5th Anniversary Trip to the World, part two and a half - UPDATED 2/14 About This Page:

[PoohBearFreak32]

Tuesday, November 13, 2007 82 degrees

We woke up around 7:00 a.m. and partook of the wonderful breakfast at the Innkeeper's Club at the Boardwalk. I gotta say that this feature of the Concierge level really is worth it's weight in gold. Free breakfast! It really staves off the hunger panges and prevents you from spending money at the parks in route to your destination.

At 8:30 a.m. we caught the boat to MGM. Now, this is one of my favorite things to do. I like the boat ride and getting to check out the Swan and Dolphin as we passed is really cool too.

My husband was all hyped up to get to MGM this morning because last year he got his picture taken with Darth Vader. When we arrived, the park hadn't been "officially" opened but it was really difficult to tell what was going on because there weren't Cast Members patrolling around like at the MK before opening. Yes, there was a sort of rope up across the area by the Dino snack shop thingie but someone had unhooked it and a bunch of people were spilling through so hubby and I went as well. Like I said, it was confusing and then my hubby kept saying "I don't think we're allowed to do that". Whatever. I pulled him along anyway.

First up was Stars Tours for hubby. That's his favorite ride. I opted out of the ride and went to take pictures of the Muppet area then shopped in the gift shop outside the Star Tours ride. No good tee shirts to buy this year. Most of the stuff was marketed to the Jedi Training Academy.

When hubby exited the ride (twice) he inquired about the Darth Vader photo op. The Cast Member on duty said that it was discontinued because of the Training Academy. Hubby was crushed. Not only was he cheated out of one of his favorite things but also adults are not allowed to attend the Training Academy. Why did they go and mess with a good thing? So, we watched the Jedi Training Academy and it was pretty funny to see those kids fighting Darth Vader with their light sabers. Of course, hubby videoed the whole thing. I, in the meantime, had spotted the Dream Squad talking to a mom a bench away from me so I was trying to attract their attention without being obvious. It didn't pay off.

After that, we wandered around the park and noticed that some of the characters were doing Meet and Greets in their holiday garb. I've never seen the characters like that before so we motored to stand in line. However; the lines were very very long. We stood behind a Cast Member who told us that she couldn't guarantee that we would even get up there before the characters had to leave. Rats! It just wasn't to be. All you folks who decided to go the WDW the week before Thanksgiving, don't do that again! Just kidding. In years past it was never this crowded.

We caught the boat to Epcot around 12:30 p.m. and ate lunch at the Tangerine Cafe in Morocco. Now, this is usually my favorite part of Epcot. But, the dining Gods were not with us today. They don't have the chicken salad wraps any more so I had to settle for the clearly inferior chicken sandwich. Even hubby said that his lamb sandwich was not as good as years past. Again, we change a good thing? Major disappointment. Hubby wanted his picture with Jasmine so we watched her meet and greet for awhile before hubby said that this Jasmine wasn't up to par. He's a Jasmine snob. Seriously.

We left at around 2:30 to chill at the hotel, which meant I read a book on the balcony and hubby went to the Arcade.

At 6:30 we took the boat back to Epcot and staked out a viewing spot for Illuminations. Now, this is the funny part. We sat on a picnic table in front of Germany and there was this older couple on the table next to ours. I told them that they really needed to defend their position against interlopers who would come by later and try to horn in on the spot. We all moved the picnic tables right up to the fence so no one could squeeze in and we sat on top of the tables. The folks next to us were not diligent so they did get saddled with a bunch of drunk folks from the real Germany. I did warn them. I gave the evil eye to anyone coming our way while hubby fiddled with the video camera. I had never seen Illuminations before so it was very exciting. I got a pretzel and a water and we watched a spirited duck fight on the water below before the torches were lit.

It actually wasn't that crowded, for which I was surprised. I mean, it was crowded but not scary crowded. A nice family with three kids came up and I invited them to share our table. I must say that their kids were very well behaved. Kudos to the good parenting skills there.

We watched the show and it was great. Hubby watched it through the viewing screen of the camcorder. After it was over we waited until the crowds thinned before leaving. I asked hubby how the filming went and he looked real funny. I said "What?" and he said, in a sheepish voice "I forgot to hit the record button". After that, if we did something stupid it forever went down in the annals of history as "pulling a David".

[PrincessSharon]

Just catching up. Sounds like you're having a nice anniversary trip.

[RobDVC]

Sounds like a nice day. Sorry about the IllumiNations non-taping.

[Colexis Mom]

Another great update! Glad you had such great seats for the fireworks. Sorry you forgot to push record (BTDT) More please