Travel dates: Oct. 30 – Nov. 6, 2005
Travel method: Plane, Magical Express, Mears Shuttle, taxi
Resort: All Star Movies
Accommodations: Standard Room
Ages Represented in Group: Young Adult
WDW Experience Represented in Group: Rookies
Comments: CanCan and I take the Disney World trip that she has been talking about forever. I am writing this trip report in 2007 about 100 days before we leave for our second trip together, so forgive me when my memory fails.

Cast of characters:
Me – 27, planner, google-fu master, coaster junkie, horror geek.
CanCan – 29, Disney geek, in love with the All Star Movies resort (has a thing for giant Woodys), coaster junkie, scares very, very easily.

A long, long time ago . . .

We started talking about a trip to Disney World. I would crunch numbers and we would plan, I would do the numbers again and we would plan, but we couldn’t get all the way to booking it for some reason or another. Finally in the spring of 2005 we shopped a few travel agents and finally paid for our trip. We were actually going!

Then I discovered mousesavers, allearsnet and mouseplanet. Yeah . . . after the trip is booked and not in my name. And the travel agent is so uninterested in talking to someone who is not paying her commission. Oh well, we make do with what we got. Disney World here we come!

Rookie mistakes made:
2. I didn’t ask for more control, in all the planning I didn’t do a single search for money saving tips before we booked the trip.

October 30, 2005 Day 1 – Travel Day

We have to be at the airport early, 5:30 AM early.

Wait . . . I have to back up a bit.

I don’t know how many of you read Maclean’s magazine, but it’s the Canadian equivalent of Time I guess. Anyway Maclean’s recently ran an article about the neighborhood I live in.

Full of praise . . . no.

Commenting on our historical homes and low taxes . . . not exactly.

Calling it the “Worst Neighborhood in Canada” . . . bingo!

I am not going to get too far off topic here but I like my house and my neighborhood. I really don’t see it as that bad. I have never been scared to live here, but I have a monitored alarm system and when I go to bed at night the last thing I do is make sure the doors are locked and the alarm is set.

My niece, Crash, was living with me at the time and I had tried to go to bed early but the dogs were fussy, so I wasn’t really asleep. I heard her come home and then I heard the dogs really start freaking out.

I look at the clock, 3:00 AM.

This is the weekend before Halloween, when the parties usually happen. I would have been at one that night if I wasn’t leaving for Orlando in the morning. So I get up to see if any partiers have spilled onto my property and calm the dogs down.

Both of the dogs run from me to the couches and back again, I look over. My Niece’s friend E-string is on one couch, and huh . . . a friend I haven’t met?

Hey E-string did you and Crash bring a friend home?

No, huh?

Crash, did you lock the door? No?

Hello drunk guy on my couch.

Now I’m pretty cool usually, but I was extra cool that night. Put on my best cop voice and told this guy to wake up and get outta my house. You would think I used language raunchier than that but actually it seems to work better when tossing a drunk to just stay firm, calm and kinda polite. But I am Canadian.

Helps to have a 120 lb. dog by the collar when you do it too. Although the guy was probably in more danger from the little 12 pounder that was mad enough to bite through his Achilles tendon. (I miss that dog.) (pic of Mon Chou and Monty)

Drunk tossed, alarm set and doors locked. It’s 4 AM, might as well stay awake, cause the adrenalin was like a quad shot latte.

My mom shows up to take me to the airport so Crash and I load my luggage. I make arrangements with Mom to look in on Crash during the week and let Crash know that she can stay there if she doesn’t feel comfortable on her own. I remind her to lock the door.

We get to the airport with plenty of time, and I’m waiting around on CanCan to show up cause she has the confirmation numbers. She shows up with plenty of time to spare and we are ready to roll.

We hang out for a bit, say goodbye to our families, I re-tell the drunk on my couch story about a dozen times. Get through security with no wait and board the plane. First stop, Toronto.

We have a long layover in Toronto, so customs is no problem. I get the friendly guy who laughs when I tell him I am going to Orlando to ride rollercoasters. We find a bad restaurant by our gate that will let me smoke. I forget my cell phone at security and have to run back for it. Here’s a hint, put a unique screensaver on your phone, Wookiees work!

We got in around 7:30 after annoying our flight attendant and seatmate for three hours. We couldn’t help it, the closer we got to Disney the giddier we got. We are so quick off the plane the Magical Express people haven’t even made it out yet, so we take a wrong turn and have to backtrack til we find them. Finally we do and have great interactions with Cast Members from the greeters to bus drivers. Smooth quick ride to our resort which I remember as being the first stop, but I’m not sure. We are the only ones going to All Star Movies and we walk into an empty lobby and a Cast Member all to ourselves.

Sweet.

Before we left CanCan developed an obsession with the “Huge Woody”. She was staying at the huge Woody and nothing was going to stop her. But she never mentioned any of this to her grandpa and so there were no requests on the reservation. The Cast Member working the desk assigned us a room . . . uhh somewhere else, I can’t remember and I didn’t make a note of it. I was standing aside while CanCan checked in ‘cause I wasn’t the main person on the reservation and when the Cast Member circled our location on the map I could see the pout come on. I could also see that she wasn’t going to ask for a different room.

Good thing I am bossy.

I smiled and politely asked if the Cast Member could see if he could find us a room in one of the Toy Story buildings. Imagine that, one was available on the third floor facing the wooded area at the back of the resort, in the Woody building.

I told y’all I was a superhero. Heh.

Anyway, crisis averted. We schlep the carryons up to the room, CanCan gets all excited about the popcorn light and we take off for Downtown Disney to try out using the Dining Plan for the first time.

We haven’t eaten since the horrible restaurant in the Toronto airport and that was crap food anyway. So we are starving. Oh look Wolfgang Puck!

A couple of BBQ chicken pizzas and some purchases from the World of Disney later we are beat. It’s been a long day, and first thing tomorrow we are off to see the mouse himself.

Dining:
Wolfgang Puck Express. Counter Service. BBQ chicken pizza, Diet Coke, white chocolate macadamia nut cookie. Excellent food, but they wouldn’t let me have a quesadilla. I have heard that has changed.

Rookie Mistakes made:
2 Leaving my cell at security and choosing a place to eat based on whether or not they would let me smoke.

(pic of Mon Chou and Monty)

Here are those pics that are supposed to be linked in the text. Whoops.

Mon Chou (http://www.flickr.com/photos/rjlfinnie/802490479/)

Monty (http://www.flickr.com/photos/rjlfinnie/802490515/)

October 31st 2005 Day 2 – Halloween
For the first time ever, I get a wake up call from a cartoon character.

“GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOD MORNING”

Shut up, Stitch.

Gotta get up and get moving though, we have early reservations for Chef Mickey’s. I had decided that the bus to park to resort thing was a hassle I didn’t want in the morning and I budgeted in for a cab. And I had made arrangements with the Mears shuttle to pick us up from the Contemporary after we were done breakfast for our ride to Islands of Adventure.

Ah the best laid plans.

The cab ride is alright, it’s a cab and we aren’t waiting for a bus. But we get to Chef Mickey’s sit down and here comes the main mouse. Hi Mickey! Let me get the . . .

Where’s the camera??

I dug through that bag good and I could not find it. We had to express our regret to Mickey, Minnie and Dale.

But not Chip (http://www.flickr.com/photos/rjlfinnie/803307074/)

Yeah it was in there the whole time.

Chef Mickey’s was good enough that we have ADRs there again for our 2007 trip. I imagine it will taste even better the second time around, being free and all.

Now this time, we really forgot something. We have no transfer certificates and no ticket certificates for Islands of Adventure. Yup, CanCan actually did forget those.

So we book it back to All Star Movies. That cab ride was not in the budget.
While CanCan retrieves the tickets, I make arrangements for the Mears Shuttle and head outside to bask in some Florida sun. It’s getting cold and gray back home so this is nice, I can see why people move here for the winter.

Killing time before the shuttle shows up we shop in the gift shop, refill our mugs again (Yup we bought the refillable mugs when we arrived. They are a good deal, especially if you drink Diet Coke like I do), and I find a new designated smoking area. Then it’s on the bus and off to Islands of Adventure.

I was nervous about this park before we left. I am a big girl, 5’8” and 270 big, a size that frequently gets kicked off rides at our local fair. Gets kicked off so often that I gave up trying. I didn’t have a lot of hope for fitting on the rollercoasters at Islands Of Adventure. I figured that I’d get the disappointing day out of the way first, console myself with Halloween Horror Night that night and get back to the rides at Disney that I was confident I would have no problem riding.

Our first stop . . . was Starbucks in CityWalk. CanCan is an addict. But it kept her entertained on the long, long moving walkway to Islands Of Adventure. First stop after that “attraction” was the Hulk. There are two test seats out front so I toss CanCan in the big one first, determine it has lots of room then throw her in the regular one and see that yup, no problem she’ll fit. Cool.

*Gulp* My Turn.

So close but I can’t get it done. Get going CanCan the line is only at 10 minutes.

I hang out by the lake watching the ride go round. I get some amazing video and pictures of the Hulk (http://www.flickr.com/photos/rjlfinnie/803307050/) and get to see the X-Men go by (http://www.flickr.com/photos/rjlfinnie/803307108/). I resign myself to a day of doing just this.

We make our way over to Spiderman, I know I can ride this ride and it rocks my socks. There is absolutely nothing like it.

Next Dr. Doom’s Fearfall, they don’t even have a big seat so I ain’t even trying. CanCan comes off and assures me it’s lame. Funny how she didn’t say that about the Hulk.

Ooooh, giant Wolverine (http://www.flickr.com/photos/rjlfinnie/446774237/). We stop to get ice cream and water, and play with the word bubbles. (http://www.flickr.com/photos/rjlfinnie/803307092/)

Then we hit Toon Lagoon. There is a reason this is called a lagoon. After this area you will be so wet it’s like someone gave you a swirlie. And you will smell like a swimming pool for the rest of the day. I think in 2007 I may send CanCan and my dad on these rides without me.

Popeye’s Bilge Rat Barges exist only to soak you, and the people on the bridge who actually put money in the water guns to spray you are jerks.

Dudley Do-Right’s Ripshaw Falls exists only to throw you down hills and soak you, and the people on the bridge who actually put money in the water guns to spray you are jerks. The queue for this is amazing though, maybe even worth being that soaked.

We didn’t have a lot of time to dry off before entering Jurassic Park, which is good cause I was on the outside of the boat on Jurassic Park River Adventure and got . . . you guessed it . . . soaked. Jurassic Park is worth it, though.

We are coming around to the Lost Continent and another rollercoaster I’ll have to watch from the sidelines. I’m bumming out but I need to ask a question of the “Dragonkeeper”

Can I walk through the queue, cause I hear it’s awesome?

(It is awesome by the way, even if you don’t want to ride, walk through to the loading area. It’s sweet.)

The Dragonkeeper starts talking smack about me being too chicken to ride, which rankles my pride enough to overcome my embarrassment at saying I’m actually too fat to ride.

He gives me a once over and says “Are you sure?”

What’s that . . . a glimmer of . . . hope??

He tosses me into the big seat and leans against it. The thing is buckled and I can still breathe. Well not deep but I’m not getting light headed.

Good Googly Moogly. I CAN RIDE!!!!!!

After CanCan peels me off the Dragonkeeper, (If you remember me dude I was serious, marry me and I will have 12 of your babies, you god among theme park employees you. hehe), we race through the queue, it’s awesome by the way, and pick a dragon. We start with Fire.

You could hear my barbaric yawp of joy back home in Saskatchewan.

OK, we are booking it back to the Hulk now! Go Go Go!

I get my ride on the Hulk, it is awesome.

We are in full blown coaster junkie mode now. We book back over to Dueling Dragons, stopping for another ride with Spidey. We know now that that’s the long way. We ride Fire again, then jump back in the queue for Ice. Back to Spidey and the Hulk until they tell us to get out of the park so they can set up for Halloween Horror Night. They make us sit in the Port of Entry for a while, which gives me time to dry out my socks. Then they move us to the Fantastic 4 café, which is alright ‘cause we haven’t eaten since Chef Mickey’s two pages ago. Greasy pepperoni pizza and Diet Coke, mmmmmm. I have no desire to return to this place.

We zip outside to the patio so I can smoke and we get our first look at these guys (http://www.flickr.com/photos/rjlfinnie/803307016/). Cool. CanCan is instantly nervous.

People are walking around so we figure it’s safe to see if any of the haunted houses are open. We seem to be in demon bikerville (http://www.flickr.com/photos/rjlfinnie/803307034/) and sure enough the first house we find is the Vampire Bar. It’s open and there is no line. Sweet.

Remember from pages ago how CanCan scares easy, from this point on I will be annoyed with her. We head into the house and the scareactors hated me. Growl at me, bare your fangs at me, jump out of nowhere at me and you might get a giggle. Yeah, I don’t scare at all but I think the makeup and décor is totally cool. CanCan on the other hand is freakin’, they look at her funny and she screams. There is a guy at the very end of the hallway, eight feet away in plain sight. When we get to him he literally says “Boo” and she jumps ten feet and screams. Loud. In my ear.

We did one house.

She refused to do anymore and I was annoyed so I was instantly out of the mood to appreciate them. What’s worse is that she was power freaked of the people walking around too. We lined up for the next Bill and Ted show, skirted the scareactors in the streets and ducked into a store to so she would stop screaming for a few minutes.

There we met Alex, who was very good at selling us stuff and keeping CanCan entertained. He drew on our map and tried to convince CanCan to try one more house. We talked about our big goofy dogs (mine a Great Pyrenees and his a Saint Bernard), and bought a few things.

I convinced CanCan to brave the scary people in the streets to at least ride a few more rides. We headed back over to Dueling Dragons and got in the very long line. We enjoyed the queue for a very long time and then rode Ice again (Fire was down which was making the line long).

We decided that we were peckish so we headed over to the Enchanted Oak and ordered the chicken platters. Mmmmmm so good, I will be back here in 2007. But that was a lot of food.

We headed back to the front of the park and hit the long line for the Hulk, did it, jumped in the line again, and did it one last time.

We are beat and it’s time for our Mears pickup, we head out and wait for our bus. Turns out to be a little teeny van, with no seatbelts. One good bump and I’m heading for the floor, but I manage not to hit it. I got’s mad reflexes, yo.

The walk back to the room is a blur, we are so tired. I have never slept as good as that night.

Dining:
Chef Mickey’s – Breakfast Buffet. I only really remember the breakfast pizza and sausage. I didn’t care for the sausage but I could eat the breakfast pizza all day for the rest of my life.
Fantastic 4 Café – Greasy pizza, gave me heartburn. Won’t be back.
Enchanted Oak Tavern – Excellent chicken, fresh corn on the cob and very good mashed potatoes. Too much food if you are only feeling peckish. If you go to Islands Of Adventure do not miss this place.

Rookie Mistakes Made:
4 - Taking the long way back to Dueling Dragons, putting the camera in a pocket of the bag that wasn’t easy to search, forgetting the tickets, taking Mears when a taxi would have cost about the same (in my defense Mears was pre-paid).

Terrific start! You're doing a great job on the trip report--

Good report so far. Everybody makes rookie mistakes, just make sure to learn from them for the next trip. Isn't Spiderman the best ride anywhere? I used to be petrified of rollercoasters, especially the slow clackity trip up and the first huge drop, but my kids got me to try some. I like Hulk cuz it goes so fast that you can't think about or see any drops, and it is smoother than the old ones. Dueling Dragons is different cuz you swing out and the first drop is more of a bank than a drop, I just can't look down, but found not to watch the seat in front of me once it starts to swing, cuz it made me nauseous the first time. Glad that a helpful CM informed you to try them and you were able to ride them all.

Thanks for the comments!

I am doing this as kind of a lessons learned type thing for my trip in September, I'll be posting more soon, it's written but I can't do the picture links from work, so it will take a while.

Great report so far. Can't wait to read the rest :). Love the pictures!

November 1st, 2005 Day 3 – Splashy Splashy!

“GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOD MORNING”

Stitch, I’m going to punch you.

It’s too early, I don’t wanna get up. We didn’t get “home” til one. Stitch why are you so mean??

Oh yeah today is the Tower Day.

I shotgun two “coffee”s and we are off to Disney-MGM Studios. Which I am gonna call MGM from here on out. Disagree with me if you must but it’s easier to type.

We skip breakfast this morning but still don’t quite make it for rope drop, we aren’t too late and the park is not at all full. First stop, Rock ‘n’ Rollercoaster. We snag fastpasses for later and hop into the standby queue and don’t stop walking til we are in the studio. I did learn a few tricks from my research so I know to stand as far into the studio as possible. This was a fun ride, even though it’s all about the takeoff. It’s also closing for rehab tomorrow so we have to get a few rides in today.

We hop off, and head across to the Tower of Terror. I fall in love as soon as we walk through the Art Deco gates and into the abandoned and overgrown garden. The line here is moving too and we pretty much walk right into a library. I motion Can to the back of the room even though she wants to be close to the TV in the front. I mouth “Trust Me” trying not to call attention to my maneuvering, but a couple of kids notice and follow us. As long as it’s not the whole room I’m OK with it.

Everyone who’s been on this ride knows how you can never remember the first time. You are too scared and too jazzed. Something in your brain shuts down from anticipating that drop. You should see my picture from that ride, it says it all.

We stop and buy the picture and get it shipped back to the resort, and boot around for another drop, which I remember a little better. Then back over to Rock ’n’ Rollercoaster to use our fastpasses.

Then it’s time to move on from the thrill rides and do something else. I think I remember that it’s about mid-morning at this time. We skip Beauty and the Beast, our local theatre company is doing the Disney version of it for their Christmas production and we already had tickets. I check the times guide and we are way off for The Voyage of the Little Mermaid so we’ll keep that for this afternoon (yeah right).

I remember heading over to do Star Tours and Indiana Jones now, but I can’t remember if we stopped to shop at the Villains store before or after that.

In any order we walk onto Star Tours, get the rough ride in the back row (which we wanted), shop the gift shop on the way out (got the cutest Wicket magnet), scope the lines for Darth Vader and Jedi Mickey and I decide I don’t wanna wait, I use the zoom to get pictures with other random tourists.

We walk into the Indiana Jones show, and the theater isn’t packed. I chicken out of making a spectacle of myself to get picked as an extra, we enjoy this and snap a couple of pictures (http://www.flickr.com/photos/rjlfinnie/858669425/) on the way out.

And in the Villains store I drop a whole bunch of money on stuff for Crash, my mom and my nephew. CanCan buys herself a pirates visor. I send all my stuff back to the resort to pick up tomorrow.

I check the times guide again for Voyage of the Little Mermaid and we are way off again. We are not going to make it there today. In fact we won’t make it there this trip. That will teach me how long Indy is.

Oh well it’s time for lunch, we head for Backlot Express cause the sign is big and I can see where it is. I don’t know what it was about that park but it kept turning me around. I could only find things that I could see from way off. This was disconcerting because I am the navigator and usually can find my way around anywhere.

We have cheeseburgers and fries, and I find my one true love (http://www.flickr.com/photos/rjlfinnie/858669365/). I insisted on a picture of it. I also make CanCan do the picture that I’m sure a thousand other tourists have done (http://www.flickr.com/photos/rjlfinnie/858669405/).

We head over to do the Muppets movie, which is fun and when we come out we notice the sky is getting dark. We head over to a cart that is selling cute Woody dolls and just as we approach the sky opens up.

Two of your finest Mickey ponchos please.

The vendor laughs and gets them out of their hiding spot, and puts a bunch out now that it’s raining. Now that was a way to beat the crowds.

We pop on our ponchos and splash our way around the park to re-ride the Tower and Rock ‘n’ Rollercoaster. Then we head for our 4:30 Fantasmic package at Hollywood and Vine. The Fantasmic package buys you dinner and VIP seating at Fantasmic and it really wasn’t worth it on this night. Our server was fine, kept the table clean and the drinks refilled but after walking all day, walking to go get food was not appealing. I didn’t eat that much and what I did was bland and mediocre. Like cafeteria food. I don’t remember liking this place at all.

We get the check and our VIP ticket and head out. But instead of paying attention when I put my poncho back on, I put it on inside out. This is not a recommended strategy if you are trying to stay dry.

We splash around for a bit more, ride the tower a few more times then head into the Fantasmic theatre, even though they have been warning that they may cancel it due the rain that it still coming down pretty hard.

I was following the rules and getting myself to the theatre an hour early to make sure we didn’t end up in standing room only. Apparently you can throw the rules out the window when it’s raining.

We decide to take the time to sit and relax and settle in for the wait. But now I’m wet, the seat is wet, and the rain has been replaced by a stiff breeze. I can’t believe I am freezing in Florida. CanCan buys a beach towel to wrap around herself under her poncho, I debate it but I can’t cough up 25 bucks for a beach towel.

We shiver and relax for a while, they are still announcing that Fantasmic may be cancelled. But just before showtime the wind dies down, and the rain stops and the show goes on. Fantasmic was worth the trouble, don’t miss it.

And another upside of a rainy night where no one stuck around to see if Fantasmic would actually go on? No lines for the buses.

Dining:
Backlot Express – Good burger, decent fries. Tastes like Dairy Queen to me. I love miniature food. Going back.
Hollywood and Vine – Blah, mediocre cafeteria food. Too early in the day to eat as well. Won’t be back.
Rookie Mistakes Made:
3 - Didn’t think I could ditch the rules even though I saw that everyone was leaving because of the rain. Not timing the shows right so that we could see Voyage of the Little Mermaid. Poncho inside out.

November 2nd, 2005 Day 4 – Magic? Kingdom

“GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOD MORNING”

Dude.

At least we got to bed earlier last night. We have a pre-opening ADR at Crystal Palace this morning. This says it all (http://www.flickr.com/photos/rjlfinnie/244756244/).

Actually I was in a pretty good mood this morning. We didn’t forget anything and got out of the room in an orderly fashion. The bus ride went smooth and we got to jump the line and get in the gate early. Main Street was empty and we got a primo locker. CanCan was just messing with something on the camera and asked me about it and took the picture while I was thinking.

We check in at the Crystal Palace and join the throng waiting on the porch. I remember us waiting a little bit to get in, but I could be wrong. The building is lovely and I was thinking one day I will show my Mom this place.

The character interaction was good. They had made to order omelets. The sausages sucked again. They had the breakfast pizza. Eeyore had a thumbtack on his tail (http://www.flickr.com/photos/rjlfinnie/858776807/). It was fun.

I let CanCan “pay” for breakfast this morning, and we head out for Space mountain.

I fell for Space Mountain. It’s not the fastest or the scariest, but there is really something to whipping around in the dark, the bottom suddenly falling out of the ride as you hit one of those dips. It’s very cool.

Cool enough that we jump in the queue again and walk right up to a rocket.

Then we mosey over to Buzz Lightyear and ride that. My score is so pitiful that I don’t even remember it.

And here’s where my memory really fails, I know we left in the late afternoon to go to MGM but between Buzz Lightyear and the time we left I don’t remember what order we did things in. Here’s what I remember:
- A long line on Splash Mountain due to technical difficulties
- A fairly short line on Big Thunder Mountain, but a wait at the loading area because a woman could not get her son to stay seated for the ride and was throwing an absolute fit about it. Apparently “Disney doesn’t care about handicapped people” according to her.
- I couldn’t find the Haunted Mansion so I asked a CM sweeping the street, he pointed to it and said “At that dead end”. Awesome.
- The Haunted Mansion was not working well when we rode, it stopped twice. I am looking forward to riding the rehabbed version.
- The park was filling up and the lines were getting longer. There were many cranky short people about, making me a cranky tall person.
- We took the loud stinky boat across to Tom Sawyer Island. We didn’t like it.
- The smoking area by Splash mountain is nice and shady and filled with cool people.
- We ate at Cosmic Ray’s. Good chicken.
- Dude, there were a lot of kids.

I know a lot of you are going to tell me that I can’t go to the Magic Kingdom and not expect there to be kids. I was down with the kids. I was not down with hot, overtired, crabby little anklebiters and parents that wouldn’t or couldn’t deal with their monsters. So I left. I snagged CanCan and the bag from the locker and we booked it to the monorail, to the TTC, then to a bus to MGM. It was open for a few more hours and I wanted my Tower. The time on the bus was heaven, there were only 5 people on and it was quiet. Thank god it was a long ride.

We hit MGM and went straight up Sunset to the Tower. CanCan was hoping to ride the Rock n Rollercoaster again but we forgot that it closed for rehab. We hit the queue running all the way into a library. And we did it again, and again until they shut the gate to the queue and wouldn’t let us back in again. Our last ride one of the bellhops wanted to ride with us, but despite my rowdy encouragement she couldn’t because she was still in costume.

And to prove I’m not a heartless beast who hates kids. There was a kid in line for his first drop in the Tower. I answered all his questions and ended up sitting beside him in the elevator. When that first drop hit he reached out and got a death grip on my shirt, and I was OK with all that.

Really I am a nice person, only a little bit evil.

Alright, we are ready to hit the Magic Kingdom for Wishes and Extra Magic Hours. It’s open til 12 AM tonight and I am not missing this park at night. We get back through the gates, get our wristbands, and get about halfway up main street into the crowd before we settle there to watch Wishes.

Wishes was very cool, I love fireworks.

After it was done we swam upstream a little ways and found a table to chill at while we let the crowds thin. Then we headed into Fantasyland to catch PhilharMagic and Peter Pan’s flight. The queue for Peter Pan was looooong, it didn’t look that long but man did it loop around. This is why you should pay attention to the signs that say the line is 70 minutes.

After that we conceded that we were beat, we hit the short line at Space Mountain, rode that and called it a night. The bus ride was quick and quiet.

Dining:
Crystal Palace – Good omelet in a nice atmosphere. CanCan loves Eeyore. Going back.
Cosmic Ray’s – Good chicken and a huge plate of food. We might be back, but I’ve heard good things about Pecos Bill’s too.

Rookie Mistakes Made:
2 – Letting the anklebiters get to me. Not paying attention when the sign says 70 minutes.

Smart Ideas:
1 – When the short people get to be too much, go where they can’t. (If I only have one smart idea a trip, I am happy)

November 3rd, 2005 Day 5 – How slow can you go?

“GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOD MORNING”

Gah. Ummmph.

Words are failing me, but a picture is worth a thousand (http://www.flickr.com/photos/rjlfinnie/858776825/).

We had nothing left today, the tanks were empty. We dragged our tired carcasses out to a taxi and headed for breakfast with Lilo and Stitch. We walk up to the podium to check in, immediately herded over to the photo, then seated by the window with a lovely view of the Grand Floridian. This breakfast was awesome, the coffee is great, the juice is yummy and they keep bringing you as many platters of food as you want. And Mickey waffles (http://www.flickr.com/photos/rjlfinnie/439849934/).

We lingered over breakfast, taking it slow and easy. I ate almost two plates of fruit by myself, even though Lilo wanted to steal my pineapple. CanCan got roped into the parade around the restaurant (yeah they had to try really hard to convince her). I stayed at the table and video taped it. We left the restaurant at about 10 and moseyed over to Epcot on the monorail.

We got to Epcot and hit our three big ones, Test Track, Mission Space and Soarin’. We picked up a fastpass to Test Track and went over to Mission Space and rode that twice in a row before we headed back for our fastpass time. Then we headed over to Soarin’ and got in a looooooong, slow moving standby queue. I can’t remember why we didn’t fastpass this, all I can remember is how much my legs and feet hurt. Soarin’ was worth the wait, my Mom will love this ride.

After our three big rides, we wandered over to the docks to catch the boat to Morocco for our lunch reservation. We were so not hungry, but we had a reservation. The cast member at the podium was very nice and funny and promptly led us into that beautiful cool cavern of a palace. I was in love.

I am also not sure how we ended up with two table service meals today. I suspect it has something to do with the last minute reservation at ‘Ohana for breakfast.

Anyway we are not hungry, but our server is determined to sell us an enormous lunch anyway. I had Beef Brewat rolls, Shish Kebab and Marrakesh delight, CanCan had Jasmina salad, Chicken Couscous and no dessert. The meal was lovely, the band was awesome, and the belly dancer was entertaining. I can’t wait until I get to visit the real Morocco.

We wandered the shops in Morocco for a while then moved on to Japan, then slowly made our way over to Canada to see how bad the film is. Dude it’s bad. And if they want to make the Canadian pavilion feel like Canada, they need a Tim Horton’s in there.

I had to ditch out of the movie early because my legs and knees were killing me, so I went and had a sit while I waited for CanCan. We needed to get outta here, we had nothing left for today. So we ditched and headed back to the hotel to chill. On the way out of the park we ride Spaceship Earth, mostly cause I needed to sit down for a while.

We got back to the resort and decided that we had had enough of the walking and the moving for today, bring us pizza! We ordered a deluxe pie, a big bottle of diet coke for CanCan and 2 Coronas for me. Ahhhh heaven, pizza and beer.

To bed early because tomorrow CanCan is making me document her first attempt at surfing.

Dining:
‘Ohana – Loved it, the server was awesome, the food was delicious (I am choosing to ignore the sausage at this point), they brought it to you. I couldn’t ask for more from a character breakfast. Going back.
Restaurant Marrakesh, Morocco pavilion – So much food. Do not attempt two table service meals a day at Disney World unless you are a bottomless pit. I was uncomfortably stuffed. But don’t hold that against this restaurant, if there weren’t so many other options in Epcot I would be going back.
In Room Pizza Delivery – Heaven on a night where we couldn’t even walk to the food court. And we were in the Toy Story building so it’s not that far. It’s pricey, but depending on how we feel this trip, we may do it again. Remember that the gratuity is included!

Rookie Mistakes Made:
1 – When you are this tired, getting out of bed is a mistake.

I'm lovin' the new days! Thanks for posting! I laughed out loud about the Tim Horton's. They have EXCELLENT hot chocolate as opposed to the brown water that passes as hot chocolate at WDW. My one big gripe, as I LOVE hot chocolate!

Looking forward to the surfin' story!

Thanks for the comments. I agree about Tim Horton's hot chocolate, I swear they've got something addictive in there.

The surfin' story has hit a delay, because You tube doesn't want me to upload anything. If any one has any other suggestions of a free place I could put a couple of short videos, please let me know.