Saturday, April 17, 2010
Saturday, April 17, 2010
2010 ... Disney, If You Can Dream Journal
Friday April 16th, 2010
Friday April 16th is the start and what better way to start than to take the Ranger to Dunhams Transmission to have the transmission rebuilt while we’re on vacation. $1800 dollars to start the spending spree. Back at home where most of the packing has been done already. Nick settles in for a last evening of Modern Warfare online gaming while I hang out at the bar for cocktails and watch The Brewers vrs. The Nationals. Nick and I play a few games of pool throughout the evening. Katie shows up and shortly after Shelly and Jenny get back from their Kohls shopping trip. I end up pounding about 10 drinks all night before an early bedtime of 11:15.
Saturday April 17th, 2010
Up at 5:00AM and 10 minutes later Voss Taxi Service is in the driveway 20 minutes early. That’s the Voss way though, on time or early. Depart the house at 5:30AM and we are at the airport by 5:40AM. We could have slept longer because I tried online checkin the night before and it works great. Printed our boarding passes and paid for our luggage so we were all set. Pull up to the kiosk at Mitchell, have the bags tagged by Airtran and go straight to your gate. Very fast. After going through security and arriving at our gate C14 I reach in my coat pocket for something and realize I have a nail clipper with a file which is kinda of like a knife. I tell Shelly we should throw it in the garbage or possibly get busted. She says why do that, we’re through security and they didn’t flag us for the clipper. Nice security, not. Flight 671 departs right on time at 7:40AM and arrives 10 minutes early into Orlando at 11:15AM. The night before we realized that Disney never sent us our Magical Express baggage tags so we had to set that up at the Magical Express counter in Orlando. No problem. Wait about 15 minutes for our bus to Caribbean Beach Resort/Pop Century and then we’re off. Check in as usual takes about 5 minutes. There goes 554.00 of our 740.00 Disney Dollars we are using on this trip. I could of did online checkin for the resort too but forgot. I don’t think this time it would of saved time anyway. We go to our room 8315 in the 90s building to drop off our carry ons. We’re hungry so we go to the food court to eat and pick up snacks, beer, and soda for later in case we get back after midnight. Guess what, no 2 liters of soda or beer for sale in the gift shop anymore. Pints of hard stuff for sale but only 24 oz bottles of soda from vending or food court for mixers. That sucks. Off to the first park of the trip Disney Hollywood Studios. We first have to activate our Annual Passes as this is a buy year. While I activate I can’t remember Shelly or Nicks birthdays. The ticket castmember and Nick and Shelly mock me like a dottering old fool at a nursing home.That takes 5-10 minutes and we’re through the gate. Once inside we decide to sit on The American Idol Experience steps to watch Block Party Bash Parade at 3:00PM which we have never watched from beginning to end. Pretty cool, lots of energy. Next we head over to 4:00 Beauty & The Beast Stage Show. Great Belle, and the second string Gaston, but a great show. After B&TB we walk on TOT in 10 minutes. What a rush as usual. Next we check the latest Passholder Pins and Shelly buys one for Chad at Clement Manor. He wants one with a double post on the back. Next we go on Great Movie Ride. We get a gay driver and an ugly skinny girl that plays the gangster with a very bad attempt at a Brooklyn italian gangster. Disney never gets the casting for that right anymore. After GMR we catch the 6:00PM show of American Idol Experience. For me this is a scouting mission because I want to see some of the competition. For those who haven’t heard I am going for it on Wednesday competing for a spot on one of seven shows throughout the day. If I get on a show everyone and anyone will be getting a text. If I win that show and make it to the Grand Finale Show I could have a chance to win the Golden Ticket which means Kirstie could go to the head of the line in a real American Idol Audition next season. I have to be to Studios at 9:00AM opening to audition. Hears hoping, but I don’t really care if I win. I just want to sing on that stage. Next we go to the newly remodeled Studio Catering walk up service restaurant next to Honey I Shrunk The Kids Playground to eat. After eating I use the restroom and lose my travel document folder that was in my pocket. Nothing important though except Magical Express voucher which I’m sure I can get replaced at the front desk. We now make our way back to Hollywood Hills Theatre for Fantasmic 8:30PM show. We arrive and hour and 15 minutes early and have excellent seats. Fantasmic is everything we remember. Perfect show except the water jets that shoot the water at the audience during the Monstro sequence aren’t working. When the show ends we slowly make our way out and then get right back in line for the 10:00PM show. Right before this show I notice something on the walkway next to my seat. I tell Shelly, hey look at that, a big grasshopper. Shelly looks and says that’s no grasshopper, thats a giant cockroach. So now we are watching this thing run back and forth from our foot area across the aisle to the other side. Then down a row or two and back up to ours. Needless to say it drew our full attention away from the second show as I had my feet up on the bench in front of me like a two year old girl afraid it would run up my leg. The show though was absolutely perfect. We exit Fantasmic show 2 and make our way out stopping at Guest Services hoping someone turned in my document pack. No dice, no matter, nothing really that important. Nick has been falling asleep now for about an hour and wasn’t real happy we were doubling down on Fantasmic. We get to the Pop bus stop and there is a monster line that takes a half hour to get a lift. Back at the room we tether one of our computers first to set up a video chat with Kirstie. It works, but not very well. We’ll try ichat tomorrow instead of Skype. Then a speaker phone call so everyone can chip in their version of what happened today. Nick is passed out and so is Shelly, whats new. I’m having cocktails at 12:55AM documenting the trip. Tomorrow we have a 11:50AM reservation at Cinderella Castle for lunch. Another first out of 24 years of trips. It should be pretty cool eating with the princesses in the castle. It better be for 160.00 for the three of us. Pictures will be slow to arrive on Shellys online pictures because she is not taking hardly any pictures. Time for a drink and to upload today. Bedtime ETA 2:00 AM
Sunday April 18th, 2010
Up at 9:00 AM getting ready to leave for Cinderella’s Royal Table at 11:50AM in Magic Kingdom. Shelly & Nick are still passed out. Shelly up at 9:45AM and Nick at 10:00 AM. Out the door at 10:45AM. Arrive at Magic Kingdom at 11:15AM and make our way to Cinderella Castle. Upon arriving at the back of the castle we check in for our lunch with the princesses. Soon we are called in to a large room where all families have their picture taken with Cinderella as part of the package. After your pictures are taken you travel up two stories of a spiral staircase to the Grand Dining Room. Large stained glass windows overlook Fantasyland. Cathedral ceilings with ornamental woodwork. After being seated our server gets our order for drinks and also brings us two plates of an assortment of cheese, salad, and brie on toast. We place our orders. I have the Seared Salmon, Shelly and Nick have The Major Domo. A beef dish with potatos. Shortly after the meal started one by one the Disney princesses arrive for mingling, autographs, and pictures. Our table was the first table they passed after arriving so Nick and Shelly got the royal treatment first. When the meal was done desert was served. During desert our picture packages arrived at the table to take with us. At fifty some bucks apiece I wouldn’t want to make a habit of hanging with the princesses but between the better than usual meal and the celebrities, and a beautiful picture I think it was worth it.We next leave for Animal Kingdom Lodge to check it out. We roam around the hotel for about 45 minutes and then take a bus to Animal Kingdom. It is pouring rain now so it’s time to put on the ponchos. At AK we first go on Dinosaur to get out of the rain. Next we walk to Kilamanjaro Safari where there is next to no wait because of the rain. I have never seen so many animals on the safari as today. The animals must like the rain. There were many that were blocking the road or right next to it. After the safari we head over to Expedition Everest where it is now open. Earlier it was closed because it was raining so hard. All three of us go on and Shelly feels sick afterward. While she goes to the restroom to maybe get sick, Nick and I hop on for another ride. We now go to Restaurantasaurus for burgers, fries, and chicken nuggets. Its around 5:00PM now and we go to get in line for Finding Nemo The Musical 6:15PM. The line leading in is roped off even as the previous show is letting out. All of a sudden a girl with a headset comes out the exit and tells some guy named Dave to let the people in. She tells him that they have been calling him to direct the people in for the next show. Do you have your radio she asks. Yes, he says holding it up inside a ziplock bag. What a boob. Nemo has an excellent Dory for a change, not the one with the screeching voice. Nemo is good, Marlin is good, Crush is good. The whole cast has excellent voices but many don’t hit their voice marks as perfect as I’m used too. All in all though a good show. We leave AK after Nemo as the park is closing. Back to MK for extra magic hours till 3:00am. We first shop on Main Street for about a half hour and then make our way to Hall Of Presidents to get a spot for the 9:00PM Spectromagic Parade. No butterflies though because of the rain. The butterflies will return though for the 11PM parade. While there we befriend a family from Massachusetts that have many questions. After Spectro they follow us over for Wishes. During Wishes no Tink flight because of the weather. When Wishes ends we head across the bridge to Adventureland and start the circle tour. Jungle Cruise, Pirates Of The Caribbean, Splash Mountain. Next all three of us go on Big Thunder Mountain. Nick and I go two more times while Shelly goes to watch the second Spectromagic parade. As the parade ends Nick and I are waiting for Shelly. We now go to the last midnight show of Hall Of Presidents. For the first part of the show I think they should name it Hall Of Lefties. The show has changed in the fact that it doesn’t focus as much as before on the position of president but instead picks certain presidents as standouts such as FDR & JFK. I’ll take the old show if I could. Continuing the circle Haunted Mansion is next followed by Peter Pan, Small World and Philharmagic. Next Nick and I get some ice cream. After ice cream we continue through Fantasyland with Space Mountain, Buzz Lightyear, Wedway People Mover, another ride on Space Mountain, plus another ride on Buzz where I for the second time kick Nicks butt.We exit the park at 3:00AM and are back in our room at 3:30AM. Now it’s 4:05 and I’m wrapping up this account of the day for upload. No pictures yet, haven’t had time to put that together. Bedtime ETA after a few drinks and a shower is 5:00AM. Tomorrow looks like a chance of more rain and Epcot Center.
Monday April 19th, 2010
Up at 1:30 PM. Out the door for Epcot Center at 2:30PM. Arrive at Epcot and do Spaceship Earth. For some reason our end of ride movie isn’t in the memory of Spaceship Earth so unable to email home to save for posterity. We’ll have to do it again next Epcot visit. Now it’s time for Innoventions West for The Sum Of All Thrills. This is an attraction where you design your own thrill ride and observe the math and engineering that goes into it. You make a change of design, you see the formula change above. If the design is unsafe and unstable it tells you. You learn some of the basics of engineering. When you get something that will work after testing you are sent to a pod to try out your ride. The pods are mounted on hydraulic arms that rise,turn,spin, and everything else to accurately reproduce your ride. Two riders ride in the egg like pod in separate compartments with your own viewing screen showing the track of your ride. There is also a display of your partner and his/her reactions as the ride progresses. Very cool, and hopefully will inspire fresh new talent in the engineering field. After our experience on Sum Of All Thrills we go to China for lunch. Minutes after entering and starting to eat the rain lets loose for about 20 minutes. I check the radar on my phone and see that the front will pass soon and it does. We leave China and go to The American Adventure. Voices Of Liberty aren’t singing for the five o’clock show but the movie is fantastic as usual. Next we get a Funnel Cake and split it three ways. These puppies are very rich so a third is enough. We wonder through Morocco and then France where Shelly and Nick have some cheesecake. On the way over to United Kingdom to wonder around those shops but no one buys anything. We walk towards Canada when I get a sudden urge for of all things a coffee. I get a large coffee and we sit down at a umbrella covered bench by the Off Kilter Show who are not performing. After a half hour a cast member comes out and opens the stage up and ten minutes later Off Kilter is doing a set which we stay for in its entirety. Nick takes off and shops at Japan but comes back before Off Kilter finishes their set. Nick and I have Fish & Chips on the way back to the balcony above Japan to watch the 9:00PM Illuminations Reflections Of Earth Show. After the show we slowly make our way to the front of the park and shop at Mouse Gear. I get a Por Favor Mantenganse Alejado De Las Puertas hat and a present for Kirstie to bring home. Its really nice, its a ......... oh thats right I can’t say or it wouldn’t be a surprise. We catch the bus back to Pop where Shelly gets something to eat back at the room while Nick and I get some sodas from the food court for the room. Nick and Shelly are in bed by 10:30PM and I’m, well you know what I’m doing. Drinking cocktails and working on the computer. Two more days till I make my run at American Idol in Disney Studios. But will I have the guts, here’s hoping. ETA for bedtime tonight, 1:00AM
Tuesday April 20th, 2010
Up at 10:00AM. Arrive at Studios at 11:15AM. Shelly goes for fast pass on Rockin Roller Coaster while Nick and I go for my disasterous audition for Disney’s American Idol Experience. I sing On And On by Stephen Bishop and get shot down in a nice way, but never the less shot down. I’m a little nervous and singing such a boring song probably didn’t help either. Plus, I suppose I might have sucked. I can’t say for sure. After we leave Idol with the bad news we wait about an hour for Toy Story Mania. Next we go on The Backlot Tour, Muppets and then ice cream at Gerties. Now it’s time for our fast pass on RRC. After RRC we go to Indiana Jones Stunt Spectacular. Next Nick and I go on Star Tours while Shelly waits. Then it’s Voyage Of The Little Mermaid and then eat at Rosie’s. The first Fantasmic is standing room only an hour before showtime so we do Great Movie Ride to kill time. We get back to Hollywood Hills Theatre at 9:15PM. The first show empties and we start going in about 9:40PM. There is a woman and a man directly in front of us with a 6 month old baby that is not having fun at all. I felt as sorry for the baby for having two asshole parents like this as I did for us. Why didn’t they just bring the baby to a blasting site at a mine. The baby is crying quite loudly and the father and mother aren’t doing anything about it. If they had any class one or both of them would take the baby out of the theatre for the sake of all the people around them and the baby. They don’t so I leave and stand up on top. End of problem for me. The show is perfect without any glitches. On the way out of the show it starts to rain and continues to get worse the closer we get to the exit. A fat fuck and his girlfriend skip the hundred mile line right in front of us. I don’t see it but Shelly does. While we’re almost on the bus a string of people going to the next bus down from us are walking along the curb to get to their bus. The fat fuck says to his girlfriend, “Why aren’t they walking over there where they’re supposed to” I wanted to say, “For the same reason you cut the line in front of about a hundred people dumb ass” but I didn’t. Where’s Brenda when you need her. On the bus he gets up like Prince Galliant and lets a little kid sit in his seat. Nice makeup call for skipping the line. I could here the echo of Kirstie’s voice if she was here “I Don’t Like Him”. Back at Pop around 10:00PM. Got some soda for cocktails and went back to the room. Shelly waits at the food court to get a pizza rather than wait to have it delivered to the room. ETA for bed for me? At least 2:00AM. I have to drown my sorrows in whisky :(
Wednesday April 21st, 2010
Shelly is up at 10:30AM and heads down to the pool laundry room to do some laundry. After she comes back we’re out the door for Animal Kingdom 1t 12:30PM. After entering the park we head to Expedition Everest for fast passes. They are already sold out. We go to Flights Of Wonder where we find the next show is in 45 minutes. We sit at a table by the river and wait till the show. When FOW is over we make our way over to Finding Nemo The Musical and start the line at 3:45PM for the 4:45 final show of the day. Inside Nemo at 4:10PM awaiting the start. Right before we came in I see Sandy so I call her over. She recognizes us and says Kirstie warned her we might be coming. We take a couple of pictures of her. The Nemo character is one of the worst I’ve ever seen. She doesn’t have the range for the part and is straining for the high notes. The girl playing Dory is fantastic. Even better than the girl we saw on Sunday. This show had the same Crush as Sunday but he was a little off too. After the show we go to Flametree Broiler for a 6:00PM lunch. We sit in our favorite spot down next to the water with a view of Everest. I have the Smoked Turkey sandwich, Shelly has the Barbecue Chicken, and Nick has a Hot Dog Kids Plate. Next we go back to Dinoland for Nick and I to ride on Primevil Whirl. Then all three of us go on Dinosaur again. Extra Magic Hours are from 6:00PM till 9:00PM tonight so the crowds have thinned out real nice. Nick and I hit Everest 3 times in a row while Shelly sits in the viewing area. We exit the park at 8:00PM to go to Ticket Transportation Center. We check out our block, take some pictures of it, and go to the beach at The Polynesian. I grab a couple beers for us and a coke for Nick at the Tiki Bar next to the pool. We grab three chaise lounges and set up on the beach for the shows. For some crazy reason they have Wishes at 9:00PM tonight and Spectromagic after it at 10:00PM. We thought we were going to watch The Electric Light Pageant and then Wishes. Instead The ELP pulls up in front of us at about 8:50PM but they don’t run the sound track for it but instead go with Wishes soundtrack while Wishes fireworks are going off over Cinderella Castle at 9:00PM. Good move, we were worried that they would play that hokey ELP soundtrack along side Wishes. That would have sucked. When the fireworks are over we move to the dock and take a boat to Magic Kingdom. We stake out our usual spot at Hall Of Presidents for Spectromagic. Try to get some food at Columbia Harbor House but they are closed. Try Pecos Bill and they are closed also. The parade is starting so we just skip eating until we get back to the hotel. When Spectro is over we head to our bus stop 18 for Pop and find a huge crowd waiting not only for Pop but for all the hotels. Much to everyones surprise Mears coaches start pulling up and bringing guests back to Pop. Very comforable compared to the usual busses. Disney must have been short on busses tonight for some reason. Once back at Pop we go to the food court where Shelly and Nick get personal pizzas and I get a meatball sub and salad. Back in the room around midnight and I’m on my first drink documenting as usual. Nick and Shelly are, ..... well you guessed it. Passed out now at 12:30PM. ETA of bedtime for me, probably 2:00AM again.
Thursday April 22nd, 2010
Nick is up at 9:00AM and showered by 9:30. Shelly is up around 10:00 and they are both out the door for Epcot by 10:30AM. Nick wants to get to Epcot early to get fast pass for Soarin and they do. I get up around 11:00. Its 1:15PM by the time I get out the door on the way to Epcot. Arrive at Epcot at 1:30PM and text Shelly to find out where they are. No answer, so I go to Ellen’s Energy Adventure. After that I go single rider on Mission Space and then Test Track. I get a text from them that they have a fast pass for 4:15PM so I go and eat at The Land while they are on the ride. I have the Sweet Sour Chicken with a side of rice and stir fry vegetables. When they get off Soarin we all go on Living With The Land Tour, Imagination, and then Honey I Shrunk The Audience. They now have a fast pass for Test Track and then want to go to Magic Kingdom. We split up again. I move around World Showcase and first go to United Kingdom where I hang out and watch the British for a set. They do all Beatles tunes plus two Hermans Hermits songs. Next I go to Germany where I get an Octoberfest beer and just hang out on a bench for about a half hour. Kirstie said her and Bri do this and it is quite relaxing. It is, all the idiots that walk by among other things. Next I decide to go see The Voices Of Liberty. They are not performing again so I just see The American Adventure. I think I covertly record the sound track with my camcorder but find out later the tape ran out so I’ll have to go back and get it again. When The American Adventure is over I step to Americas food area for some chicken nuggets and fries to eat on my walk around the promenade towards Guest Relations. Oh, I didn’t mention. Somewhere between the hotel today and the entrance into Epcot plus a ride on the above attractions I mentioned, I lose a very prized pocession that I have had for almost ten years. My Mickey Mouse light up pin is missing. Shelly notices at The Land and I have no idea where it dropped. The stupidest thing is the other light up pin Mickeys Not So Very Halloween pin fell off 7 weeks earlier by me just lifting it of the hook I had it hanging on at The DTC. I rigged it up two nights before the trip with a screw through the pin into the plastic plus a bead of super glue around the edge. If one pin could fall apart you think dumb ass Larry might think hey, maybe the more valuable Mickey light up will probably do the same eventually so why not beef that one up to make it impossible to fall off. Hind sight, 20/20 and too late now. Anyway, guest relations has nothing today and gives me a number to call tomorrow. I feel though that the interest that pin generates when I wear it once a year there is no way a person is going to find that and turn it in. They’ll find it and say, hey look, jackpot. But I’ll try tomorrow anyway. After guest relations I go back to World Showcase for Illuminations. When the show is over I take the monorail back to Ticket/Transportation Center and transfer to Magic Kingdom monorail. Arrive at MK 20 minutes before 10:00PM Wishes. Make my way up Main Street and let me tell you it is packed. I can barely get up near the castle and can’t make a left hand turn to go about 30 feet to where I figure Shelly and Nick are at our usual spot. When Wishes starts I have a tall black woman next to me with a camera that shoots video. By the time the show is over she has slowly inch by inch moved to where she is directly in front of me with her head cocked completely back and her large afro hair style right in my face. She has some kind of hair treatment in her hair that I have never smelled before and it is gagging me with a spoon. I can’t even move back because the crowd is unlike any I have ever seen. So I just take big breaths and hold it or look away for relief. When Wishes is over I still can’t get to where Shelly and Nick might be. I give up and make my way over to Hall Of Presidents to watch Spectromagic again. Once there I get a text from Shelly that they are on the other side of the park at Buzz Lightyear. I don’t want to fight that traffic any more so I just stay put for a while. Then I get an urge for an ice cream from the stand near Snow White. There’s not much crowd on the backside of Fantasyland so I go for an ice cream and come back to Hall Of Presidents. My spot is still safe so I stay and watch Spectro for the third time on this trip. When Spectro ends at 11:40PM I go inside Hall Of Presidents and wait for the 12:00AM last show. Hardly anyone is in the theatre but it’s a nice comfortable seat to end the day in. The show ends around 12:25AM and I make my way out of the park to bus stop 18 for Pop. I get the second bus and I am back at the room shortly after 1:00AM. The whisky/cokes taste especially good tonight and I’m having fun computing and processing pics and hopefully a audio segment of Ellen’s Energy Adventure that I also lifted today, but successfully, I think.Todays ETA of bedtime, I would say 3:00AM. That gives me an hour to hang out yet tonight. Oh yeah, a new idiot parent popped up for me at Ellen’s Energy Adventure. The man and woman are totally oblivious to the fact there little dork son is, for about 5 minutes one at a time tying his two draw strings that come out of his sweatshirt waste line to the security line at the entrance to Ellen. I watch in amazement at how the parents are completely not paying any attention to this kid. After he has completed his project that I have witnessed each second of he can’t even get mom and dad to look after he beckons them time and time again to look at the intelligent thing he has done. When they finally look you know what time it is, time to go in the attraction and mom and dad are totally surprised but yet somewhat amused at little junior. Those kids do the darn dest things don’t they!
Friday April 23rd, 2010
Up at 11:30AM and out of Pop Century bound for Epcot at 1:30PM. Arrive at Epcot 1:45PM. Check out Fast Passes and Soarin is sold out. We go to the second floor of The Electric Umbrella that I didn’t even know existed until yesterday when Nick noticed a cast member opening the entrance to it. I have the Turkey Sub & Fries. When we finish eating we all ride Ellen’s Energy Adventure and this time I get the whole pre-show and main ride sound track complete. Yesterday I ran out of tape first and later out of battery power. Today I’m ready. After Ellen, Shelly goes to the old Met Life Pavilion which is now housing an exhibit for The Epcot Flower Show. Dave wants an Epcot International Flower & Garden Show pin so Shelly goes there while Nick & I ride Mission Space. Once off Space Shelly is waiting and Nick says we have to go to see Oh Canada in 360. He says he promised Kirstie he would go watch it. I stop at United Kingdom to see The British Invasion again but they are not playing at this time. We all go in France to see the movie Impressions de France. Next I go and watch a set of music by The Atlantic Rhythm Section. They are performing at The Flower Power Stage outside the America Pavilion. They do about six songs of which four are hits they had starting back in 1978. I’m Not Gonna Let It Bother Me Tonight, I Am So Into You, Imaginary Lover, and Spooky. After the show I go back to The American Adventure to re-record the audio of the whole show. This time with a full battery. Mission complete so I go next door for a chicken wrap and fries at America’s Food Court. When I finish eating I go to the second story of Japan where Shelly & Nick are saving us a spot for Illuminations. Ten minutes before Illuminations is going to start two couples show up and are standing directly to my left. I never turn to look at them so I don’t know what they look like or how old they are but I know one guy in particular sounds like a real asshole. He’s talking about all the times they come here in the summer and how hot it is. Not that this is something that weird, but he keeps repeating the same stuff over and over. I’m not really paying a lot of attention until he starts telling the rest of his group to watch at the beginning of Illuminations toward United Kingdom because that’s where the meteor is going to come from to start the show. I can’t wait now for the start because they are all staring over the UK but we know the “Meteor” is actually going to come from the opposite side of the park around Germany. He obviously was really embellishing all of his comments to appear like some kind of tour guide. My worst fear was that he was going to be the thing a true Disney Freak dreads during a performance such as Illuminations. A talker/narrator. He doesn’t let me down. All through the show he is commenting on everything, because hey, we don’t want to hear the beautiful Don Dorsey sound track. We want to hear him. Here’s an example of how it went. Show starts only with the “Meteor” coming from the other side. Idiot says “Oh, it must be the right side” Fountains begin streaming water-Idiot says “Here come the fountains” A climax in the music that is going to conclude with a huge barrage of fireworks. Idiot says “The big stuff is coming next, There it is, see” Everything that would be completely obvious to anyone there unless they were carrying a striped cane this guy is pointing it out. After the second finale right before We Go On the idiot says “Wait a minute, there’s more where that came from” Then a gentle breeze blows through and the guys wife shivers and now he’s off on a mission to see if she needs a sweater. So now they are talking about the sweater as if it’s a national security issue. Shelly also has a winner. Some idiot family shows up late and Shelly makes the mistake of letting their little girl go in front of her so she can see better. This would have worked out fine if they would of first muzzled the little girl and gave Shelly a pair of shin guards. Illuminations is still fantastic but these kind of people on the one hand provide a funny memory of the trip but in real time kind of spoil the show. After Illuminations it’s Extra Magic Hours tonight so we go and wait a magical hour to go on Soarin. It’s really the only ride anyone seems to want to hit on the Friday night EMH at Epcot. I haven’t been on yet this trip so I don’t mind waiting. When Soarin ends we redo Spaceship Earth because my movie was lost on the last ride. This time it’s there and I send it home in an email to keep for posterity. We exit SE and head for bus stop 18 for Pop. Back in the room before 12:00 Midnight. Talking to Kirstie on the phone while I’m writing this. ETA for bedtime tonight 2:30AM.
Saturday April 24th, 2010
Shelly & Nick up by 10:30AM and down to the pool for some swimming and some more laundry. I’m up around 11:00AM but then I was up till after 3:00AM talking with Kirstie on video chat and the phone. Probably didn’t actually get to sleep till 4:00AM. We leave Pop Century for Animal Kingdom at 1:30PM. Arrive at AK at 1:45PM. First we eat at The Flame Tree Broiler. I have the pork sandwich and fries, Nick has the kiddie hot dog with the big cookie, Shelly has the smoked turkey sandwich with coleslaw and complains about it the whole time she is eating it. I recommended it from a few days ago. It’s my fault. After eating we all go in It’s Tough To Be A Bug. Then we go to Asia and walk Maharajah Jungle Trek. Shelly says she has never been there. She has, she just doesn’t remember it. After we walk that we go over to Africa for Kilimanjaro Safari. Next its on another walking tour with Pangani Forest Expedition. When we’re done walking that we have an ice cream and head over to Island Mercantile. I get a Kilimanjaro Fanny Pack for my video camera and accessories and Shelly gets a Is That You Tigger shirt. Nick is using my old camera case for his Nintendo DS now and I am making fun of him saying it’s his purse. He says “I never cut the case down when you were using It” I agree and say I’m sorry, and then he follows up with now I’ve got a Pussy Pouch instead for my camera. This kids pretty funny. We leave AK at 5:30PM and head over to Hollywood Studios where Shelly and Nick attempt R&RC but end up going to Hollywood Hills to save seats for the 8:30PM Fantasmic Show. I take a boat from Studios over to Epcot and have Fish & Chips at United Kingdom and then hit the gift shop right by the boat dock. Shelly says they have monorail track there and they do. I buy 8 one foot sections to add to the train I bought the other day so I have more flexibility in making a setup at The DTC. I’m back on the boat at 7:25PM going to Hollywood Studios. Once there I go to Fantasmic where it’s standing room only for the first show now, but I have a seat waiting for me. Grab a couple of beers for us and watch the show. The first thing that goes wrong with the show is John Smith appears as he is supposed to, grabs the rope he uses to swing across the set only he doesn’t. He just stands there frozen and then exits out the back and eventually ends up standing up where he is supposed to be. The next glitch is the dragon spits fire on to the water and the water doesn’t ignite. No flaming lagoon. But later in the show after the paddle wheel boat goes by with the characters on it the gas ignites momentarily and works for a while. We’ve seen worse screw ups in this show but you can’t help but notice when you see a show this often. We exit Fantasmic show 1 and Nick decides he will go ride Rock n Roller Coaster while we go back in for Fantasmic Show 2. Show 2 starts off wrong right out of the shoot with no smoke coming out of the entry point by Mickey and the light that shoots skyward at the beginning of the show. John Smith gets his part right this show but the exact same problems with the lighting of the gas still exists. It must be a software problem because the gas ignites for parts of the show but not for others. When Fantasmic 2 is over we exit and meet Nick at the entrance to Fantasmic by the ice cream stand. When we get outside there is once again a huge line for Pop Century. As we wait and wait we are finally about 200 feet from where we started and suddenly a man steps in front of Shelly in the line. Without even taking a breath she yells loudly and points at the man “We’ve got a skipper here” and again “We’ve got a skipper here” and once again with even more enthusiasm “We’ve got a line skipper here” At this point the man turns around and just as loudly says as he points at the woman in front of him, “This Is My Wife” and “These Are My Kids” and “My Feet Hurt And I Was Just Sitting Over There On The Bench Resting” “I’M Not Skipping The Line” Nick and I are incredulous as to her outburst. I look at the man and tell him, “ I don’t Know Her” and Nick chimes in “Yeah, She’s Not With Us”. Finally when the bus comes Shelly snags a seat in the middle of the bus leaving Nick and I to follow the man and his family down the aisle towards the back of the bus. Once all the way back we are standing face to face and I tell him “My evil wife is up there now, you don’t have to worry any more, she Is having an outburst at a different family now” He laughs as does his wife and apparently no harm no foul. When we get to Pop and get off Shelly says she will go get some soda at the food court. Nick and I make our way back to the room. When we’re almost there I see an old man with a cane slumped over sitting on the curb. It appears something is wrong, maybe a fall, a heart attack, stroke, or something I don’t know. I approach him and ask him if he is all right. He says in a kind of out of breath voice, yeah I’m all right, I’m just trying to pull my self together here, it’s been a very long day. I ask again are your sure, I can get help, I have a cell phone. He says he has a phone too and everything is alright. Nick and I begrudgingly leave him half laying there by the curb. I feel I have to take this further so I find a security lady by the pool and tell her the tale. She is in the process of following two kids back to their room that were sent to the pool by their parents to swim without parental supervision. She says she will call it in for additional assistance. We go up stairs and get to the room. I go for ice and double back to see if anything is going on. Now there is another security person, an EMT, and the security woman I talked to. They are just standing there like they don’t know what to make of the situation. I go back down stairs and re-tell the story to all three of them so they don’t think it was a crank or something. The man has gotten up and left and we don’t know who he was or where he went. That’s all I could do I guess. If he turns up dead it will be his own fault for not seeking help. Nick and I now go to the pool where he says he is going to swim while I say I’m going to video chat with Kirstie and have some cocktails. Shelly wants to walk around the hotel and check it out. We’re out there for about a half hour before the wind picks up a bit and Nick and Shelly are chilly. We go in where Shelly reads a little, Nick does some homework as of right now at 1:36AM and I’m writing this exciting blow by blow account of yet another day at Disney. One more full day and night and it’s all over again till March 19th, 2011.
Sunday April 25th, 2010
Shelly and Nick are up at 11:30AM and off to the pool for sun and homework. Even 3.85 grade point average guys gotta make up for a vacation. When they come back Shelly takes off at 2:10PM for Epcot first because she has gotten Dave the wrong pin from The Epcot International Flower & Garden Show. He wants one with a butterfly on it. She plans to go and straighten that out and then go to Magic Kingdom for the rest of the day. Nick and I head for Animal Kingdom and first go to Flame Tree Broiler for some lunch. I have the Smoked Turkey with Coleslaw and a side order of fries. Nick once again has the Kids Hot Dog Meal with a cookie and grapes. When we finish eating we wait 50 minutes to ride Expedition Everest one more time. Off Everest we go and wait for the 4:45PM Finding Nemo The Musical Show. It’s the same cast as last time only a different Marlin who is not very good. When Nemo ends we go for ice cream in Dinoland and then track down Rashad, Kirsties friend from Disney College Program. I shoot a short video of him giving her a little greeting. Next we go on Dinosaur one last time. We exit the park at 6:00PM closing and make our way to Magic Kingdom for the night.We arrive at Ticket /Transportation at 6:15PM, take the monorail over to Magic Kingdom and enter the park at 6:30PM. It starts to pour as soon as we walk through the gate. We decide to ride the train as we haven’t done that yet. We only get to Frontierland and they order everyone off, the attraction is shutting down due to bad weather approaching. We exit the train and decide to hide out in Pecos Bill while the storm hits, but it’s very crowded so we go to Columbia Harbor House instead. Nick gets some seats on the second floor while I get the food. I have the Anchors Away Tuna Sandwich with chips again and Nick has The Chicken Nugget and Fries Meal. During our meal Shelly texts us and tells us she is going in Philharmagic a second time. She finishes that and goes to Pecos Bill for a Chicken Wrap Sandwich and joins us at Harbor House. Both Spectromagic shows have been canceled tonight because of the weather. It’s 8:05PM now and the thunder and lightning is still going strong. We stay a little while longer and have another soda and some desert. Chocolate Cake for Nick and Apple Pie for me. Finally leave Harbor House and go to Pirates Of The Caribbean, then Splash Mountain. As the first Splash ride ends Shelly and I are standing and starting to step out of the log when the cast member sends the log back out again which sends us flying back into our seats. We didn’t get hurt or anything but it was another first for us. As it turned out it was good he sent us out without notice again because when we got back from ride two they shut down again because of lightning. He apologized and his friends were giving some shit laughing at him. He must have screwed up. Next we go on Haunted Mansion and then It’s A Small World. Anything thats indoor. After that its a little after 10:00PM and it looks like Wishes will get cut too. We go in Mickeys Philharmagic and when we exit we hear the Wishes music starting. Sure enough it’s starting at 10:25PM and we’re stuck behind the castle. Some of the fireworks are launched even with the castle, some are a little behind the castle and most are launched from behind Fantasyland. It makes for a real bad way to see the fireworks. You have to keep turning back and forth if you want to see everything. I would never chose this way to view Wishes. But hey, its better than nothing. Plus the clouds and bad weather are blocking out or dulling a lot of the fireworks. When the show ends I am also surprised that they have Fantasyland roped off and won’t let you go that way until the cast checks the area for any stray fireworks remnants. I did not no they did that. We stand and wait for about 15 minutes before we are allowed to move into Fantasyland. We go to Mrs. Potts Cupboard for two chocolate ice cream cones for Nick & I and a hot fudge brownie sundae for Shelly. After our ice cream Nick and I do The Teacups at 11:20PM. Nick is the spinner until the last minute when I take over and try to render him drunk looking when he gets off. Next all three of us go on The Indy Cars and then Space Mountain for Nick and I twice while Shelly waits. After the second ride it’s midnight and Shelly says she will go back to the hotel because of the rain and cold. Nick and I ride Buzz Lightyear 7 times in a row next and Nick has the highest score with 800,000 something. He must be cheating. Every time we come out of Buzz it’s like walking into a hurricane going around the building to re-enter and do the ride again. But it’s easier than walking around the park in this weather.We next go on Wedway People Mover and then do Space Mountain once more. While in the line the ride breaks down for about 15 minutes and then we get on finally for our last ride of 2010. We want to go to Cosmic Rays for ice cream next but they are already breaking everything down. We exit the park a little before 2:00AM and make our way to bus stop 18 for Pop Century and are on our way back for the last time. Well, maybe not. I might kill 3 or 4 hours in a park tomorrow too. We’ll see what the weather looks like. Shelly is passed out at 3:10AM and Nick is doing some homework. ETA of bedtime tonight for me 4:00AM.
Monday April 26th, 2010 :(