[ripkensnana]

MOUSEFEST 2004
OUR WONDERFUL TRIP WITH THE MOUSE

Day 8, The Magic Kingdom and then some!

We arrived at the Magic Kingdom at 8:10 to take advantage of Early Entry, only to discover that Bob had left the camera in the van . He monorailed back to the TTC, got the all-important camera, and we finally entered MK at 8:30 .

We headed for Tomorrowland to do some things we hadn't done before....We managed to do Buzz Lightyear and Space Mountain before it was time to head for the Crystal Palace and our breakfast PS .

Buzz Lightyear is a clone of the Men in Black attraction at Universal Studios ....I'm not sure which came first , but it doesn't really matter, I love both rides! I managed to score 46,900 points, while Bob managed 17,500 . I don't know what levels those scores put us at, but it doesn't really matter - it was a real blast (pun intended!)

We headed to Space Mountain. While Bob is a rabid coaster fanatic , I am proud to state that I'm a Certified Coaster Chicken (and have a pin to prove it!). I'd ridden Space once before (In 1989), but told my dear, sweet hubby that I'd do it with him, since he did the teacups with me....he hates spinning rides like that!

Space Mountain wasn't as bad as I'd remembered, but I got shaken up quite a bit - which is one of the things I dislike about coasters - the jerkiness. Bob and I agreed that we don't really need to do this ride again - me because of the teeth-jarring shakiness, and Bob because he thinks it's too tame !

So, off to Crystal Palace for breakfast. We'd hoped to get together with TheGoof and his DS, but there was no sign of them - I later read his trip report and found out why - something about forgetting to remove the TV remote from his pocket when he left their room, and his attempts to return it after checking out. From his TR, I ascertained that they'd gotten in for their breakfast at about the time we were leaving - ships passing in the night. Good thing we'd said our goodbyes yesterday!!

When we were seated for breakfast, we discovered that Annette had struck again ! There on the table was a heart fashioned from Mickey confetti ! We'd only been seated a few minutes when Pooh came by. He made a big fuss over the heart, and I got kisses from him. Then along came Tigger, and he and Bob played for a bit (Bob is another Tigger.... ). No sooner had Tigger moved on, than here came Eeyore! Wow !! Three characters in a row, and all before our server even had a chance to get to us. I mean right away, almost as soon as we sat down. This was really quite magical !

I told Eeyore, "Thanks for noticing us," and got another kiss . He is such a sweet donkey !

Laurie, our server, finally got to take our drink orders and we headed for the buffet. So much to choose from! We loaded our plates and had a really scrumptious breakfast. The breakfast lasagna is to die for !

During the course of the meal, we were presented with a really nice certificate in honor of our anniversary. Tinker Bell is pictured on it, and it's autographed by all four characters! What a nice touch !!

We used our meal vouchers (from MEV) and found that we'd also get complimentary smoothies! We put the confetti in an empty film container, and posed with Piglet on our way out of the restaurant.

We went back to Tomorrowland and met up with Steve Barrett for the MK Hidden Mickey Hunt. We met a sweet young lady named Elizabeth (from Orlando), who tagged along with us. She told us that her parents have been letting her come to WDW by herself since she was 10 ....she's now 14. Elizabeth knew where most of the HM's were, but some were really tricky.

Our hunt took us to Tomorrowland, ToonTown (and through Mickey's Country House), Fantasyland, and Liberty Square. In Belle's Fairytale theatre, we had to wait until the show was over before we could find a particularly difficult one . By the time we found them all and located Steve again, we were in fourth place . Oh, well....Better luck next time.

We chatted with Steve for a bit, then went to Adventureland to roam the Swiss Family Tree House (another "new" thing for us). It was quite interesting, but those stairs !!! WOW!!!!! I'd have liked to have had more time to look things over (and catch my breath), but the crowd of people behind us didn't make that possible .

It was almost time for the PassPorter Treasure Hunt, so we went to the Plaza Pavilion to find the Marx's. This was another new thing for us....I guess I didn't realize it was even there! It's kinda hidden away.....

So, when everyone was gathered, we were given our list of questions, and a time limit. Many of the questions required that attractions be visited and had a varying degree of difficulty, so we grabbed a fastpass for Buzz and headed for CoP.

I love CoP. It's going to be such a shame when and if it finally goes to that big attraction heaven in the sky....

We got several answers here, then rode Buzz. We quickly gave up on trying to answer any of the questions for this ride, because things just move too fast in there, and just started shooting stuff (which was more fun, anyway!).

Wandering through Tomorrowland, we found some more answers....We rode CoP one more time, to find answers we'd missed the first time through, then reported back to the Plaza Pavilion "Headquarters".

We turned in our answers, then headed to the Share a Dream Come True parade with Lou, Deanna, and Marion Rose. She really loves Mickey - her parents are raising that child right!

After the parade, we returned to find out who'd won. Bob and I didn't get enough points to win anything, but it was fun just the same! I was pleased that the team winners were friends of ours...James D and Linda took first place, and Lou and Deanna won second....I'm sure that little Marion Rose is going to love the plush Sorcerer Mickey.

Someone (I can't remember who now) told us that Tink's Treasures had finger puppets for $1 each! Hey, great! Wonderful (and cheap) souvenirs to take home for friends!! Off to Tink's, where we found that they did, indeed, have said finger puppets. $1 each with any purchase....The next question was, "How many can we buy with one purchase?" The CM called her manager, and was told "25". I was in Hog Heaven! We grabbed Mickeys, Minnies, Goofys, Poohs, and Tiggers until we had 25, then Bob picked out a Tinkerbell pin he'd been eying. We had our treasures shipped to POR, and headed for Liberty Tree for our dinner PS.

We had lots of fun with the characters - Dale, Minnie, Goofy, Pluto, Chip, then Goofy and Minnie again. Pluto was particulary funny - He took someone's Christmas tree hat and ran around the room with it balanced on his nose. Then he played around, playing "Hide and Seek" with me behind my chair! He was really cute!

We got ready to leave the park, because it was getting to be MVMCP time, and we weren't doing that this evening. We stopped at Town Square Exposition Hall, which, again, we'd never done before. We were surprised at how much there was to it....I didn't really understand what was in there ! Lots of photo ops.

I was starting to feel the effects of a cold which I'd apparently picked up somewhere, and was feeling kinda punky , so we went back to our room and took a nap.

WARNING: DEFINITELY NON-DISNEY EVENING ENTERTAINMENT AHEAD. PROCEED AT YOUR OWN RISK!!! DANGER, WILL ROBINSON!!!!

Bob woke me up at 9:20, asking if I wanted to go to Parliament House (which a friend had told us about and recommended). I was really feeling bad by this time, but I got up and dressed for an evening out.

It took us a while to find the place, because the directions we'd been given were from the wrong direction !!! We finally figured out how to get there, and pulled into the parking lot. There was a huge billboard outside stating that this was: "Parliament House, Orlando's Number One Gay Resort and Bar" or words to that effect.

Before you get the idea that we were set up, we knew exactly where we were going and what we were getting into. Bob and I are regulars at one of the gay bars here in Lansing - we photograph all the Drag shows and special events (for their website), and I was one of the judges in a recent "Beauty Contest". So actually, we were looking forward to this evening.

BTW, if anyone would like to see some of the photos we've taken for the bar, here's the website http://www.spiraldancebar.com/
Just click on the Photos link, then check out the Party pix and the Cabaret night pictures....we took all the party ones and all but one - the fuzzy one on the upper right - of the cabaret night pictures. Also, the one on the upper left is the person who sent us to Parliament House.

We went into the building, and found the entrance to the "Footlight Theatre", where we caught the last act of the 10:30 show - a Diana Ross look-alike who appropriately did a Diana Ross number. Then the theatre was emptied, so we went to the bar and had a drink while waiting for the midnight show (which was the one our friend had recommended). As we waited, we were entertained by the piano player, and some of the people he invited to sing (apparently they were regulars). One girl in particular was really good!

Soon, we returned to the theatre, where we found seats in the first row.....Which turned out to be more fun than we'd bargained for.

The lights dimmed, the curtains opened, and we saw a huge, beautiful black drag queen in a shiny rust-colored gown. Our friend had told us that this was an ex-professional football player, and she was certainly big enough! She performed her number, then it was time to check out the audience....and guess who got checked out first thing!

Yup, Bob and me. We had a grand time with her, mentioning the name of our friend in the process (whom she pretended not to know). Then it was time to pick on others in the audience. She ended up by dragging (no pun intended this time) a cute 19-year-old guy up on stage with her, where she proceeded to do some really funny stuff, which I won't go into here, but trust me, it was extremely risque and highly hilarious! At one point she got another cute guy out of the audience, got me up on stage, then offered the first guy a choice of which of us he'd like to French kiss....me, the drag queen, or the cutie....Well, duh! I know which I'd have chosen....

So I returned to my seat (unkissed, which was okay by me, although I got lots of offers from some of the audience ). The two guys proceeded to kiss, then it was time for the rest of the show to begin.

I don't remember all the songs that were performed, but there was a rather large drag queen who did a country number "I'm Just Here for the Party", and another who was in an "Edward Scissorhands" costume who did Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody". There was a total of 5 drag queens who performed, including the MC.

As we were leaving, we heard someone running up behind us shouting, "Michigan people, Michigan people". We turned around and saw a guy running toward us, so we waited for him to get to us. He told us that he knew our friend, and asked us to deliver a message for him, which we were glad to do. I'd picked up a couple of matchbooks in the bar, so asked him to write his message inside one of them (for future reference, if you're ever in a gay bar and want to give someone a private message - like your phone number this is one way to do it)....Our friend was ecstatic when we gave it to her.

It was now really late, but I was feeling better - I guess I just needed this bit of a boost to perk me up. So we went back to our room to slumber until our visit to the Studios the next morning.