Day 5 Sunday 5 Dec 2004 Today's Event: MVMCP!
We slept in a little this morning, as we planned to visit MGM, which wouldn't open til 9:00. We got there a little before they opened Hollywood Boulevard, and I walked briskly over to Rock & Roller Coaster. Since Scott was still recuping from a cold, he didn't think that ride would be such a good idea.
I always forget just how close R&RC comes to crossing the line between "Oh boy, this is fun!" and "Oh no this is NOT fun!".
The 0-60 acceleration lets off JUST before panic sets in & the loops go by almost too fast for me to notice. Unfortunately, I think this is where I lost my Guest of Honor badge. We'd gotten them during the 25th anniversary celebration & they had our names & hometowns on them
. you can't get them like that anymore.
Met back with Scott at the Hat we asked about the Annual Pass merchandise we hadn't had any luck with Tshirts the night before at Epcot. MGM had the tshirt, but not in 2XL. In fact, we weren't able to find the shirt in that size in any of the parks. Guess we'll try again in February. We did get the pin and I got a shirt for me. We met up with Bugsy on the Great Movie Ride (we run about 2-3 gangsters to 1 cowboy on this ride, I think) and then checked out the new incarnation of the Animation Tour. Sigh I miss getting to see the actual animators' offices & desks. I also miss the movie with Robin Williams & Walter Cronkite, but do like the new version with Mushu.
At The Magic of Disney Animation, we saw signs for The Incredibles and a bit of a line forming turns out that Mr. Incredible, Elastigirl & Frozone were scheduled to make an appearance fairly soon. We got in line now that I think about it, this was the longest line we experienced in the parks and about 15 min later, the characters came out. Frozone came & visited those of us in line for a bit while the Parrs were posing with families. We got some good pictures (tho the Photopass must not have picked those up right) & autographs
looks like Elastigirl needs a little more handwriting practice. :^)
This is when I realized I'd lost my tag so while I retraced my steps, Scott went ahead & got FP's for Star Tours (and rode it once, as the line was short). He'd also made PS's for the Sci Fi cafι while I was on Rock & Roller Coaster (how thoughtful of him!) and it was just about time for lunch, so we looked around the bookstore a bit before getting seated. We usually end up in the back seat with a family; this time was no different. Oh well, we'll get to drive *someday*. I tried the turkey sandwich (you'd think I'd be tired of turkey by now) and Scott had a burger (ditto). We split the Orbiting Oreo shake since it was lunchtime, I think they just put in a splash or two of alcohol; the drink I got at the Adventurer's Club was a LOT stronger. The shake was still pretty good.
Our FP's for Star Tours were ready, so after lunch, we took the long way around to Endor. We ended up in the front row & while the legroom is nice, you don't get nearly as bumpy of a ride! We checked out the Streets of America - they have San Francisco done & are working on Chicago and picked up some of the Osbourne Family Spectacle of Lights merchandise. The logo shows Stitch on the skyline of San Francisco with the motto: Osbourne Family Spectacle of Lights Goes to the Big City.
Since we knew we'd be staying up late at the Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party we headed back to the hotel & got to the room around 1:30. I napped for about an hour and a half, while Scott watched football. We put on our Disney personalized sweatshirts - Pooh & pals decorating a tree with "Scott & Tracey, Walt Disney World December 2004" as the text and our hats: I wore a Santa Mickey hat we'd had for a few years & Scott wore his Santa Jack hat we'd gotten last year at Disneyland and went over to the Magic Kingdom.
We arrived just after 4:00 & they were letting people in just on their party tickets & issuing the armbands. We visited Tomorrowland first & helped Buzz defend the universe, then toured Tommorrowland on the PeopleMover/TTA. Next was Liberty Square and Haunted Mansion. We were on our way over to Big Thunder mountain, when we noticed a crowd of people (including CM's & security) grouped around a spot on the dock.
We walked over and saw an alligator in the Rivers of America!
The CM said he'd been hanging around that area for a few days & they keep an eye on him, mostly to keep the guests from feeding him. The other day, he'd been over by the smoking area, which is closer to the water than where we were. A guy didn't quite believe he was real, and stretched his arm out over the gator, who, thinking he was being fed, opened wide.
I asked when they'd be removing him to a more remote part of the property, and the CM said probably within a few days, as he was starting to get a little too acclimated to people.
We took another trip on "the wildest ride in the wilderness" at this point the park was getting pretty empty, so we visited the Jungle Cruise on our way back to Main Street. The CM's were starting to check for armbands and asked guests to stay in to Tomorrowland until the party officially started. Except for getting caught in the parade filming, this was definitely the most crowds we'd dealt with all week. The rides were still available and they started the photo opportunity early. We'd heard that you should try to get your photo taken ASAP, so we made that our first stop. They were set up in the Timekeeper pavilion, using the leanbars as line control. It was rather sad to see the Timekeeper up on stage, silent and still.
I do hope they either reopen this attraction or put something new in its place. The line was quite long, but moved quickly, as there were about a ½ dozen photo stands.
Next stop was Mickey's Star Traders for shirts & pins. They didn't have any of the Tshirts which was the only item that had a large version of the logo. The CM said to check out the Emporium, so I headed that direction. The doors were still closed & a line had formed
I didn't like the looks of this & my suspicions were confirmed when they did open the doors. People descended en masse on the single display of shirts and within 2 minutes it was practically picked clean. I was a little miffed to see people carrying 5 & 6 shirts around; maybe they need to be limited just like the pins? After the dust cleared, I politely asked a CM if they had any more of the tshirts and if so, I was looking for a 2XL. He returned in a few minutes with several shirts & made sure I got what I needed before turning to put them on the rack tho I don't think he even made it that far! I called Scott to let him know my search was successful & met him back in Tomorrowland.
Lunch seemed like a long way behind us so we stopped at the Plaza Restaurant & got the complimentary cocoa & cookies (snickerdoodles!) Scott's not a big fan of cocoa, so I got most of his drink. We took a slow walk down Main Street, watching it snow and taking pictures of the lovely decorations. We wanted to at least see the fireworks, the parade & Mickey's Twas the Night Before Christmas , so we planned out the rest of the evening. The parade route was already well-staked out & a show was coming up fairly soon, so we got some snacks (popcorn & soda) to tide us over and made our way towards the theater.
The show was very cute! A group of singer/dancers and Mickey & Minnie read the Clement C. Moore poem, interspersed with songs that tied into that part of the poem. For example, after reading the list of reindeer, they sang "Run, Run Rudolph". It was about a 45 min show & we figured the parade would be done by then, so we could cross over Main Street & have some dinner at Casey's. Well due to technical difficulties (a security CM said there had been an injury) the first showing of the parade was delayed & hadn't even started yet. Surprisingly, Casey's wasn't that busy, so we got our hot dogs & grabbed a table. While we were eating, the parade did start & we saw a couple of the floats from a distance.
We took advantage of the parade's popularity & rode Aladdin's Flying Carpets for the first time the long line & lack of shade had always deterred us before. That and my unpleasant experience with Astro Orbiters on our first trip I could have sworn I was just going to fly out of that rocket! The Carpets were much more tame & we had lovely views of Adventureland at night. Scott thought he caught a glimpse of the words Ho Ho Ho on the side of the Comptemporary, but by the time we left the park, the lights were out. Pirates was absolutely deserted Scott took some non-flash pictures that turned out a little blurry, but better than any we'd tried before.
There'd been an announcement that the fireworks would start at 10:45 so we found a spot near the Liberty Belle to take in Wishes. Unfortunately, our view was a bit obscured by trees but during the 360-degree finale, Scott got some neat pix of the fireworks reflected in the Rivers of America.
If at all possible, we try to ride Big Thunder Mountain at least once at night during each trip and after the fireworks we had our chance. Very little line & lovely views. The second parade was coming up so we made our way back to Main Street & picked out a spot about a half-hour early. It was already rather busy; we ended up standing next to the Cigar Store Indian. Scott joked that I'd made a new friend! The parade was a lot of fun and seeing it snow on Main Street made it definitely worth the wait!
We visited Stitch again (and waited quite a bit longer than the advertised 5 min) and cruised around one more time on the TTA; it's amazing how much more of Space Mountain you can see once your eyes are adjusted for night vision! Several trips ago, we lucked into seeing Space Mountain 101 & lit up on the inside while riding the TTA unfortunately, the cheap camera we had with us didn't do it justice. Very pooped out we headed for the bus right around midnight. We had less of a wait than I thought we'd have, but it still took longer than we wanted. One of the prices we pay for staying out so late! Mileage: 16,764 steps = 7.1 miles.