2012 ... Disney, The Next Twenty Five Journal
2012 ... Disney, The Next Twenty Five Journal
Friday, April 20, 2012
2012 Day By Day Journal
Trip party begins at The DTC at 6:00pm. Shelly, Kirstie, Steve, Dave, Brenda, and Jake are first guests to arrive at varying times. Nick gets off work at 9:00 and joins the party. Stacy from Shellys work and her boyfriend David show up around 11:00pm. Chelsea comes around 11 also after she is off work. Mike brings his new baby girl over for everyone to see. What a cutie. I drink way to much Schlitz and shots of Rumchata. Jake drinks 5 Bacardi and lemonades and is even more funny than when he’s not “drunk” He commits to Disney 2013. We’ll see. He was “drunk”. Party breaks up around 1:00AM and I pass out immediately.
Saturday April 21st, 2012
I don’t hear my alarm go off at 5AM and now Shelly’s shaking me at 5:20AM. I am rushing to get ready to leave now and forget my sunglasses laying on the kitchen counter and a pack of 24 batteries we would have used for our light up pins. I am pretty loaded still as we take off right on time at 7:00AM. Flight goes great and we touch down in Orlando a little early. Nick & I watched Terminator 2 on the way down. We go to check in express and have our stuff in about 5 minutes and are off to our room. Some how we are in a preferred room right next to Kirstie and Steve even though we didn’t pay for one. After leaving our carry on stuff in the room we all head out for the bus stop to Epcot. Holly is walking towards us half way there and the happy reunion happens for Kirstie and Holly. We all hop the bus to Epcot and upon arrival Shelly, Nick, and I turn our vouchers in for passes. Thanks Holly for saving us some cash on the annual passes. We all enter the park and first go in Space Ship Earth. After that we are off to Mission Space where we all ride except Shelly who goes to the bathroom and then meets us in the gift shop. Next it’s off to Ellen’s Energy Adventure. We head over to World Showcase and first go in Mexico on the former River Of Time. Then Kirstie, Steve, Holly, and Nick get fast pass for Maelstrom which they don’t use. Kirstie, Steve, Holly, and Nick split from us and head out for more of Epcot and then Magic Kingdom. Kirstie sees The Magic, The Memories, And You for the first time among many other MK attractions. Shelly gets Chinese while I go to The American Gardens Theatre and find Dave and Brenda who are saving seats under cover for The Turtles featuring Flo & Eddie. During the show a huge rain storm hits but we’re under cover. The show is fantastic and I film it from beginning to end. When The Turtles are done I eat my Chinese at America, only it’s not the chinese I ordered. I wanted ham fried rice and this is some concoction of rice and slimy mushrooms etc. I don’t know what the hell it is but it sure looks bad. But it tastes good so I eat it. Next Shelly & I go to The American Adventure movie. After the movie we roamed around towards Britain but doubled back to Italy and found a bench on the lagoon to sit at for Illuminations. Great area to view. Dave and I have a German beer and Brenda and Shelly split a bottle of wine.I don’t think I have ever seen the earth so close as these seats. They are usually reserved I think but tonight they aren’t. When Illuminations ends we exit and ride with Dave & Brenda in their car to the hotel. After riding the wrong direction and in circles for a bit Dave gets his inner guidance system working and finds our way back. We’re back at the hotel by 10 and shower up. I start writing this years journal when Shelly says Janel is at the pool with the kids. I say “Janel, what Janel, our Janel. What’s she doing here, she lives in Florida. Now I find out that Shelly has been in communication with her and they were going to be doing one night for a mini vacation so they came to the hotel we are at, Pop Century. Good to see them and find out how well things are going for their whole family. We shoot the breeze for about a half hour and now we are back in the adjoining room waiting for a pizza to arrive. It’s 12 midnight and we don’t have to get up tomorrow. Anticipated bedtime 1:30AM.
Sunday April 22nd, 2012
Up at 10:48AM. Shelly is still sleeping. Much needed rest after my Friday party fest. 11:36 AM now and I’m all ready for something. Shelly and Nick are still sleeping. There’s a switch. Out of the room finally at 12:40PM. This morning Nick realized he forgot his phone charger. Add that to the list of things we forgot. We depart Pop Century at 1:05PM for Animal Kingdom. Once we arrive we meet Kirstie and Steve at Flametree Broiler for lunch. We sit in our favorite spot next to the lagoon. Shelly and Nick have the Pork Sandwich with coleslaw and I have Smoked Turkey With Melon & Fries. Kirstie & Steve have the turkey also. Kirstie picks around her food till it looks like somebody mashed it up with a baseball bat. She says there are some red things in there she doesn’t like. Steve takes the role of the dad that doesn’t want to waste money and eats the mashed up leftovers. After lunch we go on Kilamanjaro Safaris with the pass Holly gave Kirstie. No wait, just walk right on via fast pass line. When we get off Safari we head over to Flights Of Wonder bird show. During the show I get picked from the audience to come on stage and film a owl flying towards myself and two other volunteers as we take pictures and shoot video. Shelly, Kirstie, & Nick get plenty of video and pictures of me during the segment. Next Kirstie, Steve, Nick, & I ride Expedition Everest once. When we get off we go to The Boneyard to visit Holly who is working there today. Shelly and I break away to go to the gift shop where I find a suitable pair of clip on sunglasses for $14.95. Now I don’t have to deal with the glare of the Florida sun all week. We get Kirstie and Steve from The Boneyard and go on Dinosaur. Kirstie, Steve, and Nick all split from us as they are going to have dinner at Animal Kingdom Lodge tonight with Holly. Shelly and I go to Finding Nemo The Musical and then It’s Tough To Be A Bug but the show is down. It’s 5:40pm and the park closing is 6:00pm tonight. We stop first at a gift shop on the way out where I buy a new shirt for $50.00. It’s a Mickey’s Surf School shirt with “Swell Rides Daily” on the back and “Expert Instruction” on the front. We leave the gift shop and take the bus for Magic Kingdom. Upon arrival at Ticket Transportation Center we go to see our block. Take a few pictures of it and walk through The Polynesian to take a small boat to Magic Kingdom. While at the block Nick texts us saying he is on the way to meet us at Magic. We both arrive almost simultaneously at security check point at MK. We go to Columbia Harbour House for something to eat. Dave and Brenda are on the way there too from Country Bears Jamboree. We three have fish baskets and Shelly has a bowl of clam chowder soup too. When we all finish eating we save some seats in front of Hall Of Presidents for Electric Light Parade. I go get fudge brownie sundaes for the three of us. 15 minutes after we finish them the parade starts. Shelly and Brenda go in The Christmas Store prior to the parade start. During the parade this creepy guy comes and stands right behind Brenda. She thinks he was rubbing up against her ass. When the parade is over its over to the front of the castle for The Magic, The Memories, And You. Unbelievable show as usual with a fantastic addition of a love segment with the lantern scene from Tangled. Very moving. Five minutes after that Wishes starts. When Wishes is over we start our circle tour at Jungle Cruise followed by Carpets Of Aladdin,Pirates Of The Caribbean, Splash Mountain, Haunted Mansion, Its A Small World, The Carousel, (where we take some pretty good pictures) Mickey’s Philharmagic. At this point it’s 12:50AM and Brenda and Dave leave to go back to the room. We continue on to Starlight Cafe featuring Sonny Eclipse. We have chicken sandwiches with fries and soda. After eating we ride Buzz Lightyear Spin where I kick ass on the kid. Next Nick and I do Space Mountain twice in a row while Shelly goes back and does Philharmagic twice in a row. On the way to go to get Shelly from her second show Nick has a chocolate ice cream. We catch Shelly exiting the show and head for the exit at 2:00AM.We arrive back at Pop Century around 2:20AM. I get some ice and start recording this while having a half dozen whisky cokes. Finished with that now and it’s 3:17AM. Estimated bed time 4:00AM ish or later. Can sleep in again tomorrow. No must do activities until 4:10PM Sci Fi Diner reservations at DHS.
Monday April 23rd, 2012
Up at 12:38PM and Shelly and Nick are sleeping still again. I shower up and start to get ready. By the time I’m out of the shower Shelly is up and ready for a shower. We are out of the room headed for DHS at 1:40PM. We probably will only eat a muffin or something as our reservations at Sci Fi Diner are around 4:00PM. Arrive at DHS at 2:05 PM. We have an ice cream outside RRC and then wait 40 minute standby for RRC. We ride first two rows and it is as usual a rush. We get a fast pass for around 6:00PM which we end up not using. We ride TOT and then head over to Sci Fi Diner for our 4:10 reservations. It’s a half hour after our time before we are finally sitting inside ordering. Shelly has the Angus Burger, Brenda & I have a Reuben Sandwich, and Dave has a Picnic Burger. A Picnic Burger is a burger with shavings of hot dog on top of it plus onions. When we finish eating we end up going to B&TB 5:45PM show instead of RRC as B&TB will kill more time before entrance to Fantasmic. After B&TB we do TOT again. Brenda,Dave,Shelly, & I make our way in to Fantasmic at 7:00PM and save seats for 9 people. When Fantasmic ends everyone goes their own way while Shelly and I go to Rosies for burger & fries. We finish eating and go back in for the second Fantasmic Show. The first show had the canoe paddlers screw up and enter the segment late plus not have their torches lit. The second show has the same error only worse as one of the canoes doesn’t even make the complete trip across the set but abandons the crossing and pulls into the stage right set and then goes back around the way they came till they are out of sight. When show two ends we exit planning to go on Toy Story Mania but see Mulch Sweat & Shears playing in front of the Sorcerer Hat. They play classic songs of the 80s with plenty of humor during. Brenda has mentioned these guys many times and this is the first time we have actually seen them. They are fantastic, and I film a good portion of their set. After we leave that we find the wait for Toy Story Mania is 40 minutes. We decide to exit and go back to the hotel instead. We ride with Dave & Brenda back to the hotel. When we arrive we get our refreshments and go to their room to get hammered and talk of the problems of the world that only we can solve. 2:00 AM Shelly pulls the plug on the evening and we go back to our room. It’s 2:26AM now as I finish todays journal entry with yet another drink. Everyone is in bed and I anticipate crashing at 3:00AM or later. Tomorrow it’s Beaches & Cream near Epcot at 5:00PM ish and probably Illuminations again. We’ll see.
Tuesday April 24th, 2012
Up at 11:15AM. Shelly is in the shower already and Nick left for Epcot a half hour ago. Out the door for Epcot at 12 noon. Enter Epcot at 12:30PM. Get Fast Pass for Soarin 6:05 PM - 7:05PM. After getting our passes in The Land we eat there too. I have a Reuben sandwich and Shelly has Asian Beef & Rice, plus chocolate mousse cake. When we finish eating we go to Captain EO for the first time this year. After EO we go on Imagination. Nick texts us that he will meet us at the exit of Imagination. Nick meets us and we go on EO a second time.Next we roam around The Living Seas for a while. After The Living Seas we go back to The Land where NIck eats and Shelly and I have some desert. I have strawberry shortcake and Shelly has a Chocolate Mickey cake. We leave and make our way to the boat to Beaches & Cream but end up walking instead. We arrive at Beaches at 4:25PM 35 minutes early. Kirstie texts us shortly after we arrive and says they are running 15 minutes late. Everyone is finally there around 5:15PM and we enter Beaches & Cream. Nick has the Fudge Mudslide and I have a Banana Split. Shelly, Kirstie, Steve, and Holly have a Kitchen Sink. All stuffed full of ice cream we slowly walk back to The Land and ride Soarin. When we get off we all go on Living With The Land. After that we go on Soarin a second time. Now Shelly and I make our way over to Italy for seats for Illuminations. This time there is a private party where we watched a couple of nights before. We have to settle for along the railing about 50ft further away from the show, but it’s still good seats. Dave and Brenda show up shortly and join us, and then the rest of the group arrives too. During the show there is an annoying family to my left that doesn’t shut up through the whole show. I cup my hands up over my ears which makes the music a lot louder and blocks out the sound of the annoying family. When Illuminations ends we make our way around World Showcase to the exit. I make it to the exit but the ice cream is wreaking havoc with my digestive system. I send Shelly,Brenda, & Dave on their way while I go to relieve some pressure. After my brief stop I head over to the bus to Pop Century where after a short time in line Kirstie, Steve, and Nick come walking up and join me in line. We wait around a half hour before we are on our way to the hotel. Back at the hotel I go in the food court and get a Turkey Ciabata with chips and go back to the room. After eating I settle in writing down todays journal and having, you guessed it, some whisky and cokes. It’s only 10:33PM right now so I’ll probably be up at least till midnight or later. We are planning on spending a lot of time at the pool swimming and sunning tomorrow because it’s going to be mid to high eighties. Sleep in again, hang by the pool, and eventually go hit a night show and maybe a few rides or something. We’ll see
Wednesday April 25th, 2012
Shelly up at 9:00AM to go to breakfast with Brenda and Dave at The Polynesian (Ohana). When they get back we all are up finally and go to the pool from around 12:00PM till 3:00PM. Dave,Nick, & I play catch in the pool with a pool ball for probably an hour and a half. We also lay around by the pool the rest of the time. Nick gets really sun burned. We all go back to our rooms and clean up and are out of the room by around 3:30PM. We enter Magic Kingdom and go to Pecos Bill for lunch. After lunch we all go on Splash Mountain. No wait because Holly has two passes that get us on everything with no wait. Coooool. After Splash we start towards Haunted Mansion but stop near Country Bears to have Mickey Bars. When we are done with our ice cream we go on Haunted Mansion. After Mansion we do Its A Small World, Peter Pan, Snow White and then stop again for? You guessed it, ice cream. Just me and Nick this time. The coldest chocolate soft serve in the world. Next we all go on Wedway People Mover. Electric Light Parade is soon so we take advantage of everyone being at the parade and go on Jungle Cruise, The Tiki Room, and Pirates Of The Caribbean. Once off Pirates we go to the hub and get our seats for The Magic, The Memories, & You, followed by Wishes. At the end of the fireworks Dave, Brenda, Shelly, Nick, and I exit the park and go to The Contemporary parking lot where Dave has illegally parked. We get back to the hotel maybe 20 minutes before everyone else who took the bus. I go to the food court to get some food but everything is closed except for the Italian section. I decide to just order a pizza from the room rather than wait in line at the food court. Back at the room drinking whisky and cokes waiting for the pizza and writing this addition of the journal. Pizza arrives and it is delicious. Kirstie, Steve, and Holly order another one for them. They don’t like ours with onions, peppers, and such. Shelly is Face Booking while everyone else is roaming in between the rooms eating and drinking. It’s only 11:08PM now so this should probably last a while longer. I know it will for me. It’s 30 minutes later 11:48PM and I’m on my 6th whisky and coke. Oh oh, I’m drunk! Everyone is still up, waiting for their pizza. Shelly the puppy is on her second drink. :( Everyone is in bed now and it’s 1:38AM. Anticipated bedtime 2:00AM ish.
Thursday April 26th, 2012
Up at 10:15AM. Shelly is already up and next door conferring with Stiv and Kirstie. We have reservations today at Germany so get your lederhosen on and get ready for some schnitzel and dark beer. Out the door around 11:00AM. Nick is still passed out. Don’t know where he is headed today. We arrive at Epcot around the same time as Dave and Brenda. We take the boat across World Showcase and enter Germany right at 12:00PM for our reservations. They are a little behind so we don’t get seated until around 12:15PM. The place is really cool. There is a three tier theatre like seating area so everyone has a good view of the stage where the show will be. The buffet has everything you could possibly want including some killer deserts. We all pig out but I stop after my first plate. We have been seated so early that we are in danger I fear to not see the stage show. When everyone is almost done I go for desert to stall at our table. No worry, the show starts at 1:15PM and is very entertaining. They have a drummer, a lead singer/guitarist/bell player, a bass player, and a dedicated xylophone like instrument player. They do a 25 minute set with polkas, waltzes, etc. They try to encourage the audience to come out on the dance floor and dance. It’s mostly kids that comply. I would highly recommend going to Germany for this show. When we get out around 1:45PM we take the boat back across World Showcase to go on Soarin. After Soarin we go to Captain EO. Brenda and Dave go to meet a friend that has just arrived at the Epcot entrance so Shelly and I go on Spaceship Earth before we are going to meet them when we get off. During the ride we decide to take the boat back across World Showcase to Morocco and walk over to another boat that will take us to DHS. We arrive at DHS and Dave and Brenda meet us under the Sorcerers Hat. We go on Toy Story Mania first with the pass Holly gave Shelly to use. Next we go to Animation Tour and do some serious drawing. After that we bump into Kirstie and Holly on Sunset where they are on the way out to go to eat at Wilderness Lodge. Next we go on RRC. Shelly and I get in line for Fantasmic while Dave and Brenda go see Mulch, Sweat, and Shears. Fantasmic is pretty much a perfect show except the canoe people still screw up again, only this time in a different way. They come across the set early but with the torches lit properly but then one of them bumps into one of the fountain stands and temporarily gets hung up until they get free and get all the way across the set.Shelly and I each have two Bud Lites and one Blue Moon. After Fantasmic we get in line for the Pop bus. The stop is packed and it takes three busses before we get on one. Back at the hotel I go and get a beef sandwich with chips and take it back to the room. Delicious. While at the Wilderness Lodge apparently the waitress asks Nick how old he is. He answers 16 and that’s the end of that. But, she goes by a group of about 25 high school girls and gets them to in unison say “hi Nick” to embarrass him. Everyone gets a chuckle but he doesn’t take advantage of the situation and do something. Everyone has gone to the pool as it’s Kirstie and Steve’s last night here. I am wrapping up the journal from memory as my phone crapped out today and I lost my notes. Time for my first drink of the night by the pool. Did I say first. I arrive at the pool where everyone is in the pool except Holly. I bring my Early Times, ice, and a glass, but I forget the soda. My first three drinks are straight up on the rocks. Chelsea my whisky idol would be proud of me. Shelly goes to dry off and dress and comes back with the soda. Dave and Brenda come back too, but everyone else stays in the room. It’s 12:47AM now and everyone is back in the rooms and still up. Shelly is showing signs of crapping out but everyone else I think will last a while. Estimated bedtime 2:00AM
Friday April 27th, 2012
Up at 11:48AM. Kirstie and Steve are already gone to the airport. Shelly is also gone to Downtown Disney with Holly to do some shopping. They got my toys (Contemporary Resort Model :) I head over to the pool for about a half hour for some sun time. When I get back I clean up and Nick and I leave for Epcot Center. We arrive at Epcot around 2:00PM. We ride Spaceship Earth and then go to eat at The Electric Umbrella on the second floor. Next we go on Energy Adventure. Nick wants to go to Canada next because he likes the movie. After Canada we head over to The American Gardens Theatre for Three Dog NIght. The show is at 5:15PM so I want to get some good seats. Nick takes off and goes to China to eat and comes back to America where I have exited Three Dog Night. (I didn’t think it was very good, I left in mid show) Shelly shows up and we all go see The American Adventure. No singers for the 6:00PM show though. There is a DP behind us as the movie starts that is apparently translating for his kid what the movie is saying. Needless to say I move down 7 seats so I don’t have to listen to them. Shelly shortly follows suit. When the movie ends we all walk down to Norway and ride Maelstrom. When we get off, Shelly and Nick say they are going to Magic Kingdom. I am going to the bridge by France to save some seats for Illuminations. On the way I see Mo-Rockin is ready to play a set so I film the whole show. Really good music plus a not to hard on the eyes belly dancer. It will be edited down soon and on the DTC playlist for our men folk viewing pleasure. After Mo-Rockin I go to United Kingdom and get a fish & chips. I eat it while watching The Revolution behind the UK. They are a very good band just like Brenda said. They cover all groups that came out of England, not just the Beatles. When I finish eating I hit the bathroom and then get a pint of Bass Ale to drink on the bridge waiting for Illuminations to start. Shortly after I arrive at the bridge Shelly and Nick show up after all. We all stay there through Illuminations but leave the second the last bang hits. We walk quickly to the boat by International Gateway and get on for a quick 25 minute passage to Disney Hollywood Studios for the 10:00PM Fantasmic show. We have done this many times before and it works great. You get two great shows back to back with little effort. We depart Epcot on the boat at 9:15PM and arrive at Studios at 9:40PM. Ten minutes later we are inside Hollywood Hills Theatre with 10 minutes to spare to get some beer and snacks before the performance. Perfect show except, you guessed it. The canoe people screw up once again. This time everything goes perfect until the last canoe gets caught on the last water fountain, so the four cast members are stuck under the fountain as it’s pouring water on them. Hilarious. We exit Studios after Fantasmic and get on a bus almost immediately for Pop Century. Shelly and Nick grab some food at the food court while I go get ice and start logging the days activity. It’s only 11:35PM now so who knows what might still happen yet tonight. I am only on my first whisky and coke. Although I had 4 beers throughout the day at Epcot and Studios. Don’t want to sound paranoid but I here somebody rustling around in Kirstie’s room next door. Who’s in there and do Kirstie and Steve know? Estimated bedtime, 1:45AM
Saturday April 28th, 2012
Shelly and Nick up and out of the room at 12:00PM. They are heading for DAK. I am watching Bonanza but am getting hungry and decide to go to The Flame Tree Broiler for lunch. Depart Pop at 1:40PM and arrive at Blizzard Beach at 1:49PM. Finally arrive DAK at 1:55PM. Make my way to The Flame Tree where I have a smoked turkey sandwich and fries with melon slice. My first bad cast member experience happens while I am eating. I am sitting where we almost always sit, next to the lagoon on the lowest level of seating at Flame Tree. A family with a older woman in a wheel chair is beginning to get ready to leave after finishing their meal. Once they have their things together they start towards the exit to go up the ramp and back into the park. There is a cast member with a push cart full of condiments and such filling up the condiment station in the seating area. The woman reaches the point where she can’t go any further because the cast member and her supply cart are in the way. The cast member just keeps doing what she’s doing ignoring the guests. Now one of the other woman in the group attempts to pilot the supply wagon out of the way so the wheel chair guest and her group can go through. The cast member now stops what she is doing and just stands there with her hand on her hip watching this all happen, never offering to get her shit out of the way, or say excuse me let me get that. The group finally pushes the cart far enough out of the way so they can get through. All the time the cast member is just standing like a bitch/idiot doing nothing. Even if she doesn’t understand english she should still see what was going on because of her positioning of the cart. That ends and she resumes her position at the condiment cart doing her restocking. Next another woman comes up with her tray of food looking for napkins, condiments, etc. Now the dumb ass has the supply cart blocking half the station and her body is blocking the other half. The woman patiently waits briefly but starts to get a look of what the fuck on her face as she witnessed the previous episode. It’s almost like the cast member had a sort of chip on her shoulder/attitude about the man/ etc. and wasn’t going to let anybody tell her where to put her cart or where she was going to stand. I could have just walked up and slapped her. The insulance and or ignorance was disgusting to watch. I would make the story even more vivid in your mind but I don’t want to stereotype. After eating I go to the 3:00PM Finding Nemo The Musical and get seated. Before the show starts I text Shelly to see where they are. She says they are in Nemo too, in row 2 stage right and there is a seat available. I go down and sit there. Nemo is good but not any of our favorite cast from during the week with the exception of Bruce. The guy that is playing him has a level of energy and dedication to the role that makes him stand out from the rest. He also has a very interesting face unlike most cast members that are just kind of there and don’t stand out. When we exit Nemo it’s off to two consecutive rides on Everest for Nick and I while Shelly waits. The Holly Pass strikes again:) We all leave for DHS and arrive there at 4:15PM. We first ride the new Star Tours 3D which is very cool. Not much different story line but the high def picture and 3D make it stand out more than the old Star Tours. Next we all go to Indiana Jones Stunt Spectacular and it is great as usual. After Indy we go on The Great Movie Ride and have and average driver and hideous horrible gangster ugly girl. She has bad teeth and can’t weigh more than 90lbs slopping wet. She is trying to sound Bronx but is coming off more like Pee Wee Herman. After that Nick and I take the boat over to Epcot as we are going to attempt to pull off what I did last night. We arrive at Epcot around 7:30PM, get a fish and chips plus drink, and eat it while watching The British Revolution just like last night. The band is excellent again. around 8:15PM we head over to the bridge and get good spots for Illuminations. The Illuminations show is perfect except the perimeter fireworks that usually go off three times during the show don’t go off at all. As soon as Illuminations ends it’s off to the boat to DHS again. We arrive just as I did last night at 9:40PM. By the time we get inside of Hollywood Hills Theatre we once again have 10 minutes to spare. Shelly already has our seats in Mickey section right in the middle of the theatre row Q. I have a dog while Shelly has a diet coke and Nick has a desert Shelly got him earlier from the bakery she corrupts him with every year. Fantasmic is not perfect. Mickeys sparkler hands do not light up early in the show, and the stage right to left canoe people seem to be struggling to steer again. At the bus stop for Pop there is no wait and we are back at Pop by 11:15PM. Shelly and Nick are down at the pool and I am here writing and drinking. MK was open till 1:00AM tonight and Epcot till 12:00AM but we chose to come back here. Got to save some energy for the big 2AM push tomorrow night if we actually do it. Staying up till 3 or more AM the night before you have to check out and keep track of getting to the airport by 6:15PM is not for the faint of heart. My bottle of whisky is gone and I will start to help Shelly with the rest of hers now. Estimated bedtime 2:00AM
Sunday April 29th, 2012
Up at 12:45PM. Shelly is at the pool already and Nick is on the computer. I head over to the pool for 35 minutes of sun. Back to the room to get yelled at because I didn’t see Shelly at the pool so I just picked a random chaise to lounge on. Shelly goes to the food court to eat. Nick doesn’t want to go because he is watching Bench Warmers on tv. I am kind of tired of pounding the pavement. I don’t think I have missed anything important and am thinking of just waiting till the night show to finish up this year. I probably will get in trouble for that too. But Stacy is arriving today so Shelly can probably play tour guide with them. I end up going to DHS with Nick at 3:00PM. Half way there I realize I have left my room key in my swim suit. At DHS Nick goes in to meet Shelly and I go back to Pop using his room key to get my room key. I get my key and head back to DHS. Go through security and approach the turn style, open my wallet for my pass and it’s not there. I last used it going into DHS last night and I am positive I put it back in my wallet. The only time I take my wallet out again is to get a hot dog for me and a diet coke for Shelly at Fantasmic. It’s beyond explanation. I return to Pop again and eat at the food court. Go back to the room where as I figured the pass along with all of our Universal passes from 2006 are not on the table. I knew this because I clearly remember putting them back in my wallet. They must have slipped out at Fantasmic. I call lost and found. Nothing. I go to the front desk and they tell me I can get the pass replaced at any of the four theme park ticket gates. They can’t replace $500.00 worth of Universal Park Hoppers though. I google lost pass holder tickets and find out they are going to stiff me $20.00 for the replacement. Oh well. About an hour later I go to drop a deuce and as soon as I sit down I see it. There the pass booklet lays in plain site on the bathroom floor. Yes!! I still don’t know how I could have the wallet but not the pass book inside the wallet. I was never missing the wallet. Only what was inside. Freaky! It’s 6:55PM now and I will leave shortly for MK for the last night of Disney. Arrive at MK and see Shelly and Nick who have just hopped from Studios. They are in the security check line. I join them and after we get through we all go to The Castle Stage show. Next we go to The Launching Pad where Nick wants a frozen coke. Shelly and I get Mickey Bars instead. Next we go on Carousel Of Progress. After Carousel Shelly is in contact with Stacy and David. They are waiting at Hall Of Presidents for Electric Light Parade. We join them. It’s Stacy, David, Jocelyn, Stacy’s mom, and two grandparents. After the parade we lead everyone over to The Magic The Memories and You. That show goes off without a hitch and everyone is in awe of the show. Shortly Wishes begins and we quickly find out that Jocelyn (2 1/2 years old) is very afraid of fireworks. She is terrified at every boom. Crying and screaming through most of the show except when there are quiet segments. I feel sorry for her but even more sorry for the people nearby. If I would have known I would have suggested a spot you could bale out on if she started getting scared. Wishes ends and Shelly, Nick, & I make our way out to Aventureland, We first go on Pirates folllowed by , Splash twice, Haunted Mansion, and then over to Starlight Cafe and Sonny Eclipse to eat. Shelly and I have a Turkey Sandwich/w Fries while Nick has a Chicken Sandwich/w Fries. Sonny is mesmorizing as usual. After eating we head back towards Mickeys Philharmagic but on the way Nick & I have chocolate ice cream cones from a stand next to The Friars Nook. We next go in Philharmagic twice in a row, then the Carousel, Snow White, The new Dumbo, and The new Goofy’s Barnstormer twice in a row. The new Fantasyland is coming along nicely and will be great next trip. Dumbo and Goofy are the only two attractions open so far plus new bathrooms and a new train station. Plus we will be staying at the new Art Of Animation Resort. We next walk the pathway from the new train station for Fantasyland over to Future World. Nick and I ride Astro Orbiter followed by all three of us riding Buzz Light Year twice in a row. The three hours after Wishes just flew by and the park is closed as it’s 2:00AM. We exit the park at 2:10AM and are on a bus for Pop by 2:25AM. The bus pulls in to Pop at 2:30AM. I’m pretty much packed from the afternoon where I spent most of the day with my lost pass problem except for tooth brush, toothpaste, and floss. I shower and get my clothes out for tomorrow so I won’t be in the way in the morning. It’s 3:10AM now. Nick is still up online and I’m watching The History Channel while having my last cocktails in Florida for this year.Shelly hit the bed the second she walked through the door without brushing or anything. Estimated bedtime around 4:00AM.
Monday April 30th, 2012
Up at 10:28AM. Brush teeth,floss,etc and close up the suitcase. Shelly and Nick quickly pack up their stuff and take there showers. Bedtime ended up being a little after 4:00AM. We are out the door right at 11:00AM and take our luggage down to be checked in with Air Tran. Shelly checks carry on stuff at bell services while I do the Air Tran check in. After all the check in stuff is complete we take a bus for Epcot at 11:15AM. Once at Epcot we attempt Space Ship Earth but it is down. We go to eat at The Land and afterwards Shelly (Rachel) tries to use the pass to get us on Soarin. This time the cast member notices the date and doesn’t buy it. Off we go to take a boat across to Morocco. Once across the other side we go to America for my only viewing of The Voices Of Liberty. They are extra fantastic this time as they do two songs I personally have never heard them sing. The set starts with America, then Skip To My Lou, & Oh Susanna, and then the two I have never heard, A Dream Is A Wish, and Gonna Build Me A Mountain. After the singing we enter the theatre for The American Adventure. When the movie is over we take the boat back across and exit the park immediately as it’s getting close to 2:30PM. Our bus picks us up at 2:50PM and we are back at Pop at 3:10PM. We have five minutes to spare and Magical Express ends up being 20 minutes late anyway.We’re on the way to the airport at 3:45PM. Luggage is already there so we can forget about that. Arrive at McCoy at 4:25PM and start through security. Shelly gets randomly selected to be pulled out of line where they check her hands with a substance that detects bomb residue. The guy with the angry look and turban gets a free snow cone and a have a magical flight. Once past security and out to our gate 108 we eat at Mickey Ds. Nick and I have Big Mac Meals while Shelly has the fish. What the hell, might as well eat shitty one more time before getting back to my home regiment. We board the plane at 5:45PM. The air conditioning isn’t working on the plane so it’s roasting in here while we wait for push back. Flight takes off right on time 6;15PM with a two hour 37 min eta for Milwaukee. Shelly and Nick are watching Tangled while I am listening to a new book from Audible on Walt Disney’s life. Plus writing todays and yesterdays journal entry. If everything goes off as expected we will touch down right on schedule and Jenny will be picking us up for delivery to Marley’s house. I can hardly wait. It’s good to be home and begin our new summer schedule.