Saturday 01/30/2010
Saturday morning rolled in, and it started out as a rather warm morning, but it was muggy and cloudy so it was pretty clear it would rain later that day. We had an ADR at 1900 Park Fare this morning with friends of ours who had flown in the night before. They were just starting their magical vacation, while we were finishing ours :(One nice aspect of Polynesian as I mentioned was location, it was amazingly nice to know that Grand Floridian was only just a quick monorail ride or walk away! Now being bad Polynesian guests we had mentioned to our friend Matt, to park at Polynesian that morning and then we could all ride to the Grand Floridian together. Well it worked out perfectly as we ended up meeting up in the Great Ceremonial Hall, and all four of us headed for the monorail. Matt had brought his girlfriend Casey and this was her first trip to WDW in many years, so it was exciting seeing how a Disney virgin experienced the world. For that reason we had all picked 1900 park fare because it featured Mary Poppins, one of Casey’s favorite characters.
When we arrived for our 10:05AM ADR I was shocked at the massive line to check in, it was massively crowded! I had thought 10AM was a late breakfast time and possibly it wouldn’t be as busy… yeah right. We were given our beeper, and it went off maybe just a minute or two later. We were seated right inside the doorway so we didn’t get to see much of the restaurant. Overall I wasn’t to terribly impressed with park fare, the food was ok, don't get me wrong the food was decent (and imporantly.. hot!), and there were quite a few options but I prefer Boma and Kona overall for breakfast. We sat down with our food, and then Tigger came around for photos, we saw him a total of three times, and he was the only character we saw for a long, long LOOONNNGG time. In fact we had finished eating and had to wait around a while before finally Alice, Mary Poppins and The Mad Hatter came around. We had photos with all, and they all stayed right in character, I can’t believe how short Alice was! I know she was a little girl in the movie, but I was shocked to have a character that was actually shorter then me! It was kind of nice. :) Mad Hatter was my overall favorite though, he spent a few minutes at our table overall, while the rest stopped for a quick photo and headed off. I have to agree with other’s comments, he’s pretty funny!
After eating, all four of us headed back to the Polynesian, but decided to walk. We stopped at the wedding pavilion, where Jeff and I had been married eight years prior, we took a few photos there, and then finished our walk at the Polynesian. We stopped at our room, to hand the rest of my coke zero off to Matt (as there were a few cans left) and we spent some time just talking, it was a good time.
Soon after Matt and Casey left, they had tickets for NASA for that day, and wanted to get started on their way. Jeff and I were left with a quandary, what to do with the rest of the day? After discussing different options we decided to head first to Contemporary to finish out our resort monorail hopping. We had some fun finding the five legged goat, which came back to visit us in EPCOT later on in the day! We looked around the resort, and checked out a few of the shops, it was probably a good idea as the next January that was where we were planning on staying.
So after wandering around a bit at the Contemporary we had yet decided what to do with the rest of our day. Now originally I had wanted to rent one of the sea racyers but at $42 a piece for 30 minutes, especially after we had just spent $400 on a tour the day before, didn’t make much financial sense. So instead we decided to head to EPCOT as I also wanted to see the American Adventure, especially now that we both knew how it all worked! So that’s where we headed. Of course, it was still threatening rain, and both of us, in our infinite wisdom didn’t think of stopping back at Polynesian for our rain coats….
Yeah smart move.
As we arrived via monorail at EPCOT it began to rain… So we decided to basically stick with the indoor attractions and first headed for Ellen’s Energy Adventure, as it had been closed back in August for “renovations”. First off, not one bit of it appeared renovated (I am thinking cost saving measure), but we both really enjoy this ride so it was a fun stop. As we exited it was still drizzling, but not to bad, so we headed towards World Showcase via mouse gears, and finally, realizing that I was going to have to pay for my decision to forget the rain coat, I stopped and spent $7 for a poncho. While I was doing so Jeff had gotten back into his pin trading frenzy and surprised me with a pin of the five-legged goat at the Contemporary mural. COOL!
The rain was coming down harder at this point, so we hurried into the Mexican Pavilion, and rode Rio Del Tempo, or whatever its called now with the Three Caballeros. I
Like the fact that it has NO line! We both wandered around the Mexican pavilion and soon headed out to stop at the next pavilion with an indoor attraction, China. We hadn’t seen the Circle vision 360 movie there in some time, and we had meant to stop and see it a few days ago, however there was a large special event being held there, so we had to put it off, until now. It was about 15 minutes before the next show so we admired the art displays, and Terra Cotta figures. I wish more of the pavilions would do something like this. The movie was fun, and as we headed out we noticed it had stopped raining for the most part, but it had become windy and pretty chilly. Our reason for visiting was up next, The American Pavilion, and we arrived about 15 minutes before The Voices of Liberty so we waited around the pavilion for the performance, which was great as always! We stayed for the performance of the American Adventure. I will say I had an new appreciation and understanding of how everything worked, now knowing where all the animatronics were, how they worked, and realizing that all the scene/animatronic switches are done in complete silence. That’s a lasting tribute to the fact of when it was designed (early 80’s) and its designers.
We stopped at the shop attached and bought a shirt (Don’t Tread on Me) for my mom, and then headed next door for some food. As it was closing in on about 5-6PM we both were getting quite hungry, and I was craving a hamburger after eating everything but for the last week. As an added plus the American restaurant is completely indoors! It appeared everyone else had the same idea as the place was packed, and not only with families, but also with a quite rowdy group of young adults that were completely wasted.
They were all wearing “Drinking Around the World” shirts, and as they were only about half way I was doubting that they would make it all the way. We did see a smaller contingent of their group (probably several had dropped out at that point!) at the France pavilion later on purchasing wine at the small kiosk, they were all still standing at that point which considering was a pretty major achievement.
The food itself wasn’t too bad, and as we were preparing to leave the Fife and Drum corp can out, played one tune and left! I think the brevity of their performance was due to the previous mentioned rowdy drinkers were “dancing” along with the small band. I would have hurried away too!
After eating, I was pretty set on returning back to the resort, I wanted some last minute resort relaxing time before winding up our trip (and I was depressed as it neared the end), Jeff and I had a minor disagreement as he wanted to try the Kim Possible missions at EPCOT. In the end we headed back to the Poly instead. We got back to the resort close to 7PM, relaxed a bit (we had both bought books at the Art of Disney so we took some time to flip through them). I had been craving a swim all week, and as it was in the low 70’s and close to Wishes time we headed for the main Volcano pool. Jeff took his book as he does not like to go swimming AT ALL. I was really shocked that by 8PM the slide had already closed! The water was a comfortable temperature, but without the jets, and slide it wasn’t really any different the the value resort pools. We watched the tail end of the fireworks, and stayed out for the Electric water pageant parade.
A side story, we used the Main Street Electrical Light Parade music as our recessional for our wedding 8 years prior, this was before I had even SEEN the parade but I loved the techno-retro music. I finally saw the parade a few years later at Disney’s California Adventure (and I am thrilled to hear it is heading back to Florida temporarily). The water pageant makes me think of the Electrical Parade. It is old and a little kookey, but I love it. I also found out something new on our trip about the Water pageant as part of the Backstage Magic Tour (another cudo to Wayne), in that The Water Pagaent was created as a back drop for the Polynesian Luau, before there was a Luau Cove. People liked it so much that it stayed and it has become a fixture at Bay Lake/Seven Seas Lagoon resorts ever since. It also, except for minor technological updates, has not changed. I personally love those small things that while seemingly obsolete, are enjoyable for the simple fact that they are fun, and are the same as they were 10, 20, 30 years ago.
After the water pageant we headed back to our room. Now I had mentioned earlier I was a bit depressed about the trip winding down, but it was awkward in that I was not as depressed as I had been on previous trips. Now that has nothing to do with the Disney magic wearing off, I love it as much as I always have, and the Cast Members we encountered (except for one, you will meet him soon) all lived up to the Disney experience we expected. I THINK the reason I may not have been as depressed was for two reasons. Number one, we now have DVC, we are guaranteed a trip every year now, otherwise we lose our points. Number two, the trip we took this year was 9 days, I think this is the perfect length for us, we could take things slowly, go to the parks for a couple hours, and relax. If we missed something, we knew we could come back later, or see it next trip. It's comforting.
So, here we are back in our room, we didn’t have much to pack up as we had done most of that back at Boardwalk. I made the suggestion that the next day we try for opening at Magic Kingdom. Jeff, who is a steam train engineer here at Worlds of Fun (and now so am I!), had been trying to get photos of all four Magic Kingdom Steam Trains, so far we had the Roy E Disney, The Walter E Disney, the Roger Broggie, but we're missing the Lillie Belle. The reasoning for this that we found out only this year, is that Lillie Belle only runs for the opening show. Its pretty amazing that they fire up an engine (no short or easy task) for just a few moments, but hey that’s the Disney way I guess.
So to get photos of the Lillie Belle we would not only have to be present for opening, but would then have to high tail it to the Tommorowland/Toontown walkway, which is were the Engines stop and back into the maintenance/storage area. So we knew that as long as Lillie Belle didn’t just back up from where it came from, and took the whole circuit, that we could get photos of it at the Toon Town station. So that was the plan as we hit the hay.
Sunday 01/31/2010
Our last day… *sigh*We woke up with the alarm clock, I think around 7:30 or so. I had requested and been able to get a late check out for 1PM, so there was no need to pack up anything as of yet, and we were able to head directly for the park. Thank goodness for the monorails! Love them! We arrived at the park about 8:45AM, and only waited a few minutes for the opening ceremony. We have a CD with the opening ceremony music, and I personally love the song, so this was a lot of fun, we try to do Magic Kingdom opening at least once a trip for this reason only.
So as the park opened we headed quickly through the turnstiles, and walked quickly down Main Street USA, every second or so I turned around to see if Lillie Belle would back up, or head straight for the circle tour. As we passed the Main Street Bakery we saw it pull forward finally, and I breathed a contented sigh, we would make it. We slowed down a bit at this point, and I took in all the happy Cast Members with their big white Disney gloves waiving as guests entered the park. The cast members smiling, made me smile. Its infectious, and a smile is free. Can’t beat that. Amazing that other parks can’t understand that.
So we headed into the Tommorowland via the noodle station, and headed next to Space Mountain for the Tommorowland/Toontown walkway. Now at this point we had NO IDEA Toontown didn’t open with the park, we very rarely visit Toon Town, and there were no ropes, signs, or anything. We were alone, but as it was right at opening that wasn’t terribly odd. We stood by the Toontown station for a bit, first the Roger Broggie came out to head for Main Street Station to pick up the park’s first trainload of visitors. A few minutes later, all our patience came to fruition, the Lillie Belle! It stopped right by the water tower, allowing Jeff to get a few desired photos. Then the switch was thrown and Lillie Belle vanished heading backwards for its round house home.
Soon after it pulled out, we walked directly into Toontown, again no ropes, no barriers of any kind. I did find it unusual that there was absolutely no one there, but again I didn’t dwell on it, the park was open right? Well as we casually were standing standing next to the train station, talking about our next plan of attack and enjoying the quiet early morning, a cast member called out to us. At first he thought we were cast members ourselves (Do we really look like we work at a park? I didn’t realize it hung around my neck like that). After realizing we weren’t he callously starting yelling at us that we weren’t supposed to be there, that Toon Town didn’t open until later (he mentioned a time I just don’t remember). Now we are never one’s to break a park rule, and I felt terrible. However, there are kinder ways to advise customers that they shouldn’t be there. We did hurry out though, and soon as we looked back a rope was put up blocking the Toon Town entrance from Tommorowland.
From Tommorowland we headed for Fantasyland. One of the advantages of arriving at the park at opening is the short lines. Even with the crowd calendar coming in at a 7 or 8 for that day many rides had no wait. Our first ride did though, Peter Pan. Of course in all fairness Peter Pan ALWAYS has a line. In this case it was only 10 minutes, and Peter Pan is a fun ride. Next we stopped at Small World which had no line (I wonder why....). I DO like Small World, but Jeff can only handle it once every other trip or so.
We hit Haunted Mansion next (my favorite), and then Pirates of Carribbean, Jeff picked up a hat there which we both thought was funny “The Beatings will continue, until Morale Improves” He wears it to work every once in awhile!
After riding we were getting fairly hungry and it was about 11 or so, so we started checking out places in the area. At first we were going to stop at Pecos Bills but in the way to Pirates of Carribbean I had seen a small snack stand, the Golden Outpost, and I had noticed on the menu something I thought I would never see again, the Fried Chicken Sandwich.
This is pretty important as we have an ongoing theory that Disney has a “attraction rotation program” similar to something Six Flags used to do back in the 1980’s. However instead of moving rides, they move smaller things. parades, roaming characters and mainly… food. (think Main street Electrical Parade). One of these things we have noticed they like to move is the Fried Chicken Sandwich. If you haven’t tried it yet, its wonderful! However it has moved around, and unlike the parades and other attractions Disney doesn’t tell us when they are moving it, and where they are moving it too.
Eight years ago the Fried Chicken sandwich started at Cosmic Rays, a few years later we noticed it was no longer on the menu there. We didn’t search it out directly we had figured it was just gone. Nope, it had been moved, as a year or so later we were at Animal Kingdom’s Tusker House and guess what was on the menu? The Fried Chicken sandwich, and it was the same sandwich! A few years ago, Tusker House changed from a counter service location (depressed) to a table service, buffet restaurant. So the Fried Chicken sandwich vanished again.
However, AGAIN it didn’t really vanish. Last year while heading to Pirates of Caribbean I had noticed the Golden Outpost, it had replaced the McDonalds fry cart (another depressed) and I thought I saw the Fried Chicken sandwich, but didn’t think much of it at the time. Well this year, I remembered that, checked out the menu, and behold! The Fried Chicken sandwich. (que the angels singing!) So was it the same? Yep it was. So it leaves us wondering… where will it go next? Maybe it can go to MGM and be the park’s first decent counter service offering? Nah.
It was getting chillier by the moment so instead of eating the sandwich outside, we headed into Pecos Bills and enjoyed it there. I also checked out the toppings bar. Yep that’s my next stop next year. Wow. Grilled mushrooms on a toppings bar? How cool is that!
Anywho. So after eating, it was close to Noon, and if you remember our check out was for 1PM, so we headed back to the front of the park to exit. As we walked out the crowds were streaming in, so it looks like we had picked the perfect time to visit! We hopped on the monorail and were soon back at Poly, where we loaded up our bags and hauled them to our rental car (which we hadn’t seen since Friday!).
We headed back into the resort, as our flight wasn’t until 4:55 and it was only about 1PM so we didn’t really need to leave until 2:30. I watched the hula dancers for a bit (pretty neat small detail for the resort theming), we checked out the gift shops for a bit, and I purchased a few small items for the folks back at work and then we both sat down to relax one last time in the lobby. It was a chilly day, I think the temps were in the 40’s about this time, so it was like the weather gods were trying to reactlimate ourselves back to Kansas City temps.
Overall looking back at the entire trip was very enjoyable. I am glad I decided on the Annual Pass, and am still thankful for Sean at Guest Relations at Downtown Disney for giving us the viability of that option, it allowed for us to head in and out of the parks without thinking about burning a day. We didn’t get to the water parks or Stormalong Bay at Beach Club (the Boardwalk pool was down for refurb) like I wanted to, but it was never really warm enough on any of the days we had free time, and the one or two days we did we already had plans (like the Backstage Magic tour).
A couple of new things we did this trip were very enjoyable, of course the Backstage Magic Tour, which we found was worth the money and time. Then of course there was our first two character meals, I liked Akershus, but wasn’t too fond of 1900 Park Fare. Last, looking back I am mostly thankful for the ability to simply relax. No need to have a plan of attack, hitting as many rides as possible (many of our park trips are like that, no rest for the wicked), but more the ability to feel “at home”, which is all thanks to DVC. Today, as I finish this trip report it is only three days until I get to book next years trip at Bay Lake Tower at the Contemporary, so look forwarding to next years trip!
*update I was successfully able to book our 7 nights in a BLT Magic Kingdom view studio for next year! YEAHHH!!!*