"The Calm Before The Storm" Tour (Part 10)

[2BoysMum&Dad]

In my hand-written notes I made at the end of Friday 23rd July, I spookily gave the day’s report the heading “The Calm Before The Storm”, only because it was the day before we flew out to Florida and didn’t think at the time it was really a very good or apt title. I have decided to name all the parts of my trip report “The Calm Before The Storm Tour”, in honour of the climax of our trip - Hurricane Charley which gave us an extra day in Florida.

Sunday 1st August (Change of plans, a second Magical visit)

THE CAST

Sergeant Major Zoe “You WILL enjoy yourselves”
DH Trevor “I am NOT going to like this”
Birthday Boy Michael (aged 10 to 11)
“Why” to everything Piers (aged 8 and a bit)

Today was scheduled as another day at Universal Studios and/or Islands of Adventure (final day on our ticket). I had taken the executive decision to postpone this ‘til after the DIBB Meet tomorrow night and we are heading off to the Magic Kingdom instead today (which is has E.E. on Sundays). Breakfast in the room as usual. We made a great effort to get to the park for 8am this morning, but still didn’t get through the main entrance until 8.30 – still not bad! You have to allow loads of time to get to this park if you are driving as the car park is a long way from the main entrance. Once you have parked, you can get the tram to the TTC (Ticket & Transportation Center) and then the ferry or monorail to the main entrance. If you get Disney transport from your hotel, this might work out quicker, depending how long it takes to wait for the transport to turn up at your hotel, as it will take you directly to the main entrance of MK.

We headed straight for Splash Mountain but were greeted by ropes. Although the park is open to Disney residents on Sundays at 8am, there are areas not open until 9am. At this stage, it was only ten minutes to wait and we had a nice chat with the CM on rope drop duty for that path. There were a couple of other paths on either side of us which also headed in the same general direction, so we had plenty of competition to get to Splash Mountain a.s.a.p.! The problem now, at this stage, was that I had decided I would need to visit the “restrooms” before queueing for S.M. At rope drope we walked very quickly (no running allowed) towards the restrooms on route to S.M. then off to the ride itself. When we arrived, there were quite a few people there already but it wasn’t bad. Obviously, some people were heading towards other things in that area anyway. Because of the way the ride operates, the queue is always moving, has a fast loading system and we didn’t seem to be waiting long at all. I had some reservations about going on this ride. The view of the water drop from the front looked a bit too scary for me, but I had now decided I couldn’t come all the way to Florida without experiencing some of the major attractions! It was Piers who seemed the keenest on doing Splash Mountain. What convinced me that it would be ok was what the Unofficial Guide to WDW had to say about it, which was (words to the effect) that the five storey height drop looked far worse than it actually was. It was very nicely themed based on the stories of Brer Rabbit. There are a few minor drops in the dark interior and then comes “the big one” which actually was very tame, the Unofficial Guide is right! The whole ride is a nice length, about ten minutes.

I wanted a go on the steam train (“Walt Disney World Railroad) and it turns out there is a station right by Splash Mountain. We get on and debate whether to go around slightly more than once or just get off at Mickey’s Toontown Fair (the next stop). I wanted to do this as a proper attraction and get to see some of the park from the train rather than just using it as a means to getting from “A” to “B”, but also didn’t see the point of just getting off at the same point we got on. While we are travelling along, we changed our plans a bit and actually did end up getting off at the same point we got on as we wanted to have a sort of “brunch” at the Crystal Palace, the Splash Mountain station being the closest. None of us had actually eaten much breakfast and we were getting very peckish.

On the way to Crystal Palace we saw “The Magic Carpets of Aladdin” ride and decided to hop on as the queue was short. Very nice if you like the “Dumbo” type ride – exactly the same idea where you can control the virtical height (and tilt) of your carpet. We also ended up doing Pirates of the Caribbean before going to the Crystal Palace, we all liked this very much last time and the queue (for some reason) wasn’t too bad. Unfortunately, Crystal Palace (not surprisingly!) couldn’t fit us in for ages and we had to give up on that idea. “Plan B” = to try the Plaza Pavilion, I know it’s not so “posh”, but it’ll do! It was definitely lunchtime by now, so much for a “brunchtime” meal! This place has a type of system which is very popular in a lot of the cheaper eateries – you order and pay for your food at a desk positioned before the food collection counter, collect your food and then take it to a table. The system is efficient and always seemed to work well whenever we ate at these places. Trevor had a “sandwich stack”, Piers and I had a pepperoni pizza each and Michael had two portions of chips. We were impressed by the standard of food here and definitely worth visiting if you do not want anything “high class”!

With me here are my pals Walt, Mickey, Michael and Piers

Left the park and set off back to CBR. We caught the ferry to the TTC. There were a lot of people waiting too, must have stood there for around 15 minutes but felt more like half an hour! Today our car was parked in “Pluto 20”. While in the car, we noticed the petrol gauge was on the lowish side and decided to fill up. We stopped at the Hess petrol station which is on the way out of the Magic Kingdom. We had no idea what sort of petrol the car used so stopped to one side of the forecourt to check the manual and to check which side of the car the petrol cap was (driver’s side, as it happened). Trevor was obviously feeling a bit “chicken” and wanted me to work out the filling procedure! I decided it was far easier just to pop into the building and plead foreigner ignorance of the American system to the staff behind the desk! There was a man and woman inside and the woman came out to show us how the pumps worked and the paying “gadget” stuck on the front of it. There’s nothing strange about filling up with petrol here, but we did have the choice of paying inside the building as per the British system or using the gadget attached to the pump. Michael and Piers got out of the car, being a bit curious (or just being a pain as usual!) so I took them into the shop as I thought they might get into trouble if they hung around with Trevor by the pump. We had a good nosey around the shop to see if there was anything worth buying AND I SAW .......... fresh scrummy Krispy Kremes in a bakery style display cabinet – YEAH! mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm If there is only one thing you buy in Florida – make sure it’s a fresh plain glazed Krispy Kreme!

I nearly passed out with excitement and I could feel my blood pressure rising. Told Trevor that his life depended on buying us each at least one of these! Michael didn’t actually want one, so bought a chocolate glazed one for Piers, a plain glazed one for me and a chocolate one for Trevor (although for some reason he thought it was a jam filled one, but he said he was pointing to a different one and I picked up the wrong one!). I ate mine as soon as we got back into the car.

When we arrived back at CBR, the maid was still doing our room. She asked if she should she go and come back later, but we said “no”. Although we were tired and wanted to crash out, we also didn’t want the pressure of knowing the maid was hanging around waiting for us to leave again. We went down to the swimming pool area and sat there for around 15 minutes and Trevor ate his doughnut.

Back in the room and we just collapsed! We didn’t even have a swim, just too tired to get organised for one! Trevor and I just collapsed on the bed and the kids played their Gameboys.

Back to the Magic Kingdom, we arrived at around 5pm and straight onto “Walt Disney World Railroad” (there’s a station situated at the main entrance of MK) and alighted at Mickey’s Toontown Fair. We walked towards Fantasyland as we hadn’t seen this area at all yet. There were a handful of attractions which looked interesting including Philarmagic and Peter Pan’s Flight. Queues for both of these were very long so we got Fast Passes for Philarmagic and decided to not bother with Peter Pan today (sorry Peter!), will have to try him another day. While we were waiting for our Philarmagic timeslot Piers fancied trying Cinderella’s Golden Carousel – very pleasant. We ended up split up around the carousel because we were being too fussy about what to sit on! Never mind, it was nice.

We still had plenty of time before Philarmagic and decided to head off towards the “Liberty Bell Riverboat” ride. All the passengers waiting boarded the boat only to be told we would have to all get off again because of the possibility of lightening shortly! So, off the boat and we decided to have a meal in the “Columbia Harbour House” which had the same counter type service as the Plaza Pavillion. Very good standard of food, but basic – not posh and good value for money. We sat upstairs which was virtually empty. There is loads of seating in this place. If it’s crowded downstairs try upstairs, the staircase is not far from the food counters, tons of tables up there. We tried the riverboat ride again and this time had success – we have lift-off!

Inside the engine room

Time to head back to the Philarmagic for our Fast Pass timeslot. It was brilliant, loved it. Shame I had a tall man sitting in front of me for the performance, but I always seemed to end up with someone in front of me ruining the 3D effect to some extent during these types of show. If ever the kids ended up behind a tall person, they insisted Trevor or I swap with them and (as I am short) this didn’t help me much either! Never mind.

Next call – Buzz Lightyear. I keep wanting to call this “Buzz Lightbeer”! This is what Woody called him at the beginning of the Toy Story film and I thought it was funny, but I can never call Buzz by his real name now! Is it just because I am daft or is it because I am an alcoholic at heart? :confused2 Our time slot is 9.30pm to 10.30pm. In the meantime, we decide to do the “Tomorrowland Transit Authority”. We did this on our first visit at the beginning of last week and I liked it as you get to see the inside of some of the other attractions including Space Mountain and Buzz Lightbeer/Lightyear and it gives you a chance to rest your feet! Next attraction – Carousel of Progress. Very interesting and I think it’s quoted as the “most seen” attraction or theatre production or something! Maybe someone else can remember? It is an interesting concept, several stage scenes from different decades of the 20th century using Disney’s animatronic figures to tell the story of progress using electricity from the perspective of the “typical” American family. But, instead of the stages moving, the audience is seated in a moving “carousel” that stops for each stage. The song that starts and finishes each segment is rather catchy, though, and rather difficult to get out of your head!!

There's a great big beautiful tomorrow
Shining at the end of ev’ry day
There's a great big beautiful tomorrow
And tomorrow's just a dream away

Man has a dream and that's the start
He follows his dream with mind and heart
And when it becomes a reality
It's a dream come true for you and me

So there's a great big beautiful tomorrow
Shining at the end of ev'ry day
There's a great big beautiful tomorrow
Just a dream away

Now it’s time for SpectroMagic and enough time to see it before heading back for the Buzz Lightbeer/Lightyear ride. The kids are tired and both want to go “home”. Our philosophy has been that if there is something worth seeing and we are in the right place at the right time then it’s worth staying for, even if we are tired. We would waste more time on a future occasion trying to see it, so we tell the kids – “tough”! It’s crowded around the front of the Castle (as you would expect) and didn’t look like there’d be much chance of getting a good place to see the parade. We found a spot on the pavement behind a group of children sitting on the ground facing the central hub in front of the castle. Our legs were feeling particularly worn out while we were waiting for the parade to start and there were loads of floats. I must say, this was very very impressive and well worth the wait.

Back towards Buzz Lightbeer and the kids still complaining slightly but also semi-keen to do the ride. Unfortunately, no break down this time (hoping to clock up loads more points! ). Coming out of B.L. and Trevor said he would like to stay for the fireworks which were about to begin, he is right of course. It’s another case of being in the right place at the right time. While we are waiting, Trevor took a nice picture of the castle during a “purple phase”!

Pretty in Purple!

The boys are now very “droopy” (no dwarf jokes please, I know they are small BUT! !) We loved the fireworks. What else can I say about them? Just fantastic of course! When they finished, we thought there was no point trying to get out of the park at the same time as everyone else, so we sat on the concrete benches facing the Plaza Pavillion and entrance to Tomorrowland. We find it so frustrating walking along an area where there is hardly enough space to put your feet, let along actually move at a sensible speed. So we wait a few minutes before making our way back to the main entrance/exit.

We needed a drink and went to find some water fountains. We blamed Piers for leaving our water bottle back at CBR! We headed for the ones near the “Baby Center” which also gave more time for the crowds to disperse.

Additional notes for today. During our visit to the Magic Kingdom, we tried finding an attraction to do with remote control cars, but failed. Must investigate this sometime. During one of our tram trips to the TTC from the car park, we had a woman operator who clearly loved her job and tried to make our trip more interesting than just giving us the usual safety “stuff”. Apparently, the Magic Kingdom has the largest car park in the world with 11,000 spaces. She obviously has never visited the M25! She was making a point that there were a HUGE number of spaces in this car park and our car was only occupying one of them, therefore it is a good idea to remember where we parked! :confused2

Today’s weather report = drizzled quite a bit and we suspected it rained hard while we were doing an indoor ride this morning as the car park was wet when we went home at lunchtime. Had a bit of rain in the afternoon too.

Were we tired today? ermmmmmmm, YES!

Tomorrow, a very special day – The DIBB Meet at The Rainforest Cafe in Downtown Disney. Would we all find each other? Would Braduk have time to pop by and say “hi”?