KylesMom
07-16-2007, 05:48 PM
Cast of Characters:
Me, 41 (Favorite Character Mickey)
DH, 41 (Favorite Character Grumpy)
DS, 9 (Loves Both Mickey & Stitch)
Day 14 –Friday, June 22, 2007
Up and at ‘em – the wakeup call comes at 7:00, and although DH is still feeling icky, he’s not about to miss today for anything. We report shortly after 8 am to the Concierge Desk, and shortly thereafter are met by Ranger Jack. We find out later that Ranger Stan is on vacation. Ranger Jack introduces us to a staff member who is covering the flag raising ceremony for the Disney CM publication, “Eyes and Ears” and she’ll be going up with us today. DH, DS and I are charged with carrying the flags up to the top of the building, and we have a nice visit with Ranger Jack (a fellow Illinoisan). DS is first with the American flag, followed by DH with the Florida flag. :cloud9: I am in heaven as I raise the Disney Logo flag which flies at all Disney parks, and then DS and I each raise a WL flag (one white, one green). Although it’s a hazy morning, you can see for miles. We are thrilled to be a part of this event, and feel very proud to look at “our” :cool: flags flying atop WL. DS receives our official certificate from Ranger Jack, we sign a release for the Eyes & Ears reporter, run back to the room for a few last things, and we’re off to Star Wars Weekends once again. For any CMs who may be reading this, we are in the edition which has the Tower of Terror’s 13th Anniversary on the front cover – July 5th Edition? There are pictures of both DS and I with the “Flag Family” story – although they omitted DH’s picture. Kinda cool to be in a CM publication!
OK, so you guys must know what’s first – a FP for RNRC! It’s early EMH, so the park already has some pretty big crowds – and lines – by the time we arrive at 9:30. After procuring our FP, we immediately head over to visit with Darth Vader. The wait is approximately 40 minutes, so I take this opportunity to grab a double of one of the Mickey limited edition pins of Star Wars Weekends we had gotten the first weekend we arrived – and also purchase the two limited edition pins for this weekend, Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader. Only appropriate, right? I actually don’t tell DH or DS about the pins until we arrive home. :blush:
Back in the Vader line, the pictures we and the Photopass people get are outstanding. Kyle is in a red & black satin shirt with his red lightsaber, and he & Vader make quite the pair! Can’t forget about the family photo, either. Darth Vader, for the first time in Star Wars Weekends history, is actually taller than DH is!
We know the Power Rangers will be pulling up shortly, so we get in position for the White Ranger. I really didn’t think we were going to get through, but DS was among the last to make the “pose”. One Ranger is enough, and thankfully DS is in agreement! We purchase the Star Wars baseball cap for Kyle, and go to get a FP for Star Tours. Everyone in the area is watching the Star Wars parade, so we snap a few photos of Kyle on the speeder bike with his lightsaber prop. Very cool! We’re now gridlocked due to the parade traffic, so we take this opportunity to drop off our A/P SWW contest entries and snap a few pictures of all the characters/celebs on stage (including Jay Lagalia and Anthony Daniels). We check the line for The Great Movie Ride, but it’s outside and winding around the building. Nah, we’ll check back later for this one!
We begin making our way towards Mama Melrose for our 12:00 ADR. We’re a little early, so we take this opportunity to see if there are any other Hidden Mickey’s that we haven’t found over the years here in the lobby. There is one we didn’t know about that we found! We are seated briefly after noon, and our server is Laurie who made our experience enjoyable for our Fantasmic Dinner Package. We all have Pepperoni Flatbreads, enjoying our last scheduled TS meal. We’re all glad that it’s at this particular restaurant. DDE Savings is $7.73.
Still so much to do, we stop for photo opps near the Umbrella, then get a few pictures with the Star Wars band dudes, take pictures at the former Millionaire (Midway Mania) construction site, and make our way down to RNRC. Although the FP wait is longer than normal, no way we’re skipping this! Walking back up towards the hat, we catch a little bit of High School Musical, then fly to Endor on our Star Tours FP. We haven’t done Muppets yet, so we have a seat to laugh at Miss Piggy. Cooled down, we go back out to Mickey Avenue to see if we can find The Emperor. Sure enough, once we find someone who has a schedule and can direct us to the proper place, we get in the line. A short time later we’re visiting with The Emperor and his Royal Guards. We hop over to the next line and get Zam’s picture as well. This completes our training – er – I mean all of the photo ops we really wanted with the dark side. YAY! :D We check the GMR line again, and it’s down to a respectable size – which is still about 40 minutes. I can’t imagine what it was earlier in the day!
It’s now after 4 pm, and we know that we have a lot of work back at the hotel if we want to be out of the room early tomorrow morning. :( We spend a few minutes taking pictures in front of the Star Wars Weekends welcoming signs outside the park, and hop the tram back to our car. We all hold our composure as we cool the car down, talking about our favorites of the day. I promised myself I wouldn’t lose it if DS did (which usually happens) but I guess we’re all saving the emotions for tomorrow. DS gets his annual picture of our last known parking location, and we make our way back to WL.
I won’t bore anyone with the details of packing, but I really didn’t think we were going to be able to fit everything in our six suitcases. I almost had to go down to the lobby to pick up a box to mail things back, and that’s already with an extra empty suitcase we brought down! :blush: 15 days’ worth of clothes (both dirty and a few clean articles), once combined with souvenir cups, pirate paraphernalia, Mickey Macaroni, Christmas Ornaments and all of the other stuff we accumulated makes for some SERIOUS luggage. And we already had a bunch of stuff mailed back at World of Disney! OOOPS! We are going to have to leave a few toiletries and snacks behind. We order in-room pizza around 8 pm, while I get the majority of packing done before 10:00.
Both of the guys are toast, and after a last evening cocktail out on the balcony, I am as well. I set the alarm for 7 am, but know that I’ll be up WAY before that. I want to take some pictures of the resort as the sun comes over the horizon on Bay Lake, and I want to have a full day with my guys at The Magic Kingdom. A bittersweet day, knowing that our time at the Happiest Place on Earth is coming to an end.
Me, 41 (Favorite Character Mickey)
DH, 41 (Favorite Character Grumpy)
DS, 9 (Loves Both Mickey & Stitch)
Day 14 –Friday, June 22, 2007
Up and at ‘em – the wakeup call comes at 7:00, and although DH is still feeling icky, he’s not about to miss today for anything. We report shortly after 8 am to the Concierge Desk, and shortly thereafter are met by Ranger Jack. We find out later that Ranger Stan is on vacation. Ranger Jack introduces us to a staff member who is covering the flag raising ceremony for the Disney CM publication, “Eyes and Ears” and she’ll be going up with us today. DH, DS and I are charged with carrying the flags up to the top of the building, and we have a nice visit with Ranger Jack (a fellow Illinoisan). DS is first with the American flag, followed by DH with the Florida flag. :cloud9: I am in heaven as I raise the Disney Logo flag which flies at all Disney parks, and then DS and I each raise a WL flag (one white, one green). Although it’s a hazy morning, you can see for miles. We are thrilled to be a part of this event, and feel very proud to look at “our” :cool: flags flying atop WL. DS receives our official certificate from Ranger Jack, we sign a release for the Eyes & Ears reporter, run back to the room for a few last things, and we’re off to Star Wars Weekends once again. For any CMs who may be reading this, we are in the edition which has the Tower of Terror’s 13th Anniversary on the front cover – July 5th Edition? There are pictures of both DS and I with the “Flag Family” story – although they omitted DH’s picture. Kinda cool to be in a CM publication!
OK, so you guys must know what’s first – a FP for RNRC! It’s early EMH, so the park already has some pretty big crowds – and lines – by the time we arrive at 9:30. After procuring our FP, we immediately head over to visit with Darth Vader. The wait is approximately 40 minutes, so I take this opportunity to grab a double of one of the Mickey limited edition pins of Star Wars Weekends we had gotten the first weekend we arrived – and also purchase the two limited edition pins for this weekend, Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader. Only appropriate, right? I actually don’t tell DH or DS about the pins until we arrive home. :blush:
Back in the Vader line, the pictures we and the Photopass people get are outstanding. Kyle is in a red & black satin shirt with his red lightsaber, and he & Vader make quite the pair! Can’t forget about the family photo, either. Darth Vader, for the first time in Star Wars Weekends history, is actually taller than DH is!
We know the Power Rangers will be pulling up shortly, so we get in position for the White Ranger. I really didn’t think we were going to get through, but DS was among the last to make the “pose”. One Ranger is enough, and thankfully DS is in agreement! We purchase the Star Wars baseball cap for Kyle, and go to get a FP for Star Tours. Everyone in the area is watching the Star Wars parade, so we snap a few photos of Kyle on the speeder bike with his lightsaber prop. Very cool! We’re now gridlocked due to the parade traffic, so we take this opportunity to drop off our A/P SWW contest entries and snap a few pictures of all the characters/celebs on stage (including Jay Lagalia and Anthony Daniels). We check the line for The Great Movie Ride, but it’s outside and winding around the building. Nah, we’ll check back later for this one!
We begin making our way towards Mama Melrose for our 12:00 ADR. We’re a little early, so we take this opportunity to see if there are any other Hidden Mickey’s that we haven’t found over the years here in the lobby. There is one we didn’t know about that we found! We are seated briefly after noon, and our server is Laurie who made our experience enjoyable for our Fantasmic Dinner Package. We all have Pepperoni Flatbreads, enjoying our last scheduled TS meal. We’re all glad that it’s at this particular restaurant. DDE Savings is $7.73.
Still so much to do, we stop for photo opps near the Umbrella, then get a few pictures with the Star Wars band dudes, take pictures at the former Millionaire (Midway Mania) construction site, and make our way down to RNRC. Although the FP wait is longer than normal, no way we’re skipping this! Walking back up towards the hat, we catch a little bit of High School Musical, then fly to Endor on our Star Tours FP. We haven’t done Muppets yet, so we have a seat to laugh at Miss Piggy. Cooled down, we go back out to Mickey Avenue to see if we can find The Emperor. Sure enough, once we find someone who has a schedule and can direct us to the proper place, we get in the line. A short time later we’re visiting with The Emperor and his Royal Guards. We hop over to the next line and get Zam’s picture as well. This completes our training – er – I mean all of the photo ops we really wanted with the dark side. YAY! :D We check the GMR line again, and it’s down to a respectable size – which is still about 40 minutes. I can’t imagine what it was earlier in the day!
It’s now after 4 pm, and we know that we have a lot of work back at the hotel if we want to be out of the room early tomorrow morning. :( We spend a few minutes taking pictures in front of the Star Wars Weekends welcoming signs outside the park, and hop the tram back to our car. We all hold our composure as we cool the car down, talking about our favorites of the day. I promised myself I wouldn’t lose it if DS did (which usually happens) but I guess we’re all saving the emotions for tomorrow. DS gets his annual picture of our last known parking location, and we make our way back to WL.
I won’t bore anyone with the details of packing, but I really didn’t think we were going to be able to fit everything in our six suitcases. I almost had to go down to the lobby to pick up a box to mail things back, and that’s already with an extra empty suitcase we brought down! :blush: 15 days’ worth of clothes (both dirty and a few clean articles), once combined with souvenir cups, pirate paraphernalia, Mickey Macaroni, Christmas Ornaments and all of the other stuff we accumulated makes for some SERIOUS luggage. And we already had a bunch of stuff mailed back at World of Disney! OOOPS! We are going to have to leave a few toiletries and snacks behind. We order in-room pizza around 8 pm, while I get the majority of packing done before 10:00.
Both of the guys are toast, and after a last evening cocktail out on the balcony, I am as well. I set the alarm for 7 am, but know that I’ll be up WAY before that. I want to take some pictures of the resort as the sun comes over the horizon on Bay Lake, and I want to have a full day with my guys at The Magic Kingdom. A bittersweet day, knowing that our time at the Happiest Place on Earth is coming to an end.