Mad4WDW
Madforwdw in VMK. A nice guy, unless I just DC in
- Joined
- Aug 24, 2002
Cast: Myself, my sister Shirley and her husband Mick
Day 1 - Magic Kingdom
After a nice lie in to get over the flight and the long day, we caught the prompt bus to Magic Kingdom. The queue for the MK bus was quite short, and boded well for a possible quiet time...but as we were soon to find out, this was an understatement! We arrived at MK, passed the quick but thorough security check, and entered the park....oh my,,,was anyone here?! Main street was a little busy, but nowhere near normal. We decided to test just how busy it was (and it wasnt early either...was almost 10 by this point) and headed over to Tomorrowland. We checked Space Mountain, which had a 5 minute wait on the board...but turned out to be a walk on! This was nice! (for the visitors at least)...our first bit of 'excitement' happened after Space...my brother in law has difficulty walking and uses a crutch, and this was handed over to the CM at the launch point as usual to be picked up after the ride...but it wasnt there! We waited a couple of minutes, then asked the really nice lady in the shop, and she got another CM to go get it. After a couple of minutes, he came back and said it was on its way...we waited...and waited...and was about to have another word after about 15 minutes had passed when a CM finally appeared with it! Next we ventured Buzz...and remembering a few tips on a website, I hit a score of approx 630,000! I'm an easily pleased chap, and this made my day lol. Failed to spot the hidden 1 million point mickey target...oh well.
Despite the forecast of a cloudy day with showers, it was lovely, and felt like it was approaching 90 degrees by this point, so we did a little window shopping and went in for lunch at Cosmic rays (was beginning to get hungry after just a croissant for breakfast).I had my usual veggie burger, and love Cosmic Rays as the toppings bar is superb. It now uses a queueing system instead of the every man for himself approach, but being so quiet, there were only a couple there.
After lunch we headed over to Splash to ride that...again, a total walk on and there were empty boats aplenty going for a dip. I sat in the front (I always seem to miss the splash from the boat coming down the drop when sitting in the back anyway lol) and got nicely cooled down. After riding BTMR (where we actually encountered a wait....of around 10 minutes), we did a little more shopping and found a spot for a relaxing drink and a spot for the parade. We found an excellent position, close to the shooting range, theres a small store that sells hats outside, with a wooden rail right where the rope goes. This had a superb view of the parade, and was always shaded from the sun, and you could sit by the rail, and still leave room for people to go past on the walkway behind you in front of the kiosk window....lovely! The parade started what was to be the start of the 'obsessive handshake disorder', and I got my hand shook by one of the parade characters (from Robin Hood I think)
At this time, the heat was beginning to get to us, so we headed back to the hotel for a cool off, deciding to see illuminations at Epcot later that evening. While at the hotel, we saw for the first time, one of those two wheeler eletric scooter things...hard to describe, but its like a small platform with wheels either side which you stand on, with a long upright bar which you hold onto at the top, and it is quite a mover! An American tourist also admired this, and began filming...and of course, the CM took advantage and began to lark around for the camera.
isidore had not affected us yet, but they said it was on the way and could impact the gulf coast, so we decided to make up our minds about Busch gardens at a later sage when more was known.
After a bite to eat in the hotel, We took a (very full) bus over to Epcot around 6 to catch Tapestry and Illuminations. tapestry as ever was great, and the next edition of the handshake disorder took place, where one of the guys with the fan type display sat down on the chair next to me and shook my hand. A very nice touch, but by this point I was beginning to wonder if I looked about 10! lol. Illuminations was totally superb as usual...we grabbed a super spot by the railings near the launch and had a blast. This is probably my favourite thing here, and the music always gives me goosebumps even when I listen at home. I decided to watch now and tape the next time we saw it, which, as you will see in further installments, was almost a bad mistake, but it was great just to watch and not worry about filming...fantastic show. After it ended, we just sat around enjoying the moment for a while, letting the crowd make their usual 'me first' dash for the exit, and by the time we got to the bus stop, it was pretty quiet and we managed to get the first bus (but had to stand).
Overall, a brilliant first day...we could have done more with it being so quiet, but we wanted a relaxing day to start off with. We weres surprised just how quiet it was though, even last year, two weeks after Sept 11, it was busier than this. Good for us, not so good for Disney
Paul
Day 1 - Magic Kingdom
After a nice lie in to get over the flight and the long day, we caught the prompt bus to Magic Kingdom. The queue for the MK bus was quite short, and boded well for a possible quiet time...but as we were soon to find out, this was an understatement! We arrived at MK, passed the quick but thorough security check, and entered the park....oh my,,,was anyone here?! Main street was a little busy, but nowhere near normal. We decided to test just how busy it was (and it wasnt early either...was almost 10 by this point) and headed over to Tomorrowland. We checked Space Mountain, which had a 5 minute wait on the board...but turned out to be a walk on! This was nice! (for the visitors at least)...our first bit of 'excitement' happened after Space...my brother in law has difficulty walking and uses a crutch, and this was handed over to the CM at the launch point as usual to be picked up after the ride...but it wasnt there! We waited a couple of minutes, then asked the really nice lady in the shop, and she got another CM to go get it. After a couple of minutes, he came back and said it was on its way...we waited...and waited...and was about to have another word after about 15 minutes had passed when a CM finally appeared with it! Next we ventured Buzz...and remembering a few tips on a website, I hit a score of approx 630,000! I'm an easily pleased chap, and this made my day lol. Failed to spot the hidden 1 million point mickey target...oh well.
Despite the forecast of a cloudy day with showers, it was lovely, and felt like it was approaching 90 degrees by this point, so we did a little window shopping and went in for lunch at Cosmic rays (was beginning to get hungry after just a croissant for breakfast).I had my usual veggie burger, and love Cosmic Rays as the toppings bar is superb. It now uses a queueing system instead of the every man for himself approach, but being so quiet, there were only a couple there.
After lunch we headed over to Splash to ride that...again, a total walk on and there were empty boats aplenty going for a dip. I sat in the front (I always seem to miss the splash from the boat coming down the drop when sitting in the back anyway lol) and got nicely cooled down. After riding BTMR (where we actually encountered a wait....of around 10 minutes), we did a little more shopping and found a spot for a relaxing drink and a spot for the parade. We found an excellent position, close to the shooting range, theres a small store that sells hats outside, with a wooden rail right where the rope goes. This had a superb view of the parade, and was always shaded from the sun, and you could sit by the rail, and still leave room for people to go past on the walkway behind you in front of the kiosk window....lovely! The parade started what was to be the start of the 'obsessive handshake disorder', and I got my hand shook by one of the parade characters (from Robin Hood I think)
At this time, the heat was beginning to get to us, so we headed back to the hotel for a cool off, deciding to see illuminations at Epcot later that evening. While at the hotel, we saw for the first time, one of those two wheeler eletric scooter things...hard to describe, but its like a small platform with wheels either side which you stand on, with a long upright bar which you hold onto at the top, and it is quite a mover! An American tourist also admired this, and began filming...and of course, the CM took advantage and began to lark around for the camera.
isidore had not affected us yet, but they said it was on the way and could impact the gulf coast, so we decided to make up our minds about Busch gardens at a later sage when more was known.
After a bite to eat in the hotel, We took a (very full) bus over to Epcot around 6 to catch Tapestry and Illuminations. tapestry as ever was great, and the next edition of the handshake disorder took place, where one of the guys with the fan type display sat down on the chair next to me and shook my hand. A very nice touch, but by this point I was beginning to wonder if I looked about 10! lol. Illuminations was totally superb as usual...we grabbed a super spot by the railings near the launch and had a blast. This is probably my favourite thing here, and the music always gives me goosebumps even when I listen at home. I decided to watch now and tape the next time we saw it, which, as you will see in further installments, was almost a bad mistake, but it was great just to watch and not worry about filming...fantastic show. After it ended, we just sat around enjoying the moment for a while, letting the crowd make their usual 'me first' dash for the exit, and by the time we got to the bus stop, it was pretty quiet and we managed to get the first bus (but had to stand).
Overall, a brilliant first day...we could have done more with it being so quiet, but we wanted a relaxing day to start off with. We weres surprised just how quiet it was though, even last year, two weeks after Sept 11, it was busier than this. Good for us, not so good for Disney
Paul
We go on Saturday and we are hoping for it to be alot quieter than when we've been before which is last few years have been February, June and August.
Keep the report coming..
I love Cosmic Ray's chicken sandwiches . . . mmm, could just do with one now
