faline
05-24-2010, 07:00 PM
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
Plan for the Day:
Epcot
Electric Umbrella for Lunch
Le Cellier for dinner
How the Day Really Went:
Tomorrow, we must go home. I’ve decided to use the Resort Airline Check-in service for our bags. I understand we have to call the day before so I do. The woman I speak to says I must call Magical Express I explain we are not using Magical Express. We have a car and I’m just trying to get any necessary information to check my bags through for my flight. She tells me again that I must call Magical Express. I once again say I’m not using Magical Express but she is insistent and gives me the telephone number for Magical Express. I dutifully call Magical Express though I’m expecting this person will tell me I need to call the original number again. The woman at the Magical Express number tells me that, since we’re flying Southwest and there will be no charge for our checked baggage, there is nothing else we need to do except to bring our bags to the resort counter in the morning and, no, I do not need to be talking to Magical Express.
We decide to head to Hollywood Studios this morning. The crowds seem to have disappeared. Perhaps it’s because this park is only open until 7 tonite?
Our first stop is at Tower of Terror. We pick up fast passes but, when we discover the standby line is only 10 minutes, we walk through. In reality, the ride is a walk-on. We exit and walk over to Star Tours. Along the way, we notice that the Drew Carey attraction, Sounds Dangerous, is operating today. Jedi Training is happening as we walk by. We speed all the way through the que for Star Tours and walk right into a simulator. Upon our barely safe return from the moon of Endor, we watch (or rather, listen to) Drew Carey catch the bad guy. We’ve never seen American Idol and the first show of the day is about to begin so we enter the theater. There are three contestants; a young woman who majored in Music and just graduated from college; a young man who is a college student; and a 17 year old young man. All three are quite good though it’s clear the audience is steered towards selecting the college student who sang a song from Hercules. He, in fact, wins the competition. Overall, this attraction is a yawn for me. Cute but I wouldn’t be disappointed to miss it in the future. We return to the post-show area by Drew Carey where we take in the sound booth presentation about the newly hired Disney executive who is visited by Mickey Mouse on his first day on the job. I’ve always like this! We play with a few of the other things in the area but they are badly maintained, partially broken, or not working correctly. Time to move on. Muppet Vision 3D is next and we get to see the entire pre-show before we enter the theater. At this point, we have pretty much done all we are interested in doing in this park.
For lunch, we again go to the Tune In Lounge. It’s essentially empty. Folks checking in for 50’s Prime Time are getting seated right away – no waiting. Today, Gene has a ham and cheese sandwich while I have a chicken sandwich. The Tune In has filled in by time we exit.
We still have fast passes for Tower of Terror so head there before exiting the park. We decide to walk to Epcot. It’s quite warm but not extremely hot and the humidity, though there, is not oppressive. Still, we walk at a relatively leisurely pace. For those who have asked about the walk before, it took us approximately ½ hour (though we could have done it in about 20 minutes had we walked at a more lively pace. According to my pedometer, the walk is about a mile from gate to gate (though I think my pedometer is reading a bit shy of true so it might be more like 1.2 miles or so).
By time we arrive at the International Gate, we are quite hot and sweaty so we make the Rose n Crown pub our first stop. We cool down a bit and have a beer in the process. I don’t finish mine but Gene finishes it for me. He’s more of a beer person than I am.
We’ve not visited with Crush so head to the Living Seas. We don’t wish to search for Nemo right now so enter the pavilion through the gift shop. The show, as always, is cute. When asked if he is cool, one little boy responds “no”. Another child, when asked what his question is, simply states “I like turtles”. On the way out, we peek at the manatees but they appear to be sleeping.
I suspect the fast passes for Soarin will be all gone but we check out the Land Pavilion. The fast pass kiosks are covered up and we are not interested in standing on line for an hour. Instead, we walk over to visit with Figment. The cast member in charge of instructing folks onto the vehicles seems to be in charge of only half the seats. Once she’s assigned that number of seats, she stops and it’s left to the person operating the ride to try to also instruct guests onto the remaining seats. Very strange!
I want to check out Mouse Gears so we head over there. We wander around but I don’t find anything I need to purchase so we leave empty handed.
There are a few countries we have not yet explored this trip so we walk over to Mexico. We get on line for the Gran Fiesta Tour and are fortunate enough to be just ahead of a fairly large tour group. When the person behind me in line is asked how many is in her group, her answer is “52”!
Once we’ve located Donald, we wander round the pavilion a bit and check out the tequila bar which is very crowded (and situated right where my favorite Mexican pavilion shop used to be)! We do not linger here and head back outdoors. We do stop at the margarita stand and get frozen margaritas. A little way down the promenade, we find a shady spot to sip and take in the view across the lake. We also have a view of the boarded off section of Mexico where the new restaurant is under construction. It almost appears as though there will be second story seating at this establishment. If so, that would certainly be one way to expand the number of lakeside seats available for Illuminations (and to put more money in Disney’s pocket for the viewing)!
Plan for the Day:
Epcot
Electric Umbrella for Lunch
Le Cellier for dinner
How the Day Really Went:
Tomorrow, we must go home. I’ve decided to use the Resort Airline Check-in service for our bags. I understand we have to call the day before so I do. The woman I speak to says I must call Magical Express I explain we are not using Magical Express. We have a car and I’m just trying to get any necessary information to check my bags through for my flight. She tells me again that I must call Magical Express. I once again say I’m not using Magical Express but she is insistent and gives me the telephone number for Magical Express. I dutifully call Magical Express though I’m expecting this person will tell me I need to call the original number again. The woman at the Magical Express number tells me that, since we’re flying Southwest and there will be no charge for our checked baggage, there is nothing else we need to do except to bring our bags to the resort counter in the morning and, no, I do not need to be talking to Magical Express.
We decide to head to Hollywood Studios this morning. The crowds seem to have disappeared. Perhaps it’s because this park is only open until 7 tonite?
Our first stop is at Tower of Terror. We pick up fast passes but, when we discover the standby line is only 10 minutes, we walk through. In reality, the ride is a walk-on. We exit and walk over to Star Tours. Along the way, we notice that the Drew Carey attraction, Sounds Dangerous, is operating today. Jedi Training is happening as we walk by. We speed all the way through the que for Star Tours and walk right into a simulator. Upon our barely safe return from the moon of Endor, we watch (or rather, listen to) Drew Carey catch the bad guy. We’ve never seen American Idol and the first show of the day is about to begin so we enter the theater. There are three contestants; a young woman who majored in Music and just graduated from college; a young man who is a college student; and a 17 year old young man. All three are quite good though it’s clear the audience is steered towards selecting the college student who sang a song from Hercules. He, in fact, wins the competition. Overall, this attraction is a yawn for me. Cute but I wouldn’t be disappointed to miss it in the future. We return to the post-show area by Drew Carey where we take in the sound booth presentation about the newly hired Disney executive who is visited by Mickey Mouse on his first day on the job. I’ve always like this! We play with a few of the other things in the area but they are badly maintained, partially broken, or not working correctly. Time to move on. Muppet Vision 3D is next and we get to see the entire pre-show before we enter the theater. At this point, we have pretty much done all we are interested in doing in this park.
For lunch, we again go to the Tune In Lounge. It’s essentially empty. Folks checking in for 50’s Prime Time are getting seated right away – no waiting. Today, Gene has a ham and cheese sandwich while I have a chicken sandwich. The Tune In has filled in by time we exit.
We still have fast passes for Tower of Terror so head there before exiting the park. We decide to walk to Epcot. It’s quite warm but not extremely hot and the humidity, though there, is not oppressive. Still, we walk at a relatively leisurely pace. For those who have asked about the walk before, it took us approximately ½ hour (though we could have done it in about 20 minutes had we walked at a more lively pace. According to my pedometer, the walk is about a mile from gate to gate (though I think my pedometer is reading a bit shy of true so it might be more like 1.2 miles or so).
By time we arrive at the International Gate, we are quite hot and sweaty so we make the Rose n Crown pub our first stop. We cool down a bit and have a beer in the process. I don’t finish mine but Gene finishes it for me. He’s more of a beer person than I am.
We’ve not visited with Crush so head to the Living Seas. We don’t wish to search for Nemo right now so enter the pavilion through the gift shop. The show, as always, is cute. When asked if he is cool, one little boy responds “no”. Another child, when asked what his question is, simply states “I like turtles”. On the way out, we peek at the manatees but they appear to be sleeping.
I suspect the fast passes for Soarin will be all gone but we check out the Land Pavilion. The fast pass kiosks are covered up and we are not interested in standing on line for an hour. Instead, we walk over to visit with Figment. The cast member in charge of instructing folks onto the vehicles seems to be in charge of only half the seats. Once she’s assigned that number of seats, she stops and it’s left to the person operating the ride to try to also instruct guests onto the remaining seats. Very strange!
I want to check out Mouse Gears so we head over there. We wander around but I don’t find anything I need to purchase so we leave empty handed.
There are a few countries we have not yet explored this trip so we walk over to Mexico. We get on line for the Gran Fiesta Tour and are fortunate enough to be just ahead of a fairly large tour group. When the person behind me in line is asked how many is in her group, her answer is “52”!
Once we’ve located Donald, we wander round the pavilion a bit and check out the tequila bar which is very crowded (and situated right where my favorite Mexican pavilion shop used to be)! We do not linger here and head back outdoors. We do stop at the margarita stand and get frozen margaritas. A little way down the promenade, we find a shady spot to sip and take in the view across the lake. We also have a view of the boarded off section of Mexico where the new restaurant is under construction. It almost appears as though there will be second story seating at this establishment. If so, that would certainly be one way to expand the number of lakeside seats available for Illuminations (and to put more money in Disney’s pocket for the viewing)!