 |  |
| Discussion Boards | Reviews | News | Trip Planning | Shop | Travel | Site Map |
| Disney Trip Report Archive An archive of reader-submitted trip reports | |
| Alex Stroup, editor | Search just the Trip Report Archive. |
|
|
| Larry Wilmot -- July 2004 -- Walt Disney World (PCR)101 Illuminations Cast Members
Friends: Sue, Leanne, Tom, Kim, Sheri and Rich. 1. Well welcome to Larry's 101 Illuminations. For those of you who have read one of my Trip Reports before hello, and to those of you who are new, remember this, You don't actually have to read this, you can stop now, no one will laugh at you for not bothering. For those of you still here, a little explanation or re-cap for the regulars. We are the Wilmot's, and we have been assimilated into the Disney World. Resistance was futile. I no longer get paid by my employers, my salary goes directly to Team Disney and they send me Annual Passes and Re-fillable Mugs in the post occasionally just enough for us to be able to go to WDW two or three times a year with a smattering of off season trips to Disneyland Paris. If you are desperate for cheap entertainment you can pick up some of my old Trip Reports on www.mouseplanet.com just use the search button and search for disneyhollic recovery programme and you should find a link to them. (The first step by the way is to say to your self every morning in front of the mirror. "I am a disneyhollic and I will visit Universal today.") 2. Our past trips started in 1998 and I think we have been nine times to WDW, since then. We have spent (at the time of writing - Sat in MCO Airport waiting for a flight to Chicago, on the sad route (or should that be Rowt) home), six weeks on our most recent Annual Pass at WDW. We were last sat at this airport in April having had our Easter Holiday in the "World". Our next trip to Disney will be in October to Disneyland Paris to meet our friends from Florida Tom and Leanne. (Leanne is so desperate to ride It's a Small World, that she is flying to another continent just to ride it, - It is in a 12 month Re-hab in Florida.- at least she isn't going to Japan.) Then we are not planning to go to WDW at all in 2005, but to strike out to California to do the Original at Disneyland. In my opinion it is time they did a Global Disney Annual Pass, I think I could make good use of one of those. 3. Normally I write a Daily Trip Report and post them live, but after 15 days of that at "Spring Break" I decided that I would have a rest from the tyranny of a daily trip report, and so I haven't even thought of a word that I wanted to put in it until just now. So that means a return to the time when I used to make up all of the stuff in my Trip Reports. So I will use my maxim, of "never let the truth get in the way of entertaining my readership." or "Accuracy is for wimps" 4.So this report is going to be in the categorisation of Mouse planet a "summery" report. This report in the spirit of the great Disney Movie "How to get your coat and eat it" will have 101 paragraphs, (Thank Heavens I didn't choose 2000 Leagues under the Sea.) Though any resemblance with the plot of any movie alive or dead -(And lets face it many of the recent ones have been dead) is purely co-incidental. (Whilst we are on the Politics, I heard that the Incredibles is going to have Samuel L Jackson and Holly Hunter doing the voices. I will be the first one in the queue to see that film. - Oh Michael why oh why have you let Pixar Dump you?, that is soooooo sooooo silly.) 5. Well enough of using up my valuable paragraphs with all this controversial stuff, I can hear you saying, Get on with it Wilmot. The Journey beckons... Sat in this airport as I am, it is easy to let my mind wander back to just fourteen days ago, bleary eyed and all tired we got up at five am, in the Airport Hotel in Aberdeen Scotland, a northern town, on the edge of civilisation, hewn from the Granite stone found thereabouts, a town almost carved by the blood and tears of the noble Scots who inhabit it. 6. Well there was not time to enjoy the fruits of their endeavours, we were swiftly through the complex three flight check in, and sat on a British Midland Commuter Plane, the photos I took of boarding make it look like we are almost getting on board our private jet, to go and take the sun. Sadly it was just to Manchester. We had a choppy little flight but I consoled myself with the Egg and Bacon Sandwich and in just two flaps of the little birds wing, we were on the tarmac looking at the parked Concorde. A beautiful bird as likely to fly as one of the Tiki Room Birds. 7.. Not much time to enjoy the delights of Manchester Airport, which was fine because there are no delights at Manchester Airport, and we were on A Airbus 330 - winging our winding way to Chicago. Now to be fair to British Midland, whilst Chicago is not exactly en route to Orlando they have a nice service and I almost enjoyed the flight. And they serve quite nice food, and I even managed two hours sleep almost unheard of for me and saw a quaint little film (Welcome to Mooseport or something of that Ilk. (pun intended)) We landed at Chicago some seven or eight hours later and got the train to terminal one, though the Space Mountain/Spaceship Earth Corridor to wait for our flight, in my favourite time zone of the trip. Doing three different ones in the same day and not even in the right order is very confusing. 8. The last leg is just a bit of a blur, I chatted to a guy who seemed to know a lot about aircraft, he pointed out it was an Airbus 320, when I thought it was a seven five seven, then when I admired his knowledge, (I'm a bit of a retired plane spotter,) he told me his job was re-fuelling aircraft at Edinburgh Airport. But before you know it there we were sat on the hot tarmac at Orlando MCO. 9. Having already done Immigration and Customs at Chicago, we were free to pick up our car courtesy of Tesco Clubcard Vouchers, ( I would tell all the new readers all about it but, my regulars will probably start to skip bits of the report and I would hate to be skipped, they may go too far and miss the really good bits. - Yes, I'm planning on writing some good bits just hang on in there for a while.) 10. So anyway, we picked up our car which was a Pontiac Grand Am, - Nice looking car from the outside, but boy what cheap plastics you Americans are prepared to put up with inside. My car has polished cherry wood - The boot (Trunk) won't actually hold all our luggage and the rear seats are cramped but at least the radio has nice knobs, and you know that practicality is for boring people so next time you buy a car go for one with style that is totally useless for your needs just like I did. Tell ‘em Larry Sent you and that should put a smile on the little salesman's lips. 11. We arrived at our hotel, the much derided (In some Trip Reports - No names mentioned - Eh Sue??) Pop Century Resort, a funky little place, Where there may not be much in the way of Sports Facilities, but you can do the Twist by Chubby (Bloody) Checker every morning at 8am at mega high ear splitting decibels in the lobby. For those of you who have not been before, it is themed in five areas by decades from the 50's to the 90's. From Chantilly Lace to Garage, From Ice Cream Floats to Slush Puppies, Ok I made that up but you get the drift. The 70's where our room was located, is populated by a Mickey Telephone and a Big Trike with smatterings of a Table Football Machine and 8 Track Cartridges. The room was on the ground floor (1st Floor in American) And was just like all the other ones, small compact and OK for people who have little intention of doing anything in their room other than sleeping. 12. Now as I don't actually remember what we did on our holiday, and certainly not on each day as I didn't make any notes other than mental ones, here the report will spring into summery style. Disorganised summery style of course. I hope to take you on a little trip around the kind of things that we got up to on our trip, we visited every park a couple of times, Busch Gardens the Beltz Mall, De Leon Springs State Park, Daytona Beach, Celebration, Pleasure Island, Downtown Disney (Ed Lived at Disney Quest this trip.) And last and certainly not least the Shark Infested Typhoon Lagoon. (Oh no, he is going to rattle on about his fish phobia again!!!) 13. Lets start with the Sub Theme of the Trip Report which is Hero and Zero. Many of you chaps and chapesses will be familiar with the Holland, Burroughs and Wilmot Who Wants to be a Millionaire Gang, this is where we turn up in vast numbers and try our best to get in the hot seat, with if you don't mind a little boasting with some considerable success, there is a little rivalry between Chris, Kim's son and myself as we are the leaders in the hot seat competition. Chris having prior to the start of this trip report three sittings in the famous chair, I was leading slightly with four. We were having some fun together about this, with me accusing him of cheating by visiting WDW more often than I do (Yes it is possible). Greg has been in the seat once before, Famously when Greg and I were both in the hot seat during the same show. 14. Anyway early on in the trip, Chris got into the hot seat, equalling my four times. (Drat) However Greg was the particular star of this trip, because not only did he get into the hot seat with his first game. He did it in front of our friends Sheri and Rich, this was really important because Sheri is a great Trip Report Writer, catch her T.Rs on Mouseplanet, and I didn't want the world thinking that we Wilmot's couldn't come up with the goods when it mattered. So well done Greg, the boy has immaculate timing. To make things even better he did really well, getting a 32,000 points win, having got to the 125K question 15. Greg intends to put the 32K package on sale on E-bay when we get back, giving you chance to own part of this very trip report. (The boy has no sentimentality what so ever!!) Then to add just a little icing to the cake he was top of the leader board twice in the next two days, having to decline his third and fourth potential appearances, due to the 30 day blackout period that hot seat winners have to endure. The host was the same for all three of these games and when he declined the second time, the Host said "These guys are from Scotland and they have been causing havoc all week!" 16. Well I was a restless soul for the whole trip, I kept going back and forth, more and more games, up and down the street I would pace, waiting for the next show. I would press every conceivable fastest finger combination, more and more depressed I found my self, Jill, started to mock me, "ha - you think your good at WWTBAM, you are getting old you have lost your touch". A demented soul I became, I could hardly bare to go to any other park. "You want me to go to Blizzard Beach, how can I, when I have not gotten into the Hot Seat yet?" I would cry out in my deranged and fitful sleep. During the games, I would cry foul if I got a question wrong, blaming a sticky button or the question being "too American" or " a trick question". Boy was I sad, a faded star on the last legs of his life. I thought that things were really bad, but little did I know, a Cruel twist was to befall me. 17. On the last morning of the trip, mere hours before our flight home, after giving up all hope of getting into the hot seat, I decided to persuade everyone that we should go and try just one last time. So with little enthusiasm from the rest of the family, we all trailed to MGM, and got a fastpass ticket for the first show, (Not that you needed it - it was half empty, thankfully as it turned out.) So we went through the usual pre show announcements about the cruise I will never win, and the fastest finger question was read out, I struck in the combination I had a feeling in my bones was due. I knew it was a good one I had a strange feeling of success, and rightly so because up came 120 my seat number, "Yes" oh joy, I am ahead again, Chris, eat my dust!! 18. I walked down calm and assured, another hat at least for sale on e-bay, and probably a polo shirt too, by tomorrow morning. First two questions a breeze, the third question. Adding up some dimes and quarters - easy peezy, I made a little joke about the great exchange rate, but then there was an uneasy hush, a sort of group pity, then the naked horrible truth of the situation hit me, I had got the question wrong. Then I had the eyeballs of the nation on me, I had to walk to the back room to collect the "loser's button"…… Many had been there before and when it had happened to my friends I had always tried to be kind, and now I know why, there is nowhere to hide. 19. The woman in the backroom was kind, "Oh I see you have been in the hot seat before, that is really good" "Oh no, it is not the Losers Button" "Well I'm sure with your record we will see you again in this room" But I could not be consoled, and the Host noticing me going back and teasing me, didn't help at all. Later we were on Tower of Terror when a nice lady came up to me to commiserate, believe me, if you are going to fluff up question number three, do it on your last morning, coz you are going to want to go home. (Do you think there will be a market for a loser's button on e-bay??) 20. . Whilst we are on the subject of WWTBAM lets talk about meeting friends as the attraction is always best served with a plateful of friends. (Though I am mightily glad they were not there when I fluffed up." One of the great joys of WDW is meeting up with your chums. Most of my friends have come because of Trip Reports, Sue Holland is one of the great TR writers, and certainly the most prolific, the woman practically lives there, well at Comedy Warehouse anyway. We did lots of things with Sue this trip, not just going to CW with her, though we saw some great shows this time, Sue is friends with some of the cast, and it is nice to have a chance to go and say hi to them after the show. Mary has always been nice to us, particularly Edward who really enjoys watching her. (Though Jake is starting to rival her.) 21. We also did three meals with Sue, and two of those with Tom and Leanne and Kim and Chris too. The third meal was at the Italian Restaurant, Portobello Wotsit, next to the Fulton Crab house, we had a very nice lunch there, it gets quite busy during the evening I noticed - but it was very quiet at lunch time and we had a very attentive server and it was nice food, and they even throw in a free bowl of soup or salad with your entrée. I had the pizza with spinach and mushrooms and sausage. It was a very hot day too, so getting exclusive use of the air conditioning was really "cool" too. 22. There is a bit of a tradition amongst our group that we always have a meal at Le Cellier, this is a steakhouse situated in nice gardens in Canada, just the entrance belies a large restaurant, all the areas of the seating area are themed to the different provinces of Canada, though they all look exactly the same to the un-trained eye. (Maybe they should have more obvious themeing, perhaps Water Running down the walls to represent Niagara Falls in Ontario, and snowfalls and glacial ice walls in Alberta to represent the Banff National Park. And for Nova Scotia they could serve you on tables shaped like Ski-doo's. (similar to the Sci-Fi Café) And it is about time that the waiters dressed as Mounties, then they could bring your drinks on the edge of their stiff brimmed hats, speeding up the service in the process. (If there are any people in Canada offended, please accept my humble apologies, but I am almost Canadian myself being an offspring of a Canadian family, who just happened to find themselves trapped in England at some point in our history.) 23. The other meal that we had together as a big gang was at the 50s Prime Time Café, for any readers who have not had the pleasure, the 50s PTC is a dinner themed in the (wait for it, wait for it,) 50s style. You sit at tables like kitchen tables made out of Formica and with PVC seats and chairs, most alcoves have a Black and White TV and 50s TV is piped in, of particular interest is a short film showing our man "Walt" opening Disneyland, but you also see older Americans telling their grandkids about the shows that are on, which is fun to see. One of the other things is that the waiters waitresses, play the role of your cousins and tell you off for not eating your greens and putting your elbows on the table, they give you names, I'm Biff and Tom is Spanky, poor chap, we tease him a little (lot) and he takes it with very good grace. Anyway the PTC is great fun, and if you don't mind a little ribbing and teasing by the staff, then you can have a great time. 24. One of my internet friends is Sheri, we occasionally send each other emails and keep in touch. She is a big off kilter fan, and very patriotic, so she can think of no better way to spend American Independence Day (Or Goodbye Troublesome Colonists Day, as we British like to think of it. - Nah only kidding we are your best friends again these days) watching all the Off Kilter Shows on the 4th July. So knowing that Sheri and her Husband Rich would be in the WDW for Independence Weekend, was too good an opportunity to miss, so we had to get together. We arranged to meet on the third of the month at the WWTBAM fastpass machines. We almost didn't meet, because I look a little different to when we last met a couple of years ago, having shaved off my beard, (It went too white making me look like the guys who do the tales at Poseidon's Temple in Islands of Adventure, I'm 45 not 95 so it had to go.) So I was sat on one side of the street and they were on the other, I kinda thought it was them, but I wasn't sure, and they didn't recognise me at all, but Jill came along and we all figured it out, so it was nice to meet up again. We did 2 WWTBAM shows, and Greg did his stuff to help out in the Hot Seat Department, and it was great fun. 25.. On July the 4th, Jill put on her tie died Red White and Blue top, and I put on my Harley Davidson T-shirt, which was a birthday present from Robin another great TR writer, who we will be meeting in NYC in January, - I'm looking forward to New York In January, I hear that it is quite a warm place, so it will be nice to get away from the snow of Scotland. Anyway, I'm a biker and it was an honour to wear the emblem of a classic (If slow and un-sophisticated) American bike maker on this festive day. 26. We went over to Epcot that afternoon and it wasn't that hard finding Rich and Sheri, they were on the front row of the Off Kilter stage, Ed decided that the prospect of watching OK was a bit too much excitement for him, so he went over to Mission Space to play the Astronaut Game there. We stayed for one show, one of Sheri's friends told the guys that we lived in Scotland (though we are English) and they played Scotland the Brave (Off Kilter style) for us, which was cool. Anyway if you are going to watch OK, there can be no finer company for the task. Though you are not going to get too much attention from Sheri when Jamie's Knees are on show!! 27. We tried to be very patriotic as temporary Americans for the Weekend, so we went to see the American Adventure, Jill says that it is the first time that she has stayed awake for the whole show, so you see we were taking it seriously. I actually quite enjoy the show now. One of the great way to enjoy WDW (and to make our friends the Disney Stockholders money) is to buy the park CD's where you get parade and attraction soundtracks, so then you can go into the attractions and sing along to the words, making even the more mundane attractions (not that AA is mundane) more fun. And if you have a singing voice as dreadful as mine you can annoy the hell out of lots of people for a full two weeks at a time. For this trip we bought the new parade CD, with the MK Parade Music - I don't know if you can hear the snow falling in the snow globes, but it will be great trying to find out. It also has the Jungle Jamming Parade Music from AK, which is a bit of a favourite of Jill's because of the design of the floats being reminiscent of the old Tapestry of Dreams Parade, which I think had the same designer. 28. One of the nicest things that happened was that a cast member who I have spoken to on the internet arranged for us to see the Magic Kingdom Parade from the VIP viewing area, which is a great spot to see it from in a little alcove on the Liberty Square Bridge. , it is a really nice parade, and the music is cool, less frantic than some of the previous parades. Anyway it was a really nice thing for them to do for us, and I want to thank them for making that little piece of Magic happen. Cheers. 29.. We spent a lot of time at the beginning of the trip at the Magic Kingdom, our first morning was spent there. We started off the trip doing Early Entry, or Extra Magic Hour is the name that it is currently known as, you may know it as Surprise Mornings, it disappeared for a while to be replaced by Character Caravans, but they were not that great, so it was wonderful to have Early Entry back, no matter what they call it. This year I noticed that it was being enforced more than it had been previously, and almost every time we went in we had to show the room key, as well as our annual pass to get in. Anyway there have also been experiments between Spring Break and the Summer Rush where they had a evening Extra Magic (3) Hours, which was kinda like a free E-night. Sadly this was not happening during our stay. 30. However, if you visit in a busy time, you should seriously give some consideration to getting up early and getting in the parks and using the Early Entry Privilege (for Disney Hotel Guests only - sorry to all you guys who just love to hang out on 192 or International Drive, you can stay in bed, it doesn't affect you. - Though a good tip is to find out which is the EE park, and keep away on the those days.) EE gives you the march on everyone else, so the plan is, use EE get the tricky to see attractions done and move on to the quieter stuff or another park, (or the pool or lunch) when the park starts to fill up, then you are almost guaranteed a good time. Believe me, if you don't have some kind of strategy you could have a very frustrating trip to WDW. 31. The other tip worth having is - use Fastpass, this is a virtual queue system where you put your ticket in a Fastpass Machine and it issues you with a ticket to ride the ride at a time in the future, usually about an hour away, then you can go and do other stuff, ride quieter attractions, or preferably for the stock holders, buy coffee, soda and parade C.D's like I do. Then you get to go and ride your roller coaster etc with a minimal wait in line. I think they like to get Fastpass people on the attraction within about 10 minutes of returning to the ride, well it seems like that to me when I use it. 32. Fastpass is also getting more sophisticated, occasionally they give you a lanyard with a big red and white tag on it, you get it when you start to queue, (join the line, for all my USA readers) and then they scan it just as you are boarding, I think I got asked to carry one about three times this trip, and I guess, they use the system to monitor how long the lines are taking to get people on. I suppose that they have to get the information for the tip boards from somewhere, though for a long time I thought they guessed. Once we were given a lanyard as we went on to Killimanjaro Safari. However, we spent about 10 minutes photographing some birds that were refusing to play ball with the posing for the camera thing, so if you were put off joining the line because it was too long that night, I'm sorry it was actually a walk on. 33. We had some great Trips on KS this time, The late night visit when it was a walk on, as mentioned above, was the best. Not just because the animals were out in force but because we had a guy who was the driver guide who sounded just like Elvis. (I wonder if any of you remember the great British One Hit Wonder, which had the immortal line "There's a guy down our chip shop swears He's Elvis?) I kept expecting our driver to show me a "hound dog" or tell me that the warthog was where they got the leather for "Blue Suede Shoes" and quite frankly I spent the whole ride sniggering. (Don't be cruel and Love me tender) 34. Well I sniggered until, we came to the White Rhino. This was at the side of the road, literally 10 inches away from where I was on the right of the truck, I could have if I wanted actually stroked the big guy. Now I am quite fond of breaking the odd, little WDW rule, (not that I am going to encourage you by telling you what they are) but that was one time, when I thought the keep your arms and legs and forward facing tentacles inside the ride vehicle rule was a pretty smart idea, particularly when something startled the hair horned chap, and he turned to look at me and his back legs did a little leap into the air, I of course looked as innocent as I could, and tried to think in my best Rhino language that the guy in front of me would be a much better opponent to have a horn locking and head butting competition with, or what ever White Rhino's do to impress the chicks during mating season. 35. On one of the previous trips earlier in the holiday we had seen that the lioness, had climbed to the very top of the rocks. And she looked really queen of the castle up there. I think we did about four or five times around the circuit and nearly every time we saw the real (not the phoney Little Red) one year old elephant, who still looks really cute, though not as cute as he did when we first saw him last august when he was about five weeks old and he has his little baby elephant bum fluff hair, (a bit like that on my upper lip as I have been growing a moustache whilst we were away, just to annoy Ed, who hates it. - That's what fathers are designed for embarrassing and annoying their teenage offspring.) 36. Animal Kingdom is probably the park that I have been into the least over the years, though it is not my least favourite park, I guess there is a lot less of it than the other parks, though that is changing all the time, compared with the opening season you have Asia, the New (and tacky) bits of Dinoland, and now you can walk on the new path from Dino to Asia, and you can't fail to notice the progress that is being made on Everest, the structure of the "mountain" is in place and you can see bits of the roller coaster track actually already in place, it looks a mighty fine coaster, with a lot of banked curves on show. 37.. Towards the end of the trip, we did the Tarzan Rock's show, (Jill would have liked to do the Legend of the Lion King Show, but I held out against it, and she wouldn't go on her own, the reason being that we are going to go and see the Lion King on Broadway in January and I didn't want to spoil myself for it.) anyway, back to Tarzan, this is a good show, but it has been there for five years now, (The first season was a Jungle Book show- It was Ok, but it only covered the Bare Necessities.) and I am starting to think, hmmmm maybe the Theatre should get a new show now, Tarzan wasn't exactly a classic amongst Disney's output. It is however a great show, as is the Legend of the Lion King. 38. Whilst we are on the subject of Phil Collins (Tarzan) and Elton Jon (Lion King) last time we were in Florida we noticed that on our favourite radio station. (Magic 107.7) they seemed to play these guys a lot. And so I did some research, and during our trip they played, Phil Collins 11 times, The Twain Lady 10 times, and Elton John 9. With noticeable contributions by Sting as well. So with the three gents, the Brits are certainly making a splash in America. Just a shame that they are all old wrinkly men, you should listen to some of the new British Talent too. Have I told you about my beautiful singing voice??? 39. Anyway, back to the musical entertainment, It is that just deep inside me somewhere I have the feeling that all the shows at WDW have been there for a long time, (Apart from the variety of performances at the American Gardens Theatre which change all the time.) and maybe we deserve something new. I guess a show is relatively cheap to change, (OK, it probably costs a Million Bucks, but compared with a new coaster or something that is small change, so they can have an impact without breaking the bank. 40. Gosh, what have I just typed, we also went to Busch Gardens and we saw the show Katanga, which was full of high production values and a very talented and hardworking cast, the problem was it was soooooo dull. And the reason was in a 30 min show, you just cant organise story lines quickly enough so that the characters mean anything to the audience, the reason why Disney are so successful with there 25/30 min shows is that we all already know the characters, they don't have to tell us who they are, so we can get right down to the fun as soon as the curtain opens, so maybe Disney shouldn't listen to a word I say, actually few people do, so no change there then. 41. Whilst we are on a side trip to Busch Gardens, I had probably better mention that this park is quite good, but it isn't in the same league as the four Disney parks, and it seems to not be in the best part of Tampa either, almost industrial. Regular readers will know about poor old Edward and his tummy problems during our trip to Busch during "Spring Break" fortunately nothing of that magnitude happened again, The custodial staff are pleased too. Anyway we did a little coaster riding, the Leg Dangler is a good coaster, the Wooden one is very very rough, and not a patch on my favourite Zeus at Parc Astrix in Gay Paris, Le Belle France. And Edward managed to cope well with the ups and downs of modern park touring. 42.. Worthy of mention is Rhino Rally, which is very similar to Killimanjaro Safari but much shorter and less varied, There is a nice little twist that KS doesn't have, which is quite impressive, but the bit that tickled my fancy is the guide was talking about THE Rhino, like they only have one, which for some reason is amusing to me, but perhaps a little lonely for Eric the Batchelor Rhino. - I guess it is possible that there are others but I didn't see them, I hope so, if not, I may start a campaign to get another Rhino, the poor chap doesn't deserve to be in Solitary Confinement, Disney have loads, perhaps they can loan them one. Mind you imagine if they only had one Love Bird, or a Lone Wolf, (Oh a lone Wolf would be OK, sorry.) 43.. The two other things about Busch Gardens that stick out in my mind, were eating pizza and drinking free beer, from the hospitality centre. (Limit Two per person per day) - I being the almost teetotal person that I am only had one Bud Lite. - Can I point out that I have received no fee from the Anahiser Corporation, and this is therefore not product placement. However, if they wish to send me a free crate of something, I will promise to Highlight and Italic, all there trade marks in this trip report in subsequent editions. 44. The second memorable thingy I wanted to say, is that they still have a nice cable car, so when you are cream crackered, which is quite easy at Busch, it is a big park, you can scoot back to the centre on a cable car. I miss that at Disney, Though the one at Disney was more for fun, it didn't actually go anywhere very far - only from Tommorrowland to Fantasyland. The best bit was looking at the roof of the buildings with Peter Pan etc in them, because you could see that actually they are big sheds, and not European Gothic Design at all. (Oh sorry Walt, I'm giving the trade secrets away again!!) 45.. The last thing I want to say about Busch - This is a Disney Report after all, is they had some cool turtles or terrapins that I saw on a rock with their little webbed paws sticking up in the air, Imagine a skydiver, with legs and arms flailing above their torso's and you kinda get the image, anyway, for some obscure reason it is one of the things that sticks in my little sad mind. And you know that is the pleasure of Theme Park touring, you shouldn't think of it as oh Space Mountain, and Tower of Terror or Die, no sit back and enjoy the little details, it keeps you happy, less tired and the lines shorter for everyone else. 46. Back to Disney. Something new that we did, Yes there are new things for me to do, I haven't done everything. I've done almost everything, let me think... Hmmmmm... Bear in the Big Blue House, or whatever they call that, I Haven't done that, see there is something. Anyway the something new that we did this trip was E- Night. Yes, I know, it has taken nine trips to the parks for me to get around to doing E-Night. There is a reason for this, which is basically I am mean, and I didn't see why I should pay good money, ($38 - as it turned out) to go on rides I had already paid for. Like I dumped $2000 on four annual passes last year, and I have to pay extra to be in the parks... Anyway I changed my mind. (And why not, one of the great pleasures of life is changing your mind.) 47. However, I am writing a book about Walt Disney World with my friend Robin Goble, and I needed to do some research, and one of the things that I needed to find out about was E-Night, obviously. I was supposed to do Playhouse Disney - Bear in the Big Blue House as well, but I can always send Robin to research that for us, as she is nearer the ride demographic than I am. Anyway, you don't want me to plug a book we haven't even finished writing yet so I will get back to the story, (Mind you if you work for a publishers... OK Sorry, I know, no harm in trying though is there??? ) 48. E-night. For those of you un-initiated in the delights of E-Night, here is an overview. Disney being the clever people that they are, know that for most of the year the parks are so busy that it is hard to do everything, and for those who want to do everything, it can be quite frustrating, so they invented a system where their most important guests, (I.E. those staying in a Disney Hotel) can stay in the park when it is very quite and ride the best rides and attractions for three hours. So you pay $12 plus tax, and you get three hours in the Magic Kingdom with a small number of guests and with eight rides open, characters around the hub in front of the Castle with short lines, and some shops and eating spots open. 49. We did the E-night and it was very very nice to have the rides almost to ourselves, some were walk on's - Splash Mountain, some were Stay On's - Big Thunder Mountain, and some had small but easily manageable queues (lines.) - Space Mountain. 50. The biggest thrill was riding Big Thunder Mountain for two rides consecutively with the Wishes Fireworks exploding all around the mountains as we rode. This was in the parlance of some of the young people of the day "Way Cool". It was also very nice to be able to sit in Mickey's Philarmagic and see the new show. Also available were Buzz, The Haunted Mansion, Snow White, and Tigger and Poo's Bouncy Bouncy ride. We managed to do them all with a couple of or favourites twice, easily within the three hour timeframe. And I think that they sold quite a few tickets as it seemed reasonably busy. It wasn't as quite as it is if you hang around the park for a while after closing. Once I spent almost an hour photographing the Magic Kingdom after closure and wasn't molested by the cast members at all. - That was quiet. 51. I think that the piece de la resistance however was letting the boys go off and do Space Mountain without me and going for a Hot Dog at Casey's where I was the only customer sat down and four custodial staff were waiting to clean my table. It made me feel so important that I was being waited on hand and foot, actually it made me wonder if they were a little overstaffed that evening. 52. We went to E-night not in the car, which was probably a good idea because I didn't fancy having to go to the dreaded TTC to pick up the automobile at one o'clock in the morning. The thing about e-night during the peak summer months is it starts at ten pm, so it by the nature of the thing means a late night, and as you know we well behaved British Folk like to have our milk and cookies and to be dreaming about England Winning the World Cup again, by one am every night, not gallivanting around in a 300 acre car park. Would I do it again, probably but not every trip. 53. For those of you who are not used to the Disney Transportation Service, you will be pleasantly surprised, I one tried to work out how many different types of transport that they provide, and with the different kinds of ships and boats they use, I think it comes to over twenty, I must be much less of a nerd than I was a few years ago, because I know that when I was twenty I would have worked it out precisely, that is one of the great things about getting older, you can not bother to do things, and it just feels fine. Though it probably doesn't apply to not paying taxes or Library Fines. 54. Anyway, a Disney Trip for me just doesn't feel complete unless I have ridden on the Monorails, the big boat from the TTC (Though that involves going to the TTC, which is the downside), A friendship, (boats from Epcot to MGM - It is actually quicker to walk, though quite exhausting in the heat. I know I did it at least three times this trip, I was trying to compensate for all the food I was eating, and it probably worked as I only put on a pound the whole trip.) I would recommend using a car sometimes, particularly for Downtown Disney, but you can, and I have, have a fine holiday without using a car. 55.. The most exciting "travel" experience was the hire of a Jet Ski, Being the berk (Berk as many of you will know is British for idiot) that I am, I managed to kill my laptop computer, and because of this I had to go Jet Skiing. Well I'm sure it is obvious with out an explanation, but I shall give one anyway. Last trip, Greg went Jet Skiing from the Sammy Duval Water Sports centre at the Contemporary, Cost around $90 with the Annual Pass Discount. Anyway, he wanted to show his mates the photos, but he couldn't because Dumb Larry (Tribute to Todd Rundgren) had killed the laptop, and hadn't backed up the photos so we lost the lot. So I thought that I should pay for him to have another go, and take some photos, Thus proving what an honourable person and fine father that I am, but I guess you all know that, which is why you don't mind coming back to this kind of drivel over and over again. 56. But after much thinking and rumination, I thought why should he have all the fun, after all I am a biker. (Suzuki SV650 - Like your interested.) and Jet Skiing is after all merely water biking. (Actually it turns out to be more like water scootering, a subtle difference.) So we signed up for a trip, about a week ahead when we were at the Contemporary for Chef Mickey's. We had to take Greg's Passport as you have to prove you are 16. And it would seem that being six foot two inches, is not proof enough. 57. Chef Mickey's was fun by the way, in a Chip n Dale, Goofy, Minnie and Mickey, Pluto-tastic, napkin whirl-ling kinda way. Good buffet and it is good fun, I guess it is best with really little kids, but there are plenty of them on the other tables for you to see having fun, and don't tell my 16 year old, Jet Skiing, cool dude, son, but I could tell he was having a good time too, even if he did insist on taking the photos and not being in many of em. Stacey Zitto, sent me some photographs of John, Anikka and herself, at Chef Mickey's a few weeks ago, and it inspired me to make a PS. (That and having had one for the last trip and forgetting to go. See I told you I was a Berk.) 58. So back to the Jet Skiing, well you pick up your machine, and they are quite big, you can fit two folks on em. You get escorted to a marked area, at the back of the lake the other side of the original Discovery Island, (gosh does it bug you as much as it bugs me, that they have pinched the name, for the Oasis at Animal Kingdom. - No? Ok, fair enough.) So you kinda ride (Sail, Motor - what do you do on a jet ski?) to the area gingerly, then you have 55 minutes to do what you wish, in a marked by buoys around 200 meters from the shore and 800 meters long. You actually start to think you will get bored, just riding in that area, but then you start to get more comfortable with the machine and you go the full speed all the time, then you start to ride it stood up, and then you start to ride the wake of the other jet skis, so you bounce into the air, then you find the Paragliding boat comes into your patch and makes big wakes, and you can have some real fun riding those. And before you know it the hour is up, and you have had an excellent time. 59. A word of caution, these machines though are limited in speed, I'm sure can do thirty five miles per hour, two of them colliding head on would probably kill you, so they have to be treated with respect and you need to know, exactly where the other people in your group are and where the paragliding boat is, so I wouldn't go on them unless you are capable of handling them, as they could be dangerous, and Disney make you sign a waiver that limits there liability. Be sure that your medical insurance doesn't have water sport exclusions as well, Be careful out there it is a Jungle. (or maybe swamp, would be a better analogy.) Can you tell that I am the Chair of the Health and Safety Local Forum?? See I take my job seriously even when I'm on holiday (Vacation.) 60. I thought I might share with you some of my thoughts about some of the eating experiences that we have had this trip. Most of you regular readers know that we are not the most exciting people when it comes to eating, our favourite places are Cosmic Rays for the entertainment, (Sonny Eclipse was "down" the whole trip and his area covered by bushes in pots. - A major disappointment for me, I can assure you.) But the big draw is the fixings bar, In fact I took to eating Kids Corn Dogs with fries and tons and tons of mushrooms and onions, piled on from the fixings bar, lots of food but not too heavy on the calories. We also like the Backlot Express at MGM. Which used to have a nice fixings bar, but the Evil One took it away. 61. Anyway we tried one or two things that were new for us, on the fast food front, we did Japan, I had done that at Spring Break, but I was more adventures this time, having the Tempura Oden (Prawns - Shrimp to my USA friends - in batter on a bed of noodles and a rich stock.) I liked it so much I had it twice, Jill had a pulled chicken sandwich at Morocco, which she liked but I wasn't so keen on and I didn't go to Britain once and have Fish and Chips from Harry Ramsden's. Though I did have some from the ABC Commissionary, which was actually quite nice but not a patch on the real thing. 62. Well if you guys come to Scotland, give me a call and I can promise you a trip to the nicest Fish and Chip Shops, there is Harry Ramsden's in Inverness and the Ashvale in Elgin. Worth the trip just for the fish and chips alone. And if you are really lucky I might take you on the back of my bike. 63. On the posh restaurant front, we did two others not mentioned so far in this Trip Report, the first was Boma, now this is a surprise in some ways because we have stayed at the AKL for two trips, once over Christmas 2001/2 - Yes I know, I still have to finish the last four days of that trip report. And we stayed there briefly with Sue Holland in summer 2002, in the concierge section. - Woow I know, it shocked me too. Anyway for some reason we never actually got around to doing Boma, so we booked a PS from Scotland a couple of weeks before the trip. 64. We got there fairly early and they gave us one of those led flashing vibrating pager thingy's. I put it in my pocket for the cheep thrill of the vibration going off. We waited around twenty minutes, whilst we were waiting we popped out to see the animals, on the Savannah. We talked to a couple of African Cast Members which was fun, but it was a drizzly night, so we didn't hang around for that long. The pool was closed, and there was a guard there, who wouldn't even let us look around the area at all, just in case we wanted to commit suicide by a bizarre method, I.e leaping into the pool just before a lightning strike!! See Disney take Health and Safety just as seriously as I do, which is nice to know. 65.. Boma is a nice buffet, there is some very well cooked and presented food. We once stayed at a hotel on International Drive and one of the things included was a buffet breakfast, and the food was interesting to say the least, it was in great quantities, but it was also what I can only describe as "Wet and Sloppy" Now I know you Southern Americans eat some strange foods for your breakfast all this "Grits and Gravy" and this is the kind of stuff they had, which felt to me like it was just the same food, probably a mixture of De Toxified Farm Slurry, Food Colouring and oatmeal. The food colouring to denote the difference, "pale grey = Gravy", "Yellow = Strangled Eggs" and "Solidified Brown = Sausages") Mind you I guess there is only so much you can do with a budget of three and a half cents per guest per day. 66 Anyway Boma wasn't like that at all, the food was extremely nicely done, with the possible exception of the Prime Rib, which was so raw I can honestly say I am sure I heard it "Moo". ( I have just spent two minutes trying to delete a comer, from the end of the word "Moo". , and the "," turned out to be a very small fly, who was very shocked when I put my finger there. I'm thinking of employing it as a proof reader, but it has flown off!) Anyway, back to the tale. The bit I'm coming to, and I'm procrastinating a bit here is that, (Now don't be offended folks - Coz I know - Boma is the Bees' Knees amongst the Internet Fraternity) but I didn't like the food much. 67. Yes sorry, I thought it was a bit too spicy for me, too much ginger and "things" in it. However, I did eat a lot of it, and it was nice, but it wasn't really me. I'm more of a plain simple speaking and eating kinda guy, (and I know you all love me for it too.) Anyway, anyone who really knows me, knows that I love fish and especially red fish, so I ate quite copious amounts of Nut Encrusted Salmon, to get my money's worth. Though I'm convinced that I can still taste the ginger in the Bean Thingy Soup. (You will have to check out what I mean, on www.boma-menu-don‘t-forget-the spices.com.) 68. Things Get Ok when we come to the "Puddings". They were nice, Sadly, I am on a sugar free diet, and as my Doctor isn't likely to read this Trip Report, I can say I had a night off and ate small amounts of the puddings, and quite frankly I liked the lot of them, but they are very rich. The down side is I felt so guilty about eating all that sugar for the rest of the trip that, I clamped down on myself on the sugar front to such an extent that on the last morning, I almost fainted, waiting to get loaded on to the Tower of Terror. 69. I was about to get into my seat, when I felt my head lurch forward, with a sensation of unsteadily floating, I managed to catch myself, but I was a bit worried, but I didn't want to alarm my family, (I have had some health problems recently... Yes, and where were all the flowers...!!!) and so I just wanted to get on the plane home. I skipped the RnR Coaster that we had fast passes for, and I looked around the shop and played with the American Motorcycle Crash Helmets that you can buy there. (Bandana's - Very useful for the Paramedics, to clean up the blood and brains. I‘m semi convinced I‘ve already used up this joke in this Trip Report, I am normally quite happy with re-gurgitation of the same jokes, but I normally try to do them only once in each Trip Report, so If I have, I apologise most humbly, I would check it out, but it is only you guys who like reading my Trip Reports, personally I would rather go and read Scharma‘s History of Britain.) 70. The final new meal experience was at Norway, Where we partook of there delightful little buffet - I suppose it is more technically a smorgasbord, The food they have is actually not that different to what we eat in Scotland, I suppose although the Scandinavian Countries seem almost exotic, (If somewhere so flipping cold, can ever be described as exotic - that is) but actually we have a lot in common with the Scandinavians, those of us fortunate to live in the North of Scotland. 71. Now I have a slight problem with Finland, in fact I have a big problem with Finland, I was once badly let down in a work matter, by a Finish College, basically they ratted on a deal, around an exchange visit. I won't bore you with the details, actually the details are not that boring, it's just I don't want you guys seeing my nasty vindictive side, I much prefer you to think of me as being all cuddly and nice. Anyway, Finland is not Norway, so I decided I to lift my Scandinavian boycott, and just have a Finish boycott instead. 72. The meal is structured different to most buffets at WDW. Firstly there is the normal, go and choose it your self line, where you can get cold meats, pickled herring, (In a vast variety of flavours and colours, these include, Poached Egg Flavour, Almond and Peach Flavour and my favourite, A Tribute to America - Hot Dog and Pop Corn Flavour Roll Mop Herring. ) There are sliced meats, and salad stuff that you would expect, the most scoff-able thing that I found was the walnut bread, boy that was fantastic. You know, I'm firmly convinced that I enjoy the bread bit of a nice meal. It is just down hill for me after the bread, you can have a nice steak sure, but you can't beat, spreading a little butter on some exciting type of bread to know your having a good time, and the meal is worth the fortune that is being physically extracted from your wallet to pay for it. 73. The bit where this is different, is that the warm stuff, sorry the "entrées" are ordered separately, and only one at a time. I, regular readers will not be shocked to hear, picked the salmon, and Jill had some dog food type stuff, which was, well interesting. (It was disconcerting when she started barking later in the afternoon, just as we were getting onto the monorail - however.) You can get a little side dish of things like vegetables and potato's at the same time as you order the hot food. 74. The worst bit, was that we were meeting Sue somewhere, and we had to rush, as I hate being late for Sue, she is just about the most punctual person I know, and always arrives early for everything. (not sleeping probably helps.) so much so, that if I arrive somewhere five minutes early with Sue I still feel guilty that I am late. Anyway, back to the tale, the woman that we had, told us that it was her first day working alone as a waitress, and that was nice, and we were just about her first customers of the day, (we like to have lunch early, it's a working class thing…….) and as the room filled up, she got more and more people to deal with, and she was trying to do, and succeeding everything really well, but it took, and I checked the receipt time log. 21 minutes from getting the bill, to finishing the process, which was just a tad slow, (as we had eaten the meal in about that time, as quickly as we can, not to be late.) 75. Having said, that I liked the food, at Restaurant Arkansas or what ever it is called. (I don't go over mad on perfectionism in my TR's, you may have noticed.) The other thing is, is that it is a really good value gig, with a very modest, by Walt Disney World, standards fee, I can heartily recommend it, but if you get our waitress, I would pay by cash and not by credit card or room key. 76. Well, it is time now, to go off world again, I would hate for you to think that we are so culturally thin, that we can't appreciate some of the fantastic things that Florida has to offer, other than the delights of Walt Disney World. So we went to DeLeon Springs again, this is a State Park, which has a natural spring, which gushes forth vast quantities of spring water at a constant temperature of 72 degrees, year around. You may not know, but Florida is basically a swamp. If you pay attention to the view from outside your aircraft window as you descend into madness, (sorry Orlando International Airport) you will notice that a vast part of the land mass of Central Florida is covered in lakes, it is not just Walt Disney World that is littered with them, but the whole of the region is. And underneath this land, is underground fissures, which fill with water, and it comes out in natural springs, of which De Leon is a prime example. (You may have noticed, that whilst, Jill and the boys, were swimming in that freezing 72 degrees spring, I was reading the notice boards and soaking up some geological knowledge, which will no doubt one day win me the cruise on WWTBAM!!!) 77, The spring, comes out into the swimming pool area, and you can see the vortex it creates, there were some sub aqua people all dressed up, in there rubber suits, (well I think it was sub-aqua people, It could have been the Sanford Rubberists on there annual outing, but I think the oxygen tanks were a bit of a giveaway.) Underneath are caves, and the Sub Aqua people are not allowed to explore them, but they were down in that hole for a long time, so I'm far from convinced that they were not doing a little illicit exploration. 78. One of the nice things, was that the park museum was open, and it only opens for a couple of hours on a couple of days, so I went and looked around, and do you know it was one of Florida's first visitor attractions, they had a posh hotel, and lakeside entertainment, including a water skiing elephant. So it was in effect, the Walt Disney World, of the 1920's, and I hadn't realised that on my first visit. 79. We went to the Old Sugar Mill, and made our own pancakes on the table top griddle, it was actually a bit hot for that kind of thing, but it is fun, and you can have a little pig out, so I ordered a side order of some Ham, (what we would call gammon) and two eggs, and we had some blueberries and chocolate chips, to make sweet pancakes for pudding. I had Sugar Free, syrup on mine, so I wasn't really cheating, Except for the odd, chocolate chip. Anyway, it was a nice trip, Ed wanted to go swimming again, and we were about to heatedly discuss this when it started one of those wonderful, storms that brew up in two minutes flat in Florida, and we went to Daytona Beach instead. 80. Well when I say we went to Daytona Beach, our car did, We only got out to go and have a sugar free lemonade at Wendy's as it was totally P£*£*£*ing it down the whole time we were there. It was really nice to see the outside of the Daytona Speedway, though. I know Sheri and her family, are into Nascar and I would love one day to go and watch a race with them. The bad idea was to go to Daytona on a Sunday, at the time when the weather turns bad, and so everyone leaves the town all at exactly the same time, "right the rain is out folks, we might as well call it a day, and head back to Jacksonville" So the area was swamped with cars and it took, about two and a half years to get back to Orlando. We stopped at the DeLand Town Sign. This was to get a photo to email to some friends. When I lived in Moray, in a railway station, we had a lot of spare old coal sidings, which became overgrown, I called it the land, So I would say, "Oh I'm just going down the Land to pick a Christmas Tree" Or something of that ilk. And my next door neighbour, Hillary thought that it sounded a bit grand, me calling 200 yards of overgrown railway siding, "The Land" like it was some kind of country estate, So she started calling me Larry of the Land. So I wanted to send her a photo of me by the sign. "Larry of DeLand" OK, it seems funny to me, you don't have to laugh, it isn't compulsory. 81. Jill and I popped out one evening when the boys were at Disney Quest, to go and eat at Celebration, I love this quaint, little "Disney GOLDMINE", for it's values and its charm, and it's nice Diner. We had a nice meal, (OK I know - I'm starting to sound a weenie bit repetitive, but ) I had a Salmon Burger, and a mighty nice burger it was too, if a touch dry in the wholemeal bap department. Again the prices are reasonable, and the service good. And it feels slightly less Disney than the rest of the town. 82. Jill had seen a programme on British TV about a couple who had moved to Celebration from Disney, and opened up a coffee shop, she said that it had been incredibly hard work for them and in the beginning it had been touch and go, if they would survive, so we hunted down there little coffee shop, and it looked nice. We didn't actually buy anything, to help there fragile economics, but hey, "It's the thought that counts." Anyway it was nice to see a little bit of Great Britain in the Stepford environment that is Celebration. 83. Well, I'm up to paragraph 83, and I am starting to wish that the great classic film, was 83 Dalmatians and not 101, because quite frankly, I'm starting to struggle to write anything much more for you on this trip. And you wouldn't want me to start making things up and writing rubbish just to get to the end. I guess if this was the Walt Disney world Marathon, I would be up to the 21st mile, and hitting the Wall, so let's tell you what I'm going to do, I'm going to email a couple of my friends and ask them, to ask me some questions, and then I'm going to spend 17 paragraphs, answering them for you, then I Will Hit the magic, 101, and I can stop writing and have a rest until October. (Trip to Disneyland Paris, with Tom and Leanne.) Then it is Jan in NYC where I will be meeting Robin and her sister Paula, and hopefully Stacey, John and Melissa some of my other cyber friends. Though not a Disney Trip as such, I'm sure we can visit a Disney Store or something on 5th Avenue to make it a Disney Trip. 84. Hey you guys you came up Trumps for me, I got lots and lots of questions, Robin Goble asked about 35 and there were lots of others who asked loads of interesting questions. So It looks like I'm going to have to ration out my answers to one question each. OK, lets kick off with the first ones, (and I'm answering them in order they appear in my inbox, I would do it alphabetically, but that assumes, I know my alphabet. 85. Sue Holland, asks - " Did you eat at the Earl of Sandwich and was it an authentic British Experience.?" Hey, thanks for the question Sue, and thanks for being the first person to reply to my "writers block" plea. Yes we did thank you very much and I remember it precisely because of it's non British Experience, For those who have not been to WDW recently, it is a new café in the Downtown Disney District, and it sells hot sandwiches. And they have such well known British Fillings, as "American Club", right... We often eat that. No if it was British we would have melted ham and cheese, and it would be between two slices of proper bread, (Some funny machine makes this bread, probably in a cardboard box factory) We would have melted ham and cheese, and we would put "Brown Sauce" on it. Not French Mustard. Which came with the highly amusing "Grey Poupon" The Brits will know why that is funny. I liked the little British Trinkets, I meant to buy Paula, Robin's sister a Red Telephone Box Pin, coz I hear she likes them, but I forgot to go back and get one, so I must do that next trip. (I forgot one of the receptionists Minnie Mouse Ariel Topper once, For her Mini, but I remembered the next trip.) Perhaps if I send Sue $8 she will get one for me, when she goes next time. 86. Stacey from PA asks, "What did you do this time that you had never done before?" Again, interesting question, and I would say not much, though that would be untrue. I watched the whole of the China Film without going to sleep, which was impressive as I sat on the floor with my back resting on the wall at around 7pm at night, and that was prime falling asleep material. I watched Illuminations from the Inn in Mexico. (There's a better place??) but the best new thing was- ASIMO, He was great, ASIMO is a Robot made by Honda, (Kevin Rushforth is a big Honda Guy, so I kinda visited him on your behalf. He bought a new Sportsbike recently, and I bet he didn't even think for a second about buying a Suzuki, What I will say to you, Kevin, is that Blue Bikes are the fastest) Anyway, ASIMO, is 100 percent cool dude Japanese mega technology, though if they are really serious about him being a personal robot for the disabled or the mega couch potato, then they need to work on the 45 min battery life. Maybe a 5 foot tall Pink Energiser Bunny would work!! 87. Daniel Rushforth wants to know what the best part of my holiday was? And I would say, Daniel, the best part was chilling out with friends. Disney is great on it's own, but there is nothing like spending time with people you know and like, (Though I have to say, that Chris is a bit of a little monster for getting in the hot seat all the time.) Anyway, there were others I would have liked to spend time with too, that we will have to catch on future trips, and Daniel is one of them. 88. Daniel's Dad Kevin asks " I would like to ask what the most entertaining Disney Character was and what it Did" Well you know this time, I think it was the Green Army Sergeant from Toy Story, who drove out to the car park, (Parking Lot or our Ex -Colonial Cousins) and started to bark orders at the bewildered "guests" and took over the tram loading system. He is one firm guy. My all time favourite moment is watching Tigger water ski on Bay Lake. 89. Kathy Salvie, from Texas, asks a very spooky question. "How would you organise your funeral at WDW" Hey now this is a great idea, and I think Kathy should send a quick email to Michael Eisner. Suggesting it before news of this idea leaks out from the internet. You can just see, a Black Pavilion placed opposite the White one, perhaps, by the shore near the Contemporary for Funerals, with an option of being buried in the Haunted Mansion Grave Yard, and for $10,000 extra a witty epitaph on your grave stone. I would have. Poor Old Larry Died of Shock. Obviously I would need the Invisible Horse Carriage for my cortège. And Mickey in his Black Tails and Undertakers Outfit, walking in front of the ghostly apparition. Sounds Fun, I intend to open a Building Society Account and pay $50 a month for the next fifty years to pay for it. 90. Kim from Florida, asks "Did you make it to a water park" We went to Typhoon Lagoon, mainly so that we could swim with the Sharks, It was at this point that I realised that my diet didn't quite go far enough, so I dashed to the Shark Pool, which was just a weenie bit chilly, though my offspring tell me that it wasn't any where near as cold as it was in the De Leon Springs, Spring. At one point a Ray swam, about two inch from me knee, and that is so cool. Also Greg told me how to stay alive in the Pool when the great big tidal waves come at yer, trying to knock you off your feet, You turn around, and face away from the wave and run like hell. That way you don't get splattered into the rough surface knocking three millimetres of dermatological bits from you knees and elbows. And this year I put sun tan crème on so I didn't get fried. I guess even Dumb Larry, gets smart occasionally. 91. Melissa from NYC asks "Tigger was just acquitted of charges that he fondled a teenager. Were you or any member of your family a party to the Tigger incident? Well let me say, how relieved I was to hear that Tigger was innocent of such alleged misdoings, there is nothing that would make playing Poo Sticks less enjoyable than the knowledge that Acorn Wood was breeding evil in it's midst's. However, I am afraid that I was not party to the incident, though for a decent first class Flight I am willing to fly over and give expert witness at any potential appeal as I swear blind that Minnie Mouse squeezed my butt once at Chef Mickey's. 92. Kevin, (Are all the men I know called Kevin?) from www.beansaroundtheworld.com asks, "What was it like visiting MGM knowing I would not ever be a beet again?" Kevin, I am so mortified that that theatre, the home of one of my greatest ever triumphs, lies idle. Occasionally, I see the actress who played Patty Mayonnaise, and who I met backstage, sub at the Comedy Warehouse, and I am tempted to go to her, and say "Darling, it is so nice to see you, it's been so long, oh when was it? Oh yes, when we did Doug together. Oh, Happy Days" but you know my natural British Reserve just stops me doing that. But yes, I miss it, getting in the Hot Seat, just about fills the spot, but you know there is nothing quite like treading the boards. 93. Lisa Cubbon asks, a very thoughtful question, "Best place for Larry to just sit and watch the world go by?" as you know I am an only child, and you know we are known for out thoughtfulness, I don't know if you know but all the great thinkers were only children. Yes, Aristotle, was the only one, Horrid Harry, as his peers called him, "Oh your thinking again? - Sure you don't want to come and pull legs of spiders with us?" So in a two week holiday "vacation" it pays to take time out for a bit of a think, and I'm sorry to say, for me that is probably on the loo, late at night. You know, I may decide to grade the quality of toilets, based on seat comfy-ness. One of the high spots, was the opening of the Millennium Exhibition Hall for the ASIMO demonstration, coz I got to go in "THE" toilets once again. And I hear great things about the Turbo Dryers in the new loos, near the Everest Attraction at Asia at AK. 94. Susan Main asks "Did you do the Hustle at Pop Century this trip?" And the answer is No. But I did tap gently on my table in time to the "Very Loud" music, when it came on. At certain times of the day the play the Hustle and the world goes all Jiggy Jiggy, whilst cast members and the guest go do there thang. At eight am sharp you get to do the Twist with Chubby B Checker as well, and I have to confess to a little join in to that, with much embarrassment and twitching of the normally stiff upper lip. I also did the twirly thing with the napkin at Chef Mickey's. Anyway, lets not knock it, they are just trying to inject a little fun into our holidays. Though I suspect that it's a bit too Trashy for a certain Fort Myers Resident. (Sorry, I couldn't resist.) 95. Sheri, my Friend from Atlanta asks "What was it like being in WDW on July the 4th" And I will say fun, partly because I spent it with my friends, and not least those who like to hang out with the OK guys. But hey, I'm not averse to a little flag waving every now and then, and you excitable former colonists, like to remind us Brits, that you want to be independent, and you know as a good parent, you have to let your children have their heads, so I say "Go walk out the door, don't turn around….etc" Anyway, if you guys, need to borrow any coffee or anything, just give Mr Blair a ring and I'm sure he will oblige. There is no where else I would rather be on July 4th than at WDW. (There is no where else I would rather be on October 19th either.) I would quite like to ride Pirates of the Caribbean on September 19th which as you are all aware, is "Talk like a Pirate Day". 96. Robin my friend from Texas asks, "Who killed JR?" and that is an interesting question. I am sure that this is a very intellectual question from her, about Jessica Rabbit. As you know Disney are a little ashamed for some reason about "Who Framed Roger Rabbit" and they almost pretend that they didn't make it. So they killed off the characters including the slightly erotic Jessica Rabbit. So I have done an extensive search of the Property for WFRR references and have come up with three. One is the big JR neon cartoon, on the West End Stage at Downtown Disney, the other is a car used in the live action part of the film by that well know English Actor - what's his face. Oh, I always get let down by my memory at some point during a TR. Bob Hoskins. And the third, was a porcelain figurine of JR in a gift shop in the MGM studios by the Animation Tour. 97. Well that's it for the questions, I could go on with a few more, but time is running out on this little epic. The journey home, was long and tireing, as usual. Chicago Airport is a lot more fun on the way there than on the way home. They managed not to loose, my luggage, and Pal Mickey came home with us that night and didn't have to stay in a nasty left luggage office overnight. We were tired, and we took the weekend off to recover. The worst bit being that we know that we may not be back for two years. Sue Holland told, me she doubted we would wait that long, I hope she is right. 98. High Spots, Being with Friends. 99. The low spots. Not being rich enough to be able to afford direct flights. 100. Thanks for everyone who has commented on my Trip Reports and thank you for reading this one, I have made a lot of friends, in the TR world, and I know how hard it is to write these things, So I want to thank you all, for the pleasure you have given me with your reports. And thanks for the question guys you stopped this being my second un-finished report. 101.The End. Larry Wilmot larrywilmot747@aol.com Mail a Comment to Larry Wilmot |
|