Alpha's 2009 TR - Studios, Epcot
Alpha
Today's plan called for a busy day. We wanted to be at the Studios for
opening so that we could hustle over to Toy Story Mania. We didn't try
it last year, so this would be a first for all of us. Then we planned
to hop to Epcot, hoping for a ride on Test Track and Soarin' without
waiting too long in line. Today would be evening EMH for Epcot, and we
weren't ruling out being there until late.
I woke up at my usual time, and Chip wanted to come with me to the food
court this morning as well -- our little ritual. We bought a bagel and
a cinnamon roll ($5.95) for DH and Dale and headed back to the room.
As with the other days, we got out to the bus stop with plenty of time
to be at the park for its opening. And once again, we saw our new
friends from Denver!
We got to the Studios before they started letting people through the
turnstiles. A cameraman and someone from the American Idol Experience
were among the small crowd, getting people to shout things like "I love
American Idol!" for the camera and encouraging people to audition for
the show. DH and I maintained the sort of facial expression that says,
I'm still half asleep, so please don't approach me.
Finally they let us all through and we gathered at the rope, waiting for
the park opening skit. The problem with these opening ceremony things
is that, with the exception of MK, the kids can't see what's going on.
Once the rope dropped, we headed straight for TSM, as did most everyone
else. Some peeled off toward the Fastpass kiosks, but most of us headed
right for the queue. When you're going there first thing, you only get
to take a glance at everything in the queue. Dale was really hoping to
chat with Mr. Potato Head, but that wasn't to be; with all the people
rushing by, Potato Head was just singing. We finally came to a stop on
the bridge over the ride tracks. It was just a couple of minutes from
there.
We all agreed that TSM is a lot of fun. I look forward to the day when
you can get two quick rides in succession when you're there for park
opening, like with Buzz in MK. I even held out slim hope that the
standby wait wouldn't be overly long once we were done with our ride,
even though our bus stop friends from Denver said that on Monday, they
had gone right at park opening and the standby wait when they were done
riding was 40 minutes. This day it was marginally better at 30 minutes,
but still too long, as we had other things on the schedule!
I enjoyed TSM but truthfully, I don't think it merits a long wait. It
seems to me that it doesn't need to be a ride at all; you could sit in
one place, do the same thing, and still have the same fun -- which is
why there's a Wii version, I guess!
Anyway, I scored 97,200; DH was a close second; Chip was in the 50's,
and Dale was in the 20's.
With TSM under our belts, we exited the park and had to make the
decision between riding the boat over to Epcot or taking the bus. We
were leaning towards the boat, just because we might not get a chance to
ride a boat at all this trip if we didn't take one now, and the kids
just enjoy it. When we saw one heading toward the dock, the decision
was made. We were on the boat by 9:45. The ride is quite slow, though,
so we got out at Beach Club. This resort is really beautiful; I would
love to stay here sometime.
We walked over to the International Gateway, picked up a stroller, and
did a little pin trading with a CM. Although we were ready with
lanyards and pins to trade when we first got to WDW, somehow we hadn't
gotten into the swing of pin trading. Until today! I'm sorry we didn't
start earlier. Stopping to trade with CMs also gave Chip the chance to
ask them what their favorite ride is.
We were approached by a CM trying to get us to sign up for a Kim
Possible adventure. Since this was on our to-do list, we went ahead and
got our pass.
We reached the Fountain of Nations at around 10:30. Chip took a couple
of photos of Spaceship Earth, and what stands out to me is the fact that
there are only about a dozen people in the shot, which includes
everything from Mouse Gear over to Club Cool.
We headed for Test Track, but had to split up because Dale got cold feet
(even though he's been on this ride before, and enjoyed it). It's clear
that Chip has the fast-ride bug; he was ready to go! DH and Dale went
around to the car display and waited for us there. Our standby wait
time was about 10 minutes.
Afterward, we headed over to Land and picked up Soarin' Fastpasses. Who
would I see across the room but our bus stop friends from Denver! It's
funny how some trips it seems that you keep seeing the same person or
group over and over. I remember on our honeymoon in 1993, we kept
seeing a single woman everywhere. Finally our paths crossed at the
castle, where DH was taking a picture of me in front of Cinderella
Fountain. She offered to take a picture of us together at the fountain.
It was funny because although none of us acknowledged it, it seemed as
though she was thinking what we were thinking -- I've seen these people
everywhere!
It was about 11:00, so we decided to have our lunch here at Sunshine
Seasons. As always at WDW, it's handy to want lunch a bit early!
Plenty of tables and practically no wait at the lines. This is a park
of many tasty dishes, so we decided to order just enough to hold us over
until the next tasty treat beckoned. We split a chicken Caesar salad
and got the kids a ham and salami sandwich (which was enormous), a
little bag of Doritos, and a couple of drinks (total, $26.90). As we
found last year, Sunshine Seasons is a great place to have a meal.
After lunch, we went over to the Living Seas and enjoyed the Nemo ride.
Simple, pleasant, a really nice queue, and plenty of air conditioning.
The kids got into Bruce's mouth for a photo op, and we all looked around
at the tanks and so forth. For some reason, we didn't go see Turtle
Talk with Crush. I'm not sure why, really; it just didn't happen.
We went back over to the Land pavilion to use our Soarin' Fastpasses.
It was just about noon. The standby wait time was 30 minutes. I always
say my favorite ride at WDW is BTMR, but I really have to rethink that.
Soarin' is just terrific.
We were all just a little bummed that Living with the Land was closed
for refurbishment. I don't know what kind of refurbishment was going
on, which compromised my status as WDW expert in the family. :-)
Instead, we headed over to Journey into Imagination and walked right
onto a waiting vehicle. The whole thing was a welcome respite from the
heat outside, which was withering even in the short distance between the
Land and Imagination pavilions. Out there in the heat, we recognized my
sister's wisdom about just getting the stroller. I think Dale would
have been miserable.
We spent just a small amount of time at the What If Labs, then thought
for a moment about what to do next. Chip said he really wanted to see
Universe of Energy, so we said sure, let's do that. It was about 1:00.
And hot. Did I mention it was hot?
We got into the building and waited just a few minutes for the opening
part of the show to start. Signs made it clear that the show lasts for
quite awhile, and once you're in there, you're basically stuck. Well,
part way through that first part of the show, Chip realized he had to go
to the bathroom! So we had to speed out of there and head for the
nearest one, over in the direction of Test Track. This being the second
time this trip that we had to bolt from an attraction for a bathroom
break, we were just a little miffed. I wasn't in the mood to stand in
line for the show again, so we decided that we'd move along and see
Ellen later.
We headed toward World Showcase and stopped in Mexico for a ride on the
Gran Fiesta Tour. In last year's trip report, I wrote about this ride,
"It's cute. I guess there isn't much more to say about it than that."
Ditto this year. Except maybe this year I was more grateful for the air
conditioning.
When we got out of the ride, Chip realized that he had lost his lanyard.
We figured he must have left it at Universe of Energy when we bolted out
of there, so we headed back. I don't know how far it is between those
two points, but it really seemed like quite a hike out there in the
blazing sun. When we got there, we gave the CM a description of what we
lost and she went into the building. Chip was quite upset. She came
back out holding it behind her back, then showed us they had found it!
Then she noticed that Chip was crying and felt just terrible, as though
she had made him cry. We reassured her that it wasn't her; he was just
upset about having lost it in the first place. In retrospect, I can see
that he was out of gas at this point.
Having walked back to Universe of Energy, we decided to ride now. I
honestly was a bit skeptical that the kids would enjoy it, but they
really did. I admit to closing my eyes and resting during the show.
Afterward, we decided to head back to WS. This time we headed over to
the Canada side. We did some pin trading, and Dale wanted to find the
French flag at a cart near the UK that had dozens of flags. No French
flag! But a nice CM to do pin trading with. Why did he want a French
flag in the first place? I have no idea. We bought a couple of waters
($5) and headed on our way.
On the bridge over to France, we found a PhotoPass photographer and had
him snap a couple of family photos, building up a good stock of them so
we had many to choose from for our 2009 Family Photo at WDW. He took
two shots, both with the Eiffel Tower in the background.
One thing I had in mind that I really wanted to do this trip was have a
napoleon at Boulangerie Patisserie. The napoleons here are so
wonderfully delicious. I've tried to find something as good at local
places, even at a local French bakery, and haven't had any success.
So we visited Boulangerie Patisserie, where I expected we'd get one
napoleon and one of something else, and the kids might pick something
for themselves. Turns out that DH wanted a napoleon too rather than
split two things. Well, here's what we've learned: one napoleon is
plenty! If you must try something else, go ahead, but don't attempt to
eat a whole napoleon on your own. It is so richly full of creamy
custard that a whole one here is way more than enough. (We also ordered
a cookie and water; total $12.78.)
Afterward we headed out, intending to continue on to Morocco. Serveur
Amusant was performing, so we stopped to watch. Not long into the
performance, Chip tripped over something, fell down, and started crying.
Naturally, at first we thought he was hurt, but soon it became clear
that he had just reached the end of his rope. Too much heat, too much
walking. It was about 3:30, so we agreed that now was an excellent time
to head back to the hotel. It was unfortunate that we happened to be at
just about the furthest point from the bus stop. Now I wished I had
realized at Universe of Energy that the crying over the lost and then
found lanyard was the warning sign that he was running out of gas.
So we made the long trip back to the front of the park, delayed just a
little bit by trying to find out where to get the EMH wristbands.
Surprise! They don't do that anymore! What kind of WDW veteran am I,
anyway? First I don't know why Listen to the Land is closed, and now
this!
There at Innoventions, the guys remembered the video games from the
previous year, so we decided to let them have their fun.
Finally we left, returned the stroller, and fairly well dragged
ourselves over to the bus stop. We waited for the bus, some of the
longest 8 minutes in history. But on the bus, ahhhh.... a seat and some
air conditioning. When we got back to the room, we found that the
kids' stuffed animals were watching TV, courtesy of our housekeeper.
She had done some fun things each day -- not quite as inventive as
housekeepers in the past, but we've also had a housekeeper who didn't do
anything besides clean the room, so any little tableaux they set up or
towel art they make are appreciated.
Our rest back at the room helped us all get back in the WDW spirit. Now
it was getting toward dinner time, and we had a dilemma. Should we wait
to eat somewhere in WS, which would mean a fairly long wait for dinner,
or eat at Riverside Mill, which is right here but not nearly as fun as
the WS counter service options? We decided to stop by Riverside Mill
and let the kids get cheese pizzas, while we held out for what we might
choose at WS. (Total, $12.76).
The bus had us back at Epcot just after 7:00. We could see that there
was storminess in the area, and I was a little concerned that we'd soon
be soggy. The day had had its trying moments, and I didn't want to cap
it all off with a march through rain, or cowering under cover as
lightning flashed. We took this opportunity to ride Spaceship Earth,
and unlike so many times in the past, we did not walk right onto a car.
Close, though. I rode with Dale, and he had ducked down when they took
the picture, so all the cute things at the end didn't come out right.
:-(
We headed for WS to find some dinner, but first stopped at China to look
at the marionettes. Dale especially has been fascinated by marionettes,
and asked for one for his birthday. We got him one, and it was all a
tangled mess within minutes! Here we let them play with the marionettes
for sale, but watched very closely to make sure the China pavilion
didn't have tangled messes on their hands.
It was about 7:30 now, and I was just starving. I had had half a salad
and a napoleon today, and man, did I ever want dinner! We decided to
head over to Yakitori House.
But first, another stop! This time it was at the Outpost, where they
had lots of those little flags for sale. We found a France one, and
thus began the paying-for-it odyssey. First DH got in line behind a
person who did not speak English. She just held out all of her money to
the CM at the register, but it turned out not to be enough for what she
was buying, and she couldn't understand what the CM was telling her.
Another CM came up to DH and told him that he could take him at a
different register. Yay! Or so he thought. First there was an issue
with finding a stand for the flag. The CM was going to go into the
stock room to find one, but DH said no, the other register had some, and
so forth. Then something happened with the register, and that took all
kinds of time to work out. And during it all, the CM was being so
polite and chatty, but all the chattiness itself took time.
And meanwhile, I was thinking to myself, Will this transaction ever be
completed? I'm starving!
By the way, can you believe they want $5 for this little flag? You can
get a 3'x5' flag for $10, for heaven's sake, and this little 3"x5" thing
is $5! Alright, enough grousing.
Finally we got to Yakitori House, where I ordered the teriyaki chicken
and DH had the Shogun combination, with a water and a lemonade. (Total,
$20.61). I know I was starving, but the food tasted really, Really,
REALLY good.
Now it was about 8:00, and we decided it was finally time to do the Kim
Possible adventure we had signed up for so many hours ago. We went over
to Italy to pick up our Kimmunicator and learn how to do this thing.
The CM noticed my D23 Day One charter member pin that D23 sent to me for
joining D23 on the very first day. He's the only CM who noticed or said
anything about it! He told me he himself was a Day 4 member. :-)
With Kimmunicator in hand, we headed over to Japan for our adventure.
Although darkness was falling, we were able to follow all the clues and
find what we needed to find. I won't give away details, but we really
enjoyed this little adventure and were sorry we didn't have time to do
another! We all agreed that we want to do this again next year.
It was getting close to 9:00, time for Illuminations. We decided to
take a seat in front of the Japan pavilion and take in the pretty
nighttime sights of WS while we waited. Japan turned out to be a very
nice place to see the show. We had a view of the globe through the
Torii Gate, and everything seemed so much closer here than when viewing
it from the other side at Showcase Plaza. It was a great show, as
always.
Now we just took our time getting back to the front of the park. We
decided it would be nice to have some dessert, so we kept our eyes open
for something while we walked. We saw the crepe stand at France, but
decided against it. (Although, I wouldn't mind being at the crepe stand
right now!) Finally we decided to have something at the Fountainview,
which was pretty crowded. DH ended up being one of the last people they
would let in line. We got a cookie for Dale, vanilla ice cream for
Chip, and a root beer float for me and DH to split. (Total, $8.81) The
CMs tried to be so polite about the fact that Fountainview was closed,
but people kept strolling up for ice cream. Then they'd have to be told
it was closed, except of course that all the lights were on, the CMs
were there, people were still in line, etc. It was EMH night; given its
location, it seems to me they should keep it open for EMH.
Anyway, we enjoyed our dessert while watching the Innoventions fountain.
It can be a bit mesmerizing, especially at night with the lights on. We
left the Fountainview out of respect for the fact that they were trying
to close the place, but we still spent some time outside watching the
dancing waters.
Next we looked around Mouse Gear. I was hoping to find two kitty car
window decals to go with the set of 4 (Dad, Mom, two boys) we already
have on the car. My sister gave us the four for Christmas, but in
February we adopted 2 cats. The store at Riverside was out of the kitty
ones, but I was glad to find them at Mouse Gear. We also found a Mickey
t-shirt meant for a very small dog, but Chip decided to get it for his
best stuffed animal friend, Monkey.
We thought about whether to do any more rides, just because we could,
but no one had any more energy left. On the way out of the park, we
stopped to look at the fiber optics in the sidewalks on both sides. I
want this for my house!
Now close to 11:00, we dragged ourselves out to the bus stop. We had
the unfortunate experience of nearly seeing a couple of guys get in a
fight. We happened to sit right in front of one of them on the bus, a
man from Britain animatedly recounting to his wife all the ins and outs
of the argument, as if she hadn't been standing right there. She wasn't
having any of it; she was mad at him for getting in the argument in the
first place. He eventually apologized to her. What I gathered was that
the other husband and wife had been told that they would be first on the
next bus to come, but when the next bus came, this British man thought
they were cutting in line. So there you have it.
We all somehow made it back to the room and conked out. This was one of
the most draining days I can remember having at a Disney park. I would
say it's my age talking, but then again, my 8 year old would likely
concur.
Today's Favorites
Me: Soarin' and Illuminations
DH: Soarin'
Chip: Ellen's Energy Adventure, Test Track, and Soarin'
Dale: Ellen's Energy Adventure, Soarin'
Keane
wrote:
>We got to the Studios before they started letting people through the
>turnstiles. A cameraman and someone from the American Idol Experience
>were among the small crowd, getting people to shout things like "I love
>American Idol!" for the camera and encouraging people to audition for
>the show. DH and I maintained the sort of facial expression that says,
>I'm still half asleep, so please don't approach me.
Guys like that look at me and figure I'd say something obscene, so
they stay away from me...
>We all agreed that TSM is a lot of fun. I look forward to the day when
>you can get two quick rides in succession when you're there for park
>opening, like with Buzz in MK. I even held out slim hope that the
>standby wait wouldn't be overly long once we were done with our ride,
HAhahaha... That's why you go to the Fastpass, *then* get in the
standby line... We were 40 minutes late to the park last year and
the standby was already 40 minutes. I saw a 90 minute wait time
in the evening one day.
>Afterward, we headed over to Land and picked up Soarin' Fastpasses. Who
>would I see across the room but our bus stop friends from Denver! It's
>funny how some trips it seems that you keep seeing the same person or
>group over and over. I remember on our honeymoon in 1993, we kept
>seeing a single woman everywhere. Finally our paths crossed at the
>castle, where DH was taking a picture of me in front of Cinderella
>Fountain. She offered to take a picture of us together at the fountain.
>It was funny because although none of us acknowledged it, it seemed as
>though she was thinking what we were thinking -- I've seen these people
>everywhere!
They're stalking you...
>It was about 11:00, so we decided to have our lunch here at Sunshine
>Seasons. As always at WDW, it's handy to want lunch a bit early!
>Plenty of tables and practically no wait at the lines. This is a park
>of many tasty dishes, so we decided to order just enough to hold us over
>until the next tasty treat beckoned. We split a chicken Caesar salad
>and got the kids a ham and salami sandwich (which was enormous), a
>little bag of Doritos, and a couple of drinks (total, $26.90). As we
>found last year, Sunshine Seasons is a great place to have a meal.
Agreed. They should put one of these places in Magic Kingdom. :-)
>After lunch, we went over to the Living Seas and enjoyed the Nemo ride.
>Simple, pleasant, a really nice queue, and plenty of air conditioning.
>The kids got into Bruce's mouth for a photo op, and we all looked around
>at the tanks and so forth. For some reason, we didn't go see Turtle
>Talk with Crush. I'm not sure why, really; it just didn't happen.
Dudette! You missed conversing with the Crush? Bummer...
>We spent just a small amount of time at the What If Labs, then thought
>for a moment about what to do next. Chip said he really wanted to see
>Universe of Energy, so we said sure, let's do that. It was about 1:00.
>And hot. Did I mention it was hot?
Well, that's what's so good about UoE. It's long, dark, air
conditioned, and you get to sit down!
>Having walked back to Universe of Energy, we decided to ride now. I
>honestly was a bit skeptical that the kids would enjoy it, but they
>really did. I admit to closing my eyes and resting during the show.
Heh. Should have gone to American Adventure. The seats are more
comfortable.
>So we made the long trip back to the front of the park, delayed just a
>little bit by trying to find out where to get the EMH wristbands.
>Surprise! They don't do that anymore! What kind of WDW veteran am I,
>anyway? First I don't know why Listen to the Land is closed, and now
>this!
Even worse, you don't know the name of the attraction! :-)
>It was about 7:30 now, and I was just starving. I had had half a salad
>and a napoleon today, and man, did I ever want dinner! We decided to
>head over to Yakitori House.
>
>But first, another stop! This time it was at the Outpost, where they
>had lots of those little flags for sale. We found a France one, and
>thus began the paying-for-it odyssey. First DH got in line behind a
>person who did not speak English. She just held out all of her money to
>the CM at the register, but it turned out not to be enough for what she
>was buying, and she couldn't understand what the CM was telling her.
>Another CM came up to DH and told him that he could take him at a
>different register. Yay! Or so he thought. First there was an issue
>with finding a stand for the flag. The CM was going to go into the
>stock room to find one, but DH said no, the other register had some, and
>so forth. Then something happened with the register, and that took all
>kinds of time to work out. And during it all, the CM was being so
>polite and chatty, but all the chattiness itself took time.
>
>And meanwhile, I was thinking to myself, Will this transaction ever be
>completed? I'm starving!
>
>By the way, can you believe they want $5 for this little flag? You can
>get a 3'x5' flag for $10, for heaven's sake, and this little 3"x5" thing
>is $5! Alright, enough grousing.
No good deed ever goes unpunished, even for your kid.
>We thought about whether to do any more rides, just because we could,
>but no one had any more energy left. On the way out of the park, we
>stopped to look at the fiber optics in the sidewalks on both sides. I
>want this for my house!
I'm really surprised they haven't done this elsewhere. Other than
Spectromagic.
>We all somehow made it back to the room and conked out. This was one of
>the most draining days I can remember having at a Disney park. I would
>say it's my age talking, but then again, my 8 year old would likely
>concur.
It's the heat. It's why I like the other seasons at WDW. Yeah, yeah,
I know, kids and school... :-)
Keane
--
When stars are born, They possess a gift or two,
One of them is this, They have the power to make a wish come true...
-- Wishes
Visit my site: http://keanespics.com
Alpha
> HAhahaha... That's why you go to the Fastpass, *then* get in the
> standby line... We were 40 minutes late to the park last year and
> the standby was already 40 minutes. I saw a 90 minute wait time
> in the evening one day.
I thought about doing that this trip, but we had such an ambitious
agenda over at Epcot that I decided we'd just have to make do with one
trip on TSM, unless by miracle the line wouldn't be too long afterward.
>>So we made the long trip back to the front of the park, delayed just a
>>little bit by trying to find out where to get the EMH wristbands.
>>Surprise! They don't do that anymore! What kind of WDW veteran am I,
>>anyway? First I don't know why Listen to the Land is closed, and now
>>this!
>
> Even worse, you don't know the name of the attraction! :-)
lol! Oh man. I guess the brain is the first thing to go -- but no,
wait, my knee has a head start.
Well, in my defense, I got it right earlier in my report. :-)
>>We all somehow made it back to the room and conked out. This was one
>>of the most draining days I can remember having at a Disney park. I
>>would say it's my age talking, but then again, my 8 year old would
>>likely concur.
>
> It's the heat. It's why I like the other seasons at WDW. Yeah, yeah,
> I know, kids and school... :-)
My kid missed 2 days a couple of weeks ago, and it was a bit of a to-do
making up the work. I'm just in agony over the fact that we can't go in
December. It actually pains me a little to see pictures of the parks
with all the holiday decorations. I saw that HGTV is going to have a
new show about the parks during the holidays, and I know I will
definitely watch it, and I know that it will definitely hurt to watch!
-- Alpha
Patty Winter
In article <Xns9CC8EE5E5no...@85.214.113.135>,
Alpha <not...@verizon.net> wrote:
>
>We all agreed that TSM is a lot of fun. I look forward to the day when
>you can get two quick rides in succession when you're there for park
>opening, like with Buzz in MK.
Does TSM at WDW have a single-rider line? I've used the one at
Disneyland to go on TSM a few times in pretty quick succession
(5-10 minutes waits). Oh, right, you have kids, so that wouldn't
work. Never mind...
Patty
Rudeney
>
> We all agreed that TSM is a lot of fun. I look forward to the day when
> you can get two quick rides in succession when you're there for park
> opening, like with Buzz in MK.
Yeah, me too! I was able to ride twice with a less than 20-minute
standby wait, but the third time, the wait was over an hour.
> I enjoyed TSM but truthfully, I don't think it merits a long wait. It
> seems to me that it doesn't need to be a ride at all; you could sit in
> one place, do the same thing, and still have the same fun -- which is
> why there's a Wii version, I guess!
Yeah, I bought Jan a Wii (for the Wii Fit) for her birthday last month.
I might have to get the TSM game for me.
> As we
> found last year, Sunshine Seasons is a great place to have a meal.
Yep! I think it's quite possibly the best counter service in the parks.
> When we got out of the ride, Chip realized that he had lost his lanyard.
> We figured he must have left it at Universe of Energy when we bolted out
> of there, so we headed back. I don't know how far it is between those
> two points, but it really seemed like quite a hike out there in the
> blazing sun. When we got there, we gave the CM a description of what we
> lost and she went into the building. Chip was quite upset. She came
> back out holding it behind her back, then showed us they had found it!
> Then she noticed that Chip was crying and felt just terrible, as though
> she had made him cry. We reassured her that it wasn't her; he was just
> upset about having lost it in the first place. In retrospect, I can see
> that he was out of gas at this point.
Aww! But I am glad it was recovered!
> So we made the long trip back to the front of the park, delayed just a
> little bit by trying to find out where to get the EMH wristbands.
> Surprise! They don't do that anymore! What kind of WDW veteran am I,
> anyway? First I don't know why Listen to the Land is closed, and now
> this!
Uh-oh! ;-)
> Now we just took our time getting back to the front of the park. We
> decided it would be nice to have some dessert, so we kept our eyes open
> for something while we walked. We saw the crepe stand at France, but
> decided against it. (Although, I wouldn't mind being at the crepe stand
> right now!) Finally we decided to have something at the Fountainview,
> which was pretty crowded. DH ended up being one of the last people they
> would let in line. We got a cookie for Dale, vanilla ice cream for
> Chip, and a root beer float for me and DH to split. (Total, $8.81) The
> CMs tried to be so polite about the fact that Fountainview was closed,
> but people kept strolling up for ice cream. Then they'd have to be told
> it was closed, except of course that all the lights were on, the CMs
> were there, people were still in line, etc. It was EMH night; given its
> location, it seems to me they should keep it open for EMH.
Yeah, you'd think with the money they make on food, they would have more
places open. Or at least the flexibility to keep them open when there
is so much demand.
> On the way out of the park, we
> stopped to look at the fiber optics in the sidewalks on both sides. I
> want this for my house!
Yeah, me too!
--
- RODNEY
Next WDW Vacation?
Who knows!
Need to know more about RADP (rec.arts.disney.parks)?
Rudeney
There wasn't a single-riders line when I was there, otherwise, I'd have
been all over that.
Alpha
>> We all agreed that TSM is a lot of fun. I look forward to the day
>> when you can get two quick rides in succession when you're there for
>> park opening, like with Buzz in MK.
>
> Yeah, me too! I was able to ride twice with a less than 20-minute
> standby wait, but the third time, the wait was over an hour.
Less than 20 minutes -- that's pretty good.
>> I enjoyed TSM but truthfully, I don't think it merits a long wait.
>> It seems to me that it doesn't need to be a ride at all; you could
>> sit in one place, do the same thing, and still have the same fun --
>> which is why there's a Wii version, I guess!
>
> Yeah, I bought Jan a Wii (for the Wii Fit) for her birthday last
> month.
> I might have to get the TSM game for me.
Yeah! It's the holidays, after all. :-)
-- Alpha
Alpha
>> We all agreed that TSM is a lot of fun. I look forward to the day
>> when you can get two quick rides in succession when you're there for
>> park opening, like with Buzz in MK.
>
> Yeah, me too! I was able to ride twice with a less than 20-minute
> standby wait, but the third time, the wait was over an hour.
Less than 20 minutes -- that's pretty good.
>> I enjoyed TSM but truthfully, I don't think it merits a long wait.
>> It seems to me that it doesn't need to be a ride at all; you could
>> sit in one place, do the same thing, and still have the same fun --
>> which is why there's a Wii version, I guess!
>
> Yeah, I bought Jan a Wii (for the Wii Fit) for her birthday last
> month.
> I might have to get the TSM game for me.
Yeah! It's the holidays, after all. :-)
-- Alpha