Belle Ella
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jun 30, 2007
Day Four - Continued
I sincerely hope that this new trend of having more photos than things to say isn't horribly apparent. I'm slightly self-conscious about this shift in my TR style, but this is what happens when you are too busy having fun to remember what on earth happened. I prefer things this way though, compared to previous trips where all the unpleasantries were what stuck with me the most. I loved Frick to death but there were so many things that I still have a hard time letting go of.
So back to my Magical Saturday morning! The minutes of my MM were ticking down which meant I was chilling around the walkway to It's a Small World where the CM's held us up until it was time for MTTMM to begin. Funnily enough one of the CM's ended up 'borrowing' my MTTMM voucher to make an announcement to the small group of us already gathered there about what we needed to gain entrance. Did this make me feel a little special? Why, of course it did. And do you think I was the first person into Toontown? Why, of course I was. I have a fascination about being first for things. I wish I could explain it, but we all have out little tics and vices, right?
There's not much to say about my MTTMM experience this year. I had already seen the little ceremony that Mickey & Friends put on last year and cute as it was I can live without seeing it again until the day I have children of my own who will be enamored by it. I was more interested in getting character photos without waits and photos without being interrupted so I set off on my mission while waiting for Jason to show up as I had given him one of my extra MTTMM vouchers the previous night. As it turns out I do get distracted easily, but that's what happens when I have my camera with me and I'm not busy talking.
Eventually Jason got there and the photographs promptly stopped at that point. There was just too much to do! Here's what I remember: we did stay in Toontown for a short while to catch the end of the little show since he's never seen it (and so he could get an Honorary Citizen badge) before making our way to wherever it was we needed to go to redeem my GAD voucher. I didn't know if I could do the whole thing anywhere inside the Park so it was back to the ticket booths where the first of multiple headaches were to take place. The CM who took my voucher apparently didn't hear me mention that I already had a PH. So she processed it as admission! She was handing me a ticket and I barely knew what to say. I could have sworn I told her I wanted to redeem it for FP's and even if it slipped my mind you could at least ask right? She didn't seem very pleased about it when I told her that I had no use for admission. She was kind of a sour face about the whole thing and I just wanted to get out of there. Of course that wasn't going to happen because fixing the issue was going to be a waiting game and a pain in the you know what.
But it all worked out in the end. That's what matters and what I will choose to focus on. Sadly that was the easy part. When it came to redeeming the pass she handed to me at that point, things got dicey! After getting me a new Birthday button since I left mine at the hotel we found ourselves at the Guided Tours gazebo to get the actual FP's thinking everything was going to be easy going from that point on. So, so, so not the case.
The.
Printer.
Broke.
Yes, you heard me. The printer broke. Or something like that. All I know is that our FP's were not printing. At one point it was suggested to try going over to DCA to get them printed but it was subsequently shot down because the system was saying that they had printed, but the printer had a completely different idea. So we waited. And while we waited we were on the receiving end of 3 attraction readmission passes as a way to make up for the inconvenience. Those were new to me! I had never even seen them and hadn't heard much about them either, even here on the DIS. The thought of not having to wait in lines was definitely a plus. At the time they were still trying to figure out what to do about the GAD FP's and it was becoming clear that we wouldn't be getting them. So you know what we got instead? 6 more readmission passes good for anything other than World of Color. It didn't matter if the ride was an FP attraction or not. And they were all ours. The CM's even went out of their way to point out that each pass was good for up to 6 guests and we could always grab 4 random people in life if we were so inclined.
Talk about things working out in the end. We went from possibly having 6 FP's that weren't good for many rides I was interested in to having 9 readmission passes for anything we wanted short of the show we would already have FP's for courtesy of our dinner plans.
I wish I could say I remember what we used them on. But I do remember this: we had far more than we ended up needing! Especially because once nighttime fell the CM's ended up handing them right back to us to use again. And again. And again. And again. This was also the day that I promised I would go on both the Matterhorn and BTMRR for the first time. I wont lie, I was a little terrified. Maybe not convulsing like I might have been before my first time on Splash Mountain, but the nerves were there for sure. But I said I would go for it and not back out, and that's what I did. My thoughts on the Matterhorn are torn. I had fun, but I think it's just a little too rough for me. I got tossed around like a rag doll, no joke. My poor knees have bruises still to prove it. But I didn't hate it. That's what counts right? As for BTMRR ... My Indiana Jones obsession had better watch out. I freaking love BTMRR. LOVE it. Loved it. Will continue loving it. I could do that over and over and over and not get tired of it, I think. And I had a lot of time to make up for since I had never been on it before.
All in all, here's the list of rides we did the whole day:
- Matterhorn x3
- BTMR x5
- IJ x4
- Jungle Cruise x2
- HMH x3
- Soarin'
- Monsters Inc.
- POTC x4
- Nemo
- Storybookland Canal Boats
I think I have to be forgetting a thing or two, and of course you have to add in my solo tour of Fantasyland that morning. I like to think it was a productive day for rides for me. I don't think I'd ever done that many if a whole trip before, let alone a singe day.
Back to the readmission passes -- looking back I wish we had thought to take full advantage of them ever time we used one and brought a group of 4 with us. As it was, we only happened t do this once, on our last ride of the evening: BTMRR. The stand-by line wasn't moving because they were only running one side which meant they were only letting those of us wit FP's on so we called out for a party of 4 and brought in a group of girls with us. I still had 3 more passes left and afterward we ended up giving them one more to sue on whatever they liked before closing. It felt good to do so. And they were so excited to go and use it for Space Mountain. Spreading the Magic feels good! I would have given another one (or two) away but I really wanted to keep them as souvenirs for whenever I get around to making a scrapbook. Someday. I'll miss not having an envelope full of them for my next trip.
There were a couple of others firsts for me on Saturday. It was the first time this trip I made my way to DCA and it was also the first time I went on Soarin' and the Monsters Inc. ride. The second one I felt silly about, but considering how little time I generally spend in DCA I suppose it makes sense. Soarin' I stayed away from because I don't like heights and have a small case of motion sickness. But it wasn't bad at all. It was relaxing in fact. But I found that I did have to look at the side of the screen at least once to kind of ground myself so I didn't panic. It worked though! Let's see, we also checked out the Boudin Bakery tour (which makes me want to stop by the Boudin Bakery in San Francisco), and I got to see Aviator Goofy!!
Speaking of characters did I mention that I finally, finally, finally got to see Honest John ... er ... John Worthington Foulfellow!! It was like waking up on Christmas morning as a kid and opening the one thing that you wanted more than anything. I was jumping up and down I was so excited. It was the only photo I wanted at that moment. I even bypassed the Queen of Hearts who was not pleased with that decision.
OK, is my remembering ADD bothering you yet? I hope not. I'm just typing what I remember as I remember it. Next up: Ariel's Grotto for our WOC dinner. I have decided I'm not one for doing meal reviews so you'll have to live with this: it was delicious. And heck, the service was fast. Before we knew it our entrees were brought out which was all the better for me. On days when I'm too busy doing things I don't like being holed up in a restaurant with slow service. Before I knew it, we were being presented with these beauties:
When it came to WOC I can't remember exactly where we were located within the reserved dining section, but I'm pretty sure we went for the railing at the very front of it. I didn't want to be standing behind anyone really tall or anything like that so the railing was perfect for me. It was nice to sit down after the let us into the viewing are and just chit chat until the pre-show started. I certainly enjoyed it, and I wish I could describe it. It was just plain old fun. WOC itself ... I'm speechless, really I am. I didn't go into it with high expectations because I didn't think it could ever compare to the absolute love I have for Fantasmic but I was completely blown away. I really don't have the words. And I cried. Yup. I did. Anyway, I did get a few photos so I thought I would share.
We were walking out of DCA and through the Esplanade when the RDCT fireworks started. They had completely escaped my mind! I didn't think I would get the chance to see them again and at that point something occurred to me: I had read many times before that some people love watching the fireworks from BTMRR and we were presented with the challenge of getting there in time. I didn't think I had and gas left but somehow we made our way down Main Street and into Frontierland before they ended. We didn't quite make it onto BTMRR but it was close enough and a very nice view, for sure! It was at that moment that the plans for Sunday night were formed. We were going to try and score WOC FP's and make it back to BTMRR in time for all of the fireworks. It was going to happen.
