One Last Magical Day

Sorry for the delay, folks.  I'm finally over whatever sickness it was that I had (we're thinking it was Strep, but I don't know for sure because I've never had it before), which means I've been furiously catching up with work, homework, and housework.  Doing pretty well on the first two, but our house still looks like a disaster zone.  Eh, we'll let this one go Meatloaf style (2 out of 3 ain't bad!).  

So, Friday the 9th was our last day of Disney.  We decided to try and make it as epic as humanly possible and our goal was to head to Downtown Disney for a few hours before spending the whole rest of the day at MK (minus our reservations for dinner at 'Ohana).  

Downtown Disney isn't really a park so much as it is its own little town.  There are three parts to DD, but we really only ventured through the Marketplace on this trip.  The Marketplace, as its name implies, is full of shopping.  There's a Lego store, a store dedicated to Christmas ornaments, another art store and, best of all, the World of Disney.  World of Disney is sort of like an entire mini-mall of Disney stuff.  They have clothes, toys, jewelry, kitchen stuff, food, books, movies, music...  I could go on and on.  Essentially, if you want it, they have it (with the exception of my puzzle; I'm not saying they didn't have it, necessarily, but I sure didn't find it there, and I looked HARD).  

While at Downtown Disney, my only true goal was to go to Wetzel's Pretzels.  You see, my last name is Hetzel (my married name, anyway), and I was determined to get a picture with Hubby and caption it "Hetzels Eating Wetzel's Pretzels."  Perfect, right?  The pretzels were delicious, and Bestie did snap a photo for us, though I have yet to see it.  My secondary goal was to get some good shopping in, since we were heading back to the resort before we went to MK.  

I may have gone a little nuts, but thankfully, we had saved up for this trip and Hubby is good to me. :)  I got Mickey ears that light up with fireworks, a picture frame, a Wall-E and Eve ornament (Hubby and I like to get ornaments whenever we go on a trip together; might've been inspired by Bestie and her hubby), a Cheshire Cat antennae topper, a Jungle Cruise glass and a t-shirt for hubby!  Woohoo!

While we didn't get over to Pleasure Island or West Side on this trip, it was still a successful trip.  While we waited for the bus, I asked Hubby if he had any money, as I was eying up the vending machine.  He said he only had two dollars, but that the pop cost $2.75.  It just so happened that I had grabbed 3 quarters from our change at the hotel that morning, so I figured it was fate.  I went and bought a Coke and just as I took a step away from the machine, a second Coke dropped out.  Cautiously, I grabbed the second bottle and as I walked away, a THIRD bottle dropped!  Holy cow, man!  I hit the Coke machine lottery!

Standing there with three bottles in my hands (and a confused look on my face, I'm sure), I said, "Would anyone like a Coke?"  A man in front of me shrugged and put out his hand.  He and his wife split it, and his wife was very thankful (she wanted to get something to drink before her kids insisted on sharing it).  I gave the other bottle to Bestie and C, and we all agreed that it was bound to be a good day.  

It sprinkled on us a bit at the bus stop, but eventually our bus came and whisked us away.  After a short break at the resort, it was off to MK!  The order of events is probably a bit off, but that afternoon, we did:

• The Monsters Inc Laugh floor - Like Turtle Talk with Crush, this is an interactive attraction that's bound to entertain you, no matter what age.  
• The People Mover - A slow, gentle ride that guides you through some of Tomorrowland.  
• Carousel of Progress - If you're ready to just sit in the dark for a bit, this is a perfect stop.  Just be warned that you will leave with a song stuck in your head.  "There's a great, big, beautiful tomorrow..."
• Space Mountain - Only Bestie and I braved this one, but it was a blast!  I hadn't been on it since I was 17, and having Bestie giggling in the seat behind me the whole way made the ride that much better.
• Cosmic Ray's Starlight Cafe - A pretty fun quick service restaurant.  There are 3 "bays" to choose from; one serves primarily chicken entrees, another is strictly burgers and the last is random sandwiches.  While you eat, you're serenaded by Sonny Eclipse, an alien lounge singer that looks sort of like a dinosaur with a bad hair piece.

Eventually, it was close to dinner time, and we took the boat over to the Polynesian resort.  'Ohana was the first place we ate on our honeymoon, so it was sort of fitting that it was the last Disney dining experience we'd really have on this trip.  As we promised Bestie and C, there was food galore.  Starting with coconut-pineapple bread, the food just keeps coming every 5-10 minutes or so.  There's a salad, pot stickers, chicken wings, veggies, lo mein noodles, and eventually some of the best meat you'll ever eat.  On ginormous skewers, Cast Members bring around shrimp, pork, beef and chicken, and slide it onto your plate so you can chow down without ever getting up.  

Dessert is an amazing bread pudding with caramelized banana sauce, served a la mode, but Bestie also got us some ice cream to celebrate (C had gotten a promotion while we were on vacay, and I had joined a national honor society just before we left for FL).  By the end, we were seriously stuffed.  

We wandered down to the beach to watch Wishes from across the water, then checked out the beautiful art store at the Polynesian.  When we took the boat back to MK, we were the only 4 people aboard.  Our captain was very friendly and knowledgeable, sharing with us that Cinderella's Castle is 189 feet tall.  Why not 190?  Because air space guidelines require that you put one of those red blinky lights on structures that tall, and Walt didn't want to have that take away from the magic.  :)

On our way in, we caught the Main Street Electrical Parade, which I don't think I've ever seen before in its entirety.  After that, I know we did Splash Mountain (which was just as fun as I remembered) and one last time on the Haunted Mansion.  We also tried to hunt down some more ice cream for Bestie, but we were SOL.  Boooooo.

We said goodnight and goodbye to MK and took our last bus ride back to the resort.  Since Bestie and C were headed out earlier than Hubby and I were, we had to say goodbye before we went to our room for one last sleep at WDW.   

One Big Effing Hat

Each of the four parks has an identifiable thing to call its own.  Epcot, as we discussed, has the giant golf ball.  Magic Kingdom, of course, has Cinderella's castle.  Animal Kingdom has the Tree of Life.  And Disney's Hollywood Studios has a big f*cking hat.

On Wednesday, we headed out to see that 122-foot-tall beast of a hat (that many of us lovingly refer to as the BFH), as well as the park itself.  The smallest and (in my opinion) least exciting of the parks, DHS (formerly known as MGM) was probably the shortest bus ride from our resort (even though Caribbean Beach Resort is in the Epcot Resorts area), and we were there before we knew it.

Since Bestie and her hubby are pretty big Star Wars nerds, we pretty much bee-lined it to Star Tours.  This ride was recently renovated and since none of us had been on it since it got a face lift, we were pretty curious to see the changes.  

Poor Hubby, alas, will never step foot on this ride again.  Star Tours is one of those rides in which you don't actually go anywhere, but you feel like you're flying around the galaxy, bumping into things on different planets and such.  The experience is enhanced by 3-D glasses and sometimes it's easy to forget you're just sitting in a room with a bunch of other folks.  Except that I was already concerned about Hubby after the Expedition Everest experience, so I glanced over at him only to find that within minutes, he was covered in sweat.  

I have to admit that of all the rides we encountered on our trip, Star Tours was the one that actually bothered my stomach a little, and if my stomach was doing flip-flops, I can only imagine how my hubs was feeling.  So, while Bestie and her hubby checked out the shop, Hubby and I went outside and got some fresh air.  We decided something nice and slow (or, not moving at all) would do us all some good after that.

From Star Tours, we headed off to my favorite DHS attraction: Muppet Vision 3D.  This is one of the only things I remember clearly from my first trip to Disney at age 9, and it's probably because I grew up in a very Muppet-oriented family.  We watched The Muppet Show, had all the Muppet movies, and I've probably seen every episode of Muppet Babies at least twice (and had the Muppet Babies keyboard so I could play the theme song!).  DHS is the only place in the parks you'll really get any Muppet love, and if it weren't for this attraction, I might skip DHS altogether.  

We stopped at the Muppets store after the movie and Hubby was nice enough to let me get a Muppets t-shirt and a book.  Yay!  What can I say?  I love me some Muppets!

Again, things get a little fuzzy, but from what I can remember (and what photos help me remember), the rest of the day went something like this:

• Lunch @ the Backlot Express (simple, but tasty).

• The Great Movie Ride (good, but one of the cast members who was part of this was a TERRIBLE actress, and we can only hope she was filling in for someone that day).

• Toy Story Mania! (Hubby opted out of this one, but Bestie, C and I had a blast).

• One Man's Dream (a museum-y exhibit and movie about Walt Disney and how it all came to be).

• Rockin' Rollercoaster (again, Hubby opted out, and Bestie was sort of guilted/bribed into going along).

• Beauty & The Beast (a short live performance created in the 90s when bright pink dresses and cone-style hair were apparently acceptable).

• Streets of America (not really an attraction so much as a place to wander around and chill a bit).

After all of that, it was time for dinner at the Sci-Fi Dine-In Theatre.  I wasn't sure what exactly to expect from this place, but it was a real trip!  Most of the booths/tables are set up as if you were in a convertible at the drive-in; they're made to look like cars and two of you sit in front and two in the back, all facing the screen where they're playing some terrible old sci-fi movies.  We, however, got a table that had a car front and rear end, but the middle was a normal table so none of us would have to turn around to talk to the others.  The food was surprisingly tasty AND I got an awesome drink with a glow cube in it (that I got to keep, thank you very much!).  This was the only place in all of Disney that I got carded, but it was totally worth it.

We had planned to go watch Fantasmic (fireworks DHS-style) after dinner, but as we headed in that direction, the announcement came on that the show was now standing room only.  Since it's a pretty long show, we decided it would be best for all of us if we skipped it and headed back to the resort to chill for a bit.  The four of us had a great time sitting around and talking for awhile before we headed to bed.  The next morning we had early reservations for breakfast, so a good night's sleep was definitely needed.