Where's the fruit? - November 2005 - Pop Century

[evrythngwmn]

Just got back yesterday from a week in WDW. Here's the lowdown on my trip:

Tuesday prep/Wednesday 11/9
I got my nails painted an ice blue just for the trip. Since I work at DLR I usually keep them either unpainted or painted a neutral color keeping in line with the Disney look. This week was all about me. I also got my legs waxed (hate shaving). I was busy getting things organized for my absence and didn't have time to pack until about 10:30p. I lay down for a nap about midnight. My friend Kathy and her sister Evie who were coming with my came to pick me up at 4:45a right on time. Kathy's husband drove us to LAX.

While we were driving it started sprinkling. The people we talked to at home told us it didn't let up for a few days. We had very good whether in FL. We got to the airport at about 5:10a. Just when we were going to give up on finding the rep from the travel co we found her. This was a CM trip arranged by the Walt Disney Travel Co. The travel co rep gave each group their package and pointed us toward group check in.

With tickets in hand we went to turn in our checked luggage. As we were leaving the area we spotted Greg Proops (Whose Line is it Anyway) and Kathy Kinney (Mimi from Drew Carey) in the line we had just left. After this we went through TSA bag check with our carry ons and went through the metal detectors ourselves. Once in the clear we went to our gate and parked ourselves. We got settled in and Kathy watched all our stuff while her sister and I went and got coffee and snacks from Starbucks. In line with us was Bachelor Bob Guiney. The soap weekend would be occurring the Saturday and Sunday we were there. He was hosting a session called Wide World of Soaps. We returned back to our seats at the gate and waited for the plane to start boarding.

Boarding and take off were delayed because of problems with an interior light panel. We boarded the plane and discovered that Bachelor Bob was flying with us (he was in first class of course). We left about 7:30a. Our flight had been scheduled to leave at 7:10a. Not too bad of a delay.

For the most part our flight was uneventful. There was a loud annoying family with toddlers behind us. The little girl with them spent most of the flight kicking Kathy's chair. They apologized when we got off. We got in a nice long line to check in with Disney's Magical Express. It took about 20 minutes to get us checked in. Then we got to wait another 10 minutes in a different line to get the shuttle to our hotel Pop Century.

At our hotel they had problems finding our reservation because some bright person mispelled my last name. After finding our reservation we went and got settled in our room. We were in building six in the 70s. The room wasn't much to write home about but was ok.

Kathy had refinanced her home a few weeks before we left. She had called the travel co about upgrading to a better hotel. The woman who normally handles the arrangements for cast trips was on vacation when she called. The travel rep she spoke to told her we'd have to make any changes once we got to Florida. We were to learn later this was wrong and ended up being the one sore spot of our trip. Once in the room Kathy called Cast Reservations to find us a room at a better hotel. None were available at the time but the girl helping her told her to call back first thing in the morning as they usually had cancellations. With that out of the way we headed to MK. I had made ADR for Cinderella's Royal Table for 8:55p.

We got to the park around 6ish and headed to guest services to get tickets. The girl there was really nice and explained the procedure to me. This was the first time I've used my maingate pass outside of CA. She was orginally from CA and we talked about Disneyland. I have to say that the CMs I encountered on this trip were a lot better than the ones I encountered on my trip last June. Most of them lacked any kind of courtesy. They just seemed to be going through the motions of their jobs. Guess there really is a difference between summer help and other times of year. With tickets in hand we got the wrist bands for that night's EMH.

First place we headed was Stitch's great escape. The wait was only about 10 minutes. This ride was such a disappointment. Alien Encounter was such a better ride. Stitch is geared toward kids but most of them just screamed and cried during it. I think any kid that isn't afraid of it would probably think it was lame too. I just don't think there is really an audience for this version of the attraction.

Since we were in TL and we only had a little over an hr before we had to check in for dinner we decided to just work that land. Next we went to Carousel of Progress. I love this show. Kathy and I sang along. Everyone else just kind of sat there like lumps. After this we all shared a pretzel and a coke. We decided to go on Space Mountain next. This was one of the longest lines of the night at 30 mins. It was interesting to me how much longer the que lines were. The que for space reminded me of the mile long walk to Indy at DL. The seating of the cars reminded me of the Matterhorn bobsleds. I also thought it was interesting that this attraction lacked safety gates. Anyone standing there waiting for a car could easily just jump into one approaching. I wasn't impressed by this Space Mountain. It was better than our old Space at DL but it just didn't compare to the new version. MKs version lacked music and was a lot rougher. From there we rode Tomorrowland Transit Authority around. Another fun one I miss at DL. When we got off it was time to head over to the castle.

The castle area was roped off when we got there and a CM working the rope told us to come back in a little while as they were doing pyro testing. A showing of Mickey's Philharmagic was going to start soon so we went there. I love this show. Hopefully someday we'll get it in CA. Following this we went back to the rope at the castle. We spoke to another CM there and he went and got someone to escort us to CRT. Dinner was yummy. I had the Queens cut of prime rib. Kathy got a kids hot dog meal and her sister just had soup and bread. She wasn't feeling like eating with the change in hours. While in the castle the fireworks went off. We could hear the audio fine but couldn't really see them.

Following dinner it was about 10p. We decided to work FL this time. We started with It's a Small World. When I was there in June last year it was closed for refurbishment. They added a facade inside the building que area similar to the one we have at DL. It was kind of strange seeing it inside. Still the outer show area of the building has nothing on DL. While waiting for our boat I noticed Walt Willey (Jackson on All My Children). I pointed him out to my friends the soap nuts. I told them they were slipping. I haven't watched soaps in over 15 years yet I was the one that spotted him. Turned out we got to ride in the boat he'd just vacated. This Small World just didn't do it for me. The rooms were so large I felt like I was going through the warehouse where they store It's a Small World rather than the attraction itself. I also missed the transition areas and there was a lot of stuff floating in the water at the beginning of the ride. After Small World we headed to Winnie the Pooh. This is a great attraction. The story line was very similar to DLs yet it somehow just flowed better. It also had some neat visual touches.

From there we headed to Frontierland where we saw the Country Bears Christmas hoedown. I so miss this show. I'm glad we got to see the Christmas version. When I was there last they were playing the original Country Bear show. Having seen the Country Bear Vacation Hoedown multiple times at DL I like that better than the original version. It was good though getting to see the Christmas show since this is the other one I really love. We ended the night with a ride on Big Thunder Mountain. This is a cool ride also. I think it would be a toss up between the WDW version and DLs version.

As we headed out of the park we did a walk through of the shops on Main St. We stopped in the Emporium to buy something and the CM who rang us up didn't want to give me my discount because I didn't have the 2006 sticker on my ID. I told her we don't get ours until next month and that we don't even enforce them until 2006 as it is still 2005. I told her if she had issue she could call California. She agreed to go ahead and give me the discount "this time." It's like hello I'm right and I don't like your attitude. Interestingly during the whole trip she was the only one to make such an observation. No one else said anything about my sticker. With purchases in hand we got the bus back to Pop Century and called it a night.

More to follow. I'm pooped. Apologies ahead of time if I'm too detailed.

[Drince88]

No apologies for details with this group!
(And if someone doesn't like the details, they don't have to read it! :fez: )

Thanks for sharing (and keep 'em coming!)

[evrythngwmn]

Day 2 Thursday 11/10

I, despite all the over the counter meds I took, had a fitful nights sleep. I unfortunately came on this trip with the remnants of a cold with a cough that just wouldn't quit. Kathy got up about 8a and called Cast Reservations to find us another hotel. This woke me up because A) she was in the bed right next to me and B) since I am the CM she kept having to ask me for various pieces of info. Cast reservations told her they had a room at Animal Kingdom Lodge for just under $300 a night with the cast discount. He also told her that the money we'd prepaid to Pop Century would be credited to us. She reserved the spot for us at AKL. At this point I gave up lying in bed. When she told me how much the rate was I told her it didn't sound like he'd given us a discount. I got on Kathy's laptop and checked the Disney website and sure enough the public rate was pretty close to what he'd quoted. I then signed into the Cast Portal and found a rate starting on Saturday (the first date it would check for) at about $100 less than what he quoted. We decided to take up the discount issue when we got to AKL. We packed up what little we'd unpacked and got ready and went to the front desk to check out.

At the front desk we explained to the CM helping us what we were doing. When we asked him how much of a credit we had coming from the five nights we prepaid and didn't use he did not have an answer for us. He told us that they should be able to tell us at AKL. We inquired about getting our luggage to AKL. He told us to take it to luggage assistance and they would have it taken over for us. We went back to the room, got our luggage and went back to the lobby and gave it to the people at luggage assistance. With that done we had breakfast at Everything Pop. I had a full breakfast meal. Kathy and her sister shared a banana and a cheese danish. This did not bode well for me. I like to eat. If this was going to be the course of things I'd have to fend for myself.

After breakfast we took a bus to Animal Kingdom and from there got on a bus to Animal Kingdom Lodge. Here's where the fun starts (not). We go to check in at AKL. MaryLou helped us out. She was a very nice woman and went out of her way to help with our misc issues. The first one we brought up was the issue of the room rate Cast Reservations quoted us. Turns out because it was booked less than three days out we got a lesser discount. Also, Cast Reservations failed to tell us of a $25 charge for the third person. So now we were looking at an extra $25 per night. I brought up to MaryLou that I had found a room rate of $100 less starting on Saturday. Could we then pay the higher rate for Thursday and Friday and then the lesser rate for the rest of our stay? When we begin questioning the room rate MaryLou had brought in her lead Jim. He was also a big help and got on the phone with Cast reservations and got everything set up. After much time it was set that we'd pay the higher rate for the first two days and the lower rate for the remaining three days. At some point Kathy had walked away from the counter and gone and sat with her sister. Once everything was set up I walked over to where the two of them where sitting. We were just about to leave and go to Animal Kingdom when I realized I hadn't found out about our credit.

I returned back to MaryLou's area of the check in desk. At the time she was helping someone else. When she finished I told her I'd forgotten to ask about our credit from Pop Century. I explained that we'd prepaid for the trip and were told by Cast Reservations and Pop Century that we would get a credit for the unused days. She went to the back and a different lead came out. He flat out told us that we would not be receiving a credit. Kathy and I both felt our hearts fall into our feet. We asked what had happened to Jim and the new guy said that he'd gone off duty. We explained we had to be receiving a credit. We had each paid close to $600 for the trip and our airline tickets were only $300 dollars each. Kathy did some math on an envelope and figured we had about $600 unaccounted for. He basically said we gave up that money when we changed hotels. We told him that was crazy. There was no way we were paying for two hotels. If that were the case we would have never left Pop Century. At that point I realized there was no arguing with this man or getting him to see the craziness he was spouting. I asked Kathy for her cel phone and called the travel rep at Walt Disney Travel. I reached her and explained what was happening. She said she wished we'd said something when we met her at LAX about wanting to change hotels. I told her we didn't bring it up because one of her coworkers told us we'd have to make arrangments once we were in FL. At this point she asked to speak to the person helping us. He took the cel phone and stepped away from the counter so we couldn't hear him.:rolleyes: He came back a moment later and gave me the phone telling me that the travel co would call him on the hotel phone. I spoke to the travel rep before hanging up and she told us that she would get it straightened out and to go ahead and enjoy our day. With that we left the front desk and headed to get a bus for Animal Kingdom.

At AK we went to Guest Relations got tickets and headed into the park. This was the first time in this park for me. On my last trip my group decided to sleep in the morning we'd planned to go to AK. It is a beautiful park with animals about everywhere you look. Kathy had been to the park before and the Kilimanjaro Safari was the first thing she wanted to do. We consulted the map and headed off in that direction. It was about a half an hour wait to board the attraction. We spent the time talking with each other and listening to me hack up a lung. Once we boarded our driver was pretty into the storyline and tried to add thrills to it by driving in a harried manner. This did not impress me as it made it difficult to take pictures. I liked the safari tour. I just don't see why they have to give it a storyline. I think I would have liked it better if it were just a tour like at other animal parks.

From there we headed to Dinoland to ride Dinosaur. The wait here was about 20 minutes. On the walk from Africa to Dinoland we'd stopped and gotten a frozen lemonade and popcorn to share. The day before we'd learned that WDW does not let you eat in the que, unlike Disneyland that lets you eat right up until you board the attraction. Knowing this we stashed our snack in a shopping bag until we were clear of the attractions CM. We managed to finish our snack before we reached the next CM. This ride freaked us out. We spent most of it huddled against each other. The vehicle and movement of the vehicle is similar to Indy in DL but those dinosaurs just gave us the willies.

After exiting we followed the path to the requisite shop. This is another difference I noticed between WDW and DL, a lot more of the attractions at WDW exit into a shop. This shop had a pick your own candy mix with a lot of my favorites. I decided to buy some. I picked 3 or 4 pieces of each of my favorites. When I went to the register to pay the CM helping me reminded me that it was $5 per half a pound. I told her I was aware of that. She stated they'd started reminding people of the cost because a lot were surprised to find out how much it was. My bag ended up being $8. After my Cast discount though it came out to $5. It was fine by me. I had all my favorites and nothing I didn't like so I knew I'd eat it all.

Once we left the shop we rode Primeval Whirl. This had about a twenty minute wait. I continued hacking up a lung while waiting in this line. I was not crazy about this ride. Since there were three of us I ended up alone on my side of the vehicle. Despite the restraint I kept getting thrown into the center divider which was painful. After this happening a few times I put my hand out to brace myself on the side of the vehicle. Aside from Dinosaur I was not real impressed by the look of Dinoland. It reminds me of cheap carnival rides and some of the cheap attractions we have at DCA along Paradise Pier and Route 66. Not impressive. By this time it was close to 4p so we decided to head back to the hotel to check out our new room. At some point during the afternoon Kathy had called the hotel to find out our room number. She also got a message from the travel co that AKL would give us the credit. We decided to let it go for the day and take it up with the front desk the next day.

Back at AKL we went to our room. It was a fab room. Kathy had asked MaryLou for a room that wouldn't involve a far walk. She had explained to MaryLou that she is considered permanently disabled because of knee problems. Side note for those that care. Kathy sustained this injury while working as a police officer for LAPD. For the most part she's fine but long periods of walking and standing wear on her easily. MaryLou had obliged us giving us a room about six rooms in off the lobby. We called bell services and had our luggage delivered and it was delivered pretty quickly. Once we had our luggage we unpacked and then decided to go to Epcot.

Since we had tickets from our outing to AK we headed right into Epcot. As soon as we were in we got wristbands for that nights Extra Magic hours. We went to get fast passes for Test Track but they were out and the wait was an hour. Instead we decided to get some dinner. Kathy asked what we wanted to eat. Her sister had no opinion. I suggested Mexican or Chinese. Kathy opted to go with Chinese. With that settled we waded through the crowds to the China pavilion. Up to this point this was the most crowded park we'd encountered. Once we got to China we opted to go with counter service at Lotus Blossom Cafe. Once again I was the piggie. I got vegetable Lo Mein and eggrolls. Kathy got Orange Chicken Rice Bowl and Evie got the tossed romaine with peanut dressing. There were way too many noodles in my food. I picked out all the veggies and ate those with some of the noodles and some of the orange chicken from Kathy. The orange chicken was yummy. My noodles were ok. I would have preferred if it had more veggies. I ate one of the eggrolls at that point and wrapped the other in some napkins to save for later. Kathy and her sister got up when we were done eating to throw away our trash. While I was still sitting there putting on my sweater (now mind you I was sitting) a woman came up and just sat down at our table with her food. Kathy came back just in time to see this. We didn't say anything to the woman and she didn't say anything to us. We all agreed we thought it was kind of rude. Who was to say we were done? What if I'd just sat down and was waiting for the rest of my party? Onward.

With full tummies we began looking at the various shops in the different pavilions. When we reached the American Pavilion Kathy wanted to see the American Adventure. It wasn't starting for another hour though so we decided to skip it. Instead we just wandered through the shop there. Now here's where I get on my DL is the orignal park soapbox. This whole global celebration has kind of miffed me. It's DLs birthday and I think it sucks that they're making it share in this worldwide marketing event. I think it confuses the average guest into believing that the other parks are older than they are. While in the American shop I spotted a tee with a black and white pick of Walt on Main Street with Sleeping Beauty Castle in the background and Mickey superimposed near Walt in the foreground. The caption on the tee read, "Main Street USA, Magic Kingdom WDW." Hello, the only Magic Kingdom Walt ever set foot in was DL. The only thing he visually saw of FL was swampland with visions of what it could be. Things like that tee just annoy me and don't even get me started on those WDW commercials with Walt.

Annoyance aside we headed to the UK area. Here Kathy found a Hercules sword which she decided to buy for her husband for Christmas. Her sister found a British candy called Curly Wurly which her husband loves. She bought a whole mess of them and gave one to each of us to try. It's braided caramel and chocolate. Anything with caramel and chocolate spells yummy to me. We decided to park ourselves here near the water for Illuminations. Evie and I held our spots near a planter. We couldn't sit and see but at least we had something to lean against. Kathy went to a cart and got us all sodas and water. Overall on this trip we spent a lot on water. We each had at least one 24 oz bottle of water each every day. At the start of the trip when I was coughing a lot I had two per day. At $2 and change this added up. Illuminations started shortly before Kathy rejoined us.

I have to say this was the best show we saw on our trip. It is just such an incredibly touching and beautiful show. If you only get to see one show at WDW this is the one not to miss. Once it ended we got stuck in a bottle neck of people trying to get out of the park. I mooed a few times just for affect.:D When we reached the front of the park Kathy bought a sweatshirt. She had not bothered to bring one with her as it was warm when we left the hotel. Now though she was cold.

Warm again in her new Stitch sweatshirt we went back to Test track. With the extra magic hours fast pass was available for 10:30 and the current stand by wait was 100 minutes. I agree with some who have posted here that EMH really doesn't get you much the way it used to when they sold the wristbands. However, we appreciated it because that was a few more hours each night that we could ride stuff. Otherwise we'd have been back in our hotel room by 10p each night just staring at each other. Being westcoasters we were good to go everynight until about midnight. We got fastpasses and then headed to ride Journey into Imagination. I love Figment. I don't know that I totally loved this new version of the attraction. I had last been on it in 96 and have only vague memories of the previous version. From what I recall it was more touchy feely than the new goofy kind of set up. Sorry if that's vague but I can't think of how else to explain it. Still it was a nice attraction and we had no wait for it. Once we left there we played around a little in the play area at the exit.

We still had some time to kill before our fast pass window was up so we wandered through some of the shops. When 10:30 rolled around we returned to Test Track. From the point when we got in line to when we actually got in a car was about twenty minutes. I thought the ride was ok. Kind of humorous in spots and the speed and turns in some parts was thrilling. I don't think though that it'll be a fave of mine like it is of Kathy's and some of the people I work with. It freaked Evie out though. The photo showed a very scared looking Evie. Kathy decided to buy the picture. After Test track we headed to Living with the Land. Again an ok ride in my opinion but a fave of Kathy's.

This had a thirty minute wait. After ten minutes of going nowhere Kathy said her knee was bothering her and she wanted to leave. Just as we reached the que start and were explaining to the CM why we were leaving a man and woman walked up. The woman had a special assistance pass. She overheard Kathy talking about her knee and asked if we could go in with her. The pass was good for six people and the rest of their group had gone back to the hotel. At first the CM said no but then we started playing up that we went way back with these people. He then said ok and told Kathy that if she has knee problems she should get a special assistance pass. During our short wait at the head of the line with our new friends they discussed with us that WDWs policies with these passes is more lax than Disneyland. We got in our boat and the convo about this ceased. Here's another rant about the 50th thing. When we were in a room with produce our boat hostess pointed out that WDWs age was revealed in the lettuce. Lo and behold in purple lettuce 50 was spelled out. It was all I could do at the back of the boat to not scream at the poor CM that she was wrong. WDW is only 34. Rant over. As we exited our boats we again thanked the couple that had temporarily adopted us. Since Kathy was in pain we called it a night.

and that's it from me at this point.

[Crazy4DL]

Jo! what fun! I love reading your report. Thank you! :D

[Crazy4DL]

I'm waiting . . . . :p ;)

[evrythngwmn]

Day three Friday 11/11

Friday we decided to sleep in. Two days of getting up at 4a western time was enough for us. We got up around 11ish and were out of the room around noon. We decided to go to Mara in AKL for breakfast. This was my first sighting of fruit. Sometime in the evening the day before it hit me that I had not had any fruit since we left. To some it's like so what but I started doing Jenny Craig at the end of September and since then have been consuming four servings of fruit a day. Since I spotted a banana at Mara I decided to get that. Since it was technically lunch time I also got a kids hot dog meal which came with cheese Mickey Crackers and apple sauce. I ate the hot dog and banana and saved the crackers and left the apple sauce behind (blech). Kathy and her sister each got a cheese danish. We also bought the refillable cups. When we were done eating we refilled our cups and then headed for the bus stop. Today we were returning to the Magic Kingdom with Kathy in her knee brace.

We got to the Magic Kingdom around 1p. Off to Guest Relations to get tickets and a special assistance pass for Kathy. The girl who helped us was very friendly and asked how we liked WDW compared to DL. I told her it was overwhelming. There is just so much more but I still really love DL. She was originally from So Cal and grew up with Disneyland and still visits as she has family near there. I asked if she ever considered going back to work at DL but she said it was too complicated as she was married now and had children. She made out Kathy's special assistance for the duration of our trip. That was helpful. Onward to the park.

Because the banana jogged my brain I started really looking for fruit carts. At DL they are in just about every land. Not so at WDW. I found like one place in each park that sold fruit. That's it. Scary. Here's another thing I noticed: Let me preface it with this first. I am fat. As I stated before, I have given Jenny Craig big bucks not to be fat anymore. I am also a native of Los Angeles county. Now people here in LA tell me all the time that the rest of the country is not like us. I usually just brush it off that these people have bought into the hype. After visiting WDW I'm starting to think maybe these people are right. The bulk of the people I encountered at WDW were not locals with APs like at DL. They were visiting Americans like me and I hate to say it but America is fat. I could not believe how many overweight people I saw and how many truly overweight children. It really frightens me what the Supersizing of America has done. Obervation off.

The first area we hit was Adventureland. The standby wait times were crazy today. We started with Jungle Cruise. Even with the special assistance pass we waited about twenty minutes. Thank God for the pass or I'm sure a lot of our days would have ended a lot earlier with Kathy in pain. On the Jungle Cruise our skipper was hysterical. He is the best skipper I have ever had. I truly have never laughed like that on the Jungle Cruise. He told a number of the old standards of jokes but had a lot of stuff I'd never heard and told the stuff I had heard in a way that made it new and funny. After leaving there we headed to Pirates. As I mentioned before the ques in WDW are monstrous. The one in front of Pirates was so crazy we couldn't figure out where to enter with the special assistance pass. We stopped a passing CM and asked for his help. He said he'd ask for us and walked away. We stood there waiting for quite awhile. We saw him talk to another CM and then disappear into the neverending que crowd. We were just about to give up and stop another CM when he came back. Apparently he'd told another CM to bring us in and she got the wrong group. The CM then took us into a back stage area. Lo and behold there were Captain Hook, Mr. Smee, Wendy and Peter Pan. Captain Hook started pointing at me and at first I couldn't figure out why. Then I realized it was because I was wearing my Tinkerbell t-shirt. I said, "Oh yeah, that's Tink. I like her." He growled at me and walked away. Just before the rest walked away Wendy told us not to take Captain Hook's shortcut on the plank. From there the CM took us directly to the load area and we loaded our boat. I don't know if this is the normal procedure or if the CM just did it this way since we'd been left standing outside for so long. Pirates was good. I can't remember any major goods or bads.

After Pirates we ended up in the requisite shop. Kathy and her sister both found quite a few things they wanted and I found three rubber ducky pirates I had to have. I've got my bathroom done up in a rubber ducky theme and they are the perfect addition. We rang up all our purchases together. Just more convenient that way. When I mentioned my CM discount my DL ID threw the CM ringing us up. He figured it out though. This leads to another of my observations. We bought a lot (can you say love shopping) and whenever the CM couldn't figure out how to ring up our purchase with my DL ID it was somehow my fault.:rolleyes: Since we bought so much we decided to have it sent to the hotel.

3a fuzzy brain. More to follow

[Drince88]

3a fuzzy brain. More to follow
Oh, what kind of an excuse is that??? Your adoring public awaits (or at least Crazy4DL and me!):fez:

[SuefromRI]

My DD and I were at EPCOT on 11/10 also, from about 4:30 til 7:30 and it was the most crowded I have even seen it. More than over Thanksgiving
weekend in previous years. Not sure if it was because of the Food Festival, or cuz of the extended hours. We just wanted to check out the new Soarin
since we loved it so much in DCA 2 years ago. There were no fastpasses either, and the wait was posted as 80 minutes, but was 60. Then we walked around the countries eating and drinking and it was mobbed. Left at about 7:20 to return to the MK to meet my sister and neice for their first viewing of Spectromagic and Wishes.

[Crazy4DL]

Oh, what kind of an excuse is that??? Your adoring public awaits (or at least Crazy4DL and me!):fez:

Yeah! fuzzy brain is not an acceptable excuse, young lady! :p ;)

Sure enjoying your report! Thanks for doing it for us.

[BellhopMicah]

Ooh, me likies so far! :D

[evrythngwmn]

Day 3 continued with some corrections.

The correct name of the pass Kathy got is the Guest Assistance Card. Also, after I finished typing my Adventureland saga I realized I'd jumped ahead. Here goes the revision:

Once in the MK we headed to Tomorrowland to finish it out. We road Buzz Lightyear first. I have to say that although the WDW version has some cool scenes I like DLs version better. Having to shoot using my thumb on those mounted guns put my hand in pain. At one point I started smacking the trigger with my whole palm. I also like the variety of targets that DL has. Another thing I wonder about is are they really giving you points based on hitting the targets. Here's what happened. At some point they stopped the ride. The section we were in only had like one target. I just started kind of randomly shooting anywhere. As I did this my score kept going up in increments of 100 although from what I could see I wasn't hitting anything. Done with Buzz we decided to take another turn on Space Mountain. After Space it was lunch time. We ate at Cosmic Rays. Kathy got a kids hot dog meal and her sister had a cheeseburger. Realizing the error of my non-Jenny Craig ways I opted for a chicken caesar salad. I tried to remove as much of the grated cheese and croutons as I could. It was work as the thing is loaded with both. I also added tomatoes from the topping bar to get in some more veggies.

With food in our tummies we headed to the castle to watch Share a Dream Come True. We got there about 20 minutes before the parade started. Kathy had Pal Mickey with her and he recommended viewing it from Frontierland. We chose to ignore Mickey and found a shady spot about midway up on the east stairs. It was way hot at this time and the shade was more important to us than being closer. We spent our time taking pictures of the 50th decor on the castle while we waited for it to start. I have to say I wasn't impressed by this parade. It was cute but nothing spectacular. It also seemed rather short to me.

Following the parade this is when we went to Adventureland and did Jungle cruise and Pirates. Done with Adventureland we decided since it was warm to go to Splash Mountain. It was interesting sitting side by side vs just behind each other. We succeeded in cooling off. We all got soaked even being in the last two rows. The woman who was in the front row got drenched. She could easily have been a contestant in a wet t-shirt contest. From here we decided to ride the train to Mickey's Toontown Fair.

Shortly after we got to the top of the loading area a train came. All the cars had forward facing seats. This was the only time we road the train or really saw the train so I don't know if WDW has side facing cars like DL. Anyone know? Kathy picked the front row of a car because it had a set of seats facing it (similar to the DL trams). She wanted to elevate and stretch out her leg. This was short lived. Unlike DL that loads for a period and goes WDW was determined to fill every last seat and they loaded for quite awhile repeatedly asking people to move in. We ended up with a family of mom, dad, two boys, grandma and a huge stroller sitting with us. We had a nice talk with them and tried in helping them convince their older boy that Space Mountain was not that scary. By the end of the train ride I think we had him convinced.

In Toontown Fair we basically just walked around. This trip we were kidless but I'll be going back to WDW in April with my 7 yo niece and Evie will be visiting with her three children in 2007. We stopped at an ODV area and bought drinks and snacks. I opted for a frozen lemonade and a banana for later. Figured since they had fruit I should grab it while I could. Next we walked from here back to the castle to see Cinderellabration. A very cute show but nothing to write home about.

While waiting for the show to start Kathy had said that she wanted to go back to our room to change. The sun was setting and she was still wet from Splash. Once the show ended we left the park and went back to the room to change and get warmer clothes. As we were enjoying our day we decided to skip going back to the front desk to inquire about our credit from Pop Century. We had to check in and out on Saturday so we figured we'd look into then.

For Friday night I'd made ADR for Ohana. Several of my coworkers raved about it so I was looking forward to it. We took a bus back to MK so we could ride the monorail over to the Polynesian. Our ADR was for 8:45 but we checked in with the hostess at Ohana at 8:00 and requested a table that we could see the fireworks from. She said she would see what she could do and gave us a pager and told us it would work as long as we remained on the second floor. We had about a twenty minute wait and spent the time using the restroom and checking out the gift shop on that floor.

We got a window seat and our server David was great. When we were seated I told him that I was a CM. Because WDW has instituted a new policy with time restrictions on dining discouts he waited until 8:30 to put in our order. Throughout the meal he was on top of drink refills and kept reminding us to take our time and relax since we wanted to see the fireworks. The food was amazing. I will definitely go back on future trips. David was so on top of things that he heard us talking to each other about wanting a second bowl of the bread pudding and brought it without us even asking. As we were finishing dessert the fireworks started. They were nice and it was good to enjoy them in the restaurant away from the crowds.

After dinner we got back on the monorail and went to check out the Grand Floridian. Very pretty. Once we had strolled through there we went to get a bus to DTD Marketplace. We waited about 15 or 20 minutes for a bus. Once we got to the Marketplace we only had about 30 minutes to shop. Kathy was very sad to find out that the home store she loved had been minimized and that they no longer carried bedding or a very extensive line of towels. After wandering through World of Disney we caught a bus back to AKL and called it a night.

and it's sleepy time for me now. More to come.

[Crazy4DL]

more fun reporting! thanks Jo! sleep well :)

[evrythngwmn]

Day 4 Saturday 11/12

Saturday was an early morning. We were headed to MGM for the soap weekend. We got up at about 7:30a. I used to watch All My Children and some of the others but Kathy and Evie are hard core about their soaps. First we got to have fun (not) at the front desk. The statement delivered to our room showed we'd been given a credit but in the very next line they took it back. We went to the front desk to check out and check back in. A young guy helped us and just could not get the point of what we were saying. He kept saying but there's your credit there and we were like yes but you take it back in the next line. Him - but that's your credit there. Us- but you take it back in the next line. Very circular conversation. Finally he went to get someone else. This woman started with the infamous, You don't get a credit. After going over the situation she then joined in the circular convo - but there's your credit. Kathy then said so you're telling me we paid over $300 a night. She responded with "Oh, well you'll have to take it up with Billing and Research and I suggest the calmer of the two of you call." Now at no time did we raise our voice or draw attention to us. Kathy said, "Well I don't work for the company." Evil CM responded with, "Yes but she does and she can be fired." I kept my cool and told Kathy, "Let's just take the statement and go. We'll take it up with the travel co. on Monday."

After leaving Evil CM we headed to Mara and got food to go and filled our refillable cups. Needless to say Evil CM was the topic of our conversation that day. We ate while waiting for the bus. The crowds had already formed when we got to MGM. We arrived just after the park had opened. We headed to Guest Relations where a long line awaited us. Several of the people in line with us were picking ups passes or renewing passes. We waited about 20 minutes before our turn came up. I was also told that our tickets would not work in the autograph fastpass machines. Kathy and her sister were sad to hear this. We decided though to head over toward Star Tours and the Indy show where these machines were set up and just try to see if the CMs info was correct. When we got there a huge line was snaking toward Commissary Lane. We quickly decided against getting in line. Our next idea was to go to Soap Central at ABC Commissary where they had a shop set up. Again another long snaking line. Kathy and her sister decided to put soap stuff on hold since the lines were so massive and instead go on rides. Since we were near the Great Movie ride we headed there. The attraction had no wait and we boarded the first vehicle to approach. This is such a neat attraction and I really like the CM involvement in it. From there we decided to go to Tower of Terror. We got a little twisted at first but after consulting the map we were headed in the right direction. I so love WDWs version of the Tower of Terror. We rode this once and then went to Rock N Roller Coaster. We asked to be in the front and had to wait a little longer but it was worth it. Another cool ride I just wish it were longer.

Time for me to get ready for work. More in the morning.

[Crazy4DL]

Time for me to get ready for work. More in the morning.

:eek:


Well, ok, I guess you are protecting The Happiest Place on Earth, after all. :D ;)

Love the report Jo. SO sorry you had to deal with evil CM! :mad:

[schmuzX2]

Thanks for the report. I'm going to WDW in Jan and I'm a DL veteran. It'll be interesting to me to see the differences.

[Crazy4DL]

Hello? were you only there for four days, Jo? :~D :p ;)

Just giving you a bad time - I know you are busy protecting DL/DCA. :)

[Jeremiah]

where are you a CM for DL?

J

[evrythngwmn]

where are you a CM for DL?

J

Yep for DL in security. Sorry to fall of the face here with my report. Busy week. I'm off Weds/Thursday and will wrap it up then.

[evrythngwmn]

Day 4 Sat 11/12 contd

With some rides under our belt we decided to attempt to see the Wide World of Soaps hosted by Bob Guiney. Our plan was to try and see the 11:30a group. The Wide World of Soaps was held in ABC TV Theater where Sounds Dangerous is normally held. We were too late for 11:30 but got there in enough time (around 10:30 ish) for the 12:45 group. They had one group in the theater, the group for the next show was in the preshow area and then our group was surrounding the front of the theater. Kathy and Evie really wanted to see something so yes we waited two hours.

It amazed me how crazed people were. They kept trying to rush the chains and yelling at the CM doing crowd control. To appease them they were offering guests Colgate sample bags. People were wanting multiple bags. I just don't see why people feel they need that many mini deordorants and toothpaste samples.

A CM named Josh was working our area and he was really great. We were the third group in line in our section. The people we were with were also very nice. After being there awhile the woman at the head of the line had to go to the bathroom. We were ok with her leaving and coming back and Josh said he'd let her come back. Her husband went with her as she was older and kind of frail. When she came back the crowd was so heavy the woman's husband left her at the end of the line because the crowd was kind of nasty. We got Josh's attention and he helped the man bring his wife through the line.

After our long wait we finally got inside. The whole Q&A was kind of lost on me as I haven't watch General Hospital since like Luke and Lora whatever year that was. The only person I knew was Kimberly McCullough/Robin Scorpio. She was a child back when I watched and is all grown up now. Once it ended we went to the Animation Courtyard area to kill time until our Lunch reservation.

We saw Voyage of the Little Mermaid first. The show was cute as it was when I saw it a few years ago. It was marred only by a family that felt the need to play musical chairs and then talk during the show. Annoying. Next we went to Magic of Disney Animation. The show was the same as the Art of Animation with Mushu that was just removed from DCA. The rest of the attraction itself had an activity area similar to those in the Sorerers Workshop in DCA. It was a little more sterile with white walls. I like the theming of DCA better. We still had some more time and went and saw One Man's Dream. I love this movie. I was bummed when they took it out of DCA. I've heard that they updated Eisner's part with Julie Andrews. I was thinking it needed changing. The pre-show area for this attraction is fascinating with photos, models and other memorabilia. As a Disney nut I really want to go back and spend more time studying everything.

We still had a little time left but decided to just go and check in early for our 3:55 ADR. We got there at about 3p. We had about a 15 min wait. I really enjoyed this restaurant. Coworkers all raved about it and I was glad I finally got to experience it. Evie was over the top into it. She kept laughing and oohing about everything. Our server Cousin Audrey was great. She kept catching Kathy with her elbows on the table and chiding her. I ordered the Chargrilled Chicken Sandwich and a Coke Float. It was so cute I took a picture. Cousin Audrey brought the float out with the little 8oz (pre-supersizing size) bottle of coke. Evie had the Pot Roast and Kathy got the Fish Sandwich and they both had regular Cokes. My sandwich was huge. It was delicious but I was only able to eat about half of it. Evie practically licked her plate clean. Kathy came close to finishing. We topped off all our food by getting an order of S'mores to share. That is the best friggin dessert concept. A layer of whole graham crackers, chocolate and toasted marshmallows drizzled with chocolate. Being so stuffed we ate about two-thirds of it.

When I presented Cousin Audrey with my CM ID she told me that because of the Soap Weekend they weren't honoring the CM discount. I told her I wish I'd been told that when I made the ADR. I had told the Dining CM when I made the ADR that I wanted the last lunch ADR so I could get my CM discount. Cousin Audrey said she would talk to her Manager and see what she could do. Her manager approved it and we walked away happy and stuffed.

We decided to look at some shops before riding Tower of Terror again lest we lose our lunch. We finished our day with Muppets and Star Tours. As we were heading back to Hollywood Blvd. a CM asked us to step to the side. We stopped to see what was going on. Lo and behold here came the Soap Grand Motorcade heading backstage. It was almost like our own private parade. Kathy and Evie called out to there favorite stars and told them how much they loved their shows and how great they were doing. I just kind of stood there waving just to seem involved.:rolleyes:

Since we'd gotten up so early we headed back to AKL to call it a night. Upon returning to the hotel we stopped in the gift shop to pick up our package delivery from the day before. We went back to the room for a minute and then went to Mara and got some food. Once again I was the piggie and got a pizza and some kind of snack while Kathy and Evie just got snacky food. I just don't know how people live on snacks alone. I need real food.

We just relaxed and watched tv. I also checked voicemail and email because I was in the midst of setting up some Girl Scout stuff when I left. I'd told the Council person to go ahead and leave me a voice or email and that I'd check in. Good thing I did because she wanted the info the next day. With that done we went to sleep before midnight.

[Crazy4DL]

FUN Jo!!!

I have popped in and out of General Hospital for years. Was totally in back in the Luke and Laura days :D

I am sure enjoying your trip report. You are a crack up, you know. ;)

[SuefromRI]

FYI--There was an article in today's newspaper that says that during the "Luke and Laura days" in 1981 Gh had a viewership of 14 million, but today it is down to 3.5 million. Yet, it is still one of the top rated.

[jengold29]

FYI--There was an article in today's newspaper that says that during the "Luke and Laura days" in 1981 Gh had a viewership of 14 million, but today it is down to 3.5 million. Yet, it is still one of the top rated.
.. .AND I can't believe they brought Rick Springfield back as Dr. Noah Drake, I may have to start watching it again now.
;)

[brazen wench]

This has been the best trip report! I've loved every word, and understand the issues that you experienced. Sorry for not saying so earlier, but I've been busy planning and getting things in order so I can leave for WDW later today. Thanks for doing this :).

[Crazy4DL]

.. .AND I can't believe they brought Rick Springfield back as Dr. Noah Drake, I may have to start watching it again now.
;)

They did?!? I loved him . . . . I remember thinking he was so cute!!! I might have to check it out! :D :p

ETA: sorry for the derail Jo . . . I got all caught up there for a moment . . . . goes off trying to sing Jesse's Girl :| :rolleyes: :D ;)

[evrythngwmn]

here's a link to my photos:

http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/evrythngwmn/album?.dir=/c986&.src=ph&.tok=phEvsBEBVOIaibpe