bradk
05-22-2005, 11:43 PM
Day One - Sunday, May 22
first, let me say, i ache all over.
so here's the setup. ridemax mark was very kind to me and pm'd me and told me he thought i should use the previous saturday because for various reasons related to EE, the schedule I had would have extended wait times. I figured with all I'm planning on doing, I'd be best off ending up with extra time, so I thanked him, but declined his advice. (insert suspenseful tune)
So here's how my first day at DLR went.
I set my alarm clock for 5:30, but woke up at 5. Since I had to still pick up my tickets from guest services, I wanted to be the first on line, so I got ready and went to the park. Got there around 6, walked right in to the esplanade (for brevity's sake), a few custodial people around, but otherwise the place was empty. So I figured it'd be a good time to get off a few shots of the 50th anniversary floral arrangement, DCA, etc. So I take a lot of pics. Then I realize I left my cell phone in the hotel room (so I could keep track of the time for the ridemax schedule), so on my way out, I was stopped by security. He wanted to know why I was taking pictures of the monorail track (i wasn't). i told him i wasn't. he said they had me on camera doing it. so i showed him the shots i took. he was cool with it and let me off on my merry way.
i went back to the hotel room, got my cell phone, went back to DLR and just hung out. Around 7 (when guest services was scheduled to open), they kicked me out to clear the area. So I went to the DTD entrance and waited by the bag check. when all was clear, I got to guest services and got my tickets. by then, there were several people lined up at the gates. i joined them. then i realized they were all in the center and the tunnels are on the side, so i walked all the way around to the right gate side and ended up being first in line. then after tons of people lined up, they announced they were only opening even numbered gates (i lucked out!). the CM taking tickets was really nice. even before the park was officially opened, she was taking everyone's hoppers and scanning them in so they wouldn't have to wait longer than necessary. it looked like she was the only one doing it and she kept going way back in the line too!
so i finally get in. people start rushing for the castle (duh). however, i managed to get off some clean shots of the castle and the partners statue and all that.
so first on my schedule was IASW. headed back there. on the way, I encountered Goofy and Minnie. I asked them for a photo, but Goofy first turned his back to me (that was either a no, or him being goofy). minnie did some convincing and they both posed for a couple of shots for me. nice way to start the day? well...
i walk a little further and i meet mickey! and bear in mind, i am the ONLY guest back in this area right now. I approach mickey, we shake hands, he then poses for me in front of IASW. then it gets better.
Mickey walks off away from me. At one point, I turn around and I see Mickey holding Minnie's hand and on his knee. Again, there's nobody out there but me. Anyway, I missed that shot, BUT. There's this dirty joke about why Mickey left Minnie and it involves Goofy. It's true. Next time I look, Goofy and Minnie are walking hand in hand towards the castle, leaving Mickey behind. I got a photo of a very worried Mickey (hands over his mouth) as Goofy and Minnie walk away hand in hand.
So I ride IASW. I was the only one in the ride. Yes, I used the flash :) Creepy ride, but kind of cool. Very long. I really like the dancing women whose heads just slide back and forth.
then it was SBLC. I was in a bad position for photos, but it was cute. good way to kill some time.
then Mr. Toad. love it! better than I remember from WDW (I know it's different), followed by POTC - amazing, and the BB was so much different than I imagined. can't wait to eat there tomorrow.
then HM, pretty decent, love that effect where the heads just seem to follow you (before you load up), got some video of that. also got some video of madam leota which is really cool, but you all know that.
Went on Splash, great. I went single rider, so I had to go down to pooh's area. I think it was before the ride, I saw Pooh and Eeyore. After the ride, I saw Tigger, but he was on his way out, so I missed my photo opportunity.
Then I went on Pooh. It's okay, cute. I started using my flash cuz the other people in the car were using theirs. it was fair.
Rode Big Thunder. Had a fastpass, but I guess the line was so short, the CM told me to just keep it (I never ended up using it though). Tried to get a photo of the goat but missed completely. Will have to try again.
Ridemax then had me for the Mark Twain at 11:01 (not sure, since there was a boat leaving at 10:55 or whatever) and I had plenty of time to make it. However, Mickey was going to climb the matterhorn at 11, so I made a manual adjustment and went down the Mark Twain about 10:15. I didn't get a chance to ask about riding in the pilot's house before the captain offered the job to someone else. So I asked one of the CMs if I could go up in the pilot house if I waited. He told me he was piloting the next one and he'd take me up.
Waited for the next boat. Got to ride in the pilot house. I was bad with the bell, but pretty darn good with the whistle if I do say so myself. We chatted a bit, mostly about freaking people out with spinning the wheel really fast (since the wheel is just for show). When it was over, he offered to let me up again any time. I asked about the pilot certificate. he said he didn't think they had any, but checked anyway. they had them :). he said they hadn't had them in a while, but now i'm officially a captain of the mark twain. (honorary anyway).
Next was to get a fastpass for IJA. Since I had time to spare until 12:15 for the tour and I was right next to Tarzan, I made another manual adjustment to the schedule and went through that. On the schedule, Tarzan was wedged between a lot of free time, so this would just make two large blocks combined into one huge block of free time.
Before I showed up for the tour, I went back to pooh's area. Tigger was out, so I got a couple of pics of him. Then I was walking back to the tour garden when I saw the train pulled into the NOS station. I saw it was a train with the benches facing into the park, so I grabbed it. Rode it to Main Street. Saw the dioramas and the dinosaurs (which were really cool).
At this point, I realized I missed Mickey climbing the matterhorn. :( the other times were 12:30 (which I would miss because of the tour) and 5:40, so I committed myself to making the 5:40 show.
Went on the 50th anniversary tour. Very informative. We went to the first 50 years exhibit, looked around just long enough for the movie to start and then left (maybe saw half of the exhibits). We the went on POTC, Splash and Buzz (my first time on Buzz, scored about 70,000, level 3 - i think i hit the good spot on zurg since i went from like 400 points to over 20,000 instantaneously). Learned some new stuff about POTC that I didn't know, including the hidden mickey in the pirate ship cannon bit. Tour was good. View for the POD was awesome. got some really good shots. Thought it was funny though that Cinderella kept playing to the other side (which I guess she normally does), but in this case, the other side was just a brick wall).
At some point during the tour, I was also able to get a few snapshots of Peter Pan and Wendy.
after the tour, used my fastpass to ride IJA. awesome, awesome, awesome.
I had some time before the next tiki show, so i decided to hop onto the JC. I think the skipper's tag read Mikey. very, very, very funny guy with a very phony british accent. great first trip. i was seated in a bad place for photos though (my bad).
then i went to the tiki room, decided to try a dole whip float while waiting for the show. they had run out of the whip stuff, so no go. they said they had requested more, so it might be 15-20 minutes. so i figured i'd get it after the show. did the show, i sat in the corner, behind jose. entertaining, but i wouldn't do it over and over (too long in my opinion). i realized i had forgotten to get another fastpass for IJA as per my schedule, so I went and did that.
got on line at the tiki bar. waited about 10 minutes. heard something going on in the hub area, but didn't know what it was. at this point i realized i missed the mickey matterhorn show again! the last chance I had. I pulled out my cell phone. it was 5:43! it was the show I was hearing in the hub. so i ran out of line, went over to the hub area and I could see mickey climbing the matterhorn! got some shots of him climbing and pulling out the flag, but the batteries in my camera died right when he planted it, so i missed that shot. bummer.
went back to the tiki bar. got my whip float. very, very good. went back to the first 50 years exhibit to finish it off. i now had a few hours free until my next scheduled event, which was the DEP at DCA.
went back to the hotel, got the golden ears I bought at WOD last night. went to DCA, got them embroidered at greetings. went on TOT. twice. the CMs operating it were really good, the first one in particular. the second one was pretty funny as well. Went on soarin' (it's cool, but I don't have the desire to ride it again).
at about 8:15, I was able to get a good spot for the DEP at sunshine plaza, right by the gates. the parade was awesome. as soon as the salute to american heroes float went by, i hightailed it to DL for the fireworks, but it was already packed. made it as far as past the partners statue, but that was it. the fireworks were incredible though. the star tours part was really cool. as was the haunted mansion and pirates.
then i went to the fantasmic balcony seating. i was dead center. had a lot of cheesecake, some fruit and cheese and some coke (the drink). also tried a mint julep since i was planning on trying it tomorrow at the BB and it wasn't going to cost me anything more tonight to try it. i drank it, but i'm not a fan. fantasmic was great though. except still no pinocchio (thought he was fixed?).
i then headed over to IJA which was almost a walk-on. it's better at night too, because you can't even see the boulder behind indy until it starts rolling towards you.
and then here's where my plan with ridemax was flawed. the schedule i was using had the park closing at 12, but i didn't do my homework and realize the park closed at 11, so I didn't get to do JC at night, alice, snow white or pinocchio. tomorrow is early entry though and evidently they're keeping the park open an extra hour too, so i'm sure i could make up for lost time.
anyway, here i am. dead tired in all sorts of ways and in severe pain, but i still have a few hours to go before i get to start it all over again :)
first, let me say, i ache all over.
so here's the setup. ridemax mark was very kind to me and pm'd me and told me he thought i should use the previous saturday because for various reasons related to EE, the schedule I had would have extended wait times. I figured with all I'm planning on doing, I'd be best off ending up with extra time, so I thanked him, but declined his advice. (insert suspenseful tune)
So here's how my first day at DLR went.
I set my alarm clock for 5:30, but woke up at 5. Since I had to still pick up my tickets from guest services, I wanted to be the first on line, so I got ready and went to the park. Got there around 6, walked right in to the esplanade (for brevity's sake), a few custodial people around, but otherwise the place was empty. So I figured it'd be a good time to get off a few shots of the 50th anniversary floral arrangement, DCA, etc. So I take a lot of pics. Then I realize I left my cell phone in the hotel room (so I could keep track of the time for the ridemax schedule), so on my way out, I was stopped by security. He wanted to know why I was taking pictures of the monorail track (i wasn't). i told him i wasn't. he said they had me on camera doing it. so i showed him the shots i took. he was cool with it and let me off on my merry way.
i went back to the hotel room, got my cell phone, went back to DLR and just hung out. Around 7 (when guest services was scheduled to open), they kicked me out to clear the area. So I went to the DTD entrance and waited by the bag check. when all was clear, I got to guest services and got my tickets. by then, there were several people lined up at the gates. i joined them. then i realized they were all in the center and the tunnels are on the side, so i walked all the way around to the right gate side and ended up being first in line. then after tons of people lined up, they announced they were only opening even numbered gates (i lucked out!). the CM taking tickets was really nice. even before the park was officially opened, she was taking everyone's hoppers and scanning them in so they wouldn't have to wait longer than necessary. it looked like she was the only one doing it and she kept going way back in the line too!
so i finally get in. people start rushing for the castle (duh). however, i managed to get off some clean shots of the castle and the partners statue and all that.
so first on my schedule was IASW. headed back there. on the way, I encountered Goofy and Minnie. I asked them for a photo, but Goofy first turned his back to me (that was either a no, or him being goofy). minnie did some convincing and they both posed for a couple of shots for me. nice way to start the day? well...
i walk a little further and i meet mickey! and bear in mind, i am the ONLY guest back in this area right now. I approach mickey, we shake hands, he then poses for me in front of IASW. then it gets better.
Mickey walks off away from me. At one point, I turn around and I see Mickey holding Minnie's hand and on his knee. Again, there's nobody out there but me. Anyway, I missed that shot, BUT. There's this dirty joke about why Mickey left Minnie and it involves Goofy. It's true. Next time I look, Goofy and Minnie are walking hand in hand towards the castle, leaving Mickey behind. I got a photo of a very worried Mickey (hands over his mouth) as Goofy and Minnie walk away hand in hand.
So I ride IASW. I was the only one in the ride. Yes, I used the flash :) Creepy ride, but kind of cool. Very long. I really like the dancing women whose heads just slide back and forth.
then it was SBLC. I was in a bad position for photos, but it was cute. good way to kill some time.
then Mr. Toad. love it! better than I remember from WDW (I know it's different), followed by POTC - amazing, and the BB was so much different than I imagined. can't wait to eat there tomorrow.
then HM, pretty decent, love that effect where the heads just seem to follow you (before you load up), got some video of that. also got some video of madam leota which is really cool, but you all know that.
Went on Splash, great. I went single rider, so I had to go down to pooh's area. I think it was before the ride, I saw Pooh and Eeyore. After the ride, I saw Tigger, but he was on his way out, so I missed my photo opportunity.
Then I went on Pooh. It's okay, cute. I started using my flash cuz the other people in the car were using theirs. it was fair.
Rode Big Thunder. Had a fastpass, but I guess the line was so short, the CM told me to just keep it (I never ended up using it though). Tried to get a photo of the goat but missed completely. Will have to try again.
Ridemax then had me for the Mark Twain at 11:01 (not sure, since there was a boat leaving at 10:55 or whatever) and I had plenty of time to make it. However, Mickey was going to climb the matterhorn at 11, so I made a manual adjustment and went down the Mark Twain about 10:15. I didn't get a chance to ask about riding in the pilot's house before the captain offered the job to someone else. So I asked one of the CMs if I could go up in the pilot house if I waited. He told me he was piloting the next one and he'd take me up.
Waited for the next boat. Got to ride in the pilot house. I was bad with the bell, but pretty darn good with the whistle if I do say so myself. We chatted a bit, mostly about freaking people out with spinning the wheel really fast (since the wheel is just for show). When it was over, he offered to let me up again any time. I asked about the pilot certificate. he said he didn't think they had any, but checked anyway. they had them :). he said they hadn't had them in a while, but now i'm officially a captain of the mark twain. (honorary anyway).
Next was to get a fastpass for IJA. Since I had time to spare until 12:15 for the tour and I was right next to Tarzan, I made another manual adjustment to the schedule and went through that. On the schedule, Tarzan was wedged between a lot of free time, so this would just make two large blocks combined into one huge block of free time.
Before I showed up for the tour, I went back to pooh's area. Tigger was out, so I got a couple of pics of him. Then I was walking back to the tour garden when I saw the train pulled into the NOS station. I saw it was a train with the benches facing into the park, so I grabbed it. Rode it to Main Street. Saw the dioramas and the dinosaurs (which were really cool).
At this point, I realized I missed Mickey climbing the matterhorn. :( the other times were 12:30 (which I would miss because of the tour) and 5:40, so I committed myself to making the 5:40 show.
Went on the 50th anniversary tour. Very informative. We went to the first 50 years exhibit, looked around just long enough for the movie to start and then left (maybe saw half of the exhibits). We the went on POTC, Splash and Buzz (my first time on Buzz, scored about 70,000, level 3 - i think i hit the good spot on zurg since i went from like 400 points to over 20,000 instantaneously). Learned some new stuff about POTC that I didn't know, including the hidden mickey in the pirate ship cannon bit. Tour was good. View for the POD was awesome. got some really good shots. Thought it was funny though that Cinderella kept playing to the other side (which I guess she normally does), but in this case, the other side was just a brick wall).
At some point during the tour, I was also able to get a few snapshots of Peter Pan and Wendy.
after the tour, used my fastpass to ride IJA. awesome, awesome, awesome.
I had some time before the next tiki show, so i decided to hop onto the JC. I think the skipper's tag read Mikey. very, very, very funny guy with a very phony british accent. great first trip. i was seated in a bad place for photos though (my bad).
then i went to the tiki room, decided to try a dole whip float while waiting for the show. they had run out of the whip stuff, so no go. they said they had requested more, so it might be 15-20 minutes. so i figured i'd get it after the show. did the show, i sat in the corner, behind jose. entertaining, but i wouldn't do it over and over (too long in my opinion). i realized i had forgotten to get another fastpass for IJA as per my schedule, so I went and did that.
got on line at the tiki bar. waited about 10 minutes. heard something going on in the hub area, but didn't know what it was. at this point i realized i missed the mickey matterhorn show again! the last chance I had. I pulled out my cell phone. it was 5:43! it was the show I was hearing in the hub. so i ran out of line, went over to the hub area and I could see mickey climbing the matterhorn! got some shots of him climbing and pulling out the flag, but the batteries in my camera died right when he planted it, so i missed that shot. bummer.
went back to the tiki bar. got my whip float. very, very good. went back to the first 50 years exhibit to finish it off. i now had a few hours free until my next scheduled event, which was the DEP at DCA.
went back to the hotel, got the golden ears I bought at WOD last night. went to DCA, got them embroidered at greetings. went on TOT. twice. the CMs operating it were really good, the first one in particular. the second one was pretty funny as well. Went on soarin' (it's cool, but I don't have the desire to ride it again).
at about 8:15, I was able to get a good spot for the DEP at sunshine plaza, right by the gates. the parade was awesome. as soon as the salute to american heroes float went by, i hightailed it to DL for the fireworks, but it was already packed. made it as far as past the partners statue, but that was it. the fireworks were incredible though. the star tours part was really cool. as was the haunted mansion and pirates.
then i went to the fantasmic balcony seating. i was dead center. had a lot of cheesecake, some fruit and cheese and some coke (the drink). also tried a mint julep since i was planning on trying it tomorrow at the BB and it wasn't going to cost me anything more tonight to try it. i drank it, but i'm not a fan. fantasmic was great though. except still no pinocchio (thought he was fixed?).
i then headed over to IJA which was almost a walk-on. it's better at night too, because you can't even see the boulder behind indy until it starts rolling towards you.
and then here's where my plan with ridemax was flawed. the schedule i was using had the park closing at 12, but i didn't do my homework and realize the park closed at 11, so I didn't get to do JC at night, alice, snow white or pinocchio. tomorrow is early entry though and evidently they're keeping the park open an extra hour too, so i'm sure i could make up for lost time.
anyway, here i am. dead tired in all sorts of ways and in severe pain, but i still have a few hours to go before i get to start it all over again :)