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View Full Version : The "I'm here for a convention!" solo trip report-part 7



tron80
04-02-2007, 06:18 PM
Friends and freezing in Flo-ri-duh

It was now Saturday:the last full day here and I gotta make the most of it,you know it is the last day when your Magical Express packet arrives.After that great day doing 'Ohana,BB and the Epcot EMH,I woke up at 11:00am. I was very glad that after almost 3 years ,today I met up with two of my high school best friends,at a Disney park nonetheless!

Every day of the week I tuned to the Weather Channel to check the temperature. Talk about ironic,the other day was in the high 80's,now today was about 53! BB should be a ghost town now. I was lucky that I brought out my jacket,so I grabbed it and skedaddled to MGM.
At the MGM entrance I finally met up with my friends,we spent I think 1 hour talking about how we are doing in life,remebering what we've done in high school ,talking about our majors etc.. at least they bought their tickets because at that time the line to buy tickets were huge!
And boy was it crowded today,we went inmediatly after entering to snag FP's at RnRC,the return time was 3:00pm and the standby line was nearing the exit! You can tell it's ESPN weekend,sure. We now went to ToT not twice,but 3 times in a row! The standby line was deserted,due to a parade I think.

Now we did some things to kill time. First off was the quote Animation tour unquote. Why am I saying this? Well we found out the hard way that the animation studios were shut down 4 years ago,wow.I remember in 1999 when I was with my family we saw working models for a film called:"Kingdom of the Sun"(What was The Emperor's New Groove),the section that had the animators desks is now covered in vinyl. The exhibits that I saw now,were a couple of models for Cars and Meet the Robinsons. Near the exit,there were some models from Brother Bear and Stitch.The Mushu movie was OK,but it was sad looking on what it was a working animation studio. My friend who is majoring in Art was upset,according to her,Disney animation is the motivation for her to major in Art. Personally,by looking at her portfolio,indeed she does have a future in animation,all the luck of the world to her.

After that we walked to One Man's Dream nearby. We had never seen this,and boy this was a very interesting walkthrough. Walt was innovative wasn't he? Near the theather there was a TV showing the game Kingdom Hearts II(which I have,and I still like it) a little girl that was watching the screen asked her parents:"Did he(Walt) made this?",the parents said yes,and I laughed a little inside,of course there woudn't be a Kingdom Hearts if it weren't for the classic characters and worlds that he created.. Finally we went to the theater,and I still think everyone in the audience was teary-eyed. My friend said afterward:"That was fun. AND educational!" Indeed,don't miss this clever hidden gem at MGM(hehe,it rhymes).

We grabbed some Popcorn afterward,and watched the ESPN trivia game at the hat. My friends were both Gator fans(yes it is a bit embarrasing if you told everyone which was your favorite college or sports team,for obvious reasons :"Semioles rule WHOOO!" is one example,therefore MGM can turn into Wrestlemania),so my female friend grabbed my other friend to the stage,and I decided to sit on the bench and watched,since I stinked at sports trivia anyway. 30 minutes later they appeared on the screen,much to my amazement and laughter, and won a Screen it game,lucky them!
Incredibly enough,it was a Gators player question. After that stroke of luck,we went to RnRC. Oh,and this hapened on the way:
we saw a group of cheerleaders walking in front of us then minutes later:BAM! A girl slipped and fell...head first. We said every 4-letter word imaginable,she was bleeding. Me and my friend helped her up,and everyone scattered to find a CM. Coming from parents who were humble enough,we took her to a bench that was near the ToT,and a CM had a towel to help with the wound. 15 mintes later the paramedics arrived. We were surrounded by CM's,paramedics and security,of course there were glares. The girls called the chaperone who was at Port Orleans. After checking that she was OK,she did say thank you to pretty much everyone there. Now we proceed to RnRC,the standby line still was reaching the exit and the FP line moved slowly,nevertheless,we had patience(talking with friends is a real time killer). My friends had time for one last ride:and that was ToT. It was great,and we got an excellent ride picture.

It was 6:30pm,unfortunaly my friends bought a 1-day pass,so they had to go back home. This was the saddest part of the trip:it wasn't easy saying goodbye after a great time we had. :( They barely visit WDW because of college of course but they said that after graduation they might buy annual passes,well they love it here.
After our farewells,it was now once again a solo trip. I went to CSR to get my camera and headed to the *rainy and freezing* MK. I boarded the train first to Tooontown,I couldn't leave without a pictue of Donald. So I went to the Hall of Fame,and there were three lines:one for Goofy and Minnie(45 minutes),another for some of the princesses(90 minutes!!) and lastly for Donald,Chip & Dale and Daisy(20 minutes...phew). I got great pictures with Donald(tell him he's #1!). Chip & Dale were hilarious,they kept messing my hair and hoodie(maybe they were still mad about what happened in Epcot,lol). Daisy was so kind and sweet,I got a hug and some kisses blown. I didn't felt out of place standing in line with characters,there were adults in line,it's awesome being a kid again.That was huge fun and then it was time to watch Spectromagic,the only parade I watched in this trip. It wasn't crowded as it was freezing and most people headed to indoor rides. I still can't get off my head the Spectromagic music,very catchy orchestra. The floats were great as well.
Afterward I did Haunted Mansion(which needs a rehab,I barely coudn't hear anything and the cushoning almost came off),a freezing Splash Mountain(I got the back) and Big Thunder.
I love Big Thunder alot,much smoother than Space Mountain.

Time to hit Tommorowland,first up was Buzz and I got the rank of Space Ace(365,000 points aprox),someone in the back asked me how did I get that score. Here's a pro-tip from a gamer:keep that trigger pressed at all times.
Next was the ahhh,incredible TTA.I miss this ride...a lot.Next was the Carrousel of Progress,which to my suprise it was open. At the show,people were clapping,singing along(the last scene needs a bit of a touch up,Cell phones were not present) Good times.
I grabbed an FP for Space,then went to the terrace to eat and watch Wishes again. Once again,this was incredible what a great way to end a vacation. Now after that,I waited my stomach to settle and I went to Space Mountain,the last ride of my vacation. I loved it in the back seat,very fun. After that I took some pictures of an nearly empty MK at night,seeing the castle for the last time,and yes I'll admit,I was misty-eyed. It was now the end of my vacation. I headed to CSR at 1 am. I leave tommorow at 2pm,for my 5pm flight to Dulles.

Next up: Depature day and final thoughts. I'll post it this week,as soon as I can. I have a discrete mathematics test tommorow,and I finish at 10:30pm,so yes I been busy these days. I still have time to write one more report,so thanks for reading. :mickey:

Bethis26fan
04-02-2007, 08:01 PM
Sounds Like A Great Day. Thanks For Sharing.

faline
04-03-2007, 11:07 AM
It must have been really fun to get a chance to catch up with old friends!

It's always hard to leave the Magic Kingdom at the end of the trip!

ChipnDaleGal
04-03-2007, 04:51 PM
I'm sorry that it was rainy and cold, but it sounds like you had a really great day with your college friends. Thanks for reporting.

pdrlkr
04-07-2007, 03:33 PM
Thanks for the report! :smickey:

DizNee143
04-11-2007, 04:37 PM
sounds like you had a great day with your friends!!!...:mickey:
sad to know its pretty much the end of the trip...

magicman
04-11-2007, 05:36 PM
The great thing about WDW is that the magic can transform people of all ages back into a kid if you'll let it...:tink: and you did.

I bet it was difficult to say good-bye to your friends & go back to flying solo, but it doesn't sound like you let it slow you down any.

Don't you hate getting that Magical Express envelope.:sob:

pogo
04-11-2007, 05:40 PM
Thanks for sharing. :D