Wednesday 23 May, 01
The Cast:
Sean Yoda age 36
Pamela ‘meeko’ age 32 ½
Biscuit Meeko stuffed raccoon age 5 1/2
Brer Bunny (Biscuit’s stuffed buddy) age
1 ½
Mickey woke us at 6am and we were able to head out the door by 730am. Originally we had planned to go to Islands of Adventure, but in light of the impending opening of Magic Carpets of Aladdin, and a special pin release we decided to head to MK.
During our ride to MK, we saw signs saying “Commercial Extras Parking.” We wondered where they would be filming. The bus dropped us off out front at precisely 8am and we could hear the other guests calling out a countdown, “5,4,3,2,1…zip-a-dee-do-dah!”, they all shouted out. Sean & I got in the voucher line. We looked around for Art, but he seemed to already be in the park. The voucher line went quick and we headed into the park. We noticed something going on in Town Square. <commercial>.
First stop was at Town Square where a good portion was roped off for the filming crew. It seemed they were filming for an upcoming commercial featuring the new parade for Walt's 100th birthday. They had a small band and a float. The float was styled after the "Mickey Through the Years" snowglobe with Mickey in costume inside a glass ball. I wondered aloud how he would be breathing in there, what with the troubles Ariel had in Disneyland with her glass bubble. Sean figured there was good ventilation as the confetti inside seemed to be blowing around. In front of the float several dancing Magical brooms marched in formation.
We were directed to head to the right of the filming and to keep moving. Several extras on the side cheered on que and we stopped to watch for a while at a safe distance.
Next stop was at the hub, by the Adventureland entrance, where it was roped off. The sun was out, and the smell of burning forest was all around. Sean & I sat waiting near a little bridge where a bunny rabbit hopped about nibbling grass. Several children tried to hunt it out, but it disappeared beneath the branches of a small tree. Many people walked up and near 9am, the waiting crowd had tripled.
We spotted Art making his way towards the hub. As he approached, many of the pin traders greeted him. At first I didn’t think he had seen us, but he did, and joined us in our quest. Once the announcement was made, and the rope dropped, we all headed toward the Agraba gift shop. The line was terriblely long, so we walked past it and headed for the Magic Carpets of Aladdin. After all, we had until noon to purchase our pins, and you really shouldn’t purchase merchandise for an attraction you haven’t ridden.
The ride looks wonderful. Like Dumbo, the ride involves people “flying” around and around, with a few exceptions: You ride in a flying carpet instead of an elephant. The carpets seat four people in two seats (front and rear) instead of two people in one seat. Guests in the front seat can control the carpet’s height while guests in the rear seat control the pitch. Atop the central mechanism is a magic lamp (which sometimes spouts smoke.) Around the attraction are two camels: one facing the queue entrance and the other facing the ride vehicles. Both camels can “spit” water.
The 3 of us were in the second group to ride. Once the first group boarded, we were given purple plastic tickets similar to the ones given out at Dumbo. We watched as the first group experienced the attraction. When they landed, they all clapped. This was no Dumbo ride! Art got in the front seat and Sean & I sat in the rear. Sean had his video camera out and taped the ride experience. Art controlled the height and I tried to control the pitch while still snapping off a couple photos with my camera. The height of the ride was wonderful and the speed seemed a bit faster than Dumbo. At one point we encountered a spray of camel “spit” as Art let us float down just enough to doused by the camel facing the ride. I giggled, as it was a surprise, but not a bad one on such a hot morning. Art apologized and we headed back up before the ride started to slow down and we headed back to earth.
After the ride, we saw the pin buying line was still too long, so the three of us headed out the park gate and over to the monorail station where we rode over to the Polynesian to have breakfast at the Kona Café. Sean & I had made PS for Thursday but thought it would be fun to try the Tonga Toast today instead. I was surprised we got seated so fast. Sean & I ordered the Tri* juice and Art the OJ. We all ordered the Tonga Toast though I substituted a side of potatoes (one of my favorite food products) for the breakfast meat which normally comes with the Toast. The Tonga Toast came and it looked pretty good. It was 2 layers of cinnamon-sugar french toast with bananas stuffed between. We had been warned that Tonga Toast is very sweet. I cut a piece and tried it without the syrup and it was ok but I thought it was a little dry and so poured a little out to dip the pieces into the syrup. Eventually I tried scrapping some of the cinnamon sugar off as it was just a bit much. Sean left about a quarter of his Tonga Toast and I left a third. The juice was wonderful and the coffee just fine. I had 3 cups! =)
We headed back to the park. By then it was about 11am and the pin-buying line was non-existent! We turned in our vouchers and purchased our 2 pins apiece. The pins are very nice with Jasmine & Aladdin riding the magic carpet and the ride name underneath and dangling down was “Opening May 2001.” Art got another voucher for the standby line to purchase unclaimed pins after noon.
Sean & I felt a bit tired, so we wished Art good luck & headed toward the exit. On our way out, we saw that the Dole Whip stand was open. Neither of us were especially hungry, but, because we didn’t know if we would be by the stand when it was open again, we got a Dole Whip float to split. It was as delicious as we remembered!
Once out the gate, we waited in the heat for our bus and swayed into a gentle drifting sleep on our way back to the resort. Once back at PO-R, we were back awake and refilling our mugs. Back at the room we found everything clean & pretty unspectacular, but I reveled in the loveliness of it anyway. Biscuit was left in confussion with 2 Brer Rabbits sitting in front of him at opposite sides of the bed. Floppy on the right and Bunny on the left. We both decided that the room was basically the same size as our room at the ASMu but better furnished. I love the worn wood posts on the bed and the “Sassagoula Trading Co.” seat bench on the other side of the TV armoire. We took some time to rest some.
After our nap, we visited the Downtown Disney Marketplace to window shop, pin trade, and pick out the wedding bands we wanted. Back during our December, we had seen these gold Mickey wedding bands and figured that they would be available in California. Nope! So, for our ceremony, we used some inexpensive interim bands with the intent to purchase our real bands in Florida. Fortunately, World of Disney still had the bands. We put them on reserve to purchase them on Friday. The Mickey ones will be the ones folks will see when we come down in December. =) They are the ones we will be wearing now & the rest of our lives. (Even though we won’t be wearing our interim bands, we will be keeping them.)
After all that walking, shopping, and pin trading, I had gotten the munchies seriously, so we headed back to our resort. My feet have been bothering me a lot lately, so Sean dropped me off at the lobby. While waiting for him to return from parking the car at our building, I did some window shopping and went out to feed the fish again. I spotted Sean as he came up the path and across the bridge from Ol’ Man Island.
We refilled our mugs and got dinner at the food court. We had the chicken sandwich special with “Cajun” garlic french fries and some coleslaw. The sandwich was some breaded chicken topped with swiss cheese and bacon. The chicken was too dry. The “Cajun” garlic fries had no garlic favor. The “Cajun” flavoring was just paprika sprinkled over the fries. The coleslaw looked like something had been pureed and didn’t even meet my lowest expectations for coleslaw. Regardless, I ate the chicken sandwich and most of the fries. The cole slaw we left and decided the food court here at PO-R wasn’t much better than the one at All Stars, and we would make an effort to not eat there anymore.
Back at the room, we sipped our drinks, and watched the final episode of Voyager, while Sean turned on the laptop and got online for RADP-friends chat night. It was fun & confusing for me to be on as 2 people “sean & pamela rouse” as it was difficult to keep up with who I actually was so people would know they were talking to me & not Sean. We managed, I think. I got tired though, and fell asleep soon enough.