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Day Four - Friday July 16 2004:
It's back to MK for us. We got a later start, but were still at the bus stop by 8:20, and were walking up to the ticket turnstiles right
at 9 AM. This was a much more pleasant start to the day than on Wednesday, but much of that may be due to a welcome drop in
temperature. Anyway, we walked through Tomorrowland, got ANOTHER FP for Buzz, then rode Astro Orbiter twice, no wait. We could have done
it three times without a wait, but I was starting to feel queasy, so we headed to ToonTown, rode Barnstormer with Goofy again, then took
the train to Frontierland. We walked to Adventureland and got FPs for Jungle Cruise, then headed to the Castle for Cinderella's Surprise
Celebration. The first one we tried was rained out, but we did get to see one. Max loved it! He got his picture taken with Mulan in her
soldier get-up after- much better than the "girl" costume at Epcot! We successfully used our Buzz FPs on our way out. Neither Max nor I
ever got very good scores, but we still enjoyed the attraction.
We took a break around noon, got some pool time and tried our best to nap (no success) then headed back toward MK for a 5 PM PS at Chef
Mickey's. We bussed to the park, then walked to the Contemporary- fairly quick trip. Max loved the look of the Contemporary, while I
was less wowed. We were unanimous in our opinion of Chef Mickey's, however; we both loved our dinner experience there. It's going to be
the first event on our October itinerary!
We headed to the park after dinner and took the train to Frontierland for our E-Ride Night bracelets. That accomplished, we went to use our
Jungle Cruise FPs- we really, really enjoyed the Cruise, which I haven't done since I was 11. Our guide, Natalie, was excellent,
enthusiastic in her delivery and perfect in her timing. I am sure the jokes get tired over time, but it was very humorous for us. After JC
we walked through the Swiss Family Robinson Treehouse, then tried to head over to Tom Sawyer Island before it closed. We were waylaid by
the most serious CM we saw during our visit, who blocked our way and sent us back through Adventureland to another Island ferry landing.
We were tuckered out, so I was a little peeved. But then the ferry operator said that management had just stopped some guests from
feeding turkey legs to an adult alligator, so maybe the seriousness was warranted!
After Tom Sawyer Island, we found a spot to watch Spectomagic. We also found that Max had lost a pin from his lanyard (more on pins
later). Soft-hearted Mama bought him another one, of course. We enjoyed Spectromagic, then worked our way down through Adventureland
to try to find a spot on that side of the castle to watch Wishes. We weren't very successful, despite TGM recommendations, as everything
seemed very crowded. But the fireworks were great even so. Then it was off to E-Ride Night, starting in Frontierland!
We loved E-Ride Night. Just loved it. We were both flagging a bit before Spectromagic, so I worried that we wouldn't have enough get-up-
and-go for it, but it turned out great. We rode BTMR three times then Splash twice. Next we headed for PhilharMagic- just as good the
second time. We did have to wait a bit in the Peter Pan line, but there was absolutely no wait for Buzz. We did that around ten times
before we quit for the night. I do have to say that it killed me not to get to try Haunted Mansion or Space Mountain. Knowing that there
was probably little to no line at SM at 12:30 am, well, it was hard not to push a bit to get Max to try it. But I didn't- big pats on my
back!
Day Five - Saturday July 17 2004:
Today, we slept in, but were still both up by 8:30 am and ready to check out by 9:30. We packed up the car and headed for DTD. We parked
by the Marketplace, then slowly strolled toward the West Side where we planned on doing Disney Quest. We ate pretzels for breakfast, but
probably needed more as we were both a little cranky during the latter half of our Disney Quest time.
We were in line for Disney Quest by 11:15. When we got in around 11:35, there wasn't a single line. We did Aladdin's Magic Carpet Ride
and Virtual Jungle Cruise with no waits, as well as most of the things in the Create Zone (Max made a CD which he purchased,
titled "Don't Wanna Work." He's 7!). There was a 10-15 minute line for the first part of CyberSpace Mountain, and maybe another 15
minute line to ride the roller coaster after you created this. This was by far our favorite attraction at Disney Quest. Next time we'll
bee-line straight for that. We also tried the Buzz Lightyear's Astroblasters- a big dud. Long line, and maybe the ride wasn't
working properly as we found it to be b-o-r-i-n-g. Or perhaps it's that we have bad aim, so we never got to send another car spinning
out of control
After Disney Quest we ambled back MarketPlace-ward and purchased a few things. Then we got the rental car, filled it with gas at the WDW
Hess station, and got to MCO with the tank indicator still above full. Returning the car to Alamo was pain-free. Getting on the plane
was a little more stressful, as we were in the Southwest C group, despite checking in 1.5 hrs ahead of time. Guess we will have to
check in on-line next time. In the end we were able to sit together, and had a comedic flight team to entertain us during our journey to
Norfolk.
Final notes:
Pin Collecting: My son loved pin-collecting! I had won a few eBay auctions before our trip (average $3.50/pin, including shipping), and
I gave Max a pin per day to trade with CMs. He was always scanning the parks for a CM with a lanyard. I also gave him 5 Disney Dollars
each morning, so he would save two days, get a pin, and have enough the third day for a second pin. He ended up with quite a nice if
small collection. Because of his experience losing a pin, we bought some of the pin backings with a security lock. Don't know if that's a
good solution or not- we'll see.
Melt-Downs (Mine): The first two days, I had a hard time truly accepting that ds wasn't going to do some of the darker or "scary"
rides. We had talked about our October trip so much, and he was so keen to do almost everything before we went, that I was disappointed
when he changed his mind. Thankfully, I pulled myself together Day Two and stopped worrying about what we saw or didn't see. There will
be other times, and it's all about fun, right? It just took me a little longer than the average adult to grow up and accept my son's
reluctance.
Thanks for the opportunity to re-live our trip. Some of the details are probably off, some of the names aren't right, but it was all a
great experience. We're lucky to be going back in October!
Part 1, 2, 3
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