WHAT TO DO NEXT? A nap might work, but the parks weren’t open late. Made more sense to do something then, go home early, and make an early night of it. So Mikey chose to go to Disney Quest—another first for me! We grabbed the Saratoga Bus (with little to no wait) and thought we’d walk to DQ. I should look at that map a little better. The driver said, we could get off at one stop and walk, or go to the other and take the boat. I should have taken the boat as the walkway went WAAAAY around and let you into DTD at the Marketplace. I really thought we would pass out before we got to DQ. We walked through the stores to help and even stopped a few times. Not sure why the heat was bothering us so much this day, and in fact, it didn’t bother us as much for the remainder of the trip.
By the time we reached Disney Quest, I thought about kissing the cement at the doorway. It was like an Oasis. First thing we did was ask the CM where the nearest snack bar was. I got the largest tea possible, a mango smoothie for Mikey, and a butterfinger cupcake. Mike liked both of them. I sucked down that tea and sat in that dark, dark caf. It was the perfect antidote to the heat. I felt much better. I guess I didn’t hydrate enough. Lesson learned. More lessons to learn……(Typhoon Lagoon!!)
We did all 5 floors of Disney Quest, loving the cool, darkness that it provided. We were there for HOURS. It’s easy to lose track of time in there.
Here’s a run-down of several of their “big attractions”:
--Virtual Jungle Cruise. You sit in these rafts and there are sensors on your paddles that determine where you go on the river. Once you sit in your raft, the “water” fills with air and you’re lifted up. The sense of being on the water is uncanny. The video screen is probably 10 x 8, so it fills your field of vision. Mikey wasn’t strong enough, so we didn’t go very far, and he got very frustrated. It would be a lot more fun with a larger group. There were so few people in Disney Quest that day that you got your own raft. It was about a 6 minute ride. I’d try it again.
--Virtual Pirates of the Caribbean. A winner. It had the same “shooting” mechanism as Toy Story Midway Mania, and was in 3D as well. In fact, we both liked it BETTER than TSMM. The lines were a heckuva lot shorter too! I think it was maybe a 10 minute wait for this. We were placed with another family of 4. The dad was the captain and the rest of us shot at the pirates. We didn’t know them at all, but it is amazing how people pull together when there’s a common cause, you know? Super fun!
--Magic Carpets of Aladdin. You wore these 3D helmets. They fully absorb you into the 3D world, but man, they’re heavy! They had them on another attraction—a virtual comic book deal—which Mike and I bombed terribly. Aladdin was a little different in that you straddled the seat like a bike and it registered your movements. Pretty cool, but Mike had difficulty getting it to work.
--Alien Encounter. No, not like the predecessor to Stitch at MK. One person is the pilot and one person is the gunner. We sucked. We were supposed to save the army people and kill the aliens, but I think we saved only 14 people. Ha. Don’t put us in combat. It was fun, though. No wait for this at all.
-Cyberspace Mountain. The HUGE hit of the whole trip. It reminded me very much of Sum of All Thrills except that the physics lesson wasn’t there. You just chose what you wanted to do. Mikey’s was a puke factor of 4 out of 5, so I opted out. I think I would have fit in the machine, but just barely. I wasn’t about to chance it while already feeling the effects of the heat. I watched his reaction on the video screen located outside the ride. Mikey LOVED it. We had to wait about 10 minutes for this. He loved it so much, that he rode it at least another 4 or 5 times over the vacation. (He’s a gamer, so we ended up at DQ TWO more times over the vacation. I thought that would be a tremendous waste, but it was a LOT of fun!)
Various video games….more minor attractions…..oh the list goes on. There’s also a quick service restaurant for lunch or dinner. I grabbed a photo of the menu…sandwiches, salads, burgers, etc.
We were supposed to go to dinner at either Earl of Sandwich or at Cooke’s of Dublin, but Mikey just wanted to go back to Pop and have dinner there. Can you hear me say NOOOOOO through the computer? Well, I did. We did eventually get back to both EoS and Cooke’s before the trip was over, so all is well.
We grabbed a bus at Westside RIGHT away. This was a fairly full bus, but not standing room only. It was still sort of early (before most parks closed), so the food court at Pop wasn’t too bad. Mikey had a burger, fries, and Mickey Krispie treat. I had a cheesesteak wrap, fries, watermelon, and iced tea. Mike must have been starving. He ate all of his. My wrap was strange—no peppers or onions. Just meat and cheese in a tortilla. I ate it, but it wasn’t my favorite. The watermelon was EXCELLENT. I love that you get a huge bowl of fruit if you’re at the resorts for any counter service “dessert.” Total was worth $34.69.
Mike wanted to swim, so we changed and went to the computer pool. It was a gorgeous night. In fact, in all of my belly aching about the weather on the first half of the trip, the evenings were AMAZING. Just so pretty! We went back to the room, took showers, and watched Finding Nemo on TV. We were in bed by 9:30. Looking back, we sure did a lot this day—the travel time wasn’t too bad and we had a really nice, relaxing day. I’m glad we didn’t stick around AK just to “do” it. That’s what those park hoppers are for!!!
That silenced her. She mumbled something and sent us on our way. Now I know that cash isn’t used often in travel, and I agree that it probably isn’t prudent to do so in most situations. But I had some set aside for this, and I never thought that it would be such a surprise to use it! I had the same response on the way home and it was even more of an issue, so my search to use any kind of legal tender other than a credit card continues…..
Originally Posted by tdelaney_98
This is the second in a row, and I'm HOOKED......
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