Disney World PF Gathering and Tips for Disney Mania!

[ZapperZ]

Here's a friendly hint, especially if you're a teen: when you go to the Happiest Place on Earth, http://www.local6.com/news/13362859/detail.html" and spit at other guests. And certainly do not start fighting with the sheriff deputy, because you just might get tasered, and your horrible pictures might be splattered on the news. Your parents must be so proud of you now!

Yup! School holidays are here!

I just hope I don't bump into these type of losers when I'm there next week.

Zz.

 

[ZapperZ]

Pirates of the Caribbean will be opening on Thursday at 8:00 pm in many theaters in the US. Check your local listing!

And I've packed and repacked at least 3 times already, with enough clothes to last 2 weeks! (Why do I keep doing that?). I don't know how I'm going to get through Thursday at work. Wish I could take the day off, but alas, I have one review report due tomorrow!

The trip report will begin on Monday after I get to the Happiest Place on Earth. Till then...

Zz.

 

[Moonbear]

Laughing that you've packed and repacked and overpacked. You know you just need shorts and t-shirts...leave room in the luggage for the stuff you'll come back with!

Have a great time! I wish I could be at Disney instead of heading to NJ this weekend. Can someone talk to my funding agencies and tell them they need to adjust the deadlines to accommodate off-peak Disney trips?

 

[ZapperZ]

Laughing that you've packed and repacked and overpacked. You know you just need shorts and t-shirts...leave room in the luggage for the stuff you'll come back with!

But with the warm weather and such, I have to pack almost twice the amount of t-shirts and shorts, since I expect to change my outfit when we get back to our room in late afternoon for a shower.

Hey, if Cher can have 8 different outfit change during her concert, I can have 2 in one day!



Besides, I have to pack my tripod, my trading pins, my camera, my honey-roasted peanuts (which I only crave for when I'm on a plane), beach towels (so that we can mark our territory while waiting for the fireworks/parade), enough sunblock lotion to cover half of the Magic Kingdom, etc.. etc. Luckily, Chuck is bringing his laptop, so I don't have to lug mine.

Have a great time! I wish I could be at Disney instead of heading to NJ this weekend. Can someone talk to my funding agencies and tell them they need to adjust the deadlines to accommodate off-peak Disney trips?

I'll have the Mouse talk to them. How dare they!

I just submitted my review report, and now I'm going to get people together to plan for lunch today, and then I'm going to escape!

Zz.

 

[ZapperZ]

Almost there!

Spent a great time in the Fredricksburg area over the weekend, and we're now at Dulles airport waiting for our flight to Orlando. So in a few hours, we will be at the Happiest Place on Earth.

We have a dinner reservation at Alfredo's at the Italian Pavilion at Epcot at 6:45 PM. If everything goes according the schedule, will JUST barely make it there after checking in. Cross your fingers!

Our next transmission will be from the Walt Disney World. See you then!

Zz.

 

[Moonbear]

Have a good flight and enjoy! I had no idea you were headed toward the Fredricksburg area first...I passed pretty close to that way on my way back from NJ (my alternative route takes me even closer). I could have made a pitstop and said "hi" before continuing on home yesterday. Oh well, probably would have just made me more jealous seeing you in your on-the-way to Disney state of ecstasy.

Looking forward to the latest set of photos.

 

[ZapperZ]

We finally made it to The Happiest Place on Earth. We flew in about 3:30 pm, and made it to our "home" at Old Key West in just about an hour after that. Not bad for having to wait for the luggage and picking up the rental car.

We then headed straight to Epcot. Of course, the Flower and Garden Festival is in full bloom (pun intended).

We went to the Mexico pavilion to do the Fiesta ride. It was OK, but parts if it felt like It's A Small World. They also depended too much on videos. It certainly is better than the old outdated show they had earlier, but I was hoping they do better.

We had dinner at Alfredo. The whole dining experience started out quite well. We got seated ahead of our reservation time, had a wonderful salad (the capresse salad), the place was very festive (the staff kept singing and clapping, and dancing), and then the main entree arrived and it was a let down. We both ordered pasta dishes, but both appeared as if it had sat for a while before they were delivered to our table. The pasta was lukewarm and clumped together. They tasted OK, but no Italians worth his/her heritage would serve pasta stuck together like that. So that part was rather disappointing.

This is a picture in Alfredo when they got the guests to twirl their napkins.

We then stayed for IllumiNations, my most favorite nighttime show in all of WDW. They have altered the beginning narrations, and Siemens name can be found easily all over it. It is still a kick-ass show.

We're tired after traveling and spending the evening at Epcot. Tomorrow promises to be a full day. We might start at The Magic Kingdom since it has an early extra Magic Hour tomorrow, but we'll see.

Zz.

 

[Moonbear]

Was the wind blowing during the Illuminations show? It looks like the fireworks are all being blown sideways (to the right in the photos).

Too bad the dinner was disappointing, but good to know. Sounds like they need to remember to focus on the service and food rather than just the entertainment. I'd be incredibly disappointed with lukewarm, clumped together pasta too.

 

[ZapperZ]

Was the wind blowing during the Illuminations show? It looks like the fireworks are all being blown sideways (to the right in the photos).

That's very observant of you. Yes, the wind was blowing to the right last night. In fact, it was a perfect evening for Illuminations. Too bad we didn't filmed anything! :)

Zz.

 

[Stevedye56]

Those pictures look so cool. The colors of the fireworks and the neon lights came out crystal clear and there's no space distortion around the edge of the light in the picture. It looks so nice, I wish I could go back.

 

[ZapperZ]

We had a great 2nd day at WDW. We started out hearing some DVC sales talk about buying more points to add to our existing points. They're letting us buy DVC points at OKW at a $10 discount. It was tempting, but we need to think this over a bit. So we'll decide after we get back.

We then headed out to Disney-MGM Studios. They were rather busy mid-morning. Tower of Terror was running 40 minutes wait, with Fastpasses going for 12:30 pm or later. We didn't feel like doing it since we will get to do this a few times later in the week. So we went to the Animation Studios. We got to draw Mickey, but unlike the ones that I've done earlier, this Mickey was in profile. I'll upload what I drew later but I think it came out rather well, if I must say so myself.

The Hat had stuff in front of it for the private party event on Saturday night. Yours truly will be attending the party, which will be headlined by Kathy Griffin.

We then headed out to Animal Kingdom. We made a beeline to Finding Nemo The Musical. It was terrific. If you have seen the stage show of The Lion King, you will be amazed at it. If you have never seen the stage show of The Lion King, you will be utterly astounded by it. It is a terrific show. A must see.

We then did Everest (of course). It is still as great of a ride as ever. Too bad they no longer use the mist/steam.

We then stayed for Mickey's Jammin' Jungle Parade. Last time we saw this was in 2003. This time, not only did we take pictures, but we also videotaped it. I'll edit it and upload it after we get back, so look out for it.

Tonight, we'll spend a relaxing day at our resort and Downtown Disney. We will have a long day tomorrow, starting with the Donald Breakfastosaurus at AK early in the morning. It should be the last time we get to do this since this is going to be moved to the Tusker house to become part of its character greeting table service for b'fast, lunch, and maybe even dinner.

Zz.

 

[Moonbear]

Glad to hear you're okay today! It's all over the news that 6 people were injured on the Kali River Rapids ride and it's closed down until they figure out what went wrong. Something about a problem where the people offload from boats onto the dock, but the news didn't have much to say about it other than it happened and the injuries were "non-fatal" though that's also pretty uninformative. It could be anything from a few bumps and cuts to broken bones and concussions.

 

[ZapperZ]

Glad to hear you're okay today! It's all over the news that 6 people were injured on the Kali River Rapids ride and it's closed down until they figure out what went wrong. Something about a problem where the people offload from boats onto the dock, but the news didn't have much to say about it other than it happened and the injuries were "non-fatal" though that's also pretty uninformative. It could be anything from a few bumps and cuts to broken bones and concussions.

We're fine. I was at AK yesterday when it happened, but I didn't hear about the accident till I got back to the resort and checked the news. Kali River Rapids was running today. It appears that it was the platform sensor that went nuts that caused the accident.

Zz.

 

[ZapperZ]

We're back at Old Key West to rest a bit after a very busy day. We started out at AK for the Breakfastosaurus. It was a lot of fun. Mickey, Donald, Pluto, and Goofy were all there. Our server, Mikesaurus, was particularly fun and "goofy" and kept us all entertained (I gave him an extra tip even though the tip was included with our Dining Plan). We actually arrived an hour early than our reservation at 8:50 am. But since AK has the early Extra Magic Hours today, we thought that even if we could not get an early seating, we would be able to do the park before it opens to everyone. Well, we actually did get seating early. So we ate and then did Everest. We actually did Everest twice. In between we were at Camp Minnie and Mickey and also saw Festival of the Lion King.

Waiting to get in for your Breakfastosaurus at the Restaurantosarus. Everything in there has a "saurus" attached to its name.

Here's Donald going around greetings all of his fans, like us. In fact, when our server Mikesaurus asked if we like Mickey, it has a smattering of applause, but when he asked about Donald, there was a louder cheers (mainly because Chuck and I were going on like a couple of monkeys).

Mickey was there as well.

We went on Everest and met this rather woolly creature. Anyone knows what this is? :)

The Festival of the Lion King. Another terrific live show at AK, which now has two! The other being the Finding Nemo show.

Before we left, we went on Everest one more time! Gee, do you think this is a rather fast ride?

[continue...]

 

[ZapperZ]

[... continue]

We then headed over to The Magic Kingdom. Of course, we can't help but asked to ride in the front cab, and we did! We even got our Monorail Pilot cards.

The Magic Kingdom. I always take several pictures of the Castle no matter how many time I've been there. It's almost a tradition.

We went on Pirates, which has a 35 minute wait, and then got on Thunder Mountain Railroad using a fastpass (the standby wait was probably 45 mins).

They had a Family Day parade or show of some kind in front of City Hall.

We resting a bit before heading to the airport (no, we're not leaving yet) to pick up our friends who are arriving from Los Angeles. They are WDW virgins and we're going to be showing them around. If they get in early enough (so far their plane are 1 1/2 hour delayed), we might head back to the Magic Kingdom for Wishes, if we have time.

Tomorrow we do MGM in the morning and then Epcot in the afternoon/evening, since we have a reservation at Marakesh.

Zz.

 

[ZapperZ]

This is a continuation of what we did yesterday. We picked up our friends at the airport, and then, after they checked in, we rushed to the Magic Kingdom. Had dinner and then stayed to watch SpectroMagic and Wishes.

SpectroMagic was find as usual. However, I think they were showing us the "light" version (no pun intended). Having watched this parade many times (and with 2 versions of it in my video collection that I've uploaded), I tend to remember it very well. This time, many things were either parred down, or simply didn't work! The "mountain" didn't open up to reveal chernobog! That was the biggest disappointment of the night!

The dancing ostriches also went "light". There used to be 3 of them on each side. Now, there's only 1 on each side.

At least the Princess was there! :)

We then moved to Main Street to see Wishes. I was going to snap pictures of it (as if I don't have enough already), but just as I started to snap a few, I had a low battery signal. I could have switched battery, but I thought I should just enjoy the show. So I only got a few pictures. This is one of them.

Today, we're going back to Disney-MGM and spend the morning there. We want to show our friends from LA what the Tower of Terror is like here and how they missed an important part of the set up with the one they constructed at California Adventure. Later in the afternoon, we'll head to Epcot and will do dinner at Marakesh and stay for IllumiNations. Epcot has the extra Magic Hours this evening, so we'll see how much energy I have left tonight to stay up that late.

Zz.

 

[Moonbear]

Maybe they're short-staffed this week. I would imagine that since it's off-season right now, they may have let more than the usual staff take the week off for their own holidays or all the student workers are busy with final exams so taking time off. Though, the college students should all be done with exams now, but perhaps the summer hires/interns haven't arrived yet. Unless something happened that has damaged a bunch of floats and costumes.

 

[ZapperZ]

We're back at our resort for a short break and relaxation after spending the morning at Disney-MGM Studios. This is going to be a short report because we're heading to Epcot for the afternoon/evening and the extra Magic Hours. However, I wanted to report this:

WE WERE SELECTED AND RECEIVED THE DREAM FASTPASSES AT DISNEY-MGM STUDIOS!

We were about to board the vehicle at the Great Movie Ride when a cast member announced that we are the lucky guests to get the Dream Fastpasses as part of the YOMD celebration. We cheered like wild monkeys while some of the guests looked around not knowing what that meant or what was going on.

It was fantastic. I didn't think we'd win or get anything, so this was a wonderful surprise. Still, we had done all the attractions that we wanted to do, so we decided NOT to use the fastpasses and keep all the "tabs" that we were supposed to tear out at each of the fastpass attraction. So these are the 2 Dream Fastpasses with their tabs intact.

I can't remember the last time I win anything. This was a terrific bonus even when it really isn't that big of a deal. I'm just happy I got some of the "million" dreams that they're giving out. In fact, after all the "promotion" that I've done for Disney, I think I deserve this! :)

Zz.

 

[ZapperZ]

This is a short report from yesterday. We of course started out at Disney-MGM Studios. This is a picture from inside the "fateful" ride - The Great Movie Ride - where we received our Dream Fastpasses. I didn't get that many pictures mainly because I was busy trying to read the instructions written on the fastpasses during the ride! :)

They are still having the Star Wars weekend there.

We hopped over to Epcot in the evening. Epcot always looks very lovely during the Flower and Garden Festival.

We did Spaceship Earth, and got to see for the first time the exit area that has been empty for such a long time. It is also interesting that they are still planning to add more stuff there.

Had dinner at Marakesh and it was wonderful as always. Went shopping around World Showcase and did Maelstorm. Love that little ride, but they stopped it right after we did the final plunge. Didn't know they could stop the boat that fast right after we reached the highest speed! :)

We saw IllumiNations, and then stayed for the extra Magic Hours. We did Test Track and then headed over to the Finding Nemo attraction, but it was down. We were told it would be open about 1/2 hour later, so we went to do Living with the Land (Soarin' was approaching 1 hr wait and we didn't feel like standing in line that long). By the time we got out of The Land pavilion, Finding Nemo was back on and we walked right up to the loading area. It's a wonderful attraction, especially at the end when the animated first were superimposed with the real fish. That's really cool.

We then went to do Turtle Talk. This is the first time we're seeing the newly renovated area. Obviously, they had to work within the existing structure. That's the only reason I can think of for letting this pillar stay in the middle of the entrance to Turtle Talk theater. It's highly annoying, but if they can't get rid of it, they can't get rid of it.

We left Epcot around 11:30 pm after a full day.

Today, we will do Animal Kingdom (again!), and go to Downtown Disney after lunch. We will probably go back to the resort and rest a bit before heading to AKL for our reservation at Boma. I want to get there early to be able to see some of the animals there (and I don't mean the people around the pool area! :D). We will probably turn in early tonight since we will have a full day tomorrow. We will be doing The Magic Kingdom all day, and then the party at Disney-MGM Studios in the evening. So I certainly need all the beauty sleep that I can get! :)

Zz.

 

[hypatia]

Wow Zz, how could we think your doing anything other then having the best time of your life? Congrats on winning the pass!

 

[ZapperZ]

Just a short report this time. We had a great day at AK. Did Everest again (twice), the safari, Bugs Life, Dinosaur, and Primeval Whirl, which btw was spinning FASTER than I ever remember it. Maybe it was just that car that I was in, but it was a screamer.

Here are a couple of pictures from the safari ride. This was the vehicle that we rode in.

I was very happy to see the baby rhino that I've heard about.

We then rested a while at our resort. It has finally started to rain out here, and supposedly a major storm is expected in the area over night and into most of tomorrow. They are desperately hoping for rain, but it's too bad it had to come in the next couple of days.

We then headed to Boma. As usual, the food was outstanding and the service was excellent. Our server Paul was very efficient and very friendly. I think I gained enough weight to have to do my workout for the next few months just to lose all the stuff I ate tonight. That seafood soup was unbelievable as usual, and they had a lamb stew tonight that would go so, so well with buttered noodles! Here again are a couple of pictures at Boma.

I could seriously pig out like mad at this place. Since it was raining, we couldn't get out to the animal viewing areas. So that was a bummer. We decided to turn in early so that we can get to the Magic Kingdom tomorrow early. Besides, I think it would be nice to really relax for an evening not doing anything. I also have to start thinking of how to get all of the stuff that we bought home with us. A lot of stuff are already being shipped home directly from Disney after we purchase them. But we still have quite a few pins that we bought and a few frame sets that we got for just $15 a piece since we bought so much stuff (they make excellent gifts, especially for Christmas).

We will have our last full day tomorrow, which will be spent at the MK. Tomorrow evening will be at Disney-MGM Studios for the private party that starts at 8:00 pm. I'll try to get as many pictures as possible, but I hope it doesn't rain too heavily or else things are not going to be pretty. I'm also hoping to be able to ride Tower of Terror at least 4 times tomorrow night. :)

Zz.

 

[ZapperZ]

We are having Tropical Storm Barry coming over central Florida today, and a tornado watch being issued in the area. Will those stop us from spending the day at The Magic Kingdom? Not on your life!

Unless the park is closed, we will be at MK all day today. Maybe with the weather, many people will not be there, which will make it even better. We have our ponchos ready, and extra socks/sandals in case our shoes get wet. We're ready!

The event at Disney-MGM Studios tonight will start at 8:00 pm. If I'm not too tired, I'll try to post a report later today/tonight. If not, I'll post more after I get home. We check out tomorrow morning, but will be spending our last day at Epcot. We fly out at 6:00 pm tomorrow, so we'll have plenty of time to enjoy our last day here, including getting that free character Meet and Greet for Disney Visa cardholders (love those freebies). Can't believe it is already close to the end.

Our next trip will be a short 4-day visit to attend the Pin Celebration event at Epcot in early Sept. We now know a lot more pin traders, especially from the Chicago area. So this event will be a lot of fun with many familiar faces.

Zz.

 

[ZapperZ]

With all the bad weather expected and predicted for today, it was an amazingly wonderful time! The threat of bad weather certainly, I'm sure, caused many people to change their plans. That made the morning part of the day not very crowded at all.

The day started off looking very ominous. It was drizzling, and the sky didn't look too nice. This is what I snapped when we were about to leave our room at OKW.

Still, we got to the Magic Kingdom rather early before they opened and were in time to see the Welcome show.

Even by mid-morning, the place wasn't that crowded still, although it was still drizzling on and off.

We did all the rides in Fantasyland first, before all the families with kids show up and the lines get long. This is from It's A Small World.

I've never seen the Monster's Inc Laughing Floor, so that's where we aimed for after our Fantasyland romp. It was a great show and hysterically funny.

We then headed on over to Buzz Lightyear ride. I've always liked this ride, but wish the weapon can be pulled out like the one at Disneyland.

In the afternoon, we did teacups. While the crowd was building up, it was still only a 5 min wait to do Teacups.

It was certainly getting crowded by late afternoon, but still bearable. The weather, while overcast sometime, and sunny now and then, was not unpleasant at all.

BTW, this is something I've noticed since the first day I got here. I've heard about this Croc footwear before, and have heard about them getting the Disney license to manufacture these, but this is the first time I'm seeing these footwear, and they're everywhere. They look kinds funny to me, but they're rather quite comfortable (I tried one). I was tempted to buy one, but the price tag stopped me - each pair is around $37. I have enough sandals as it is. Still, maybe I'll change my mind on my next trip.

We rode back to the Transportation and Ticket center in the front monorail again (love doing that!) and got another Monorail co-pilot card.

We're resting a bit before getting some dinner and then heading out for the party at Disney-MGM Studios. Not sure if I will have time to post anything after that. If I don't, then this will be my final transmission from the Happiest Place on Earth. I will post more pictures and more of my report after I get home and recover a bit.

Thanks for reading!

Zz.

 

[Moonbear]

With all the bad weather expected and predicted for today, it was an amazingly wonderful time! The threat of bad weather certainly, I'm sure, caused many people to change their plans. That made the morning part of the day not very crowded at all.

It probably kept out the locals, and even some of the tourists who only get tickets for part of their visit, so wait for a better day. When I was a kid, we used to always pick an overcast, drizzly day to go to amusement parks too, because the crowds and lines were always minimal, and usually the sun would come out for enough time for most of the rides to open at some point during the day (a few always closed if there were high winds or drizzle, but you just did other things during that time, and if it downpoured, you just take that time to stop for food or walk through shops). Many of Disney's attractions are indoors anyway, so other than getting a bit damp between things, that sounds like a good plan (and probably not so hot either without the sun beating on you).

BTW, this is something I've noticed since the first day I got here. I've heard about this Croc footwear before, and have heard about them getting the Disney license to manufacture these, but this is the first time I'm seeing these footwear, and they're everywhere. They look kinds funny to me, but they're rather quite comfortable (I tried one). I was tempted to buy one, but the price tag stopped me - each pair is around $37. I have enough sandals as it is. Still, maybe I'll change my mind on my next trip.

A lot of the staff at the hospital wear those. Scrubs aren't exactly attractive anyway, so they don't care what they look like as long as they're comfortable. I've heard great things about them being extremely comfortable for standing all day. I'll have to try them on next time I'm at Disney. (I just have to figure out when that will be.)

Glad you didn't get totally rained out today and are still having so much fun (though, I figured it would take more than a tropical storm to dampen your mood at Disney ).

 

[ZapperZ]

I'm back to reality!

It was a wonderful trip, but awfully tiring. Since I had to play "tour guide" to a couple of our friends who were making their first trip to WDW, it was a bit more hectic than the normal pace that I am used to. Still, we had a great time.

The "Red Shirt" day at the Magic Kingdom went amazingly smoothly, mainly because many folks probably got scared away due to the weather. We did almost every single ride in Fantasyland well before 10:30 am, so we avoided a lot of the long lines that formed later on that day. The whole park was still not as crowded as it would normally be at that time of the year. We had rain on and off all day (and evening), but nothing to stop people from doing all the stuff if they want to. We had a terrific time, and once again, had a great Jungle Cruise captain who played along with the rather "red" crowd in her boat. It was a lot of fun.

Saturday evening party at Disney-MGM Studios went well for the first half. They held us at the Light, Motor, Action stadium while they clear up the rest of the park of the regular guests. What was amazing to me was that, for the first time ever, a Disney representative took to the stage to officially welcome us to the event. It was the first official acknowledgment of the Disney company of the "event" at their theme park after 17 years! Better late than never. But then again, the first few years were only made up of a bunch of friends going to MK wearing red shirts. And now, it has grown into a 140,000 strong attendance.

At 9:30 pm, Kathy Griffin took to the stage and she was at her outrageous best! Let's just say that you'll never hear or see that kind of a show at Disney! :) No one was safe. She took shots at Donald Trump, Star Jones, Ryan Seacrest, etc.. etc. She was hysterical. She did her set in a light drizzle that didn't dampen her enthusiasm at all (no pun intended). That alone was worth the admission price.

We then got herded into the rest of the park, especially by the Sorcerer Hat and the Tower of Terror-Rock 'N Rollercoaster area. There were just a lot more people than I remember from previous years. Star Tours, Tower of Terror, and Rock 'N Roller Coaster were all open, but the lines are just unbelievably long! I used to be able to ride these things multiple times during this event, and that night, I didn't even want to stay in lines that long. So I didn't ride any.

Donna Summer was supposed to perform at 11:30 pm, but she was late. With drizzle and all, and having had a rather long day, I was running out of energy really fast, and by 11:40 pm, we decided to call it quits just as Donna Summer took to the stage. She had someone held an umbrella over her while she sang! What a diva! :)

We left anyway, and by the time we reached our resort, we could hear from a distance the fireworks going on. They were almost 15 minutes late.

We spend out last day at Epcot and had a leisure time around the park before heading out to the airport. It was the end of another memorable and wonderful vacation at the Happiest Place on Earth. I'm disappointed that I didn't get the special Mickey ears hat that they give to selected guess, but I guess getting that Dream Fastpass was more than what we were expecting.

I will post more pictures and a few other commentaries once I recover from this trip. Now, I just need to find that switch for me to get back into the work mode.

Zz.

 

[ZapperZ]

One of the things I've always wanted was a picture of me on a ride. It's not easy because usually the whole group gets on the ride with us and so there's no one standing outside of the ride to take a picture. Luckily, this time, it is different. One member of our group does not like the "fast" or "drop" rides. This rules out all roller coasters, and even Splash Mountain for him.

So since he won't come with us on the ride, we made him take our pictures whenever possible. This picture contains yours truly as he's about to take the final plunge at Splash Mountain!

Zz.

 

[ZapperZ]

The following are pictures from the One Mighty Party event at Disney-MGM Studios. We entered through a side entrance because the park wasn't closed yet. We get to see a large section of the backstage area one one side of the MGM main vehicle entrance.

They were holding us away from the rest of the regular guests at the Lights, Motor, Action stadium. Those if us who got there early got to go right on "stage", but as soon as capacity was reached, it was closed off and the rest of the attendees had to stay in the grand stand. By around 9:00 pm, even the grand stand was almost 3/4 full.

Kathy Griffin came on at 9:30 pm and proceeded to rock the crowd. There were a few technical glitches with the mic, but other than that, we were all in stitches as she dissed one celebrity after another.

After Kathy finished her set, we were then herded towards the main part of the party, which is Star Tours, the Sorcerer Hat, Tower of Terror, and Rock 'N Rollercoaster. As we walk along the Street of NY to get there, it was a bit of a sight to see signs like this. This was where the Honey I Shrunk the Kids play set sign usually appear.

[cont...]

 

[ZapperZ]

[...cont]

The plaza in front of the hat became a major dance area and the music was pumping. In fact, they had music pumping in from the entrance and all over the accessible area of the partygoers.

The crowd was lively, and everyone headed to their favorite ride, which for most, was Tower of Terror and Rock 'N Rollercoaster.

It was actually a terrific event. Having an opening act to hold the crowd first while they empty out the park was a good idea. Not only do they get to have the crowd longer, it also made for a boatload of beverage sales, the lines of which never grew short. So this was certainly a good idea. I just wish that I'm younger with more energy that can survive through one of these things with only a few hours of sleep. So I guess I'm just getting too old for this.

:)

We are planning on skipping going to WDW again at this time next year. We will still go in Sept., but just not during the Memorial Day week. Not sure what we'll do. Maybe go to LA and do Disneyland again? Now that's an idea!



Zz.

 

[ZapperZ]

This is from our last day at the Happiest Place on Earth. We spent it at Epcot. But before that, the rain that was on and off throughout the day before is gone. This is the view on the balcony right outside our room. I can see clearly now the rain is gone... it's going to be a bright, bright, sun shiny day! :)

We checked our luggage with the bell hop and then headed straight to Epcot. They were in the final weekend of the Flower and Garden Fesitval.

We headed headed off to see Figment, even though it isn't something I enjoy.

We had lunch at Le Cellier. I already reported my dining experience there, so I won't go into it here.

But while we were waiting for our table, a few cast members there sang O' Canada to us. That was a nice diversion.

We went to Soarin' after lunch with our fast pass. The regular standby queue line is still under construction, so you don't get to see those big lighted pictures and the trivia video screen.

After that, we barely had a few minutes left to take advantage of the Disney Visa Rewards Character Meet 'N Greet. Mickey and Pluto were there and we took lots of pictures with them.

Unfortunately, it was time to leave for the airport. We will miss it, but look forward to our next trip in early Sept. for the Pin event.

Zz.

 

[Moonbear]

From looking at the photos from your party on red shirt day, all I have to say is...how come the gay men are always the cutest ones?! That is a crowd of HUNKS!