Well, since I was up anyway, I downloaded yesterday's pics to my laptop, put fresh batteries in my camera, and finished yesterday's trip notes before cleaning up and dressing for the day's fun. I was heading for Magic Kingdom, but the MK bus stop had at least two full busses worth of people waiting, so I did an end run by taking the Epcot bus, which was nearly empty, and switching to the MK monorail when I got there. My travel time was longer than simply taking a bus from Pop, but since the crowd would have had me waiting 45 minutes for a bus at Pop anyway, I still made pretty good time and got to MK in only 40 minutes.
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I arrived at my first meet of the day, Beat Your But on Buzz, right on time. The group wasn't huge (13 people), so we all rode Buzz twice; I wound up with the highest score on the first ride at 314,500 (personal best for me!) and got the first place ribbon. We rode a second time just for fun and I scored even higher, 324,600. I guess I'm finally getting good at that game.
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After we rode, we posed for group pics at the entrance to the Galaxy Palace Theater. The rest of the group wanted to go on to the second part of the meet, the Tomorrowland Transportation Authority, but as I was freezing and starving, I begged off to find a warm place to have breakfast. Unfortunately, breakfast at Cosmic Ray's Starlight Cafe stops at 10, and I just missed it, so I got lunch instead. I liked the food (cheeseburger and fries), but found Cosmic Rays to be suffering from bugetitus, the lack of sufficient funds to keep clean and in good repair. I sat next to an exterior window with a stainless steel casing; don't do this! The casing has grooves in it which have not apparently been cleaned for several decades.
I also used the bathrooms in Cosmic Rays, and while they weren't dirty like the rest of the bathrooms I had encountered at WDW (mostly owing to the fact that they had not been used much yet that day, it was early), I was disgusted with the rust which covered all the metal fixtures. These bathrooms seemed to have all original fixtures dating back to the park's 1971 opening. Spend a few bucks, guys!
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I decided to take the morning at an easy pace, since it was pretty chilly and I don't deal well with cold weather. I wandered out to Main Street and browsed through the Emporium, then wandered past the castle, across the bridge to Liberty Square, and found a path from Liberty Square to Fantasyland which I had never used before. It's a pretty path, giving good views of the castle forecourt stage from behind, so I sat on a bench and watched part of Cinderella's Surprise Celebration from a unique vantage point. You can't see any of the show from back there, but you can see the various characters as they prepare to go on stage.
When I finally reached Fantasyland, I found to my disappointment that Phil (Mickey's Philharmagic) was temporarily broken. Darn, I really wanted to see it... maybe later in the day. I sat down at a sunny outside table at Pinocchio Village Haus to make trip notes, then headed back to Liberty Square, where I did a little shopping, picking up parchment copies of the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and Lincoln's Gettysburg Address. These important historic documents are beautifully reproduced and will make a nice addition to my walls at home. And at only $2 each, they are a steal by Disney standards!
I also picked up a set of Mickey head pin backs, because one of the few pins I own, a stars and stripes Mickey head that I keep on my camera strap, fell off in Fantasyland and lost its back. Pin backs, too, are very inexpensive by Disney standards.
I continued on through to Adventureland, intending to ride Pirates of the Caribbean, but I found when I go there that Pirates, too, was temporarily broken. Dispirited, I walked through the Pirates gift shop anyway, surprised at the amount of stuff available with Johnnie Depp's picture on it.
I still had some time to kill before my next meet, so I walked through the Swiss Family Robinson's treehouse. I've heard that the Swiss Family treehouse in Disneyland has been converted to a Tarzan theme; this is a shame, because the Swiss Family Robinson is not only a classic Disney movie, but the treehouse is a classic, relaxing, and intricate attraction. It's shade is pleasant in the summer heat and it's water features are a soothing break from the rigors of a hectic day at Magic Kingdom.
When I was finished with the treehouse, I made my way to Aloha Isle for my first Dole Whip meet.
Most of the attendees had already shown up, so I didn't have to wait long for a crowd to develop. I got in line quickly to get a Dole Whip for myself, and chose the twist variety, which is pineapple Dole Whip mixed with vanilla soft serve. I posed for a picture (I think Cinderella snapped it), and dug in, along with several others who had gotten their own Dole Whips, and for a few minutes I was not concentrating on anything but pineapple and vanilla goodness. I think next time I'll try the pineapple by itself; it was very tasty.
As with so many meets, this one mainly consisted of everybody standing around talking, and it lasted about an hour, while we waited for our last attendee to show up. Yes, WDWDen, well know anti-Dole Whipist, had signed up to attend the meet, with the understanding that he would not be partaking in anything Doley or Whippy, but had been delayed nearly an hour. Whether the delay was accidental, or a pathetic attempt to avoid being forced to have a Dole Whip, we'll never know.
Once Dennis showed up, most of the group wanted to go to Tomorrowland for some attractions, but a couple of us had another meet to attend, so I left MK and took the monorail around to the Grand Floridian. I ran into SusanL at the GF monorail station; she was on the same train with me but several cars farther back. We went to the lobby and staked out a spot in front of the Garden View Lounge, which was not yet open for business, to await the rest of the bunch.
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My table consisted of me, Tramp, Scamp, and MissPig's husband and daughters. We had a good time discussing everything from the teas we were drinking to our various occupations to the variable definitions of what constitutes "really, really tall." I ordered Darjeeling, a tea I drink at home (though only during cold weather), and the waiter brought out a pot of it for MissPig's husband, John, and me to share, since we were the only two who had ordered it. I like Darjeeling; it's one of those teas that lightens up nicely with milk and sugar and loses any hint of bitterness.
This was my first experience with classically brewed tea. I have always had tea brewed with tea bags, but the teas at Gardenview are brewed the old-fashioned way, by putting the tea leaves directly into the pot with the water. Because of this, each person is given a strainer with their teacups to remove the dregs as the tea is poured. But I soon found that tea brewed in this fashion gets much stronger as you get to the end of the pot, making the last cup or two so strong that you can actually feel the caffeine raising your heartbeat with each sip.
I had about 6 cups out of the two pots we finished off. I think at one point the caffeine caused my body to vibrate so fast I could have actually passed through the walls.
After we'd been enjoying the tea and snacks for close to an hour, Lady brought out a surprise: a birthday cake for one of our guests, 1-year-old Talia, daughter of Leiasmom, and, of course, sister of Leia. It was tasty.
I don't remember what time we finally started to break up, but I do remember standing around for at least 15 minutes waiting for our waiter, Nelson, to bring me my check, then another 10 minutes waiting for him to come back to collect it, then another 5 minutes waiting for him to swipe my card and bring the receipt for me to sign. I realize that Gardenview is designed to be low-key and relaxing, but having a Guest standing around for 30 minutes to process a check for $2.36 worth of tea is a bit too much. And I was looking for him; for most of that time he was not attending other Guests. Although Nelson had been a pretty good server throughout our nearly 2-hour meet, cooling my heels for 30 minutes waiting for the check blew his tip. Sorry, Nelson.
Seeing as how tomorrow was my check out day, I needed to pack for the trip home, so when the group dispersed I rode the monorail around to the Magic Kingdom bus depot and hopped a bus back to Pop Century, where I packed up everything but the stuff I needed for tomorrow in preparation for my flight home.
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While I was eating, I caught a glimpse of another Taginator, BaciBecki (Christine), having her own dinner a few tables away. She also had a large wrapped gift on the table, indicating to me that she was going to attend the Holiday Gift Game Meet at Boardwalk this evening, just as I was. When I finished eating and disposed of my trash I said hello and struck up a conversation; Christine was getting a ride to Boardwalk from SusanL and asked if I needed a ride as well. Since getting from Pop to Boardwalk by bus at that time of night was probably an hour-long ordeal involving a stop at Epcot, I accepted.
Susan joined us a few minutes later and when everyone was finished eating we piled into her car and she drive us to the Boardwalk Inn.
And a large group it was. I believe we had about 20 people, and wound up pretty much taking over the lounge for the rest of the night. I had not met several of those who attended previously, but unfortunately I wasn't paying enough attention and didn't get everyone's name. Cinderella got things started; Lady was delayed quite a bit due to her dinner at 'Ohana. But she eventually showed up, and when things got started the Gift Game developed into one of the most fun meets of the week.The way it worked is this:
Everyone brought a wrapped gift. Each person's name went into a box, and Lady drew out the first name. The first person picked a gift, unwrapped it, and picked the next person. But each successive person had the choice of picking a wrapped gift from the pile or taking one of the unwrapped gifts away from someone else. If you took someone's unwrapped gift away, you would replace it by choosing a wrapped gift from the pile and giving to the person whose gift you took away.
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Most people picked from the pile of wrapped gifts, but a few got stars in their eyes at some of the unwrapped gifts and took them away from others. Most desired seemed to be the princess tiara and royal purple bag that Carl opened; it went through about three people before finally settling on Cruey's head. But I think I got the best gift of the bunch: a stuffed Milestone Mickey Mouse in 1955 Mousketeer uniform. Fortunately, I drew near the end of the game and not many had the opportunity to take my Mickey away. I would have put up a fight.
Milestone Mickey now sits on a shelf with my other stuffed stuff:
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At about 11:30 I caught a ride back to Pop with SusanL (have I mentioned yet how much I appreciate Susan and LimeGreenCheri acting as chauffeurs all week?). I was feeling a bit nauseous by the time I got there, however, either from the less-than-stellar cheese steak wrap I had for dinner of from the overly strong air freshener they spray liberally around the Bellvue Lounge to cover up the beer and wine smells. Or maybe it was both.
I finished up the day at about 12:30.