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Tami Farmer -- December 2001 -- Walt Disney World (AKL)Saturday, December 1 - Thursday, December 6, 2001 Cast:
Saturday December 1st Originally, Britt and I had planned on leaving North Georgia for the 8-9 hour drive to Disneyworld at 3am to get there in time for the big RADP Meet and Greet at 1 followed by the RADP Scavenger Hunt Team Captain meeting. However, we ended up staying up late the night before packing and hunting Britt a bathing suit. We tried the Wal-Mart here about 11pm, but there was not one bathing suit to be found since they are "not in season." No problem, we'll just go to the new super Wal-Mart on Osceola (sp?) Parkway when we get there and get Britt a bathing suit. Eventually, we made it to bed sometime after midnight and got up at 6am. We were on the road sometime after 7 and stopped at our usual Cracker Barrel in Perry, Georgia for breakfast around 10. Around 2, our teammate for the RADP scavenger hunt (Denise), called and said she was just pulling into Kissimmee and would try to make the meeting since there was no way we were going to be there. We pulled into Wal-Mart on Osceola Parkway around 4 intent on getting Britt a bathing suit. Now the strange part, bathing suits are "not in season" in Florida in Dec. either and there was not one to be found anywhere. I even asked some workers. Oh well, Britt got him a radio from there so he could keep track of the football scores since tomorrow he wouldn't be able to watch any of them and he had to know if he was maintaining his #1 spot on our fantasy football league. I'm in like 18th place out of 30, so I could care less about maintaining my spot. LOL. We pulled into Animal Kingdom Lodge sometime after 5 to get checked in. I had stayed there in June, but Britt had never been there. He was quite impressed. We got a savannah view room on the 4th floor right down the hall from where I stayed in June. I was happy to see Cletus (the name I gave the lone giraffe in June) right outside the balcony following the food truck around. Next, we headed over to MGM to meet Denise and see the Osborn Lights at 6:30. Denise said all the people were gone by the time she made it to the meeting that afternoon, so I called the Scavenger Hunt organizers room (Jeff and Jenn) to tell them that if we missed anything important to call me at AKL later and let me know. It also turned out that our 4th team member would have to work tomorrow, so we would be the only team with 3 members. There was no line for the Great Movie Ride, so we rode it before going to see the lights. I was tempted to take notes during the ride in case there were Great Movie Ride questions we would have to answer tomorrow. I didn't though since I had no clue what they would be asking us. Denise briefed us on how the scavenger hunt went last year when she participated. This year they gave us the angel glasses to look at the Osborn Lights and had us entering from by the Hunchback Stage. In the patriotic theme this year, they had a few red, white, and blue Mickey heads and one of the houses was lit in all red, white, and blue lights. Fantasmic must have just let out because it was quite crowded walking through this year. I liked last year walking through in the pouring down rain better because we had the whole street to ourselves. After the lights, Denise gave us directions to meet her at her hotel in the morning and Britt and I went and grabbed a bite to eat at Animal Kingdom Lodges food court before bed. Sunday December 2nd (Scavenger Hunt Day!) We woke up and ate a good breakfast at the food court since we didn't plan on wasting valuable scavenger time by stopping for lunch. Then, we met Denise at her hotel around 7:45 so we could be at the Ticket and Transportation Center by 8:30 for the start of the Scavenger Hunt. When we got there, we got our T-shirts and changed into them (everyone else was already wearing theirs because I think they had got them at the meeting the day before.) Jeff and Jenn had donuts for us to snack on while we waited. There ended up being 7 teams total. We were the D-Scouts. Some of the other names were The Gloom and Doom Dancers, The Disney Questers, The Star Tourist, and The Pixie Chicks and Chicos. Jeff had the teams line up and then passed us out our 3 ring binders full of questions and a big envelope to put items in. This year along with the questions covering all the theme parks, hotels, and Downtown Disney, there were 5 mini challenges at appointed times and places throughout the day to participate in for extra points. There were also 4 "100 point of death questions" to hunt for throughout the day (example: Who Works at the Huntington Public Library?). The first mini challenge was at MGM at 9:40. We skipped this one because we wanted to hit the monorail resorts and Magic Kingdom first. We did the Poly first, followed by the Grand Floridian, and then the Magic Kingdom. Examples of questions from these areas: How deep is the water at the Volcano slide? Where is the Grand One docked? and What instrument is laying in Piglet's front yard. The three of us split up the questions and used walkie talkies to keep in touch. I tried asking cast members if they knew answers, but found it easier and better just to ride the rides and get the answers myself. I'm still amazed at how the cast members don't know many of the details about the rides they work on every single day. I wasted more time waiting on the cast members to discuss the questions among themselves to only find out none of them knew the answer. At the MK, I rode Snow White and Haunted Mansion. I would have got a Fastpass to ride Pooh and get those answers, except Britt had my ticket that I needed to get a Fastpass. Next, we went to Animal Kingdom Lodge to change buses to go to Animal Kingdom for the 2:00 mini challenge. We used the time waiting on the bus to divide the next set of questions between the 3 of us and copy the answers we already had onto the answer sheet. For the 2:00 challenge, 2 teams out of the 7 showed up. We had to find someone hid in the tree of life gardens. I found Jenn right off, but she turned out to be a decoy. Denise found who we were really supposed to find and we won that challenge. We answered some more Animal Kingdom questions (example: What day is feast day?, Answer was found on a billboard on the tiger trail in Asia.) I was in charge of Dinoland which I did with Brian from one of the other teams. I found it really hard to wait in line for Dinosaur to get my answers from the pre-shows, but then didn't have time to ride it. Same thing with the tigers in Asia. They were out playing and active and I had to walk right past them because I was in "Scavenger Mode" not "Typical Tourist Mode". We finished up at AK, then it was off to MGM Studios. At the studios, I had the Animation questions and the Great Movie Ride. I never did have time to ride the Great Movie Ride (see, I knew I should have took notes the other day when we rode this. LOL.) Again, I was surprised here by how little the workers know. One of the questions was "What four things must an animator have?". I asked the animator after his presentation and he had no clue what the four things could possible be because there are lots of things you would need to become an animator. I said thanks and found the answer on a wall poster just a few feet away from where this guy sits all day long. Guess people really don't read the writing on the wall. LOL. Getting off subject for a second here, I've decided these guys giving the animation presentation and drawing the pictures during that part of the tour are not really animators. The same guy who said he was an animator and gave our speech was over at Who Wants To Be A Millionaire a couple of days later helping seat the crowd??? I wanted to go over to him and say, "Hey, I thought you were an animator?" After MGM, we were off to Epcot. The day was really flying by. At Epcot, I had the Land and The Sea Questions. The workers at The Living Seas were actually helpful and I found almost all the answers I needed to here. At the land, I decided to see Food Rocks to get my answers from there. Rob from one of the other teams and I started out sitting together, then I moved to the middle for a better view at counting the eggs in the fridge question. Rob stayed seated by the exit and was able to leave as soon as he got his answers, but I was now stuck in there for the whole show because I had moved to the middle. I barely made it out of there in time to meet Britt and Denise so we could head to the Boardwalk together for the last mini challenge. For the last mini challenge, 3 out of the 7 teams showed up. We had to do a relay which consisted of carrying a plate of water without spilling any. At the end, all the plates were weighed by the Passporter authors and we got 2nd. There are lots of pictures of us doing this and lots of other scavenger hunt pics posted somewhere in cyberspace (Fudgie's page?) that I saw this morning, but I don't know the direct link to them. We had about 45min. after the mini challenge to try to get some boardwalk resort questions answered before we had to turn our packets in at 8:15pm. We made it just in time and then sat out on the balcony of the Boardwalk waiting for the points to be tallied. Denise had left a cooler at the Boardwalk the night before and sat us up a very nice "picnic" on the balcony complete with cheese, fruit, crackers, and wine. We were so hungry, tired, and thirsty by this point that this was great for Denise to do. Skippy from one of the other teams joined us. Skippy's team ended up sharing first place with the Pixie Chicks (they were only different by eleven points). We didn't even place in the top 3, but for being the only team with 3 people, I think we did pretty good. At the end, we were able to keep our question pack and answers. The only thing I noticed that we didn't get back was our Iago feather we had to get from the Tiki Room. Denise said it did make it into our envelope, so perhaps Jenn and Jeff saved all the Iago feathers from all the teams and are making a pillow??? We had to catch a bus back to the MK to retrieve Denise's car (luckily it was a Christmas Party night so the buses were still running to MK). Denise dropped us back at our car and then it was back to AKL. I couldn't believe how tired I was now that I had stopped. All day I wasn't tired at all really and didn't even get tired of all the walking. The scavenger hunt was a lot of fun and hopefully we'll be able to do it again next year (with 4 players on our team!). Anyone recruits out there?? Denise said she'll make sure all 4 players pay ahead of time next year so for sure there will be 4 and not 3. LOL. Monday December 3rd Today, Britt and I decided to spend the day doing our own solo things. Britt did a couple of really interesting things today, so I'll cover his day first. Apparently, he went straight to Downtown Disney to go to DisneyQuest. They didn't open till 11:30, so he had some time to kill. So, he's wondering around Downtown Disney and somehow ends up where Regis is waiting to film something and gets to talk to Regis for a while. Then, he got to be filmed in some sort of Cirque segment where he gives a high five to a guy riding by on a bike. Eventually, he did make it to DisneyQuest and then went to see a movie at the Downtown Disney movie theater. Afterward, he heads back to either AK or AKL and gets to talking to an animal worker. Britt asked them about Cletus. He said they replied something along the lines of, "Who the h*!! is Cletus?" Britt told them about my nickname for the giraffe and they offered him a close up look. Apparently, they had been given the 100th anniversary press rides in the trucks all day out on the savannah, and offered Britt a ride. He got to help the workers feed Cletus! After that, he headed back to the room to get ready to go to Epcot for the evening. My day started out with a walk along the beach from the Poly to the Grand Floridian. There was a Japanese wedding taking place at the wedding pavilion and Cinderella's horses and stagecoach were waiting out front. It was really cool watching that. I got to MK right as they were opening and headed to Fantasyland to ride Pooh and Pan without a line. Out of all the times I've been to WDW, I've never had the urge to wait in line to drive the little cars (bad memories of getting rammed at Disneyland by the people in the car behind me whenever I rode them there), but for a change there was no line and so I rode them. They were actually fun and the people behind me didn't even ram me once. I then rode people mover twice and then off to my favorite ride, Splash Mountain. By this time, it was like 11am and Splash Mountain had 0 wait. They weren't even offering fastpass since there was no line. I walked right onto my log. It was great. Most of the time when I ride this it is dark (enights), so I liked the daytime experience on it. By now I was getting hungry, so I headed off to Coronado Springs for Lunch. I love the Pepper Market. I got my food to go, took it back to AKL, and ate on the balcony while watching Cletus. Next, I grabbed my fun noodle and headed to the pool. The water was actually kind of cold so I didn't stay in the pool very long. I spent most of my time in one of the 2 hot tubs. Then I took about a 30min. nap in the room before heading to Epcot for the evening. I tried to make the first Candlelight Processional show, but it was already full. So, I watched British Invasion for a while. They did a tribute to George Harrison with some of his songs. I figured I'd better get in line for the 2nd candlelight processional, so I headed there after British Invasion. By the time I got in line, the line was in Italy and I just barely made it into that show. Next year, I think it will be better to get the Dinner Package where you are guaranteed a seat. Wayne Brady did great as the narrator. I like the part at the end when he said he had the best seat in the house and that from where he was standing it was like having his own show in stereo, but with real people. I think a lot of people got choked up at the end when they sang, "Let There Be Peace On Earth." I met Britt after the Processional and we went to see Off Kilter. During part of it, Jamie started singing Sesame Street and Blues Clue's songs and talking about his little girl. He was quite funny. We went in the gift shop and got their 2nd CD and then went to watch British Invasion again. Britt was hungry so we went to Future World to get a bite to eat. We didn't want to stay for IllumiNations, so we went and got on the bus back to AKL. We are sitting on the bus waiting and realize that neither one of us have the Off Kilter cd we brought. So, we dart off the bus and head back to where we had been eating. No sign of it there and the custodians couldn't find it in the trash we used either. Who knows what happened to it?? Maybe someone is listening to it right now. We made plans to go buy another one later in the week because I still wanted the CD. We still were able to make it on a bus out of Epcot before the Illuminations crowd let out. At AKL, I went to look out the back balcony in the lobby. From there, the Christmas tree reflects on the glass and it looks like you are looking at 12 giant Christmas trees, truly the best view in AKL. Tuesday December 4th Today was breakfast at Boma with some internet friends. I was glad to finally meet Lori and Binnie in person after months of emailing. Also there were Sean, Pamela, Catherine, Bruce, Bruce's wife, Binnie's mom, Tracy, Tracy's husband and daughter. As others have wrote in their trip reports, the juice was one of the best parts. The waiter would have save himself a lot of time if he had just left the whole pitcher sitting right in front of me. After breakfast, it was off to MGM for Who Wants To Be A Millionaire. Using Fastpass, we went to 2 shows. A group of passporter people were at both shows and 2 of them made it into the hot seat. Once I was 8th and another time I was 9th. One day I'll make it into the hot seat. This was the first time Britt had been to WWTBAM and he really enjoyed it. When the lighting was low, you could see a lot of Magical Moment Pins going off. That was the first time I had noticed them, but Britt and I would spend the rest of the day looking for them going off and being the first to say, "Look, he/she is having a magical moment." Sounds weird, but it was fun. For lunch, we walked over to the Yacht and Beach Club and ate at Beaches and Cream. We each had a sandwich, got a nostalgia coke bottle, and split the Hot Fudge Quake (or something like that for dessert). The service was kind of slow, but this is a fun place to eat. Animal Kingdom Lodge had left us a message saying that Wayne Brady would be filming a segment that afternoon in the hotel lobby and to show up if we wanted to be extras. So we headed back to AKL for that. They had a group of us assemble at a viewing area right outside the lobby and sign release forms. While we were waiting, I met Amy (one of the Pixie Chicks from the Scavenger hunt). She filled me in on other scavenger hunt info. (her team walked 14 miles that day, 6 out of 7 teams finished, and no one got the 100 point question of death answers which were on Sunset Blvd., a billboard that is usually blocked by a cast member, in a hallway at the Wonders of Life, and I can't remember where the 4th one was.) I also met Roxy from Atlanta who said her family was going to be a magical moment family for the Christmas parade, but couldn't because her husband had to go back to work and they wanted him in it also. Eventually, they led us back into the lobby and lined some up on the balconies and some right by where Wayne Brady would be. We heard a lot of applause and Wayne appeared. He sang I'll be home for Christmas to a family whose relative was out serving in the military. Britt, Amy, and I are standing right behind him as he sings. I can't wait for Christmas morning now for us to watch the Christmas Parade and Wayne's segment. They had to do a few takes. One was because Wayne forgot the words and the cue card guy had not turned the card over so he could see the words. Wayne made fun of the cue card guy the rest of the time by saying stuff like, "I can tell you were so enchanted by my voice that it put you in a trance and you messed up." LOL. After the taping was over, we went up to the room to change clothes before going to Epcot. On our way out to the parking lot, Wayne was standing in front of the hotel spending time with a child in a wheelchair. I took a close-up picture of him as soon as he finished. We spent some time lined up at the Boardwalk with a bunch of other people to watch the Space Shuttle take off, but a worker then went around telling everyone it had been called off. So, we tried to get in the first candlelight processional show, but it was already full. So, we went to watch British Invasion and Off Kilter. We also got another Off Kilter CD to replace the one we lost the other day. Then, it was off to send internet postcards off to people before heading back to AKL. At AKL, we went in the gift shop where Britt finally found a bathing suit. We also got a couple of magical moment pins and the hand held game. As I was looking around the gift shop, I turned a corner and Roy Disney was standing right in front of me shopping with his wife and a Disney escort. I went and found Britt real fast so he could see Roy also. I would have loved to get a picture of him, but didn't want to bother him since no one else had noticed him or was paying any attention to him. Britt did see him being interviewed on TV the next morning for part of the 100th celebration. For the rest of our visit, I would now make regular rounds in the gift shop just to make sure I wasn't missing anyone. LOL. We walked around outside and looked for zebras before going to bed. Wednesday December 5th It was a nice cool morning, so we went out and spent some time in the hot tub before going to the AKL food court for breakfast. The hot tub was very hot. I think I spent more time sitting on the edge than actually in the hot tub though. Still, we had it all to ourselves and it was a great way to spend the morning. After breakfast, we went to DisneyQuest. It wasn't crowded at all. We did Pirates first and they let us do it two times in a row since no one was waiting. Then it was time for Aladdin and that one where you are rescuing the colonist. In all the times we've done this, we've never rescued the colonist in time and got off the planet before it was destroyed. Poor colonist :( depending on us to save them. We ate lunch at the Cheesecake Factory, played some at the internet booths, and then played a few more games before walking around the marketplace. Of course, we had to stop at the candy shop for some chocolate. By now, it was getting close to time for the Space Shuttle to take off. Britt got his radio so we could know exactly what was going on with it and we went off to the roof of the Contemporary to watch it. I've seen it launched twice before, but both times were at night. We were excited to finally get to see a daytime launch. It was kind of cloudy, but we figured we would still at least see something. Anyway the countdown started and up the space shuttle went. However with all the clouds, we didn't see one single thing. After the shuttle had been up 3minutes, we finally left. Everyone around us was asking us if it had got canceled again since they didn't have a radio to know what was going on and were still looking east. We're like, "No, it's already been up 3 minutes. The clouds blocked our view." Then, everyone rushed to the elevators so Britt and I took the stairs. Some EMS guys were taking the stairs with us and joking they could draw us a picture of a shuttle launch if we really wanted to know what it looked like. Dinner was at Boma. It was delicious, but I wish I had been more hungry so I could enjoy it more. We got a table for 2 right by the window with a view of the pool. I'm more of a big lunch person and would love it if Boma was open for lunch. Britt can eat anytime though, so he definitely got his money's worth. We spent more time walking around outside after dinner, looking at animals, and talking to the animal guides. Of course, I also had to look at my favorite view of the Christmas tree from the balcony looking out back. The lobby is also cool to look at when your out back looking in. Thursday December 6th We woke up to another cool morning, so it was off to the hot tubs again before breakfast at the food court. This time there was one other person in the hot tub with us who spent the entire time he was in there talking on his cell phone going, "You'll never guess where I'm calling you from." After breakfast, it was back to our room to pack for our Disney Cruise (separate trip report). It was really hard leaving WDW. We had so much fun at AKL that if we could have stayed at AKL 3 more nights and canceled the cruise right then and there with a full refund of the cruise, we would have. Plus, our annual passes were still good for 5 more days and there was still lots of stuff we didn't get to do at WDW that we usually do (Blizzard Beach, mini-golf, Christmas Party, more time at AK, etc.) and stuff we wanted to do for the first time (Cirque and try out some restaurants we've never ate at). Oh well, guess we'll just have to plan another trip to WDW again soon. The time went by wayyyyyyyy too fast as usual at WDW. Tami Farmer Thekat1@aol.com Mail a Comment to Tami Farmer |
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