Wednesday September 4, 2002

AGAIN!?

Yeah, that's right: I'm going back to Walt Disney World, again! This will be my third trip in a twelve-month span, thanks to the Annual Pass I bought last September. It's quite liable to be my last Disney trip for at least a year, however, so I intend to make it count.

Having moved into a new apartment the weekend before, I was now obliged to drive myself to Baltimore-Washington International Airport, as I now lived much farther away from my family and friends than before. Because of this, I set my alarm for 5:30am, got up and grabbed my luggage, and hit the road at 6am. I pulled into BWI's Blue Lot at about 6:50 and got a good parking space, not too far from the bus stop. The bus, of course, took 20 minutes to arrive and take me into the terminal, and when it did it was so full I had to stand up for the whole ten-minute trip. Because it was so crowded, I got off at the first stop, which, as luck would have it, was the absolute farthest stop from the AirTran counter. But as there was no line at the AirTran counter, and no line at the security checkpoint, I got to my gate quickly. But I forgot to take my bag-o-film out of my camera bag for hand inspection, thus ruining the high-speed film that was in there among the 400-speed. D'oh!

My plane was only about half-full, so I had an entire row of three seats to myself, although I was stuck way in the back in the emergency exit row, which has more leg room; at 6'-4" in height, I need all the room I can get! The flight was quiet and smooth, and we put down in Orlando at 10:40am, right on schedule. It was 82 degrees and partly cloudy when I left the plane; similar to the conditions I had left behind in Baltimore. I recovered my checked bag, rolled it across the terminal to the Dollar counter, and signed out my rental car (picking up the keys at the Dollar booth in the parking garage). My rental on this trip was a Hyundai Accent, a tiny and cheap car built mostly for midgets. It ran smoothly and handled well, however, and I was soon on the Central Florida Greenway put-putting my way toward Walt Disney World.

Disney awaits!

I checked into All-Star Sports at about 11:45. My room, #8326, was already ready, so I dumped my luggage in it and put on m,y Disney outfit: camera, water bottle belt, sunglasses, and Readers Clubhouse VIP badge (which I also use to carry my room key and park pass). On my last trip to WDW, in June of 2002, I had not had time to visit Disney's Animal Kingdom at all, so AK was my first stop. I drove myself in, carefully noting where I parked my rental car (the 4-door Speck), and took the tram to the gates. By this time I was getting pretty hungry, as my breakfast had been nothing more than a half of a bagel at 7am, so I made a beeline for Flame Tree BBQ, where I secured an expensive but tasty smoked chicken sandwich, which came with baked beans and corn on the cob, and a fry basket and Coke. My total lunch bill was about $13.

Now done with lunch, I walked into the Tree of Life theater and enjoyed It's Tough To Be A Bug. I love that show, with it's combination of animatronics, 3d movie footage, and physical special effects designed to make you feel like bugs are really making war on you.

Rain

After the bugs, I went to Dinoland USA and rode Dinosaur!, which I still remember by it's original name, Countdown to Extinction. Then I went on Kilimanjaro Safari and saw some live animals, and made a stop at the little bakery inside of the Tusker House restaurant to get a cookie. Usually when I am at AK, I make a point of walking both the Pangani Forest exploration trail to see the gorillas, and the Maharajah Jungle Trek to see the tigers; but today I wasn't in the mood to do any walking attractions, so I decided to leave AK and head for the Magic Kingdom for some more rides. But since AK closed at 5, and MK closed at 6, I decided to leave my car at the park which was open latest, Epcot. I took the monorail from Epcot to MK, riding in the front with the driver for the first time (very cool). Just as I was entering MK, it started raining. Naturally, I had left my rain gear behind in the hotel room, so I was obliged to go into the Emporium and secure a plastic bag to protect my camera from the rain. Since it wasn't raining very hard, I decided not to bother with buying a poncho; it was very hot, and the rain was very light, so it felt good and cool. I went into Tomorrowland, always my first stop in MK, and chose the Tomorroland Transit Authority at random as my first ride. The rain picked up quite a bit as I rode, and people were seeking cover, which made the line for Alien Encounter quite a bit longer when I got off TTA, so I decided to try Pirates of the Caribbean instead. I rode Pirates, always a winner, and when I got out the rain had developed into an absolute deluge. I walked at far as Small World before I decided that I was wet enough. I hid out for a while to see if the rain would slack off, as it usually did during late afternoon thundershowers in central Florida, but it just kept coming, falling in sheets.

After about 20 minutes, I had had enough of waiting, so I took off in the direction of Adventureland, ducking under cover whenever I could, but I didn't get very far. I stopped at a gift shop between Fantasyland and Adventureland and bought a poncho, figuring that my $5 purchase would be enough to make the rain stop, but it didn't. I headed toward Haunted Mansion, hoping to do a couple of indoor attractions; but alas, Haunted Mansion was closed for rehab! I finally made it to Pirates of the Caribbean, and found no line to ride. In fact, I had a boat almost to myself. The rain finally slacked off to a light mist about 5pm, just as I was getting out of Pirates. I found a dry bench outside some restrooms on the way from Adventureland into the hub, sat down, and wrote out some trip notes. Then I headed back toward the hub; I had an idea.

I noticed a bunch of characters had come out when the rain stopped, just on the Adventureland side of the bridge from the hub. I saw Pinnochio and Gepetto, Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum, Chip & Dale, and Friar Tuck. Who knows, there may have been more, but I didn't stop to look.

4 Parks, 1/2 Day

My big idea was this: a few months ago, an online friend of mine, who goes by the screen name of Rhinodad, was in Tampa for a few days on business. He managed to get one day free to drive over to WDW, and in that day he completed a "Four Parks, One Day" marathon tour. Having been to two parks already, and with the other two open late that evening (MGM closed at 8:30, Epcot at 9), I figured that I had a good shot at beating Rhinodad's record by completing the marathon in only 1/2 day! I was halfway there already and still had 4 hours or so to finish, so I decided that my minimum qualification to complete the marathon would be simple: two attractions, minimum, from each of the 4 WDW theme parks. I had done three in Animal Kingdom: Dinosaur!, It's Tough To Be A Bug, and Kilimanjaro Safari. In Magic Kingdom, I had done the Tomorrowland Transit Authority and Pirates of the Caribbean. My next stop would be MGM Studios.

I left MK and walked quickly to the bus stops. After a ten-minute wait, I caught a bus to MGM, which then took 20 more minutes to get me there. But once inside MGM, I found it practically empty. I walked right onto Star Tours (I was tempted to do it twice), and then walked right into the pre-show area of Muppetvision 3d. Both attractions together took less than 30 minutes.

Now I was in the home stretch; all I needed was to get on two attractions in Epcot and I would be done. I walked out the MGM gates and went left, toward the dock, where I was going to catch a Friendship launch to Epcot's International Gateway, but with no boat in sight, I thought I might make better time if I walked. There was a recently-completed path from the bus parking area of MGM to the Boardwalk, which now made it possible to walk from MGM to Epcot if one desired; I found this path and got moving.

I made it as far as the Boardwalk before I decided I needed a rest. But just as I was getting to the Boardwalk boat dock, the boat from MGM pulled in, and I jumped on it for the rest of the trip to Epcot.

Test Track fails the test

I still had some time left, and I was getting hungry, so I stopped at the first, and one of the best, counter-service food places in Epcot's World Showcase: the Yorkshire County Fish Shop. I got a fish-n-chips basket and coke, and sat at the outdoor tables next to the shop. These tables offer a great view of the World Showcase Lagoon, and a quiet respite from touring Epcot. Today, the tables were a little wet from the rain, and as I sat there eating, the rain started up again, but each table has an umbrella, which covers it from the harsh Orlando sun, and mine gave me some protection from the light rain.

The rain continued off and on as I finished eating and made my way to Future World. My destination was Test Track, which usually shut down during rain, but I hoped to be able to get on before it shut down. The rain was just a drizzle at this point, and I could hear the cars whooshing around the front of the building, so I got into the Standby line, and found myself being ushered directly into the pre-show area. The wait after the pre-show was only a few minutes, and I was soon strapping myself into a test vehicle.

I noticed as I got in, however, that the vehicle's windscreen was covered with rain water; it looked as if it had been driven through a hurricane. I knew that the ride would be shut down if the rain got too heavy, though, so I wasn't worried too much about getting wet. Still, I took out my sunglasses and prepared to put them, to keep the rain out of my eyes, when we went outside.

But we didn't go outside, at least not right away. The ride stopped on the first hill, at the seatbelt check, and sat there for at least ten minutes. Then we continued on, and stopped again, several times, for several minutes each. Once we stopped inside the 'corrosion test' room, where fake acid (water mist) sprayed us from the robotic arms. And we stopped again for another five minutes just before the 'collision test' which was supposed to take us outside. At last, however, we blasted through the wall and flew around the outdoor track. By this time, the rain had stopped, although it was obvious that there had been a period of heavier rain while I was on the ride. Presumably, the rain was the reason why the ride kept stopping.

Success!

When I finally got off Test Track, after more than 30 minutes, it was after 8:50; I had only a few minutes left to get on one more attraction to complete my 4-park marathon. Since most of Future World had closed at 7pm, and World Showcase was quite a long walk away, my choices were somewhat limited. I went for Spaceship Earth, which is always open until the park closes. I got there about 8:55, with five minutes to spare. Like almost everything else I had seen today, Spaceship Earth had no line, and I was in one of those rotating time vehicles and experiencing the history of human communication instantly. The ride let me off at about 9:08, and my marathon was complete.

I was now very tired; having awakened at 5:20 that morning, and run around with no rest all day, I was more than ready to get some sleep, but I had one stop to make first: when I left Epcot, I drove off Disney property to a Walgreens I knew at the corner of US 192 and International Drive to drop off a roll of film for developing. Then it was back to All-Star Sports.

When I got back to my room, I was ready to just collapse into bed; it was nearly 10pm, and I was beat. But the people in the next room had a different idea; they were, by the sound of it, watching some kind of sporting event. Cheers of "YEAH!" and "OHHHHH!" from a crowd would erupt periodically, as well as laughter and conversation I couldn't make out. It sounded to me like there were about 5 or 6 people in the room. I resolved to write out some trip notes and post them for my internet friends, and if the party continued to be noisy after 11pm I would call the front desk to complain.

The party, apparently, ended before 11, however, and I was left with a quiet room. I fell asleep almost immediately.

Unicorn 27
Amaze 36

Walk Miles: 12.99
Drive miles: 46.5
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