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December 4, 2003 – Day Six
I’m up at 5:45 and I don’t think I’ve ever been
so well rested. I must have slept 15 hours yesterday and I slept
like a baby last night (a friend always asks if that means I was
up every 3 hours looking to eat). I feel much better.
We do the coffee and light breakfast, showers, and we’re
out the door at 7:40 for Extra Magic Hour at Magic Kingdom.
We enter at opening and head directly to Tomorrowland. First up
is Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin. As we’re walking
in I turn to Barb and suggest a wager. “Loser buys lunch”.
She agrees but then says “Wait. You always beat me at this”.
Ladies and gentlemen, I was on my game. Barb came in with a pitiful
19,000 points. I maxed out at 999,999 and was only 2/3 of the way
through. I used the last third to practice trick shots. You know…off
Space Mountain, through the TTA, nothing but Zurg. Galactic Hero
my butt. Steve Russo – Interplanetary Space Stud.
We head to Space Mountain with a short wait. Good ride, as always.
We then decide to give Winnie the Pooh a second chance. We rode
this in 2001, shortly after it opened. I was less than impressed
but thought it may have been my mood or something. We get in the
short line and, as we’re moving through, I notice a guy’s
tee shirt coming the other way. It says (I didn’t write it
down then so I’m paraphrasing slightly) ‘Having a positive
attitude may not solve all life’s problems but it’s
annoying enough to piss off everyone around you.’ I really
like this and the guy sees me admiring it and hands me a business
card. Apparently, this is his business. His card has his URL and
he tells me to call and mention I saw it at Disney and he’ll
provide free shipping. In the next 5 minutes, I see him do this
with 2 other guests.
We ride Pooh and I am not impressed. It’s just not me. I
was never that fond of the characters, excepting Eeyore. Other people
love it and I think it’s great for the kids. I doubt I’ll
ride it again, though.
We’ve timed it perfectly as it’s now 8:58 and park
opening is at 9:00. We head to Mickey’s Philharmagic and walk
in to the waiting area. At about 9:05 they open the doors and in
we go. This is a great show. Well done, great 3D effects, great
musical score, humor. It has it all plus some great audience effects
that are timed perfectly to the film. I’ve now seen two of
the three ‘new’ attractions (this and Wishes) and have
been awed by both. If Mission: Space is good, Disney has hit the
trifecta.
We head back for another ride on BTMRR and score the rearmost
seats. Another great ride. We get muffins and coffees from a cart
in Frontierland and head inside Pecos Bill’s to eat. We’re
the only ones in there.
Next up is Pirates of the Caribbean, which we ride after a 5-minute
wait. This is really the last thing we’re looking to do at
Magic Kingdom so we stroll out and take the monorail to the TTC
and change to Epcot.
Test Track has a 45-minute Standby so we get FPs for 12:33. We
then head to Mission: Space. It has a 15-minute wait posted but
we’re on in 10. The pre-show is pretty cool. There’s
an actual lunar rover there, on loan from the Smithsonian. I admit
to a fair amount of trepidation and I’m really concerned for
Barb. She has that motion thing and I know she almost freaked on
RnRC. Nevertheless, we push on and get our instructions from Gary
Sinise. We board with another couple. I’m the Flight Commander
(must have heard about my prowess at Buzz) and Barb’s the
Engineer.
We get settled in the pod and I realize that my camera bag won’t
fit into the compartment. The CM tells me to just put it on the
floor between my feet. The doors close and the console slides forward.
I have no feelings of claustrophobia. We sit in semi-darkness for
a good 3 minutes before it comes to life. The pod rotates backwards
so we’re now reclined and the ‘doors’ open so
we can see sky and clouds. The next thing I know, Gary is shouting
something like “3-2-1, launch” and it starts.
I liked it. So did Barb although I don’t think she’ll
be up for multiple rides. The G-forces are real; you can feel pressure
on your face and chest. It’s difficult to move your arms during
acceleration. The ‘sling shot’ move around the moon
is, I think, awesome. A lot of folks think it ends rather abruptly
but I was satisfied. Overall, thumbs up and I think Disney has scored
with all 3 new attractions.
We wandered through Innoventions without really stopping at anything.
We then went to Ice Station Cool for some refreshments. I had some
Beverly and while I don’t think it’s particularly good,
I don’t seem to have the aversion that many do.
Now it’s time for Test Track and another Russo Complaint.
We have FPs. The Standby wait is still 45 minutes and there is a
sign that says that only one group will be taken every 5 minutes.
We’re in the FP line for 30 minutes. Now, if you see a sign
that says 1 group every 5 minutes what would you do? Get a FP, right?
The result is that everyone gets a FP so the FP has become the Standby
line. How to solve it – do away with FP and let everyone go
Standby? Give out fewer FPs? Take a few more from Standby each cycle?
I don’t know but it stinks the way it is. Someone at Disney
must have the statistics on ride times, load times, etc. that could
serve to improve this situation.
Time for a stroll through World Showcase and we stop at Germany
and get a Beck’s to share. It’s rather warm and this
hits the spot. Time for a late lunch and we decide to hit the Chefs
de France. We both opt for the ‘French Menu’, which
is a bowl of French Onion Soup, grilled ham and cheese sandwich
and a Crème Brulee. This is $14.95 and, as we learned too
late, we could have gotten a 10% discount through DVC. Need to read
the welcome package better.
Here’s a tip – IMO this is too much food for one person.
We should have ordered one French Menu and a second bowl of soup.
That would have been fine. As it turned out, we both ate the soup
(with accompanying fresh roll). I had 2/3 of the sandwich, Barb
about half. I ate about half the Crème Brulee, Barb about
¼. If you’re a big eater (and I usually am) this may
be fine but you’d better be hungry.
While we ate we watched a show outside the windows where a guy was
balancing himself on stacked chairs. I think he had 6 of them stacked
by the end.
We headed back to the Boardwalk, via the IG, for some rest and
relaxation. At 4:30, it was time to head to MGM for Fantasmic. We
made the walk to MGM in about 20 minutes (I am feeling better).
Barb wanted to hit WWTBAM once more but I was unsure if we’d
get in for the last show of the day without FPs. Not to worry, the
show was 2/3 full.
In the hot seat is Brant from Jersey. At 32,000 points, I’m
8th on the Leader Board. At 64,000 points, I’m 3rd. Two questions
later, Brant misses and we’re out of time. I’ve decided
I’m too competitive to enjoy WWTBAM. I’m competitive
in every thing I do. I really think I should win and I’m disappointed
when I don’t even get in the hot seat. There’s a character
flaw here - I’ve got to chill.
We take our time getting to Fantasmic and walk in about 6:15.
We’re surrounded by groups of teens. I noticed them yesterday
but thought it too early for Pop Warner (next week) or (shudder)
Cheerleaders. Barb is seated next to a mom/chaperone and learns
that they’re a marching band from Massachusetts. This group
is relatively well behaved although I hear a couple of F-bombs dropped
behind me. I did see this mom/chaperone turn and throw some eye-daggers
to quell it – and it seemed to work.
Fantasmic is still a great show but it seems each time I see it
there is more projected film on the water screens. I know this is
only my perception and probably due to the fact that I’ve
seen it multiple times. Anyway, we enjoy the show. It’s interesting
as the show starts; the teenagers around me are talking and joking
as if they have no interest. Gradually, they go silent as the show
captures them. Soon, you hear “Ooh, Tinkerbell”. At
the end, I think they’re cheering the loudest when the victorious
Mickey appears atop the mountain.
After Fantasmic, we stroll/waddle out with the herds and make
the walk back to the Boardwalk (after Barb’s inevitable rest
stop, of course). When Barb returns from the Ladies Room, she shares
a cute story. A little girl asks her mom, “Mom, are the parks
closed now?” Mom replies, “Yes, honey. I’m sorry
but they are.” The little girl says “But how will we
get out?”
We head back to the room and decide that an evening at Jelly Rolls
is in order. We head down and pay the $7 cover charge (it was $6
in January) and grab a table to one side. The room is about ½
full but is almost packed within an hour.
Jelly Rolls is dueling pianos and sing along. Throw in a couple
of group dances (The Big Tree and the Unicorn) and it can be a lot
of fun. There are 4 singer/piano players that perform, 2 at a time.
They take requests on cocktail napkins that are dropped on to the
pianos. I’m always amazed at the breadth of songs they know.
It’s rare to see them stumped.
Two performers are new and two I recognize from last November.
Scotty is the ‘kid’ I describe as a cross between Bill
Gates and Rob Lowe (if you’ve seen him you’ll know what
I mean). IMO, he’s the most talented of the group –
great on the keys with a great voice.
They converse a great deal with the audience and, at one point,
find a group of about 8 people. It includes a girl that’s
getting married this Sunday at the Wilderness Lodge. She’s
there with her parents, her fiancé, her sister and her fiancé
(having just paid for a wedding, I don’t envy this dad). They
get the girls and their fiancés up on stage where Scotty
leads them in the Big Tree dance. Then the girls get to leave while
the guys stay and entertain us some more. It’s goodhearted
fun – no slams but some minor jibes.
At some point this evening, Barb asked if I thought a trip next
April might be do-able. I don’t think it will be but I am
impressed. I think my bride has made the jump from Disney fan to
fanatic.
We hung out for a couple of hours and had a great time. I’d
recommend it to anyone who enjoys good entertainment and doesn’t
mind looking or sounding a bit foolish at times. They played anything
and everything including the Doors, Beatles, Billy Joel, Elton John,
Jimmy Buffet, etc. On to bed.
Musings and Observations- You can hit 3 parks, and Jelly Rolls,
in one day without going commando. I rock on Buzz. I don’t
need to ride Pooh again. Mickey’s Philharmagic is great. So
is Mission: Space. Disney has 3 winners in the newest attractions.
Split the French Menu with someone. Jelly Rolls is not for everyone
but we really enjoy it.
Miles Walked Today – 11.4
Day 7...
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