Day 4! Welcome to Monday.
Still No sign of Stitch. Yet Izzy is beginning to turn right, away from Florida. Guess thats The Carolina's problem....
So we attempted early entry for the AK. ATTEMPTED! Even on vacation i dont move that early, got there at 9. Bought a safari hat, Headed right for Kilimanjaro, grabbed a FP and rode it twice.
I saw the baby Ellefunt! (There's a pic of it in teh album)
One soft pretzel later, checked out teh Gorillas, went to asia for the tigers. Saw the construction and around noontime deicded that it was time for a bloody nap cuz it was hot out!
Later on, back to the MK. Buzz Lightyear was found and the evil Zurg was clipped like Moe Grene once more, and then had dinner. Then we set up to photograph FitS for the last time, my last time anyhow. Set up shop and camped out at the flagpole. Ended up sharing my space with some nice british lads who were going to videotape the show. Things were good, had to keep asking (almost bribing) people to move so they were RIGHT in front of us and screwung up the shots. And then someone put a kid on their shoulders and this i remembered i need a 9 foot tripod.... Pictures should have come out well.
Hit the sack, etc.
Moving on to Day 5! Tuesday.
Isabel no longer a cat 5! Stitch still MIA. But we found a charcter Breakfast at Ohana. Cousin Mickey, Goofy, Chip and Dale were in the house. Ummm Waffles. It wasnt busy, lots of charter time at the table. Nice parade for the kids. We asked chip if he'd like to come home and chase the moles out of our backyard. HE agreed and asked us when the plane left. (Took a minute of pantomime to figure out what he was saying) Waffles were consumed and stitch was looked for and not found. The polynessian has great theming and Ohana gives a great view of the castle. Couldnt do dinner even tho it apparently has good steaks. SO it gets my recommendation.
From there, Off to MGM. Emptyish park, small lines. Did the back lot tour - Construction of the Stunt Show is going along quickly. Land is totally flat. Noticed that most of the Roger Rabbit vehicles on display as well as some of teh star wars models are beginning to rust badly.
Dragged my mother onto RnRC. She liked it except for the upsidedown bits. Said it was like riding with me LMAO. Boatload of teens at the park at this point, guess HS let oout early. Saw some HS girls with some interesting fashion statements, i mean dyed hair and Dreds just doesnt mix with a lip ring and hot pants, IMO. Had to grab my glasses nearly out of midair during the ride. From there, "Throw me the Idol, i throw you the whip!" and its off to Indy and some ice cream. Saw some bratty kids and bad parenting. Ce La Vie.
Called home for Isabel update... looks like its heading more towards Norfolk area and then north into VA. Not good. Asked my neighbor to tape up our windows, bring in the trashcans and to call us if one of our forest of trees hits the house.
Went to fantasmic, got nailed by a 10 minute rainstorm. Never in my life had i seen 500 people get up for napkins at the same time before.
Thoughts on fantasmic: Excellent stage show. Great water effects. Just downright good. But not what i'm looking for at the end of a long day, i want fireworks. IMO i found Illuminations to be much better. Much more... emotional(?). Anyhow, Didnt go back to shoot Fantasmic. Ive got the lenses just didnt have the desire.
And then! Laundry night! $2.00 bucks per load and the dryers dont work right. Plus the quarter machines dont like dollar bills unless theyre crips and clean. So many long walks for quarters happened. Went swimming (sorta, morelike floating) while the laundry was going. Saw a lil kid at the pool exclaim "I'm all wet" when he got out of the pool, acting quite suprised.
Day 6 - Wednesday!
Back to Epcot. Small crowd. Met up with Angelique. Did Living Seas (Saw Vince's friends) Spaceship Earth and Test Track. (TT became my mom's fav) Gave a shourt (literally) to Keenan. Got Lunch - While the electric Umbrella is OKAY, three times was enuff.
-* Side note - Disney Food prices are getting out of hand. It was like $17 per counter service meal for 2 people. Familys cant afford a week of $35 dollar meals! Would walt have wanted people to not afford his parks? Perhaps Eisner should buy everyone lunch one day with his bonuses. *-
Finally had a CM in astore call Merchendice to track down a stitch. Somehow it got llost in communication but one was apparently in MGM. Yet i checked the day before.... Anyhow, Kudos to the CM for going the extra mile.
World showcase was seen, MArgaritas were consumed, and the wall was hit. Bodies begfan to hurt, blisters formed and muscles ached. Every Person Comes Out Tired indeed. Went back to test track once more and dragged ourselves to Italy, dinner and wine.
Limped to the bus, called back home. Isabel now headed north but falling apart. Heading for NC/VA border. We think. Schools were closed for the next day, hell the city was closed! MetroRai and Buses were going to cease accepting new passangers at 11 AM. DC was under a Snow Emergency. (I AM NOT KIDDING). Storm predicted to go right over home.
Day 7. Thursday. Pass the advil.
Shopped. Very tired and grumpy. Met up with Tyler, Rob and Angel at Philharmagic. Went on pirates beforehand. Air Conditioning good! Shopped. Saw PM. Met Marcia at PM previews. Great Film! Best 3D film i've ever seen.
And then Tyler & Angel became tour guides while Izzy makes landfall in NC.
Went to SteaknShake and then back to Proptery Control. Tyler called merchendice and They said Stitch was at the contemporary. Checked, no luck, major language barriers tho. Unfriendly CMs. Unhelpful. Saw the monorail from inside the Contemporary. Saw some of backstage, like the holiday shop and the monorail shop.
Hit the MK at the end of the day, did Buzz (again) Space MOuntain, Jungle Cruise and Splash Mountain in an hour. Lots of fun. Angel and Tyler got soaked.
Went to see Epcot for Illuminations. Stopped by GR to call united to check on flight status. Dules was resuming operations at 10 the next morning, everythign should be okay. Rain just began at home, Dad lost siding on his house over in MD. Power out everywhere Storm just starting where we live. DC Closed.
At illuminations, Seemed like at the beginning the fireworks were off by a 1/2-1/4 second early. Enjoyed it. Dragged self back to bus.
Came back, packed some, Changed and went out with Ty & Angel to PI. Alcohol was consumed. Adventures Club was explored. Did foolish dance. Had lots of fun.
Day 8! Last day. Very grumpy. Very tired.
Went to MK. Hey Bettie, of teh Virgin Islands! Youre downright rude for a CM and beyond unhelpful and should be fired. I'm gonna right Guest Relations and let them know that. What happened was that in my drunken stooper the night before, i got my old park ticket from march mixed up with my current one. I accidently tried to endter with an old ticket and all Bettie did was yell at me that it was expired and sent me to Guest relations, rather than simply (And Politely!) looking at the ticket she yelled at me. You dont do that to guests (especially hungover ones.). While small in comparison to someone else's horro story i heard about, It was the beginnings of a bad customer service day.
GM of Canada was having a commercial filmed by MAD Films. Saw Mickey get his close up. Very interesting. Lost of managers out and about. Went on haunted mansion. Very hot and humid. Shopped some more, people watched. Finally surrendered and gave up. Said goodbye to angel. Said goodbye to mickey.
Got on mears bus. Went to airport. Found that United at MCO is downright unhelpful Since when did you have to take your own bags to be screened?! Since when did people not make sure that lines moved? Like i had a clue of how their self check in system worked. Friendly Skies my A**. Inefficient security screening. Very long lines. Very slow. They could learn a thing or 2 from Dulles. Metal Detector didnt work right, kept going off when no one went through BUT STILL they screened passangers with it.
Called home. Storm over. House intact. Never lost power. Water running. Lost of branches everywhere.
Got bad food. The A/C in the terminal by the gate wasnt working. A 3 year old sat behind us on the plane. Fortunetly thats as bad as it got, the kid fell asleep, the soda didnt have any aftertaste and i was dragged kicking and screaming back to the real world on a boeing 757. More like snoring and sleeping.... Got to Dulles. I forgot how huge it is when you've got 20 pounds of camera gear and 20 more of souviners to lug. Wasnt told where baggage collection was. Walked to wrong end of aiport. Crawled to there, nearly ran over some people on the exit - Its a downhill roll and they stopped. Simple intertia means that i'm going to keep going and if you stop in front of me, youre in trouble, grasshoppa. Lots of pubbles everywhere. Minor storm damage seen.
Delt with gruff shuttle driver back to car - i could tell i'm home. Collected car, got gas. Saw lots of taxis, might have spotted Osama driving one.
Accident on side road, some paramedic was directing traffic at a green light - Noticed that after i nearly ran him over. Dark blue pants and coat at 9 at night w/out a flaslight or flare and i'm supposed to see you when i have a green light!? Moron. I would hope that Cops arent that dumb.
Drove home, hit 7-11 and thats a fact, jack.
Overall impressions, thoughts, etc-
-Carrebian Beach is wonderful but Big. Great, helpful and courtious staff. Great bellhops. Nice housekeeping job, especially with just arranging things in decorative ways.
Although its Too Big for Me. Also too close to RCFD station.
-Either CMs have a good attitude or a Dont give a S attitude. This has to be fixed. But then again, if i was getting less than $7 an hour, would i care? Either way, the bad attitudes have to go.
-Lots of CP employees. Most (like one guy at the HM) didnt entertain well. Either theyre new or they need to review their lines.
-Kids scream, its a fact of life. But if youre on a bus, roughhousing, dont expect everyone to be happy with you or your moron kids. Perhaps thats just folks from the bedbasket of america... or maybe thats the state of parenting today.
- Parks were empty of the weekdays! But the locals came out on the weekends.
-Stitch Attraction was talk of most of the employees when Stitch was mentioned.
-MS was popular with some guests.. Some liked, some didnt. Most i talked to said theyre ride it a few times, but not over and over again. Although they said it was the best ride theyve every been on.
-Customer service in america just seems to have gone away. Its no longer "What can i do for you", rather its "Give me your money and like what we give you". This isnt as much a criticism of Disney (although their management decisions are questionable. Time to reexamine some of those midlevel managers that allow bad attitudes to foster and grow in their departments) rather a blunt shot at United Airlines. I'm sorry BUT i want someone to check me in, Self check in is just a way to save money. While its simple, i'm on vacation! I want to be taken care of!
She died laughign in embarassment and recovered to finish the cruise.
:sohappy:
