Vore Trip Report - part 2
Steven Vore
Scene Two: Sunday, July 6th - A Long First day
Mickey called early, a fun surprise for Robert. We scrambled to get
dressed and drove over to the Contemporary Resort for breakfast at
Chef Mickey's. The boys got all the autographs (Mickey & Minnie,
Goofy, Chip & Dale) and photos as well as their nourishment and James
got a special birthday muffin (ok, so it was 12 days early but who's
counting?).
We then rode the monorail to the Magic Kingdom (MK) - the monorail's
always been a favorite of the boys' especially when we get to sit up
front with the driver. We arrived in Main Street to greet a whole
pastel of characters, including Br'er Fox and Tigger; more autographs
and pictures. I also took this opportunity to pick up our Guest of
Honor nametags (cool red pins similar to the ones the Cast Members
(CMs) wear, not the cardboard ones that everyone gets for free).
We then jumped on the Walt Disney World Railroad (WDWRR) and headed
around to Frontierland. Seeing practically no line for Big Thunder
Mountain Railroad (BTMR), we convinced the boys they'd have fun. This
was Robert's first thrill ride and though he was hesitant while in
line, he loved it. We wandered down into Adventureland and found
Pirates Of The Caribbean (PotC) to also have almost no line -- where
is everyone? After Pirates, the Enchanted Tiki Birds was a natural. No
flash photography or lighted video during most of the show, but we
were encouraged to take all the photos we wanted during the final song
since it will be closing soon for refurbishment.
As we left our singing friends, a thunderstorm sprung up, so we took a
Dole Whip break under some shelter (a round glass-roofed structure; I
don't think it even had a name). Shortly, the storm abated (that's
twice) and we wandered up into Liberty Square. The Hall of Presidents
was fairly empty, so we stopped in to pay our respects to Messrs.
Washington, Lincoln, etc. By this time, our stomachs were feeling the
distance we had traveled and compelling us to make our way to the
Liberty Tree Tavern. "One if by Land" (beef stew in a bread loaf) said
I, "Two if by sea" (assorted seafood) said Hilary. 'Hot dogs' said the
boys, of course.
Properly refreshed, we headed up the hill to Robert's favorite, the
Haunted Mansion. This was really the first line with much of a wait,
about 45 minutes in a lightly sprinkling rain. It was also our first
sighting of a tour group.
Editorial Sidebar: On the whole, we found that Disney's talks with the
tour groups have helped. Where during our last trip ('95) we were
besieged by groups of 100-120 people, this year there seemed to be
more groups but of a considerably smaller number. It's a lot less
aggravating to have 20-30 folks in a group ahead of you in line than
120. Also, on the whole they were a lot more friendly than we had
remembered; almost no line-cutting or other rude behavior. Apparently
the tour groups were told "you're giving your countries a bad image"
and they passed that along to their folks.
We completed our visit with the ghosts and found that the rain was
just about ending as we made our way into Fantasyland. A 20-minute
line (our only line with a smoker in it) got us floating along in
Peter Pan's Flight and a line of less than five minutes found us
sharing in Snow White's Adventures. We took a glance over at the
Legend of the Lion King, but its line was long enough to remind us
that we had seen that show last trip and it wasn't really a priority.
One of our priorities, though, was Mr. Toad's Wild Ride, and we found
it right around the corner (ok, we didn't really expect to find it
anywhere else). Another short line - about ten minutes - and we split
up to test the "always take the left line" theory. Robert and Hilary
took the left line and got in a car about 20 seconds before James and
I did - not really a substantial difference in my mind. Onward to one
of the boys' favorite memories of their previous trip - the Mad Tea
Party (teacups). During the ten-minute line, I somehow messed up when
changing film and thus have no pictures of the rest of the day. Grrr,
I was terribly upset with myself, but I'll just have to get over it.
I'm with the crowd that feels that the Tomorrowland Speedway is
somehow 'out of place,' but the boys wanted to drive so we did, after
a 20-minute line.
Wandering through Tomorrowland, the boys were disappointed with the
long line for Space Mountain (though they weren't really sure they
were ready for it this year anyway). They also decided they didn't
like the looks of the Astro Orbiter's height, so we boarded another
old favorite, the Tomorrowland Transit Authority (TTA) - a walk-on as
usual. Parents, this is a relaxing ride (with virtually no line) that
younger children find strangely attractive.
By now (5:00), it was fairly warm and muggy, so Walt Disney's Carousel
of Progress was a natural; air-conditioned, relaxing and fun. This has
always been one of my favorites, providing a feel of Walt's presence.
The last scene can continue to be updated to keep it "just ahead of
today," but I hope this attraction never closes.
James wanted to ride the Skyway, so we jumped (figuratively, it was
really a 40 minute line!) on and headed back over to Fantasyland. We
originally had plans of immediately riding it back to Tomorrowland,
but the line changed those plans fairly quickly. Instead, we headed
towards Frontierland with the intention of just catching the WDWRR.
Instead, the line for Splash Mountain (SM) looked to be somewhat
reasonable.
During the ensuing 55 minutes (the longest line of our entire stay),
we convinced the boys that they really would have fun and that it
would be safe. There are "newspapers" on the wall in the WDWRR station
with articles about people falling 50 feet (the final drop of SM's
flume) and of course the boys got a bit nervous. Having never seen
Song of the South, the boys really didn't understand much of the
theming for the ride but had a ball. All together now as we crest the
final hill… "Throw me in that briar patch!"
Now that we were sufficiently wet we got on the railroad for a
relaxing ride over to Mickey's Toontown Fair. We were going to bypass
the fair this trip, since to us it's mostly a place to stand in line
for character autographs and we already had plenty of those. The kids
saw the Barnstormer at Goofy's Wiseacres Farm though, and we couldn't
resist. A 15-minute wait for a 60-second roller coaster; the boys are
starting to get in the swing of "thrill rides." We then took the path
"around the back way" along the railroad track to Tomorrowland and
visited Nine-Eye and the Timekeeper. Robin Williams always has me in
stitches; I don't think there's anything he's done that I don't enjoy.
The day was definitely winding down and a repeat of a portion of our
last trip seemed to be the right thing for the moment, dinner at the
Plaza Pavilion. I think we got the exact same table as in '95, right
under Tinkerbell's flight path, and the same great view of the Fantasy
in the Sky fireworks. What an ending!
After dropping Hilary and the boys back at the CBR, I headed over to
Gooding's (my only excursion off Disney property) to pick up cereal,
milk, and orange juice for inexpensive breakfasts during the rest of
the week.
-Steven | Smile, Mickey's watching!
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"It's kind of fun to do the impossible." -- Walt Disney