Disney245 - October 2003

Tuesday, October 21, 2003 – Train Rededication event at the MK and Volcano Pool

Mickey woke us up at 6 am. We got ready and had a quick breakfast at Captain Cook's. We then went to catch the monorail to get to the MK by 7:30 am. We got to the monorail station a minute or two before 7 am. The doors were still locked. A few minutes later the doors are opened and five-minutes later the monorail arrives. We are on our way to the MK. We arrived at the Mk at 7:15 am and went to the booth to get checked in and get our lanyards that we need to go to the special train dedication events. We were standing outside the MK entrance when we got to see the practice train dedication. At 8:00 am they let in the Broggie family for photographs. We were then allowed to enter the MK and got to stand in front of the train station about 15 minutes later. We had to use our APs to get in. We were one of first to get in, so we got a great photo spot at the rail where we could stand on a wall and get pictures over the other peoples heads. We saw the rededication ceremony and got great pictures. At the end of the ceremony they sent off streamers. We got a small blue one as a souvenir. Since we were on the later train roundhouse tour, we had some free time to check out the MK. We went to the Main Street Bakery to get coffee and a muffin. The muffin was excellent. Off we went to Fantasyland. DW got onto Dumbo in less than five-minutes and got to ride a blue Dumbo while DH got her pictures. We were then flying over the skies of London with Peter Pan in under five-minutes. It's a Small World was a walk-on. We even got our own boat. Next we walked onto the carrousel and then walked onto SW. We then headed to Main Street for a snack before we went on the roundhouse tour. We met our group under the train station at 11:45 am. There was an annoying family that kept pushing everybody out of the way to be in front. This kept happening the entire time. There was no need to be first. Everybody got to get on and see everything. We went up the exit and got on the Roger E. Broggie and were on our way to the roundhouse. We were seated near the end of the train. When the train got to the Toontown station, they threw a switch and backed us up to the roundhouse. We were backed into the roundhouse and stayed on the train while some people got off up front. Only the back of the train was actually in the roundhouse. We got to view and photograph the equipment used to service the trains. We pulled back out of the roundhouse and then disembarked. We were never restricted about taking pictures or exploring on the entire tour. This was quite unexpected and greatly appreciated. They gave a speech and then Mickey came out dressed as a train engineer. He even had grease on his overalls. Then we posed for a group photo that we could purchase back on Main Street at the Exposition hall. We were just to the right of Mickey in the picture. We bought a close up of us and Mickey and then a full picture of everybody and both engines (Roger E. Broggie and Walter E. Disney). The Broggie and Disney are consecutively numbered locomotives from the same foundry. As a result they are considered to be priceless. After the photo, Michael Broggie signed a copy of his book for DH. The book is presently out of print, but a second addition is on the way. We then got back on the train and went back to the Main Street Station. After disembarking, we went to the Walt Disney Theater where Michael Broggie had a slide and film show about growing up with his Dad and Walt Disney. He also told about his dad's early life too. The presentation was very enjoyable and informative. We found out what it means if a part is a MAPO part. MAPO is short for Mary Poppins, who was practically perfect in every way. As a result a MAPO part is a very reliable part that does not break. After the presentation we bought our photos. The events of the day were now over. As we walked out of Exposition Hall the 3 pm parade was just arriving on Main Street. We got an excellent viewing area and saw the parade. It was fabulous as usual. At this time we left the MK and went to the boat dock and walked right on to the PR boat. We went back to our room and took a nap. We took many of these during our vacation. About 6:00 pm we got up and went to the Volcano pool. The Volcano slide was great. It is way too fast for little kids, but should be very enjoyable for teenagers. About 20 minutes after we arrived at the pool we had to evacuate the pool for a "cleaning". We went back to our room and got dressed and then went to dinner at the Kona Café. For an appetizer we had the sticky wings ($6.99). DH had the shrimp pasta ($16.99) and DW had the veggie rolls ($13.99). The appetizer was great. DW did not like the veggie rolls, too much Chinese cabbage in them for her liking. She traded with DH and loved his shrimp dinner. DH loved the veggie rolls. After switching the meals, we had an excellent dinner. After dinner DW stopped by the main desk to leave a message for a MFLer named Amy B. who was checking in on 10/24. We wanted to arrange a meeting time. Alas, we never heard from her, so we never did meet. Maybe we will be able to meet another time. We then went back to our room and were falling asleep when the Mk started to set off fireworks at 10:30 am. We are not sure why they were having the fireworks. The park was already closed and there was not party that night. We had a beautiful view from our room. This is a great garden view location. We set a 7:30 am wake up call. We have a reservation for Cinderella's Royal Table (CRT) for Breakfast.

Wednesday, October 22, 2003 – CRT breakfast and MK

DW woke up at 6:30 am. DH was still asleep, since we did not need to be up this early. DW decided to get the laundry ready. We needed to wash some clothes to make it until the end of the vacation. We like to limit how much clothing that we carry. Rolled up the rest of the laundry and put it in a suitcase. Now the folding Pooh laundry basket is empty again. Today is our CRT breakfast. We can hardly wait. When we checked in Sandra printed our all of our PSs. When she saw the CRT listed she congratulated us on getting the PS to CRT. I looked for Biance at the PR front desk many times, but never found her. The PR delivers the USA Today to your room every weekday morning by 6 am. DH loves that touch. The first thing that he would do was to get the paper once he got up. Even though we both were up before our 7:30 am wake up call, we left it to see if Mickey would call us. At 7:30 am Mickey called. We got ready to go, got a coffee in the refillable mug at Captain Cook's and then caught the monorail to the MK. We got to the MK at 8:00 am. We went to the PS line and just went right in. They asked us if we had a PS but never checked. We wondered down Main Street and stopped to look at the windows. By the hub they were filming what we thought was a Magical Gatherings commercial. We were seated at 8:30 am. We got to walk thru the castle to get to CRT. We saw Aurora, Cindy, Snow White, Belle and Mary Poppins. We posed PM at the table. Belle came by first. She noticed PM and posed for a picture with him. Then she posed for a picture with DW. Every princess except for Mary Poppins talked to us about PM. When Cindy came by she asked if PM had told us her jokes. We had not, so she repeated them for us. DW got her picture with all of the princesses. The food was wonderful. Before you get your meal they give you cut up fruit, yogurt and danishs Then they bring out the main meal. We chose the hot meal. There was also a cold plate available. We had bacon, sausage, eggs, potatoes casserole an blueberries over a donut. It was pre-plated and all that you could eat. The cost is $19.99 per adult. You have to put down a $10.00 per adult payment when you make the reservation. The computer takes it off later. We left the castle a little after 9 am. We had Fantasyland to ourselves. We walked on the Pooh ride and then walked into MP. Our next stop was Splash Mountain (SpM) which DH and PM rode together. After SpM we took the WDW RR 1 and 2/3 loops around the MK. We got off at Main Street Station and walked onto the PR boat. After arriving at the PR dock, we started a new tradition of feeding the fish with the dispenser fish food. We kept quarters on us at all times. DH then did the laundry. For DW a short nap was in order. DW was awaked from her nap by the return of the laundry fairy. The laundry fairy dumped the clean clothes on the other bed and then disappeared. After putting the clean clothes into the drawers we set out for the MK by the boat. A few minutes after arriving at the dock we were off to the MK. We arrived at 3:15 pm. We walked up Main Street to the bottom of the hub and watched the parade again. Of course Mickey waved to us again. We then made our way to split rail fence to the right of the McDonalds cart to meet up with MFLers Michelle and Marvin. We both where there at the same time, but never actually found each other. At 4:20 pm we went to dinner at Pecos Bills. DH had his favorite Pecos Bills' chili (2.99) and DW had a burger with her saut&eacut;ed mushrooms. It was as good as every. DW sure loves those mushrooms. After dinner we went to the Pirates of the Caribbean (POC) ride. We encountered our first line of the trip. The sign said there was a 20-minute wait. We got in line and when we were about half way there the line stopped moving. About five-minutes after the line stopped moving it began moving again. We got on our boat and were off on our adventure. When we got near the falls the ride stopped again. We were the 4th boat in line. The water came up in front of us and pushed our boat backward. All the boats went back except for the problem boat. The water level went back to normal and we moved forward again. All the boats rammed the 1st boat, but still it would not move. Next a pirate popped out of the cave wall and dislodged the offending boat. Now we are on our way again. While we were in line PM told us that the show in front of the castle would start in 30 minutes. If we wanted to see it we should be heading over. Next we walked to Tomorrowland and went on the Carrousel of Progress (COP). We loved it as much as always. Next we rode the TTA and then Buzz Lightyear. We both had a low score, but DW had the higher score. It was now 7:10 pm, so it was time to go and see Spectromagic. We stood at the end of the Tomorrowland walkway and had a great view o the parade. No need t wait long. We then moved half way down Main Street and sat on a curb until the Magic fireworks started. Once the fireworks started we moved into the street and were in awe. It was great on the boat, but it was 10x better on Main Street. Once the fireworks were over we got on the resort monorail and were quickly back at the PR. We set a wake up call for 5:45 pm before turning in.

Thursday, October 23, 2003 – Fishing and EPCOT

Mickey called us at 5:45 am. Today we were going fishing on the Seven Seas Lagoon and Bay Lake. We were being picked up at the PR marina. We had a light breakfast and then went to the marina to wait for our boat. It arrived a little before 7 am. It costs $210.00 for a boat and guide for two hours. It is a great time if you like catching Large Mouth Bass. When the boat arrived, we got on and were off to our first fishing location. Our first stop was next to Discovery Island and we got no bites. Then we moved to the Wilderness Lodge boat dock where DW caught the first and second Bass. At this time we moved to the Fort Wilderness boat dock. Here is where DH caught his first fish. DH caught the third and fourth Bass. At this time we were tied. Then the guide caught his only fish a 19 inch 4.25 lb. Large Mouth Bass. This was the largest fish caught on the trip. Our last fishing spot was at the GF marina right next to the yacht. Shortly after arriving, DH caught the fifth fish and largest Bass of any caught by DH or DW. It was now getting close to the end of our two-hour fishing trip. At this time DW had the first fish and DH had the most fish, largest fish and most fish. DW then came on strong and caught four Bass in short succession and then it was time to leave. As a result of DW's strong ending, she ended up with the first, last and most fish. DH still had the largest fish. All had a great time. A total of ten Large Mouth Bass were caught in just two hours and the guide said that this was a slow day. The guide dropped us off at the Wilderness Lodge (WL) marina. We ate a breakfast pizza ($5.59) at the Roaring Fork in the WL. It was very tasty. Then we went to the Iron Spike Room. It was nice, but very different than we expected. Back onto the boat and our next stop was Fort Wilderness Campgrounds (FWC). We fed some fish from the dock and then set out to find the Lawnmower Tree. It was interesting, but not much of the lawnmower was showing anymore. After seeing the tree we stopped in the stable and then the petting zoo. Our next stop was the Contemporary Resort (CR). We took the boat from the FWC to the CR. We looked around, fed more fish, had lunch in the food court and then got on the monorail and got off at the PR. We took another nap. When we woke up, we took the monorail to the MK and then got on the BC bus to get to the back of EPCOT. We got off the bus and walked to the boat dock. As has been our custom this trip, we walked right onto the boat headed for EPCOT. There was also an MGM boat waiting to. We were going to eat our way around EPCOT for our dinner. We ate:
Spain –Gazpacho and Paella
Canada – Cheddar Cheese Soup
Russia & Eastern Europe – Beef Stroganoff and Potato Pancake
Greece – Spanakopita
Fresh from Florida – Fishermans Stew
Ireland – Leek and Potato Soup, Corned Beef and Cabbage
Scandinavia – Smoked Trout and Ricecream
Poland – Keilbasa and Pierogies, Stuffed Cabbage Roll
Everything that we ate was excellent. As you can see we ran out of stream and could not make it all the way around the world. We'll have to complete it on another day. We left before Illuminations and headed back to the PR via the EPCOT monorail. We walked back to our room from the TTC.

Friday, October 24, 2003 – Sea World and Shopping

Today we decided to get up without an alarm. We woke up at 7:30 am. Today is our Sea World day. We are platinum annual pass holders at Sea World (SW-AP). We drove out of the DTD exit and had breakfast at the Crossroads Plaza McDonalds. We drove down route 535 and took a left onto Vineland Road took it to the end and then made a left on International Drive. We drove to the end of International Drive and stopped at the two Disney Outlets at the Belz Outlets. After buying some more at the outlets we drove back down International Drive and went to Sea World. We noticed that much of the merchandise had changed at the outlets since our last visit. Using our SW-APs we get free preferred parking. We took advantage of it and parked close to the entrance. We also get 10% off food and gifts and get to ride the Sky View ride for free. After doing some quick shopping we had a barbeque lunch. DH had the beef ($8.95) and DW had the ribs ($10.50). After lunch we took a ride to the top of the Sky View. It was so clear that we could see the Swan and Dolphin Hotels, Space Ship Earth and the Contemporary Resort. The view was spectacular. It was the best we have ever seen. After landing it was on to the Clydesdale Hamlet. At the Hamlet we saw the hitch team and got our photo taken with Kelly. Kelly weights 2200 lbs. As always, our next stop was the Hospitality Center where you get a free sample of just made Anhauser Busch products. We both had Amber Bock. Once we drank our beer we were off to the Dolphin show. We get reserved seating, but did not need to use it. We got a great seat without it. We had popcorn and soda that we consumed during the show. After seeing the show we decided to stop by Dolphin Cove to see dolphins up close. Next DH rode the Atlantis ride. DW waited and then shot at him with a water cannon. DW's aim was good with a direct hit. A quick snack later and it was off to see the Manatees and Penguins. Our last stop of the day was Pacific Pier where DW loves to feed the Harbor Seals and California Sea Lions. DW's favorite is "Slappy" the Harbor Seal. We get a special price on the fish for feeding. Regular price is $3.00 for a tray (4 fish). If you buy two trays at the same side the cost is $5.00. With the SW-AP we get our trays for $2.00 each. Twelve trays later we were on our way. We stopped at the Premium Outlets' Disney outlet and then parked at DTD to do more shopping. We had dinner at Mickey Ds and then went into the Lego Store. We got a pumpkin kit from the Lego Store. We did more shopping and then drove back to the PR. On the way thru the MK parking gate, they were giving out Dum Dums to all of the guests. Tonight was a MNSSHP day.

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