Fab Four - COMPLETED!!! IT'S ALL HERE!!!! IT'S DONE!!!!! About This Page:

[ripkensnana]

<font color="red">DISNEY M-G-M, HERE WE ARE!!! </font>

The mid-week brought us to MGM studios. Our first stop was the central plaza where there is a pin trading store.

***Right under the Sorcerer's Hat. Actually, I just wanted to see how they'd changed it...not much, as I remember... Then, of course there was the obligatory stop at "Villains in Vogue", one of my very favorite shops at WDW (or anywhere, for that matter), and one of my favorite CM's, Andy-Ross. Thank Disney for Parcel Pickup! ***

Of course, Carol had to go see if there were any pins that she didn't already have.

***Actually, I was on the hunt for the "Villaintine's Day" pins - one from each park, and only in one spot per park. I managed to get almost all of them. ***

But I can't say too much as I spent quite a bit of time in the stores myself. That carry pouch I bought appeared to have opened the floodgates of my wallet. I was buying pins and bottle straps (one for each park was the goal), and... Oops! I can't say any more! One of the things I bought was my girlfriend's anniversary gift. She reads the messages from this mailing list and I don't want to give away the surprise.

We made our way around the park in a generally counter-clockwise direction. We wandered right up to the outermost entry to the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror. If you weren't listening to Carol and I talk, you may have even thought - for half a second - that we were going to ride it. Instead we discovered that the Rockin' Roller Coaster had a very short line (which I noticed Pal Mickey didn't tell us about...). What caused this decision was another part of the same discussion: what we don't like about thrill rides. For me, it's the big drop. For Carol, it's being bumped around when they change direction so rapidly and being upside down.

***And the Big Drop!!! I have a pin from Universal Studios which says "Certified Coaster Chicken" and has Woody Woodpecker on it. And Malcolm and I both agree - there's no way either of us is ever getting on TOT !!! Actually, RnRC had been down for repairs all morning, and had just re-opened, hence the short line.***

Since there are no drops, there are no sudden direction changes, and the ride is entirely indoors (in the dark), Carol decided to give it a try. As we got off, we passed the desk where they sell you a picture of what you looked like on the ride. At this moment came the quote of the day: "I got on it. I did it. You might as well buy the picture as proof, because it's NOT gonna happen again!!" Carol wasn't terrified, but in spite of not seeing the ground, there was one l-a-r-g-e arc where we went upside down (which I honestly forgot about), so even in the dark there was no doubt of being upside down. She did, however, enjoy the level, no hill take off generated by the perfection of magnetic repulsion technology. 0 to 60 in 2.8 seconds is quite exciting!

***Yeah, that part was really cool!!! When I saw the takeoff from the queue, I said to Malcolm, "Wow, those are some really serious G's!" The takeoff almost makes the rest of the ride worthwhile. I'd probably have enjoyed this attraction more if I hadn't been terrified of losing my glasses... And if it hadn't been right after lunch...There's a very remote chance that I might be coerced into riding this again, but NOT after eating, and I'll take my glasses off and stow them - or get one of those elastic sports thingys to hold them on securely. But I've heard that those don't always work... ***

We found a most decided dud of an attraction in the Monster Sound Show. All they do is have you put on a set of headphones -mostly in the dark because Drew Carey does something to his undercover camera to make it malfunction- and listen to a bunch of scripted conversations and sound effects. We decided this could be the worst attraction Disney has to offer.

***Followed closely by...but that's another day...I have one word for this attraction - BORING!!! ***


On the other hand, there were two thrills in the day. First, we all decided that we really enjoy eating at the 50's Prime Time cafe. There are segments of old black-and-white TV shows (Father Knows Best, Donna Reed, etc.) running on an infinite loop of about 45 minutes that shows on a TV set located at every table. Further harkening back to the olden days is the play-act that the wait staff get to perform. You're referred to as "kids" or "cousins" when your table is ready. The spiel goes that "Mom is in the kitchen cooking and Grandma is doing dessert", so the whole idea of sitting in the kitchen like a little kid to eat your meal is further enhanced - complete with all the old rules: no elbows on the table,

***Unless you're coloring,***

did you wash you hands,

***"What color was the soap?, no tattling, no whining,***

did you clean your plate, an so on. Bob and Carol's favorite gag is to touch the other and start a mock "He's touching me!" battle.

***Bob got told to stop tattling, and I got told to keep my hands to myself. ***

While I got a drink that comes in a souvenir glass and contains an ice cube that lights up,

***Me, too, and so did Mom, each in a different color. Malcolm's is blue, mine's orange, and Mom got red.***

I think my favorite moment was when a man at a nearby table didn't finish his meal. The waitress picked up his fork, stabbed his plate about six or seven times (and NOT because she missed something), held it up to his mouth, and said "There's only one more bite left - you can finish that! Open wide!" The teenage girl at the table (I suspect his daughter) nearly rolled onto the floor with laughter.

***I actually tried something aside from my usual pot roast (which I love). I did the chicken pot pie, which is very tasty. From now on, I have to make decisions! And for dessert, we got Dad's Supreme Sundae, which is large enough for the four of us to share. At one point while we were savoring this, we all raised our loaded spoons and wished a Happy Birthday to Ed (The Goof), as he'd told me in the chatroom that we'd be at this park on his birthday.***

The other thrill was when we got on the Great Movie Ride. Oddly every time Carol had been on the ride, she always got the cart that stopped in the gangster display. Conversely, I always (except once) got the cart with the wild west display.

***I remember once that Malcolm teld us that something new had been added to the Great Movie Ride - a gangster scene...He was surprised to learn that this was the only one I'd ever seen, so when I found out that you could request a certain scenario (thanks, Passporter), we took advantage.***

In both places, a (living) bad guy takes over the cart from your guide during a gunfight with some animatronic figures. I won't ruin it for you by telling how it turns out. Anyway, we made a special request to be placed on the wild west cart. They had a technical glitch with it, so it wasn't available at that moment. While we waited in the boarding area, we had the cast member show us where the two Hidden Mickeys were in the wall mural. Then they asked us if we minded going on the ride twice.

***"Would we mind?" Puh-leeze! ***

Since the "gangster" cart was expected to be back online by then all we would have to do is move to the proper staging line when everyone else got off. We agreed and got to go on the ride twice in a row!

***So we rode the gangster car, then the western car. The Cast Member was so nice to us, his name was Michael. A real sweetheart. I wish I'd had some WWWD (What Would Walt Do) pins, which I've found somewhere online that you can purchase to give to CM's who go above and beyond the call of duty. I need to get some for our next trip. At any rate, this is one of my favorite rides at the Studios, so I was thrilled to be able to go on it twice in a row! ***

Now I seem to be remembering that this happened again somewhere... Oh yes! That was in a different park and will be reported on later.

***Malcolm forgot to mention that as we watched the "Who Wants to be a Millionaire -Play It!" show, Mom left the show early because she got too cold in the air conditioning. The host made a big deal out of it (in a rather nice fashion). One of my major ambitions is to get into the Hot Seat! ***

***We also saw Beauty and the Beast, which we'd never done before. This is a really neat show. We had to leave the park early, before seeing Fantasmic, because Mom's legs were starting to swell, probably from riding the scooter and not doing enough walking. She's normally a really active person, doesn't sit around much. I hope I'm as full of energy when I'm 87! ***

[continued on Day 6]

[Colexis Mom]

Great update Carol Glad you tried RnRC, it's our favorite ride

Looking forward to more

[luvnwdwgal]

Awesome update Carol!!

[Mel & Richard]

Loved your description of 50's Prime Time. I'm really going to have to go there some day.

Mel

[Tara O'Hara]

Carol, I am really enjoying this report!! I love your writing style and it fun to read back and forth! Hurry with more!!

[poohsgirl]

<font color="purple">Great updates Carol! How cool that you got to ride the GMR twice! </font>

[ripkensnana]

<font color="red">THE FAB FOUR (MINUS ONE) GO SHOPPING!!! </font>

Ha! No leftovers from the previous day's report! I congratulate myself. It's one of those small victories: it really means nothing - and you know it, but you feel good about it anyway.

***Well, except for the bit about "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire" and "Beauty and the Beast", but who's counting??? ***

Thursday was "Shopping Day" We managed to get to both of the "AUTHORIZED" Disney outlet stores and found some terrific bargains (yes, my wallet was on fire... or something...).

***Both at Belz Outlet Mall, and both of which feature discontinued Theme Park merchandise...for example, Bob and I got shirts with "Walt Disney World 2003", and since we were at WDW in 2003, well...I also found some cheap(er) pins for trading - $3.50 each isn't wonderful, but it's better than $6.50 and up. Did a little Christmas shopping as well. This was our last stop, however. ***

I bought myself another visor and a statue of Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Goofy and Pluto standing on a rock base that says Mission: Space. Yes, I've gone Mission: Space crazy. But can you blame me? It is SUCH an awesome ride and (admittedly in my opinion) as to be a true evolution in the simulator ride field! Then again, it's not supposed to have anything to do with shopping, so back to the story.

Carol's mom Jessie decided to stay at the condo and just admire the grounds, so it was the three of us maniacs prowling the purveyors in the purchase pavilions. (What? Too much alliteration?)

***Because she got tired at the Studios (we left early, missing "Fantasmic") , and her legs were swelling, she decided to walk around the condo and try to get herself back in shape. She succeeded. ***

We started in Downtown Disney moving in and out of the various stores.

***Beginning with "Once Upon a Toy", where we had great fun playing with things - I love Disney! They let you be a kid....Problem is, the real kids tend to want a turn! ***

Well, after Bob and Carol "examined" the pin trading store, that is. The amount of time those two spent in the pin store alone seemed like the amount of time my July group spends in the entire area. But then, most of the items we buy in July tend to be more than $6.50, so maybe it balances out.

***Everybody's got to have a hobby. Speaking of hobbies, we also spent a bit of time in "Wonderful World of Memories", where I made a major dent in Bob's checkbook . But I got my Mickey scissors! (And there was great rejoicing...) ***

While shopping in World of Disney we found some stuff that we wanted to get personalized. Having dropped the items off in the Christmas store, we made a trip to Old Town where we stopped at the Sonny and Company stall to buy some puppets. The two I bought were the female versions of Mac and Clarence (I'll have my puppet web page - http://malcolm.cleveland.name/puppets - filled with pictures in about a week).

***The pictures are online! Malcolm's plan is to have one puppet for each letter of the alphabet. He uses them to produce videos.***

Carol had been looking especially forward to the trip because she found herself dreaming about the puppet based on the song about the old woman who swallowed a fly and was kicking herself for not buying it. But now she has it and will probably sleep soundly.

***This is such a cool puppet. It's a little old lady (whom I've named Abigail) with white yarn hair pulled back into a bun, wearing a purple dress and purple shoes (yes, she has legs!) She has a little alligator handbag with all the animals she swallows in the song, and you can actually make her swallow them! How cool is that? I just need to get a routine worked out, then I'll wow the grandkids! ***

Still having another half hour before the personalization would be ready, we made a mad dash back to EPCOT. Annual Passes with their free parking feature and unlimited number of visits make things so easy... We rushed inside and made a bee line to Mission: Space.

*** ***

What? You're surprised? I got to ride in the Pilot position, so I have now earned three out of four mission patches.

***I was Commander, and Bob was Navigator. We should be able to get the other two positions under our belts in December. - Something I thought was unusual...the lines at Mission: Space were never more than 5 minutes. I wonder if this attraction has gotten bad press because of the adverse reactions some people seem to have when riding it. I mean, 5 minute lines for the newest attraction at Epcot? Sorta makes you wonder (not that I'm complaining, mind you ). ***

One more in July and I'll have earned them all! After getting our Mission: Space fix, we went to pick up the personalization order.

Then we made our way to Belz Outlet Mall (where the Disney outlet stores are) and spent a fair amount of time -and money- there.

***See above. ***

I was lucky enough to have found my mother some bottles of her favorite perfume which she cannot seem to find around here. Much like Carol and the "Swallowed the Fly" puppet, there was a bit of hand-wringing over the past year.

On the way back to the condo, Carol and I started developing some rules about how to announce to the world how many times one has ridden Mission: Space. After the initial four times, we decided to start putting studs between the patches and have them radiating outward as the ride count grows. Deciding which of my web sites to put the rules on and working out all the display details may take me another week after I get the puppet page finished.

Once back, it was starting to get dark, so we experienced the quote of the day: Jessie asked "Where have you been?" Carol replied "Shopping! You told us to take our time and not worry about you." "During this whole time? Jessie queried. "Well..." I confessed, "There was that one detour into Mission: Space." and Carol chimed in "Yeah! We had to fill the time while we waited for our engraving, after all!" Jessie rolled her eyes in mock exasperation.

***Mock? That was mock??? ***

Next: We conquer the Animal Kingdom!

[continued on Day 7]

[poohsgirl]

<font color="purple">Mmmmm...shopping. One of my favorite pastimes! Great update! </font>

[luvnwdwgal]

Fun update, you two!!

[Colexis Mom]

Great update Carol

[statelady01]

This is just great Carol- just catching up with it and love every word!

[ripkensnana]

<font color="red"> THE FAB FOUR ON THE WILD SIDE - ANIMAL KINGDOM </font>

Although we had hoped to arrive in time to see a pre-opening performance of some sort, we arrived at the Animal Kingdom just as the park opened - probably three to five minutes after the performance ended. Oh well, something to try for next trip and/or next year. There was a distinct lack of effort to rush on this day. I don't know if there was any particular reason.

***Probably because someone told me that she "hates to be rushed"...Don't know who.... ***

It *IS* possible that we were all starting to get tired from all the rushing around you can't help but do in Disney World, but nobody said anything.

We started at the Tree of Life (as one does), took MANY pictures of the tree to try and get as many of the carved animals as we could,

***Got quite a few, especially on the trail leading to the entrance to "It's Tough to be a Bug", Animal Kingdom's 3-D movie...each park now has one of these attractions, since "Mickey's Philharmagic" opened. (See previous post)***

apparently missed a Hidden Mickey outside the theater entry door, and had a little chuckle at the reaction to people waiting for the bugs to leave the theater first. I know, that last line is a bit vague if you haven't been there, but I don't want to spoil that surprise.

I'm not remembering the order we tried things in (hmm... maybe I *WAS* getting tired...), so I'll just mention some highlights in reverse order of excitement. The "biggest dud" of the park was Pocahontas and her Forest Friends show. In theory, it was a presentation to encourage wildlife protection. It neither entertained, nor informed. The best part of the "show" (and I use the word loosely) was when the raccoon ran across the stage on cue, failed to run into it's carrier box offstage, ran back out onto the stage, and started munching treats out of one of the semi-hidden bowls. They stopped the show until it decided to cooperate (about 60 to 90 seconds).

***Actually, I think that the raccoon had escaped, because once they restarted the show, it came onstage much later and did the same thing, but it seemed to be okay that time. I agree, this was the best part of the show (the "mistake" part, when the keeper had to come out with an animal carrier and capture it).***

We know that a character named Devine is supposed to be somewhere between Asia and Africa, but we have yet to spot her. Her costume is supposed to be so good, that you can easily walk right past without realizing it, last year, a cast member told us she wasn't out because it had just rained. This year it appears our timing was just off. Once in Africa, all we did was do some shopping and watch the tumbling act whose name is oddly missing from the printed time schedule...

***There seem to be quite a few acts which aren't on the printed schedule. I've found a website which lists them, and the times that they usually perform. Don't remember what the URL is, though - maybe someone can help me out here... ***

The Maharajah Jungle Trek is an excellent example of how a zoo can operate without making it's cages easily visible. During the trip through, we found two Hidden Mickeys in the murals and discovered that Carol had taken pictures of about four more without realizing it.

***Actually, we found three, but who's counting... ***


We managed to get to feel privileged again when we rode on the Primeval Whirl in Dinoland. It is a "wild mouse" type of ride, but the car spins around in certain places. The problem was that when it get to the curves, it makes a rough transition before going around. Still that was not enough to deter us from asking if we could go around again when we got to the end. The cast member looked around, saw no one was in line, and told us to go ahead. Two rides in a row happened to us twice on the same trip. You just can't buy that kind of treatment... Well, not on what we earn, anyway...

***I love this ride!!! And we got to go on it twice in a row without even getting out of our car!!! Woo Hoo!!!! This was the first time any of us had ridden it, and it quickly became one of my favorites! ***

We decide to skip what Carol and I consider to be the best DAYTIME parade of all the parks (Jammin' Jungle Jamboree) in order to take in a performance of The Legend of the Lion King. A high-energy acrobat show filled with costumes based on- and music taken from- the Lion King movie. In spite of the trees, the regular line can get a bit warm but the show is worth the wait.

***Very much so!!!***

New for me was the ending. The animatronic figures and live performers stay out on the performance area while the audience exits. Carol discovered that if you take a picture of one of the animatronics and say "thank you", the animal will nod it's head at you as if to say "You're welcome". I noticed it when she took her picture of the giraffe, but I don't know if I got that moment on video.

***That was really cool! They even pose a bit (as much as they can) if they notice that you're taking their pictures. Unfortunately, the giraffe picture didn't come out too well (I think I took it before it finished posing), but the other three were just fine.***

I'm pretty sure we agreed that Tarzan Rocks may be the best show in the park by a very narrow margin.

***Very, very narrow - I think these two shows are almost equal - comparing apples and oranges...***

It is quite literally a rock and roll band playing while roller skaters and skateboarders race all around.

***You forgot Tarzan and Jane (two aerialists), and Terk.***

And when I say "all around", I really mean it. The stage has ramps and bridges that extend out into the audience area so the "highly-mobile" members of the cast can zip along mere feet from those sitting on the aisles.

***And Tarzan and Jane swing out over the audience - ***

This is the one time that having the scooter worked to our disadvantage. Since it is a stage show, we thought sitting down front would be the best place to sit - like in all of the other stage shows I've seen. However, in order to see everything that is going on, you need to be either off to the side and near the rear of the front section of seats, or somewhere in the back section of seats. I'm forced to admit that we did have the choice of sitting on the center walking row, but like I said, we THOUGHT being up front would be best. I'm pretty sure Barb will enjoy the show, so when I go back in July I'm going to recommend the alternate seating.

***This show really rocks!!! Literally!!!!***

Now to break the listing-by-fun pattern. Since the Animal Kingdom closes at or near sunset, we decided to try out an idea we heard about online: to ride the ferry boat across the lagoon during the Magic Kingdom Fireworks. This meant an opportunity to take a trip on the monorail. Because of the timing, we were able to ask for and get to ride up front in the cab with the driver instead of being in one of the regular cars.

***Again, thank you, Passporter boards. I didn't know you could do that until I read about it here! Riding in the front car was really neat. We told the driver about our plans to watch the fireworks from the ferry, but she recommended that we stay on the dock on the opposite side of the lagoon, because the music is piped in there. We thought about it, but decided against it because Malcolm pointed out that we'd be at a disadvantage every time the ferry disembarked passengers, who would be walking right in front of us.***

While the view was indeed quite nice, and you're not smashed in with a giant crowd, you don't get to hear the music from the show.

***The view from the ferry, not the monorail. Riding in the front is really great - the driver we had was very nice, and informative. ***

I suppose it COULD still be considered romantic,

***I don't think we were shooting for "romantic", just a different viewpoint. ***

but I didn't think it was something to shoot for unless you've already seen the new fireworks show a few times. Now if the music could have been piped out... I have no idea of how much it would cost nor what the requirements are, but when I turned around and spotted three boats docked at the atoll islands, I thought THAT could be romantic.

***And probably very, very pricey!!!***

We got on the ferry a little bit early which allowed me to get off at the Magic Kingdom side and buy the last of my straps. I now have one for each park, but what a cost! My magnetic personality seemed to be working against me. Okay I hear that sniggering! Stop that - even if it is deserved! It seemed that every other time I tried to get into a park all week, my Annual Pass failed to scan. I had to take it over to Guest Services and have it re-magnetized for what I think was the third time that week. Why they don't make the Annual Passes out of plastic like a credit card, I don't know.

***This is very puzzling, especially since they make the temporary passes (4 and 5 Day Park Hoppers) from plastic in that fashion. I don't get it...??? ***

At least laminate them to make them more resilient or something! But, it did give me the quote of the day. The cast member at the gate told me "You must be the 4th person today that *I* had (never mind the other ticket stations) where their card became demagnetized!" That made me feel a little bit better - it wasn't ME that was the problem.

[continued on Day 8]

[ripkensnana]

<font color="red">AROUND THE WORLD (SHOWCASE) </font>

Our last day at Disney World was spent in Epcot's World Showcase.

***One of my favorite parts of WDW, Animal Kingdom being another.***

We worked our way around counter-clockwise, skipping Mexico and starting at Norway, where we rode Maelstrom and stopped for a moment to listen to the live quartet singing Norwegian ditties.

***And took lots of pictures. We skipped Mexico because it's mostly shopping. There is a ride, but it's not very exciting, and we did it last year. The Maelstrom ride in Norway is much more better. ***

We stopped in to see the new China movie (they added Hong Kong and Bejing) and do a bunch more shopping (hey, Jessie has a thing for sculpture and there was lots of sculpture to look at).

***It's neat how you can shop, and not spend any money! ***

Then, after a quick mini-rest at the outpost, we went into Germany and got to experience the Biergarten restaurant for the first time. We were early for our Priority Seating (PS) time, but we were able to get in anyway.

Biergarten, sausage, and all you can eat (Bob and I drank Root Beer). No wonder the stereotypical Germans are all rotund! But in spite of the slightly-over-greasy yet tasty food, this may have become the highlight of our day because of the band that played during the meal. Imagine your standard polka band, but in lederhosen. Then they added a special talent for each member of the group. The lead singer played an Alpine horn (you've seen the Ricola cough drop commercials?), the drummer played a wooden xylophone (with great speed), and the tuba player really impressed me by playing cow bells because he kept doing an odd twist of his wrists to make it look like he was putting the bell down after crossing over his other arm to put the bell down. It really looked like he was swapping the position of the bells, but if you stared hard enough to make your eyes water, you could see he was really putting them down in their proper places.

The show was really fun, so it got the vote for quote of the day: In the middle of their show, the group sang one song with some chances to pause for a toast. I never quite understood what the guy said three times, but the audience response was to raise our glasses and yell: "Hoy! Hoy! Hoy!" Then he said "prosit!" and everybody takes a sip of what they have.

***It's "ticky, tacky, ticky tacky" "Hoy, hoy, hoy" three times, followed by "Prosit". Isn't it amazing, what you can learn watching "The Man Show". I didn't think the food was all that greasy - very heavy into sausages of various types (They even had a salad made with sausage!), and pork...I got brave and tried a pork hock, but there was very little meat on it...mostly fat, bone, and gristle. To be avoided in the future. The chicken schnitzel was very good, however....All in all, a great experience. ***


Next we caught up with the performance schedule and saw a series of outdoor shows in rapid succession: The Masquerade in Italy, the Kodo Drummers in Japan , and back to Italy for Imaginum (the statues that playfully move when you're not expecting them to). We saw the guy this time and with appropriate humor made everyone laugh for about half and hour. Most memorable was when he ended his show - he lifted the girl who was standing next to him up onto the 6-inch platform, put her into a pose, took her camera, got to the ground, and acted like he was taking her picture. A nice reversal to end the bit in my opinion.

***When Bob stood beside the statue, he leaned on Bob - literally! When Bob finally managed to get him back into an upright position, he teetered a bit, as if he were going to fall on Bob again...a very funny bit - the audience loved it.***


We passed the USA pavilion because there was a private party going on at that moment, but when we wandered into Morocco, Carol peeked into a doorway and I heard her let out a sultry "Hell-O!". I turned around to see her grinning like a Cheshire cat. Inside was Aladdin waiting for someone to come in to take pictures with him. So of course she did. I was the first to notice the Hidden Mickey in the mural over her shoulder, but Aladdin told us that there were two more hidden in the mural. Carol found the other two.

***It was really neat to meet a Character without a mob around, and take your time and chat for a while. And he was really cute, besides, and he said that I can call him "Al". ***


It was dark when we came out of the movie in France,

***A really good show. I hadn't seen it since 1989, so it was like seeing it for the first time. Mom and Bob enjoyed it, as well. And we found a rather elusive Hidden Mickey in the gardens outside which we tried without success to find last year.***

and we found we had just missed the street show, so we started making our way back to the Showcase Plaza to stake out our spot to watch the Illuminations fireworks show. I tried to avoid zooming in at all so I could edit this footage with what I filmed last July. Hopefully I got enough good shots of both to blend them into a really good home video segment.

***We were at the north end of WS Lagoon, in the handicapped area. In my opinion, this is the very best place to watch this particular show. For whatever reason, it seems that the effects are set to appear at their best angle from here. Maybe it's just me...***

The final detail was actually the first detail of the day. At 7:30am (*yugh*) they had their appointment to go "fill out the Satisfaction Survey", otherwise known as the sales pitch. The important part was that they came back and reported that Westgate is now returning to deeded property! That means that if you buy a condo, you get to put it in your will and pass it on to your heirs when you die. When they tried to change to a lease method a few years ago, I KNEW it wouldn't last long. To be honest, I figured there would be at least another year, maybe two, before they switched back. I guess a WHOLE LOT of people expressed displeasure at the concept!

***Going to this thing disrupted our morning schedule, so things got left behind when we headed back to Epcot for the day...like our visors, so we had to start the day shopping (how awful!).

[continued on Day 9]

[ripkensnana]

<font color="red">THE FAB FOUR RETURN HOME </font>

The last two days of our trip were filled with driving. There were no major tie-ups like last year, so the drive was quite uneventful.

***Uneventful??? How can you forget the nice CHEAP clean motel we found??? Or the Omelet Shoppe??? Or Sonny's BBQ???***

We managed to get a daytime picture of a Georgia Welcome Center sign to complete our set, so when I make the video, I think I'll sneak it into the front and make it look like we traveled all the way in one day. Yeah, you're right, no one would really think that.

***Besides, that would be cheating... ***

Once back in Flint, Carol started going through the 600+ pictures she took with her digital camera. That's where she finally got to see where I had pretended to still be asleep on that first morning. I suspect that MAY attempt to become a tradition: taking a picture of Malcolm in the morning before he is really awake. As long as it doesn't escalate to taking a picture while I'm still sleeping in bed, I suppose I could live with that.

***Oooohhh, Ideas!!! Goals!!!! ***

When I got home and started sifting through all of the stuff I bought and it began to down on me how I flung open the floodgates of my wallet during this trip. Luckily, I won't have to worry about buying too much when I go down in July and can spend that much more mental energy thinking about what I need to film and what I don't.

I've decided to ship the items I do not consider part of Barb's Anniversary present, but I'm not sure of when I'll get to send it off. I'm warily eyeing the mailbox as I wait for my American Express state to arrive. I fully expect to be broke for the rest of the month, so I might as well see if I can take the SteadyCam's monitor apart to see if I'll be lucky enough to find it's just a bad wire. But even that has to wait until I can get the puppet pictures up onto my web site. I've got the spot selected where I plan to take their pictures, I just have to set up a few extra lights to make things properly bright enough.

Well, that's one more great trip over with. After I get the puppet pictures put up, I think I'll check the mailing list roster to make sure of who's there. After all, it's mid-March and time to start planning my Birthday Week! I'm SUCH a busy person!

***That's because so many people love you. And yes, you read that right - Birthday WEEK! Actually, it's 10 days this year. Malcolm has this thing about seeing how many days he can stretch his birthday celebration into, with a different activity each day. This year began on Monday, April 19, with miniature golf, and will end on April 28th, when Malcolm buys pizza for everyone at his workplace. In between are a baseball game, a concert (which happens to fall on my birthday), dinner and movie, comedy club, a couple of house parties (each with a different focus), a road trip to Detroit to see IMAX, and of course, our Wednesday evening LASFA (Lansing Area Science Fiction Association) get-together, not necessarily in that order. A very busy week! And I've been trying to come up with something different for next Thursday in order to make it eleven days, which I think would set a new record... ***

[End of report]

[statelady01]

Thanks Carol- this was a great read! Enjoyed every word!!