Laura's Disney Lines

So last Sunday, after we toured the Disney Magic, Lee and I stopped by the Disneyland Resort on our way back to San Diego. Hey, it wasn't THAT far out of the way! :-)

And we *finally* got to try out Toy Story Mania! We hadn't been to the parks since Memorial Day, so this was the first chance we'd had (it opened June 17).

It was great fun!!! I could've done it over and over again...but the line was 45 minutes long (which is short when compared to the 90-120 minute waits for Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage last summer), but that's still about 25 minutes too long for me to be willing to do more than once. Unlike the attraction at WDW, there's no Fastpass at the one in California.

I'd like to say that I have new appreciation for the great photos that Chelsi Murphy took during the Annual Passholder Previews, which she shared with us in this blog entry and in this Wandering the Land feature. There's several that she managed to take during the ride, and that's *really* hard - the cars spin you around pretty fast as they move through the attraction, and then you get caught up in playing the games themselves! So thanks again, Chelsi!

As I mentioned, we had about a 45 minute wait to get on. For the first 10 minutes or so we were entertained by Mr. Potato Head, who talked to people in the queue and told bad jokes...but he never removed his ear. Still, that's one very impressive audio-animatronic - his lips move and his eyes are very expressive.

It was a warm sunny afternoon, but not as hot as it often is in the summer. Most of the queue is outside, but most of it was shaded either by the building or by a whole bunch of beach umbrellas, so those gave us a break from the sun.

I'm rather disappointed in the queue itself. Other than Mr. Potato Head it's pretty boring - there are a bunch of posters that describe how to play and "advertise" the games, but that's it - other than that it just snakes back and forth. (Quite different from the queue in Florida - you can see pictures of it in Mike Scopa's blog HERE.) The queue is very deceptive, too - after you pass by Mr. Potato Head and make a turn, you can see people on the other side of the wall getting ready to get on the ride, but noooo...you go around the next turn, and instead of joining them, suddenly there's a whole lot more queue!

The loading process seemed pretty fast and efficient and they got us out of there quickly. Lee hadn't seen pictures of the ride vehicles, so he was surprised that you sit back-to-back with other people.

Once the ride started...wow. We got whirled away without much chance to look at what's going on around us...and then we're at the first game trying to figure out how to fire and aim. Though actually it was quite easy, and it's SO nice to be able to see what I'm shooting - so unlike Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters! It seemed to me that a lot of the high-scoring targets were actually closer to the bottom of the screen, so I started focusing a bit more there. After our "practice" pie-throwing round we were whirled away to the next game, and so on. So we threw eggs and popped balloons with darts, broke plates with baseballs, tried to throw rings over little green guys (I thought that was the hardest) and then ended up at the shooting gallery where we got a "bonus" round. It was really a lot of fun, but it went way too fast!

Of course the most important thing was that my score was higher than Lee's. :-)

And here's my prize...If this photo appears fuzzy to you, put on your 3-D glasses. :-)

A few other notes...Lee wears glasses, which can sometimes be an issue with the 3-D glasses, but he had no problems seeing at all.

In the queue I noticed a couple of signs cautioning about motion sickness, which at the time I thought seemed a bit of an overreaction, but after riding it I can understand why they posted it. The ride really does move fast and spin you around a lot - and that could bother those who are sensitive to motion.

You exit the ride on the opposite side of where you got on...and to get back outside again you have to climb a flight of stairs that takes you back over the track, then go down a flight of stairs on the other side. Which, surprise, surprise, puts you into a gift shop. I assume there's a different arrangement for those who can't climb stairs, but I don't know what it is.

While we were in line I noticed a couple of new food stands that have been set up along the boardwalk in front of Toy Story Mania - a hot dog place and a snack place which sells drinks, turkey legs, and chimichangas.

I wanna ride again!!! So I'm looking forward to some morning when I can get there at park opening and ride several times with little/no wait.

On Sunday Lee and I were invited to tour the Disney Magic, which has been here in California doing week-long Mexican Riviera cruises for the last couple of months - it heads back to Florida on August 17.

Unlike a lot of my fellow AllEars staffers, Lee and I had never been on a Disney cruise, so going to the port and getting on the ship was a new thing to us.

The port itself was pretty overwhelming - a huge building, very busy, and a lot of people milling around, waiting to go aboard the ship. And this is a facility that's only temporary for Disney - I can't imagine what the terminal at Port Canaveral is like!

We boarded the ship at the vendor area rather than using the gangplank that the real passengers were using. That was an experience in and of itself - lots of security. Our bags had to be sniffed by one of the two security dogs on duty. After we got through that we had to wait for a while for some of the other tour members to arrive, so we watched the dogs - their handler had them in a couple of large kennels when they weren't working, but every once in a while he'd let them out to play with a toy. The black lab was very cute - every time someone showed up with a bag and set it down on the ground he got so excited, and pawed at the gate of his kennel, and then he'd get really disappointed if the other dog (German shepherd) was brought out instead. These were not fierce scary dogs at all, but they had a job to do, and it appeared they were quite good at it. Though we wondered what would happen if for some reason somebody had a dog toy in their bag... :-)

To board the ship we were required to carry an electronic ID card, so the guard took our names and our ids, and then we went through a metal detector and our bags went through an x-ray machine. Once we boarded the ship they swiped our ID cards, and then we had to use hand sanitizer at the station set up there - that is apparently a requirement for anyone boarding the ship or whenever entering any of the restaurants.

There were about 11 tour members, and four different Disney employees, including Jonathan Frontado, who is a Public Relations Manager for the Disney Cruise Line, and had set up the tour.

Our first stop was Parrot Cay where, after sanitizing our hands, we sampled the lunch buffet. Passengers were already on board the ship, and some were in the restaurant, but it wasn't crowded. The buffet had a very nice salad bar, plus cold cuts and cheese, and a selection of hot entrees as well. And a very nice dessert bar. :-) If that was a sample of the food that is available on a cruise, I can understand why people gain so much weight on cruises!

After lunch they split us into two groups - there were 6 in our group. Valarie, who works for Disneyland Public Relations, was our tour guide.

More and more people were boarding the ship all the time, but since they couldn't get to their rooms yet, they were congregating in hallways and near the elevators - it got a bit congested sometimes. But since we were on a tour they let us see a couple of the staterooms. The "outside" stateroom was a Navigator's Verandah (Category 7) class of room, which has a large glass door which opens onto a small enclosed verandah with a large (open) porthole. It has a queen bed and a sofa which converts to a twin bed. There are two bathrooms - one with the toilet and a sink, the other with a sink and a bathtub/shower. (From what we were told, apparently having a real bathtub is somewhat rare on cruise ships.) The cabin is only about 200 square feet - pretty small compared to a standard hotel room!

Across the hall we viewed an inside stateroom (Category 11 or 12) - this one also had a queen bed and a twin bed sofa, but it only had one bathroom. With no windows at all it seemed dark compared to the one we'd just been in.

After that it seems like we must have visited all of the public areas of the ship - the restaurants, bars, clubs, spa, and pool areas. There's certainly a wide variety of activities and environments available. I can see why Valarie told us that you spend the first three days just learning your way around the ship! We spent a fair bit of time in the Vista Spa - one of the attendants showed us a couple of the treatment rooms, including one of the "couples" rooms. We also spent some time in the Tropical Rain Forest area, which has all of this lovely tile/mosaic work, and a fountain, in addition to the fog showers and saunas - it also has heated tiled lounge chairs of various temperatures. They were quite warm!

We also saw all of the "kid" areas. There's something for every age - everything from a nursery for care of infants to 2-year-olds, to the Oceaneer areas that have lots of activities and games for older kids, to the special clubs for teenagers. Looked like fun - I can understand why some people have written that their kids really didn't want to spend a lot of time with their parents! :-) We also saw the huge (1,200 seat?) Walt Disney Theatre where the big shows, like The Golden Mickeys, are performed as well as the movie theater and Studio Sea.

The ship was beautiful - everything we saw was clean and obviously well-maintained. The cruise that was leaving the day we took the tour was the Magic's 10th anniversary cruise - it sailed for the first time on July 30, 1998. After the Magic returns to Florida it will be going into a three-week dry dock period where they will be doing some more extensive maintenance, but it was hard to see that it needed too much sprucing up! (I believe that the Deb and Steve Cruise will be the Magic's final cruise before it goes into dry dock.)

The tour was fun and interesting and we really enjoyed it - I'd like to thank Jonathan and Valarie for inviting us and guiding us around.

Now, of course, we want to go on a Disney Cruise, which is something I hadn't really considered before. (Though I found out that Lee has thought it would be fun but didn't think I'd be interested.) One of our concerns was being confined to a relatively small area, and wondering if there would be enough to do - but that certainly doesn't seem to be a problem - more like there's TOO much to do, and not enough time! And, since we don't have kids, we weren't sure if there would be some separation, but it looks like there are a number of adult-only areas, including a pool on the ship and a separate area on Castaway Cay. And I found the spa VERY appealing - I could definitely spend some time there! :-)

So now we're looking at possible itineraries and trying to figure out what kind of stateroom we want. There's so many decisions!!!! Looks a lot more daunting to me than planning a WDW vacation, but maybe that's just because I haven't done it before.

So help us out here...what's your favorite Disney cruise itinerary and stateroom type?

Walt Disney World is again holding the Tower of Terror 13K race in October this year. Lee and I ran the first one last year, and, well, we were less than impressed. As I wrote in my blog entry, it was a fine race, just not "Disney" at all, and not what we were expecting. So we were disappointed.

But....it turns out we are going to be at WDW this year on October 25 when the race is being held again, and so, gluttons for punishment that we are, we have signed up for this year's race, also. (And signing up for the race also SAVES us from being gluttons at that night's Party for the Senses! :-) )

A few things I noticed about this year's race that are a little bit different...

• There's no 6.5K this year - only one race, the 13K.
• The price has increased significantly - $85 this year as opposed to $65 last year.
• The start time of the race has been pushed back to 10:00 instead of 9:30 - last year the start of the race was delayed until almost 10:00 anyway because they couldn't get the roads clear in time.
• This year they ARE providing Disney transportation from selected Disney resorts (All Star Sports, Caribbean Beach, and Boardwalk Inn). Last year there was no bus transportation available, and runners were on their own to get themselves to/from the Studios. Not a problem for us, since we walked over from the Boardwalk Villas, but I heard from people who stayed in other Disney hotels and drove over themselves, and they said the traffic was horrible.
• Last year packet pickup was at one of the clubs at Pleasure Island, but since of course that's closing at the end of September that won't work, and this year it is at Coronado Springs. I would have thought it would be better to have it at one of the event's hotels, (and the Boardwalk has convention space) but no one asked me.
• There's no mention in any of the race literature about any kind of spooky surprises, so I'm thinking that there will be even fewer Disney touches this year than there were last year, unfortunately.

I'm not really holding out a lot of hope that the event this year will be much of an improvement over last year, but we're going to at least give it another try. Of course that means we need to start running a little more than just 3-4 miles. But hey, it's only the end of July - we still have three months to train! :-)

(I started this review at the end of May...I guess it's time to finally finish it, huh?)

Lee and I had lunch at Blue Bayou in May - the first time we'd been there in probably 9-10 years! We had a good-sized group - Deb Wills and LindaMac, Beci and Chris from Mouse Fan Travel, and Panama Canal cruisers and first-time Disneyland visitors George and Ann. Between us we managed to try most of the menu items, I think, except for dessert.

We were in the first seating of the day, and even with our large group we scored a Bayou-side table, where we could watch the "fireflies" as the boats from Pirates of the Caribbean attraction floated by. It's really hard to touch Blue Bayou where sheer ambiance is concerned! But one disadvantage of that - it's DARK in there. The only lights we had were these little flickering candles on the table - and that was not sufficient light to read the menu. Fortunately George had a little pocket flashlight, otherwise, who knows what we might have ended up ordering! :-) That also meant we could hardly see what we were eating - guess that means they can save time and money on presentation of the food since you can't see it anyway...

Beci and I indulged our inner child and ordered the Pirate's Punch - Minute Maid Light Raspberry Lemonade served in a souvenir "pirate" cup, which includes lighted clip-on figurine: Tinker Bell or Captain Hook. I chose Captain Hook, and Beci opted for Tinker Bell. In the dark restaurant you can see them really well!

Our entrees came with choice of wedge salad or gumbo, and most also included choice of two sides. I had the wedge salad, which was quite good - a wedge of iceberg lettuce with goat cheese, a slice of tomato and some rather spicy sausage. As you can see it was sort of one of those "deconstructed" salads, though - some assembly required, or you could eat the individual parts. You can see a couple of french rolls in the picture, and those were really good - warm and crusty. The gumbo was another option, and while I didn't try it, I heard favorable comments from some of my fellow diners.

My entree was the Molasses-Brined Bayou Pork Chop - 10 oz. chop, pan-seared and topped with sauteed Granny Smith apple wedges. Choice of two sides: Blue Bayou potatoes, seasonal vegetables or sauteed spinach. I ordered it with the potatoes and vegetables. The chop was a little bit dry, unfortunately, though the brining and apples gave it a nice flavor.

Lee ordered the Buccaneer's Beef Short Ribs - slow-roasted, then finished in a Zinfandel demi glaze. He chose the seasonal vegetables and sauteed spinach (ewww!) for sides. I think he enjoyed his selection very much - more than I liked mine.

Others in our group ordered the Royal Street Seafood Jambalaya - A robust combination of king crab, jumbo gulf shrimp, mahi mahi, tasso ham, andouille sausage and chicken, tossed with Cajun-style "dirty rice" and also the Tesora Island Chicken - Blackened, roasted and finished to perfection in pan au jus. I think someone chose the Cajun-Spiced Salmon - Blackened, with citrus crawfish beurre blanc as well, but I don't remember now. I don't think any of us had room for dessert, though - between the soup/salad, the bread, the entree and two sides, that was quite a bit of food. If I had to do it again I would probably order just the salad, a side of potatoes, and the rolls, and save room for dessert!

We had decent service - certainly not exceptional, though. The pacing was fine - I hear that sometimes it's very slow, but maybe we lucked out because we were in the first seating of the day.

It was a nice meal (and good company!), and I have to say that the food is a lot better than it used to be. But it was SO expensive - $36/person for lunch NOT including dessert!!! (And that included a 15% AP discount.) For that kind of money I'd rather eat at the Vineyard Room at DCA - or we could *both* eat at the Trattoria.

I know a lot of people really love this restaurant, but it just doesn't do much for me - I think it's too expensive for what you get.

Blue Bayou Dinner Menu
Blue Bayou Lunch Menu
Blue Bayou Kid's Menu

AllEars Reader Chelsi Murphy attended the Annual Passholder Preview of Toy Story Midway Mania! at Disney's California Adventure on Tuesday, and has kindly shared her experience in this guest blog.

My husband and I received an email a few weeks ago announcing the Toy Story Mania sneak preview for annual passholders. You had to pick times you were available to go and enter your pass number. Lo and behold an email arrived instructing winners to bring a copy of the confirmation, along with a valid Disneyland annual pass for each member of the party, to the West information booth "at least 30 minutes before your time slot." Our time was between 10 am and 3 pm on June 10th. We, being very excited to see this new ride, arrived at 9 am at the designated booth and exchanged our email for our passes

This gave us plenty of time to get through security and wander over to California Adventure and wait for the park to open. Once inside and allowed past the main holding area, we walked over to the Paradise Pier Boardwalk where the new ride is located, along with an estimated 100 or so other lucky pass holders. Mr. Potato Head was not out and working this morning to greet us. He was having a few mechanical issues but there was plenty of signage to help us along the way.

Once in line we had both passes and our annual passes checked three times before finally getting the go ahead to pass through to the main line to get our 3-D Glasses.

Along the walls of the waiting area are what resemble circus posters explaining how to play games once on the ride.

At this point you are divided up by groups to get on your cars. They resemble a cross between the Buzz Lightyear car and your cab from Roger Rabbit. You sit in pairs, each with their own shooting device and you share a score and information screen.

When you take off, you should have your glasses on ready to go. You pass by great big scenes of all your favorite games as a kid.

Once you come to a stop, a giant 3-D video screen comes on and you are in an interactive video game. Depending on what you hit you will have different experiences: Some symbols are worth more points than others and some shoot air or water at you when you hit them. You make your way through different areas and each time you stop you play a shooting gallery style new game. I know if you hit certain things, a new game may come up on your screen but you are going so fast and having such a good time, its hard to concentrate on hitting exactly the right pattern!

At the end, your screen comes on to tell you your score, accuracy and give you a prize! We both got Rabbits! They also have a giant screen at the end that gives high scores of the day and month.

Some pictures while you're waiting to exit the ride.

This was at the end of the ride and I thought – “how does this help me now?”

When we first exchanged our email for our pass they told us depending on the crowd size we would be able to ride it again. We asked and sure enough they let us back in line. The unfortunate part was that by the time we were about to receive our 3-D glasses they made an announcement that the ride was down and that everyone should go enjoy other areas of the park and check back in later. This is Disney code for "this is going to take a while." My husband and I and most who had already ridden left the line happy we got to do it once.

The ride is amazing to look at and a heck of a lot of fun – and should not be missed. I can’t wait for my next opportunity to enjoy it, I just hope the others waiting for their 1st opportunity yesterday eventually got on.

Lee and I went up to Disneyland on Memorial Day to meet up with AllEars' Deb Wills and Linda Mac, and also to see some of the new Indiana Jones Summer of Hidden Mysteries stuff that started over the weekend. You can read more about it in this Disneyland Press Release.

We arrived in time to see the first Indiana Jones and the Secret of the Stone Tiger show at 10:30. This is held in The Oasis, where the Aladdin and Jasmine StoryTale Adventures show used to be. We arrived about 10:05 and there was already a huge line (something I never saw for the Aladdin show!), but we got into the theater - a Cast Member said it holds about 250 people.

As you can see from the picture below, the sign outside The Oasis makes it look like more of a lecture by Dr. Jones. But of course how interesting would *that* be? :-)

As with the Aladdin show, there's a large area right in front of the stage where kids are encouraged to sit on the floor. The stage is filled with a variety of interesting-looking archaeological artifacts.

Dr. Rachel Flannery comes out and informs the audience that Dr. Jones isn't available - he's disappeared while searching for a powerful artifact associated with the stone tiger, and she's trying to interpret the clues he has left in his notes to find him. Which requires a lot of help from the junior members of the audience. (At least 6-8 different kids get to participate in a variety of tasks.)

With everyone's help, the Stone Tiger portal opens, and Indiana Jones himself appears in a cloud of smoke, bearing the artifact. Which he then has to fight Dr. Flannery for. Kind of a fun fight scene - Indy gets to use his whip. After vanquishing Dr. Flannery and thanking the audience, Indy takes off for his next adventure - no photo ops after this show.

Not long after the show ends (10 minutes maybe) the Random Acts of Indy (I love that term!) begin in Adventureland. Indy and a "bad guy" show up at various places throughout Adventureland and they are fighting over possession of a treasure map. They engage in several fight scenes up high - on top of Tropical Imports, on the balcony above South Seas Traders, and, my favorite, on the rope bridge of Tarzan's Treehouse. Both of them are miked so you can hear their dialog, and there's accompanying Indiana Jones background music, too. The "bad guy" definitely gets the worst end of it. :-) Indy also is out among the crowds in Adventureland at several points during this time, as well. I thought it was a lot of fun.

Here's a link to a short movie I shot of the fight scene at Tropical Imports.

Another aspect of the Summer of Hidden Mysteries is the Indiana Jones Adventure Map. These are free (CMs were handing them out as we waited in the Stone Tiger show queue). There are symbols scattered around Adventureland, and the map has a list of symbols and their translations (though more symbols are identified than actually exist, otherwise it would be way too easy!). Find the symbols and use the map to decipher them and reveal the message. I was a little disappointed in this - once you knew what to look for the symbols (as you can see in the photo below) were really obvious and very easy to find. And the "message" is hardly news to anyone who has ridden the Indiana Jones and the Temple of the Forbidden Eye attraction! :-)

There's also some Indiana Jones relics that have been left along the way in the Jungle Cruise attraction, but we didn't get a chance to do that.

I think it'll be a fun addition for the summer months - I think the kids especially will enjoy the show, and probably the map hunt, also. We got a kick out of the "random acts", though I am concerned that when the park is crowded the traffic in Adventureland will come to a standstill, and that place is enough of a bottleneck as it is (I avoid going through there most of the time).

Here's some info on some upcoming events at Disneyland...

Annual Passholder previews for Toy Story Mania will be June 9-12. Unfortunately, unlike AP previews at Walt Disney World, you can't just show up with your AP and get in - AP holders must register on the Disneyland.com web site ( http://www.disneyland.com/ap) and then be selected by lottery. I've got my name in, but I'm unlucky with these things... I'll know around June 2, though. The attraction officially opens on Tuesday, June 17.

There *is* a Passholder preview event open to *all* Passholders, though -- special viewing of the Innoventions Dream Home. Here are the dates:
June 17 - 8:00-9:00 a.m.
June 18 - 8:00-9:00 a.m.
June 19 - 8:00-9:00 a.m.
June 20 - 8:00-9:00 a.m. and 10:00 p.m. - 11:30 p.m.
June 21 - 8:00-9:00 a.m.
June 22 - 8:00-9:00 a.m. and 10:00 p.m. - 11:30 p.m.

According to the AP web site, this is what's inside:

"Discover a 5,000-square-foot home of the future inhabited by the dynamic Elias family and learn how the technology of today -- and the technology of tomorrow -- seamlessly interconnects within the home, the surrounding community and the whole world.

* Help the Elias family celebrate their son's recent soccer victory and plan their upcoming trip to China for the World Championship.

* Explore this beautiful Taylor Morrison Home and sample the benefits of a digital lifestyle provided by Microsoft, HP and Lifeware.

* Visit the adjacent party tent and explore new technology in a fun, hands-on environment."

Starting May 22, the Indiana Jones Summer of Hidden Mysteries begins at Disneyland. You can read more about it in this press release. It sounds like a lot of fun: "random acts of Indy" in Adventureland, following a map with clues to find artifacts and symbols, special Indy-themed surprises on the Jungle Cruise, and a new photo op location. There's also going to be a new show called Indiana Jones and the Secret of the Stone Tiger. It will be presented in the Aladdin's Oasis area, replacing (at least temporarily) Aladdin and Jasmine's show. I hope to see that (and some of the other new Indy stuff!) on Monday.

Tickets for this year's Halloween party at DCA are now on sale. The event has been renamed this year, from Mickey's Halloween Treat to Mickey's Trick-or-Treat Party. Other than the name change it sounds the same, though. Still no fireworks show or a real parade -- they are still calling it a "Character Cavalcade". I hope that will be at least slightly expanded from last year. Discounted tickets are available to Annual Passholders for selected dates only, and *all* tickets for the party on October 31 are priced at the day-of-event price of $37. There's more information on the Halloween party page on AllEars:
http://allears.net/dlr/tp/dca/mh t.htm

You can blame commando Lee for the fact that there was no blog entry yesterday. Since it was his only day to play in the parks he made the most of it - we got a short afternoon break back in the room, but that was it.

We started our day with a three mile walk around the resort area - it was warm and muggy already. After breakfast (and after he did some work stuff) we drove to Animal Kingdom. It was a lot more crowded than when I was there on Wednesday - the standby lines were double what I experienced.

After we got Fastpasses for the Safari we visited the Maharajah Jungle Trek. Where we learned the first of several new things that I learned that day: Never get into a staring contest with a Komodo Dragon. They only close their eyes to sleep or to protect them from the sun.

The tigers were doing what tigers do best - sleeping. Though at least they were sacked out right up against the windows of the viewing area so people could see them.

Over at Expedtion Everest we asked for our CM friend - and of course he was on his break. A nice CM went and found him, though, and we had a brief chat before he had to go back to work. Lee and I went to see the Flights of Wonder show. Which we've seen many times, but we still enjoy it. There was a new (and much younger) actress playing Guano Jane this time. And even a few new jokes and puns. We also saw some different birds - instead of the crow who usually does the dollar bill schtick, it was a parrot. And this particular parrot was fairly new, and hadn't mastered the part about returning the money - he kept putting it back into the trainer's pocket. :-) Eventually Guano Jane had to take it back, doing her best flapping her arms bird imitation. Which was pretty scary, actually.

And here we learned a second new thing...there was a grackel who had taken offense at some of the birds in the show and was dive-bombing the owl and the Harris hawk when they were out - even though they were much larger than he was! The trainer said this behavior is called "mobbing", and the birds do it in defense of their nesting areas. It didn't seem to bother the larger birds very much, though.

The standby line for the Safari was approching an hour - we're used to zooming right on with Fastpasses, but even the Fastpass line was backed up quite a ways. Once we got to the point where the Fastpass and Standby lines merged it stopped completely, since there were no jeeps showing up! After about 10 minutes they finally announced that there was a "wildebeest migration on the savanna" that had delayed the jeeps. One finally showed up...and then there were no more for another 10 minutes. It was definitely the longest I've ever waited for a safari when I had a Fastpass!.

The safari itself was just ok - not as many animals as we sometimes see, though quite a few on the savanna. Where we learned something else that was new - the male sable antelope are darker, almost black, while the females are the lighter brown color.

In Pangani Forest the four gorillas in the bachelor troop were all out and moving around - that was quite a treat to see all of them!

One of them picked up a branch and carried it around before sitting down to strip the bark off and eat it.

Before we left the park we rode Everest (where our friend collected our Fastpasses!), and then had ice cream from the colorful truck there. It was melting pretty fast on such a warm day! I think they have the best soft-serve in the parks.

Back at the room we relaxed for a little while and made a late lunch out of the cold pizza Lee's coworkers had insisted we take the night before. I went through some photos and we took a short nap before leaving again around 5:00 - this time we took the bus.

We didn't have to wait too long for the bus and soon were on our way to the Studios. We noticed that the pre-recorded bus spiel that plays automagically when you get close to the park still talks about the Stars and Motorcars Parade, which is no longer running. Oops.

I'm not quite sure why Lee wanted to go to the Studios, since it's our least favorite park, but it was his day to do what he wanted. Lines here were pretty minimal - posted 10 minute standbys for Rock 'n' Roller Coaster and Tower of Terror. Though the queue for Rock 'n' Roller Coaster completely stopped moving not long after we got in it - no explanation as to why, but after 5-10 minutes it started moving again and we rode with no further incident. We were starting to think we were a jinx! (Why does everyone feel like they have to run their hands over those glass doors at the ride's entrance? Does anyone else find it as annoying as I do?)

After we'd twisted and turned on the streets of L.A. and made a visit to the Twilight Zone, we walked around the park a bit, and rode Star Tours, which only had a 5 minute wait. As we headed out of the park there were a lot of groups of kids coming in - there were signs posted for some kind of Disney-Josten's Grad Night event. Even though it was 7:00 by then the sun hadn't gone down and it was still quite warm. Very different than the weather in California where it just doesn't stay hot all afternoon and evening!

We walked to Epcot from there - it had Extra Magic Hours that night and would be open until midnight. And besides we'd only walked about 8 miles so far that day. ;-) It seemed very strange to be walking past the Boardwalk and not going into it, though.

Once inside Epcot we got our Extra Magic Hour wristbands and caught Off Kilter's final set of the evening and got dinner from the Fish and Chips shop in the UK pavilion. They seemed to have changed the brand of malt vinegar they use - it didn't have much of a bite to it at all. We sat on a curb and listened to British Invasion while we were eating. They performed several songs from Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. I think British Invasion has been performing together longer than the Beatles did.

After the show an AllEars reader (who noticed the logo on the shirt I was wearing) came over to talk to me for a few minutes. Unfortunately I forgot to ask her name, but if she's reading this, it was nice chatting with you!

Over in France we got in line at the Patisserie to get something for dessert before Illuminations. We both had the chocolate mousse, which was pretty good. There were a lot more people in the park than when we were here Monday night, but we still found a spot in our favorite area near Germany, and the people in front of us obligingly remained seated on the ground for the entire show!

Most people were headed out of the park but we went into the Seas pavilion and rode the Nemo ride. Man, that is a looooong queue!!! Fortunately it was pretty empty, and we just kept walking all the way to the loading area. The ride is cute - I liked the starfish that's up against the glass at the end who talks to you - one of her comments was something like "I saw 18,352 people yesterday!" Lee wanted to "talk turtle" so we went in to see "Turtle Talk with Crush", and that was fun, as always.

From there we Jouneyed into Our Imaginations. And watched the fountains outside, which were very pretty at night.

At 10:30 at night Spaceship Earth actually had a line, though it was only a few minutes long. There were several people in line with us who did NOT have wristbands, but the CMs weren't checking, and let them on anyways (we noticed that at Imagination, also). So much for a "Resort Guest Only" event...Once we got on the ride we discovered we'd apparently managed to break another ride...though we could hear Judi Dench's narration, the rest of the audio soundtrack was silent. So no music or instructions, and it was sort of eerily silent when Judi Dench wasn't talking.

The computer in the Project Tomorrow area wasn't as good with its facial recognition this time and we had to tell it which photo was ours. A photo I would have included here, but it doesn't seem to have been emailed to me - which is what happened with the first one, too.

It was almost 11:00 by then, and we were tired, so we headed to the bus stop. The Port Orleans bus was there, but there was a line - I thought there was no way we'd get on but we did - and there were even 10-15 people who got on after we did. Standing room only of course, but it's a pretty short ride. We were back at the room about 11:15. Kind of a long park day for us, though! But it's all Lee's fault. :-)

We walked about 13 miles yesterday.

So today was departure day...sigh. We went to breakfast at Boatwright's. Lee had the Sweet Potato Pancakes and I had the French Toast. The French Toast was actually *real* French toast, made with thick slices of French bread. Of course then it was battered and deep fried and coated with sugar...but it was really good. :-)

Since we only had carry-on bags I suggested we get our boarding passes printed at the resort. This took a lot longer than I thought it would because of some problems with people ahead of us in line, and Lee was grumpusing at me for wanting to do it. But I looked like a genius when we got to the airport and the Continental check-in line was insanely long.

By the way...I was not real happy with Advantage Car Rental - they are off-site and we waited over 15 minutes for the shuttle to the airport - and there were people ahead of us that had waited longer than that. They couldn't get everyone who was waiting on the bus, either. They said that they only had two shuttle buses. Not good.

Some final thoughts...

It was very nice of Lee to take me with him to enjoy myself while he worked - thank you, dear. :-)

Though I missed being within walking distance of a theme park, I really liked a lot of things about Port Orleans Riverside. It's a lovely setting, and the paths around the resort are nice for walking/running - just not quite long enough. Lee and I thought there should be a path all the way along the river that connects it to Old Key West, and then to Saratoga Springs and Downtown Disney. The room was comfortable, though it was very inconvenient to have the outlet for the internet connection behind the nightstand rather than over next to the table. And I could've done without the annoying sound of the turbo-toilets flushing overhead - we were on the bottom floor, and one night I think I heard it 8 times between midnight and 7:00. The bus service was good - I never waited more than 10 minutes, and usually it was less than 5 whether I was at the resort or a theme park.

The Food Court was great, though - SO much better than anything available at any of the DVC resorts. There was really quite a selection with all of the different stations - you could order an omelet made-to-order at breakfast, and pasta and salads made-to-order the rest of the day. There were sandwiches and pizza and grilled items available, also, and I already raved about the turkey dinner. The bakery section was pretty good, too - the cinnamon rolls were especially delicious. And I thought the prices were very reasonable, also. And I enjoyed using my refillable mug. :-)

It seemed to be a good time to be at WDW, at least from a crowd standpoint. Mid-week (Monday-Thursday) the crowds were minimal - even at Magic Kingdom. The weather was pretty good, too. Not even a hint of rain, and the heat/humidity was not too bad, even for this wimpy southern Californian (though it got progressively warmer as the week went on and by yesterday afternoon I was starting to drag.) It is very nice not to even have to think about carrying a jacket at night, though!

I enjoyed the displays of Epcot's Flower and Garden Festival - there were a lot of topiaries that were new to me. Though I was disappointed in the Rose Walk this year - there didn't seem to be as many rose bushes, and not as much of a variety of roses, either. I enjoyed the Flower Power concert I attended. And I really wish our trip had been one day longer - I could've seen Davy Jones (I hear he puts on a great show), and we could've gone to the Toy Story Mania Annual Passholder Preview. Oh well...it'll be opening in California next month.

Speaking of Flower and Garden Festival...AllEars reader Susan tells me: "As part of the Flower and Garden Festival trolls have been hidden all through Norway." So that explains the ones that I noticed. I'm glad that I haven't just been unobservant all these years! :-) Thanks for the information, Susan!

It was really cool to get "dreamed", and to be able to attend the "Special Park Dream Time Event"" event at the Magic Kingdom!

As usual, I didn't have nearly as much time to relax as I thought I would...though every day it was my plan to be back at the resort by 2:00 I never made it - though I came close on Thursday. There's just never enough time to do everything.

Thanks for reading!

As I mentioned in yesterday's blog entry, Lisa and I received lanyards entitling us to admission to some kind of after-hours event at the Magic Kingdom last night, but we didn't actually know what it was going to be.

Lee didn't get back to the room until after 7:00...we decided to eat here at Riverside instead of at the Magic Kingdom (we wanted to get to the MK in time to see the fireworks at 9:00).

We both decided to have the roast turkey dinner - it was *real* turkey breast, carved right before our eyes, and served with corn bread, and choice of two sides: mashed potatoes, corn, or mixed vegetables. It was actually really quite good - we both had the potatoes and the veggies. The corn bread was just a little sweet and had pieces of corn in it. And the price was quite reasonable, too - $8.99.

It was almost 8:00 by the time we got out to the bus stop, and found a bunch of other folks waiting for the MK bus, also. Apparently they had been waiting for a while, since the bus got quite a cheer when it arrived. Fortunately we all fit on the bus, though it was standing room only.

We staked out a spot about half way between the hub and the ice cream shop for Wishes - we could have gotten closer but we know from past experience that it's possible to be *too* close. This turned out to be a really good place.

What can I say...Wishes is a wonderful fireworks show. So many different kinds of fireworks, and the beautiful light show that goes on on the castle iself is great. I think Disneyland's Remember...Dreams Come True is a little bit better, in terms of the integration of the castle lighting projections, music, and fireworks, but Wishes is a whole lot more reliable - barring something like a hurricane I don't think it gets canceled.

We waited for the traffic to subside before going to Tomorrowland, which was where we were supposed to be for the start of the Dream event. We arrived just as they were counting down to the start of it (it started at 9:30), and people starting streaming out of the fenced-in area.

Apparently if you arrived at 9:00 like they told you to (but we wanted to see the fireworks) they put you in a fenced-in area once you showed your lanyard. There was a stage and a DJ playing music, and Mickey and Minnie were there, too. I assume they told people about what was going to happen, and what would be open, but we missed that part. Fortunately, Cast Members were handing out a special event Entertainment Schedule (just like the usual ones you pick up in all of the parks) which had information on the event - including important details on how long it was (9:30-10:30) and what attractions were open.

Lisa and I were told earlier in the day that only Tomorrowland was open, but that wasn't the case - there were attractions open all over the park! That's a lot of ground to cover in just an hour. Lisa had called Mike Scopa earlier who did some Googling and found that they only give out 9600 lanyards the day of the event, and of course not all of those people attend, so the park seemed pretty empty.

Our first ride was Buzz Lightyear, since Lee hadn't yet done it this trip...and it actually had a line, and we had to wait for at least a minute to get on. :-) We *really* miss the removable laser cannons that they have in California.

Remember that I said the park seemed pretty empty? That made things even spookier over at the Haunted Mansion. One nice thing about it was that we could hear all the sounds coming from the mansion, which you normally can't hear over all the noise from the people. Wolves howling and stuff like that.

We split up after that - Lee and I rode Thunder Mountain, which seemed especially fast and more of a thrill than the one in California (which we just rode on Sunday). Or maybe it was because we aren't used to the ups and downs and turns here like we are there. It was fun. Lisa went to Pirates of the Caribbean, and after we finished on Thunder Mountain Lee and I went there too - that was our last ride of the evening since it was just after 10:30 by the time we got off. Sigh...the hour went much too fast! And hour and a half, or even two hours, would have been much better!

On our way back to Main Street we saw this:

Who knew that they let homeless people sleep inside the Magic Kingdom? :-)

On our way out of the park, Mickey and Minnie were waving goodbye from the train station, and some management type was talking and thanking us for coming, etc. It really was a nice event - just too short!

We said goodbye to Lisa and went to our respective bus stops. Lee and I stopped at the Food Court on the way back to our room to pick up some dessert - I had ice cream and he had a brownie. They aren't as good as the brownies from the Boardwalk Bakery, though.

So that finally brings us to today. After breakfast Lee dropped me off at the Boardwalk and I walked into Epcot via the International Gateway. I called Lisa, who was still finishing up with her packing (since she was going home this evening), but she said she'd call me when she arrived at the park.

So I wandered around the park enjoying the flowers and the topiaries, and taking some pictures. Over in Norway I noticed something I'd never noticed before...look closely at the upper window in the right hand side.

There were trolls in this window, and in many of the other windows around the Norway pavilion. I didn't realize that this was a troll couple until I unloaded the pictures off my camera! There was also a troll couple perched on the Stave Church.

I did another (successful) training mission at Mission:Space (green, non-spinning side, of course!), and Lisa called me after that. We sampled some beverages in Club Cool, and as we were walking back towards World Showcase we noticed they were setting up for some kind of a shoot. Lots of people and cameras and lights. It was a promo for the High School Musical - Get in the Picture thing that is touring the country - we saw the setup they had at DCA last weekend. Lisa pointed out Nick Lachey - good thing she knew who he was, since I never would have known. :-)

We wandered back towards the UK pavilion, taking pictures of flowers and topiaries. We went into one of the shops in the UK and noticed a quiz posted next to the cash register, with questions like: "Name 5 Disney movies set in the UK", and "Where does the P.M. live?" The Cast Member there gave us a "Certifiable Magical Moment" certificate for participating in the UK Quiz, and told us there were additional quizzes in the other UK shops.

We checked in at Rose & Crown where we had a lunch reservation. Lisa had the Fish & Chips - the chef came out before her meal to discuss her dietary restrictions, and then he personally delivered her meal to the table! He was pretty cute, too. :-) I had the Vegetable Curry, and that was pretty tasty.

After lunch we visited the other UK shops and found two more quizzes - one of them had a list of American words, and we were supposed to come up with the UK equivalent. Like "elevator" is "lift", and "vacation" is "holiday". Some of themn we had no clue about, like "pacifier", "eggplant" (eggplant???), and "bun". Unfortunately the CM in that shop wasn't into it at all - she just told us what the answers were, and didn't offer to give us a certificate.

I said goodbye to Lisa then, and went back to Riverside for some relaxation time. It seemed hotter today than yesterday, and I was getting a little too warm.

It was nice to have several relaxing hours to nap and read! Lee came back and picked me up and then we both went back to Coronado Springs where one of his co-workers was having an impromptu pizza and beer party on the beach behind the cabana he was staying in. I really like Coronado Springs, even though I've never stayed there. I was hoping we'd get in there this time, but it was sold out of conference rooms by the time we booked.

Lee doesn't have any conference events on his schedule tomorrow, so we'll spend the day doing whatever he wants to do since it's his only day to play...AK and Epcot for sure, maybe the Studios.

Lee decided he was going to stick around the room for a while this morning and do work stuff - he had a bunch of email that had come in over the last couple of days that he was working through. And since he *is* working this week, unlike some of us...

I showed him where the Riverside Mill & Market (aka the food court) was located, and asked him to pick up a cinnamon roll for me - they have really yummy cinnamon rolls here! Flaky and cinnamony and not too much frosting. I went out and walked/ran for 45 minutes. It was a little warmer and much more humid this morning than yesterday. Whew.

I called Lisa Berton about 9:30 to find out where she was, and left a message. Lee was still working when I left. I decided to let Fate decide where I would go, and took the first bus that showed up, which happened to be to Blizzard Beach and Animal Kingdom. (I had no wait for the bus, and in fact had to hustle a bit to catch it!).

Expedition Everest was my first stop, since I have a friend who is working there now. Unfortunately he had just gone on his break, so I rode Everest using the Singles line. That was quick, and in fact the Standby line was only 20 minutes at that point. It's still a great ride...and I still feel like I'm going upside-down during the backwards, in-the-dark part. Very disorienting, but not unpleasant. I wandered over towards Theater in the Wild - it was 10:30, but people were already lined up for the 11:30 Nemo show! That's a bit extreme, I think...the park wasn't *that* busy.

Lisa called me and I arranged to met her over at the Magic Kingdom, and then I went and found my Cast Member friend. He was working, of course, so it was a short chat, but it was nice to see him! Lee and I will probably get over there on Friday (Lee reallly likes Animal Kingdom) and we'll see him again then.

I sort of let Fate decide my next step, too...since I was going to the Magic Kingdom I actually had three bus choices: Grand Floridian/Wilderness Lodge, Transportation and Ticket Center, and Polynesian/Contemporary. The latter arrived first, so I took it. I was the only one on the bus until we stopped at Blizzard Beach and picked up two other people. The first resort stop was the Contemporary, so I walked to Magic Kingdom from there. And took this picture of the under-construction-tower-which-everyone-knows-is-a-new- DVC-resort-but-Disney-won't-confirm-it.

Met Lisa outside the Exposition Hall, she'd been taking photos for AllEars and her photo blog. She wanted to take some more in Fantasyland, and she needed a model, so I got drafted. :-) We went to Dumbo - and this was yet another "first time" experience for me on this trip - I'd never ridden Dumbo at the Magic Kingdom before. The line was about 25 minutes, but we were chatting and the time went quickly. I got the same color Dumbo that I had at Disneyland on Sunday - the bright blue one.

And there were these two Wild Animals in a cage near the ride...

We got Fastpasses for Pooh (even it had just at 30 minute Standby) and had lunch at Cosmic Ray's. I had a veggie burger and made good use of the toppings bar...the sauteed onions were especially good.

It was not quite time for our Pooh Fastpasses, and I'd told Lisa that I liked the Buzz Lightyear ride, so she suggested that. It had less than a 5 minute wait. As we got to the last turn in the queue we noticed Dream Team members with a stack of what looked like lanyards...but they weren't handing them out yet. Darn. Once we got off the ride we went around again, and they were handing them out, so Lisa and I got Dreamed!

We won a pass for an event tonight called Magic Kingdom Special Park Dream Time Event. On the back it says:

Congratulations!

Have you ever dreamed of staying in a Disney park after closing time to experience the magic just a little bit longer?

Well, that dream is about to come true during tonight's Special Park Dream Time Event - created just for you as part of the 2008 Disney Dreams Giveaway.

Join us in Tomorrowland at MAGIC KINGDOM® Park just after the Park closes for the Special Park Dream Time Event kick-off.

(There's a whole bunch of conditions and disclaimers, but I'm not going to type those.)

To be honest, I was expecting it to be a Dream Fastpass, so I didn't ask if I could have one for Lee. When we got off the ride I saw a Cast Member at the Photo counter who had several in his hand, and I asked if he knew where I might be able to get one for my husband, who wasn't with me. So he just handed one to me. I think I probably could have gone to Guest Relations, but it was nice to not have to do that!

So now the question was: What exactly had we won? It's not very specific. Lisa asked a Cast Member at a Photo kiosk - he didn't know, but he called someone. That person didn't know either, so he called someone else, and was told that it was Tomorrowland only, and only for an hour after park closing. I guess we'll find out more tonight. Lee and I had talked about going to MK tonight anyways, to see the Wishes fireworks, which I really enjoy. And *they* don't get canceled frequently like certain fireworks shows in California which shall remain nameless.

I left after that - Lisa was going to go photograph "it's a small world" - which is something I've never done at Magic Kingdom, because I refuse to do it. :-) Besides, I'd promised myself some pool time today!!!

I was surprised to see that Port Orleans - French Quarter and Port Orleans - Riverside had separate bus stops. The French Quarter bus was already there, and since there was *no one* in line for the Riverside bus I figured I'd just missed it. Besides, it's a nice walk between the two along the Sassagoula River. (Nicer when it's not close to 90 outside, though.)

Our room is in Acadian House, and only 50 yards or so from one of the quiet pools. There weren't very many people there, but I discovered there are no towels there, either - you had to go to the main pool on Ol' Man Island to get them. That's a bit inconvenient! I was headed that direction anyway since I was going to use my refillable mug (refill #4 for those keeping track - Lee used it for coffee this morning) to get some iced tea.

I had some nice sun and reading time, and went in the pool to get wet, but the pool was so warm that it wasn't very refreshing - I cooled off more from evaporation when I got out of the pool than I did when I was in it!

This will probably be it for my blog entry today, since with the MK event tonight I'll be getting back a little too late to blog tonight, especially since Commando Lisa wants me to meet her bright and early at Epcot tomorrow. Of course she's going to this thing tonight, too... :-)

Let's see...I did 3.6 miles this morning, and an additional 6.3 miles up until now. Not quite up to the 12 I did yesterday, but there's still tonight!