MOUSEFEST 2004
OUR WONDERFUL TRIP WITH THE MOUSE
Day 7, The Mega Mouse Meet
We finally got a chance to sleep in
for a bit, so took advantage. At about 9, I phoned
TheGoof to change our plans to meet the next day, as I'd remembered that Bob and I had another obligation at the time that we'd agreed to meet
. I caught him just as they were getting ready to leave for their days' adventures, so we decided to meet at 11 at the Haunted Mansion. TheGoof had told me that he'd found a Hidden Mickey he wanted to show me, so we were going on the ride together to see it
(I
love Hidden Mickeys!
).
We headed for the Magic Kingdom, and as we arrived at the TTC, we saw huge crowds....What were we getting into
? Since the monorail entrance was really full of people, we decided to take the ferry - a good choice, as it turned out, as it was just getting ready to depart
. We landed at the Magic Kingdom dock, went through bag inspection, and into the park. We hustled up Main Street, past Cindy's Castle, and through Liberty Square, fighting humungous crowds
! I remembered (too late
) that you should never visit the Magic Kingdom on Saturday, because that's when all the locals visit
! I've never seen such crowds in my life....except at the Hallmark Store the day after Christmas
!!
We got to the Haunted Mansion entrance (15 minutes late
) and couldn't see TheGoof or MaxGoof
!! Did they get tired of waiting? Where were they
??? Bob went off to get a drink of water while I waited. I stood there, and stood there, and stood there, then happened to glance across the way, and there they were
! Bob was just approaching them, so we finally made contact
. TheGoof was just putting the finishing touches on a note (with a picture of Mickey he'd drawn) thanking us for taking VIP Lounge vistit the day before. What a nice addition for our trip scrapbook
! It's going to have a place of honor
!!
TheGoof told me that MaxGoof wanted to ride with me to show me the Hidden Mickey, and that he'd ride with Bob. This made me feel very special
, because Max had just met me a couple of days before, and I was proud that he trusted me enough to ride alone with me
.
So, we went into the Haunted Mansion, and boarded our Doom Buggies. Max and I didn't talk much, but he pointed out a few things along the way. When we got to the graveyard (where the Hidden Mickey was), I didn't hear Max tell me where to look, so I missed it
! TheGoof managed to get Bob to see it, though, so he'll show it to me. Max was a bit exasperated with me, telling his Dad, "She missed it!"
After the Haunted Mansion, Max asked if we could all do Splash Mountain (his favorite attraction, and one of mine), so to Frontierland we went
! Splash was great (as usual). We checked out the picture, but didn't get it, because some of our faces were covered up
.
It was getting to be time for all of us to leave the Magic Kingdom for other parts - TheGoof and MaxGoof to Epcot, and Bob and I to the Swan for the MegaMouseMeet. We were all supposed to meet for breakfast the next morning at the Crystal Palace, but knowing about the trouble that TheGoof has getting Max out of bed in the morning
, we said our goodbyes "just in case".
We jumped on the train back to the Main Street station, and boarded the monorail back to the TTC.
We arrived at the Swan a short time later, and entered through a side door, right where the meet was! How lucky was that
?
We went into the ballroom, and met lots of folks from lots of websites - RADP, Tagrel, MousePlanet, etc. While I was chatting with Lou Mongello and Brian (tiggerguy), Dennis (I can't remember his nickname) came along, so I got to meet him, too - another chatroom buddy
!
I had a nice visit with Deanna Mongello and Vickie Barret, then wandered around and picked up some freebies (pens, pins, etc,), and I won a Tootsie Pop and pin for getting the correct answer to a puzzle that was put in the MouseFest booklet by MousePlanet.
Then came the drawing - and I didn't win anything
! Pat (joguss) won a tote bag with a couple of lunch vouchers, but I didn't win anything! I went up to Deb Wills after the drawing, and said, "Hey!" She replied, astounded, "I know!" I was beginning to think that my lucky streak had come to a halt!!
In the meantime, I'd talked to Dave Marx, and asked if he'd ever been in the VIP Lounge at Test Track. He replied in the negative, so I asked, "Would you like to?" He, of course, said that he would, so we planned on a time and place to meet on Tuesday morning.
I got my WDW guidebooks autographed - "Hidden Mickeys", my PassPorter guides (to WDW and to the Cruise Line), and the "Unofficial Guide". I even managed to have my Passporter signed by Allison, so mine's signed by all three authors - thanks again, Allison
!
After the meet, we returned to POR and hung out for a couple of hours - got a bite from the food court, then put on some warmer clothing and headed for DownTown Disney, and the MEV party at the Adventurer's Club on Paradise Island.
We got to DD WestSide, and wandered the shops for a while (I love
Starabilia - If I ever win the lottery....!
), waiting for 7:00 to roll around. I finally took the directions to the meeting place out of my pocket....what
?!? 6:15
???!!! We're late
!!!!! Oh, NO!!!!!!! I don't know how I got 7 o'clock stuck in my head, but I did
! We hustled to Paradise Island, got to the Adventurer's Club where we received our wristbands, and went downstairs where the party was in full swing. We were greeted with calls like, "Where have you been?", "You're late!", etc.
.
We got some food from the buffet
, then went into the library where we found Pat and Ray. We rearranged the seating a bit, and visited while waiting for the fun to start. Several entertainers were roaming the room, and the Gypsy seemed to take an interest in Ray, as she sat and chatted with him for quite a while
!
Evenutally, we were instructed to go into the "lobby" (don't know what that particular room is called), where there was a huge cake, and we were inducted into the club by the President. Kungaloosh
!!!
Back into the library for the show, which was very funny
. At one point, some poor guy from the audience was dragged onstage to hold a cow in the air, while we sang some silly song
. Lots of fun
.
The party came to an end - much too soon
- and as we were leaving, Donna (GoofyMom) introduced herself
! Another PassPorter!!! Cool
!!!! I regret that I didn't have much time to chat with her
, because Bob had disappeared (which can be dangerous
!) and I had to try to find him.
When he reappeared, we left the Adventurers' Club and went to the Comedy Warehouse, where a show was in progress - I'd guess about 1/2 way through. We watched the rest of the show, which was quite funny
. I enjoyed it for the most part, although I'm not really a big fan of Improv. These performers were good, though.
After the comedy club, we wandered through a few shops on our way to the Rock 'N' Roll Beach Club, because Bob is a big fan of classic R'n'R. There wasn't enough of that, though
- the band seemed to be catering to the young crowd and was playing mostly new stuff, and Bob and I both felt that it was way too loud
! So, we left after only about 15 minutes.
I thought that the Jazz Company would be just the ticket, and it turned out to be a good choice - very cool
and mellow
. Bob ordered a beer, and we were amazed that it came in a plastic bottle
! We had to take the empty with us, because the folks up here would never believe it!
It was getting late, and we wanted to take advantage of EE at MK the next morning, so it was off to POR and bed at about 10.