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Ground / Goofy's HUGE!
/ Day 3 - A taste of this and that |
poohlover
Cast Member
Posts: 195
Registered: Sep 2002
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Posted 12-27-02 11:41 PM
The Plan:
Lunch at the castle at 1:30
splash mountain
3:00 snowglobe parade
see tinkerbell fly
osborne lights
clambake
winterland/summerland rematch
Actual:
I had been looking forward to lunch at the castle today. It is special for us because I was so tickled by being called "My Lady" that Randy refers to me that way to make me smile. Plus the castle is just plain magical.
This was to be one of our earlier days. I know, I know, 1:30 lunch isnt early. But my pirate prefers to travel under cover of darkness. Randy truly has a problem getting up before noon. This was the reason we needed "the plan" in the first place - to maximize our enjoyment despite the early closing times. Without a plan, we would have probably arrived at each park only a few hours before closing and missed shows entirely. This was also why we booked two MVMCPs. Magic Kingdom open til midnite. Can't beat it.
As it happened we were both wide awake by 10am. BUT it was pouring outside. Even though it looked like it might clear up (and in fact it did) lunch at the castle did not seem to be feasible. We were determined not to overdo things and get sick this trip. (As it happened we succeeded on the former, failed on the latter).
So we decided to try and do something we never get to do. Go out to breakfast! I love going out to breakfast and hardly ever get to go with Randy.
Called down and found out the last seating at Yacht Club Galley was 10:45. Made it down to the lobby at precisely 10:45 (see a pattern developing here?).
The lobby was a mob scene. I believe many people were coming in for just the weekend. Also, we were far from the only ones who would rather eat at the hotel than venture out in the deluge.
Gave our name at the podium and were told it would be a 20 minute wait. Asked if we would still get breakfast and were told "of course." Wow, we did not get shut out of breakfast, this was a thrill.
Finally seated in this charming restaurant. The decor is nautical cute. Ships actually sail by on the wall hangings. Three different child menus with various games to color on. Only 3 different crayon colors however. (Yes this is a trip report of an adults only trip, but coloring is still important).
Checked out the buffet. It was a nice spread. The floor around the buffet was totally sticky. Sugary/Syrupy fun was being had by all.
Randy went with the buffet and enjoyed it. Since I dont like the yellow of my eggs combined with the white (i.e. no scrambled eggs or omelets), I ordered steak and eggs off the menu. Quite good. Since we were in no hurry, we lingered quite a while. Our waiter came by much later and Randy asked if the buffet was still set up. The waiter said it was, but, that if Randy wanted anything that wasn't out he would bring it from the kitchen. As it happend the buffet was still well stocked. Thus, once again, the last seating time worked well for us.
We went back to the room and took a nap. You didn't think we would really start our day at 10 am after a night of drinking did you? In fairness, if it had not been raining we might have.
Woke up later and the sky was clear. We would have to revise "the plan" to make-up the magic kingdom parade and to ride splash mountain in the daytime. (I do not enjoy splash as much at night). We were gonna let the castle experience go for this trip.
We drove over to the magic kingdom. And, as was our tradition, took the ferry over. Arrived at exactly 5 pm. The park was closing at 6 for mvmcp. Far more people were leaving than arriving. There were signs saying that night's party had sold out. (Fridays were the only nights that sold out)
Went through security and than went over to enter through the turnstiles on the right side. When we went to enter, we were told that this side was only for mvmcp entrys and we would have to walk back over to the left. This was mildly annoying. There should have been someone directing us before we walked all the way over.
Our only goal at this point was to do a little shopping, see the tree lighting and see tinkerbell fly. We were than going to rush like mad to get out of there so we could get to mgm by 7 before they closed. We knew out mission might not be a success.
Mainstreet was pretty crowded. Did a little shopping. We were only buying things that might not be available later at Downtown Disney. The Christmas cat toy we bought definately fit the bill. It was a crinkly cat-nipped filled pillow. On one side it says "bad kitty" and has the cats from lady and the tramp. The other one is the "good kitty" side. This was a big hit for "Ari" the cat on Christmas. I am just not sure why it keeps ending up on the "bad kitty" side. I keep turning it back to "good kitty" but every time I check it is back on "bad kitty."
we qued up to see tinkerbell fly, but kept our eyes on the tree to see the lighting. Turned away and then turned back again and the tree was lit. Oh well. Mainstreet was very pretty for Christmas.
Okay here is the deal with Tinkerbell. We had both always assumed it was just some inanatimate object that went over the wire. Then, I read on the boards that it was a real person who flew over. When I told randy this, he asked if I was on crack. It makes no sense. Why would they use a real woman when Tinkerbell is supposed to be miniature anyway? Well we determined to get to the truth. We stationed ourselves in front of the castle and I had my camera ready. Well she did not look real to us. But I did take pictures which I can blow up later. Randy left convinced that Tinkerbell was not a real person. (Then, on MVMCP night we stood on the side of the castle to see Rudolph. We were extremely close, it looked like a doll to me. But Randy was flabbergasted. He said it looked like a man in a bodysuit making silly looking swim strokes). I would say we failed miserably at our mission to discover the truth. (I will update this when I blow up the pictures.)
Now, with the fireworks in the background, we rushed to the monorail and back to our vehicle. We were in the MGM parking lot by 6:40 and parked right in front of the entrance. Fantasmic was letting out, and the place was a mob scene. As we entered, a cast member told me the place was closing promptly at 7. I said we can still go see the Osborne lights. He said "yeah, for fifteen minutes." I muttered under my breath something about having over an hour. (From the boards I had read that the lights stayed open for an hour after park closing).
As we went to the back of the park the place was absolutely mobbed. So we chilled out a while at the commissary. Then we very leisurely walked through the lights. We werent rushed at all. The Cm's were wonderfully cheerful and festive music was playing. In fact I was able to wait around and get pictures with no one else in them.
Then it was off the the clambake. We actually arrived well before our ps time. We were given a "buzzer" and told it would be about 20 minutes. Well we were enjoying each other's company when I noticed that there did not seem to be anyone left in the lobby waiting to get in. When I mentioned it to Randy he told me that it had actually been 40 minutes since we had been given our "buzzer." I had no idea it had been so long. Went to the podium and were told they had been looking for us long ago. Apparently our "buzzer" had not gone off. No problem we prefer a late seating anyway.
The clambake was quite good. And there was a great selection of crayons. Tons of colors! The "American" food was quite tasty, the mussels werent as good as last time, and the clams were good. (I am from Maryland, I am picky about my crabs not my clams, so I have no idea about how these clams actually "measure up")
The desserts were to die for. Apparently I never had real "rice krispie treats" before because I was impressed by them. When we mentioned how good the oreo cookie dessert was, the waiter offered to get us more himself. We decided that if we were too stuffed to get up ourselves we were too stuffed to eat anything the waiter might bring.
After dinner we took a little stroll around the property. We had always taken the boat to epcot, but used the opportunity to realize how very close it is by foot.
We were than off to miniature golf. We love the winter part of Winterland summerland. It is open til 11 and we always arrive after 10. It has a small town type of feel at this time, and is pretty empty. I hope and assume that it is more crowded earlier on.
Anyway, we had a blast, and Randy won the match.
End of a great day.
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Tink *~*~*
Cast Member
Posts: 1066
Registered: Aug 2002
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Posted 12-28-02 02:34 PM
poohlover, I too hate getting up early while I'm on vacation. In fact, I hate getting up early even when I'm not on vacation, but especially resent it when I don't have to work. I don't want rules and itineraries while I'm on vacation - got enough of those in real life! So, I'm with ya, babe.
Tink *~*~*
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Common
Ground / Goofy's HUGE!
/ Day 3 - A taste of this and that |
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