Yet another mini-trip

Future Guy · Post by **Future Guy** » Oct Tue 13, 2009 6:24 pm

So our anniversary is on 10/27. Last year when we first started planning our week-long Disney trip, we were going to go the first week in November, but due to stuff going on at both our jobs, we had to change it to January. However, Future Gal is taking off of work Monday 10/26 and Tuesday 10/27, and I will be off that Monday as well.

So we're going to the Magic Kingdom for a day.

I wanted to take her to the Crystal Palace, since she loves the Pooh characters, and her favorite MK ride is Splash Mountain. Both will be closed for refurbs in January. I've got to get up at 5am the next morning for work, so no staying for Wishes or Spectromagic, but we'll get to do both in January, so that's not a big deal.

I'll post a trip report with pictures and stuff, of course.

Post by **Len90** » Oct Tue 13, 2009 9:01 pm

Hey, any day where you can spend time at the MK is a great day even if you can't end it with Wishes. Hope you have a great day there and it serves as the perfect appetizer for your trip in Jan.

Jacca5660 · Post by **Jacca5660** » Oct Tue 13, 2009 10:44 pm

Future Guy, not only do you live in the town with the BEST College and College FOOTBALL TEAM (GO GATORS!!!!) in the country. You also live only a couple of hours (OK 2 to 3 hours) from WDW! I'm just a bit jealous!!

boilerbabe · Post by **boilerbabe** » Oct Tue 13, 2009 10:48 pm

Awesome!!! I hope you two have a great trip, I look forward to hearing about it. Like Len said, any time spent at MK is a wonderful day! Enjoy!!!

timekeeper · Post by **timekeeper** » Oct Wed 14, 2009 9:02 am

Have fun, I wish we lived close enough to pop over for a day!

disneydreamer58 · Post by **disneydreamer58** » Oct Wed 14, 2009 3:05 pm

I second all those comments! I too wish I lived a few hours away and I agree any day at the park is an awesome day! Have fun!

Future Guy · Post by **Future Guy** » Oct Tue 27, 2009 11:05 am

Well, that was exhausting. Fun, but exhausting. There should be a law against hot humid days in late October.

We got on the road around 7:30, and by 9:30 we were in the Magic Kingdom. Almost as soon as we walked onto Main Street there was a Princess Tiana mini-parade, complete with a New Orleans-style marching band. After that was over, we headed into the shops along Main Street to shop for Future Gal's anniversary present. She picked out a Tinkerbell hat that says "Mood subject to change without notice" and a purse with a pattern of old Mickey Mouse comic strips.

After the shopping, we headed over to Adventureland and rode the Jungle Cruise:

After the Jungle Cruise we went into POTC. The wait was barely 5 minutes. I think the addition of Jack Sparrow is a textbook example of the right way to add a new element to a classic attraction without ruining it.

When we exited POTC we headed over to Fantasyland via Liberty Square, and as we neared the riverboat dock we noticed that something was up. There was a camera crew positioned near the water, and there were an awful lot of management types hanging around. As I was getting a hot dog from a stand nearby (yeah, it was only 10:30, but the donut I had for breakfast back home was long gone) Princess Tiana and her marching band appeared and sashayed onto the Liberty Belle for the Riverboat Jubilee or whatever it's called. The camera crew filmed the show, and all the management-looking people watched from a roped off area by the water. We were right behind them when Future Gal snapped this picture:

I'm not sure exactly what was going on; maybe they were filming the show for next year's Parks and Resorts DVD, and the brass was just there to make the performers extra nervous. Of course, the show was full of the usual "wishes come true if you believe in yourself and wish really hard" stuff that's basically a Disney trademark, but in today's world where so many children are helpless victims of violence and sexual slavery, and no one much notices because they're not white and come from countries that don't have any exploitable natural resources, it just seems to be in bad taste.

Anyway, that area of the park is famous for not having any shade and it was getting hot, so we went over to Fantasyland, where we got Fastpasses for Peter Pan, then rode Small World. After Peter Pan we rode Snow White's Scary Adventures, then got Fastpasses for Pooh and went over to Toontown to see it one last time, since I imagine the construction walls will be up when we're back in January.

As I may have mentioned in the past, I am roller-coaster-phobic. I know it's irrational, but I always feel as if the coaster is rushing out of control and I'm going to die. However, Future Gal managed to drag me onto Goofy's Barnstomer by pointing out that it's only about 30 seconds long and there were toddlers riding it. To make her happy, I agreed, and on the way in she took this picture:

As we got closer, I was clearly having second thoughts:

However, I didn't chicken out and I endured the ride. Did I overcome my coaster-phobia and enjoy it, you ask? You be the judge:

After that we went to the big gift shop in Toontown (I forget what it's called) to enjoy some air conditioning, and I picked up the Spectromagic CD. By then it was time to go back to Fantasyland and ride Pooh. Even with the Fastpasses, we waited close to 20 minutes, and after that it was time to go to Columbia Harbor House for lunch. If you read my earlier post, you may remember that I said we had ADRs at the Crystal Palace, but last week were balancing the checkbook and discovered that we had less money than we thought due to an accounting error, so we had to cancel. I promised my wife I'd take her there at some point in 2010. Maybe for next year's anniversary.

I really enjoyed my lunch-I had the shrimp and french fries-but Future Gal didn't really like her BLT salad. Fortunately, the brownie she had for dessert cheered her up, and we headed for Tomorrowland. On the way we stopped to take Future Gal's picture with the castle:

Isn't she pretty?

Once in Tomorrowland we got Fastpasses for Buzz, then rode the TTA. This is the first time I've experienced the new narration firsthand, and I didn't find it the least bit objectionable. One cool thing: as we passed through Buzz's ride the "If You Had Wings" music was playing. A very cool salute to that space's original tenant. Of course, the Space Mountain construction is still ongoing, and there's been some speculation on other boards as to what this circular structure between Space Mountain and the old Skyway station is. Some say it's going to be a fountain, others speculate it may be something like the old world clock that used to be in DL's Tomorrowland. Here's the picture; you be the judge:

The "new" Space Mountain sign is lime green, and the outside of the building now has a lime green and dark blue trim. It looks good. Inside Space Mountain the familiar area music was turned off, but I did hear a PA announcement that led me to believe that they're testing the ride. The lights were on, and although there were walls in place to prevent TTA travelers from seeing what's going on, I did take this picture looking up at the inside of one of WDW's most famous landmarks:

We ended up riding the TTA twice. Since there's been so much uproar over the new narration, I was curious about the non-Disney geek's perspective, so I asked my wife. She didn't even realize the narration had changed. After the TTA, it was time to go to Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin, and as usual Future Gal whupped me by about 100,000 points. When that was done, we decided to go to EPCOT for the rest of the afternoon. I really wanted a retro EPCOT Center shirt from Mouse Gear, and I also wanted to take some pictures for a Tip of the Hat/Wag of the Finger blog post I'm working on. Also, I've yet to ride Spaceship Earth since the Siemens refurb. We took the walkway to Toontown to catch the train to the park entrance, and on the way we stopped to take each other's picture under Tomorrowland's metal palm trees:

After that it was on to EPCOT. The report (with more pictures) continues in Part 2 . . .

Will Future Guy love or loathe the new Spaceship Earth?
Will he be able to restrain himself from throwing things at Dr. Nigel Channing?
And how did he nearly embarrass himself inside a monorail car full of strangers?

Find out when Future Guy's trip report continues!

Post by **Len90** » Oct Tue 27, 2009 11:31 am

Very cool little trip report Future Guy. The suspense builds as I eagerly await part 2. Interesting pictures of the ongoing construction. I at first thought that the new area was going to be some sort of fastpass distribution center, but I guess that won't be.

MW1218 · Post by **MW1218** » Oct Tue 27, 2009 2:16 pm

Future Guy wrote: I'm not sure exactly what was going on; maybe they were filming the show for next year's Parks and Resorts DVD, and the brass was just there to make the performers extra nervous. Of course, the show was full of the usual "wishes come true if you believe in yourself and wish really hard" stuff that's basically a Disney trademark, but in today's world where so many children are helpless victims of violence and sexual slavery, and no one much notices because they're not white and come from countries that don't have any exploitable natural resources, it just seems to be in bad taste.
[/i]

Your outrage here seems misplaced. Do you want to talk about it?

Future Guy · Post by **Future Guy** » Oct Tue 27, 2009 4:46 pm

MW1218 wrote:
Future Guy wrote: I'm not sure exactly what was going on; maybe they were filming the show for next year's Parks and Resorts DVD, and the brass was just there to make the performers extra nervous. Of course, the show was full of the usual "wishes come true if you believe in yourself and wish really hard" stuff that's basically a Disney trademark, but in today's world where so many children are helpless victims of violence and sexual slavery, and no one much notices because they're not white and come from countries that don't have any exploitable natural resources, it just seems to be in bad taste.
[/i]
Your outrage here seems misplaced. Do you want to talk about it?

I'll try not to launch into a thread-derailing diatribe here.

There are more people in slavery now than at any other time in human history. Many of them are children, and not a few are sold (by their own parents, oftentimes) into the sex trade, especially in Southeast Asia. While kids in the Western world are wishing to be airplane pilots when they grow up or for a Nintendo Wii for Christmas, these kids just wish they weren't raped and brutalized every day.

In many African countries (Uganda, for one) children are kidnapped and forced to become soldiers. They're drugged and manipulated into committing unspeakable atrocities. I'll bet they wish that hadn't happened to them.

Lots of other kids are born in war zones like Sudan's Darfur region, where the genocidal policies of the government have created a huge refugee crisis. Famine is one of the weapons of war leveled against the people there, and lots of people are starving and going without even the most basic necessities. Circumstances like that are kind to no one, but children always fare the worst. I'm sure they fervently wish things were better.

So what's wrong with those kids? Are they just not wishing hard enough? Do they not believe in themselves enough? Is that why they're being murdered, raped, and starved?

The pop psychology that pervades Disney movies is pretty harmless in itself, but it's a not-too-small piece of a mass media that doesn't pay attention to anyone in the Third World unless they're sitting on a bunch of oil or are being adopted by Madonna.

I'm not saying kids should be confronted with the world in all its harshness as soon as they're old enough to walk. But it shouldn't be possible to spend your life in a bubble in which you're exposed to mass media 24/7 but never hear about what's really going on in the world.

The rest of the trip report is coming soon.

Future Guy · Post by **Future Guy** » Oct Tue 27, 2009 5:26 pm

Part 2: EPCOT

We hopped a monorail to EPCOT. When the automated voice said "Por favor mantenganse alejado de las puertas" I cackled like a crazy person, causing my wife to shoot me a funny look.

First thing we did in EPCOT was ride Spaceship Earth. I hadn't ridden it since before the Siemens refurb, and after all the bad stuff I'd heard I was pleasantly surprised to discover that I liked it very much. I think the ride does a good job talking to the younger generation that doesn't remember life before computers and the Internet. And the post-show area: wow! I've never seen SSE's post-show so crowded. I'd have loved to stay and play with all the cool-looking stuff there, but I knew I had to go to work in the morning, so we had to keep moving.

Future Gal thought she wanted to go to the gift shop in the Imagination pavilion, so we went there by way of the ride, which there is never any line for. This was the first time I'd ridden it since I saw the post on Passport to Dreams Old and New which interpreted it as the true-blue WDI creative types, typified by Figment, trolling the heck out of the clueless empty-suited Eisner types, typified by Dr. Channing. The Figment of Imagination doesn't like what's been done to his pavilion, I thought as the ride progressed, and he's going to torment Dr. Channing zillions of times a day until somebody fixes it. That thought makes me smile, which just proves how demented I am

Since we were so close to The Land we decided to head over there and see what the wait for Soarin' was like. Unlike every other attraction we visited, which were walk-ons, Soarin's wait was 45 minutes. We decided to save it for January, and walked over to the Living With The Land boat ride instead. Some people's favorite "Epcot smell" was the Horizons orange grove, but for me it's always been the greenhouses at The Land. It always smells so good in there; I just want to go up to the Garden Grill and stuff myself. Maybe that's an intentional thing

Here's a picture of a Mickey-shaped hydroponic lettuce patch:

When we left The Land, Future Gal decided she wanted a pretzel from the stand outside the Imagination pavilion, so we went back over there. While she was waiting in line, I grabbed the camera and took a few pics.

Next we did the Seas. While the ride-thru portion annoys me because it's only message is "where's Nemo" the Seabase has lots of educational stuff that looks to be very good at teaching kids about the ocean and marine life. The only thing I don't like about the Seabase is that, after all the effort that's put in to create the illusion that you're really under the ocean, you just walk out a set of blue-tinted doors when you're ready to leave.

At least they could have re-themed the hydrolators in the exit area, you know?

We made one last detour over to Mouse Gear, where I picked up a retro EPCOT Center t-shirt.

And with that our day at the Magic Kingdom and EPCOT was at an end. We were both tired from the heat and the walking, and we both wished it was January so we could to back to our room at the Contemporary instead of driving home on an Interstate full of crazy people.

As the monorail pulled out of the station on its way to the TTC, the onboard narration said something about how the spirit of EPCOT was carried through in all the Disney parks, and they're still committed to the idea that, if we can dream it, we can do it. I wanted to shout THEY TORE DOWN THAT RIDE!, or suggest that the slogan be changed to "If we can dream it, we can tear it down and erect an inadequate replacement" but there were lots of other people in the compartment with us, and I didn't want to embarrass my wife.

And that's pretty much it. We'll be back again in a little over 2 months for our big 5-day trip, but until then it's back to the daily grind.

Thanks for reading!

Post by **Len90** » Oct Tue 27, 2009 6:05 pm

Wait the Living with the Land boat ride is open again? Looks like you accomplished a lot in your day at the world. It's amazing to think that you only saw half of the parks, nothing else and still had barely any time to stop and take it all in for long. Great report and just think that when you go back in January, you can ride monorail teal.

boilerbabe · Post by **boilerbabe** » Oct Tue 27, 2009 10:42 pm

Awesome trip report Future Guy!!! Sounds like you two accomplished alot in the short time you were there!

You made me chuckle too! I look forward to hearing about your trip in Jan.

Also, you took some great pics! Thanks for sharing!

Post by **Len90** » Oct Tue 27, 2009 11:02 pm

Well the wonder as to what you were seeing with the Tiana's Showboat Jubilee is over. I just got my Disney Insider email and well here is all the info:
http://disney.go.com/inside/mainattract ... index.html

Seems like this is for the upcoming "The Princess and the Frog" movie. It is an event that will open this week and run through Jan. 3, 2010. It seems like what you witnessed was some sort of rehearsal.

anteis · Post by **anteis** » Oct Tue 27, 2009 11:17 pm

Excellent report Future Guy! After hearing nothing but good things about Livin with the Land, I was disappointed when it was closed when I was there at the end of September, but hopefully I'll catch it next time (which can't come soon enough, even though I'm not sure when it will be yet!).

Great pictures as well - the one of Monorail Orange looks like it could be a marketing shot! I have to say I'm glad I'm not the only one who gets overly excited about the monorail door announcements.