Resort Day-10/30

8:00 am - It's too darn early, but we have a time share thing this morning.

8:35 am - getting Laurie up. Very difficult. Anyways it's worth free breakfast at Celebration and $80.

9:05 am - we arrive at the sales center.

11:15 am - finished presentation. Not too bad. We got a cheap breakfast. Pretty interesting. Be sure to read my article on time share presentations before ever going into one of these.

11:55 pm - rest.

2:00 pm - horseback riding. We were checking online and found out that they offer horseback riding at Fort Wilderness. It's about $40 each. Looks like our timeshare presentation is paying off.

We show up at the Fort Wilderness kennels to pay for our adventure.

2:30 pm - last trail ride of the day. We're all over it and we're joined by a mother and son. Just four of us. Super awesome. My horse is named Jumbo and Laurie us riding Romeo. We learn a lot about the life of horse riders and trail lines. Laurie, the outgoing one is talking with the mother. One of our guides dressed her horse as Peter Pan. The guides are going to be in the Beginning of the Halloween parade tomorrow.

3:30 pm - back in the car. What an awesome time. Definitely a hidden treasure of WDW so far. Off to Animal Kingdom. We want to ride Everest today.

4:00 pm - arrive at the security gate. They inform us that the park closes at 5 today. We have only 60 minutes for fun.

first we get our picture taken using the photopass. Take a look. We arrive at Expedition Everest. I'm woozy cuz I haven't had any food. We both get a frozen banana. Just what the doctor ordered.

We hop on Everest. Laurie and I ride it 3 times. There is no line. The second time I video tape the ride. The third time I video tape us. I hope I can publish this when we get back. I'm conerned about bandwidth.

4:25 pm - we head over to Dinosaur. The elevator broke so we can't go on it becaue of Laurie's knees. Oh well Indy is better. We ride the spinny ride at Dinoland. I'm feeling sick at the moment.

5:00 pm - I take a nap and Laurie is sleeps.

7:45 pm - I head over to Pleasure Island on my own. Laurie's not getting up. Pleasure Island is going through a lot of changes. The clubs on the left are boarded up. The stores are longer there. the west end stage is gone and the Bridge to the West Side shop has taken it's place.

8:15 pm - I'm sitting at the Comedy Warehouse. I love improv, especially by people who are better than me. Anyways you can see me most Saturday nights on www.nationalcomedy.com.

8:30 pm - Laurie pages me during the show telling me to pick her up. I tell her I'm going to see the 9:00 show.

10:15 pm - pick up Laurie at the resort.

10:45 pm - we arrive at the Adventurer's Club. Our 2nd favorite club. We notice a lot of return guests. Because they feel they have the right to be part of the show. The actors just ignore them. Good job.

11:00 pm - Samantha's cabaret. Fun show. They pick on married folks in this one.

11:45 pm - last comedy warehouse show. It has all of our favorites are in this show. We laughed a lot.

12:30 am - return to resort.

Animal Kingdom Trip Report 10/29

i'm on my own for this one. Laurie's super tired. I'm manning the digital camera and video camera.

12:30 pm - l'm on the road and enter the park. My plan is to use the video camera mostly. First stop Expedition Everest.

12:50 pm - enter line. All fastpasses have been distributed for the day. My wait is quoted at 60 minutes. I'll video and shoot pictures. I can't wait but I have to wait. I have my iPod running tune.

1:10 pm - bored. I'll watch last week's Office, the Initiation. Ha Ha.

1:30 pm - I pack every thing safely. Cause I'm getting on this ride.

1:40 pm - what an awesome ride. It's a great Disney coaster with steep banks. The yeti effect was cool and disappointing because I couldn't see it clearly.

1:45 pm - back in line. I just found the single rider's line. doh!

2:10 pm - I'm here to see animals. I go on the Jungle Trek. I got nice video of a tiger 'marking' her territory.

2:30 pm - in line for Kilamanjaro safari. 50 minute wait. IPod comes back on and I have a woman constantly running into me with her stroller. I'm such a patient person.

3:00 pm - I'm on the ride. Let me warn you. Visit Animal Kingdom in the morning. There are no animals out in the afternoon. The best time to arrive is as the parks open. The animals are frisky.

The safari ride was a bust. No animals except some sleeping lion and a lost giraffe.

I'm done. Back to the resort.

4:45 pm - we head out to EPCOT.

5:05 pm - we discover that Future World closes at 7:00. That doesn't give us much time.

We go to Nemo and Friends. Absolutely no lines. We get on the Clamulators. What a fantastic ride! They say that Disneyland submarine ride is going to be better than this. I don't know how this is possible. You've got to ride this ride. The rest of the Nemo & Friends is a little sparse but there are some good spots.

6:20 pm - we ride the Communicore. This is one of favs.

6:35 pm - we leave EPCOT. We are going to Cape Cos Cafe for their Clambake. I love shell fish.

6:55 pm - we arrive at the beach club. We're told that the wait is 1 hour. NO PROBLEM!

8:00 pm - DINNER!!! I head immediately for the clams and mussels. And there's no stopping me.

8:50 pm - back to the resort for Desparate Housewives.

Magic Kingdom Travel Report 10/27

It's a Friday afternoon and we're heading over the Magic Kingdom.  We've got about 3 hours because the park is closing early for Mickey's Not-So-Scary-Halloween, which we'll be attending on Halloween.

 

We show up and park in the disabled area.  I'm used to this but it is a long walk to get to the Monorail.  We see the ferry pulling in and we decide to take the fairy to the Magic Kingdom.

 

If you're not in a rush, this is a great way to go if you love boats and lakes like we do.  Very relaxing.

 

We enter the gate with our tickets and they have a new biometric system.  You just place one finger on the sensor and you're in.  The park is tricked out in autumn and Halloween overlay.  The tones are orange, red and yellows.

 

We know we're not going to be here long, so we hit some attractions that we normallly wouldn't do.

 

First, Stitch's Great Escape, which took over for Alien Encounter.  Let me say that I was a huge fan of Alien Encounter and was sad to see it go.  Yes, it was not kid friendly, but it was scary.  Stitch's great escape uses many of the same effects and concepts and tries to make it fun and kid friendly.  Quite frankly I was bored.  There were cute moments, but the story dragged on and there was no drama or stakes in the story.  The best part was seeing a lifesize animatronic Stitch.  2 out of 5 stars.

 

Next, we go on the Indy Speedway.  Laurie drove and I video taped.  Definitely not Disneyland's Autopia.  The car was difficult to control.  It would not go straight.  I trust that it was a fluke with our car, but very disappointing.  2 out of 5 stars.

 

Now we go on Peter Pan.  The entry system is better than Disneyland's because they use the conveyor belt system. The basics of the ride are the same as Disneyland, but again Disneyland is better.  There are more minature elements from the story, but when you fly over London and Neverland, your looking at a cartoon representation of these locations.  3 out of 5 stars.

 

It's a Small World. Not as good as Disneyland.  Each continent is a little small, also at Disneyland the path takes a lot of turns.  WDW is very straight. 3 out of 5 stars.

 

Haunted Mansion again not as good as Disneyland. The sound system is so outdated. 3 out of 5 stars.

 

Disneyland is so much better than this place.

 

Alan Ng

 

www.mypalal.com

www.themeparkshopper.com

 

 

Disney/MGM Studios 10/28

We just checked out of our first resort. So we have to kill a few hour before we can go to our new resort.

12:00 pm - Mgm is where we're going. First thing I do is mosey down the street to get Fastpass for Rock N Roller coaster. I get them for 2:30. Perfect we can watch the stunt show at 2:00. Now we have to kill two hours.

We're trying to kill time before the stunt show. There's a lot of streetmosphere shows going on. Some sketch and some improv. We head over to the stunt show.

We still have about 40 minutes to kill. We goto the Honey I Shrunk the Kids play area. It definitely for kids. I get to shoot only one segment. I almost twist my ankle in the process.

1:30 pm - enter the line for the stunt show. We are the first wheel chair and we get a really nice spot. You'll have to see the photos I post later.

3:00Pm - what an awesome show. It's a must see. Great stunt driving. We are now fighting crowds to get to Rockin Roller Coaster. We decide to skip it. We go to the tram ride and the wait is just too long. Alright, let to Rockin.

3:10 pm -we first get Fastpasses for Tower of Terror. We have to wait an hour for this one. So now we go on Rockin' We enter the final waiting room before the movie area. Then we are told the ride is experiencing technical difficulties. I'm burning up from the Florida humidity so I don't care. Plus we're going to have to wait for Tower of Terror afterwards. Let's wait indoors. That's what I say.

3:40 pm - we just finished the ride. It was awesome as always. We're straving, so I get a cheeseburger and Laurie gets a soup.

4:00 pm - we're on Tower of Terror. This a so much better than California Adventure. why? the car moves forward down a hallway. And the drops are unpredictable.

4:15 pm- we're ready to go. We walk down Hollywood Boulevard and the Streetmosphere characters are performing. They are doing the 99 game, which is exactly like our game 185. I'm so much better than them.

5:00 pm - arrive at Resort. So much nicer than the Celebrity. Now we're off to Sam's Club for food and other essentials.

Nightmare Before Christmas in 3D

It's been a while since I last saw this film. Also Laurie never really saw it before. She, in fact, never really cared to see it. Then I rented the Corpse Bride and she became hooked. She was now willing to see Nightmare. She last Friday we made the trek to Hollywood to see it in 3D.

What a wonderful experience! I was amazed that this film could be so seamlessly converted into 3D. There was no indication that this movie wasn't shot in 3D. The best part was that this movie does not employ cheesy 3D effects such as items coming at you or cute characters floating in front of you.

Laurie really liked the story. A person who must ultimately accept who they are. The whole point is that the movie is not about the evil of Halloween but Burton creates a world based on these themes and about a town that lives to scare.

See this movie if you've never had chance. We had the privilege of seeing it at the El Capitan. The VIP option is almost worth it. We got reserved seats, tub of popcorn and bottled soda. Because arrived at the last moment the reserved seats came in handy.

Warning: if you're in a wheelchair there is no access to the upper Balcony. What a shame.

Precious Moments Event

Laurie and I were at the Precious Moments event yesterday at the Paradise Pier Hotel.  We had a pretty descent time.  I was a little disappointed in the event but not enough to feel my money was wasted.  The key to this event was the merchandise.  I was able to get a hold of the latest line of Disney Precious Moments figurines signed by Precious Moments Creator Sam Butcher.

 

We showed up and we were pretty much the last people in line.  Laurie has to use her wheelchair because of her surgery and all of the disabled spaces were taken.  We had to park on the second floor of the parking structure and lo and behold there is no elevator.

 

We then got in the ticket line and received our packets and picked up our merchandise.  I dropped off my merchandise in the car.

 

We got back in the meet and greet line and were greeted by the Disney hostesses.  They were very friendly letting us know what was up.

 

Once we got to meet Sam Butcher, we got our photos taken very quickly.  The lady before us had a flat Sammy.  We received our photos and we went right to breakfast.  The best part of this event was that the seats were reserved.  We found our table and immediately got Laurie's picture with Princess Aurora.

 

We had breakfast which was quiche, not Laurie's favorite.  Sam's assistant said a few words and we were done.  The event was scheduled to be 2 hours, and wound up being 1 hour.

 

As I was loading up the wheelchair in the car, Sam's assistant walked by and thanked us for coming to the event.  Some of those items will soon be up on our ebay site.  You can see it there soon - http://stores.ebay.com/The-Humble-Folks-Themepark-Shopper_W0QQsspagenameZMEQ3aFQ3aSTQQtZkm

Eating at Disneyland during the Week

Have you ever thought about visiting Disneyland during the week for dinner?  Before you do, you'll want to read this blog.

 

Our last three trips to Disneyland we were there pretty late on business and decided to get dinner at various locations.

 

The first time, we went to the Plaza Inn on Main Street.  I ordered the Fried Chicken and Laurie wanted the Pot Roast.  We waited in line for about 20 minutes because they ran out of Pot Roast.  No exaggeration, but it did take 20 minutes for a new batch of pot roast.  When the pot roast finally arrived, guess what...now they're out of friend chicken.  So we both had to order pot roast.

 

The second time, we went to the French Market at New Orleans Square.  I just wanted Fried Chicken.  We'll guess what, they were out of bread bowls for the stew and clam chowder.  You ask, but you're ordering Fried Chicken.  You're right.  But the queue is built in such a way that no one gets served until the person in the front of the line is served.  So I've got 4 parties in front of me and each party has to be told (1) that there are no bread bowls, (2) change your order, (3) apologize for not having bread bowls.

 

The third time, we're at Pizza Port and we want to order our favorite Chicken Fusilli.  Guess what they're out of pasta.  We leave and eat burgers at Tomorrowland Terrace.

 

If you're at the park during the week, Disneyland is going to run out of food.  They do not plan for overages and they are too cheap to ever think of having leftovers that can be donated to local homeless shelters.

 

Other than that, we had a great time.

It's Halloween Time at Disneyland

Laurie and I made a special trip to Disneyland this weekend to see all the goings on for Halloween. I have some photos on my website - http://www.mypalal.com/Halloween2006/index.cfm

Here's a few things that we got to experience:

• Tower of Terror - The lobby is decked out with Halloween decorations from a party that took place long ago. The ghosts from the ride are wondering the Hollywood back lot and they has a story session in front of the Hotel.
• California Screams - We have not been able to get in yet, but these is a show there in the afternoon.
• Haunted Mansion - The Nightmare Before Christmas overlay is in place and the ride is as fun as ever. We think there are a few changes. For example, there's Gingerbread house on the Banquet Table that's being eaten from the inside.
• Main Street USA - The entire street and stores is ready for Halloween. There is a giant Mickey pumpkin in the Town Square and carved pumpkins and decorations line all of the stores. Central Plaza has carved pumpkins representing each land.

Let me know if you see other things.