WDW On Short Notice - Part 4 (8/24)
Primary Cast:
Me - 26 y/o dude, lost count of how many times I've been to WDW many years ago. 20 times would be a reasonable guess.
Mom - Indeterminate age. She too has been to WDW many times.
Dad - Slightly younger than dirt. He has been to WDW many times, but doesn't necessarily remember. (Dad: "Wow! The Boardwalk is nice! Do you have to be a member to stay here?" Mom: "...No. WE stayed here two trips ago! Don't you remember?" Dad: "Hmm?")
Extended Cast:
Aunt T
Uncle S
Cousin S
Cousin A
Day 4: The one where I fought a Russian and Paulie got a robot
I woke up early and took the bus to the AK for early EMH. I got to do EE a couple of times as well as Dinosaur, and then when the park opened at 9 I got do to Kali River Rapids, Kilamanjaro Safari, and ITTBAB. That's pretty much everything in the park that I want to do. I'm not really a fan of the AK. I do it more because it's an obligation rather than out of fun. It's the kind of thing where I'd feel bad if I didn't do it at all, but I only need to do it once. It's a half day park at most.
I also took the opportunity to finally purchase a lanyard for my pins. I had a few pins already that I got as gifts over the years, but I was never really a pin collector. I decided this trip I would bring my pins and go all in and finally get a lanyard. I got a black one that says Walt Disney World Resort in white. I'm a plain kinda guy. I also brought my Mickey head Canadian flag pin and my Canada Day 2002 pin of Mickey as a mountie holding the Canadian flag and put them on the lanyard, because...
...after finishing the AK, I took the bus to Epcot to meet my parents there for lunch at Le Cellier. We met well before lunch time, though, so I took all of our room keys and got fast passes for Soarin'. Then I went and saw Captain Eo for the first time since I was but a wee lad. What a blast from the past that was! It felt like being in the old EPCOT Center again. It felt like I could walk out of the theater and ride the REAL Journey into Imagination ride and see Dreamfinder, or walk across the park and get on World of Motion, or ride the incredibly boring Universe of Energy with its awesome theme song. Those were the days, weren't they?
Anyway, after Eo, I met my parents in Canada. This was another reservation that we had originally made for 2 people but couldn't get another one for 3. However it wasn't a problem and they were able to accommodate our extra person. I like to think my pins and my 2002 Team Canada t-shirt helped. When we went up to the outside podium to check into the restaurant, I noticed that the background music at the pavilion was an instrumental version of "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald" by Gordon Lightfoot. Just when I thought WDW couldn't be a better place, BAM! They drop some Lightfoot on me and it made my day (I'm a huuuuuuuuuuge Gordon Lightfoot fan. Yes, really!). I also noticed they had "Gens du Pays" by Gilles Vigneault and some music that sounded like it was from the Maritimes. At lunch I continued Drinking Around the World with a Moosehead beer :beer:.
After lunch we saw O Canada with Martin Short. I love Martin Short. He's an absolute delight, and I think he does a fantastic job in the new film. I have to admit I do miss the old film though. Sure it was dated, but it was still enjoyable. It was also what got me into the music of Stan Rogers. The old film featured the Bluenose II when it was talking about Nova Scotia, and I really liked the music in that scene. When I got home after our trip in 2003, I looked up the song online, found out it was "Bluenose" by Stan Rogers, and I became a fan.
After the film (and actually even before) it was pouring rain. I took shelter in the gift shop in Canada, where I heard the second loudest thunder I have ever heard - rivaled only by the thunder I heard in DHS on Day 1. Eventually the rain subsided enough where I could escape to the UK. I looked in the shops, and I took the Beatles quiz in one of them and got 100%, which astounded the cast member working there. After that I continued my Drinking with a Strongbow cider.
I met back up with my parents and we did The Land and used our FPs for Soarin'. I miss having an actual human guide on the boat. I also miss having the actual guide on the Backstage Tour in DHS, as well as having the actual tour! I wanna see the Golden Girls' house, dag-nabbit! It was Mom's first time riding Soarin', and she really liked it. I don't dislike the ride, I just don't get the hype. I also don't like how you can see everyone else who's riding it, and how you see the feet of the people in front of you. It just ruins the illusion for me. Disney is usually so adamant about maintaining the show, yet it's blatanly obvious that I'm sitting in a room that looks a lot like a warehouse, sitting on a bench hanging from the ceiling and watching a movie on a big screen. It just seems very...Six Flags.
We also did the last Ellen's Energy Adventure for the day. I really liked that ride the first time, back in...what, 1995? It really needs to be updated. I think the whole concept needs to be changed. Even from when I was a little kid it was always 20 minutes of boring film, 5 awesome minutes with dinosaurs, and then another 20 boring minutes of film. At least the old ride had the cool song.
Dinner was at the Coral Reef, which was fantastic. Mom and I like seafood, but Dad isn't a fan. Luckily the restaurant has edible land creatures for people like him. Dad ended up eating steak on the trip for several days in a row. I don't think it bothered him. During dinner, Mom got a text from my Aunt which had to be shared. Apparently, Aunt T was in one of the parks and overheard someone asking a cast member "What exactly is a turkey leg?" We all thought that was hysterical, and Mom felt it funny enough to tell our waitress, who responded with the old chestnut of "What time is the 3:00 parade?" Good times.
As we left the park that night, I saw Mom's head jerk back suddenly and thought I caught a glimpse of something flying at her neck. But it was dark and I couldn't really see anything. It turns out it was a GIANT bug, looking something like a big beetle, that smacked into her throat and then landed on her shirt. Needless to say it freaked us all out, but Dad swatted it off. That was truly terrifying. And for once, we didn't stay late in a park nor did we have to get up early the next day, so we had a nice leisurely night in the room.
