kakn7294
08-26-2007, 11:04 AM
Thursday - The multi-hop day
Cast - me 38, DH Phil also 38, DD Stephanie 12 and DD Megan 7
We start off the day with the alarm sounding at 6a - you've got to be kidding! This morning is a breakfast at 'Ohana at 7:55a so we've got to hurry off to do some transportation hopping. We took a bus to MK then took a monorail to the Poly - unfortunately the front was already occupied. Upon arrival at 'Ohana, they can't find our reservation even though I confirmed them all last week. They try but this time pull up the schedule by name. There we are! At 7:55 PM. At least they did ask if we wanted to stay for breakfast and didn't just tell us to go away and come back at dinnertime. I hauled my butt out of bed at 6a (I'm NOT a morning person) so I would have been more than a little upset at not being able to stay. They gave us a beeper thingy and told us to wait in the lobby and they would seat us as soon as they could - great, we could be waiting forever! However, the beeper thingy went off in just a few minutes and we were on our way to a table. Unfortunately, the table where they seated us was right where the characters had just been - and not only that, Lilo isn't here today - we're told she's sick. Our server is a nice guy and our food is brought promptly. It's really good but for some reason, none of us are all that interested in eating much. We finished breakfast and waited and waited and waited for the characters. Finally, 20 min after our table was cleared, Mickey (http://inlinethumb47.webshots.com/10286/2521735690102032678S600x600Q85.jpg) and Stitch (http://inlinethumb41.webshots.com/10344/2677803930102032678S600x600Q85.jpg) came over - Stitch was scared of Fluffy the Yeti. Pluto was still pretty far off and they brought Minnie out as a special surprise but she was clear across the restaurant so we decided it was time to go. We wanted to go to AK and figured we could see some characters there. We wandered downstairs to view the gardens / waterfalls (http://inlinethumb21.webshots.com/12116/2348182380102032678S600x600Q85.jpg)then made our way to the bus stop after some guidance by a CM. We arrived in AK shortly after 10a, played with Wes Palm briefly again, and headed over to Camp Minnie-Mickey, noting that Lilo wasn't with Stitch here either. We want to see FOTLK, Pocahontas, and Nemo today. We reach camp but it's not time for a show yet so we asked the girls which character they wanted to see first - Mickey, Minnie, Donald, and Goofy are all here today. They chose Minnie so off we go to get in line. As we entered the line, I noticed a couple of CM's standing just outside the entrance dressed in navy shorts, light blue tops, and white vests - it's the Dream Squad! I pointed them out to Phil who wanted to stick around and see what they were going to do but the girls drug us further into line. Now I'm getting really excited as we find 2 more CM's from the Dream Squad further down the exit queue closer to Minnie and a 5th one right at the beginning of the exit queue right by Minnie. The 2 together in the middle of the line are stopping people as they exit and I'm so sure that they will leave by the time we get there. Oh no! Minnie's friend has just announced that this is the last family before she takes a short break and there are still 2 families ahead of us! I just know that the Dream Squad will leave now! We wait and watch but they stay for now. Minnie (http://inlinethumb09.webshots.com/7560/2900573400102032678S600x600Q85.jpg) returns after just a few minutes and we finally reach her. She was so sweet and really played with the kids. We turn to leave and find the single Dream Squad CM smiling at us. We walk past her and encounter the 2 in the middle of the line. They ask if we know what the Year of a Million Dreams celebration is - YES!!!! They tell us that it's a matter of being in the right place at the right time and we are in that right place right now. They then hand us lanyards and pins and it's all I can do to keep from crying because I'm just so happy to have won something. I vow to wear mine for the rest of the trip. We floated on cloud 9 over to see Goofy (http://inlinethumb27.webshots.com/13594/2457578530102032678S600x600Q85.jpg) then headed into FOTLK - a great show as always. Pocahontas was starting immediately after so we went to see that then back to see Donald (http://inlinethumb43.webshots.com/10922/2567858390102032678S600x600Q85.jpg). As soon as we were done, Donald took a break and Pluto (http://inlinethumb40.webshots.com/10599/2648797460102032678S600x600Q85.jpg) replaced him so we jumped right back in line to see him too. At this point, the next Nemo show wasn't until 3p and it was only 12n. We decided we didn't want to hang around and wait so we were off to the buses and MGM (http://inlinethumb60.webshots.com/11835/2038943410102032678S600x600Q85.jpg). We arrived in time to see the end of HSM (http://inlinethumb08.webshots.com/12231/2282039040102032678S600x600Q85.jpg) (somebody shoot me please - this is my third time!). We grabbed FP for VOTLM then went to see the Animation tour - Mushu is such a riot! In the character greeting area, Emile was waiting. Such a gentleman for a rat, kissing Stephanie's hand (http://inlinethumb18.webshots.com/12625/2060035400102032678S600x600Q85.jpg). We went to watch VOTLM - one of my favorite shows. We had a terrible time getting seats as the theater was full and people just kept pushing us out of their way. We ended up all the way at the end near the back but I didn't care because I love it anyway. It seems that they've cut scenes here too in order to move more audiences through faster. When the show was over, it was time for the parade so we stood in the shade under the hat (see, it's good for something) and watched from a bit of a distance. We then headed over to Star Tours again then on to meet Lightening (http://inlinethumb29.webshots.com/10652/2356932920102032678S600x600Q85.jpg) and Mater (http://inlinethumb17.webshots.com/10640/2453274100102032678S600x600Q85.jpg). This meet and greet is still an exercise in crowd control for the CM's but it's much better than when it was the free-for-all we witnessed back in December. We were getting hungry at this point so we went to the ABC Commisary but nothing appealed to us so we headed to the Backlot Express. After a quick bite we made our way over to catch the Backlot Tour then bid MGM (http://inlinethumb23.webshots.com/10710/2226358620102032678S600x600Q85.jpg) a final goodbye - things will have definately changed by the time we see it again. We have decided we will finish the day at MK but toy with the idea of hitting Epcot just to be able to say we park hopped at all 4 parks in 1 day. We decide against it because it would be a waste of time though. In heading to the buses, there is a bus just leaving the T&TC stop and a huge line of people left standing there. At the next stop over, there is a bus waiting - this stop is for CR, Poly, and GF. That'll work! Once we reach the CR, the kids want to ride the monorail and we foolishly agree - the line is huge once we reach the platform! We had to wait for a second monorail because the first one filled up. Fortunately they come quickly. We headed on to MK where I was able to get a really nice shot of Walt's other window (http://inlinethumb58.webshots.com/13497/2007022290102032678S600x600Q85.jpg)above the MS train station (http://inlinethumb19.webshots.com/12242/2304891940102032678S600x600Q85.jpg). We headed over to Tomorrowland where the crowds were nuts! We rode the Speedway (http://inlinethumb37.webshots.com/12004/2631159080102032678S600x600Q85.jpg) - God help me, Megan drove (http://inlinethumb41.webshots.com/13224/2200028520102032678S600x600Q85.jpg)! When we couldn't stand the crowds any longer - wait times were outrageous, so we headed home and hit the resort pool for a bit. Now feeling a bit more relaxed, we climbed into bed for a busy day at Epcot tomorrow!
Cast - me 38, DH Phil also 38, DD Stephanie 12 and DD Megan 7
We start off the day with the alarm sounding at 6a - you've got to be kidding! This morning is a breakfast at 'Ohana at 7:55a so we've got to hurry off to do some transportation hopping. We took a bus to MK then took a monorail to the Poly - unfortunately the front was already occupied. Upon arrival at 'Ohana, they can't find our reservation even though I confirmed them all last week. They try but this time pull up the schedule by name. There we are! At 7:55 PM. At least they did ask if we wanted to stay for breakfast and didn't just tell us to go away and come back at dinnertime. I hauled my butt out of bed at 6a (I'm NOT a morning person) so I would have been more than a little upset at not being able to stay. They gave us a beeper thingy and told us to wait in the lobby and they would seat us as soon as they could - great, we could be waiting forever! However, the beeper thingy went off in just a few minutes and we were on our way to a table. Unfortunately, the table where they seated us was right where the characters had just been - and not only that, Lilo isn't here today - we're told she's sick. Our server is a nice guy and our food is brought promptly. It's really good but for some reason, none of us are all that interested in eating much. We finished breakfast and waited and waited and waited for the characters. Finally, 20 min after our table was cleared, Mickey (http://inlinethumb47.webshots.com/10286/2521735690102032678S600x600Q85.jpg) and Stitch (http://inlinethumb41.webshots.com/10344/2677803930102032678S600x600Q85.jpg) came over - Stitch was scared of Fluffy the Yeti. Pluto was still pretty far off and they brought Minnie out as a special surprise but she was clear across the restaurant so we decided it was time to go. We wanted to go to AK and figured we could see some characters there. We wandered downstairs to view the gardens / waterfalls (http://inlinethumb21.webshots.com/12116/2348182380102032678S600x600Q85.jpg)then made our way to the bus stop after some guidance by a CM. We arrived in AK shortly after 10a, played with Wes Palm briefly again, and headed over to Camp Minnie-Mickey, noting that Lilo wasn't with Stitch here either. We want to see FOTLK, Pocahontas, and Nemo today. We reach camp but it's not time for a show yet so we asked the girls which character they wanted to see first - Mickey, Minnie, Donald, and Goofy are all here today. They chose Minnie so off we go to get in line. As we entered the line, I noticed a couple of CM's standing just outside the entrance dressed in navy shorts, light blue tops, and white vests - it's the Dream Squad! I pointed them out to Phil who wanted to stick around and see what they were going to do but the girls drug us further into line. Now I'm getting really excited as we find 2 more CM's from the Dream Squad further down the exit queue closer to Minnie and a 5th one right at the beginning of the exit queue right by Minnie. The 2 together in the middle of the line are stopping people as they exit and I'm so sure that they will leave by the time we get there. Oh no! Minnie's friend has just announced that this is the last family before she takes a short break and there are still 2 families ahead of us! I just know that the Dream Squad will leave now! We wait and watch but they stay for now. Minnie (http://inlinethumb09.webshots.com/7560/2900573400102032678S600x600Q85.jpg) returns after just a few minutes and we finally reach her. She was so sweet and really played with the kids. We turn to leave and find the single Dream Squad CM smiling at us. We walk past her and encounter the 2 in the middle of the line. They ask if we know what the Year of a Million Dreams celebration is - YES!!!! They tell us that it's a matter of being in the right place at the right time and we are in that right place right now. They then hand us lanyards and pins and it's all I can do to keep from crying because I'm just so happy to have won something. I vow to wear mine for the rest of the trip. We floated on cloud 9 over to see Goofy (http://inlinethumb27.webshots.com/13594/2457578530102032678S600x600Q85.jpg) then headed into FOTLK - a great show as always. Pocahontas was starting immediately after so we went to see that then back to see Donald (http://inlinethumb43.webshots.com/10922/2567858390102032678S600x600Q85.jpg). As soon as we were done, Donald took a break and Pluto (http://inlinethumb40.webshots.com/10599/2648797460102032678S600x600Q85.jpg) replaced him so we jumped right back in line to see him too. At this point, the next Nemo show wasn't until 3p and it was only 12n. We decided we didn't want to hang around and wait so we were off to the buses and MGM (http://inlinethumb60.webshots.com/11835/2038943410102032678S600x600Q85.jpg). We arrived in time to see the end of HSM (http://inlinethumb08.webshots.com/12231/2282039040102032678S600x600Q85.jpg) (somebody shoot me please - this is my third time!). We grabbed FP for VOTLM then went to see the Animation tour - Mushu is such a riot! In the character greeting area, Emile was waiting. Such a gentleman for a rat, kissing Stephanie's hand (http://inlinethumb18.webshots.com/12625/2060035400102032678S600x600Q85.jpg). We went to watch VOTLM - one of my favorite shows. We had a terrible time getting seats as the theater was full and people just kept pushing us out of their way. We ended up all the way at the end near the back but I didn't care because I love it anyway. It seems that they've cut scenes here too in order to move more audiences through faster. When the show was over, it was time for the parade so we stood in the shade under the hat (see, it's good for something) and watched from a bit of a distance. We then headed over to Star Tours again then on to meet Lightening (http://inlinethumb29.webshots.com/10652/2356932920102032678S600x600Q85.jpg) and Mater (http://inlinethumb17.webshots.com/10640/2453274100102032678S600x600Q85.jpg). This meet and greet is still an exercise in crowd control for the CM's but it's much better than when it was the free-for-all we witnessed back in December. We were getting hungry at this point so we went to the ABC Commisary but nothing appealed to us so we headed to the Backlot Express. After a quick bite we made our way over to catch the Backlot Tour then bid MGM (http://inlinethumb23.webshots.com/10710/2226358620102032678S600x600Q85.jpg) a final goodbye - things will have definately changed by the time we see it again. We have decided we will finish the day at MK but toy with the idea of hitting Epcot just to be able to say we park hopped at all 4 parks in 1 day. We decide against it because it would be a waste of time though. In heading to the buses, there is a bus just leaving the T&TC stop and a huge line of people left standing there. At the next stop over, there is a bus waiting - this stop is for CR, Poly, and GF. That'll work! Once we reach the CR, the kids want to ride the monorail and we foolishly agree - the line is huge once we reach the platform! We had to wait for a second monorail because the first one filled up. Fortunately they come quickly. We headed on to MK where I was able to get a really nice shot of Walt's other window (http://inlinethumb58.webshots.com/13497/2007022290102032678S600x600Q85.jpg)above the MS train station (http://inlinethumb19.webshots.com/12242/2304891940102032678S600x600Q85.jpg). We headed over to Tomorrowland where the crowds were nuts! We rode the Speedway (http://inlinethumb37.webshots.com/12004/2631159080102032678S600x600Q85.jpg) - God help me, Megan drove (http://inlinethumb41.webshots.com/13224/2200028520102032678S600x600Q85.jpg)! When we couldn't stand the crowds any longer - wait times were outrageous, so we headed home and hit the resort pool for a bit. Now feeling a bit more relaxed, we climbed into bed for a busy day at Epcot tomorrow!