The Theme Park Kamikazes: Do It All or Die Trying **Now With Pictures!** About This Page:

[pflamingo]

Ooooooh, you all make me feel so good! [img]graemlins/love.gif[/img]

I'm so glad you like this!

tikibird - I know what you mean about the thighs! I made myself a sarong (actually a pareo, but no one ever knows what that is) to cover up for the walk to and from the pool.

wheatenwalker - I love the Land's End site! I used their size chart and actually took a few measurements (took a couple of days to recover from that trauma!). I ended up ordering the size I'm mostly wearing now. It seemed a bit baggy when I first tried it on, but I decided that was better than being too tight. Oh, and I got the black "tunic suit" (think that's what it's called). Looked a bit old-ladyish in the pics, but when I got it on it actually had a sort of Betty Grable/Marilyn Monroe glamour look to it. I love it! And the great thing about LE is they'll take it back if you don't like it.

coffeechef - Definitely do AKL! Didn't I read on another thread that you're thinking of going solo? I found AKL very peaceful and relaxing, especially sitting on the balcony, watching the animals. Everyone there was very friendly, too. I've traveled by myself before (though not to WDW)and if I was going alone, I think I'd be very happy there.

MrsM - I'll send that recipe this afternoon. As for the suit, check out Land's End. They have very nice suits, and (if I recall correctly) they do some of the regular suits in maternity styles.

[wheatenwalker]

Pat, Thats the exact suit I liked best when I tried it on my virtual self!! I alsoliked the black and white flowered suit withthe criss crossy front. The tunic is probably the one I will get, keep writing cause I'm loving your report! Sheila

[Mel & Richard]

I am loving your trip report! Great detail. [img]images/icons/smile.gif[/img]

I would also love the recipes. My email address is richard_andmel@hotmail.com

Also I wanted to say that I absolutely love Lands End too. I shop from them quite a bit, especially for DH. But for swimwear also check out: http://www.obxsunwear.com/ I got the most beautiful suit from them. It's very well made, and was quite reasonable.

Mel

[Ursunique2001]

Well your day started off quite bumpy, but it ended on a high note though.

Boma sounds just wonderful. I must put that on my lists of must-sees.

I too used to feel funny in bathing suits but what stopped me from feeling self-conscious was when I saw women and men that were bigger than me flaunting it. I figured it they can do it, then so can I. Plus I think I look darn good, if I must say so myself.

Love your report so far. Keep it coming.

[Tara O'Hara]

I would like those recipes as well and I just knew that you would love AKL!! [img]graemlins/love.gif[/img] Not falling in love with it is like not falling in love with DW! It really is an amazing place. I did not do dinner there last time I went, but it is definately on the list for next time! Your report is awesome. Keep writing!

Tara
[img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

Ps. My e-mail address is tarajean1962@hotmail.com. Thanks!

[Fantasia77]

DH & I will have to try Boma's on our next trip. Sounds yummy! I'll take the recipes if you don't mind passing them along to me. Sorry to hear about the terrible start of your trip. How awful.

You report has been great so far. Keep it coming!

[tigger536]

Great report! Thanks for sharing!

[Ears Only]

Please keep writing your report! It's fantastic and hysterical.

Looking forward to the next installment!!

[img]images/icons/tongue.gif[/img]

[pflamingo]

It took some serious adjustment to go back to work after such a great trip, and thus the delay in posting the next installment. I'm working in the summer program at my school, and while I don't usually go in on Friday's, Friday's being field trip days, I got conned, er, I mean, asked to help chaperone tomorrow's trip. Actually, it went something like, "how many hours and do I get paid my usual tutoring wage". The answers were "8" and "yes." I quickly did the calculations, and came up with the sum of "one night's lodging on the November WDW trip". A powerful incentive. So I'm going on this field trip with 2 other teachers, and something like 30 6- to 13-year-olds. I may not make it back alive, and wanted to at least get this episode on the boards... just in case.

Cast: The Kamikazes
Pat (a.k.a., PFlamingo) – grew up at WDW and never quite got over moving away
Dennis – last trip 12 years ago w/ brother, nephew, and niece – bad idea

When: June 5 – 13, 2002

Where: Animal Kingdom Lodge;
Radisson Parkway (1 night);
Pat’s Parents’ House (1 night)

Reason: Me – long, hard year teaching math to 10- to 13-year-olds
Dennis – because I made it sound like so much fun
Both – because life is short, we’re not getting any younger, and we’re not willing to grow up

June 6, 2002 – Day 2 – Chapter 1: The Kamikazes’ Check In at AKL and Take On Epcot *or* Around the World (Showcase) in 12 Hours

Just a few comments on my pre-trip planning. I hit Sam’s Club and stocked up on snackage. The individual packs of cookies and crackers were great for stuffing in the waist pack and munching in the parks. I also hit the $1 store and found all kinds of goodies. I got these cool lime green and ice blue plastic plates, bowls, and tumblers – 4/$1! How cheap is that? Got a couple of cool looking plastic wine glasses, too. One of my students gave me a picnic basket as an end-of-school gift, so we tossed all this stuff into the picnic basket, along with some napkins, utensils, Swiss-Army knife, corkscrew, two plastic champagne flutes, and zip-lock baggies. We brought a cooler with sodas and a couple of water bottles, too. And last, but not least, we took a bottle of wine and another of champagne. This all worked out great! We had everything we needed for breakfasts, snacking, and our own “cocktail hours” right at our fingertips. And now, back to the story.

We woke up bright and early, thanks to the wake-up call, and feeling refreshed. We had our morning wake-up showers and dressed for our first day of theme-park attack. We brewed some coffee and had our cereal, fruit, and juice for breakfast. Dennis is a sucker for funky eating utensils and he loved my $1 store finds! We then tossed together what little we had unpacked, called the bell service and headed out. Love that express check-out service! Oh, but our swimsuits were still wet, so we put them in a plastic Publix bag and threw them in the back of the car.

By about quarter to 8 we were on our way to AKL. We were so excited about checking in. We were already in love with the place, and we’d only had dinner there. As we pulled up to the entrance, there was a van in front of us, and the whole family was getting out. They had a little boy who looked about 7 years-old, who sort of headed away from the car and toward the lodge. The CM who was directing traffic put his hand on the kid’s head, and in one twist of the wrist (like on the lid of a jar) he had the boy moving back toward the van. The movement looked so practiced and deft that Dennis and I couldn’t help grinning. Well, the CM saw us, came over to my car, and with a smile said something like, “You just gotta know how to handle ‘em.” Then he directed us to a space where we could unload our bags. We had so much stuff with us that, of course, we needed one of those carts. We left a few things in the car, figuring we’d retrieve them later. But we still had 13 bags for the two of us! This did include the cooler, picnic basket, and groceries, but not the bag full of damp swimsuits.

Anyway, we went to check-in and, lo and behold, our room was ready – at 8:15 a.m.! The CM at check in was just as nice as she could be. I asked about splitting up our final bill on two credit cards, and she said, “No problem,” and told us how to do it. She then explained the rules of the lodge to us (like, no throwing things off the balcony), and answered all our questions about charging things to the room. I’m always amazed by people who can be so pleasant and cheerful so early in the morning! Well, we got to our room and, guess what, they gave us everything I’d asked for in my room request. I did what you all recommended, and faxed this four days before, and it worked! We had 2nd floor (Room 2235) on the Kudu Trail, about a third of the way down the hall from the lobby, and even got the king-sized bed we asked for. The room was beautiful! The furniture there is so pretty! As for the room size, we thought it was fine. I could see where a room with two queen-sized beds could be a bit cramped, though. We had the standard table & chairs, and a love-seat that was a small sleeper-sofa. Best of all, we each had a night stand! I hate fighting Dennis for nightstand space. It was definitely bigger than the $200 a night closet we had in NYC, and the view was fabulous! (Actually the room in NYC was very nice, just very small, and had a view of a roof.)

The bell service was a bit slow in getting our stuff to the room. Probably had to find someone with the strength to push, pull, or drag our ridiculously over-laden cart! But again, the CM was very friendly and helpful. While we were waiting, I called to arrange turn-down service, and left the tip envelope for the turn-down person. And I admit it, I couldn’t resist bringing along my Pooh and Tigger beanies, and having them hold the envelope! After the bell-person left, I had to wait for Dennis to decide what he wanted from the picnic basket to munch on at Epcot. Honestly, I’m bad at home about having to go back three times from the car to the house to get all junk that I “forgot”, but he beat my ability to dink around by a long shot! Normally it wouldn’t bother me, ‘cause hey, normally I’m dinking around too, but it was already after 9 and I wanted to get to Epcot!! Let’s go!!!!

We waited maybe 5 minutes for the bus, and it took maybe 10 minutes to get to Epcot. Then we got a look at the bag check lines! Yikes! Epcot seems to have the least efficient set-up for this. The tables are right in front of the turnstiles, which slowed down the process since you have to go through the turnstile on the same side as the check table. So if anyone had trouble with their ticket, the line backed up. It took us probably 10 minutes to get through this. Next the finger scan thing for our APs gave Dennis some trouble. He couldn’t quite get it right, and the CM had to override it. This became a recurring theme during the week. So at 9:45 we were finally in the park and ready to go for it!

We made straight for Test Track, but the wait was already 45 minutes, so we got our FastPasses and went to HISTA & Imagination. To show how long it’s been since either of us has been to Epcot, neither of us had seen HISTA before. But we both loved it! Especially the ending – talk about ROFL! The new Journey into Imagination was okay. I don’t think I ever saw the revised version, only the original, which I really liked. I can’t imagine it (no pun intended) without Figment. Anyway, this was pretty cute and Eric Idle is one of my favorite comedians, so we both enjoyed it.

It was about 10:45, so we figured we go to the rope drop for WS. I wanted to be sure to get on Maelstrom early, plus, I wanted to see if they were still doing the “Viking of the Day” thing that Nate described in the “NASTEE Report”. They weren’t, but all the CM’s from Norway were lined up across the walkway, singing and waving Norwegian flags. Instead of “Viking”, they picked out a little boy to be the “Jr. Chef of the Day”. He looked a bit confused, but his parents loved it. It was really cute to see! Not sure what happened to him after that, but I did see a bunch of “Jr. Chefs” at The Land later that day.

We had to wait a few minutes while they got Maelstrom running, but once they did we were among the first people on. Since Dennis didn’t get to see much of WS on his last trip (w/ his niece & nephew, who didn’t want to do much of anything), we watched the post-Maelstrom film. Then we went to look at the Stave church. Dennis is Byzantine Catholic, and there are a lot of similarities between their churches and the Scandinavian churches. He really enjoyed that exhibit, and I enjoyed watching his reactions.


Dennis gets friendly with the troll in Norway


One nice thing about being short - the troll isn't patting my tushie!

By now, we were getting pretty hungry, and fish & chips sounded good to both of us. Besides, I wanted to get over to the other side of WS for a bit of my heritage. We stopped in Canada to see the film. Since my parents are Canadian (although they moved to Florida and became US citizens a thousand years ago) and I have a dual citizenship, this area has a special place in my heart. I guess if I was desperate for a job at WDW, I could claim on my Canadian (or even British) heritage and get a job at Epcot! Anyway, dated as it is, Dennis really liked this movie, and I told him about the places we used to visit when I was a kid, and we decided we should take a trip there someday. We looked around the shops and thought of things we wanted to buy, then we figured we’d better get some lunch.

That fact that I’m only 2 generations removed from Great Britain means that I have a streak of malt vinegar running through my veins. Get me anywhere near a decent fish & chip shop, and I’m eating there. We went to Harry Ramsden’s Fish & Chip shop and got in line. Unfortunately, we got in line behind some crabby woman who was complaining to the CM about how the other line was moving faster than our line. “They’ve served 4 people while I’ve been standing here!” The CM, with her charming accent, very politely explained that she was waiting for the woman’s fish to finish frying, and her order would be up in a minute. The crabby woman kept on, saying, “I don’t see why they’re getting served faster.” It obviously never occurred to this woman that the people in the other line may have only been ordering sodas, or things that didn’t require frying. Anyway, she was ranting on to her pal, who came over to see what was taking so long (honestly, these people must live on microwave food), and the CM turned away just a bit and rolled her eyes! I saw her do it, and grinned at her, and she gave me a big smile and did this exaggerated lean to look past the crabby woman, and said “How may I help you?” So I ordered our food, being sure to say “please” and “thank you”, and as she took the money she said, “Nice people, always a pleasure,” and I said, “Well, it takes so much to be polite, you know.” The crabby woman was oblivious, and anyway her food was ready, so she took it and left. I took our order, and wished the CM a great day. There were no tables in the little sitting area to the right of the shop, and it didn’t occur to us to go to the other side of the Rose & Crown, so we sat on the benches by the lagoon and ate. A bit hot in the sun, but lots of other people were doing the same. The fish & chips were great! They’d just come out of the fryer, so they were extremely hot! (I secretly wished that the crabby woman burned her mouth on it, for being so rude.) The portions were huge, as usual. Had we been slightly less hungry, we probably could have shared an order.

After lunch we went to browse through the British shops. At the very back of the shops there is a little square like you’d see in London, and who was there, but Pooh, Eeyore & Tigger, practically by themselves! There were a few people around Pooh and Eeyore, but only one family by Tigger (who was standing on the sidewalk by one of the shops), so I went over to get my picture with him. Just as I walked up, the CM w/ Tigger asked him to move over by the others. I said, “Oh, can I just get a picture?” and she said (a bit gruffly) “Over there.” So I started to follow, and Tigger turned around and grabbed my hand and made me skip with him over to the new picture spot! It was so funny, and everyone watching got quite a kick out of it, including Dennis. I got great pictures with Tigger, Pooh, and Eeyore, which really made my day! Then we wandered through the shops and talked to a very nice (and very cute!) CM in the chess shop. I’m a sucker for men with British accents.


The wonderful thing about Tiggers...


A couple of "tubbie little cubbies..."


"That's oh-kaaaay. We'll just stand here in the sun and melt."

Now it was time to go back to ride Test Track. We got in the FastPass line, and went right up almost to the boarding area, when the whole line just stopped. We probably waited about 10 minutes, during which they didn’t seem to be boarding anyone, then the line started moving again. This was another ride that neither of us had been on, but we had heard so much about it, we were really excited. We weren’t disappointed! It was really fun! Of course, we had no idea about the photo op on the thing, so when we got to the end and checked the monitors, we just about wet ourselves laughing at the dopey looks on our faces! We had to buy this picture! Those ride pictures turned out to be our favorite souvenirs. We didn’t buy a lot of other stuff, but we ended up getting almost all the pictures. We seem to have a knack for having weird looks on our faces on rides.

Next we hit Cranium Command which we both thought was very funny. We decided to skip Body Wars though, since neither of us deals well with discussions of blood and internal organs, not to mention pictures of same, not to mention “riding” through same. Besides, I’d had quite enough of blood the day before. We went to Energy, but the wait was almost 20 minutes, and it was really hot & humid out, so we tried Spaceship Earth. Five minute wait there, and a nice relaxing ride, but they do need to pad the headrests, especially for the backward part. We walked over to the Living Seas, which used to be one of my favorite attractions. Boy, do they need to do something here! The aquarium is still amazing, but I really used to like riding through it, even if it only lasted a couple of minutes. I also recall that you used to be able to see the dolphins, without arranging a special tour. If that’s the case, there didn’t seem to be any signs directing anyone to this area.

We went to the Land, but the wait for Listen to the Land was 60 minutes and there were no FastPasses. We decided to check out the AP lounge, and get something to drink. The lounge was very nice, and Chip & Dale were there playing with some of the kids. We each had drinks and talked to the CM about the rumored special viewing area for Illuminations. He told us they had eliminated that, but something new was supposed to be coming out for AP holders. He said it wouldn’t be announced in time to make the next newsletters, but to keep checking over the next few weeks. Sounds interesting! We decided to see the Circle of Life film, which required about a 10 minute wait. Just before the film, they had one of the kids come up and read the “rules”, then they gave him a Magical Moments certificate. That was pretty cute, and he did a great job. A future CM, no doubt! After the film, the line for the boat ride was still 45 minutes, so we decided to leave it for another day. We had 90 minutes til our PS at Marrakesh, so we decided to go catch Energy, then walk to the restaurant.

As we were leaving The Land, I suddenly realized that we’d been at Epcot all day and not had a Micky Bar!! Oh, no!! And dinner was a whole hour and a half away! So we bought a couple, found a bench in the Innovations (I can never figure out if it’s East or West) breezeway, and chowed down. By the way, if you’re looking for a cool place to sit, the bench on the end, closest to the center of FW (that is, away from The Land), facing the Electric Umbrella, gets a continuous blast of A/C. It felt wonderful in that heat! Well, we started chomping on those rich, creamy, chocolatey (craving one yet?) Mickey Bars, thinking we’d landed in ice cream heaven, when we looked at the “nutritional information” on the wrapper. Well blessed mother of Maude Adams!!! Something like 350 calories and 50% of the daily allowance of fat!! Oy vey!! Dennis and I have been trying very hard to eat low-fat (at home, I mean), because he needs to lower his cholesterol and I need to lower my weight. Now, I’m pretty sure the fish & chips we had at lunch took care of at least the other 50% fat allowance, and we still had dinner to eat, so we were feeling just a tad guilty here. But not for long – we pretended that all the walking we’d done so far, and all the walking we had yet to do would surely burn off those calories, and well, we’d just have to have some red wine with dinner to scour the fat build-up from our arteries. That’s our logic and we’re sticking to it. Onward!

Energy was okay. I used to watch Ellen Degeneres’ show all the time, and I liked the movie parts of the attraction, but the rest felt kind of patched together. Oh well, at least it was air conditioned. We wandered through WS, and rode El Rio del Tiempo. It’s not high on my list of “to do’s,” but again, Dennis didn’t get to see it before, and our motto was “Do it all or die trying,” so we did it. That melody sticks in your head as bad as It’s a Small World. It’s in my head now. La-la, la-la, laaaaa, la, la-la, la-la, laaaa, ...

After Mexico, we by-passed Norway since we’d checked it out earlier and went to China. We decided to pass on the movie for the time-being and looked around the shops for a bit. They had chopsticks on sale, so we bought a couple of pairs, and yes, we asked to send them to the resort! Hey, our fanny packs were already full of snacks and junk, and the chopsticks were pretty long, and it’s a free service, so why not?

By this time, the parade was about to start, so we walked as far as the US pavilion, found a nice perch on the edge of the fountain, and watched. I was amazed at how uncrowded the park was! Guess the less hardy folks had retreated back to their hotels to get out of the hot & humid combo. But we are kamikazes! What’s a little heat & humidity to us? Anyway, the Tapestry of Dreams parade was extremely cool. The puppets were beautiful, but I got a bigger kick out of watching the performers’ faces as they interacted with the guests. I thought about all the people I knew who worked at Disney when I was growing up in Orlando, and about how all these CM’s seemed to really enjoy their jobs – those smiles on their faces were definitely not forced! Made me want to run away and join the Disney “circus”.

The parade finished and we made our way to Japan, for a quick run through the shop before dinner. Didn’t really see anything that struck our fancies, so we went on to Marrakesh for dinner.

Next Episode: Could They Put a Any More Food on This Plate *or* You Know, It Would Be Rude Not to Eat It All

[ 07-16-2002, 11:57 AM: Message edited by: pflamingo ]

[pflamingo]

I was just looking back over the responses -- did I send the recipes to everyone who asked? If I missed anyone, please let me know and I'll get them to you. Assuming I survive the field trip! [img]graemlins/dizzy.gif[/img]

[PS - I LUV WDW]

Pat,

Thanks for another great installment. Seeing you were at EPCOT (our favorite park), I was savoring every moment of your report.

And yes all of the walking does make up for eating about triple the normal daily fat count... that's what we say every trip too!!! [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

[MrsM]

Thanks for the update, I'm really enjoying your report! And you did send me the sweet potato recipe.

[Mel & Richard]

I am really hoping you survived your trip because I want to hear the rest of this report! [img]images/icons/wink.gif[/img]

What sort of field trip was it?

Seriously Pat I am loving your descriptions of everything. You're sure you don't want to teach english instead of math? [img]images/icons/wink.gif[/img]

Mel

[mattjs]

Haven't read the trip reports in awhile and don't know why. They're so fun to read through. Great stuff! Please keep it coming.

[September]

Wonderful report...can't wait to read the rest!