|
Day Five – Wednesday, January 12, 2005 – Foliage,
Afritude and Salsa Dancers
Up a bit later today at 6:20. Steph was still sleeping, no jogging
today. I think it’s finally catching up to her. We got our
breakfasts, showers, etc. and headed out at 8:20 for the MK. I noticed,
for the first time, that all the Xmas decorations at the BW were
gone. No trees, no garland. I’m really not sure when this
happened.
We’ve had very good luck with the buses this trip, excepting
that marathon ride during the Marathon. This time we got one of
the new buses. It was similar to the ‘old’ new buses
– more seats facing inward for more standing room. On this
one, the rear-most seats included 2 rows that faced each other and
they were on an elevated platform area with a floor that sloped
down to the rear exit door. Much easier to load and unload wheelchairs.
And the seats were padded!
We got to the MK quickly, went through security and the turnstiles
and were held just before the train station for the official opening.
Once inside we headed to AdventureLand (AL) because we hadn’t
yet ridden our favorites there. Unfortunately, most of AL doesn’t
open until 10. We even tried the Country Bears but they also open
at 10. We settled for a ride on BTMRR – a walk on.
We walked from there up to FantasyLand for another viewing of Mickey’s
PhilharMagic. After the show, Steph confirmed what I thought –
this was now her favorite attraction.
We headed back to AL and the Jungle Cruise. We got there at 10:10
and the wait time was already 20 minutes. We got into the queue
and found the wait time to be fairly accurate. We had a great Skipper
on this trip that delivered all the same shtick along with some
personal jokes. She was really good and she got Barb with the “Let
me point out some of my favorite foliage”. I’m pretty
sure we had seen that before but, apparently, Barb didn’t
remember it.
We next hit Pirates of the Caribbean (PoTC) – always fun.
From there we cut back to FrontierLand for the Country Bear’s
Jamboree. We haven’t done this in several years but Stephen
had visited it last year with his girlfriend and her family and
discovered a real fondness for Big Al. We were about 5-minutes before
the next show so we took up some benches inside with a fairly small
crowd. A CM was playing with a little girl, about 5, when she discovered
it was the girl’s birthday. She had the entire crowd sing
Happy Birthday to her as the little girl blushed and hung on to
her Dad’s leg. I threatened Steph.
The show was better, more humorous and shorter than I remembered.
The big hit, of course, was Big Al singing ‘Blood on the Saddle’.
This was a mixed blessing because Stephen and Will serenaded us
with this song every thirty minutes for the rest of the trip. They
not only serenaded us but also anyone that shared our bus, monorail,
or was within 50 feet of us at the parks or the resort. I don’t
want to say their singing is bad but they make Big Al sound like
Pavarotti.
At this point, we were getting hungry for some lunch and Stephanie
was, apparently, feeling guilty about not running this morning.
She left to head back to the BW for a run and some pool time (this
may be getting redundant but it was sunny and 80s again). The rest
of us head to Casey’s for hot dogs, fries and cokes –
except Will had a stop to make first. In the weeks before the trip,
he kept talking about getting an emu – oops – turkey
leg. Sure enough, he showed up at Casey’s munching on one.
He did say later that he was disappointed. It had too much gristle
and too many veins running through it.
We spent some time browsing the Emporium and headed into Exposition
Hall where we took a few pictures using their ‘sets’.
We caught the bus back to the BW (as Will and Stephen offered up
several renditions of ‘Blood on the Saddle’).
Stephen headed off to the gym for a workout, Michelle and Will
went out for a walk and Barb and I were heading to the pool. At
the last minute, we decided on a walk around Crescent Lake first.
From timing her runs, Steph has estimated the distance around at
.9 miles. Barb and I headed off to the right, toward the Beach Club.
We were walking at a brisk pace and about halfway around we ran
into Michelle and Will – walking in the other direction.
After the walk (we were feeling less guilty about the hot dogs)
we hit the quiet pool for swims, Jacuzzis, and just laying out relaxing
in the sun. I actually think I may have dozed off once or twice
while there.
Back to the rooms for showers and changes and we were discussing
the best way to get to Boma for our 5:30 PS. I suggested driving
but Barb and Michelle reminded me that, if I drove, I shouldn’t
have drinks while there. Good thinking. Stephen suggested a walk
to MGM and a bus from there to the Animal Kingdom Lodge (AKL). I
don’t know the distances but that’s probably close to
a walk to and through Epcot for a bus.
We walked to MGM and found the AKL bus stop and waited… and
waited… and waited. It took 15 minutes to walk to MGM and
another 20 minutes for the AKL bus to show. I should have driven.
The bus finally came and we got to the AKL fairly quickly. The
lobby was impressive as always and their Xmas tree was still there.
We wandered out to the Savanna where we had excellent views of giraffes,
zebras and wildebeests.
We headed back in a found a table and chairs in the Victoria Falls
Lounge where Barb graciously went to the bar and secured drinks
for us (Stephanie pitched in as the ‘serving wench’).
We sat, chatted and sipped until 5:20 when we went downstairs to
check in. I made sure they knew we had a birthday (it was on the
PS in their system) and was given a pager. After about 5-minutes,
the pager went off and we were seated and introduced to our server,
Gilbert from Puerto Rico.
Gilbert did a nice job taking drink orders and explaining the buffet’s
stations and turned us loose. We had a nice little feeding frenzy
here and between the 6 of us, we probably sampled everything they
offered. The 3 girls are light eaters and it’s debatable whether
or not these ‘all-you-can-eat’ places are really worthwhile
for them. However, I’m proud to say that the 3 guys made up
for them. Will still chants “Boma, Boma, Boma” whenever
he’s hungry. While most of the food is very good (the potatoes
with Afritude are a personal favorite), the highlight is, as always,
the desserts. Surprisingly, no one else shares my affection for
the Zebra Domes (they said they were just OK) but the Caramel Cheesecake
was a big hit.
After dinner, Gilbert brought out a small Mickey shaped cake on
a plate that was decorated with ‘Happy Birthday Stephanie’
(in chocolate) and included a card that was signed by all the servers.
Very nice. They don’t sing Happy Birthday because, as Gilbert
said, there’d be a birthday at every table. Not to worry,
Stephanie sang a very nice rendition of “Happy Birthday to
me” for us.
We left Boma and walked out to the bus stops for a trip to Downtown
Disney. Michelle had wanted to see Saratoga Springs and we were
planning on visiting Pleasure Island for a while – mainly
for the Comedy Warehouse (CW).
We strolled through the Marketplace and Michelle got a reasonable
look at some of the Saratoga Springs buildings. We walked into Pleasure
Island at about 7:30 and strolled through to the West End. I still
had 3 old Park Hoppers from a trip that Barb, Stephen and I had
taken in 2000, that had a total of 4 remaining Plus Features. Michelle,
Will and Steph bought PI Passes at the booths by the West End. After
DVC discount, they came to $13.80 each.
We tried to enter the Adventurer’s Club (AC) but it was closed
until 9:00 for a private function. We just hung out watching some
videos for a while (I guess the live entertainment at the West End
Stage is now gone) until they started lining up at the CW for the
8:20 show.
The new policy at PI (I guess it’s not really new anymore)
is that anyone can enter and they check your admission media at
each club. I don’t like it one bit. As we were being let into
the CW, a CM took my card and ran it through. I asked her if she
preferred the old system when they checked your admission as you
entered PI and she said she was new and only knew the new system
which she thought was fine.
Anyway, the ‘kids’ were asked for ID as they got their
hand stamps and wristbands (do they really need both?). When it
was my turn, I said I was offended that they hadn’t asked
to see my ID. The guy doing the checking then asked for my driver’s
license – not to check my age but just to make fun of where
I was from.
We stayed for 2 shows. Both good but not great. There were some
highlights. They play a rapid-fire game where they must provide
rhymes for an audience members name while singing a very fast version
of “Da-doo-run-run” (What’s the name of that song?
I met her on a Monday and my heart stood still… never mind).
Anyway, as they screw up the rhyme, or repeat one, the performer
is eliminated until there’s only the winner remaining. It
was fairly easy with names like ‘Dan’ and ‘Bob’.
When there were 2 performers left, they asked for another name and
got ‘Beth’. Try and come up with 3 rhymes for Beth in
about 2 seconds (I got death and breath and…). I was shocked
it went on as long as it did.
One of the performers was Mark, who was in every CW show I saw
throughout the 90s. He then disappeared - I heard he went to California
(?). He was back for these 2 shows and did a great Schmeopardy skit
as a flamingly gay Salsa Dance Instructor.
A third highlight was when Jake came out as a Rap Poet. He indicated
he had writer’s block and needed help. He asked for one word
and got ‘spinach’. He then did a 3-minute ‘Rap-Poem’
on spinach that was hilarious and very impressive.
They closed the show by doing a skit that features an embarrassing
moment from someone in the audience. A girl offered the story of
being in a wedding where the reception had a lot of guests, but
very few restrooms. She was with 4 of the other bridesmaids that
were in the parking lot, peeing by the side of a parked car…
when someone moved the car.
After the second show, we decided to leave PI and walked to the
bus stops. The first bus to arrive was for the Yacht and Beach Clubs
so we jumped on, rode to the Yacht Club and walked to the BW. We
finished the night by coaxing Michelle into one more ‘fat
Monica’ dance in front of the BW mirror.
Things I Think I Think - I think the Jungle Cruise is still a great
ride if you get the right Skipper. I think I should have driven
to AKL - but then I would have had to forgo the Manhattan. I think
Boma is very good. I think I preferred the old process for gaining
admission to Pleasure Island.
Day 6...
|
