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| Walt Disney World 2001: |
May 20th |
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Trip Reports
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| Walt Disney World 2001: |
May 20th |
| Main Index | < | Travels | < | Walt Disney World 2001 | < | Sunday May 20th 2001 |
Got up at 5:45 (again) and went went down to the Sassagoula Float Works to
pick up beignets for the gang. 3 for $1.89 + tax, such a deal! They are
big and delicious.Enjoyed a room brewed cup of coffee, then headed for the
bus stop at about 7:00. Disney/MGM Studios was our destination today, for
early-entry. It was Star Wars Weekends at MGM so there were Storm Troopers
patrolling the entrance. They had some pretty funny (scripted) comments
about the crowd, then finally grudgingly let us in at about 8:00. No rebels
were harmed. Head straight to the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror... with a
brief stop on Sunset Blvd to visit the water-ride. After being excited
about the Tower for a week, Denise suddenly began to get cold feet. I
guess it is pretty intimidating :) The fires were still going in Florida
and the smoke was the worst of the entire trip this day. The smoke level
dipped all the way down to about the 10th floor of the Hollywood Tower
Hotel! There was no line which was great except we'd wanted to snap some
pics of the lobby. We got the chance later. The CM who "checked us in"
reminded me of Jon Lovitz. Had a short wait once we got to the basement
then boarded the back row of our service elevator. I hate drop rides and it
took an extreme act of courage to ride this for the first time 5 years ago.
I loved it back then, and still do, but this first time after so long got
the butterflies going good. It was just as fun as I remembered, even though
they've changed the up/down cycle a bit. The view at the top stunk
though... literally. The smoke was very thick, and it wafted into the
Tower, making for a very interesting ride. For the rest of the trip, I was
reminded of those drops every time I smelled smoke. We walked over to the
Rock and Roller Coaster and again there was little line. The pre-show is fun
and they really could easily change the whole thing over to some better band
than Aerosmith if they wanted to. While waiting, the group got tired of me
not noticing they were all wearing Dwarf pins. They kept asking if I was
happy. Sure I was happy, I'm at WDW and it's my birthday... hmmm. My hat
was then pulled off my head to show me I had a "Happy" the dwarf pin on.
Kel had stealth stuck it on earlier. There were 7 of us so it as a natural.
Kel was Doc, Pat Grumpy. Other appropriate pairings were Greg as Sneezy,
Denise as Sleepy and Terry as Bashful. Melissa got Dopey and tried to find
a good association for herself with it. I thought it as all very cool and
fun of them to do. The coaster itself is fantastic. I loved the high speed
acceleration into the first loop. The music was ok, but would have
preferred Dick Dale :) We rode it a second time then dragged Denise back to
TZ for another drop in. Spent some time in the TZ gift shop buying a set of
hotel towels for Adri and Matt. They were a bit bulky so we took advantage
of the Package Shipping deal, where for $10 they'll ship your purchases to
your home. As of this writing, June 4th, they have yet to arrive. {They arrived on the 5th}
Next time we'll cram them into our suitcase somehow. We were not very
pleased with the Package Express to your hotel either. [already
mentioned???] {Yes. More than twice, probably not - Ke} Denise bought me a
Bellhop Goofy for my birthday which was too cool. (Did I mention it was my
birthday?) {Yes. More than ten times, probably not - Ke}
We took a little sit-down break then waded through the smoke over to the
Great Movie Ride. There were construction walls set up in front of it, as
they were building this huge Sorcerer's hat. We had to go in through an
alternate entrance. It's still a pretty fun ride, even though the cheese
factor is kinda high, and they try to group Disney B-Movies with
classics. Don't they know that a clip of Sister Act right after a clip from
Casablanca ain't gonna get ANYBODY to run out and rent a Whoopie Goldberg
film. We had Priority Seating scheduled at the Brown Derby for 11:10,
and it was only 10:30, so we kicked back for a bit then headed over did
some shopping at the Villain Shop. Bought cool stuff and had it Package
Expressed to our hotels' gift shop (for our convenience - HAH!) to be available
to us for pickup 1 to 2 days later.
We arrived at the Brown Derby at 11:00 and got seated at 11:10. Our server, Sandi, was great. I had a wonderful big ravioli appetizer followed by a huge Cobb Salad with shrimp. Kel and Denise shared a Cobb. About halfway through the meal Sandi asked if I was Happy... this tipped me off that I should leave room for dessert. I couldn't finish the Cobb (that RARELY happens folks). Then as expected, the staff came out singing happy birthday with a cake. It was nummy and I dealt with the embarrassment pretty well. Must have been the Skywalker I had to drink. It was a special drink for the Star Wars festivities (duh). It had vodka in it. Great meal.
After lunch we strolled over to Star Tours and got Fast Passes. There was a
noisy light saber show going on outside. From there we walked over to see
the Muppet 3D show. Great fun, little or no wait. Back we went for our
Star Tours FastPass return, which got us right on the ride. In a way it was
too bad because Denise had never been through the line before. It's so well
detailed. I always freak out because it is so similar to Disneyland's, yet
different. The ride itself is identical, and it looked like a new print of
the film. Ahhh the classics. By the time we finished Star Tours it was
starting to get hot and crowded. Time to head back to the hotel for our
afternoon nap/picture dump/cool-off. Made a few brief stops on the way out
of the park, then hiked out to the furthest bus stop (again, somebody in
Transportation hates the Port Orleans).
While Kel played with our pictures, I went back down to the hotel giftshop
to buy more postcards for the folks back home. When I returned to the room
not 15 minutes later I found it full of people and balloons! The whole
group was there and they had a card for me featuring a picture and autographs
from Snow White and the Seven Dwarves... oh and my friends signed it as well,
under their namesakes:) They, (particularly Melissa), had set it up with the
front desk to arrange the balloons etc. Very fun. Kicked everyone out
after thanking them, then started cranking out postcards. While doing this
Kel and I discussed some changes we wanted to make to the master
schedule. Originally we had not included the afternoon breaks, so something
was being sacrificed... Epcot. We decided to broach the subject with the
rest of the group, proposing to shuffle some things around in order to give
us a full day there instead of seeing it piecemeal. Later when Melissa and
Pat dropped by the room we found that they had had the same idea! We moved
Blizzard Beach from Tuesday to Monday, and pencilled in Tuesday as Epcot
day. We would still spend that evening at MK for E-Ride night and still
spend Monday evening at Downtown Disney. Everyone agreed this would work
out just fine.
Off to Epcot for my birthday dinner at the Rose and Crown. We'd made
priority seating arrangements months ago for this. Pat called as soon as
possible and requested a patio table with a view of Illuminations. This
would mimic the last time Kel and I were here, on my 31st birthday. Pat
then called and confirmed the arrangements 3 more times before we flew into
Orlando. (Ya see where this is heading?) Once in Epcot we had some time to
kill so we spent it in Canada. Watched their 360 movie, which is still fun
but getting way dated. Everyone was reminded of Len-O-Vision during the
bobsled portion. We walked over to the UK and relaxed a bit in the Secret
Garden. A Beatle Band was playing. At 10 to 7 We went over to claim or
table at the Pub. First problem came up: They began to lead us to a table
in the back, with absolutely NO view of the Lagoon (and Illuminations). Pat
protested and they said that for Illuminations viewing one must make PS
arrangements for 7:30 not 7:00! This was a direct contradiction to what 4
people had told us on the phone for months. Pat was justifiably pissed.
They told us they would try and get us patio seats but it may take a half
hour or so. They gave us a pager and we plunked down in a nearby area to
wait. I had a Guinness. The outdoor beer vendors are not allowed to accept
tips FYI. We waited and waited. I did some video taping of the area. At
7:45, still no page, so Pat and I went up to the R&C reservation desk
again. Lo and behold, they said they'd been paging us! They tested the
pager and it worked fine this time. heck we were only 50 feet
away. Curious. We quickly gathered the group and were cheerfully
directed... to the very same table they tried to give us before. In the
back near the entrance. By this time, smoke was beginning to come from Pat's
ears. Not only had he been calling for 2 months, but the whole reason he'd
been calling was because they pulled this on him 2 years ago. I was a bit
more mellow about it, as I'm not really into confrontations, and I figgered
if we ate fast we could quickly find an alternate viewing area right after
dinner. We all were feeling a little uncomfortable because Pat was fuming
and getting madder and madder, until finally he got up and asked to speak to
the manager. We couldn't hear them (a good thing), and while Meaghan the
manager (sp?) was unable due to availability, to move us to a better table,
the venting cooled Pat off. She listened to al of his gripes and
sympathized but there was little she could do. Pat felt better and we all
relaxed.
For dinner I had Bangers and Mash (much better then what you get in the real
UK IMNSHO) and Kel had the Pie Sampler. I also had a couple more Guinnesses
(it was my BIRTHDAY!). Our server was great. About halfway through the
meal, Meaghan returned to our table and offered us spots in the VIP viewing
area for Illuminations for our trouble! Ka-Ching! Not as good as watching
it from a nice table but a very close second. Heck it would be away from
the rabble so I was pleased as punch. After dinner Melissa and I went into
the pub to get refills on everyone's drinks (only one per ID.. sheesh), then
Meaghan escorted us toward the VIP area. At this point, I realized
something was missing. The camcorder bag!! I'd left it in that nearby area
we'd been waiting in before dinner and then left it when Pat and I went to
check on the table. I'd expected to be right back, and then the table snafu
hit and I forgot all about it. Nobody in the group noticed! I ran back to
that area, which incidently was a pretty good viewing area, and the people
there told me they'd found it and turned it in to the R&C. I ran back to
the front desk and sure enough they still had it! Thank goodness! Not only
is the camcorder not mine to lose, I'd feared it would be turned in to lost
and found where I wouldn't be able to get to it till after
Illuminations. Karma worked out for me yet again. (That's the reason I tip
big :). As it turned out, I decided not to tape Illuminations afterall in
favor of just watching and enjoying it. If it was spectacular, I'd return
later in the week to tape it.
We were shown to a nice area devoid of humanity and staked out positions
against a low wall. Perfect viewing. The show started 5 minutes later and
was totally great, but not so great that I needed a tape of it. The
fireworks and lighting effects were really cool, but the music was, to my
ear, rather tame and uninspired, not like Fantasmic's score at all. It
finished up by 9:20, and we all made our way back over to the Secret Garden
to let the crowd thin out before we left the park. Pat went back to the R&C
to thank the manager again, snagging her card so he could write a formal
letter to Disney after we got home, both to compliment her, and to berate
Disney for it's problems with PS communications. We hung out in the Secret
Garden for about 40 minutes, then made our way out of the parked in a very
non-rushed manner. We stopped at a gift shop on the way out, and I bought
some stuff for my nephew. Once in the parking lot, we could see the Port
Orleans line at the far, far bus stop. None of us could face that annoying
walk then wait, so we took a cab. The cabby was a dishonest crook. He
didn't flip on the meter and when confronted on this, he said that it's
always $9.50 or $10 to the PO form Epcot. He charged us $10 which we pretty
much threw at him with no "tip", and vowed to ask for a receipt from now
on. We took several more cabs from Epcot after that, always asking for a
receipt and it NEVER came to more than $6.75. Them we always tipped.
Got back to the hotel around 10:30 and some of us went swimming. The pool
was much cooler and much less crowded than before. Quite a relaxing
swim. Didn't get to bed until after midnight. All in all one of the best
birthdays ever!
Storm Troopers at the Gate! |
Storm Trooper |
New Construction |
Building a Hat. |
Muppet Vision |
Muppet Vision |
Water-Ride |
Street Signs at the Port Orleans |
Street Signs at the Port Orleans |
Birthday Balloons |
The Rose & Crown Pub |
At the Rose & Crown |
Morocco At Night |
Reflections of Earth |
Reflections of Earth |
Reflections of Earth |
Reflections of Earth |
Reflections of Earth |
Reflections of Earth |
Reflections of Earth |
Reflections of Earth |
Reflections of Earth |
Reflections of Earth |
Reflections of Earth Final Shot |
After Illuminations |
Spaceship Earth by Night |
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