I feel that writing about that first day,
the trials and tribulations of merely
getting to Disney World,
sets the tone for the entire TR.
And it's my style.
So for better or worse,
there it is.
It's a trip report. That's part of the trip. Besides, we've seen in other instances that things...don't always go as planned at the airport.
Made even better when a Monorail
passed by directly overhead.
Like bacon and cheese, monorails make everything better.
As for my backpack,
they only gave it a cursory look.
It almost seemed as if
they started to look... but gave up.
Geez, I know there's stuff in there, but...
You don't need to see inside the bag. These aren't the droids you're looking for. You can go about your business. Move along.
Next up is something I'd never done before.
I rented a locker.
Oh. Well, that's...less exciting than what I had imagined.
Way ahead of you.
It's funny.
Every time I first get to Magic Kingdom,
and I cross the threshold into the park
or see the castle for the first time...
I get goose bumps and I break out
into a silly grin.
But not this time.
I wasn't feeling it.
I wasn't feeling much of anything.
Actually... I was...
Wishing I hadn't come.
Yep. Absolutely. Me, too. Every ti--
Wait, what??
You know what the problem was?
Burn out.
No. Not because I'd been essentially
awake for Gawd knows how long.
It was shift after shift after shift at work.
It was working until I couldn't work anymore,
and then working some more.
It was working 32 hours out of every 40.
Repeatedly.
Oh, man. I knew it was bad, but this...
If your job is even stealing Disney joy while you're on vacation, that's a big problem!
Man it felt good to be back!
I really needed this vacation.
I needed....
Disney.
Ah...that's better. Glad you could settle in.
You may be noticing a certain... theme
to the above photos.
I was only going to include one in the TR.
But then I thought... screw it.
Shove 'em all in.
So... Voila.
Dude. You were ON your photo game here. I can't quote all the great shots, but these are just fantastic!
But I'm not eating here, so I walked on by.
Ha! Kidding!
You were just thinking
"Oh, that pkondz fooled me again!"
Crap. I should have guessed that one. Truth be told, it's still new in my mind and I keep forgetting it's there.
A couple of pics of the waiting area:
Ooooh, maps. I'm good. Entertainment for hours!
Free water!
It was hot, so I may have imbibed.
Wait, free? What's the catch?
Me likey. Neat decor.
The server came back and she asked if
I wanted her to point out her favourites.
I said "Yes", so she did.
<pointing vaguely>
"That one. And that one. And that one."
Yup. Just like on the ride.
Perfect!
I love it already!
The drink?
I liked it.
If you've ever had bubble tea,
drinking it was like that.
You'd sip from the over-sized straw
and suck up the "boba balls".
It did feel a little weird at sucking
up Dr. Slush's balls though.
But I soon got used to it.
It does look good. I was a little skittish when I first looked at the menu. I mean, no burgers.
"So? How is it safari?"
And when I finished:
"Did you leave room to
travel through the desert?"
It's a Dad Joke restaurant! Perfect1
Is there any better feeling in the World
then walking by hundreds of
sweating, tired guests
as they stand in an unmoving line?
No. At least, none that I can think of right now.
When one is trying to enjoy the finer
things in life, the absolute last
thing one would want
is a bevy of buffoons
hooting and hollering
and carrying on
in a ridiculous manner.
Hmm. Maybe it's better you didn't meet up with us, then.
Well done, sir!
This is made even better by the fact that the book is an airport bookstore-type monster novel.
One of the fringe benefits of doing this,
that I had no idea would happen,
is after the drop, as you go around the turn,
you'll find people watching you.
I had two separate instances of men
saluting me with their drinks.
I toasted them back in return.
I felt like royalty.
Or upper crust, at the very least.
That's awesome. How often can you do that?
Which is back the way I came, or...
You know, I've never taken the train
all the way around the park.
I've only gone from Main St.
to Frontierland.
Time for another new experience!
Good call!
I climbed the stairs and of course
the train was waiting there for me.
I believe I was the last,
or next to last person aboard.
Wait time, zero seconds.
I guess that Disney Bus Pass was burned out at first, too, and also needed to recover.
I must admit though,
the ride didn't start off too great.
Knowing one of my favourite rides, BTMRR,
was down for refurb was bad enough.
But to see it with scaffolding all over it?
Depressing.
I hear ya. Sorry for causing the avalanche a couple of pages back, by the way.
As the train pulled away,
I stuck my tongue out and shouted
"Nyah! Nyah!" at them.
I think they appreciated the gesture.
As a matter of fact, several waved at me
with at least one finger in the air.
Nice people.
You're #1!
Still on top of the photo game. Great shot.
And most of you already know
where I'm probably headed.
And you're right.
Haunted Mansion.
But if you guessed I had a FP for it,
then I'm afraid you're wrong.
Son of a...
That coffin scene is what got
my love affair with Disney started.
I distinctly remember seeing that
on an episode of "Wonderful World of Disney"
when I was a kid.
I knew I wanted to see it for myself, some day.
So every time I see it,
it brings me right back to that day
in front of the (black and white) TV.
I love this.
Always ready to help with the kindling.
Melts my heart.
She's a keeper, that's for sure.
It was right about there that I realized
I was walking in the wrong direction.
I'm not kidding.
I reversed my steps and was soon at
Peter Pan within my FP window of
6:40 - 7:40pm.
Seconds later... I was flying!!
Man, that feeling as your 'ship'
trundles down the track and then...
Lifts off!
Gets me every time.
That's the one that brings me back to my childhood. So cool.
(Did you notice the water bottle?
What kind of jerk tosses a water bottle
while riding Peter Pan???)
Unbelievable. There's a plastic spoon down there, too. What is with people?
Problem solved.
I just stuck my face in it
and inhaled.
Sooooo good.
Story checks out.
I finished my Dole whip.
(And when I say 'finished'
I mean 'devoured like a crazed hyena'.)
That was implied with the first sentence.
Next up, Seven Little Ones Ore-extraction Train!
(Or SLOOT for short.)
Not bad. That might grow on me.
This photo rates a WOW! Unbelievable shot.
We began to see people leaving.
"Sorry folks! Ride's closed!
Mouse outside should've told you."
"Some a------ threw a plastic water bottle into the gears."
My tripod has a ball head on it
that connects to a quick release plate
that attaches to the bottom of the camera.
The plate that I, in my haste,
had left in the room.
The plate that, without which,
renders the tripod unusable.
We have met the enemy...and it is us.
I wondered what the speaker would do
if I clapped four times?
"You! You can't hear me!"
Celebrate the Magic started.
I wondered how that would be,
considering I was viewing the castle
from the side...
And it was fine.
They project on the sides of the castle too.
I don't know about the backside of the castle.
Interesting. Good little tidbit to know.
But I sure didn't see anything!
Stupid CM!
Why didn't he say:
"No! Seriously! You won't see it!"
As if a CM would know what he was talking about.
No Wishes photos, sorry.
But then again,
how many of those have you seen?
2? 3?.... thousand?
Might be on the low side.
I made up for my lack of Wishes photos
by taking an embarrassing amount
of MSEP pictures.
Which means now you have to suffer
through them.
I mean, uh, yay!
Is it just me?
Or does Goofy's eye creep you out?
And were you so focused on that,
that you failed to see Minnie?
Or Mickey?
Bonus points if you tell me.
Nah, didn't bother me. I mean, all of the characters are one-eyed in that photo.
They don't make feather dusters
like they used to.
Not quite a wardrobe malfunction, but...
Ha! They spelled "Honour" wrong!
Hey! That float is pure 'Merican, buddy!
I wandered over to JC, since I'd been told
that riding it at night was like
riding a whole different ride.
But with a posted wait time of 60 minutes...
Pass.
Yeah, no thanks.
But a posted wait time of 30 minutes
dissuaded me.
I'll do 20, but no more.
Unless it's one of my top favourite rides.
And 7DMT ain't one of them.
That's about my limit, too. I can handle 30 if I really love the ride. After that, we're really pushing it.
I sashayed down past the Speedway
and eventually found myself
in front of Space Mountain.
Posted wait time of 20 minutes.
I got in line.
The wait turned out to be pretty close
at 15 minutes.
Much better. That's a winner.
After the ride, I was a little sad.
I think that might be my last time.
It's just too rough on my back.
How'd I get old?
Just yesterday I was a kid!
Still am at heart,
but the body? Not so much.
I'm filling out a formal complaint.
Well, that stinks.
Remember when we were little, and we couldn't wait to grow up? We were idiots.
"Don't you talk to yo gramma like that.
You gotta fetch it to ketch it!"
I had never heard that expression before!
But it was brilliant!
I'm going to have to find a way to work that into conversation.
I hung back and let them precede me
in the line.
There was already a fair amount of people
in line, so I didn't know if it would really matter.
Still, let them go first, 'cause I've been there.
Good man. I doubt any of us guessed that the delay was due to you being a gentleman, though.
No. Not a cat.
An armadillo.
First one I've ever seen.
Cool!
Huh. There's one from Disney
saying I could ride 7DMT
anytime I wanted... yesterday.
Sounds like the story of my life.
1. Well, I may have been awake
a fair bit recently. Do I sleep in?
Well, now, that's a subjective question. I mean, you work weird hours, so what's "sleeping in" for you? 3:00 a.m.? Or is there an average vacation schedule that calls for a certain wake-up time?
Well, I guess it's a 50/50 shot. I'll say no, because you're a Rope Drop kinda guy.
2. What time do I wake up?
6:30 a.m.
3. Which park am I first off to today?
Hollywood Studios
4. It's a multi park day!
How many times do I visit the nice folks
at bag check? (Yes, I had a bag to check.)
2
5. How many times am I asked for directions?
I'll make it easy on you.
0, 1, 2, 3, or 4 times?
1
6. What time do I get to my room
at the end of the day this time?
11:04:36 p.m.
7. I use a new method of getting
from one park to another. What is it?
(I've used bus, boat and monorail in the past.)
Your feet, taking the path from DHS to Boardwalk to Epcot.
8. As a matter of fact I do have an ADR.
Two as a matter of fact.
Guess the one that’s not in any park or in Springs.
Yachtsman Steakhouse?
9. What wild animal do I see today?
(On the way to that ADR.)
Ducks.
Bonus: Did you see it?
Be specifically vague.
Answer cloaked in inviso-text:
Yes--I had no idea Disney was so hard up for cash that they're now renting ad space in Frontierland.
to the TR, Vanessa!
Yeah...
