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Day 2: Tuesday, June 8, 1999 --
Keys to the Kingdom Tour, Lord of the Dance dinner & show
This morning Joe and I decided that we would definitely skip breakfast and go directly to the Magic Kingdom where we were scheduled to take the 9:30 AM "Keys to the Kingdom" tour. This was a 5-hour walking
tour of the Magic Kingdom that included a visit to the Utilidors. Joe found the tour very informative, but I must admitt that after reading RADP for the past several years, I didn't learn very much new.
Still, it was interesting, and I was particularly surprised by how noisy the pneumatic garbage disposal system made the Utilidors. Our tour guide, Shelly, explained Disney's hiring standards, and I found
out that I would make an excellent candidate for a CM, while Joe would not because of his facial hair. Next Shelly asked us who was our favorite Disney character. Mickey has always been mine--no problem
there. But it was amusing to watch Joe try to quickly figure out who was his. He finally settled upon Grumpy, which was fitting I suppose. We also got to bypass the line at the Haunted Mansion and go
for a ride, which was a very good thing since I was expecting to ride it later in the week during E-Ticket night, and it wasn't opened then. The tour guide pointed out a rather abstract hidden "Donald"
in the Haunted Mansion that I hadn't noticed before. She also told an amusing story concerning a grouping of 3 dinner plates on the table in the haunted dining room positioned in a "very familiar pattern,"
and how their arrangement related to an ongoing rivalry between Cast Members and Imagineers. Next we took a half-hour break for lunch. After several hours of walking, Joe and I were finally getting our
appetites back and got something to eat at the Columbia Harbour House. I had the chili in a bread bowl, which was very good, but I didn't enjoy eating it at the pace that was required to consume it,
take a bathroom break, and meet back at the group within 30 minutes. After lunch we continue the tour, and Joe was chosen to demonstrate how "forced perspective" is effectively used in the MK. He climbed up on the balcony of one of the buildings in Fantasyland, and had to duck way down to keep from hitting his head. The second story of this building was built on a scale more appropriate for the Seven Dwarfs, but it sure looked normal sized from the ground. Of course we learned and experienced lots of other things on the tour, but there just isn't enought time or space for me to write about it all here.
After the tour we cut through the gift shop on Main Street on our way out of the park, and I just happened to discover two very unique Mickey rings which I bought immediately. Next we stopped at the "Walk Around the World" information booth for directions to locate the brick that I had purchased several years ago for my granddaughter and me. We found it opposite of the monorail station to Epcot.
After locating my brick and taking several photos, Joe and I continued on to Epcot to pick up our tickets for the "Lord of the Dance" show and dinner at Alfredo's. When I purchased the tickets over the
phone, I was told by CRO to pick them up inside the entrance to Future World at Guest Relations. Upon arriving there, the CM directed me to a kiosk near Germany. I couldn't locate "said" kiosk and
after making several more inquires, we were finally directed to a booth near the American Adventure. After waiting an additional 15 minutes for the CM in the booth to take care of the one person
ahead of us, Joe and I were given our "ticket" badges. Needless to say this whole ordeal made "Grumpy" very cranky because of all the extra walking. I told him that he should have trained better
for this vacation as I had. My lack of sympathy didn't go over very well, but I truly had tried to get Joe to walk with me for months before this trip. We still had about a half an hour to kill
before the show, so we wander down to the Japanese pavilion in time to catch the girl forming rice candy sculptures. She fashioned a dragon and then a dolphin in rapid succession, and succeeded
in impressing us with her unusual talent. It was very nice to walk back to the Lord of the Dance stage and not have to wait in line to get a front row seat. Joe and I both really enjoyed this show. The dancers were very energetic, and we particularly liked the female fiddle-playing duet even if they were faking it as several people on RADP have suggested. Next we headed to Alfredo's for our prepaid dinner. We each got to select an appetizer, soup or salad; entree; nonalcoholic beverage; and desert from the menu. I had their signature dish, Pasta Alfredo, and thought it was the best I ever ate. The roving musicians were a nice touch, but this was definitely the most hectic World Showcase restaurant in which I've dined.
I was still very determined to "convert" Joe by catering to his likes and dislikes, so after dinner I suggested that we walk over to the Boardwalk to checkout the ESPN Sports Club. The bar had standing room only due to the Dallas and Buffalo Stanley Cup playoff. Not being able to tolerate the packed conditions for long, we left the club and took a slow stroll back to World Showcase just in time to catch the evening performance of Illuminations. To Joe's delight, we found a decent viewing spot located next to the beer stand in France.
On our way out of the park, we overheard a little boy asking his mother if they had "fireworks here every single night"? After the mother reassured him several times that they did indeed have fireworks at Walt Disney World every single night, the little boy replied, "If I was a kid who didn't get to come here, I sure would cry, and cry, and cry." It made me a little sad that my granddaughter wasn't along on this trip.
Day 3: Wednesday, June 9, 1999 --Animal Kingdom and Artist Point
Joe and I were roused at 8:00 AM by the sound of Mickey's voice instructing us to "wake up pal," and arrived at Animal Kingdom by 9:30 AM. The extremely pleasant weather we had experienced the first two days
was beginning to turn a little hot. Our first stop was the Tusker House for a sticky bun and coffee ($8.75). Next we headed over to see the "Flights of Wonder" show. The Caravan Stage was being remodeled
so the show took place in a tent that had terrible viewing conditions. I'm sure that anyone more than 5 or 6 rows back (that would be us), could not see a thing. There was a very smart green parrot in the
show that knew the lyrics to seven full songs. We heard him sing two of them, one in English and one in French. Give that bird a cracker for a job well done! Next we took the Maharaja Jungle Trek. The whole area was beautiful, and I was amazed at how genuinely aged the crumbling walls looked. I came away a bit disappointed though since I had barely caught a glimpse of the tigers. I did however get a good long look at the giant fruit bats and thought that they were both terrifying and fascinating all at the same time --especially since it seemed at if they were completely free to "get at us" anytime they were so inclined.
We had 12:00 PM priority seating at the Rainforest Cafe but weren't feeling very hungry since we had just eaten the sticky buns several hours ago. Still, I very much wanted to see the restaurant so we headed over. Joe and I decided that we would split an order of Mojo Bones and flat bread, but the portions were so huge that we still could not finish what we had ordered. The aquariums were beautiful, the service was slow, the food was good, the restaurant was noisy, and the fruit smoothies were excellent. The total cost of our shared meal was $45 including a $6 tip.
Now we headed over to Conservation Station to experience the 3-D Rain Forest Sound Booths. I highly recommend that you try these at least once--that large cat roaring in my left ear sent shivers up and down my spine. I truly felt as if it were right behind me waiting to pounce. We didn't see much else there that interested us and promptly departed on the Wildlife Express.
It was just about time to head to the park entrance to meet Jimmie and Mary Beth who were arriving today. After waiting an hour and a half beyond our designated meeting time, I went to Guest Relations and asked if they could phone our resort and find out if they had checked in yet. The resort rang their room, and Jimmie answered explaining that they had only just arrived and that they had been through several connecting flight nightmares, along with some misplaced luggage, and the Mear's Shuttle trip from hell. They promised that they would try to make it over to AK within the next 45 minutes. I viewed the extended wait as an opportunity to convince Joe that he should give Countdown to Extinction a try. He really hates coasters, but I thought that he would probably be okay with this. Well, the surprise was on me. He really hated this ride and wouldn't trust my recommendations about "safe" rides for the remainder of the trip. I sure didn't score any points with that one :- (
Finally we met up with Jimmie and Mary at the park entrance. Joe took advantage of the arrival of my new "riding" partners to escape back to our hotel room, and the 3 of us headed back to Countdown to
Extinction. Jimmie and Mary both loved it. Next we saw "Tough to be a Bug," and of course we couldn't help marveling at the Tree of Life. Even Mary, who often has a ho-hum attitude in the park,
scampered from animal to animal in the queue calling out her discoveries. I thought maybe we would be lucky and catch a showing of The Festival of the Lion King after "Bug," but when we arrived,
the show had started 10 minutes earlier. Now for a riddle: There was water below us, and water above us, but we didn't get wet. How did we do it? Answer: While at Camp Minnie-Mickey we were caught in a torrential downpour and climbed up onto a covered well to keep dry because the rain began so suddenly we couldn't find any other form of shelter. That certainly was the worst storm I've ever been caught in at WDW. As soon as the rain eased up, we headed to the nearest shop to purchase rain ponchos. On a positive note, the rain had a decisive effect on crowd control, and the Safari Ride was a walk-on. Despite the fact that it was pouring, we saw loads of animals on our safari, including a baby hippo. Mary Beth was extremely disturbed that the rhinos and lions "appeared" to be completely uncontained.
The rain continued to come down in buckets so we headed over to the Wilderness Lodge slightly early for our dinner with cyber friends Don and Laurie at Artist Point . Joe met up with us there, and we spent an hour sitting in front of the great fireplace trying to dry out. A Cast Member explained that the layers of stone in the grand structure were a representation of the layers of the Grand Canyon. I nodded in acknowledgement of the information, while solemnly reflecting on my disappointment at not having gotten to ride the Kali River Adventure over at AK. Don and Laurie finally arrived only minutes before we were paged to our table at Artist Point. This turned out to be a very enjoyable meal with lots of good conversation. I had the thin sliced beef and Joe had the buffalo steak. Including venison sausage appetizers, desserts and tip, this meal cost about $85 for the two of us and was definitely worth it.
After dinner we all returned to our respective resorts via a bus to MGM that first had to make a stop at the Grand Floridian (I know not why). Anyway, while at the Grand Floridian we noticed that there was a TV installed at the resort's bus stop. Interesting to see how the "other half" lives.
.......to be continued......
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