Julie Williams - February 1999 - Offsite

[Trip Reports]

Now showing! ImKiwi10's Trip Report!

Starring:
Julie, a 19 year old Cast Member from Nashville, Tennessee, college sophomore, total Disney addict and writer of the trip report! Co-Starring:
Debbie, Julie's mom, a 44 year old Disneyholic, Sunday School teacher, craft nut and lover of all things Piglet!
When?: February 3rd-February 7th, 1999!
Where?: Disney World and Magic Castle Inn and Suites!
How did they do it?: Drove their van for 12 hours!
How long is it?: 812 words!
Wednesday, February 3, 1999

So there we were on our way to Disney World again. It was just me and mom this time. We'd tried to convince dad that he wanted to go, but he said he couldn't take three days worth of vacation so early in the year, even though he needed to make good use of the annual pass he bought last November.

We got up at about 5:15 CST, got dressed and packed everything into the van. There wasn't much stuff since it was only going to be the two of us and since we were only staying for four nights. We left Nashville at 5:50 and headed down I-24 towards Murfreesboro. We decided to have breakfast at IHOP, one of my favorite restaurants. I go to school in Murfreesboro, so I've had numerous late night meals at this IHOP with my friends. I ordered a cheddar omelet with hash browns and mom got the 3 egg, 4 bacon strip, 3 pancake breakfast.

Once we paid for our meal, we stopped by Wal-Mart for a Simon and Garfunkle's greatest hits tape (which we later discovered was recorded at too fast a rate, thus making them almost sound like girls), a notepad for my trip notes and a bag of ice for our cooler. Once we were done, we were on our way again.

Our next stop was at the Tennessee Welcome Center, where we bought Mayfield chocolate milk. It's a tradition of ours that whenever we pass that rest stop, we stop and buy chocolate milk. At 11:12 EST, we smelled the first dead skunk of the trip.

Our next major stop was in Macon, Georgia, at 2:20 for gas and lunch. We filled the van with gas and decided on McDonalds for lunch. This was, honestly, one of the most incompetent McDonalds I've ever been to. My mom ordered a hamburger happy meal and a hamburger. The girl charged my mom for two hamburger happy meals, then acted like she didn't want to give her the difference back after mom noticed that she had been overcharged. Finally she got her money back, but they kept giving her cheeseburgers or hamburgers without onions or something else that she didn't order. Meanwhile, on a completely different register, with a completely different woman, I placed my order for a cheeseburger happy meal and a cheeseburger, both without onions. Well, this completely threw them off because they kept giving my order to my mom and asking me if I had a quarter pounder or something. Anyway, it took about 10 minutes to get it all straight. After all that, they were out of ketchup packets, so they gave us ketchup in a coffee cup. Whew. We finally got out about 20 minutes later.

Since we had come across the first dead skunk of the trip, we decided to count all the roadkill we saw on the road. Before lunch, the roadkill count stood at 11, but between about 4:30 and 4:45, the number jumped from 11 to 19! Must be all the woods... We stopped in the Florida Welcome Center, but did not linger very long, and pretty soon it was time for dinner. We stopped at an Arby’s in Ocala at about 7:20. I ordered a turkey sub with curly fries and mom got a roast beef sandwich and potato cakes.

From that point, the going was very smooth, and we ended up at our hotel, Magic Castle Inn and Suites on US 192, at about 10:00pm. We were assigned to room 306, and found it to be a very nice room indeed. Actually, we concluded that it was a lot bigger than our All Star rooms last November, and cost almost half of what we paid for All Stars ($32 for Magic Castle vs. $52 for All Stars). Plus it came with a refrigerator.

After we got settled, we went to the gift shop next door and perused the sundries (didn't get anything). We tried to get into the nearest Publix, but it was closed by the time we got there, so we went to an Eckerd to pick up some necessities like cream cheese for the bagels I had brought for breakfast. We got in bed at about 11:30 that night, in an attempt to get a good nights sleep before the day we had planned for the next day.

Thursday, February 4, 1999

Originally, our plan for the day was to go to Animal Kingdom for a couple of hours, then Disney-MGM Studios, watch Fantasmic!, then call it a day. Well, we didn't quite follow that plan. We woke up at about 8:00, got dressed, went about our morning rituals, and had breakfast. I had bought spinach parmesan bagels from a bakery in Nashville for breakfast, so that's what I had, along with some cream cheese and a couple of glasses of fruit punch from the continental breakfast bar. Mom had two donuts, a bagel and some coffee.

Once we were done with breakfast, we decided to go to Epcot for a while, then go to Disney-MGM Studios, and go to Animal Kingdom the next day. Then on our last day, we would come back and spend an entire day at Epcot. For some reason, I love going to Epcot first. If I don't go to Epcot first, I spend the rest of the trip wanting to go to Epcot. I just love the atmosphere of it, and we've made it our tradition to watch Food Rocks before we do anything else.

Once we got to Epcot, mom had to buy another annual pass, since hers ran out last July. It didn't take very long, and pretty soon we were on our way to Food Rocks. Once we got there, there were very few people in line, but a show had just started, so we had to wait about 10 minutes. In the meantime, we walked around the Green Thumb Emporium, grumbling about how there should be Food Rocks merchandise. Even something simple, like fridge magnets. Well, we watched the show, but decided to come back to Living with the Land later in the week.

After leaving the Land, we went over to Test Track to see if it was up and running, but we were told to check back around 2:00 because it would probably be open then. When we left, we saw Fletch the Crash Test Dummy and said hello. When I asked if he was gonna ride Test Track, he looked terrified and shook his head no. Heh...maybe the dummy's got the right idea.

So while we were on that side of the park, we decided to hop over to Wonders of Life and ride Body Wars and see Cranium Command. While we were in line for Body Wars, I noticed that a guy a few people in front of us looked a heckuva lot like Robin Williams. Anyone know if Robin Williams was in Disney World that weekend?

After we were done with Body Wars, we took in Cranium Command, which is an Epcot favorite of mine. As we were leaving, mom wanted me to pose my Tourist Mickey in the wall sculpture near the exit. So I was situating him when an older man and woman came up to us and started asking what we were doing with Tourist Mickey. (If you don't know my story on what I have been doing with my Tourist Mickey, stop reading right now and look at my web page: http://www.geocities.com/Hollywood/Cinema/3035/mickey) We told them that we had taken him all over Disney World and had taken 179 pictures of him in every situation you could imagine. The lady thought it was really cute, and she kept pinching Mickey's cheeks, saying "Lucky beanie...lucky beanie..." The man asked us if we had seen the hidden Mickey in the Body Wars mural, and when mom said no, he took her over to show it to her while I and the lady took my picture and chatted about this and that. She asked me if I had ever been to Tokyo Disneyland, and then told me that she had heard that Disney was opening a park in Honk Kong, which I gather is where she was from. She told me that I needed to take Tourist Mickey to Japan, and I said that if I ever made it to Japan, I was sure he would be with me. When I told her that I was already planning a trip to Disneyland in 2004, she told me to make sure that I took Mickey there too, and I said that I would. Just then, mom and the man showed back up (ya know, we never asked them what their names were...) and mom said that she wanted me to take a picture of the hidden Mickey. We said goodbye to our new friends, and went to take a picture of the hidden Mickey.

After we were done there, we decided that it was time for lunch. I had decided quite a while in advance that I didn't want to leave Disney World without eating Mickey shaped pizza, so we went straight to Pasta Piazza. I confirmed with the CM at the register that they were, in fact, Mickey shaped and she said that they were. I ordered a cheese one and mom got a pepperoni one. They were yummy. We even took a picture of them before we ate them.

After lunch we went to the Living Seas. Not much going on there, as usual, but I soon found myself completely hypnotized by the shrimp culture. I probably watched it for 10 minutes before mom made me leave (hey, that's not anything compared to the time I watched eggs hatch for two hours at the Chicago Museum of Science and Industry!).

When we went to the gift shop, I was looking at the stuffed animals and fell in love with a stuffed otter holding a starfish that cost $30. I said that if I had an extra $30 at the end of the trip, I was going to come back and get him, but I figured that wasn't gonna happen. When we left there, we decided to just call of going to the Studios and spend the whole day at Epcot. Fine with me. I love Epcot. We decided that World Showcase should be next on the agenda, so we went off in that direction, forgoing Universe of Energy and Honey I Shrunk the Audience.

On the way there, we stopped in Ice Station Cool for a few drinks. Being a glutton for punishment, I made myself drink about half a glass of Beverly. The first sip wasn't that bad, but by the time the last drop was down the hatch, I was seeing stars. Blech!!! I still hold that my favorite of the beverages is VegitaBeta. It's good, and I've been known to drink whole glasses of it. Lift Pineapple is pretty good too, but it burns my mouth (I'm allergic to citrus). The apple one is weird. The lemon lime is ok, but a bit bitter for my taste. The watermelon is good, but only in small doses. I don't like ginger ale to begin with, so the Krest ginger ale is gross to me. Mezzo Mix cola isn't bad, but not that wonderful, and Beverly is just plain nasty!

On our way across the bridge to World Showcase, we stopped at a sunglasses booth to take a picture of Mickey with Spaceship Earth in the background. While we were setting it up, we met CM Ron, a CM who sells Disney puppets at small booth. We ended up talking for, probably, half an hour. We exchanged web page addresses (he runs a mens swimwear company who has a website at members.aol.com/swimsutman/hemen.html) and talked about everything from the comparison of A Bug's Life to Antz, to the delays with Test Track. At one point he told me that Company D was selling copies of Mulan for $14.49, so I asked how to get there. He gave me this huge list of directions ("You're gonna go right around here, then turn left, then go for a while, then you'll go through this hallway, and there it is...") followed by "You can't miss it!" Yeah, right. Leave it to me.

We said goodbye to Ron and went to find Company D. This was the first time I had seriously gone backstage at Disney World. I'd gone into the Space Mountain control tower on my last trip, but CM Dawayne was accompanying me. So I found the door marked "Cast Members only" and marched my way back there, trying not to look like a tourist, despite the fact that I had my camera in my hand. I asked two people if I was going the right way (one of which I happened to run into later, CM Adam from Test Track) and they both assured me that I was. Once I found it, I had to go through the Cast Member lounge area to get to it. That was kind of weird (not to mention how weird the french fry vending machine was...I had no idea that such a thing existed...), but I managed. Once inside, I bought a green t-shirt that says "Disney Team" on it, two Mulan videos, a pen shaped like Mickey's head, a luggage tag and a car antenna topper of Mickey's head. I got a tad bit lost on the way back out, but I found my way, and I found mom still sitting just where I left her.

After that, we finally made it into World Showcase. The first stop as always was Mexico. We perused the gift shops until we found what we had been looking for...TINY HATS!!!!! I had bought Tourist Mickey a small sombrero with a serape on it last year, but neglected to buy him the matching cowboy type hat. So I found a yellow one that I liked and bought it for him. Meanwhile, mom had chosen the deluxe model sombrero for her Tourist Mickey, complete with sequins and gold thread.

We took in El Rio del Tiempo, noticing that our favorite animatronic, "running boy", wasn't running, just turning round and round. I was upset because that's what he was doing when we went in November as well, which shows that there has been no maintenance on this ride in at least four months.

Hmph! Leaving Mexico, we stopped in Norway to ride Maelstrom. Skipped the movie. I was able to justify this because there were no Norwegian CMs inside the theater at the time. They were all either escorting everyone in or out, so I didn't feel quite so guilty. We browsed the shops, but when we found no tiny hats, we moved on. A tip for the Norway pavilion: Make tiny hats! Upon leaving the shops, we stopped in the bakery because I had planned on making myself buy some rice cream since I had heard so many things about it. Thing is that no one told me that it has strawberries on top. I love strawberries, but I hate them in stuff like ice cream or pudding. Oh well. I vote this bakery best smelling place in Disney World.

As we passed the China pavilion, we heard that the Pu Yang Acrobats were going to be performing in a few minutes, so we stopped and waited for them. All I can say is wow. Those kids can do stuff that would kill me. Jumping through hoops two feet taller than they are and balancing on each others necks...ohmigosh I was amazed! I am definitely gonna try and see them next time as well. We looked in a few shops, but didn't linger long. Again...no tiny hats. Tip for the China pavilion: Make tiny hats!

Germany was next, where we gazed longingly at multi-hundred dollar kuckoo clocks and beautiful nutcrackers (mom collects nutcrackers, so she was, basically, in heaven). If I ever get 800 extra dollars, I'm gonna get the kuckoo clock that has the two guys on the front banging their beer mugs on the table. I could smell the sauerkraut, but I couldn't make out where the smell was coming from. Mmmm...I love saurkraut, but it nauseates my mom. We looked through the stores one last time, and mom decided that she couldn't live without some Mickey Mouse PVCs. She originally had 12 picked out, but then realized that that was gonna cost her more than $30, so she cut it back down to four; English, French, Spanish and Maestro Mickey. Once again...no tiny hats. Tip for the Germany pavilion: Make tiny hats!

Italy was next, but we didn't spend all that much time there. We looked over the menu for Alfredo's, and it sounded really good for dinner, but it was a bit pricey. By this time, we were getting really hungry, but we couldn't decide where to have dinner. Everywhere we looked seemed either not that appetizing or too expensive. Finally we decided that if we didn't find anywhere to have dinner before we were done with World Showcase, we'd eat at Electric Umbrella, home of the World's best chicken strips. We looked through the shops, but didn't linger. Once again...no tiny hats. Tip for the Italy pavilion: Make tiny hats!

Once we got to the American Adventure, we were too hungry to want to sit in a theater and watch a show. I love the American Adventure, but our stomachs were leading the touring at this point. We didn't even look in the American shops. We knew there would be no tiny hats. Tip for the American pavilion: Make tiny hats!

On our way to Japan, we ran across the heralded Kaki-Gori stand. We both bought rainbow Kaki-Goris and sat down in the Japanese pavilion to devour them. They were yummy. We looked at a couple of the restaurants there, but nothing tickled our fancies. On our way out, we were distracted by a crowd forming around a small booth in the middle of the pavilion. On closer inspection, we saw that it was a candy maker named Miyuki making all kinds of amazing creatures out of taffy and putting them on the ends of chopsticks. I guess we watched her for about 10 minutes, until she ran out of candy. We saw her make a dragon, a bird, a panda and an elephant. It was so awesome. We listened to a bit of the drum performance and glanced through the shops. I wasn't expecting it by this point, but once again, we found no tiny hats. Tip for the Japan pavilion: Make tiny hats!

I'm ashamed to admit it, but we just walked straight past Morocco because we knew that there wasn't a restaurant there that we would be interested in eating in. I assume that they had no tiny hats. Tip for the Morocco pavilion: Make tiny hats!

We were just about to breeze past France as well before I spotted Belle and Beast in a small courtyard off to the side of the pavilion. I'd already met both of them, but I wanted to ask the CM there if any Hunchback of Notre Dame characters were gonna be coming out. He said that in just a few minutes, Phoebus and Quasimodo as well as Jafar were going to be between France and Morocco. Alright!!!!! We skipped back over to where they would be just in time to catch Phoebus. When he came out, we were the first ones in line. He was really funny, egging us on to give him compliments about how handsome and funny he was in Hunchback. We played along, and it was so funny! Just as we were done with him, Quasimodo came out, and Phoebus introduced us to him. Quasi seemed very happy that we both love Hunchback. Later we saw Jafar come out and we got an autograph and picture with him too. As we were walking away, I heard the funniest thing I've ever heard anyone say in Disney World. A woman to her daughter: "Look! There's Hunchie!" Just struck me as hilarious for some reason.

As we were walking over toward the United Kingdom, I saw a person dressed in a white robe come out a side door. Cool! It was a living statue! I'd never seen them before! We watched him (Could have been a girl...I don't know...I'll say it's a him for simplicity) for a few minutes just standing perfectly still. Finally when some people went to get their picture made with him, he moved. Then I started thinking about how cute it would be if I could get the statue to hold Tourist Mickey and let me take his picture. I asked the CM with the statue if I could get him to hold Mickey, and she said yes. When I tried to get the statue to hold Mickey, he immediately moved to where his hands were folded. I almost jumped back, but immediately after that move, he moved again and opened both of his hands in front of him. I handed Mickey to him, and he didn't move for a few moments, but then moved and began to cuddle him like a baby. It was so cute. By now, even more people have gathered, so there are probably 100 people or more watching the statue with Tourist Mickey. After a while, I decided to let someone else interact with the statue, so I tried to get Mickey back. Right as I reached to take him out of his hand, he raised his hand away like he didn't want to give Mickey up. I did it two more times, each time moving his hand farther away from me. It was so funny. Flashes were a-flutter with so many people taking pictures of it. Finally, he held both of his hands out and gave him back to me. I thanked him very much and stepped back to let other people get near him. It was so awesome. I couldn't believe that happened. That's the kind of magic that only Disney can create.

By this point, we had, basically, given up on our tiny hat search. Tip for the France pavilion: Make tiny hats! After our encounter with the Living Statue, we walked over to the United Kingdom pavilion in search of dinner. When we passed the Rose and Crown pub, we decided that our stomachs had ached for long enough and we stopped to ask how long the wait without Priority Seating was. The guy said that they could take our party of two immediately. Alright! Can't complain about that! As we were going inside, I heard the wail of the bagpipes off in the distance. I noted that that was probably Off Kilter, who we had never gotten to see. I wanted to watch them, but dinner was the prime directive at the moment. Once we got inside and began looking at the menu, I was sort of befuddled that there are only four entrees on the menu and about a million beers. We got the fish and chips like almost everyone else we could see. I also inquired about their yard tall beer glasses, and was told that one would be five dollars with beverage included. Sounded good to me. I already have a yard tall glass from a Fourth of July party in Nashville last year, and I really like it, so I wanted one from Rose and Crown as well. Dinner wasn't bad, though even with a Cast Member discount, I feel like it was overpriced. I'm sorry, but I've had equally good fish at Captain D's for about half the price. And to top it off, my last piece of fish had cartilage shards all the way through it. I couldn't finish it because it was gagging me to think about eating cartilage. Good thing that I had already eaten the other three, else I wouldn't have been able to eat any of it. My dinner total was about $15 including the glass and mom's was about $10. We didn't look for tiny hats, but I assume that they didn't have any. Tip for the United Kingdom pavilion: Make tiny hats!

As we left the Rose and Crown, we heard the sweet sound of the bagpipes again and were instinctively drawn to it. I love the bagpipes. My mom loves the bagpipes. I absolutely adore kilts. I was in for a big treat. When we approached the Canada pavilion, we saw Off Kilter playing on a small stage off to the left of the pavilion. I had heard so many good things about them that I definitely didn't want to miss them. From the moment we stopped, I was completely entranced by them. I was in love; head over heels in love with this band. A few minutes after I stopped, they played a song called "Run run away" during which the audience had to scream "run run away" at the end of each verse. Of course, I was there yelling it at the top of my lungs. I must have either looked crazy or drunk (more likely drunk since I was still drinking out of my beer glass). At one point, I saw a girl run up near the stage to take a picture of them, and before she could take it, the three front guys, Jamie the bagpiper/lead singer, Mark the bass player and Randy the guitar player all huddled together and posed for her. I thought it was so cute that I wanted them to do that for me. So a few minutes after she got her picture, I ran up to the front to take my picture, and sure enough, they all huddled together for me. AHHH!!! So cute!!! Did I mention that I like kilts? Soon, the whole area went completely black, and Jamie went into a slow bagpipe solo. I was completely blown away. It was so beautiful! He is such an awesome bagpipe player! I love the bagpipes! All I could do was stand there in complete awe. After he was done, the song broke into a livelier beat, which included much jumping, kicking and twirling. Did I mention that I REALLY like kilts? :-) As the show was ending, I ran up toward the stage for one more picture, and once again, they posed for me. After the show, I started speaking to Mark the bassist, and it seemed like the only thing that would come out of my mouth was "You guys are awesome! I'd heard so many good things about you, and you guys are awesome!" Then I tossed him Tourist Mickey and asked for a picture, so he called Jamie and Randy over. They each grabbed an arm or leg and pretended to be pulling him apart. So cute! Ahh...I love kilts! We bid a fond farewell to Off Kilter and headed over further into Canada.

Actually, we never quite made it into Canada because it was about 8:00 by this time and there were a couple of Future World things we still wanted to do. We passed by Canada, not seeing any tiny hats along the way, and went back to Future World. Tip for the Canada pavilion: Make tiny hats!

We decided to jump into Innoventions and see if any of the e-mail postcard stations were free. On our way to them, we saw a bluescreen television thing where it looked like you could get interviewed by Jay Leno. After some coaxing, I convinced mom that she should do it since she had been in Superstar Television last May as the person getting interviewed by Johnny Carson. The Jay Leno thing turned out ok, but the timing of it was really off, so any time Jay said a line, it was a few seconds before mom got the cue for her line. If they sped up how fast they give you the lines, it would be much better. After that, we found the e-mail postcards and sent four or five of them to various people, then decided to catch Spaceship Earth before the park closed. We walked around to the front of Spaceship Earth and got right on with no line. Right as we were getting ready to get off the ride, they had to stop it to let a man in a wheelchair who was about four cars in front of us off. We sat at the unloading dock with the door still closed for a minute or so, but the people in the car in front of us decided that they wanted to jump out. When they jumped out of their closed-door vehicle, the CM working there yelled at them, then gave us a look like "Ugh! Can you believe what idiots they are?!?!?!" But we just sat there like good little guests and patiently waited until our vehicle's doors opened. By this time, IllumiNations was going on, so we decided to go ahead and leave.

We got to the car uneventfully, but got turned around on the way back to the hotel. We finally got back at about 10:00, and took care of a few things before we went to bed. We also made new reservations for New Year's Eve (we had reservations at a Villager Lodge, but then they changed to an EconoLodge, and I'm boycotting EconoLodge because of what I saw as age discrimination during a stay of mine last summer, so I didn't want to stay with them any more). We then went back up to the room, got showered, snacked a bit and went to bed.

Friday, February 5, 1999

Not really being a morning person, I had to drag myself out of bed. Actually, I just sort of dragged myself to a sitting position while still in bed at about 8:00am. Mom had gotten up a bit earlier and taken a shower. I had my spinach bagel with cream cheese and fruit punch for breakfast, and mom had two donuts and a couple of cups of coffee.

We had planned on doing Magic Kingdom today, with possibly a trip over to Epcot if Test Track was running. We were up and out of the hotel by about 9:10 and were at the Transportation and Ticket Center by 9:30. We took the ferry across the lagoon and entered without a problem.

Our first stop (which it seems has become a recurring element of all our trips) was under the Main Street train station for a stop at the ATM. While we were there, I remembered that someone had said that the hand crank movies had been moved from the arcade to the upper level of the train station, so I went up there while mom pressed some quarters. I spent a whole five cents and watched four of the five movies (one of them took my penny then wouldn't work). I thought they were really really cool and was going to watch them all again as well as make mom watch them, but alas the train pulled up. I said I wanted to come back to them, but we never did.

We rode the train over to Mickey's ToonTown Fair (every time we ride the train, as it goes through Splash Mountain, mom always says, "Oh I don't remember being able to see inside there!") and when we got off, we took the secret path over to Tomorrowland. It was a nice walk, but there were people in front of us and behind us, so I guess it isn't really a secret.

The first stop since Space Mountain was down for rehab was Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin. Once again, I loved it as much as last time, except I noticed that some of the sounds weren't working. Unless they took them out all together, the aliens weren't saying "Zurg escapes! Through the escape hatch! Follow Zurg!" as you go into the spinning "engine", and at the end, it didn't say "Joystick disabled! Joystick disabled!" But I knew they were supposed to be there. My score wasn't as good as it has been, but I guess that was because I needed to warm up my trigger finger.

I declared that the next stop had to be on the Tomorrowland Transit Authority so we could try to see Space Mountain with the lights on. I was really hoping that people would be working on it so since I couldn't ride it, at least I could see it with the lights on. So as we were approaching Space Mountain, I had my fingers crossed and my camera ready. Once we got inside the building, I knew we were in luck because it was dead silent. Normally there is some kind of music or something as well as the sound of the cars on the track. But this time...nothing. Silent. When we got to the part where you pass the uphill climbs, you could tell the lights were on because you could see straight through the track. COOL!!!!! So then we went through this little dark tunnel, then emerged into complete light inside the Space Mountain dome! I was freaking out, but not too loudly because mom was videotaping it. The thing that struck me, like so many other people, is just how little of the building the track takes up. There's a lot of space above the tracks and above the waiting area. Lets hope we see a track expansion sometime. So we just rode through in complete silence, waving at the workers and oohhing and aahhing at the track. I even broke the rules and stood up a bit to get a better look at one of the drops. Well, it wasn't really standing, per se, but more of a lifting slightly off my seat. Yeah, that's it! Lifting slightly off my seat! Once we left Space Mountain, we decided that we wanted to stay on again to get a better look at it, so we stayed on for another circuit.

After that, we stopped in Mickey's Star Traders on the way to Fantasyland. I realized that my life wouldn't be complete without a Pumbaa beanie, so I bought one and mom bought two magnets.

Then we were on our way to Fantasyland. We saw the Mad Hatter and the Queen of Hearts signing autographs, but I already had both of them, so we walked on by. The guy playing the Mad Hatter was the same one as in November. He is an awesome Mad Hatter. He's so funny.

Once we got close to the wall around Mr. Toad's Wild Ride, I made mom pause for a moment of silence. I thought about how I really wished I could muster up the courage to look under the wall and see what was going on. As I was watching the wall, I saw someone walking around inside it. Well, that was all the incentive I needed to take a look see. I literally laid down right there in the pathway and looked under the wall. I couldn't see much, but I did see a big dumpster. I bet it was full of Mr. Toad parts. *sob* Right as I got up, I saw a suit walking by, so I stopped him and asked if there were any ride parts left. I figured he would tell me no, which he did, so it was no shock to me. He also told me that he wasn't even allowed back there, so even if there were any, he couldn't get to them.

Not letting it phase me, we quickly continued over to Snow White's Adventures and rode it. After that came It's a Small World. I'd decided that I wanted some It's a Small World ride water, so I had brought three antacid bottles with screw-on caps with me. I had planned on filling one with It's a Small World, another with Pirates of the Carribean and the third with either Splash Mountain or Rivers of America water. I wasn't sure how easy it would be to get Splash Mountain water having only ridden it once before. So when we were launched into the ride and cruised past the windows, I discretely reached into my bag and pulled out one of the bottles. Right as we made the first left turn into the ride, we passed a solid black wall, and that's where I dipped my hand in and got my water. Then I slowly screwed the cap back on, dried it off with my hands, slipped it into a small bag and put it in my backpack. I also made note of the fact that my hand smelled really bad afterwards. Eeewww...

Next was Cinderella's Golden Carousel. Mom loves carousels, so we rode it. It's a very nice carousel, but I'm just as into it as she is. I would have skipped it if it was up to me.

So we rode, and after we got off, we decided that it was time for lunch at one of our favorite spots in all of Disney World, Pinocchio's Village Haus. And of course I, who just happens to be the former TDC Keeper of the Monstro table in Pinocchio's Village Haus, had to make sure my beloved Monstro table was available. I gave mom some money and told her to get me a burger, fries and water while I went to stake out the Monstro table. If you don't know, the Monstro table is the table in the room that overlooks the It's a Small World loading area with a giant Monstro painted above it. We sat there quite by accident on two separate trips in 1997. Since then, I've always tried to sit there. In November, mom wouldn't sit there TWICE because a table at the window was available. And it was the same table both times. I was so mad. But this time, the prospect of getting the Monstro table looked pretty good. A family was sitting there with empty plates in front of them looking like they were packing up their stuff and getting ready to leave, so I sat down across the aisle from them. When they got up, I jumped over to their table, without even letting the CM wipe off it off first. Yay! I got the Monstro table! A few minutes later, mom knew exactly where to look for me. She doesn't like the Monstro table because it's right next to the kitchen, but I like it. Our burgers and fries were heavenly as always, further assuring me that they are the best burgers onsite.

After lunch, I said that I wanted to make one more try at getting Mr. Toad parts, so we went back over there. I decided that I should just ask a random CM if they could help me so I stopped at the little gift shop next to the wall. When I asked them, they both looked at me like I was a criminal and said really condescendingly "Uh, no. There are no parts left." I wasn't rude or demanding or anything. I had simply asked if there were any parts and they were acting like they wanted me thrown out of the park!

Not wanting to deal with their explanation of why there were no parts left, I walked away in the direction of the Castle. We walked through the Castle but for some reason decided to walk beside it and go into Liberty Square instead of going to the hub, then to Adventureland. On our way, we stopped in Ye Olde Christmas Shoppe and looked at ornaments. I found another set of boxed ornaments that I really liked (Hunchback maybe? Or Beauty and the Beast? I don't remember) but alas, I didn't have any extra money to spend on ornaments. I'd already gotten about 10 from the Disney Store's after Christmas sales, so I didn't need any more.

We rode Haunted Mansion next, then went to check out the Splash Mountain and Big Thunder Mountain Railroad lines. Both were really backed up, so we decided to come back to them later.

We went over to Adventureland and decided to ride Pirates of the Caribbean. Right as we were launched into the ride, I got out another bottle and scooped up some water before the drop. This time, my hand smelled even worse than with It's a Small World. Yuck!

After that we went next door to ride the Jungle Cruise. Our guide was a bit of a dud. He didn't emphasize the punchlines of the jokes enough. No one on the entire boat was laughing, even at the jokes that normally elicit at least a chuckle.

Next we went to check out the Swiss Family Treehouse. The only thing that kept running through my mind was "Why on earth did Disney just redo this? Why didn't they do away with it???" It was a lot of stair climbing and not a lot to look at. From Disney's point of view, I would think that an attraction like this wouldn't be popular enough or bring in enough revenue to continue having it open. I couldn't believe that Disney had done such a massive overhaul of it. I mean, it's nice, but it takes up a lot of space that could be used for something else.

After that we went to see the Tiki room. I almost didn't want to watch it because I didn't like it that much. Once I get inside, it's always better than I remember it being, but I probably won't watch it on every trip. It ranks up there with Timekeeper. Watchable, but not too repeatable.

By this time, it was 2:10 and we were wondering if Test Track was open. So we walked over to Guest Services and asked a guy there if he knew if Test Track was open. He said that at the moment, it was open, but that it might shut down at any time. Good enough for us. So we left the Magic Kingdom and hopped on the monorail to Epcot. We asked if we could sit up front and they said yes. At the last minute, they stuck two little girls in with us. When the driver came in, he handed us all Monorail Co-Pilot Licenses, and I promptly signed "Tourist Mickey" on mine. When we got off, I got a picture of the driver holding Mickey and his Co-Pilot's License.

Once we got to Epcot, we made a beeline for Test Track. No dilly dallying. Tunnel vision. Test Track. Test Track. Test Track. We saw a small group of people gathering outside the entrance, so we joined them. The CMs there weren't turning people away, so we assumed that there must have been a good chance of getting to ride it. I guess we got in line at a good time, because just a few minutes after we got in line, the line had already backed up to the jumping fountains and appeared to be growing bigger. We waited there for about an hour. I took trip report notes while eavesdropping on other people's conversations. You just can't help but eavesdrop when you're standing shoulder to shoulder with people for more than an hour! But we didn't overhear anything interesting.

After a while, they finally let us into the waiting area. Everyone cheered as they dropped the ropes and opened the big doors to the waiting area. We walked through it really quickly, so we didn't get to take in all the detail of it, but it looked really cool. Mom videotaped the whole thing too, so we have, like, two minutes worth of random stuff flying by the screen where we were walking so fast. Well, we got up to the front of the line and were escorted into one of the "briefing rooms". We watched our little preshow (mom taped it too) and I was practically jumping out of my skin because I was actually gonna get to ride Test Track!!! They opened the doors from the preshow and everyone herded into the last waiting area. Yes! Gonna get to ride Test Track! Gonna get to ride Test Track!

Then right as we turned the first corner, we knew something was wrong. All the cars were stopped on the track. People were sitting in the cars looking around like they didn't know what was going on. Cast Members were rushing around on the other side of the track. Just then, a jumpsuit clad Cast Member pops around in front of our group and says that the ride has stopped. Great. Just great. Then he says that since the ride is broken down, they needed us all to leave the building, but they were gonna give us front of the line passes to get back in. People were pissed. It seemed like everyone groaned in unison because we had been waiting for more than an hour and a half by this point. There probably weren't 50 people in line in front of us and they were telling us that we had to leave! A lot of people were asking if they could just stay there and wait, but the CMs kept saying no. So everyone filed out of the building after getting their passes (which actually only said that it was good for readmittance to Test Track, not that it was good for readmittance to the preshow or anything). I was so mad. We'd come all the way from the Magic Kingdom, waited for more than an hour and a half, then came so close...

Upset, we decided to have some dinner at the Electric Umbrella. We love their chicken strips, so we both ordered a childrens chicken strip dinner. We saw that a two childrens meals were cheaper than splitting one adult meal, plus you got a small drink. And the kids meals are more than enough for us. I wanted to sit outside, but mom didn't want to since we had just been outside for an hour. So we sat near the windows and watched the fountain dance and the crowds rush by as we ate our dinner. I had Surge with my chicken which was a wonderful change from the water I'd been drinking. I was still ticked about Test Track, but I was starting to get over it. After we were done, we walked back over there to see if they had opened Test Track back up, but they said that it was gonna be closed the rest of the day, so that made me feel a little bit better.

We decided that it was time to get back over to Magic Kingdom and finish up over there, so we hopped on the monorail. On the way there, we ran into the two little girls that had ridden up front with us on the way over. They must have just come over for Test Track too. The monorail was crowded, so I sat down on the floor of the cab on the ride back.

Once back at the Magic Kingdom, I said that I wanted to ride Splash Mountain. The only other time I had ridden Splash Mountain was at night, so I wanted to ride it while it was still light so I could see the Magic Kingdom from the top of the hill. I actually got mom to go through the line with me so she wouldn't have to just sit outside and wait on me. She wanted me to take still pictures of the ride, but once my boat came over the top of the first hill, it got splashed really badly so I put it in my pocket. The ride was even more fun this time than the last, and it has definitely moved to one of the top spots on my Magic Kingdom don't miss list. I even got to see the FSU bunny! Afterwards, I decided that I wanted to get one of the Splash Mountain beanies. I tried to talk myself into getting the Brer Rabbit beanie, but I ended up liking the Brer Bear one more. I also bought a nifty floaty pen, further supporting my addiction to them.

The next stop was at Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. Mom suddenly decided that she doesn't like this ride any more. Her problem is that she tightens all the muscles in her neck, then when we hit a bump, it really jars her neck, instead of leaving it relaxed so she can absorb the shock. She doesn't get it. Well, I still like it, and that's all that matters to me.

On the way back towards Fantasyland, we both got churros, one of our favorite snacks in Disney World. They didn't have any chocolate, but I guess that's ok, cuz we didn't need it anyway.

We went back over to Fantasyland and stopped for a ride on Peter Pan's Flight. We hadn't gotten around to riding it on our last trip, so we weren't gonna miss it two trips in a row. We rode it, and afterwards, went to see Legend of the Lion King. We had an encounter with a very rude family sitting right behind us during the show too. The father was holding their baby in his lap, speaking baby talk to her for the entire length of the show. And not just the "stay quiet" kind of baby talk. This was "Blabababa...blalala..ablalala" for the entire show. And it was loud too. You could see everyone around us turning around and looking at them, but it didn't stop him from encouraging his kid to yell through the whole show. Sheesh.

About the only thing we hadn't done was ride the skyway, so we rode the skyway back over towards Tomorrowland. It was too dark to see inside the Mr. Toad wall, but I could make out the big dumpster I had seen earlier. I also started wondering why they have that platform in the middle of the ride. Maybe it's to unload people during a storm or something. But it made me wonder because there's always a CM sitting there.

Once we got over to Tomorrowland, we stopped in the arcade for a bit to see if I could win anything out of the dollar claw machines. I tried two dollars and won a bright orange gorilla type creature hanging from a bar with a suction cup. I'd tried to get one of them in November but never could.

After the stop there, we went over to Buzz Lightyear to try and better our scores from that morning. I did fairly well, but mom did better, and was very proud of her 498,700 points. After that, we decided that we'd had enough, so we made our way back to the hotel. We took pictures of the dioramas of the Hunchback of Notre Dame in the windows on Main Street, but didn't linger, and made it back to the hotel by about 10:00.

Saturday, February 6, 1999

Since we had postponed it earlier in the week, this was the day that we had to go to Animal Kingdom. We got up at 7:15, had breakfast and mom had a shower. Again, I had a spinach bagel with cream cheese and fruit punch, and mom had two donuts and two cups of coffee.

We got to Animal Kingdom at about 8:30 and went straight for Kilimanjaro Safaris. Even though Animal Kingdom isn't my favorite of the parks, I must say that I absolutely love the way they have done Harambe. Any time I go over that bridge, I feel like I have stepped into a completely different world. I know that's what the Imagineers were hoping for, and I think they have achieved it very well. It doesn't feel like Disney World at all.

Since it was still early, the safari didn't have much of a line, so we got on within about five minutes. Our guide was very good, but he didn't go as fast as the last guide we had. In the last part of the ride, she was speeding through the mud puddles like a mad woman, whereas this guy took it pretty slow through the whole ride. It was still great though. The highlight of the safari was when you come around the corner to where the lions are. On the opposite side from the lions, they have lots of antelope or gazelle (don't remember exactly what they are). Well, during the safari, they were running back and forth across the road and all around the vehicle. I was hoping that they would stop right in front of us, but they didn't. It was really interesting seeing all the animals running around and playing right in front of us.

We chose not to walk the Pangani Forest Trail, so we went straight over to DinoLand USA to ride Countdown to Extinction. Not much of a line the first time through, so we decided to do it again. After we were done, we went over to Chester and Hester's in hopes of finding miniature Time Rover vehicles. Since I found out about them, mom said that she had to have one. We found them pretty quickly, as well as a new batch of the dinosaur beanies. I figured that they might be worth something some day, so I bought a set, which was the only time I used my credit card for the entire trip.

After we were done there, we were going to go over to Asia and check out the Jungle Trek they have, but instead we got sidetracked by a sign saying that we could meet Bug's Life characters somewhere else. I absolutely loved Bug's Life, so I really wanted to meet some of the characters. Once we got over to the area, the only character there was Flik. No Heimlich :-( I'm totally obsessed with Heimlich. He's by far my favorite Disney character, after my main Mouse of course. I had a pen with a Heimlich on top of it for him to sign with, so Flik acknowledged that Heimlich was one of his friends. Then I told him that I let Heimlich believe that he's my favorite, when actually it was Flik. He acted really happy, then gave me a big hug.

By now it was about 10:30 I guess and we were already hot and sweaty. Good grief...Animal Kingdom'll do that to ya, even in February. So we called off visiting Asia in favor of going over to MGM Studios. The walk to the tram stop was excruciating because the entire way is in full sun and it was approaching mid-day.

We got over to MGM Studios quickly, and our first stop was the 50's Prime Time Cafe to see if we could get in for lunch in a reasonable amount of time. The guy said there would be about a 30 minute wait, but that was ok. We love 50's Prime Time, so we were willing to wait. We also asked if Brother Lerroy was working. The guy looked kind of puzzled, but then he said that he was there and that he would try to put us at one his tables. YIPPEEE!!!!! We love Brother Lerroy!!!

While we were waiting, I decided to go see my friend Amy (Goofy3102) in the Animation Courtyard. I'd met her in November, and since then, we had chatted online some. When I got over to where she should have been, I didn't see her. Someone asked if they could help me, and I asked if they knew where she was. He said that he could page her, and I kept saying no, that I didn't want to bother her, but he kept insisting, so finally I told him to go ahead. A few seconds later she showed up and we chatted and exchanged pleasantries. I told her about not getting to ride Test Track and as well as about my massive Heimlich collection.

After a few minutes, I decided that I needed to go back over to 50's Prime Time so I could be there when they called our names. I told her bye and headed back off in that direction. When I got back over there, we hadn't been seated yet. So we sat down and in just a few minutes, a guy came into the waiting area screaming "Williams children! Williams children!" Then once we told him that we were the Williams children, he kept saying, "That's great, but I'm looking for the Williams children right now...Williams children!" Finally he looked at us and said "Oh there you are! Where are the other two of you?" We told him that there were only two of us, but the card had said that there were four. Oh well, doesn't matter. He seated us in table near another family right in the center of the building.

Pretty soon, Brother Lerroy made his entrance...with a fall. Fake I hope. Then he promptly blamed a young girl that was sitting at the next table, calling her a brat and making fun of her. When he came over to us, he asked us how we were doing, then paused and took a good look at me. Then he exclaimed "Hey! I know you!" then looked at my mom and said "Yeah, you too!" Then I plopped Tourist Mickey up on the table, and he started talking about how he remembered us taking Tourist Mickey all over Disney World last November. That was cool. With all the people he meets, he remembered us. I was happy. Then he grabbed Mickey and took him over to the next table and started telling them what I was doing with him. He's such a hoot. I love Brother Lerroy.

Mom and I both ordered buffalo strips, a basket of chili cheese fries to share and two glasses of water. The food was really good in comparison to our other meals there. I mean, they hadn't been bad, but had been mediocre at best. But this meal was really good and we felt like we definitely got a good deal.

Later, Brother Lerroy came back to the area and started talking about his dog and showing us a picture of it. He told us that his dog could speak spanish since it looked like the "Yo quiero Taco Bell" dog. Then he came over to our table to show the picture and said "That's my perro. Perro means dog in Spanish." I told him that I spoke some Spanish, so we talked for a bit. At one point, he even made a comment in Spanish to the effect of "She's not understanding a word of what we're saying, does she?" I could see mom getting agitated, because she hates it when I speak in Spanish with someone in front of her, because she can't understand a word of Spanish.

After we were done with the main course, we decided to splurge and get dessert. Brother Lerroy brought over the ViewMaster of the dessert menu, and I had to grill him about what the different shakes and sundaes were. I finally decided on a Works sundae, which had chocolate, caramel, marshmallow and ice cream in it with M&Ms on top. It was so yummy! Mom got an order of Smores and said it was really good as well.

We said goodbye to Brother Lerroy after dessert, and set out for the Beauty and the Beast stage show. On our way out, I discovered that they sell miniature yard tall glasses (I guess you'd call them half-foot glasses) in the 50's Prime Time lobby, and I had to get one. I think they were only two dollars. I think I see a collection starting...

At this point, I realized that I really had to be careful with my money for the rest of the trip. I had around $40 left. I needed at least about $12 for the return trip, plus money for dinner, which meant that I only had a little over $20 worth of spending money left. Since my last trip, I had intended on buying the Fantasmic! soundtrack, but now I was thinking otherwise. For the whole trip, I had been thinking about getting the Off Kilter CD. Since I had seen them, all I wanted to do was go back and watch them again. So now that I was faced with only getting one CD, I decided that I'd rather have the Off Kilter CD than the Fantasmic CD I had wanted for four months.

We made it over to the Beauty and the Beast show and were seated about 10 rows back in the section a little to the left of the stage. The Voiceovers were the opening act and they were pretty good. After Beauty and the Beast, we went to see Voyage of the Little Mermaid. After we were done there, we decided to go catch the Great Movie Ride before the end of the Mulan parade.

Right as we were walking by, the last float went by with Mulan and Li Shang on the top of it. I reached for my camera to take a picture of them...but it wasn't there. I took off my backpack and looked through the rest of the pockets, but it still wasn't there. Great. I told mom that I didn't know where the camera was, but she said to go ahead and ride the ride, then we would look for it. So we rode, going through the gangster section again, and when we got out, we went back over to 50's Prime Time to look for the camera. When we got over there, it wasn't there, so we went to the guest services window to see if anyone had turned it in. They hadn't. Double great. So now mom was really mad at me. We went back to the Beauty and the Beast theater, but it wasn't there either.

Trying not to get in too bad of a mood, we went to see the Hunchback of Notre Dame stage show. This is one of our favorite shows in Disney World, and we try to see it at least once per trip. This time was the first time I had seen Randy the Juggler. On all of our other trips we'd seen Matt, but Randy was performing this time. Even the couple in front of us was surprised that Matt wasn't there. The guy said that he was a friend of Matt's and he'd seen him practicing before the show. Oh well...Randy was really good too.

Afterwards, we were thinking that it was probably just about time to head over to Fantasmic!, but since we still had a little bit of time left before we had to be there, we decided to catch one of the last showings of Muppet*Vision 4D of the day. Afterwards, we stopped in Pizza Planet for pizza to take with us to Fantasmic! We figured that we wouldn't have time to sit down and eat them, and we also wouldn't be able to grab dinner after the show. I got a cheese pizza and mom got a pepperoni. We looked in the claw machines, but didn't find anything that we thought we could win, so we boxed up our pizzas and headed over to Fantasmic!

Well, all day we had been discussing trying to go over to Epcot after Fantasmic! so I could get my Off Kilter CD and we could try one last pass at Test Track. Since we wanted to get out fairly quickly, we were going to try to find a seat in the section closest to the exit, but alas, it wasn't to happen. They herded us into the Beast section, which was at the extreme other end of the theater from the entrance. No quick getaway tonight. So we sat there and ate our pizza (yum...) while we waited for Fantasmic! to start.

The opening act was horrible!!! It was this woman with the most annoying voice on the face of the earth (imagine a high pitched Gilbert Gotfried), screaming about random stuff. At one point she screamed "if you can see me, raise your hand" at least ten times in a row into the microphone. Bad thing was that we couldn't see her, but she could see us, so she kept yelling...and yelling...and yelling...it was so bad! I would rather just sit there for the 45 minutes in peace than have someone screaming at me the whole time. I thought last time was bad (a guy yelling, "If you're from England, lemme hear ya...if you're from India, lemme hear ya...if you're from Mexico, lemme hear ya...") but this beat everything I've ever seen in terms of annoying. It was probably my least pleasant Disney World experience to date. If I hadn't wanted to see the show so badly, I would have left.

Anyway, where was I? Oh yeah...we watched Fantasmic!, and aside from the horrible preshow, it was as great as I remembered it. We bolted up from our seats as soon as the show was over, but so did everyone else. All in all the trip out wasn't that bad. We met two nice ladies and chatted on the way out. I also saw the lights in the windows of the Tower of Terror that someone had mentioned. We were out in our car about ten minutes after the show, so we made pretty good time.

Next it was on to Epcot. The trip to Epcot was about the easiest trip we'd made thus far, so we got their fairly quickly. It was about quarter after eight by this time, and we headed straight for the Canada pavilion for my CD.

On the way, we passed the tip board and it said that the wait for Test Track was 45 minutes. Hmm...was Test Track actually running? Would there be any chance of God's green earth that I would get to ride it?

When we got to the Canada pavilion, lo and behold, who should be playing but Off Kilter! So we stopped and watched about ten minutes of their show. "Wait...that board said that Test Track had a 45 minute wait...does that mean that it is *really* working?" We walked up right during a guitar solo, and not many people were milling around, so we got a really good view of them playing again. "Yeah, it *DID* say 45 minute wait...it would say 'delays' if it wasn't running" Then Jamie the bagpiper came out from the side of the stage and began playing. Once again, I was in bagpipe heaven.

"YES! Test Track is running!!! It's up and running and I'm not in line for it! Off Kilter...Test Track...Off Kilter...Test Track...TEST TRACK!"

By the time his song was done I had decided that I would rather ride Test Track than watch Off Kilter again. Mom said that was ok with her, so I ran over and bought my CD then booked it back into Future World. When we got up to the front of the building, it looked like it had been roped off, but that wasn't about to stop us from getting in. The doors were open and people were still in line outside, so mom and I, along with 20 or so other people, ducked under the ropes and joined the line. Soon after we were inside, they closed the doors, so we were probably two of the last hundred or so people that rode it that night.

We had a nice chat with the people in line in front of us about annual passes, and pretty soon we were getting really close to the preshow area. I also amused myself by saying "jounce and squirm" in as many different ways as possible. We also spotted the couple that was sitting in front of us during the Hunchback of Notre Dame show. It's a small world after all... We finally got up to the preshow...then through the preshow...then into the loading area...and finally into a car!!!! AHHH!!!!! I was completely freaking out at this point because we had been waiting for almost two years to ride it and we were finally there! I even made the remark to mom that we would either get to ride it or be involved in our first full-scale breakdown. Either way, it would have been cool, but I was leaning towards wanting to ride it at the moment. There were three guys in the back seat and mom and I in the front seat. I was the driver, so they kept making jokes about women drivers and all, and we would tell them that they weren't allowed to be backseat drivers. Then we were off. I don't remember too much about the ride itself except that I thought it was totally wonderful. I was laughing my head off the entire time. I loved the part where you have just come off one speed loop and are about to go into the one along the outside of the building. You see the track coming and are fully aware that it is at a much steeper angle than you are travelling. Mom and I both yelled, but once it hit that angle, we were laughing and screaming really loudly. It was so fun!

When we left, it was about 9:30, almost exactly 45 minutes after we had gotten in line. I'd been telling mom all week that if I got to ride it, I was going to buy something from the gift shop that had a road cone on it. My roommate and I have started a road cone collection (we currently have four cones and a barrel) and I thought that something conical from Epcot was in order. I was originally going to get a flat rubber keychain shaped like a cone, but then I saw these water bottles with a detachable cone on the top and had to have one. For $6, it was the perfect souvenir, and it took up all the rest of my spending money. Wow. What a way to cap off a wonderful trip to Disney World!

From there, we bid a farewell to Epcot and headed back to our hotel for one last night's sleep before heading home the next day.

Sunday, February 7, 1999

The last morning of a trip is never a pleasant one, and this morning proved to follow the pattern. We got up at about 8:00. My last bagel was moldy. Crap. I really wanted that bagel too. Mom decided that she wanted the continental breakfast again, so she went down and got her donuts and coffee and she brought me back two glasses of fruit punch.

At 9:00, I called the Lost and Found at MGM Studios and the central lost and found, but neither of them had found my camera. Oh well. Hakuna Matata.

Once we got everything thrown into the car (it's never as neatly organized on the way back home...half the clothes don't make it back into the suitcases, there's trash everywhere, souvenirs are transported in the bags they came in, etc...), we went to a nearby Texaco and filled up the tank and bought a bag of ice to keep the remaining drinks and my uneaten cream cheese cold. After we were done there, we stopped by McDonalds for breakfast, where I got a bacon, egg and cheese biscuit with the bacon on the side and hash browns and mom got a biscuit. I gave her my bacon, which she put on her biscuit, and we both had a nice breakfast.

Then we got back on the road towards Nashville.

On the road again
man, I hate to be on the road again
passing things I'm pretty sure I'll see again
I just hate to be on the road again.
The stretch between Kissimmee and Adel, Georgia is pretty fuzzy. We stopped in Adel to have lunch at another IHOP. One day I shall make it to every IHOP in America. For now I'll just have to settle for one in Nashville, one in Murfreesboro, and one in Adel. I ordered a cheeseburger and fries and mom got the 3 egg, 4 pieces of bacon and 3 pancake meal and we both got water. I didn't feel at all like I was a guest in this IHOP. Disney sure spoils you. The bathroom was really nasty too, which really disgusted me. I'm glad our IHOP at home is cleaner than this one.

We got back on the road after lunch and made it to Dalton, Georgia before we stopped again. All day, mom had been having a severe allergy attack, and we were having to stop just about every hour or so because she said she couldn't breathe. She had gone through our whole box of Kleenexes in the car and needed more, so we stopped at a Kroger and bought some more. She had to open them before we were even out of the store and the girls that worked there were really nice. They kept saying that they hoped she felt better.

We stopped a little before Chattanooga for dinner. We'd been looking for a Fazoli's, but I wanted Taco Bell, since it seems like we have that on the return trip of all our vacations. I got a chili cheese burrito, two soft tacos and a drink, and mom had a mexican pizza, a taco and a drink. I realized that this Taco Bell was the exact same one we had stopped in for dinner in May, because both times I noted that they have the same fruit punch in one of their drink machines as Magic Castle serves on their continental breakfast. *sigh* I wasn't even home yet, and I already wanted to be back in Disney World.

By the time we got back to Murfreesboro at 10:00, I was almost falling asleep. Mom would keep poking me and make me talk to her while she was driving, but it wasn't doing much good. We stopped for gas at the same gas station we commenced the trip with, and I fell asleep while she was pumping the gas. I guess she let me sleep all the way back home because when I woke up, we were parked right in front of my dorm.

I gathered all of my stuff together and lugged it all into my room. I said goodbye to mom and she went back to Nashville. I was so tired by this point, all I wanted to do was sleep, yet at the same time, all I wanted to do was talk about my trip. I saw my friend MaryAlice and I told her all about everything. Slowly, more of my friends started showing up, so I had to tell them about my trip, but pretty soon, I made it back to my room. I showed my roommate all my new goodies, like my new beanies, my Brave Little Tailor statue and my brand spanking new road cone. I also forced her to listen to my Off Kilter CD, which she enjoyed very much. I think I got in bed around 1:00, but I'm not sure. I think I was asleep before I hit the pillow.

Final Thoughts

This was a wonderful trip, even if it was only three days long. Lots of great stuff can happen in three days. First I want to cover some things that I might not have covered well enough during the trip report, then give you my take on the bests and worsts during the trip.

Weather: The weather was great. It was cool in the morning, so most mornings I had on a sweater or sweatshirt, but by afternoon, it was warm. It didn't rain a drop on us while we were down there (that makes three trips in a row without a drop of rain). It was sunny every day and not excessively windy or humid. Also, I never wore sunscreen and didn't get burned except on the part of my hair.
Crowds: The crowds were really manageable. The only day the crowds were bad was our MGM Studios day. Little did we know, we chose to go to that park the day of the national cheerleading competition, so the whole park was swarming with 14-18 year old girls in tiny little skirts. It wasn't that bad except that they congested the walkways. This situation was very similar to the Brazilian situation during the summer. They weren't rude, but just their sheer numbers made them a pain in the neck. I also heard a few groups chanting cheers ad we were leaving Fantasmic!.
Hotel: Magic Castle Inn and Suites is a very nice hotel for a very nice price. You get exactly what you pay for. During this trip, it was quiet and very clean. And like I said, I thought the rooms there were bigger than the rooms at the All Stars.
Traffic: Ok, I must admit that after experiencing Disney's all-encompassing transportation system, it wasn't easy going back to driving everywhere. They were doing some serious construction on 192, so any time we wanted to turn into our hotel(a left, coming from Disney World), we would have to go to the next red light, turn left, turn into a shopping center, turn around, turn right onto 192 again and make a right into our hotel. It was a big hassle, but it's going to be really nice when they finish the construction. The highways back to 192 are poorly marked, and we got turned around almost every night.
Ok, enough with that. Onto my best and worst list:
Favorite meal: Lunch at 50's Prime Time with Brother Lerroy
Favorite new experience: Seeing Off Kilter
Most magical moment: Tourist Mickey getting cuddled by the Living Statue
Biggest disappointment: Not being able to get Mr. Toad parts
Best CM encounter: Ron the puppet salesman/swimsuit maker
Thing I wish I had done: Drank a Jiminy Cricket, watched Food Rocks a few more times and spent more time in the Magic Kingdom
Thing I'm glad I experienced: Seeing Space Mountain with the lights on
Favorite souvenir: My Off Kilter CD...definitely!!!
Thing I wish I hadn't done: Lost my mom's camera
Thing I'll have to do again: Eat at the Rose and Crown Pub (I know I didn't like it that much, but in retrospect, it was a really awesome experience)
Thing I'll never do again: Wait for an hour and a half for Test Track if it's not running when I get in line
Stupidest thing I heard: Quasimodo walks out of a building..."Look, there's Hunchie!"
Favorite "Julie only" experience: Going backstage and into Company D.
Nicest Loins viewed: Off Kilter
Thing I have a new appreciation for: World Showcase and the patience most Cast Members have
Best thing about the whole trip: Experiencing and seeing so many new things in only three days
Worst thing about the whole trip: It being only three days long...if only I'd had a few more days...
I guess that's all I have to say. I think I've covered just about every aspect of my trip I possibly can. Thanks to those of you who have stuck with for this long. I appreciate it. Have a Disney Day everyone!

Julie Williams

ImKiwi10@aol.com