Poor Unfortunate Souls: So Wet, So Full ~ Updated 12/22: Day 8 - Complete & New TR!

[Dugette]

Keys to the kingdom?!? Woohoo!! Can't wait!
I'd love to do that tour some day...ya know, in like 20 yrs when Caden and all future children are old enough.

It's a great tour! Highly recommend it, when you can do it.

No October trip for me this year, so I am enjoying everyone's MNSSHP pictures.

Love that Walt was in line with you.

The picture looking down on the bowling pin pool made me smile. We are looking forward to being back at Pop in December.

Almost time for you to be back!

 

[Dugette]

We were up bright and early for our last day. A last day full of firsts and fun. We each had planned anniversary “surprises” for each other. I say “surprises” because, by the time we were on the trip, we knew about them. Darn Disboards spoiled my secret!

After looking into several options for special things to surprise Dug with on our trip, I settled on the Keys to the Kingdom tour. I’d heard so many good things about it and it seemed right up his alley. Originally, I’d planned to not tell him until we were at WDW. I was going to have the Disney Florist deliver something to our room that told him what was in store. However, I’d asked some KTTK tour-related question on the DIS at some point. I’d made sure not to subscribe to it, just in case Dug happened to look at the DIS while I was logged in. However, as it turns out, he was trying to find something else I’d posted and, since he isn’t on the DIS a lot and isn’t subscribed to everything, he looked at my posting record, knowing he’d find what he was looking for there. And he did, but he also accidentally found his anniversary surprise!

So, I figured it out when he started asking hypothetical questions about some friends of ours and what they should do about one of them finding out about a surprise trip the other had planned. Yeah, right… ha ha . Once I determined that he knew, we ended up deciding to take the money that would have gone to the Disney Florist and do something else with it instead, since they no longer needed to break the news to him. And that something else ended up being a gift for me…a pontoon boat rental that afternoon! I love being on the water in a boat and what better place than Disney (leaving from the Poly!)

Oh, by the way, he LOVED that the KTTK tour was the surprise. He was so excited and felt terrible that he’d spoiled the big reveal. But it all worked out okay. I’m not very good at keeping secrets anyway…I don’t have a very good poker face, I guess.

But back to that morning! We headed to Everything Pop for breakfast. Looks like I had a croissant sandwich and Dug had an omelette:







Not very busy yet:



After a quick breakfast, we caught a bus up to the Magic Kingdom.

Love the views from the bus stop at MK:







We had arrived:





So, because of the tour, we were allowed early entrance into the Magic Kingdom. I don’t remember all the details, but looking at our video and photos, we apparently wandered around the near-empty Magic Kingdom/Main Street taking in all the details for quite a while. In fact, we have so many cool pictures that it will take up this and another update, due to the image limits!

I don’t think I have much narrative on these, but enjoy the decorations and window displays and all:

























Continued in next post...

 

[Dugette]

Continued from last post...

It was still early:



I don't think we had to meet up for our tour until 8:30am.

We enjoyed seeing Main Street all decorated for Halloween:

























Pretending I live on Main Street:















After wandering up and down, we headed to City Hall to check in for our KTTK tour.

Up next: We join our group and start learning Disney secrets!

 

[Dugette]

It was time for our tour, so we headed over to City Hall. Coffee and water were waiting for us:



I got a bottle of water and Dug got a coffee:



This was the view from our gathering spot:



Our tour guide introduced herself. Her name is Rae and she was AWESOME! We got set up with little earpieces so that we could hear her throughout the tour:



I wish I could remember more details of all the things she told us on the tour. But, it's been 2 years and my memory is pretty foggy now. I'm sure you can find the details of the KTTK tour online somewhere, though. We don't have any notes or video and limited pictures (none allowed backstage). So, I'll mostly let the pictures tell the stories. Clearly, based on these, she was telling us about Roy Disney:





Rae lead us partway down the empty Main Street, pointing out names on windows and other cool things, I'm sure. A random picture as we walked:



She told us that sometimes the Disney executives come to observe what's happening in the parks. Apparently one of these people is an exec:



She led us into the little nook off to the right, partway up Main Street. We sat for a bit while she filled our heads with Disney information:



I love all the thematically carved pumpkins along Main Street. This is at the art store, I think:



The next thing we did was get to see park opening from a totally different viewpoint. Instead of rushing in to get to a mountain, we just watched the whole process from our nook off of Main Street. Cast members prepared to welcome guests:



And the guests started streaming in. It was so funny seeing all the different types of touring styles represented. The runners, the map-consulters, etc. Here's a few shots of that:











After the rush was over, Rae pointed out some significant windows (credits!) to us. This one represents the way that Disney used fake companies to buy up land for WDW without the price soaring sky-high due to Disney being interested (or something like that):



Just a nice festive shot of Main Street here:



We think this guy negotiated the land deals, maybe (and had a big career with Disney):



No explanation needed here:



Although I do remember that this faces the castle. I think.

Looking back on Main Street:



And forward to the castle:



Up next: We go beyond Main Street!

 

[DisneyDreamerMN]

Ah, too bad he saw your post about the surprise! I am bad with secrets too. always try to surprise my husband, but I always end up telling him too. I love that tour! We took it last December. Can't wait to see more.

 

[Dugette]

Ah, too bad he saw your post about the surprise! I am bad with secrets too. always try to surprise my husband, but I always end up telling him too. I love that tour! We took it last December. Can't wait to see more.

Yeah, it was a bummer that he found out, but at least we were able to use the extra money for something fun! The tour was great. I wish I could remember more details, though (as you'll see in my coming updates).

 

[Dugette]

We made our way over past the Crystal Palace:



Rae sat us down in the shade, I believe by the Dole Whips, and told us cool things, pretty much all of which I've now forgotten:



In all honesty, if you want to know about the KTTK tour details, I'm sure there's a good write-up out there (I know I've run across them before) and you can probably use that to make sense of my pictures! After over 2 years, I can only remember bits and pieces!

I think this was just a pretty picture:



But, who knows, maybe there's a story behind it?

Our next activity was riding the Jungle Cruise:



This was one thing that I thought was cool when I picked out the tour, as Dug loves the Jungle Cruise, so I thought he'd enjoy a little different ride on it. We skipped the line and got our own special boat. Here's our group waiting for our boat:



Some details as we waited:



Note the lightning rod here:



I remember Rae telling us about all the lightning rods and pointing them out. They are everywhere, but I'd never noticed before!

More pretty pictures:





Our group got on board:



I believe the regular skipper just "drove" the boat and Rae talked to us about some of the details.

Here's some pictures:







On that last one, I actually do remember what it was about. Do you notice the character resemblances? I want to say it's Goofy(?), Donald, and Mickey? I remember thinking it was cool from the right angle.

More pictures:







The other half of that plane is in the Great Movie Ride at DHS.







Look, the elusive backside of water! Glad we took a backstage tour to see it...ha ha!:













That's it for the Jungle Cruise. On to more of the tour!

 

[Dugette]

Hey, look, another lightning rod!





I think there's one on there too!

More amazing insights being shared with us here, I'm sure :



Your guess is as good as mine on whether these pictures are showing us some little-known details:







I do remember this, since I've heard it before (I think in the Hidden Magic book?). It's the sewage river, to be true to the period this area is representing:



Um, flags? Maybe of the original colonies? But I could be wrong:



More details, the significance of which I no longer recall, but I know there was some:





















Hey, it's the two lanterns, I remember that! Paul Revere and "one if by land, two if by sea":







I remember this being something about the materials holding up the windows making them droop, so it's re-created accurately here (I just searched this info and found that the soldiers took the metal hinges for ammunition and the leather straps eventually drooped):



So, sometime during this first part of the tour, we also ventured backstage. Pictures and video are not allowed, but I just searched the internet for KTTK tour write-ups and was reminded that we were back somewhere by Splash Mountain and saw waste disposal facilities and parade float storage. If I recall correctly, the cast members were preparing floats for the parade and practicing their dancing routines. It was neat to see something different like that.

After all this activity, it was time for lunch at Columbia Harbor House.

 

[Dugette]

The restaurant:



The decor:



The food:











I believe that Dug had fish and shrimp and I had the broccoli slaw sandwich. I had heard that sandwich was really good, but I didn't particularly care for it. I much prefer their tuna salad sandwich. Oh, well. By the way, we had pre-ordered our meals at the beginning of our tour and they were ready for us when we arrived.

We were given our Keys to the Kingdom here:



We sat upstairs in the nice, quiet area with a view:



A brief look around:





After our meal and a little down time and time to chat with others and the guide, we were on our way out again:



Our next destination was the Haunted Mansion. I remember hanging off to the side for a bit and talking to Rae about celebrities visiting WDW and the secret entrances they take and such. I believe that we took a lesser-known entrance because we had an ECV on our tour. And, now that I'm thinking about it, I believe we were hanging outside for a bit beforehand so that she could make sure that corridor did not contain a celebrity. I think someone may have been there that day? Part of me wants to say Celine Dion, but I could be totally making that up in my head. For all I know, it could have been Will Smith. My memory is very, very bad.

Anyway, here are some Haunted Mansion pictures for your enjoyment:







It was very cool to ride with Rae in our ears telling us secrets. Of which I do not recall. Still cool.

Afterwards, she pointed out Mr. Toad in the back of the pet cemetery:



Um, some more cool pictures of things we saw that may or may not have some significance to them:















Just a bit more touring left and we venture into the utilidors!

 

[Dugette]

Ha ha, so I just consulted Dug between updates and he told me that his memory is that Rae was just telling us about past celebrity visits, but he didn't think anyone was there that day...she just had to check before going in. Guess that explains why I'm so confused.

Anyway, here's something I do remember. This is the hat box from Lady and the Tramp:



Um, I don't think this still exists:



Ah, more Lady and the Tramp (my favorite!):



Well, at some point in the post-lunch part of the tour, we ventured into the backstage areas again, including the utilidors. I believe we wandered the underground tunnels for a fair amount of time. I mostly remember having to move to the side often so as not to get run over by the various carts driving through them. We saw some random rooms too - I really don't remember a whole lot, though. Maybe I'm strange, because I think a lot of people get super excited going into the utilidors, but I wasn't really blown away. Yes, it's a cool system and fun to see them, but I guess it's just not all that glamorous or magical. It felt kinda like if I was showing someone that back hallway I use to get to the restrooms at work. Handy, useful, convenient, not particularly fun to look around. I don't know, I'm sure it's more exciting if you see headless characters roaming or something, but I don't believe we did. You know, I think the most memorable thing for me was seeing the piles of bread and such that was being delivered for the bakery, I believe. Yum!

Anyway, once we came back up to the "second floor", we returned to our home base:









And I'm sure Rae summed things up for a big finish. I remember thanking her, as she was a GREAT tour guide. I know my memory is fuzzy, but that's not a reflection on her. She was filled to the brim with knowledge and clearly had a ton of enthusiasm for what she did. I strongly recommend the KTTK tour and also Rae as a tour guide. So glad we had the experience.

After our tour, we decided that we had enough time to take the train for a loop. I think she had mentioned some things we could see from it, plus we wanted to get a peek at the New Fantasyland that was just in the early stages of being built! (remember, this was October 2011)

































So, I guess Dug took a whole lotta pictures from the train! More in the next post!

 

[Dugette]

Ah, what's this up ahead? New construction? Sweet! It's funny, because we got to play in New Fantasyland on the trip we just took! (well, except for that darn mine train ride)





















We enjoyed our little peek through the construction fences!

A few more shots from our train ride:







Then it was time to head to the Polynesian Resort for lunch and our pontoon boat rental:



Lunch was to-go from Captain Cook's (we brought it on the boat with us). We used two quick-service credits to get a Grown-up Grilled Cheese, a Hawaiian Flatbread, some drinks, a Dole Whip, and a Mickey Rice Krispy bar. You'll see the rest in a minute, but here are the desserts:



We went down to the marina and were taken to a boat and sent on our way:



I took the first shift, including backing the boat out:



I had vague memories of driving my grandpa's pontoon boat as a kid, but it had been quite some time since then. Pretty easy to pick up on, though.

And we're off:





Here's the grilled cheese pictures:





We munched while we boated.



Yay, I'm driving a boat on Disney waters!

 

[Dugette]

Things we passed on our journey:







Time to eat the Hawaiian Flatbread now:



More things we passed:













Crossing the water bridge over the roadway:











We made it all the way over to the Wilderness Lodge:









I believe this is where we started getting into seeing the old abandoned Discovery Island and River Country:













Pretty cool to see. Strange, but cool. More boating coming right up!

 

[Dugette]

More sights from the boat:





















The chocolate on the Rice Krispy treat was melting in the heat. Oh, well, still tasty:









At some point, Dug had taken over the driving so that I could kick back and relax:























So, I guess we have an awful lot of boat ride pictures. More next!

 

[Dugette]

It was time to head back to our parking slip at the Poly:















This must be at the rental booth:



I really enjoyed this experience and would definitely do it again! We got a discount from our package (the little booklet) and it really wasn't terribly expensive. And the Poly gives you great access to a lot of cool things to boat by. Really nice.

On our way out:







We had to return to the Magic Kingdom in order to get a bus back to Pop Century for our Magical Express ride:



I guess this is when we did our airline check-in:













We must have filled our mugs one last time for the wait until our Magical Express departure:



We sat in the cool golf cart outside Pop and took pictures and video:





Goodbye Pop! It's been a good time!

 

[Dugette]

We were not the only sad people who's vacation had come to an end:











Oh, no, it's arrived to take us away from the magic!





I like the luggage carts:



So sad to leave:



On that note, our daycare provider is a big Disney fan too. She said to Dug the other day that she feels like every time she leaves Disney she leaves a piece of her soul there. I think that captures this moment fairly well.

But, the ride went on:



So, we thought back to all the fun we'd had and put on our happy faces:



We settled in and watched the video:



Soon, we were at the airport and passing this booth:



Interesting.

I really don't remember much else. There are no further pictures. I'm assuming we got on a plane and came home and all was fine.

This trip had been a much-needed bright spot in an otherwise crummy year for us. Life moved on and about 2.5 months later, we finally had some good news on the last day of the year: Dug Baby was on her way! Life has changed a lot since this trip and now we've just returned from bringing a 15 month old on her first WDW adventure. I'll be starting that trip report soon and I'll post the link here, as well as on my pre-trip report. I hope you've enjoyed reading the slowest trip report ever on earth! I hope to be a bit more timely with the next one! If you are still here, congratulations and thank you!

 

[reelmom]

Wow! You have been busy updating. Renting the pontoon boat looks like a lot of fun. We may have to check that out next time. I love your new avatar. I can't wait to read about the next trip.

 

[Dugette]

Wow! You have been busy updating. Renting the pontoon boat looks like a lot of fun. We may have to check that out next time. I love your new avatar. I can't wait to read about the next trip.

Yes, I went on an updating spree to get this thing done! Luckily, it doesn't take as long to do updates where you don't really have much to say.

The boat was great. It was some of the most relaxed time we've spent in Disney and it was really cool to go wherever we wanted on some main bodies of water with great views. When I can trust Dug Baby to not abandon ship, we'll do it again someday!

Thanks on the avatar. I'm hoping to get the new one started soon!

 

[AprilRenee]

Ok so that keys to the kingdom tour report was just mean! Lol. I was so excited to learn all the secrets. Haha. Not so much...
Oh well, I'm excited to read your dug baby report!!

 

[Dugette]

Ok so that keys to the kingdom tour report was just mean! Lol. I was so excited to learn all the secrets. Haha. Not so much...
Oh well, I'm excited to read your dug baby report!!

Ha, sorry, not trying to be mean! My memory is just that bad....but I did remember a few details, so that's something, right? Now you'll just have to go on that tour, I guess. Or do some good googling until you find an account from someone who has a memory....

 

[CarouselOfProgress4]

I really enjoyed your thread, thank you!