cjb121879
07-13-2007, 12:10 PM
Well, what I haven’t told you guys is that on the day we hit MK, I realized my driver’s license was missing. The last time I remembered having it was the day before while paying for a pin with my credit card at AK. I remembered because as I was handing it to a cast member, she said “I don’t need it. Your card is signed.” I looked at the back and thought, “So it is.” Apparently however, I neglected to put it back in my wallet properly.
After searching through all my things and coming up empty, I consulted my handy-dandy PassPorter and found the number for Lost and Found. They had my license:number1:! So since we were going to Epcot and Lost and Found is at the TTC, I told them I’d be there to pick it up that day. I must have forgotten how the monorail works when going into Epcot, because after parking the car, we walked right to the park- no need to use the monorail. Maybe it was because we’d parked so close:confused:? At any rate, I sent everyone in with strict instructions to head straight to Soarin’ for fastpasses, while I rode the monorail back to the TTC and Lost and Found. This ride was a bit longer than I thought it would be! I sat on the monorail for a good 10-12 minutes before we arrived at our destination. I rushed into the Lost and Found office, chatted with the cast member (his mother grew up in my neighborhood! Insert IASW music here:sing:) and rushed back onto the monorail. I was completely hot and tired after all the running I’d been doing and had a hard time making my legs work going back up the monorail ramp! After sitting on the monorail for a few minutes, it occurred to me- how could my family get fastpasses for Soarin’ for all of us if I had my admission ticket?! I groaned to myself and started having visions of 9:00pm return times. When I finally reached Epcot and waded through the marauding hordes at the bag check tables, I found my family leisurely walking off Spaceship Earth. Oh, well. My sister and I collected all of the tickets and raced back to Soarin’, while my aunt and cousin took the little ones to a character meet and greet (Have I told you I don’t get these?:confused:To each, his own!). Surprisingly enough, we were able to get fastpasses for around 1:00pm and had the time to sneak in a ride on Test Track via the single rider line. I sat next to a very nice lady who talked to me about where I was from and told me that this was her and her husband’s favorite ride. I was psyched because I’d never been on it before (my mom got sick just before we were supposed to ride during our 2004 trip). Well, it didn’t disappoint. I loved it (especially the fast part at the end) and couldn’t wait to get back on later with the whole group. Little did we know, but it was lucky we did sneak in this ride, because events would conspire from keeping us from getting back on later. We were all pretty hot and tired at this point so after we found the rest of our family, we headed to the Electric Umbrella for lunch. Nothing to write home about- standard chicken fingers and burgers. Because I was so tired and beginning to feel the distant rumblings of a headache coming on (yes I get migraines), I just got a Chicken Caesar salad- nothing spectacular. After lunch we headed into the WS. Thanks to all I’d read on these boards, I knew that I wanted to buy all the adults (all four of us!) a slush from the stand in France. We headed over there, got the kids some snacks from the bakery and secured the drinks (My aunt and I got the Grey Goose Lemon slush and my cousin got the Grand Marnier orange slush:marg:. My mom was the lone hold out, opting instead for pinot grigio) Refreshed and headache temporarily forgotten, we forged on through the showcase taking in Mo’Rockin in Morocco and a mime in Italy. Architecturally, I think Italy is my favorite pavilion. There is just something about the environment there that makes me believe I could be in Venice. We trudged on through a few more countries and then when got too tired to walk anymore (about 2/3 of the way around the showcase), we hopped on a Friendship and sailed back across the lagoon toward Future World. Unfortunately, I didn’t have as much time as I would have liked in the WS and I would have liked to have done a more in depth exploration of some of the countries. We never even got back to Mexico and that is my favorite pavilion. However, I felt my troops were dangerously close to mutiny so I bowed to popular opinion. Plus, it was time for our fastpasses at Test Track. Back there, we learned that they used rider swap passes (most other places don’t) so the first half of the group went in, while the rest of us waited for their return (BIG MISTAKE!). After a few minutes, we heard the technical difficulties spiel and a minute or so later, here comes the rest of our group from a side door! I asked what happened and they said when they heard that the ride was broken down, they decided to chalk it up! I couldn’t believe it:confused:. All that waiting in line and killing time until the fastpass return for nothing! Why didn’t I go in with them to make sure they didn’t do anything as foolhardy as this?! I was so tired that I could do nothing but bow to defeat and trudge slowly out of the park. Not the high note I was expecting to end the vacation on, but we’d had a blast anyway. When we got back to the house that night, everyone gathered up their belongings and sadly began to pack. The kids took a last dip in the pool and we all reflected on the great vacation we’d had, despite our aching feet!
Tomorrow...going home:(and final thoughts!
After searching through all my things and coming up empty, I consulted my handy-dandy PassPorter and found the number for Lost and Found. They had my license:number1:! So since we were going to Epcot and Lost and Found is at the TTC, I told them I’d be there to pick it up that day. I must have forgotten how the monorail works when going into Epcot, because after parking the car, we walked right to the park- no need to use the monorail. Maybe it was because we’d parked so close:confused:? At any rate, I sent everyone in with strict instructions to head straight to Soarin’ for fastpasses, while I rode the monorail back to the TTC and Lost and Found. This ride was a bit longer than I thought it would be! I sat on the monorail for a good 10-12 minutes before we arrived at our destination. I rushed into the Lost and Found office, chatted with the cast member (his mother grew up in my neighborhood! Insert IASW music here:sing:) and rushed back onto the monorail. I was completely hot and tired after all the running I’d been doing and had a hard time making my legs work going back up the monorail ramp! After sitting on the monorail for a few minutes, it occurred to me- how could my family get fastpasses for Soarin’ for all of us if I had my admission ticket?! I groaned to myself and started having visions of 9:00pm return times. When I finally reached Epcot and waded through the marauding hordes at the bag check tables, I found my family leisurely walking off Spaceship Earth. Oh, well. My sister and I collected all of the tickets and raced back to Soarin’, while my aunt and cousin took the little ones to a character meet and greet (Have I told you I don’t get these?:confused:To each, his own!). Surprisingly enough, we were able to get fastpasses for around 1:00pm and had the time to sneak in a ride on Test Track via the single rider line. I sat next to a very nice lady who talked to me about where I was from and told me that this was her and her husband’s favorite ride. I was psyched because I’d never been on it before (my mom got sick just before we were supposed to ride during our 2004 trip). Well, it didn’t disappoint. I loved it (especially the fast part at the end) and couldn’t wait to get back on later with the whole group. Little did we know, but it was lucky we did sneak in this ride, because events would conspire from keeping us from getting back on later. We were all pretty hot and tired at this point so after we found the rest of our family, we headed to the Electric Umbrella for lunch. Nothing to write home about- standard chicken fingers and burgers. Because I was so tired and beginning to feel the distant rumblings of a headache coming on (yes I get migraines), I just got a Chicken Caesar salad- nothing spectacular. After lunch we headed into the WS. Thanks to all I’d read on these boards, I knew that I wanted to buy all the adults (all four of us!) a slush from the stand in France. We headed over there, got the kids some snacks from the bakery and secured the drinks (My aunt and I got the Grey Goose Lemon slush and my cousin got the Grand Marnier orange slush:marg:. My mom was the lone hold out, opting instead for pinot grigio) Refreshed and headache temporarily forgotten, we forged on through the showcase taking in Mo’Rockin in Morocco and a mime in Italy. Architecturally, I think Italy is my favorite pavilion. There is just something about the environment there that makes me believe I could be in Venice. We trudged on through a few more countries and then when got too tired to walk anymore (about 2/3 of the way around the showcase), we hopped on a Friendship and sailed back across the lagoon toward Future World. Unfortunately, I didn’t have as much time as I would have liked in the WS and I would have liked to have done a more in depth exploration of some of the countries. We never even got back to Mexico and that is my favorite pavilion. However, I felt my troops were dangerously close to mutiny so I bowed to popular opinion. Plus, it was time for our fastpasses at Test Track. Back there, we learned that they used rider swap passes (most other places don’t) so the first half of the group went in, while the rest of us waited for their return (BIG MISTAKE!). After a few minutes, we heard the technical difficulties spiel and a minute or so later, here comes the rest of our group from a side door! I asked what happened and they said when they heard that the ride was broken down, they decided to chalk it up! I couldn’t believe it:confused:. All that waiting in line and killing time until the fastpass return for nothing! Why didn’t I go in with them to make sure they didn’t do anything as foolhardy as this?! I was so tired that I could do nothing but bow to defeat and trudge slowly out of the park. Not the high note I was expecting to end the vacation on, but we’d had a blast anyway. When we got back to the house that night, everyone gathered up their belongings and sadly began to pack. The kids took a last dip in the pool and we all reflected on the great vacation we’d had, despite our aching feet!
Tomorrow...going home:(and final thoughts!