faline
10-27-2007, 04:53 PM
When: October 4 – 15, 2007
Thursday, October 11, 2007
Plan for the Day:
??
Dinner – Mama Melrose’s Fantasmic Dinner Package
Fantasmic – 8 p.m.
What Actually Happened:
I try to get up earlier today. Before leaving the room, I call Magical Express. When we checked in at the Magical Express desk at the airport, they suggested that I call as it didn’t appear our return trip had been scheduled. I guess I didn’t look closely enough at the package when I got it. Due to our resort change, something got messed up and they didn’t have us scheduled to return to the airport on Magical Express.
With this little problem resolved, we head to the Magic Kingdom bus stop and find that we don’t arrive there any earlier than we have any other morning! It’s about 9:30 a.m.
Our wait is not long and we’re soon on our way to the Magic Kingdom.
The Haunted Mansion is our first stop. It’s still my most favorite ride! Following that we take spins on the Carousel, Dumbo and a literal spin on the Tea Cups! We wander into Toon Town for the first time in a long time. Goofy’s Barnstormer posts a 30 minute wait. Too long a wait for this very short ride! Mickey’s and Minnie’s houses, while cute, have very little appeal to us so we exit Toon Town not long after entering.
We pick up fast passes for Space Mountain and then head to Cosmic Ray’s for burgers and fries (please tell me that Disney World burgers and fries are cholesterol free?!).
The Indy Speedway lists only a 20 minute wait so we get on line to drive our race cars. It’s time for our Space Mountain fast passes. The standby line is huge so we’re very glad to be able to walk by in the fast pass lane!
Our trip through space completed, we hop on the Tomorrowland Transit Authority we have a group of cars all to ourselves!
It’s time to head over to the Disney Studios so we exit the park and head to the resort monorail. We literally walk right on. At the Contemporary, we walk downstairs where a Disney Studios bus appears within minutes.
From there, we make stops at the Poly and the Grand Floridian before heading over to Disney Studios.
Once inside the gate, we pick up fast passes for Tower of Terror before heading to the 2:00 p.m. showing of Indiana Jones. We use our Tower of Terror fast passes to discover they were not at all needed. Despite a 20 minute posted wait time, it’s really a walk on. So…we do it again!
Rock n Roller Coaster is listed as a 45 minute standby so we grab fast passes for that and then wander through the shops on Hollywood Boulevard.
There’s a 4:30 p.m. showing of Lights! Motors! Action! And Gene had said he’d like to see it this trip so we head over there. Loading this theater is quite a production!
After the showing, there is a mass exodus. (I think it’s easier to get out of the theater after Fantasmic!). We make our way to Mama Melrose’s for our Fantasmic dinner package. I have calamari for an appetizer while Gene selects the breads with spreads – his appetizer has enough for a family of four! Already we’ve got too much food! My entrée is pork loin while Gene has Eggplant Napolean but has it served over spaghetti. I can’t finish my meal and we still have dessert! I order the cake with warm chocolate center. Gene orders the same thing but is served something else – a mousse like dessert which looks better (and Gene reports tastes better) than my cake. (In fact, he immediately liked the way his dessert looked so never complained that he was served the wrong item). I didn’t really want dessert but ate some of it.
We had some confusion around our check which took a bit to sort out. Once that was done, it didn’t leave us with a lot of time to use our fast passes on Rock n Roller Coaster before we’d need to be at Oscar’s for admission to Fantasmic.
On our way to Rock n Roller coaster, I realize a woman wearing an Intercot t-shirt has just passed by heading the opposite way. You know that feeling – you’re not paying a lot of attention. Then, after it has already gone by, you say – wait a minute! Intercot! When I turn and look back, I’ll swear I recognize that woman – I know I’ve seen her picture. Who is that?! It turns out it was Rhonda (Beast_fanatic)! This is the first positive sign of an Intercot presence that I’ve seen this week!
Well, we were in a rush and Rhonda and her husband had headed in the opposite direction so we continue on to Rock n Roller Coaster. Look at all those people entering the fast pass line! Let’s skip it! Trying to get this ride in before Fantasmic might be cutting it a little too close!
We give our fast passes away and make our way to Oscar’s for admission to the Fantasmic theater. That trek up the hill seems quite long! When we arrive at the theater, we find cast members are telling us to sit wherever we’d like. Once we’re seated, in fact, a cast member suggests (not orders) that we might like to be seated in another section for a better view. What a difference from our last visit when we found the cast members to be rather rude and vocal in their attempts to control seating!
Today’s weather had predicted lowered humidity by afternoon and lows in the 60’s tonight. When we arrive at Fantasmic, it’s still quite humid and quite warm. I had sort of thought I might need to purchase that zip up sweatshirt I’d had my eye on in order to stay warm this evening but no such luck!
When Fantasmic begins, the family behind us continues to chat among themselves – what they should do at the Magic Kingdom tomorrow, etc. etc. I turned and gave them the evil eye several times but I guess my eye really isn’t that evil as they just continued to chat as though they were seated in a cafeteria over a cup of coffee. After a while, I finally realize there is no more interference from behind. When I turn around this time, I discover they’ve left. I really can’t figure out why they bothered to come to the show at all!
In the end, Mickey is triumphant after all and we all shuffle out of theater. Oops! They changed our bus stop number. When we figure that out, we get on line and wait about ten minutes for a bus. There’s a lot of traffic leaving the Studios so we finally make it back to our room around 9:30 p.m.
39.20 miles thus far this week.
8.43 miles today.
Thursday, October 11, 2007
Plan for the Day:
??
Dinner – Mama Melrose’s Fantasmic Dinner Package
Fantasmic – 8 p.m.
What Actually Happened:
I try to get up earlier today. Before leaving the room, I call Magical Express. When we checked in at the Magical Express desk at the airport, they suggested that I call as it didn’t appear our return trip had been scheduled. I guess I didn’t look closely enough at the package when I got it. Due to our resort change, something got messed up and they didn’t have us scheduled to return to the airport on Magical Express.
With this little problem resolved, we head to the Magic Kingdom bus stop and find that we don’t arrive there any earlier than we have any other morning! It’s about 9:30 a.m.
Our wait is not long and we’re soon on our way to the Magic Kingdom.
The Haunted Mansion is our first stop. It’s still my most favorite ride! Following that we take spins on the Carousel, Dumbo and a literal spin on the Tea Cups! We wander into Toon Town for the first time in a long time. Goofy’s Barnstormer posts a 30 minute wait. Too long a wait for this very short ride! Mickey’s and Minnie’s houses, while cute, have very little appeal to us so we exit Toon Town not long after entering.
We pick up fast passes for Space Mountain and then head to Cosmic Ray’s for burgers and fries (please tell me that Disney World burgers and fries are cholesterol free?!).
The Indy Speedway lists only a 20 minute wait so we get on line to drive our race cars. It’s time for our Space Mountain fast passes. The standby line is huge so we’re very glad to be able to walk by in the fast pass lane!
Our trip through space completed, we hop on the Tomorrowland Transit Authority we have a group of cars all to ourselves!
It’s time to head over to the Disney Studios so we exit the park and head to the resort monorail. We literally walk right on. At the Contemporary, we walk downstairs where a Disney Studios bus appears within minutes.
From there, we make stops at the Poly and the Grand Floridian before heading over to Disney Studios.
Once inside the gate, we pick up fast passes for Tower of Terror before heading to the 2:00 p.m. showing of Indiana Jones. We use our Tower of Terror fast passes to discover they were not at all needed. Despite a 20 minute posted wait time, it’s really a walk on. So…we do it again!
Rock n Roller Coaster is listed as a 45 minute standby so we grab fast passes for that and then wander through the shops on Hollywood Boulevard.
There’s a 4:30 p.m. showing of Lights! Motors! Action! And Gene had said he’d like to see it this trip so we head over there. Loading this theater is quite a production!
After the showing, there is a mass exodus. (I think it’s easier to get out of the theater after Fantasmic!). We make our way to Mama Melrose’s for our Fantasmic dinner package. I have calamari for an appetizer while Gene selects the breads with spreads – his appetizer has enough for a family of four! Already we’ve got too much food! My entrée is pork loin while Gene has Eggplant Napolean but has it served over spaghetti. I can’t finish my meal and we still have dessert! I order the cake with warm chocolate center. Gene orders the same thing but is served something else – a mousse like dessert which looks better (and Gene reports tastes better) than my cake. (In fact, he immediately liked the way his dessert looked so never complained that he was served the wrong item). I didn’t really want dessert but ate some of it.
We had some confusion around our check which took a bit to sort out. Once that was done, it didn’t leave us with a lot of time to use our fast passes on Rock n Roller Coaster before we’d need to be at Oscar’s for admission to Fantasmic.
On our way to Rock n Roller coaster, I realize a woman wearing an Intercot t-shirt has just passed by heading the opposite way. You know that feeling – you’re not paying a lot of attention. Then, after it has already gone by, you say – wait a minute! Intercot! When I turn and look back, I’ll swear I recognize that woman – I know I’ve seen her picture. Who is that?! It turns out it was Rhonda (Beast_fanatic)! This is the first positive sign of an Intercot presence that I’ve seen this week!
Well, we were in a rush and Rhonda and her husband had headed in the opposite direction so we continue on to Rock n Roller Coaster. Look at all those people entering the fast pass line! Let’s skip it! Trying to get this ride in before Fantasmic might be cutting it a little too close!
We give our fast passes away and make our way to Oscar’s for admission to the Fantasmic theater. That trek up the hill seems quite long! When we arrive at the theater, we find cast members are telling us to sit wherever we’d like. Once we’re seated, in fact, a cast member suggests (not orders) that we might like to be seated in another section for a better view. What a difference from our last visit when we found the cast members to be rather rude and vocal in their attempts to control seating!
Today’s weather had predicted lowered humidity by afternoon and lows in the 60’s tonight. When we arrive at Fantasmic, it’s still quite humid and quite warm. I had sort of thought I might need to purchase that zip up sweatshirt I’d had my eye on in order to stay warm this evening but no such luck!
When Fantasmic begins, the family behind us continues to chat among themselves – what they should do at the Magic Kingdom tomorrow, etc. etc. I turned and gave them the evil eye several times but I guess my eye really isn’t that evil as they just continued to chat as though they were seated in a cafeteria over a cup of coffee. After a while, I finally realize there is no more interference from behind. When I turn around this time, I discover they’ve left. I really can’t figure out why they bothered to come to the show at all!
In the end, Mickey is triumphant after all and we all shuffle out of theater. Oops! They changed our bus stop number. When we figure that out, we get on line and wait about ten minutes for a bus. There’s a lot of traffic leaving the Studios so we finally make it back to our room around 9:30 p.m.
39.20 miles thus far this week.
8.43 miles today.