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Peg Frezon -- August 2000 -- Walt Disney World (Offsite, DL)A long ride to the Magic This is my first trip report. I hope you will read it and think, "oh yes, I remember that," or "I felt that way too," or be able to use some of the planning strategies. Anyway, Bon Voyage, here we go.... When: Aug 17-31 (9 nights at Holiday Inn Eastgate, 3 nights at Dixie Landings) Who:
Our 4th trip to WDW, Grandma's first. Drove down, a 2-day venture; 12 hours the first day and 14 hours the second. Ugh. But the destination makes it all worthwhile. (It's just that the trip back is a killer!) Holiday Inn Eastgate: The kidsuites are a wonderful idea in theory. There was a huge king sized bed (could squeeze another kid in there if necessary) and a partitioned off room with bunk beds and a single bed for Grandma. There was also a kitchenette with microwave and fridge. But unfortunately the hotel was run down and dirty. Very little housekeeping was done in our room each day, there were numerous items in disrepair, sometimes the sheets and bedcovers were just pulled up or left folded on top under the bedspread and not even tucked in! And, we had company in our room, there was a cricket there somewhere (Jimminy?) that chirped all night. The pool was dirty and full of bugs, and the laundry room was filthy. Dixie Landings: absolutely gorgeous! I wish we had been able to stay there the whole time, but annual passholder discount was only available after Aug. 27th. Kate and Grandma had to share a bed, while Andy slept on the trundle, but that was Ok. The room was spacious, the food court was wonderful, and the whole atmosphere was peaceful. Oh, and the pool was excellent, with a waterfall and water slide! Ok, that's enough of the boring background stuff. Now onto the good stuff! Fri 8/18-- I am skipping over our first day of driving, which was basically just...driving.... and getting right to our second day of driving. Ok, enough said. (If anyone has any questions about driving down from the northeast feel free to email me.) We finally set foot in the Magic Kingdom about 7pm. We didn't want to stop to rest or eat, we wanted to get right into that magic! We decided to go to Tomorrowland, because there are only a few attractions we do there and we thought we could get them in before MSEP. However, the wait for Buzz was 45 mins. We soon gave in to the hunger and popped into Cosmic Rays for some burgers. After dinner we wandered out to Main Street but the curb was already full. Rats, I usually have these things much better organized. We walked all the way down the street until we ended up in Frontierland. I know some people like watching the parades here, but to me they just have more magic on Main Street. Some people were sitting on rockers on the porch of Liberty Tree Tavern and that, however, looked like a really comfortable parade-viewing location. Anyway, Grandma and I saved our spots on the curb while Mike and the kids went on the Haunted Mansion. This was our first time seeing MSEP and I thought it was just as good as SpectroMagic, except I don't like that synthesized music as well. There is nothing that gives me a more magical feeling than the lighted nighttime parades. Then we walked with the crowd to stand in the middle of Main St. and watched the fireworks. First Tinkerbell flew overhead (Later I made the mistake of telling a CM that we saw Tinkerbell come down on that wire, and he said "What?! Tinkerbell flies with pixie dust. That wire is just the cable so Cinderella can get the Disney channel in the castle!") Then the fireworks filled the skies over the castle-and all I could think was, this is worth the drive down! At last, wearily, we made the trip to the ferry, across Bay Lake, to the tram, through the parking lot, to the car, down the highway, to the Holiday Inn and collapsed into bed. Sat. 8/19-- Getting up early is always a challenge, and we didn't even have Mickey there at the Holiday Inn to wake us. We are not morning people, and we were always so exhausted from a full days touring we never wanted to get up. But, we did our best. Our strategy of visiting the park that had early entry the day before worked very well, as we never experienced heavy crowds and rarely had a wait of longer than 5 or 10 minutes for anything. Also, to save money, we brought lots of food. (Another advantage of driving.) We ate breakfast nearly every morning in our hotel room, making good use of the fridge and microwave. We got to Epcot just after 9 am, and went on HIStA and JIYI with no wait. Even after reading all the negative posts about JIYI, I was willing to have an open mind, but you're all right, it was really bad. We are all huge Figment fans, so I guess the ride didn't have a prayer. My main quibble was that you passed through the scenes before you can even figure out what they were all about. And there were times when you were just in meaningless darkness. I was at least looking forward to the upside down room, but we passed through so fast that there wasn't time to take in and appreciate all that was there. Too bad. We took time afterwards for leapfrog fountains, the kids never tire of this. This is one of those rare times when my son forgets that anyone is watching and loses himself to reckless abandon, jumping to catch the spurts of water. I can still picture the look of Disney magic on his face. It doesn't happen often enough with a hardened 10-year old. Now on to the world showcase, stopping briefly to gape at those Kristos, the visiting aliens. They are strange, but WOW they are so strong!! In Mexico we rode El Rio (my favorite. Ok, I told you I don't like thrill rides!) and stood in line for Maelstrom. But after seeing a boat with its passengers stuck (for a long time) in the little opening that you can see from the outside of the ride, we realized the ride was down. Grandma and I set about our mission of finding one little item from each country to use as Christmas tree ornaments and mementos of our trip. We did pretty well, each time selecting something small and representative of that country, for about $2 - $3 each. One of the main priorities of our WDW experience is music, as Mike is a huge WDW music fan. We strolled around Epcot trying to catch all the different bands and singing groups available. In Mexico we listened to the Mariachi Cobre, and then tried to describe a song we remembered from years past to one of the musicians. When he finally came up with the song he offered to play it for us their next set, so we stayed and watched their next performance. The song is called Las Alasanos, or something like that. It means a brownish color of a horse. I don't know Spanish at all, so if someone has any idea what that word could be and could let me know, I would appreciate it! Anyway, we did manage to get on Maelstrom later. I shrieked on that drop and my kids were like, "Get real, Mom, that was a tiny drop." Oh well. We took our midday break-back to the hotel for sandwiches and a swim. Then return to Epcot in time for ToN. We watched it outside of UK. I had spent a lot of time from posts trying to determine the best viewing locations, and was never able to get to the spots I wanted, but really there seemed to be few really bad spots I thought. We watched it again at 8:10pm and it is much more powerful illuminated and glowing. I really liked the parade but Andy deemed it repetitive and Kate wasn't too impressed either. Oh well, can't win 'em all. Now, the plan was to secure previously selected spots for Illuminations viewing. But again, my planning strategies failed when "secret park" was reserved for a convention and the entire gondola landing was roped off for an elaborate wedding reception (you should have seen it, WOW!). We watched from not-too-great standing-room-only spots in Italy, trying to look over people's heads (which is hard to do, as I am just about 5 feet tall) and at times teetering on the back of a bench. No matter, the show was awesome! Not to be missed! We planned to definitely see it again. Sun. 8/20-- We got to the Magic Kingdom for rope drop, quite an accomplishment for this sleepy family. Did Splash Mt and Big Thunder Mt no wait. All except for me, that is. I enjoyed watching Grandma take the thrills. Then Grandma and I did a ride more my speed, Jungle Cruise. Why do they have fast pass for this, anyway? CM's were practically begging people to come on the ride. Anyway, I enjoy it. By the way, Fast Pass worked great. We used it several times, and each time we bypassed a long line of standby riders and practically walked right on. We walked onto Pirates and Tiki Birds and a few other rides before our priority seating at Crystal Palace at 11:45. We planned on mostly counter service and fast food type meals, but were able to throw in a couple character meals. The Crystal Palace is definitely one of our favorites, the food is good and you've got Pooh characters too! Our waiter, Michael Todd (wasn't he married to Elizabeth Taylor?) was very attentive. The characters didn't spend too much time with us, but maybe that was partially due to the fact that the kids are kind of quiet and didn't have much to say either. I saw the characters spending a lot of time with some younger kids, and that's understandable. It's still fun to watch the younger kids faces light up as they talk with and hug Tigger and Eeyore. After a leisurely mid-day meal in the comfortably air conditioned restaurant (who says I wasn't planning well now?!) we got a spot for the parade. Again, Grandma and I held the spots while Dad and the kids did a ride...this time Buzz. This was their first time on the ride. They liked it and said that we would have to try it later. We've seen the Magical Moments parade before, but I still like it. However, they did away with the coaches and instructions for the audience participation parts, and this time when the floats stopped, chaos reigned as kids wandered into the streets and had no idea what to do. The CMs for the Beauty and the Beast float had to set the table themselves, dodging around kids who stood in their way. It all seemed a bit disorganized. We did a few more rides in Fantasyland after the parade. The new rides, Buzz and Pooh, always had the longest waits and the longest return times for fast pass, so I would say you should try to catch these rides early. About 5pm it started pouring rain, heavy thunder and lightning, and it wasn't letting up too quick, so we decided to make a hasty departure for the day. Mon. 8/21-- Today it was off to MGM. We first did the Backlot Tour with no wait. We wanted to trick Grandma with the Catastrophe Canyon part, but she said since I wasn't panicking, she knew it had to be OK. Aw, the curse of being neurotic. Then we had a really long wait for the Little Mermaid and eventually got turned away because the ride/show was "down." Just what could have gone wrong there I don't know. We did Indiana Jones, Muppet 4 D and Star Tours (Grandma and I skipped this one.) We took our break back at the hotel to eat lunch and swim, and then returned about 6pm. We realize that we haven't taken time to meet with too many characters yet. The kids may think they're too old for this, but they are patient and let us and Grandma hug all the characters we want. So we visited with Mickey and a few others. I really kinda missed the fun of the kids getting autographs and interacting with the characters more, that is so much what WDW is all about. About 7pm we got seats for Fantasmic! There is a long walk up the hill to get to the stadium. The huge stadium was only 1/4 full at that time. At 7:30 it was half full and by 7:40 it was full. The wait seemed incredibly long to me, and the benches had no backs. If you have a bad back like me, you might find the seating rather uncomfortable. The huge crowd grew restless and started doing The Wave back and forth, slow motion, fast motion, on and on and on. This went on forever and really kept us entertained! Finally, the show....it really knocked our socks off! When Mickey finally says, "Wait a minute, this is MY dream!" and slays the dragon and starts orchestrating the fireworks, and the sparks shoot out of his gloves...and then the last colorful boat comes around with all the good characters waving....you just feel like cheering. "Some imagination, huh?" Tues. 8/22-- By now the effects of rushing around too much were wearing us down, so we planned a morning to sleep in a little. I knew it was probably best to be in Animal Kingdom as early as possible, but that was not to happen. We had 9:30 am priority seating for the Rainforest Café, and that was early enough for me. The breakfast there was a welcome change from cereal and poptarts in our hotel room! I had the Tonga Toast, which was like 1/2 a loaf of bread covered with about a 5 lb bag of sugar and soaked with syrup. It was delicious! We went on the safari ride, and even though it was nearly 11am there were still plenty of animals out. Only the savanna part seemed a little vacant. There were some giraffes right beside the vehicle and the driver pointed out a giraffe doing something he said they rarely do (?)--lying down. Funny thing, on the ride there wasn't the bridge part-- y'know, where the bridge nearly collapses. We asked a CM about it later and he said sometimes it does do that and sometimes it doesn't. In all times past it always did that when we were on, and this trip it never did. Does anyone know what determines whether it "does" or "doesn't"? We had another thunder storm, but that didn't stop the gorillas on the Pangani Trail from coming out and being pretty active. A handler had just put out food, and soon the gorillas were all over eating melons and bananas. The gorillas even husked the corn on the cob and stripped the kernels off with their teeth. Neat, I didn't know they did that! We saw the Festival of the Lion King show next, and then rode Kali River twice in a row. Despite many negative posts, everyone liked this ride. Don't expect thrills here, just a pleasant raft ride. Of course, afterwards everyone was soaked to the skin and very uncomfortable walking around that way. (Ok, so the riders in the ponchos didn't look quite so geeky anymore.) On the way out of Asia we got one of the worst deals in WDW. Kate saw a booth selling pearls for $12.99. You got to select your own oyster and they made a big production of opening it up and all. She was mesmerized by the whole affair, and decided that was what she wanted to use her spending money on. They have some sort of fancy ceremony and they open the oyster and there's your pearl. Well, of course what are you going to do with a plain little old pearl? You need some sort of setting. I should have known this was coming, but the first thing they showed us started at $250.00! It ended up with Mom and Dad having to kick in the extra money for the cheapest necklace setting, $19.99 additional, and that didn't include a chain. We then toured around the Maharaja Trek and saw the bats and the tigers and all. Wow, those bats are big. The tigers were just sleeping by the viewing window, but they are really impressive animals. Then we saw Tarzan Rocks. That was the only thing in the AK I didn't really like. Ok, now I guess I get the title-Tarzan ROCKS- it was mostly a rock concert with a little rollerblading. Andy, however, loved it, although he wished there had been more rollerblading. We left at 6pm, which was closing time. Friday 8/23--- The next day we went to Sea World. Since this is a Disney message board I'll skip that day, but I'll just say that it was beautiful and every bit as much fun as Disneyworld! Thurs. 8/24-- This vacation is really taking its toll on us. Again we were so exhausted that we had to sleep in a little. We got to the World Showcase around 11am. On the way we stopped to listen to the Jammitors. They are so funny! We took the Friendship to the W.S. Here we continued hunting for bands. We saw the Alpine Trio (Germany), Off Kilter (Canada), Nova Era (Italy) and some band in France. We also had fun visiting with some characters in America. Chip and Dale noticed the glitter sparkles Kate had put on her shoulders, and they rubbed some off and put them on their noses. Then those mischievous chipmunks had fun rubbing sparkles on everyone's noses! We saw the Statues in France. Grandma posed with the statue, who bent down and hugged her, touching noses. It was precious! The statue wasn't as kind to others. Not only did he try to get ladies to kiss him, but he liked to try to pull down the straps on girls' tops! We ate some little quiches in France, but the non-adventurous kids held out for hot dogs later. Yuck. We checked out the Millennium Village. It was very colorful but a little confusing. The Brazilian rainforest was merely a bunch of padded poles that you slammed into and they emitted some sort of rainforest noise. Huh? The giant "eggs" taught us about the different seasons in Sweden. I learned that it is rainy in the spring, hot in the summer, windy in the fall, and cold in the winter. Hmm, interesting. The kids had fun with the mini golf game in Scotland. In the Village Green, the kids temporarily forget that they were "too old" for this sort of thing, and had fun running balls through this interactive display. I am sure the message of conservation of our resources was lost, however. The most fun we had was playing the "World Culture Game." Run like a real game show, with 6 teams of families competing to answer trivia questions on a big screen. The emcee kept the game moving along. There were 6 buttons in front of you, and you had to push the correct button or buttons corresponding to the answers on the screen. The game was close, but in the end we won! Woo-hoo! We decided to watch Illuminations from the WS plaza this time. It was an excellent location, right next to the center part that is roped off for wheelchairs. We got there a little after 7pm, and by 8pm the entire spot was jam packed. The wait paid off, however, this time we got an unobstructed view and enjoyed Illum. immensely. Fri 8/25-- Back to the most magical place in the world, the Magic Kingdom. We actually made it for rope drop. Ok, so we were winding through the entry gates at rope drop, but I think that counts. Before too long, Andy started a soon to be familiar chant, "I've got something in my eye." So we visited the first aid station, he received an eye bath and an ice pack, and all was well. The first aid station was very friendly and efficient, but hopefully you won't have to find that out for yourselves. We went to ride Buzz again but it was down. We encountered several down rides on the trip, but most seemed to be cleared up within a few hours. Kate, Andy and Mike all went for their first trip down Space Mt. They all were a bit apprehensive, but came off the ride with big smiles. They enjoyed the ride, but said it also hurt their necks. No matter, that didn't stop them from riding again. We then went to try the Pooh ride, which was more my speed. We walked on with fast passes, otherwise the wait was still 45 mins. long. My first impression is that it all went by so fast, I couldn't take it all in. Later, I rode it a few more times and this ride is right up my alley. Cute, fun and definitely No Thrills. We rode the Carousel of Progress and Peter Pan with only a short wait. Then we went on the Haunted Mansion. As we entered the mansion, a ghost host was hiding behind the door and snatched off Andy's baseball cap! Later, in the stretching room, he snuck up behind Andy and did it again! He tried to do it a third time, but Andy caught him and clung to his cap for all he was worth. I thought this was a really cute way for the CM to put some fun into the experience without too much "fright" for the younger set. Again, Grandma took her cue from me that this ride would not be too scary, since I didn't refuse to ride! There is so much going on that every time we ride we see something different...eyeballs in the pictures, shadows moving across the halls, keys moving on the piano, etc. We ate lunch at Pecos Bill's. One of our favorite counter service spots. The credit card line for ordering seemed like a good idea, but when we got up there, it took forever to get the thing to work properly, so I doubt that we saved any time. After lunch Buzz was running. The sign said 45 min. wait. We decided to go anyway, and it turned out the wait was only about 15 mins. at most. The interactive part of this ride is great, but my laser light didn't seem to be working properly. No, that's not just a lame excuse for my lousy score. Try as I may, I couldn't see the red dot on anything. But I pointed away and randomly pulled the trigger, all while giving Grandma a good spin in the spaceship, and managed to hit some of the targets anyhow in that manner. On Main Street, we enjoyed more of the music and atmosphere. We especially like the Dapper Dans, they just give you the feeling that you are "walkin' right down the middle of Main St. USA". Two of the Dapper Dans, Neel and Aaron, spoke with Mike after one of their performances. Mike asked when did they perform inside the barbershop, and Neel said, "Come on, I'll take you there now and we'll give you a show." So we all trooped into the little barbershop around the corner and Neel got the rest of the guys together. Some had already gone to wherever it is they go when they're not working, but they all willingly came back and performed about 5 songs for us right there in the barbershop. It was so special that they were willing to go out of their way for us, and was just the beginning of a relationship with the Dapper Dans that continued throughout the vacation. Every vacation to WDW seems to have at least one magical moment, and that was it for us. After our break back at the hotel (sandwiches and a swim) we returned to the Magic Kingdom. My desire was to watch the MSEP from the train station platform. We had attempted this at a previous visit, but even after arriving hours early, the platform had been full. This time, as we entered the Magic Kingdom about 6pm, we got lucky! There was still plenty of good seating available! I nearly ran up the stairs, and we dragged 5 chairs up to the rail. Good, comfy chairs too! I would recommend this spot to anyone. The unique perspective from above and clear view is a lot of fun. Even the long wait passed fairly quickly as we people-watched. Mike was videotaping a balloon seller nearly being lifted off the ground and carried away by the wind, when a costumed actress on the street below spotted him and waved. She started talking to us and calling up to us. I recognized that she was supposed to be a citizen of Main Street, and the only one I was aware they had was the mayor, so I called down "Are you the mayor?" She was so funny, she said that she had no political aspirations, that she was the "woman of the year" and that was much better than being a mayor. Later on we did see the mayor, who spouted one corny joke after another. We even saw him sing a song accompanied by the Casey's piano player guy. Mike and I took a turn wandering around while Grandma and the kids held our coveted spots on the platform. Down the street who did we see again, but the Dapper Dans. By now I was starting to worry that they'd think we were stalking them. Each time, however, they made a point to stay and talk to us. In fact, 2 of them even gave Mike their e-mail addresses and asked him to keep in touch. One of them recorded Mike's name into his micro-cassette recorder that he had in his pocket (hmm, maybe some validity to the stalking scenario after all!). Mike mentions that he hasn't yet heard the Main Street Philharmonic, the new band that has replaced the Magic Kingdom marching band. As we are standing there talking, the Philharmonic marches down the road. They stop in front of us and start this little skit where they say they are looking for a leader for their band. We are not aware of it, but at that moment Neel is behind Mike, pointing at him. So the Philharmonic says "We found him!" and pull Mike out in the middle of the street, give him a little flag, and have him lead the band all the way down Main Street! Mike is a little embarrassed about doing something goofy in public, but hey, we are in WDW, so what does it matter. When he is done they give him a button making him an honorary citizen of Main Street, and then launch into another little skit and song. When we return from this adventure, Neel and Aaron are waiting, and say, "Well, you said you wanted to hear the Philharmonic!" We return to the train platform, giving Grandma and the kids a chance to run off for a bit. A huge thunderstorm threatens to cancel the MSEP and for a few unhappy minutes I am worried that my train platform seats will be for naught, but in the end the storm abates and the parade goes on! We got some excellent pictures from our vantage point up above. At the end of the day we ride the ferry back, surrounded by a spectacular lightning storm. Sat. 8/26-- Animal Kingdom day-we never seem to be able to get up early enough to follow my planned itinerary for Animal Kingdom. No matter, it is easy for us to do what we want to do in a shorter amount of time and the animals are cooperative and frisky. We got there about 11am and had a 15 min. wait for Kil. Safari. Again, many animals were right by the road and an elephant was splashing around bathing in the watering hole. This time the wait was considerably long for Kali River. Everyone but me had brought a change of clothes this time. I lugged them around in a back pack all day. Since I didn't have dry clothes, I decided not to ride, and sat and waited on a rock outside Kali. I paid for it later, because it was so hot I nearly passed out. After walking around and seeing all the animals (I finally got to see those elusive otters! I was beginning to think there really weren't any there at all.) we left at about 3pm. There was another huge late afternoon thunderstorm just as we left. We stopped at the McDonald's just outside of Animal Kingdom, and then went to Downtown Disney. Mike got me my souvenir, a snowglobe with an illuminated Spaceship Earth in the middle, and Mickey's glove and the wand and 2000 on the side and top. Little buildings representing all the countries in the world showcase encircle the bottom, and it plays "Celebrate the Future." It is really beautiful. Mike's souvenirs are cds which he's picked up everywhere, from every band he can find in the world. We went back to the hotel early enough to pack up and get organized. Tomorrow is moving day..woohoo! We are going to Dixie Landings! Sun. 8/27-- Mike came down with some sort of a virus last night, and felt really sick this morning. We did our best loading up the car and checked out of the Holiday Inn at last. We stopped at the Ponderosa on 192, which advertised a breakfast buffet for $3.99. The staff was friendly and the food was OK, but the place was filthy. Don't think I'm some sort of a neat freak, I'm not. This restaurant was so dirty it looked like it hadn't been cleaned in years. The carpet was practically covered in crumbs and what looked like the sugar from powdered donuts. Mike was still feeling ill, so he rested in the car while we ate. We got to Dixie about noon, but check in was at 3pm. We (all except Mike) decided to swim while we waited. The pool was absolutely gorgeous, with a waterfall and water slide and lots of little nooks and crannies. The grounds here are really pretty. About 2pm Mike reported that our room was ready and he had already moved in all the suitcases. Our room was in Alligator Bayou building 15 (thanks Kevin Stringer for the recommendation.) It was close to everything and yet secluded enough not to feel like you were in the middle of it all. The room was beautiful, and oh joy, it was really clean too! It was more spacious than the Holiday Inn, there was plenty of room for 5 with Andy on the trundle and Kate and Grandma sharing one of the big beds. The whole atmosphere was so peaceful and calm, I wish there had been more time to hang around and enjoy it. Mike decided that he would rather feel sick in the parks than waste his time feeling sick in the room, so off we went to Epcot. On the way there Andy got something in his eye again. The first aid place is in the center of Epcot, so it was rather a long walk to get there. Again, they took prompt and efficient care of the eye and we were off. The kids wanted to do Innoventions, so we spent a fair amount of time here at the Sega games and all. We walked to UK and saw the World Showcase Players do the Holy Grail skit. It is so funny watching the "volunteers" play their parts. In France we saw the Statues again. We watched the Impressions de France. In Germany, Grandma bought cookies and chocolates for her German husband. We spent most of the time touring around, and left before Illuminations (we had seen it twice already.) Back at Dixie, we ate a late dinner in the food court. The food there is very good, with a good selection for everyone, and a lovely atmosphere for dining. Mon. 8/28-- Last night Mike decided to pass the stomach virus along to me. By morning, however, I didn't feel too bad, so we were ready to roll. The first order of business was driving back to Sea World. Andy had purchased his favorite souvenir there, a squishy blue fish filled thing called a "water wiggle." Unfortunately it had already sprung a leak. So Sea World was happy to replace it, as long as we came and made the exchange. That went smoothly, but we didn't get to MGM until about noon. The first thing we did was the Animation Tour. We saw the scenes they are working on for the next movie, The Emperor's New Groove. Personally, I think they've gotta change that title. Anyway, I love the movie they show with Robin Williams, and the one at the end with all the clips from the Disney movies, too. Outside, Andy Mation was making his incredible balloon characters. Have you ever seen him? He is so amazing, he did Ariel and Pluto while we were watching. He takes a long time to make each one, but throughout he has a steady stream of jokes and Disney trivia, and he is very entertaining. We thought Grandma should experience the 50's Prime Time Diner, so in place of dinner or a real meal, we opted for a big ice cream lunch. I forget our "sister's" name, but I felt she only gave us the minimal treatment...she threw the silverware on and told us to set the table, she told Andy to take off his baseball cap, and she tried to give us a little sisterly attitude when we ordered. She sorta came off as a bratty younger sister, but somehow she didn't really make it fun. I almost felt like I had to apologize for something. After our treat, we got a spot for Mulan parade. Mike and Andy went off to ride Star Tours while we waited. We sat on a nice bench, right next to a guy who was trying to sell muppet-like puppets. He kept harassing everyone who walked by, it was really funny. When he saw Kate with her red hair, the puppet yelled, "Help! You're head's on fire!" There was a lot of other entertainment as we waited, too. A big truck labeled "The Hollywood Public Works Dpt." came down the street spraying everyone with a big hose. Later they stopped and did a funny routine with guys in coveralls squirting everyone with water. Some "streetmosphere" actors walked down the street interacting with people. We were approached by a man who said he was Mel Rose, a talent scout. He told us that we looked like sisters (Grandma loved that!) and asked if we were waiting to be discovered. He chatted for awhile about auditioning our musical act and gave us his business card. Later, a whole group of outrageously costumed actors and actresses strolled down the street. Again, Kate's red hair drew attention and one of the actors shouted, "Look! There's Molly Ringwald! I loved you in Sixteen Candles!" Then, every time the group passed by, they all waved and said "Look, it's Molly! Hi Molly!" Kate thought this was just great (even though she had never seen a movie with Molly Ringwald, I guess she is a bit too young.) WDW sure is smart, they give you a lot to do while you wait for the parade, we had as much fun with that as the attractions. We had seen the Mulan parade before. Maybe due to its waning popularity, people did not even begin to line the streets until just 20 minutes before the parade. They had replaced a few old floats with a few new ones. Grandma, who had never seen Mulan, didn't get much out of it. It's a nice parade, but I think it's time for a new one. We repeated a few rides and attractions that we wanted to see again, then returned to the Hunchback Show. I wanted to get a seat by the center aisle. We got there 1/2 hour early and people were already lined up waiting. We got the aisle seat, however, and it was really fun to have the actors and actresses running up and down right in front of you. At the end, they all come down and shake your hand, too. Oh, the preshow juggler Matt is really funny, he's just as enjoyable as the show itself. As he was juggling, he calmed the audience's fears that he might injure small children with his juggling props by saying, "Don't worry. It's Disney World, there's plenty more!" We didn't take a break today, as we wanted to see Fantasmic a second time. We stopped at the Sunset Market and bought stuffed baked potatoes to bring up and eat in the stands for dinner. This worked out really well. The potatoes were a good deal, and a nice change from fast food burgers and hotdogs. We got to the theater about 7:40 and it was nearly full. We had to sit way off to the left side. But no worry, every seat is just as good it seemed to me. Unless it is really crowded in the parks that day, it seems like if you go an hour early you should get a seat. We enjoyed Fantasmic again. The show combines live actors, lasers, fireworks, water screens, puppets, boats, and just about anything else you can imagine. It was so intricate that it was not a waste to see it twice. I liked it even better the second time. Tues. 8/29-- Oh no, the dreaded day is here. Our last day! As always, we spend this day in the Magic Kingdom. Since we had done all the rides we wanted, we mostly hung out on Main Street soaking up the atmosphere. Some people might consider this a waste of time, but to us it is the most fun in WDW. We did do a few favorite rides for the last time. At 9:30am we had breakfast in Cinderella's Castle. In all our previous visits we had never before eaten in the castle. It was quite a treat. The waiters called us "M'Lord" and "M'Lady" and the kids "Princess" and "Young Prince." Cinderella, Fairy Godmother, Sleeping Beauty, Belle, Jasmine and Aladdin were all in attendance. Grandma hugged the Fairy Godmother, who sprinkled her with pixie dust and said "I can tell you work with special people." I thought this was very perceptive of the Fairy Godmother, as Grandma has always worked with developmentally disabled and handicapped students. The food there was really good too. They served each person a plate of eggs, bacon, sausage, and a french toast stuffed with cream cheese. There also was fruit and muffins on the table. Children get pancakes. Back on Main Street we saw the Dapper Dans driving by in a jitney, and they waved and called us all by name! They remembered our names! They stopped their car in front of us and gave us another concert. Then, 4 more Dapper Dans suddenly appeared. (There are 2 groups of Dapper Dans that alternate shifts.) We had never seen all 8 of them together before. Then, they all sang together for us! That was really great. A CM took the eight Dans around the corner and took some promotional photos, and she let us take some on our cameras. Then she let us get in the shots. A short time later, we were listening to the Rhythm Rascals band performing outside the Emporium. Ralf the washboard player asked if there were any requests. So Mike requested a song, and just as they started playing that song, the 8 Dapper Dans come up and they all start singing together with the Rhythm Rascals. Later they told us that in 20 years, that had only happened twice before. As Mike is really into the park music, that was a really special treat for him. To finish off our day we did really lazy things like riding the entire circuit of the WDW railroad and strolling around Toontown. The kids road all the mountains again. We sat eating ice cream outside of the ice cream parlor and watched the parade go by. Finally we faced the fact that we had to go. The one thing that saddened us was that it was the only E-ticket night of our stay, and we couldn't attend because we had to wake up extra early to start our drive back home the next day. We took our time leaving the Magic Kingdom, looking back several time. It is always sad to go, but at least we have the 40 rolls of film to remember it by. Peg Frezon ecritMeg@nycap.rr.com Mail a Comment to Peg Frezon |
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