Day 7
I had one personal goal this trip: to get the Pirates of the Caribbean pin released for the upcoming movie today.
I had planned to get up early and get to the MK at opening, returning before the family got up. After all, I always wake up early on vacation.
I woke up to see a clock reading 8:03. I jumped up, got dressed and went down to the bus. Actually made it in plenty of time. The previous pin in the Pirates series had sold out, but I knew this one would last for a while, as it was only released inside the park. Still, I wanted to get my pin business done before everyone else was up and ready to go. I got to the MK about 20 minutes before opening. Even at this early our, it was a hot day, and many families were already reaching the boiling point. I heard more than one parent say, “THAT’S IT! We’re going back to the hotel. (of course none of them did!)”
I got my pins. Waiting for the bus I met Sandy, a mom who was also on our cruise. She was staying with her family at Fort Wilderness in their RV. She had an appointment to get her nails done at the Beach Club, and figured the MK was a good place to grab a bus.
A good assumption for some resorts, but for whatever reason, not the Yacht & Beach Club. Bus after bus dropped off, but didn’t pick up. Finally they did dispatch a bus for us. Like the one that took me from MK the other day, this one went to the Contemporary, Wilderness Lodge and then made a special trip to drop us at the Beach Club before going on to the Studios.
She was really fretting, coming close to her appointment time (10:30). She started by leaving Fort Wilderness at 9!
We did get to the Beach Club about 10:15, so all ended well.
The kids were still getting up. We all got on our swim suits and went to Stormalong Bay. This mini water park, coupled with the walking distance to Epcot, makes the Beach Club one of the best Disney resorts.
Bought the kids a couple of noodles ($4 each), as the tubes were all out, but at $3/hour for a tube, probably a better deal! J7 had to make an emergency potty run, which cut the swimming a little short.
Returning to the room, I stopped at the cruise desk. I had done most of my check in online, but they had left a message tat they wanted to encode our room keys. I didn’t want to keep J11 waiting (and she didn’t either), so I quizzed her on our room number and location and let her go back.
While waiting there, I noticed that others were turning in some of the forms that you can’t do online, so I went back to the room to get them. J11 was not there. Immediately I feared the worse and went off to find her. I called Security. I went to the 3rd floor of the Beach Club (instead of the Villas), where I thought she might be. My cell phone was charging, so I was out of communication. I called the room, where of course J11 had arrived a minute after I left. She had indeed gone to the third floor of the Beach Club, immediately realized it, and went back to the room.
I went back to the cruise desk, but it was already closed, so I’d have to do that tomorrow morning.
We went back to MGM after that. News copters were buzzing the park, as Rock’n Roller Coaster was open again. We hadn’t heard about the incident there until after we returned yesterday, but I had noticed that the ride was listed as closed (which I thought odd at the time).
Were one of the last in line to be let into the Indiana Jones stunt show. Note that getting into the show doesn’t mean you’ll get a seat! We found some spots on the little wall at the very back, our view partially blocked by the support column. The show is probably the best preserved example of the Studios at opening – I don’t think they changed a word since J4* and I saw it on our honeymoon on October 3, 1989! The kids had never seen it (J11 had not wanted to before because off the noise), but now they both liked it a lot.
We ate at the Backlot restaurant outside of Indy. J7 wanted to take me on the Great Movie Ride (we had a female gangster “hijack” our vehicle) and J11 and J4* went to Sounds Dangerous. Afterwards, I asked them why they thought the sneezing elephant could get you wet when you are supposedly listening to a hidden mic. J11 suggested that the sensitivity of the mic had something to do with it.
I had wanted to do Millionaire, as it closes August 19, but there was no time, as we had reservations for California Grill at 6.
J11 got a cool jersey I had seen the night before. It had Maleficent on front and back (with “Disney Dragons” on the front and a large D on the back) with Elliott and Mushu on the sleeves. Shame it only came in kids’ sizes!
We headed back to the BC. I had to pick up my pin book for trading at the Contemporary after dinner.
On the boat to the BC, we had the same skipper who put kids in detention yesterday. Today, he had a Fastpass good for 6 (for Land, Maelstrom, Mission Space or Honey, I Shrunk…) for the first to answer a trivia question.
First question: What is the slowest ride at Disney World?
Peter Pan.
“Good peanut butter, but no.”
Dumbo.
“Ah ha! Dumbo - you see, but no.”
Small World
“There you go, good guess. No.”
Finally someone got the answer: Carousel of Progress.
That winner decided they couldn’t use the Fastpass, so he started another round.
Month, day and year Epcot opened. My hand went up. “October 1, 1982” Yeah!
Got my pin book and we walked into Epcot. We didn’t have time at this point to use the Fastpass, so I found a family and gave it to them. I hope they found it useful. Took the monorail and transferred to the resort monorail at TTC.
We got to the Contemporary – at first we went to the 15th floor, before realizing California Grill checkin was now on 2. When we checked in, they found exception with my shorts. I had chanced into some black shorts, which were Rebok, not really dress shorts. I just forgot, as I had actually been wearing some nice khaki shorts all week! Still, I had a nice camp shirt on, and they weren’t jeans or cut offs. Thankfully, the hassle ended once we got to the table. We were fine.
We had the deluxe sushi platter for an appetizer. It was wonderful – huge pieces and very fresh. J4* had the scallops, I had just a salad (I was still hot – no rain today, but lots of hat and humidity).
For dessert, I ad this banana butterscotch thing. Featured frozen banana custard, very good. Was hoping for a crème brullee, but none on the menu. J4* had Cherries, Chocolate and Cherries, which was a chocolate soufflé like thing and a cherry mousse.
J4* and J11 went to the MK and J7 and I went to pin trading. Made some good trades, and J7 liked the kids area, although she didn’t win the raffle for kids at 9.
We went to MK. Noticed a new (to us at least) announcement on the monorail upon arriving at MK:
“Please proceed to the exit…”
“…and watch your head.”
We sat on Main Street next to the Indian and tried to call J4*. Couldn’t get her, so on this humid night (it was even humid at pin trading), we decided to go into Tomorrowland. We went on Stitch as the line for Buzz was a little long. I called J4* from inside Stitch’s preshow, and found they were in that line for Buzz!
After being burped on again, we met up and all went on the TTA. J11 wasn’t scared of Space Mountain at all this time, because the lights were all on! Something must have happened, as the cars still on the lift hill were full. Last time we saw it like this was on our honeymoon, when Space Mountain was under rehab.
J4* and the kids headed out. I headed over to get in at least one ride on Haunted Mansion (as my “Chicago brave” kids wouldn’t!). I did and took the bus back. On the way, we were treated to Epcot testing the fireworks for the 4th of July. They looked great!
DAY 8 – Houston, we have a problem
We stated this day after returning from MK, as we now had to get packed. Good thing we didn’t stay for the whole Extra Magic Hours!
The kids went to sleep, and J4* and I washed clothes and packed. In the wee hours we finished and went to sleep for a bit.
At 8 the next morning, I went to the cruise desk to make sure everything was in order. They put stickers on our keys to show we were using the cruise transport.
I got some gelato at the Marketplace (having wanted to try their gelato bar). It was good, but of course I got a spot on my newly cleaned shorts! Luckily, had time for another wash & dry before the bus.
At 11:30, we were walked from the Solarium at the Beach Club to the bus. Traffic was awful, probably due to the scheduled space shuttle launch this afternoon. It did get better once we were closer to the port, as we saw hundreds of cars parked on the sides of the road to watch. The trip took about 2 hours instead of the usual 80 minutes or so. Listened to the Inside the Magic podcast when the Cruise video wasn’t playing (http://www.distantcreations.com/insidetthemagic).
Boarded and eventually found our room (5024 – a “secret porthole” room because it’s priced like an inside cabin, but has an obstructed porthole). I unpacked while J4* took the kids to lunch at Topsiders buffet. Really only enough room for one to unpack in those rooms!
I joined them. Afterward, I got my camera to see the launch while the kids got into their swim suits. They had the feed from Nasa on the jumbotron over the Goofy pool. Unfortunately, all of our technology cannot overcome cumulus clouds, so the launch was scrubbed by weather att minus 9 minutes. Shame, the view would have been spectacular.
The kids were upset for a different reason – J7 was too short for the Goofy pool (she likes to touch the bottom) and J11 too tall for the Mickey (she couldn’t get enough leg room, she said). After this crisis brewed for a bit (they also didn’t want to split up and we adults weren’t in our suits), we went back to the room to change for the boat drill.
After the drill, we watched a bit of the departure party from deck 10. The girls were mortified by our joining in dancing, much to our delight!
After that, we checked out the kids’ clubs (but not the new Ocean Quest, it was closed at that particular time).
We dressed for dinner (Parrot Cay tonight – a restaurant we skipped on our last cruise, the 3 night in 2001).
First, let me say the food was good. I had the mixed grill – steak, lamb, sausage. Wonderful. J11 liked her cold melon and papaya soup.
Then the trouble began. I may have mentioned J7 usually has trouble at least once a vacation keeping her food down. She gets excited, maybe gets a little too full and seems to have a delicate gag reflex. We told her again and again that such incidents on the cruise would be bad, as they might quarantine her, thinking it an illness.
Well, she almost made it through dinner, and she almost made it to the bathroom. I felt so bad for her. Luckily, it wasn’t in the kids’ club, and hopefully, it’ll be the last time. I told the crew about it so they could clean the trash can she mainly got it in. I took J4*’s dinner back to the room, and saw they had roped off the area around the can, and a man was cleaning wearing a mask and long gloves. It resembled a toxic waste spill seen. I half expected a crew in full environmental suits to enter with disinfectant sprayers and perhaps gieger counters to assure she had ingested no plutonium. Seriously, better they handle any such thing in this way. They hand you disinfectant wipes before each meal as well. Certainly don’t want a disease ravaging the ship.
Back at the room, the mood was grim for a while, but gradually lightened. J7 and I got some room service (what to tip on a $0 bill?). The tuna salad was bad (oil based, too many vegetables), but the cheese plate and the cake of the day (marble cheese cake) were great.
J4* took J11 to the Ocean Quest 411 at 10PM, and I picked her up a half hour later. The simulator there was great. The crew was telling kids to be gentle (I read on the boards that a kid broke the steering wheel the last trip).
Jess was making a stop motion film with toy dinosaurs on a computer. A boy was “helping,” but didn’t quite get the concept. She was moving her triceratops frame by frame while he was just plopping different creatures in shot. Only produced a second of film so far, but I bet J11 will ply with that quite a lot.
Off to be rocked to sleep.