I didn’t get started quite as early as I wanted to. It was almost 10:00 before I got out of here, but I was at the Magic Kingdom in no time. First thing I did was go on the Jungle Cruise. This is one of the oldest rides in Magic Kingdom and one of my favorites. Then I walked over to Big Thunder Mountain Railroad and got a “fast pass”. This is the new system that Disney has, which allows you to get a time to come back later for a ride and not have to wait in line so long. I then went on Splash Mountain. That took a little over an hour, but by that time, it was time to go on Big Thunder Mountain. System works well. When I came off of that, it was time for the first parade of the day. That was very nice. Then I went on “Pirates of the Caribbean”, from there I went to the Haunted Mansion, got a fast pass and then took a boat ride, went on Tom Sawyers Island, saw the “Hall of the Presidents” with their latest addition, George W. Bush. By this time it was time for my fast pass for Haunted Mansion. From there, I went on “It’s a Small world” just for the heck of it. I was disappointed to find that they have taken out the sky ride that used to take you over to Tomorrowland, so I walked through Fantasyland and went straight to Space Mountain. I got a fast pass for that, and then went on the Tomorrowland Public transit ride, a futuristic ride in the sky. This used to be called the “Wed-Way People Mover. Same ride, new name. Then I went on a great new ride called the Extra Terrorestrial. Words cannot describe this high tech show. Next it was time for Disney’s famous Electrical Parade, but first I grabbed a bite to eat at Cosmic Ray’s Starlight café. After the parade it was time for my Space Mountain ride. This is the best roller coaster in Disneyworld. When I came out of there it was time for the 9:30 fireworks show. I stopped to watch the show, and then made my way back down Main Street though the stores, took one last ride on the Disney Railroad, then left the park, to the boat back to the campground and collapsed in bed.
Today was supposed to be the day to go to River Country, however, River Country is closed for renovations. So then it was supposed to be a utilitarian day. I went to the “Outpost” which is the campground office, where I was told they had an internet connection. They actually had 3 phone lines. Someone was using one of the lines and having no trouble, but I tried and tried and tried. I could not get a connection through Prodigy. After an hour of trying many different numbers, I asked where the nearest library was. I was directed to downtown Kissimmee. So I drove the princess about 8 miles to the library. It was a first class library with about 20 computers with DSL connections. I was finally able to get my e-mail and send Charlie week two. By the time I returned from Kissimmee, it was dinner time. I took a bus to the Transportation and Ticket center where I transferred to the monorail for the trip to the Grand Floridian Hotel. I wanted to have dinner at the finest restaurant in Disneyworld, Victoria & Albert’s. It was a fantastic meal, well worth the price. After dinner, I took the monorail over to the Contemporary Hotel where I transferred to a boat for the trip back to Fort Wilderness.
Today was EPCOT center day. I got to the park shortly after it opened, after taking the bus and the monorail. First I went to the Exxon Universe of Energy, one of my favorites, and then I got a fast pass for Test Track. The fast past was for 3:00, so I had plenty of time. I went to the Living Seas Pavilion and spent quite a bit of time in there looking at all the fish. The Manatees were especially interesting. Then I went next door to “The Land”. This used to be sponsored by Kraft food, but it is now sponsored by Nestles. I decided to have a big lunch at the Garden Grill. It was about 2:30, but it was a big lunch, and so I never had dinner. I wasn’t hungry even at the end of the day. I then went back to Test Track and rode that ride, sponsored by General Motors. The cars in this ride go at speeds of 65 mph. It is a cool ride. I decided to skip the rest of Future World and move on to World Showcase. Visited nearly every one of the nations of World Showcase, starting with Canada, then onto Great Britain, France, Morocco, The American Adventure, Germany, Italy, Japan, China, Norway and Mexico. I saw all of the movies that each of those countries offered and those with rides, Norway and Mexico. It was a rush to finish the circle before the big show at 9:30. The show, entitled “Illuminations” is a fantastic multi media show of music, fountains, lights, lasers and fireworks. I’ve seen this show many times before, and I never get tired of it, it is fantastic. The line wasn’t too long for the monorail back to the transportation center, but it was a long wait for the bus back to Fort Wilderness.
Went to Typhoon Lagoon today. It was another gorgeous day, temperatures in the 80s as it has been all week. I was very disappointed in Disney’s bus service today. I caught the bus to Typhoon Lagoon at the Fort Wilderness Outpost. The bus took nearly an hour to get to Typhoon Lagoon after driving all over Disneyworld. I spent about 3 hours there, and then tried to get a bus back to Fort Wilderness. I had to wait nearly an hour for that bus to come. When I complained at the Fort Wilderness Outpost, I was told that the buses run every 20 minutes. I felt my complaint fell on deaf ears. I decided to drive the princess over to downtown Disney. I planned to see Cirque du soleil and had reservations for 6:00. It was a fantastic show of precision acrobatics, music, dance and comedy. Well worth the price of admission. After the show I walked through the West End and the Marketplace and had dinner at the Rainforest. Then I walked back and went to Pleasure Island. I spent most of my time there at the “Adventurers Club” This is a comedy club, which I’ve been to before and I enjoyed it very much. The comedy is all about people who like to travel…..kinda strikes close to home.
Today I decided not to depend on Disney Transportation. I took the princess and drove to MGM Studios. Made a great day of it. Went on the Back Lot studio tour, saw a Muppet show, took the Great Movie ride, went to the “Who wants to be a Millionaire” show. I really enjoyed this. They had a host there who was an excellent replacement for Regis Philbin. Everyone in the audience got to answer every question, and the computer kept track of all the answers. You don’t win money, but they gave Disney pins, hats, shirts and jackets, and if you made it to the million dollar mark, you got an all expense trip to New York for two. One guy made it to the 500,000 mark, but missed the final question. After that I went to a good show about the life of Walt Disney. As I was going into the theatre, I got a phone call from Joe Sparacino; it was good hearing from him. I told him I was in the theater and I would call him back when I got out, which I did. After that I got a fast pass on the Aerosmith Rock and Roller Coaster, and then went to the Indiana Jones stunt spectacular. I had dinner at the Brown Derby. Quite good Filet Mignon. Then I went on the Rockin Roller coaster ride. After that I went to the Tower of Terror. By this time I noticed people going into the amphitheater for the Fantasmik show. The show was scheduled for 9:30. It was 8:30 and people were streaming in. I was kinda tired, so I thought I would go on in and rest for a while. Good thing I did, this huge amphitheater was nearly full an hour before the show started. I got a fairly good seat on the side, and waited the hour for the show to start. This is another show that I’ve seen before, but I could watch it over and over again. A fantastic outdoor show of fountains, lights, lasers, music and live actors. If you’ve never seen it, it is indescribable.
After the show, I drove back to the campground, stopped at the office which is open all night, tried to get on the internet again, but still no luck.
Another late start this morning, but I finally got going around 11:00, I’ve been nursing a cold for more than a week now. Didn’t think much about it at first, but after a week, it is really starting to bother me. I went to Blizzard Beach, the only water park in Disneyworld that I’ve never been to. Walked around the park at first taking in all the lovely scenery, and then went on the Cross country creek, which is Disney’s version of a lazy river raft ride. I took several trips down Teamboat Springs, which is a large tube water slide, spent a little time in the wave pool, and before I knew it, it was approaching closing time at 5:00. I then went to the Winter-Summerland miniature golf course, and played the winter side. Another first! Disney has four miniature golf courses and I’ve never played any of them. Following the miniature golf, I drove over to the Polynesian Resort and had dinner at the Polynesian Luau. This is a dinner show that I’ve been wanting to see for years. I wasn’t disappointed. It was spectacular! When I left the Polynesian Village, I drove back to the campground and was surprised to find that my water hose and my sewer hose had disappeared. I drove up to the office and filed a complaint. They said that they would check with groundskeeping in the morning and send security around to talk to me. Needless to say, I was pissed off. So I went back to my campsite. Fortunately I have a back-up water hose, but no back-up sewer hose. However, my holding tanks will take care of all the sewage that I generate for several days.
Security knocked on my door around 9:00 this morning. The Mickey Mouse cop said that he received a report that something was missing. I explained what happened, and he said it was probably some kid that took it as a prank. I responded that a sewer hose was not exactly on every kid’s most wanted list. It was mighty strange that they only took my water hose and not the one that belongs to Disney which is on the same post and just as easy to disconnect. It was also strange that the person who took the sewer hose was courteous enough to put the cap back on the sewer opening. Officer Mouse said he agreed it was strange, but all I could do was to file a claim. He gave me the address to submit my claim. Tomorrow, I will have to go to Camperland and get new hoses…total costs about 37.00. After all that was settled, I went to Disney’s Animal Kingdom. This is the last of the four Disney Theme parks. Went through the Tree of Life, rode a very wet Kali Falls white water rafting ride, then took the Kilimanjaro Safari ride and another train ride through the Serengeti. I saw lots of active animals along the way including lions, tigers, giraffes, hippos, elephants and gorillas. In addition I saw many beautiful exotic birds. I spent most of the afternoon just walking around the park looking at all the animals. The park closed at 5:00, when I got back to the princess, I discovered that I parked it this morning and left the motor running for about 6 hours. The door was locked, but apparently, when I parked, I got up to do something and the RV next to me had its engine running, so I failed to notice that mine was running too. I probably wasted about 10.00 worth of gas, but other than that, no harm done. After leaving the Animal Kingdom, I drove over to Disney’s Boardwalk. I parked and walked around the boardwalk and the five hotels that are adjacent to it. They are the Boardwalk Hotel; the Yacht Club; The Beach Club; The Swan and the Dolphin. It was a relaxing evening; I grabbed some dinner while I was there, and then headed back to the campground. Watch a little TV and then to bed. Tomorrow will be a maintenance day…To Camperworld, maybe some laundry and maybe even see if I can make an appointment to get the oil changed. I could use a haircut, maybe I’ll get that done too. Tuesday and Wednesday I plan to spend at Universal Studios.