” when it comes to traveling. I leafed thru the Passporter while I was waiting & wrote some notes – our basic plan was pretty much in place, but I wanted to refresh my memory on some of the attractions & locations.
Our flight left the gate about 5 min early – full plane. Seating was a 2 & 3 across setup & Scott and I had chosen seats on the 2 side, with him having the window seat. Lots of kids (no surprise on a plane headed to
We landed on time, about 9:30 and they got our luggage out to us pretty quickly. I don’t remember whether it was our Dec 2004 or Feb 2005 flight – but on one of them, a bunch of golfers were on our flight, and their bags of clubs kept fouling up the luggage conveyor belt & it took about two to three times longer to get our luggage than it had on any other trip!
We rented a car from
We left MouseSurplus about 11:45 and headed over to WDW via one of the outlets on I-Drive. I was getting hungry (and borderline cranky), so we got something to eat at the mall food court before arriving at Caribbean Beach Resort about 1:15. The Custom House was BUSY! I was a little concerned that we wouldn’t be able to get our requested island & would be stuck out in the boonies, but with a little pixie dust, we ended up in
Scott remembered where the nearest Publix was & we got our breakfast & snack supplies for the week & called to check on our room. Still not ready, but we were raring to get to the parks – so we had Bell Services hold our groceries and changed into shorts & t-shirts, then drove over to the Jamaica island to check things out & see what the transportation was like. We got to the bus stop about 2:40 & were picked up within 5 min; however, we then rode around to several other stops before leaving for the
We found the bus routes somewhat variable – Jamaica was usually the first stop coming from Epcot or the Studios, but the 4th stop from MK or AK,; with any of the above varying according to the crowds. It was still a bit better than the All Stars bus service, but I still think I prefer POFQ or Pop Century in that respect.
We arrived at
IMHO – the updates to the ride fit in very well and in no way detract from this classic attraction. The Davy Jones mist screen is very impressive in person! Barbossa didn’t do much for me - I don’t know if he’s a new AA or just has a new face & clothes. On the other hand, the first Captain Jack Sparrow AA in the dunking scene is just amazing! It helps, I think, that Depp’s body movements somewhat mimic an AA in the first place :grin: His second appearance (in the barrel in the pillaging scene) is not quite as impressive, since it’s only head & shoulders. His last appearance in the treasure room is too far away to get a really good look at, but not as fluid as the first one, IMHO.
We spent about an hour total with the scurvy swabs, and when we exited the building (PS: look for the shoe/pegleg prints on the speedramp when you exit PotC!), we saw Mac and his cart surrounded by lights & a film crew; apparently, they’re filming the Pirate Training… wonder what it will show up in? Unfortunately, we never did get to see the training in progress during this trip – hopefully it will still be going on whenever our next trip happens.
It was time for our Jungle Cruise FP, so that was our next stop. Our skipper was OK – stuck mostly to the standard script & seemed to be running the throttle a little faster than we’re used to – I bet there were more boats out, due to the crowds. Thankfully, this was the busiest day we experienced; maybe we should have avoided the
We called to check on our room about 4:30 – it was finally ready, so we got out to the CBR bus stop about 4:45 & to the room at 5:15. We unloaded the car, drove back around to get our groceries (Bell Services was running between 45 min to an hour!) and then unpacked. We were getting pretty hungry by this time, so decided to give the resort food court a try. We drove over to Old Port Royale and looked around a bit… I wasn’t sure when the
I tried the baked ziti at the food court, and Scott had a meatball sub. The ziti was a bit bland & had been sitting out for awhile – but I still finished it off. Scott said his sub was fine. We finished about 6:30 and decided what to do with the rest of our evening. MK was open til 11, so we thought we’d head back there for awhile. The bus for Epcot came first (about 6:45), so we decided to catch it, and ride the monorail over to MK instead.
The Epcot monorail arrived about 7:10 – we rode to the TTC and, continuing the alternate transportation theme, rode the ferry over to MK. The lights looked quite lovely across the lagoon… I don’t remember if Scott got any good photos or not. We got in the park about 7:40 – with Spectromagic running at
We joined the nearly non-existent line for Goofy’s Barnstormer (the quickest ride in the wilderness) and then continued over to Mickey’s house. We were just leaving his garage (no more Mohave Oil cans) when we heard the 5 min announcement for Wishes. We decided to try to catch it from Fantasyland, as we’d read that you’re surrounded by the fireworks. We ended up in the back of FL behind Dumbo and over by Scuttle’s Landing. The explosions are definitely louder in this location, and I got a bit of a neck cramp trying to see all the fireworks! This was the first of 3 showings of Wishes we watched on this trip (including the MVMCP version) – lots of oohs and ahhs this time!
After the show we continued thru Fantasyland over to the
The railroad wasn’t running, as the second Spectromagic parade was scheduled for 10, so we walked back through Adventureland on our way out of the park & decided to squeeze in one more ride – the Jungle Cruise about 10:05. Our skipper this time around was Brazilian and a little more lively than our first trip. However, the best line we heard on the boat wasn’t even his! Just before we left the dock, a female skipper came over to check & see if our skipper wanted to take a break… from the back of the boat, we hear an older guy yell out “We wants the redhead!” :grin:
After our cruise, we headed towards the front of the park, cutting thru the stores on the way, as the parade was still in progress. We caught up with the end of the parade just as we left the Emporium, and got caught up with the start of the seething mass of humanity streaming towards the exit. We got to the bus stop about 10:35, just as one bus was filling up and another was coming around the bend. We waited on the second bus to ensure a seat and returned to the resort about 10:45. Our room – 4623 – was a very welcome sight by then and we didn’t waste much time getting ready for bed, with lights out about 11:15.
Considering we didn’t even get to the park until early afternoon and the crowd level was pretty high – we still rode a decent number of attractions (10) counting the monorail and ferry and riding Jungle Cruise twice. Our mileage was pretty impressive too – 18,642 steps = 11.1 km! (my odometer got stuck on the kilometer vs mile setting & I couldn’t figure out how to change it back!)
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Weather part sunny, high 82.
Got up a little earlier than we’d originally planned (7am) as we needed to get the car back to the
I forgot to mention what vehicle we got: a bright yellow HHR! Scott’s been wanting to test-drive one of these for awhile (tho :knock on wood: we won’t get/need a new vehicle for a few years) and this was a great opportunity. He liked it pretty well – as a big guy (6’ 4” & 275 lbs), he needs a vehicle with lots of head & shoulder room. The bright color made it easier to spot in the parking lot, too!
It was about 65 degrees that morning, so I wore my light, long-sleeve Disney denim shirt over shorts & my PassPorter tshirt. I got the denim shirt about a year ago & have started adding Disney iron-on patches to it. I have 9 patches so far & hope to add more with each trip! I also brought my PassPorter pouch – ended up using that and a string backpack to carry my stuff most days – a waist pack just isn’t that comfortable for me & I needed the backpack to carry the extra layers of clothing.
We left our room about 8:00 and gassed up the car before dropping it at the
They let us thru the gates about 10 til 9 and we requeued at Innoventions. We headed to the right, as Soarin’ and The Living Seas ooops, I mean The Seas with Nemo and Friends :^) were going to be our first 2 stops of the day. Since Nemo was something completely new for us, we headed that direction at rope drop and were within the first dozen or so folks on that day… moving too fast to fully appreciate the queue, I suppose, but we’d be back later.
The new ride-through is pretty cool – not an E-ticket, but definitely one of the better dark rides in the park. The finale, where the characters appear in the tanks is very impressive (don’t look TOO closely, tho… or you might spoil yourself a bit) and the anglerfish AA moves awfully quickly! (and apparently breaks down pretty easily, or so I heard from other guests later on). Once they get the larger Turtle Talk theater running, I think this pavilion will be seeing a lot more guests. I’m still not completely thrilled with the “character invasion” of Epcot; I do kind of like the location-appropriate characters in the World Showcase pavilions, but I wish Future World could have stayed a little more character-free. Then again, I’m also a science/tech geek & miss Communicore terribly. :grin: It’s also probably confusing for WDW newbies to have 2 different Nemo-themed attractions at 2 different parks… poor cast members who have to shoulder the blame!
We browsed around The Seas a little, but since the first Turtle Talk wasn’t starting til 10, we went to Soarin’ next. The standby queue at 9:20 was posted at 15 min and was quite accurate. This is another attraction that, while I really enjoy it, I’m not quite convinced it belongs where it is. The queue could use more theming – it feels very empty, even with the large video screens.
Next, we visited with Figment – now this is an attraction that needs a refurb- as there are never any lines… Bring back the Dreamfinder! :grin: Went over to check Club Cool, but it wasn’t open yet. Character Connection was, however.. so we visited with Mickey, Pluto, Minnie and Chip and Dale all in their sparkly blue best. Belle was the last stop when we entered the area, but by the time we got there, Mary Poppins had replaced her. We were going a bit slowly, as the family in front of us had a service dog for their son & all the characters & CM’s spent extra time with him – perfectly all right by us! The dog was VERY well behaved, and seemed to be enjoying all the attention, as its tail was wagging nearly the whole time!
About 10:40 we headed over to Test Track and took the single rider line – by 11 we were in our cars and ready for our tests! I’ve heard a lot of folk complain about how TT is forever breaking down, but (so far) we’ve never had it go 101 either while we were waiting or while we were on it – just a few temporary stops (thankfully not out on the banked part of the track!)
We were about ready for lunch and World Showcase seemed the best place to go. We passed up
We got around to
Scott caught up with me about 12:15, and we meandered over to the
We had originally planned to go back to the room about 2:00 and rest for a bit before returning for our 5:15 Garden Grill ADR, but we were feeling just fine and wanted to see more of the story tellers, so we backtracked to Morocco, as that storyteller was next on the schedule. On the way we passed Princess Aurora and Beauty & the Beast (and the long lines of folk waiting to meet them!) The Taaji drummer was a very engaging and dignified speaker – telling us about Ramadan and New Year celebrations. While a 15-minute presentation isn’t going to give anyone a deep insight into a different culture, it’s still a good way to spark someone’s interest.
We then went over to
We browsed through the artist offerings at the American pavilion on our way over to
It was still awfully warm, so we got slushes at The Outpost and headed to
We headed over to Innoventions about 4:00 to get our Disney Visa character photo – it’s kind of a hard place to find… a bit behind & to the right of the firetruck on the outside wall of the building. Minnie & Goofy greeted us [I think – I didn’t jot it down], also in their new blue outfits. On our way over to see Nemo again, a couple stopped us & asked if we wanted to ride Soarin’ – the ride had broken down & they got re-entry passes that were good for the next 2 weeks! They were getting ready to leave WDW, so wanted to pass them on to someone who could use them…. how wonderfully thoughtful!
Nemo had about a 10 min wait, so we got to appreciate the queue a little more. Pay close attention to the signs in the first room… there’s lots of puns & references to the movie! After riding through the Big Blue World, we waited for the next Turtle Talk show, having just missed the 4:30 showing. Crush was entertaining as always – nothing in particular stands out in my mind. Is it just us, or is Dory & her adventure a standard part of the show now?
We were getting pretty hungry after our light lunch & thought we were smart to be checking in 15 min early for our dinner at Garden Grill – it was VERY busy! They told us we had a 25 min wait – watched a couple of cute kids in the waiting area in the meantime. I’d picked up a roll of little Mickey stickers at Target from the $1 section before we left – I tucked a couple of multi-sticker strips in my notebook, planning to give them out to kids when the opportunity presented itself. I ended up averting a couple of tantrums along the way, I think, & got some enthusiastic thank-yous from parents as well!
The estimated wait was pretty much spot on – we had a good, leisurely dinner.. not entirely our choice, as our waitress, Samantha, didn’t stop by as often as we might have liked. We don’t tend to take our time over meals at WDW – there’s too many other things to do! She mentioned that she kept coming out the wrong door… it took us a few moments to realize what she meant. While the restaurant does rotate, the kitchen itself doesn’t (due to all the utility connections) & apparently, she kept losing track of where her section was relative to where she was standing. There’s an occupational hazard you don’t see every day! :silly:
We didn’t hold that against her, and she did go out of her way a couple times, offering us the mac & cheese from the kid’s menu (wonderful!) and got Scott a sugar-free dessert (he prefers to splurge on Mickey bars). Scott really liked the flank steak, so he got the lion’s share of that, while I worked on the turkey & catfish. The potatoes were really good, the veggies were fine and the stuffing was yummy. We got visits from Mickey, Dale, Pluto & Chip – in fact, they passed by a couple times during our meal. We did use our DDE card on this meal, as well as our Disney Visa rewards dollars, so it was kinda/sorta free!
We left the Garden Grill about 7:15 – thinking we had plenty of time before we needed to get in line for the Candlelight Processional, as we had guaranteed seats. So we took our time & lots of photos on our way back through World Showcase. We’ve been getting a lot more Photopass pictures taken recently, since you can access them online and buy the CD. Good news – the start of 2007, they’re supposed to be bringing back the frames & signatures that you can add to your photos online! We’d forgotten that the reserved seating line forms on the left side of the theater…. we came around the other way & saw the large group of standby folks waiting, then spotted a long, long line for the reserved seating already in place! We joined the end of the queue somewhere between
Even though I don’t consider myself religious, this presentation is very moving and I recommend it to anyone visiting the parks this time of year. If you can afford/make time for it – do the dinner package, as I’m not sure how many of the standby guests actually made it in to the show. Marie Osmond was the celebrity narrator and genuinely seemed to be having a great time – near the end, in fact, she said that she’d had a hard time not singing along! I found myself watching the sign language interpreter for a good part of the show. While most of the presentation is scripted, I still think it’s amazing how quickly and fluidly the ASL translation happens. We also had a good view of the percussion section from our seats and they were awfully busy for the whole show as well!
We decided to call it a day, as we had another opportunity or two coming up later in the week to see the Illuminations. We also heard it - quite loudly! - from the resort a couple of nights… the Peace on Earth holiday finale sure doesn’t *sound* very peaceful! ! The last morning of our trip, we were stopped by someone who had just arrived the day before, asking if we’d heard explosions about 9:30 last night & if we knew what it was. J
The Processional ended about 9:15 and we made pretty good time around the lagoon – reaching the rose gardens before the fireworks started. We made one not-so-quick stop to get our Disney Visa picture, getting to the bus stop by 9:50. A decent line had formed already – we made it onto the second bus (seated) and were back to the room by 10:15.
If we count the storytellers & character visits – we experienced 16 attractions today – whew! If storytellers had started their schedules a little earlier, we might have had time to go back & rest before, but that’s so hard to do, especially at the beginning of a trip!
As you might expect, all that strolling around Epcot racked up the miles: 19,676 steps = 7.46 km.
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Weather: partly cloudy – high 68, lo 51, possible showers in the AM
Animal Kingdom had its early Extra Magic hours scheduled for today, so we were up & at ‘em by 7:15. The warning of rain showers encouraged me to bring our rain jackets along. They’re the nifty sort that roll/fold/get stuffed into their own pocket – a bit bulkier than ponchos, but a better fit, especially for Scott.
We arrived at the park about 7:50 and were thru the gates and in line at Expedition Everest by 8:10. The 20 min posted wait was about half that… IMHO this is the best coaster (and in the top 5 of the best attractions) at WDW! I was surprised at how different the backwards-in-the-dark section feels whether you’re sitting in the front or the back of the train…. I think it’s much more intense (and fun!) in the back. We grabbed FP’s for use later in the day, and then stopped for a chai tea & cinnamon roll and noshed our way over to
Had about a 10-15 min wait before embarking on our 2-week safari. The savanna was sparsely populated this trip, but we did see a baby elephant and the lioness was out & about. We managed to get 2 of the 3 E-ticket attractions done before 9:00 am – it was a bit too chilly for Kali River Rapids this trip. We heard upon our return that the Safari spiel will be changing sometime next year to deemphasize the poacher storyline… can’t say I’ll miss that too much, as it always felt a bit preachy & tacked-on.
We headed back to
We stopped for a frozen banana/Mickey bar on the way, then got in a 20 minute line for Primeval Whirl. To keep the line moving, they were asking pairs/couples if they’d share the vehicle.. so we squeezed (and I do mean SQUEEZED!) into a car with a mom & her daughter…. oh my! We spun more that time than on any ride before (or probably ever again – Scott doesn’t do spinning rides well.) A little woozy, we were more than ready to stand still for a bit in the line for Finding Nemo: The Musical. About 10:45 the long, long line started moving. We got seated about 11:10 – I’d read a suggestion to sit near the front of the upper section, as you get a better view of the entire show.. we ended up about halfway up. Cast members were encouraging everyone to fill in every available seat - and they were needed, as lots of folks (including us!) were looking forward to this new show.
And we weren’t disappointed – it’s a *great* retelling of the story with imaginative costuming and catchy, moving songs. It reminded me a bit of the Broadway version of The Lion King, where the puppetry & costumes blend together. IMHO, it’s much better than the Beauty & The Beast show at MGM, and even nudges FotLK out of the top spot for best live show. Definitely make time to see it.
The show let out at noon – it took us about 15 min to clear the crowds and get over to E:E to use our FP’s. We decided it was time to go back to the room & rest a bit - not wanting to burn ourselves out too early in the vacation. We got pretzels on the way out & had PhotoPass pix taken in front of the Tree of Life before we left the park.
We were on our way back to CBR by 12:45 & in our room by 1:00. We dropped our stuff off, got our mugs & walked over to Old Port Royale. It was about a 5-7 minute walk across Caribbean Cay (formerly Parrot Cay). We noticed several gates along the walkway that opened out onto the beach or sitting areas; they are closed/locked at night, presumably so people don’t try to sleep on the beach!
Since we both had fairly substantial snacks earlier, as well as an early dinner ADR, we decided to try the kid’s grilled cheese meal - it was quite yummy & the applesauce and carrots could be saved for later snacking. We got back to the room about 1:40 and I napped for about an hour while Scott worked on the pictures. We got up & around and back out to the bus stop by 2:55 and waited for a MGM-DS bus.
We arrived at the Studios just as the parade ended & had to swim upstream a bit until the crowd cleared. We were about a half-hour early for our reservation at the Sci-Fi Dine In, so we cruised down the Streets of
We went to visit Sully (Mike must’ve been catching up on his paperwork) about 4:45, then on to the Muppet 3D show, arriving just as the theater doors opened. I was a bit sad to miss the preshow – one of my favorites in the park. The crowd was larger than we’d seen in a while (a good thing), but we still got our favorite seats in the back of the theater.
Got in line at Star Tours about 5:15 – our flight to Endor nearly got aborted due to someone who was trying to film the attraction… he/she got two verbal warnings over the PA before finally putting the equipment away. I’m of two minds regarding filming the attractions… if it’s not distracting other guests, I don’t see a problem with it; but in the case of this attraction, I suppose it does break the copyright laws.
It was about 20 min to the lighting ceremony for the Osbourne lights, so we headed back to the Streets of
We wrapped up the evening with a near-SRO showing of Fantasmic! We didn’t get to the theater until about 6:45 and were lucky to find seats on the *far* left side, about halfway up. It was a different perspective than we’d had on previous visits - we usually arrive at least 45 min early - but Scott did manage to get some good shots of Mickey during the adventure through his imagination. We started moving as soon as the show was over and still didn’t get out to
We both wanted a little snack, so I walked over to the food court & got Scott another grilled cheese meal & I got a rice krispie Mickey & hot chocolate, as it had cooled off after sundown. I got back to the room about 9, we rested & got the photos downloaded, winding down a bit before going to bed.
We experienced 9 attractions today, counting the 3 shows & the Osbourne lights. Considering we took a few hours off during the day & shuttled between 2 parks, that’s not too bad. Mileage: 17,477 steps = 6.6 km.
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Weather: mostly sunny hi 72 low 52.
Plans for the day: Epcot morning EMH – focus on Future World attractions. Extended rest in early afternoon – head to
We were up early and out to the bus stop by 7:05. It was a cool morning, so I wore jeans & my denim shirt, with a fleece vest over it. Layers are the only way to go this time of year! We arrived at the park about 7:40, queuing at the gates at 7:50. They let us thru, regrouping us once again at Innoventions for the opening ceremony. We were off to Soarin’ at a controlled speed – I think the way they’re managing access to the E ticket attractions first thing in the morning is a good idea (no running = fewer trips & falls). We got to the final approach in the queue (beyond the trivia screens area) before we reached the line at 8:05. We scored another front row ride, this time on the far left… whee! We rode Living with the Land – our first time with the recorded spiel about 8:15. I’m still not sure if it’s an improvement or not. We’d run across some less-than enthusiastic CM’s in the past, but I kind of miss the personal touch.
Around ten til 9 – we decided to Go Green at Mission Space. Scott hadn’t ridden this attraction before, as he is sensitive to spinning. It was a different experience, IMHO not nearly as much fun, but it does allow a lot more folks to enjoy the attraction. Scott’s not sure if it’ll become a regular visit for him or not – I still plan on taking off with the
9:10 – we joined the posted 20 min standby line at Test Track, walking all the way back to the area just before the briefing rooms (they must not have had all the rooms running, therefore the higher wait time). I really like that they added the PhotoPass capability to this ride – near the exit, they have monitors with card scanners under them – you find your photo, then put your PhotoPass in the scanner & it adds it to your list. It gets a bit crowded, but saves time later on. We looked around the gift shop a bit, then headed over to Spaceship Earth, where there was a minimal wait at 9:40.
We visited The Seas with Nemo and Friends again – basically a walk on (tho Turtle Talk was very busy!). I didn’t spend as much time looking around this pavilion as I usually do during this visit – I hope they spiff up the rest of it sometime soon. We headed over to Seasons about 10:20 for a snack – I had a yummy pumpkin muffin & Scott had a cinnamon roll. About 10:40, we went on Journey Into Your Imagination – a walk-on as always (sigh). I bought a tin of Fig-Mints – very cute & came in handy the rest of the trip. We waited a bit for Club Cool to open at 11:00. It was starting to warm up a bit, so the fleece vest came off. I was glad to see they had the Kinsey soda again – that and VegitaBeta are my favorites, I think. The Costa Rican fruit soda is just a bit too sweet for my tastes.
Since Wonders of Life was open – we had to go see Buzzy & his crew for what might be the last time (we thought the same thing in Dec 2004!). It was about 11:30, so we passed on Body Wars & decided to go back to our resort for an extended rest, since we knew we were going to be out late at the MVMCP that night. We got to the bus stop about 11:55 and were back in CBR by 12:30. We went over to Old Port Royale to pick up a pizza for lunch – unfortunately, our order slip got misplaced, so 20 min later, still no pizza. I tried to be polite & understanding, but a hungry Tracey is a cranky Tracey. They said they’d get another one started ASAP & could they offer us something for our trouble? We ended up with 2 side salads & 2 cookies… Disney doesn’t mess up too often, and they are awfully good at making things right.
Went back to the room – ate lunch & I napped til about 3:30.
We got ready & were our to the bus stop by 4:00, bringing our Disneyland 2005 Christmas sweatshirts along. We just missed a MK bus, so didn’t end up getting to the park until 4:20 or so. We entered MK on our MVMCP passes (they had separate queues), we made it to the hub to see the latest show: Dream Along with Mickey. It was fairly entertaining, tho I can’t compare it with Cinderellabration, as we didn’t see that show during its run. After the show, we went over to
After a visit with Henry & Company, we hiked around to Casey’s to get some dinner before the party actually started. We just beat the lights dimming for the 6:00 showing of Wishes, but since all the tables outside were full, we ate in the bleacher area instead. FYI: Casey’s does still have the cheese sauce out & available to the customers – I’d heard that Pecos Bill has it behind the counter now.
2PrincessMom (Dianne) and EmpressBunny (Liz) and I had made plans to try to meet during MVMCP at the first showing of ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas, so after dinner, we tried to get over to the Galaxy Theater in time for the 7:00 show. I called Dianne – she & her family were still eating at Liberty Tree Tavern, and the theater was SRO - so we made plans for the 8:00 showing instead. We had a bit of a communication mixup – both of us thought the other was going to try to get in touch with Liz, so neither of us did til later.
Caught a quick ride on the Haunted Mansion, then cruised the Emporium til about 7:20 – CM’s had mentioned they wouldn’t be bringing out the merchandise until about 45 min after the park closed to non-partygoers… so I headed back over to the Theater to try to get seats, while Scott waited for the party stuff. I offered to stay instead, but he said it was his turn (I fought the shopping crowd in 2004!) I was able to get a hold of Dianne about 7:30 and we met in line. We found pretty good seats in the middle section about halfway back – we were on the left side & saved a couple of spots for Scott & Liz. Dianne tried to call Liz, but I don’t think she got thru. Scott called about 10 min before the show & found us – he got the sweatshirts, the pin, a stuffed reindeer & stocking with the logo and the logo’d snowflake ornament. He also got the woven throw that was being offered for $15 if you spent at least $60 in one purchase. This ended up being about our biggest shopping spree of the trip!
The ‘Twas show hadn’t changed much from 2004 from what I recall: it’s a retelling of the Clement C. Moore poem (Mickey, Minnie & Santa Goofy in the starring roles) with appropriate songs interspersed. – it’s quite cute & I’d recommend making time for it if you attend MVMCP. Dianne invited us to hang out with her for awhile, so after the show, all 5 of us went on Buzz Lightyear (Scott won again!) and Stitch’s Great Escape. They hadn’t been on it before & I think the girls were a bit apprehensive about the “restraints” – one of them asked if it spun. I think they liked it OK, tho.
Next stop: Fantasyland. The girls met Alice & the Mad Hatter (I think), while Scott & I had an audience with the Red Queen. We all went on the teacups – they were in one cup & Scott & I another…. he can really get it spinning & I think we overdid it a bit. It was getting on to 9:30 – time for Holiday Wishes. We all wanted to find a spot with a decent view of the castle, so we ended up on one of the paths that curves around the castle over by Tomorrowland… right under Tinkerbell during her flight! Unfortunately, she moved so quickly, none of us were able to get a good photo. The fireworks were just lovely – a great show & possibly only second to
We then went on Small World & saw the clock strike 10:15 – this ride must have been one of the busier ones that evening, as the boats were backed up all the way into the pastel room! Overall, the park felt a bit more crowded during MVMCP that I remember it being in 2004, but it still didn’t feel all that busy – especially compared with last Saturday! Met back up with Dianne & the girls before the second parade – stocking up on apple juice & apple slices first – found a good spot right near the entrance to
We got back just in time to catch the beginning of the parade. I don’t remember the Goofy’s Kitchen float from 2004 – can anyone confirm if it’s new? We said goodbye to Dianne & family, then visited our favorite happy haunts one more time that evening, wrapping up the party with a visit to Toontown Fair, to see what (if any) party merchandise they had left. Turns out they had a pin left over from a previous night, so we bought that one. We left the park just a bit early (11:45) & had pretty good transportation luck – back to the room about 12:15 and hit the sack soon after.
Another two-park day, with 21 attractions visited (counting 2 shows, the parade & the fireworks). Definitely a busy day – the longer break in the afternoon really helped us keep our energy up. I was pleased to see alternate snack options for the party – the apple juice was very good, tho the apple slices had some kind of preservative that left a bit of an aftertaste for me. I’m glad we spent the extra $$$ for MVMCP – we still didn’t make it to all the shows, but chose to squeeze in several rides instead. If you’re really into the holidays, I’d recommend attending – try for a weekday night earlier in the season, if you can.
Mileage: 16, 461 steps = 6.24 mi
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Weather: sunny high 77 – low 60 degrees
We’d scheduled this day pretty much as a break - planning a late character breakfast (10:40 1900 Park Fare) & heading over to AK in the afternoon to catch the parade & maybe take advantage of that park’s evening EMH. I also had some laundry to do & Scott wanted to visit DisneyQuest, just in case the rumors of it closing soon are true.
We slept in til about 8:30, and were ready to go by about 9:25, so we’d have a little time to look around the resort before our reservation. We got to the bus stop just as the MK bus arrived! We got to the park and headed over to the resort monorail stop about 9:50. We got to the Grand Floridian about 10:15 – I hadn’t checked the resort map ahead of time to see where we needed to go, so we wandered a bit before finding the restaurant. Unfortunately, they had no record of our ADR. Remember what I said before about a hungry Tracey being a cranky Tracey? I tried to behave myself…. and we did end up getting seated right around our original reservation time. 1900 Park Fare is nicely decorated & laid out fairly well – but seemed a bit noisier than some of the other character breakfasts we’ve been to. The food was very good, with plenty of choices. We visited with the Mad Hatter, Pooh & Tigger and Alice, while Mary Poppins was waiting in the foyer to meet with everyone.
Around 11:30 – Scott was off to DTD to check out DisneyQuest, while I waited for the monorail to get back to MK, then CBR. It took me about a half-hour to get back to the resort – I put together 2 loads of laundry and had them in the wash by about 12:15. The laundry room was right by the quiet pool for our “village” – so I found a spot in the sun & started reading Waking Walt by Larry Pontius. It’s a mystery/thriller that explores the possibility that Walt really was cryogenically preserved, and just as a cure is found for his cancer – the Disney Company is under threat of a hostile takeover. Pontius is a former director of marketing of WDW and writes a fast-paced novel full of Disney details (and a less-than-genial Uncle Walt). It was a good vacation read.
About 12:45 I switched the laundry over to the dryer, taking the t-shirts back to the room to hang dry. Since Scott wears 2XL shirts (the bigger the better), I usually don’t toss them in the dryer, even at home! About 1:20 the rest of the laundry was dry – well, the jeans were a bit damp, but not enough to spend another dry cycle on. I think I spent $8 total on 2 wash loads & 1 dry load – we bought the detergent at our grocery stop & I left the rest of the bottle for anyone else who cared to use it.
Brought it all back to the room, folded & put away & called Scott. He was wrapping things up (thought it was an hour later than it really was) and planned to meet me at Animal Kingdom about 2:15-2:30. I got out to the
We were sitting outside with a semi-obstructed view of the parade route, so Scott decided to scout out a spot on the bridge between
This is one of the only daytime parades we really make a point to see – whether it’s the holiday version or not. The floats are so creative & colorful… plus they remind us of Epcot’s Tapestry of Nations/Dreams parade from the millennium celebration… sigh …. We headed over to the safari after the parade had passed - 4:15 with a 20 min posted wait, but it was actually less than that. Once again, the savannah was pretty sparse… we didn’t have much luck seeing lots of animals on this trip. We picked up our EMH wristbands on the way over to
Took a Mickey bar break & watched dusk fall across the park – Scott got some good photos of the mountain and general area of the park. We got back in the standby line (still 30 min) for Everest about 5 after six – this is definitely a ride to experience after dark! We finally got seats up near the front of the train (our other trips had been near or at the end of the train), and noticed that the backwards hill didn’t feel nearly as steep. I think I like the back better!
We decided we’d had about enough – the Pop Warner kids seemed to be taking over the park – so we slowly wandered towards the front of the park and got back to the room about 7. We hadn’t made our big shopping trip yet, so headed back out to DTD about 7:20. We visited the Christmas store, the toy store (collecting another box of Mr. Potatohead parts), and World of Disney. We actually didn’t get quite as many souvenirs as we have in previous trips – decided not to ship back home, due to the price increase, planning/hoping instead to squeeze everything into our luggage – having brought an extra duffle just for that purpose. We got back to the room about 9:30 and were ready for bed by 10.
Even considering this was a “day off” – we still experienced about a half-dozen attractions, counting DisneyQuest and the parade. We might go back to 1900 Park Fare – but I think we like the in-park breakfasts better (
Mileage: 12,342 steps = 4.6 km.
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Weather: partly sunny, few showers in PM. High 75, low 47
Plans for the day:
Up fairly early to get to MK for morning EMH – out to the bus stop by 7:25. Arrived at the park about 7:45 – they were holding people just inside the gates for the opening ceremony… for some reason, there was no family and no characters…. ??? Headed back to Fantasyland – we noticed that the tree had been moved back to the hub sometime over the last day or two. While it was still down by the castle, Scott did get a couple of photos of Walt placing the star on the tree – day & nighttime – using perspective and the Partners statue. We got to Fantasyland and walked on to Peter Pan, then a short line for Dumbo. We ran into Dianna & her girls in the Dumbo line – got some good pix of them in flight!
Went over to Philharmagic – walked in & waited about 5 min in the lobby. Once Donald was done with his adventures, it was about 10 til 9. We walked over to the entrance to
I still like the original (well, mostly original) version of this show in
We wanted to take a little break before returning to
We rode the ferry back to the park, and just missed the train as we entered.. I’d hoped to be able to ride it around to Toontown for the Hidden Mickey meet & avoid the 3:00 parade crowd… no luck. We cut thru the stores & ended up by Pooh’s Playful Spot about 3:20. The meet wasn’t til 4, so we had time for a snack break – pretzel for Scott & a churro for me. Met up with Dianna again - they couldn’t stay for the Hidden Mickey meet, but we chatted a bit while the girls played.
Steve Barrett – the author of the Hidden Mickeys book – arrived about 10 til 4 and a sizable group gathered around – about 25 people total. We stepped off right around 4:00 – checking out a couple of items in Pooh’s Playful Spot before moving on to Toontown. It was a little difficult to hear Steve at times, with a larger group – maybe next year he can have a co-guide & split the group up? We looked around Minnie’s house, snuck in (as if a group of 25 people can “sneak” anywhere!) Mickey’s garage, then went over to Goofy’s Barnstormer to look in the queue. A lot of the info ended up getting passed along the group, since we got a bit spread out over the course of the tour. It was still an enjoyable experience and I’d definitely go to another Hidden Mickey meet sometime.
The tour wrapped up about 4:45 – Scott and I waited for the train and rode it around to Frontierland – I think this was the only train trip we took on this visit… L We walked around to
Had a rather long (and full) bus ride over to DTD – the preschooler across from us kept singing (rather loudly!) the half-dozen lines of “Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer” that he knew…. over and over! At least it wasn’t Pop Warner cheerleaders… :grin: We were hungry by the time we arrived and made a beeline for Earl of Sandwich. It was pretty busy, so I scouted out a table while Scott got in line to order. It was getting a bit chilly & windy outside, so I really wanted to sit inside. Found a spot next to a mom, her sister & a tired toddler – Mom had to go get in line to place their order & the little one wasn’t too happy about that…. Mickey stickers to the rescue again! (Whew!)
Got over to
A long day, spent mostly in one park – 14 attractions, counting the monorail & ferry, Cowboy Camp & Adventurer’s Club. Our first Mousefest experience went well, and we were looking forwards to more fun with fellow Disney fans! I forgot to note our mileage for the day….
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Weather: Chance of showers in AM, partly sunny – hi 58, low 40.
Plans: Animal Kingdom in the morning with a couple of Mousefest activities and MGM/Mousefest afternoon – possibly Epcot evening EMH.
Slept in a little this morning, since we weren’t going to any morning EMH park. We were out to the bus stop by about 8 am. Very chilly morning - 51 degrees, so I had lots of layers – long sleeve t-shirt, denim shirt, fleece vest & rain jacket/windbreaker on top. We got to Animal Kingdom about 8:20 – Wes Palm came out to entertain the crowd (unfortunately a bit too far from us) about 20 til. Got thru the gates about 10 min early – regrouped in front of the Tree of Life at
After the opening ceremony show, we followed the caravan over to the first safari of the day. We saw a group of Mousefesters gathering for the Safari meet – so decided to join up with them. This was the biggest group I’d seen yet – probably close to 100 or so! We filled several safaris – our guide on this trip was Kris – a guy from
The Mini-MouseAdventure kicked off about 11:45 – it was different from what I’d expected – more word/math puzzles than straight scavenger hunt/trivia stuff. We were starting to get a bit frustrated – turns out that one of the Quests had a typo, which threw off the whole rest of the solution. We didn’t even get to one of them, and had a bit of trouble with the Eye-Spys. Guess we don’t know this park as well as we thought! Turns out we did about average, , compared to the other teams: we got 3 quests right. I’m not sure I’d compete in the real thing – but it was kind of fun, once we got past the frustration level. I do appreciate all the hard work Mike & Co. put into developing the adventure.
It was about 1:45 when we decided to head over to MGM, get something to eat and watch the afternoon parade before the Podfest. I’d kind of wanted to go to the Star Tours meet, but we didn’t even get on the bus to the Studios until 2:00. We did stop at the PhotoPass Meet & Greet and got some good info on the new website, as well as a discount code. About 2:40, we headed over to the Backlot Express for a late lunch – Scott’s burger was good, and my grilled turkey & cheese was OK. We sat over by where the parade starts – I was originally planning on staying inside (and warm) and watching the parade thru the windows, but a crowd slowly built along the walkway, so I went out to join Scott. We got some good pix of the parade, then remembered to go over to the Prop Shop to pick up the freebie lithograph for AP holders – Dumbo flying the star to the top of the tree at the Osbourne Lights – cute!
By this time, some of the podcasters had started to gather – so we joined the group. Scott got picked to participate in a trivia contest with CMIRadio.com & won a prize! The Podfest itself was loosely controlled chaos – Nathan Rose & Lou Mongello introduced themselves, and then had each of the podcasters present introduce themselves & say a bit about their podcast. It was interesting to finally see some of the folks we’d been listening to for months & months! Patrick Hurd & Paul Barrie of Window to the Magic practically look like brothers & Ricky Brigante of Inside the Magic looked nothing like I expected! During the meet & greet portion – Lightning McQueen & Mater came out for photo ops – so I followed them & got some pix.
Patrick & Paul were holding a “Where in the Park” meet after Podfest, so we hung around for that. There ended up being enough people for 3 groups – Ricky Brigante, Jeff From Houston & Paul & Patrick each took a group, after being told what the destination was. We joined Ricky’s group & we all chatted a bit during the circuitous route to the Great Movie Ride. This “where in the park” ended up being a lot more difficult, I think, since instead of area-specific music, holiday tunes were being played all over the park! We went for a ride thru the movies, then all wandered over to catch the Osbourne Dancing Lights before the park closed early (6:30) for a special event (probably Pop Warner related).
It had gotten pretty chilly by then & since Scott and I hadn’t really taken a break, we decided to skip Epcot’s evening EMH and head back to the resort. We had some packages to pick up, would grab some dinner and make it an early night. Got back to our bus stop about 7 (to drop off what we had already), then walked over to Old Port Royale. Had dinner at the food court – Scott got a hot dog & I had the fettucine alfredo, which had been sitting out a little too long. Maybe I’m getting pickier as I get older, but I don’t think I had any real “wow!” meals on this trip. We got back to our room about 8:00- reviewed our photos & wound down a bit before heading off to dreamland.
Due to Mousefest activities, our attraction count was pretty sparse: only 5, including the parade & Osbourne Lights. We did participate in 5 Mousefest activities, tho, and got to explore Animal Kingdom and the Studios a little more than we had before.
Mileage: 16,558 steps = 6.27 km.
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Weather: Sunny high 66, low 53.
Plans: Sleep in a bit, MGM in morning, MegaMouseMeet, then Epcot. DPN Meet & dinner at Rose & Crown with DPN folk. Possibly PI afterwards?
We slept in til 7, and were out to the bus stop by 8:05. Got to MGM about 8:30, and since it was the morning EMH park, we got right in. Walked back to Star Tours with no line at all & pretty much got to pick our shuttle seats, as there were less than a dozen passengers waiting – back row, baby! About 9:00, we walked thru the Streets of America over to the Backlot Tour. It was too chilly for the audience participation part of Harbor Attack, so they just displayed the water effects and we were on to the next portion of the tour. This attraction has changed so much over the past 10 years. In either 1996 or 1997, I remember a fairly extensive walking tour through set & costume elements for the live action 101 Dalmatians movie. They also had the soundstages for a couple of TV shows that were being shot on site. Sigh… it used to be a working studio, really it did!
The tour wrapped up about 9:40 – we stopped by Mickey’s theater – he was up early, so we got a couple of pix with him. We then waited til 10 (about 15 min) and toured through the Narnia Experience… not as impressive as I’d hoped, after the intro. (see comments above re: 101 Dalmatians!) About 10:15, we went next door to One Man’s Dream…. where a cast member was stopping people at the door to put wristbands on us, saying that they’d explain what was going on once we got inside. They gathered us around (about 25 people total) and told us we won one of the Million Dreams & would have an extra hour in the Studios after the park closed! We were told to meet at the Indy Stunt show at closing & go from there We also got a button with the YoaMD logo saying “My Dream Came True”. Unfortunately, Scott & I already had plans for the evening, so we didn’t actually participate, but it was still neat to get picked for one of the Dreams.
We saw the 11:00 showing of Voyage of the Little Mermaid, and then decided to get some lunch before heading over to the Swan hotel for the MegaMouseMeet. We went to the ABC Commissary – I had the tabbouleh wrap, which was quite tasty! We left the park about noon and headed over to the boats. We met up with Marjorie (she of the many pins & MJsSpot.com) and her parents, Bonny & Andrew. We chatted with them a bit (and shared stickers with MJ) while we waited for the boat. MJ wanted us to sit with them on the boat as well – guess we made a new friend! We arrived at the hotel about 40 min early – fortunately, Bonny & Andrew knew where we were going, so we followed them. We got to the Atlantic Ballroom while the MegaMouseMeet volunteers were still setting up, so we chatted a bit more. MJ got out of her chair & Scott & I took turns racing down the hall with her.
Once the doors opened, we headed in. All the booths were along the walls & everyone pretty much followed each other around the room. If you wanted out of the crush of people, there were a few tables & chairs (could have used a few more) set up in the middle of the room. We were there almost the whole time the MMM was scheduled for … we cruised all the booths & collected a bunch of swag – thanks everyone! We ran into Dianna one last time – they were leaving later in the day, so I wished her well & hoped her move would go smoothly. We didn’t have much of a chance to chat with any of the “celebrities” (such as Deb Wills, Jennifer & Dave Marx) but we did make sure to express our thanks for all their hard work, both with their books/websites and the MMM itself. We ended up buying a couple of books as well – Walt Disney World Trivia Book, Volume 2 and The Disney Queue Line Survival Guidebook & got them autographed!
We left the hotel around 4, catching the boat back to MGM, and a bus to CBR about 4:30. We had some packages to pick up at Old Port Royale, but we stopped by the room to drop off our swag & get our mugs – I also grabbed a bagel to munch on, as our dinner resv wasn’t til 7:40. We got our package back to the room & were back at the bus stop about 5:10, arriving at Epcot about 5:40. We stopped at Mouse Gear for a spot of shopping, then a quick passthru at Club Cool for a splash of Kinsey & VegitaBeta. We arrived at the Land pavilion about 6:20 for the 6:30 DPN (Disney Podcast Network) “More Fun Than Watching Plants Grow” meet, where we planned to ride the Living with the Land boats. Unfortunately, the boats were down, so we all chit-chatted, while the DPN organizers handed out nametags & lanyards… how very cool! I wish I could remember more names of people…. We’d met Barb & Steven at the Podcast the night before, Jeff from
About 20 min later, the boats were running again, so on we went. Another fairly large meet – 48 people (Big Brian was the designated counter, IIRC) so we took up most of two boats. Needless to say, there were a lot of comments & riffing during the attraction (at least there weren’t any cast members around to have their feelings hurt!) It was about 7:20 by this time – so those who had dinner reservations decided to head towards Rose & Crown. Our group (MattFromPA) had 7:40 reservations & we ended up getting seated about 8, on the outside patio, upper level, facing the east side of World Showcase. It was getting chilly & a bit windy, but they had the fabric & plastic walls down & the heaters going.
We sat with Matt, Charlene (of ApePen Publishing) & her daughter & a couple of other people whose names I forgot to write down… Charlene had some wonderful stories to tell & we kept ourselves quite entertained while we waited for our meal. Scott ordered the beef stew and I went with the fish & chips… I was tempted to try a shandy, but chickened out, as I really don’t like beer. Maybe next time! Did I mention that the shuttle launch was rescheduled for this evening around 8:45? We had a great view of the launch – amazing to think that it was nearly 100 miles away & we could still see the bright orange glow of the engines quite clearly! From our position, it looked as if the shuttle was launching from the
We were just in the middle of dessert when Illuminations started & had a wonderful view, except we couldn’t see the projections on Spaceship Earth. The holiday addition was just lovely – and very loud! As I mentioned before, we could hear it from our room at CBR no problem. We left the restaurant about 10:00 – the bill was about $45 with the DDE discount and 18% automatic gratuity, since we were a larger group…. Not something we could afford every night, but the food was wonderful, as was the company. We decided to call it a day instead of heading over to PI, so we browsed a few stores on the way out, to let the crowds thin. Got to the bus stop about 10:45 and got close to the last seat on the first bus that came. Scott was a gentleman and gave his seat up to a mom & her sleeping child… he’s good like that. We were back to the room before 11 and off to bed soon after.
Again, not a lot of attractions today ( 9 total, including meeting with Mickey & Illuminations), but the MegaMouseMeet and the DPN meet took up good chunks of time, and we enjoyed participating in them both. I hope to participate a bit more in the DPN forums or other places online – a lot depends on how busy work & volunteer stuff keeps me!
Mileage: 12, 881 steps = 4.88 mi.
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Weather: High mid 70’s & sunny
Plans: MK & Mousefest meets, rest & pack late afternoon & EMH at MK?
Up at 7, to bus stop by 8:05, just as the
What a fun tour! He provided us with a hand-drawn map of what
It was about 11 when Scott & I took a snack break - Mickey bar & pretzel. About 11:20 we took a quick tour thru it’s a small world, then over to the Inside the Magic Podcast Meet at Columbia Harbor House. This ended up being one of the more popular meets we’d attended – 83 people came together for a ride thru Haunted Mansion and mass consumption of chicken strips … I don’t think the food service CM’s knew what hit them! J We sat with a couple from the
We left MK for Epcot around 2, catching the tail end of the Family Fun Day parade on our way out. We took the monorail to the TTC, then over to Epcot. We didn’t ask to ride in the front of the monorail at all this trip – maybe next time! We decided we wanted to spend some more time in World Showcase, so started with a ride on Rio de Tiempo – the last time we’ll see it before its rehab, rumoured (and later confirmed) to involve the Three Caballeros characters. We continued around the lagoon to
We packed up most of our stuff & decided to forgo a rest in order to make it back to MK in time for Spectromagic. We returned to the park by about 5:45 and by 6:00 had staked out a parade spot at the corner of
After the parade, we headed over to BTMRR – it wasn’t running. So we took a Jungle Cruise instead with a good skipper – the fireworks started while we were still in the attraction and he made some appropriate quips (that I can’t recall at the moment!). We then rode on Aladdin’s Flying Carpets & saw the finale of Wishes from the air – very cool! We visited Johnny Depp again, then checked on
Attraction count: 10 (includes tour, monorail, parade & show) in 2 different parks, tho we spent most of our time in MK.
Mileage: 19,046 steps = 7.45 miles (whew!)
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Plans: sleep in a bit, check out & MK in morning. Return to hotel around 12:30, catch Magical Express around 1, flight home 4:00.
Since we still had some packing to do, we didn’t sleep in much – 7:30 wake up call & left room about 8:30, once Bell Services had picked up our bags. We arrived at MK around 9, just missing the opening ceremony. We walked over to Tomorrowland and decided to give Space Mountain a try… a total walk on, as we got all the way back to the launching pad area with no line! (Where WAS everybody?) Scott joked that we should have brought our iPods onto the attraction and listened to the
We then went on Carousel of Progress… along with a group of about a dozen Disney executive types… I tried to eavesdrop, but didn’t hear anything interesting for the rumor mill. :^) Next up was another trip around the galaxy with Buzz (Scott finally let me win!), and a TTA trip. We saw Push was out & about over near the Merchant of Venus & stopped to say hi… it’s always fun to see how people react to him, as well as try to spot his “helper”. He danced with a couple of little girls & then went back in, so I didn’t get to talk directly to him.
Over to Fantasyland for a ride with Snow White, then another showing of Philharmagic (mmmmm – apple pie!). On the way out, we saw an older gentleman down on the ground, having apparently tripped on something (or someone… I know how that happens!). He was down for quite a while, with both his family and CM’s clustered around. He was also holding a towel to his temple, as he’d apparently hit his head when he went down. Even in the
We walked slowly down
Attraction count: 7 in about 3 hours.. not too shabby!
Without going back & double-checking,
Mousefest was definitely worth attending – even though Scott & I aren’t the most social folks out there, we really enjoyed meeting people we’d only heard or read posts from before. We haven’t done a very good job of following up/keeping in touch with some of them, but will hopefully get to see some of these folks again on future trips.