Again, waking with only the heartiest and most foolish, we went through our morning routine and made our way down to the bus stop for our trip to the Magic Kingdom and breakfast at the Crystal Palace with Winnie the Pooh and friends.
OK, I'll admit it. We acted like really big kids on this trip. We took advantage of any character meals we could, and took tons of pictured with any and all characters we found. It was fun and we hold no remorse for our actions! And now, back to the trip report.
We were at the bus stop with even more time to spare, given the previous day's bus disaster, and found several people at the stop waiting for the same bus to the Magic Kingdom.
For those uninitiated with the Walt Disney World bus system, here is a quick tutorial to illustrate my next point. At each resort hotel there is a bus stop, with several buses leaving for various destinations throughout the Disney-verse. These are easy enough to identify, from the large placards and electronic marquees in the front windows. These buses do NOT go to more than one destination without some sort of a transfer, so if you are on the bus, it is a safe bet that you will be going to the same general location.
Time in.
The people at the bus stop were being unnaturally chatty, as people tend to be while at any Disney destination and as the bus for the Magic Kingdom pulled up and we all boarded, the same people proceeded to ask each other such asinine things as "Are you going to the Magic Kingdom today?"
Lauren and I looked at one another and just rolled our eyes. At least now we knew that it was not just something that happened in Anaheim, so that made us feel slightly better.
We made it though the security check, which was remarkably more thorough than the checks in California (which is, I guess, how they catch little old ladies with handguns in their purses...look it up! It happened!), and onto Main Street.
There it was. Cinderella Castle.
Much larger than our own Sleeping Beauty Castle, but there is something comforting about the smaller, more cozy nature of Sleeping Beauty's. Plus, I like the Sleeping Beauty movie better than Cinderella, so I am going to give the nod to MY castle. Take THAT Florida!
As we moseyed down Main Street to our reservation at the Crystal Palace, it became just so bizarre to be in a place that we knew like the backs of our hands--but all of a sudden something would be in the "wrong" place and it just threw us off a little. Bizarro World.
We arrived at the Crystal Palace right on time and were seated almost immediately. Unfortunately, it looked like we had just missed a round of characters for our section. It was OK though. Now we could focus on the food. They had my new favorite thing--omelets! This was going to be one fine breakfast. The lines were pretty long, and I felt like a jerk just darting in front of people to get the one single thing I wanted in each individual line, so that was slightly tedious, but at least I scored some karma points...right?
As I returned to the table with my first batch of food, Eeyore was slooowly coming back to our section. Lauren was still in the food line and I began to get frantic! I was sending mental vibes to her. "Lauren! Hurry! Eeyore!!" She must have received my sympathetic vibrations, because she made it back just under the wire as the donkey named Eeyore reached us. We got the requisite pictures and he continued on his way.
Winnie the Pooh was right behind him and things would go just as smoothly with the bear of very little brain, right?
Winnie the Pooh was right behind him and things would go just as smoothly with the bear of very little brain, right?
Wrong.
I am a big fan of trip reports. I read them obsessively before we left to pick up tips and things not to do. One thing that seemed to be a recurring thread with a lot of the reports for Florida was complaining about the Brazilian tour groups. According to the reports a lot of the groups were unsupervised kids and teenagers who lacked a certain common courtesy. That must be over stating it, right?
Wrong again.
As we were trying to get our pictures with Winnie, these groups of young adults and teenagers kept trying to force their way into our picture, despite the assurances by the hosts and serving staff that he would get to them (2 tables away!) in just a moment. They were very pushy, both literally and figuratively, and it really kind of upset me. We were all paying the same amount for this stuff--why would anyone feel like they have some inherent right to come in and act like that? Oh well... see if I go to Brazil anytime soon and stimulate the local economy with my impulse buys and penchant for pretty things! Off my soapbox now.
After that encounter, an announcement was made over the all-restaurant system that the "Hundred Acre Wood Celebration" was about to begin. They suggested that all kids grab their napkins and meet in the center of the restaurant. I wanted ever so badly to join in--but was "encouraged" otherwise. Pshaw.
The celebration consisted of kids marching around the restaurant with the characters, while those left at the table twirled their green napkins (get it? green, symbolizing tree leafs and making a forest effect?) over their heads.
Though I wasn't permitted to march, I twirled that napkin with everything I had in me. I think it was appreciated.
By the time that we were done eating we had seen Winnie-the-Pooh and Eeyore again, but neither Tigger nor Piglet had come by. Was Piglet offended that I had been eating bacon? We asked our server about it and she assured us that if they hadn't come by in the next few minutes, she would help us out.
Well, they hadn't, so she took us over to the character wrangler and gave him a rundown of our predicament. We told him that Tigger wasn't a huge deal, since we could get him pretty easily elsewhere, but Piglet was much more rare and we'd really like a picture with him. The wrangler got on his phone and lo and behold, out came Piglet, just for us!
We got our pictures, thanked the guy profusely, and headed out of the Crystal Palace.
We decided to head over to Tomorrowland and Space Mountain, to ride the original attraction. The general verdict was that it was far too jarring and the smoother California coaster won out--at least until (if?) the long rumored rehab occurs. After that, we went to the Tomorrowland Indy Speedway aka Autopia. I enjoyed that and the "race" aspect was a neat touch. I'm pretty sure I won! I challenge anyone to prove that I didn't!
The exit of the Speedway was right by the back entrance to Fantasyland, and off we went. We found the Teacups right away, and since they had no wait, on we went. The fact that they were covered--the attraction as a whole, not individual cups--was interesting and appreciated on the drizzly morning. A teacup is a teacup is a teacup and there wasn't all that much difference for me, but hey, I loves me some teacups, regardless of where they are located.
After that we went to pay our respects to Mr. Toad and rode Winnie the Pooh. The queue was really neat, with giant book pages spread throughout, so it felt like you were going into the story, quite literally. I was able to locate the hidden Mr. Toad, where he is handing the deed to Toad Hall to Owl, so I was rather pleased with myself. After Pooh we went on Snow White. This is a marked improvement over the Disneyland version. For one thing, the story has a real ending! Not just "Evil witch/queen falls off of a mountain, we aren't sure if she lives or dies, but hey! Happily Ever After!" No, no. In Florida, you see her die and there are some neat dwarf animatronics, including a Dopey who wiggles his ears! I am so glad we went on this one; now I know how the story ends!
I love the dark rides and relish any chance to ride them, as they typically have no wait and are great examples of storytelling--Snow White notwithstanding. I also might mention at this point, that we essentially had Fantasyland, if not the whole park, all to ourselves and were loving it!
Following the dark rides, we found an attraction that will hopefully find it's way into California, hopefully not at the expense of anything I love (read: Muppets), Mickey's Philharmagic! One of the most fun things about this attraction are some of the posters for other "concerts" occuring in the opera house, including Willie the Whale singing opera, Ariel and her mermaid "coral" group, and my personal favorite
Donald also features prominently in the attraction itself, which made me very very happy. What can I say? I relate to the duck!
The show was incredible as always and there was a lot of really neat Donald/Three Caballeros merchandise available in the shop, so we vowed that we would return later in the trip to browse a little more seriously. (Look at that restraint! Mom, if you are reading this, I hope you are taking note of how good I am being!)
We then went to an old favorite, Peter Pan and enjoyed that as well. Just like in Disneyland, there was a line, despite everything else in the area being, quite literally, a walk-on. Lauren and I aren't sure, but we think Ariel makes a cameo in the Mermaid Lagoon section. Just a little something to look into.
We then went over to the attraction that is the thorn in the side of many Disney guests and prepared to set sail on the Happiest Cruise to Ever Sail the Seven Seas!
Everything was so shiny and pretty, which hopefully we can look forward to in November, when the California incarnation returns. Also, the Village Haus, overlooking the start of the ride was a nice touch. I like the concept of restaurants embedded within attractions. The only major difference with our familiar version is the finale scene. Whereas in ours, the children of the world are clad in white, singing the song, lending itself to the joke that the children somehow were all dead and we were permitted a view into their heaven, the version in Florida has all of the children participating in a large carnival. Much more satisfying to me, even on a sub-conscious level. I would much rather be riding a ferris wheel, eating cotton candy with my brethren of the world, than be interred with them. I'm just saying.
We then proceeded down the path to Liberty Square and the bizarro Haunted Mansion. Virtually the same ride that we are familiar with, but with a much different exterior. Whereas the Anaheim version is an antebellum Southern mansion to fit in with the New Orleans Square theme, the Florida incarnation is an old New England mansion.
Both are very cool. Possibly the most interesting thing with the Florida queue is the Madame Leota tombstone right before the entrance to the otherworldly delight of the mansion. I won't say why it is so eerie, but suffice it to say that a medium who has her head interred in a crystal ball and had access to the spirit world in life will not necessarily go gently into that great night.
The new additions to the Mansion, as well as the inherent cleaning that goes with any major refurbishment actually gives the Florida mansion a nod above our own in Anaheim...for now. The Escher stairs are very impressive, but I don't really know where they could fit in to ours.
We enjoyed the ride and then made our way from New England in the 18th century to the wild west of the 19th. Unfortunately, for the duration of our trip Splash Mountain was out of commission, which was s bummer since I feel that the Florida version tells a slightly better story than its West Coast counterpart... meaning, any sort of coherent story at all.
Knowing that, we grabbed our mining gear and headed to the wildest ride in the wilderness. Here we encountered our longest line of the day--about 30 minutes.
This was fine by us, since Lauren is a miner back home and wanted to study this version a little more closely. I actually sort of like the Florida Thunder better. Again, there is a story (sense a theme?) that is relatively easy to grasp and the town of Big Thunder actually has residents that are viewable to riders.
I was able to video the entire ride, which greatly impressed the people sitting in the row in front of us. I like impressing strangers.
After narrowly avoiding all of the Indian curses and making it through alive, we wanted to go and watch some of our old friends that we had met on our first day in the World and dearly missed, but Grizzly Hall was hosting a show at the time and we figured we would come back soon. This was something that I would not miss.
Following our Bear disappointment we went into Adventureland and an inevitable disappointment.
That disappointment? Walt Disney's Enchanted Tiki Room. I work at the Tiki Room at Disneyland and it is my baby. I love the show. The original show from June 23, 1963. The show in Orlando is NOT the original show. It used to be, but then was twisted into some sick mockery of MY show called "Under New Management." The premise is that Iago and Zazu 'bought' the Tiki Room and are modernizing it, since apparently the real show wasn't drawing any visitors. The visitors, in general, were not pleased. In fact, one of our most common remarks at the original show is, "This isn't the show in Florida right? We did NOT care for that one!"
Knowing this, I refused to allow us to go and see the show. Looking back, I regret this decision, because Lauren deserved to see the monstrosity for herself. Not as a punishment, but so she could understand the loathing with which I refer to it.
After walking briskly past, we saw Aladdin's Flying Carpets had no line, and since we had skipped Dumbo that morning, needed some high flying fun! It was, as we expected, a re-themed Dumbo.
Fun, nonetheless.
Fun, nonetheless.
We then proceeded to poke around Adventureland, looking in all of the shops and just enjoying seeing our home turf, Florida-style. It was very strange to see Pirates in Adventureland, and with it, the Caribbean story, but it was certainly fitting. I like my own Africanized Adventureland, but can see the tropical theme of Florida's working as well.
Again, it was time to visit a long lost friend of ours that was missed very much in California.
We climbed all of the steps and enjoyed a trip down memory lane. I was shocked that we actually had people behind us, so we didn't stop to take too many pictures, lest the anger of the guests behind us turn to Robinson-related violence.
I was thoroughly pleased to see that the water delivery system was still hydrating the Swiss castaways just like when I was a kid.
I was thoroughly pleased to see that the water delivery system was still hydrating the Swiss castaways just like when I was a kid.
I find the Swiss Family version of the treehouse much more refreshing than Tarzan's. I don't know why, but it just seems more rewarding after climbing all of those stairs. Certainly much more adventuresome.
Continuing our trip down memory lane, we looked at the time and determined that Grizzly Hall was waiting for us, so we went to go see a good ol' fashioned foot-stompin', toe-tappin', hand-clappin' show with our friends the Country Bears!
Henry was hosting up a storm like always.
There was still blood on Big Al's saddle.
And the audience was as enthusiastic as I ever remember it at Disneyland. The Country Bears were always one of my favorites and I used to pride myself on being the guy that got the audience clapping along. Well, today was no exception. I really do miss them and would love for them to return to California. They could logically be put back in DCA over by Grizzly Rapids. It could even be inside of Redwood Creek Challenge Trail. It would give more guests a reason to go into that area and the playground would be a good way to entice the young'uns in. Hooboy. I'm starting to write like one of the good ol' bears, so we had best be moving on with the day.
Coming up from Grizzly Hall we decided to take a trip down to the Caribbean, but were slightly sidetracked by some of our favorite notorious scalliwags.
We had several pictures taken, since I am enamored by villians and Captain Hook is one of my favorites! The bad guys just seem to have so much more fun, until their inevitable demise, but still.
We left those two pirates and found our way to many many more. The queue of Pirates in Florida is much more immersive than our own. I like the notion of sneaking through a fort to try and catch a boat out to secret pirate lairs. However, that is where the favorable comparisons end. I don't know what it is, but it just doesn't feel... right. I mean, Pirates is always a good thing, but this version seemed like the generic store versions of soda. Yes, Dr. Skipper is good, but it is no Dr. Pepper. That was what I felt here.
After leaving to a rousing chorus of "Yo Ho! Yo Ho!" and the boat unloader telling us that "it [was] time to get out of the boat" we found ourselves face to face with Hook's nemesi, Peter and Wendy.
Despite what we had heard about them from other sources(*Cough*HookandSmee*Cough*) they were perfectly pleasant and upon finding out that we were from Anaheim told us that they were there all the time! Go figure!
We then looked at our watches and realized that it was almost time for the parade! When I was a kid, I don't ever really remember being gung-ho for the parades, but now, I love watching them. A nice little break where we can just sit and relax was just what we needed.
We decided that we would grab a quick snack
which I believe consisted of a brownie, peanut brittle and a "rice cereal marshmallow treat", or some sort of descriptive non-brand name like that. Come on, YOU know it is a Rice Krispie treat, WE know it's a Rice Krispie treat, let's just call a spade a spade, ok? Anyway, following that purchase we stopped for a Photopass moment with the castle behind us.
Now after all of our pre-parade activities, it was maybe 15 minutes before the parade was supposed to begin. On Main Street, that is called suicide to try and get a seat. Here in Florida, we nabbed a great spot, right in front of the tarp covered City Hall. Sidebar: I know that it isn't the real City Hall. It is a tarp painted to look like City Hall. Ha!, we said. That would NEVER fly in Disneyland! Suffice it to say, we got painted tarps shortly thereafter.
As for pre-parade entertainment they had jump ropes, balls and assorted toys for children to play with the cast members. I know this is slightly controversial among the Disney websites, but I personally like it. Lets the kids exert some sort of energy before the parade and allow for some fun guest interaction. Nothing wrong with that in my mind.
The parade was a lot of fun. There were a lot of bizarre character groupings and I never thought I would see a parade featuring Walt, but here it was. There were a ton of characters, which we loved, and again we got to see some old friends--seems a theme, doesn't it? Ah for the blessing of size at Disneyland that they enjoy here.
I love Robin Hood, and the characters are NEVER in Disneyland, so it was quite a thrill to see them here! Also, aren't the donkey/boys from Pinocchio creepy? Yeah, there is a reason I was scared of that dark ride as a kid!
I love Robin Hood, and the characters are NEVER in Disneyland, so it was quite a thrill to see them here! Also, aren't the donkey/boys from Pinocchio creepy? Yeah, there is a reason I was scared of that dark ride as a kid!
Following the parade we decided to go to Monsters, Inc. Laugh Floor to continue this trend of not really moving much and sitting. To be fair, I do try to make that my normal plan of action in everyday life as well. I enjoyed the show and thought it was a lot of fun. I love the new 'living character' initiative such as this show, Turtle Talk and Lucky the Dinosaur. Lauren cannot tell me how she felt about the show as she slept through it. Ah well. More reason to return to the "World" sometime very soon.
We decided we were going to knock out Tomorrowland so we walked over to Stitch's Great Escape where we walked right in. What to say about Stitch? Well, we liked the Richard Kind animatronic in the pre-show. I also happened to think that the Stitch animatronic was really cool, for the few minutes we were able to see him. It was OK, not something I feel we will need to hit every trip, though I would like to try and get some pictures of Stitch next time, but overall, it rated as a "meh."
We then headed over to Buzz Lightyear, where we were disappointed. Opposed to ours, the guns were mounted to the vehicles, leading to sore hands and again, the ride itself was "meh." Slightly different than ours, but different in a negative way, unfortunately.
Up next was one of the things that I had truly been looking forward to, The Carousel of Progress. I had never seen the show, but since it had Walt's touch in it, as well as the song from the Sherman brothers, I was very excited. I was not disappointed. It was a really neat show, though the "future" scene could probably use a few more modern touches (laserdisc?) but all in all a great show. These "campy" Disney shows are always a great thing. Country Bears, Tiki Room, Carousel of Progress--all great!
It IS a great big beautiful tomorrow!
The sky had gotten very overcast while we were visiting the past and a brisk wind had began blowing, so where else to go but to the Tomorrowland Transit Authority--or as it is REALLY known, the Peoplemover. It provides a neat look at Tomorrowland, including inside of Space Mountain.
It was chilly, but a lot of fun. I wish they would bring this back to Disneyland, especially because we have the space, with the discarded Rocket Rods track and all.
The one last thing we had to do in Tomorrowland was Astro Orbiter and of course it was at this point that the skies opened up and a torrential downpour began. We found ourselves a relatively dry locale below the TTA track, and since it was Florida, the rain was over in a matter of minutes. We then hopped in the elevator and got into our...orbiter, I suppose? Suffice it to say, these vehicles are not designed for two adults to ride. It was quite the uncomfortable seating arrangement. Next time, I'm getting my own vehicle!
It was also at the point that we exited the ride that the skies opened again, and decided to stay open for awhile. Our day was almost done, so we decided to stick it out until park closing. Hey, what's a little bit of water in the grand scheme of things?
We went to Toontown to see if there was anyone interesting in the Toontown Fair. It was the standard "Mickey's Friends," "Winnie-the-Pooh and Friends" and "Princesses." We had already gotten most of Mickey's friends and had obviously gotten the Pooh guys at breakfast, so we were off to the Princess line.
I felt a bit awkward, not only being one of the only people in the line to not have a child with me, but assuredly being the only male having my picture taken. I'm pretty sure I was under heavy surveillance for this.
On a positive note, the princesses were nice and referred to me as Lauren's 'prince.' I felt like wearing elevator shoes and singing 'Purple Rain,' but decided against it. Cinderella had a bit of an attitude on her, but not really in a negative way. She was just sort of...sassy, which made things entertaining for us.
On a positive note, the princesses were nice and referred to me as Lauren's 'prince.' I felt like wearing elevator shoes and singing 'Purple Rain,' but decided against it. Cinderella had a bit of an attitude on her, but not really in a negative way. She was just sort of...sassy, which made things entertaining for us.
We also managed to sneak in and see Mickey again.
And again, there was some funny business going on.
I don't think I like all this going on. Also, it should be noted that I was unaware of this transgression until the Photopass pictures arrived, a few weeks after arriving home. Maybe I am just too trusting.
After that meeting, thinking all was well, we headed to the Barnstormer. It was a cute coaster, and I would compare it to Gadget's Go-Coaster, but I have not ridden the Go-Coaster in years. Maybe I will have to do that sometime soon. A good time was had by all.
We were just about at closing time, so we slowly made our way to Main Street and the exits. As we left, I suggested that we stop by Exhibition Hall, since I had heard that there were occasionally some of the more rare characters inside. We went all the way to the very back, where there were old Mickey cartoons playing on the big screen. There were also two of Cinderella's mice and Chicken Little, sitting back and watching the cartoons and reacting to them all. That in and of itself was fun to watch, but pretty quickly they realized we were there and got out of the seats and came over to say hi.
I had been walking around with my cane from Epcot all day and when he approached us, Chicken Little grabbed it from me and began to do a little soft shoe routine for us. When he was done, his character handler quickly hearded the mice out into the Hall proper and told Chicken Little that he (Chicken Little) knew that he wasn't supposed to be back there.
Chicken Little ignored him. I mentioned, in case he hadn't heard, that I thought he was supposed to leave. He then turned to me and gave me a raspberry, and waved his arm, as if to say, "I do what I want." I had another new favorite. Best character interaction ever! A lot better than Lauren and her "friends." Jerks.
Chicken Little ignored him. I mentioned, in case he hadn't heard, that I thought he was supposed to leave. He then turned to me and gave me a raspberry, and waved his arm, as if to say, "I do what I want." I had another new favorite. Best character interaction ever! A lot better than Lauren and her "friends." Jerks.
We posed for some pictures in the plywood stand-ups and headed out, since it was a little late for dinner and we were hungry!
We decided just to eat near the hotel so that we could call it a relatively early night, and since we love the ESPN Zone near home, the ESPN Club it was. We were seated fairly quickly, but that was the one and only thing that was to be done quickly throughout the entire meal. The food took forever to get to us and drink refills were non-existent. Our bill took seemingly as long to get to us as the meal took to eat. In addition, most of our cast discount went to a "mandatory" 18% tip, which is a whole other issue, especially with the sub-par service that we 'enjoyed.'
We did not add anything onto the tip, which we thought was fair. That was certainly OVER what we normally would have left, and we are usually very good tippers. We left the restaurant and walked down the Boardwalk, stopping in at the ice cream/candy store right before the hotel. We were perusing the treats when I felt a hand on my shoulder, and it was the waiter. I don't know what I thought, but I was slightly afraid to see him there, thinking he was mad about the tip. Turns out that I had taken the wrong receipt and he needed me to sign the other one. I tried to make a little remark about his ability to find us and he informed us that there were cameras all over the Boardwalk. We were slightly put off by this and quickly paid for our treats and went up to the room to relax before bed.
