TikiGoddess
10-16-2007, 09:59 PM
Sunday:
Once again we were up at 7am (well, Jacob took a little longer to get up, poor boy.. we sure were keeping him busy!). Got on the bus at 8:20 and arrived at AK in plenty of time. We got to see the opening with Goofy, Minnie, Pluto, and Mickey which was a nice treat as Jacob is a big Goofy fan and we hadn’t seen that many characters this trip. We headed over to Everest and waited until 9:15 but only about 6 of us showed for the meet. So we got in line (after getting FPs) and then stood in line for about 20 min before they told us that the ride was down. Bummer. So we went to Nemo for the first show.
This was one of the highlights of the trip for me. What a fantastic show. I thought that being able to see the puppeteers would be distracting but I actually found it to be a ‘plus’ – you had two performers acting out the same part. This is by far the best show on property, with the FOLTK a close second. The music is memorable, the talent amazing, and the mix of media incredible. And yes, it had sentimental me in tears at least twice. (I was missing my girls something fierce by then.)
After Nemo I pulled myself together and we all headed over to Dinosaur. Unfortunately it didn’t look like it was worth the wait so we did Primevil Whirl instead and then headed back to Everest. We were in luck – the ride was up and we had a bunch of FPs that other people had given us, so we got to ride twice without much of a wait both times. This was my first time of Everest and I have to say it was as good as everyone says. I was most impressed by the track switching and how FAST the ride seems to go. The Yeti animatronic is classic.
Lunch time found us at Flame Tree Barbeque where we met up with Greg and saw Ellen, Ben, Mikki, and Andrew. We then wandered around by the Tree of Life trying to find the trail that goes right up to the base of the tree but no luck (I found it later, it’s right off of the ITTBAB queue). Amy, Jacob, Nikki, and I split up after that – I went to find my daughter a stuffed hippo in Africa (mission accomplished) and then went out to catch a bus to the MK. Wait, no, make that a bus to the TTC, then a monorail over to the MK. They don’t run buses from MGM and AK directly to the MK? Why not???
Either way, I made it to the MK at mid-afternoon. It was more crowded than I thought it would be for mid-October, but hey, at least there were less people that my last visit (July… temps in the 90s…). I walked through the castle and checked the line at Haunted Mansion – 30 min, and it did look like a 30 min line. So I turned around and went to see Philharmagic for the 2nd time this trip, and did Carousel of Progress for the first time since 2005. My last ride at the MK was on the TTA (notice how all these rides involved sitting down for longish periods of time – I was getting tired by then).
My plan was then to hit MGM for extra magic hours. I caught the monorail over to the TTC and then sat for about 30 minutes waiting for a bus to MGM. When I finally got to MGM I checked the wait times and FP possibilities on ToT and RnRC (30 min waits, no FPs available) then headed over to Pizza Planet for dinner. Boy, did that hit the spot. I sat outside the restaurant and planned the rest of my evening. I did Muppets and Star Tours with relatively no waits before going to the GMR. I didn’t ride but got caught up looking at the celebrity footprints outside the theater. I found Harrison Ford’s footprints and had to smile – my mom and my brother were there that weekend when he had visited MGM! It was in 1991 and they saw him during the Stunt Spectacular show (we have pictures around here somewhere). My mom was totally in love with Harrison Ford at the time so it was big treat for her.
One Man’s Dream was next. I love this exhibit and I finally got to see the film at the end. It inspired me to read Walt’s biography, as soon as I can get to the library. What an interesting man and what an inspiring life!
Okay, enough sitting around. Time for some thrills. I finally got down Sunset Blvd and did RnRC and ToT. The first showing of Fantasmic was going on, so the wait for RnRC was only 10 minutes (posted more, of course). I waited maybe 15 for ToT but by then Fantasmic had let out and people were pouring out of the stadium.
After those rides it was time to go. I ended up leaving around 9:10, going back to the resort, packing, watching the end of ‘Grease’ on TV, and talking with Amy and Jacob when they got back from MNSSHP. Tomorrow was departure day.
Up Next: Monday blues and final thoughts
Once again we were up at 7am (well, Jacob took a little longer to get up, poor boy.. we sure were keeping him busy!). Got on the bus at 8:20 and arrived at AK in plenty of time. We got to see the opening with Goofy, Minnie, Pluto, and Mickey which was a nice treat as Jacob is a big Goofy fan and we hadn’t seen that many characters this trip. We headed over to Everest and waited until 9:15 but only about 6 of us showed for the meet. So we got in line (after getting FPs) and then stood in line for about 20 min before they told us that the ride was down. Bummer. So we went to Nemo for the first show.
This was one of the highlights of the trip for me. What a fantastic show. I thought that being able to see the puppeteers would be distracting but I actually found it to be a ‘plus’ – you had two performers acting out the same part. This is by far the best show on property, with the FOLTK a close second. The music is memorable, the talent amazing, and the mix of media incredible. And yes, it had sentimental me in tears at least twice. (I was missing my girls something fierce by then.)
After Nemo I pulled myself together and we all headed over to Dinosaur. Unfortunately it didn’t look like it was worth the wait so we did Primevil Whirl instead and then headed back to Everest. We were in luck – the ride was up and we had a bunch of FPs that other people had given us, so we got to ride twice without much of a wait both times. This was my first time of Everest and I have to say it was as good as everyone says. I was most impressed by the track switching and how FAST the ride seems to go. The Yeti animatronic is classic.
Lunch time found us at Flame Tree Barbeque where we met up with Greg and saw Ellen, Ben, Mikki, and Andrew. We then wandered around by the Tree of Life trying to find the trail that goes right up to the base of the tree but no luck (I found it later, it’s right off of the ITTBAB queue). Amy, Jacob, Nikki, and I split up after that – I went to find my daughter a stuffed hippo in Africa (mission accomplished) and then went out to catch a bus to the MK. Wait, no, make that a bus to the TTC, then a monorail over to the MK. They don’t run buses from MGM and AK directly to the MK? Why not???
Either way, I made it to the MK at mid-afternoon. It was more crowded than I thought it would be for mid-October, but hey, at least there were less people that my last visit (July… temps in the 90s…). I walked through the castle and checked the line at Haunted Mansion – 30 min, and it did look like a 30 min line. So I turned around and went to see Philharmagic for the 2nd time this trip, and did Carousel of Progress for the first time since 2005. My last ride at the MK was on the TTA (notice how all these rides involved sitting down for longish periods of time – I was getting tired by then).
My plan was then to hit MGM for extra magic hours. I caught the monorail over to the TTC and then sat for about 30 minutes waiting for a bus to MGM. When I finally got to MGM I checked the wait times and FP possibilities on ToT and RnRC (30 min waits, no FPs available) then headed over to Pizza Planet for dinner. Boy, did that hit the spot. I sat outside the restaurant and planned the rest of my evening. I did Muppets and Star Tours with relatively no waits before going to the GMR. I didn’t ride but got caught up looking at the celebrity footprints outside the theater. I found Harrison Ford’s footprints and had to smile – my mom and my brother were there that weekend when he had visited MGM! It was in 1991 and they saw him during the Stunt Spectacular show (we have pictures around here somewhere). My mom was totally in love with Harrison Ford at the time so it was big treat for her.
One Man’s Dream was next. I love this exhibit and I finally got to see the film at the end. It inspired me to read Walt’s biography, as soon as I can get to the library. What an interesting man and what an inspiring life!
Okay, enough sitting around. Time for some thrills. I finally got down Sunset Blvd and did RnRC and ToT. The first showing of Fantasmic was going on, so the wait for RnRC was only 10 minutes (posted more, of course). I waited maybe 15 for ToT but by then Fantasmic had let out and people were pouring out of the stadium.
After those rides it was time to go. I ended up leaving around 9:10, going back to the resort, packing, watching the end of ‘Grease’ on TV, and talking with Amy and Jacob when they got back from MNSSHP. Tomorrow was departure day.
Up Next: Monday blues and final thoughts