Saturday December 6, 2003

I awoke at about 8am, went through my usual routine (shower, brush teeth, etc), and prepared for my day. As I was picking up my camera, it occurred to me that I had not downloaded yesterday's pictures from it, so I quickly fired up my Compaq laptop (WillPAQ), and did so before heading off to Epcot.

Today would begin with another meet with my internet friends from Tagrel.com. This one was called Drag LimeGreenCheri onto Mission: Space. As you can imagine, the purpose of the meet was to ride Mission: Space and to encourage Cheri to ride it as well, through calm words, reassurance, and brute force. I arrived at Mission: Space at about 9:30, nearly 30 minutes early, and took the time to walk around the outside of the building formerly housing Horizons, and explore the gift shop. The gift shop was a terrible disappointment; for such a large, expensive, heavily-advertised attraction, Mission: Space has a pretty small gift shop with a pretty limited selection of attraction-specific merchandise. I also used the time to call home on my cell phone; although I'm nearly 35 years old, my mother still worries constantly about me when I'm out of town, and a check in call is requirement.

A little before 10, the rest of the Tagrel group began arriving. By this time I was turning red from the cold wind blowing through the park. The temperature was about 50 degrees, so it was not terribly cold if one stood in the sun, but the wind blasting its way through Epcot that morning made it feel like the arctic.

One of the Taginators brought terrible news; LimeGreenCheri, in whose name the meet was being held, had come down with a nasty bug and would be unable to attend. Since Tagrel's wife, Kristen, had come down with this very same bug the day before, we were not terribly suspicious that she was chickening out of riding the attraction.

Cheri's absence did nothing to dampen my enthusiasm, however, nor that of the others who were planning to ride Mission: Space, so after posing for a group photo, and dumping packages, cameras, and ponchos on those who were not riding, a group of seven intrepid Taginators entered the Stand-By line and were soon going through the pre-ride show, learning how to become astronauts at an International Space Training Center (ISTC). After a briefing by Gary Sinise (of Forest Gump, Apollo 13, and Mission to Mars fame), we broke into two groups; the Mission: Space ride vehicles are 4-person pods, so our group of seven took up two pods.

In addition to the warnings, there are also clear instructions posted around the queue and the ride pods to keep your head still and watch the screen; looking around while the ride is in motion can cause motion sickness. Although I was confident that I would not have a problem with the ride, I followed the instructions to the letter, keeping my eyes fixed on the ride screen in front of me, which showed an impressive CGI view out the front of our 'spacecraft' as it took flight on it's journey to Mars. I felt not the slightest twinge of queasiness.

I loved the ride. As a long-time space buff, I was impressed by the realism, the effects, and the atmosphere of the ride itself and the queues, as well as the exit area, which has a team-oriented game for those coming off the ride or those waiting outside to play. As our group of Taginators approached those who chose not to ride, we were met with an expression of astonishment from MargaretJ. "You guys are the only ones that have come off that thing smiling!" she said. We looked around, and sure enough, our group all had smiles of varying degrees on their faces, while all the rest of the Guests coming off the ride were wearing expressions ranging from neutral to queasy. We all looked at each other and laughed; we had all enjoyed the ride immensely, and I felt that I could have ridden it 3 or 4 times in a row.

Well, if spinning rides make you sick, then don't ride spinning rides.

After our early lunch, MargaretJ, Matt, and I made our way to Epcot's International Gateway, the park's rear entrance (although, looking at a map, it's more properly referred to as a side entrance), and walked over to Beaches and Cream at the Beach Club Resort. This was yet another Taginator mini-meet. Waiting for us we found AliciaG, Figgy and her husband Dick, and Jimbolini1963. We sat for a quiet visit; those who hadn't already stuffed themselves with lunch at Electric Umbrella got ice cream, and we just sat around gabbing for a while.

Before we knew it, 11:45 had rolled around, and we all picked ourselves up and made the short walk to the Dolphin for the MouseFest MegaMouse Meet. MouseFest greeters, including our own BetsyAnn, were directing people as they came through the doors, so we easily found the empty space formerly occupied by a restaurant (or was it a bar?) called CopaBanana. When we signed in, we were each given a MouseFest name tag, a lovely bag of donated goodies (mine included a Buzz Lightyear beanie), and a form to fill out with our email address. It seems that a photographer was set up outside Copa and was taking pictures of each MegaMeet attendee, which he would digitally composite later to produce a picture of every attendee. The Taginators posed for ours and began heading in.

Such is life when you plan and organize a gathering of nearly 500 people!

Once inside, I spent an hour or two (the time flew and I don't even remember how long it was) meeting and talking to webmasters of some of my favorite Disney World web sites and authors of some of my favorite Disney World guide books, including my friends Dave Card of Tagrel.com and Mike Scopa of MousePlanet.com, Jennifer Watson and Dave Marx of the Passporter guide book and Passporter.com, Ahnalira Koan and Alan Moore of OurLaughingPlace.com, and Bob Sehlinger of the Unofficial Guide to Walt Disney World. I had been looking forward to meeting Mary Waring of MouseSavers.com, but she unfortunately had to cancel her appearance due to an injury (knee surgery, I think). Mary did have someone there to represent her, however, so I was able to pass on her aerial map, as well as give out aerials to each of the other authors and webmasters I met.

I made my way around the room, meeting the authors and webmasters and also meeting up with online pals like Debe and WHOSez (Sandy) from the Passporter boards (and a few others whose names I failed to write down, durn it), WDWDen (Dennis) from the Tagrel and Kathi&Brian boards, and SnickerDoodlesMommy (LindaC) from the Tagrel boards. I posed for a bunch of pictures and took a few of my own, but I was so busy talking to people I was forgetting my camera. Oh, well, maybe next year...

I talked to Bob Sehlinger at length (very nice guy). He was so impressed with the aerial map I gave him that he gave me a copy of the 2004 edition of his book, which was very cool since I didn't yet have a copy of the 2004 edition. I talked to Bob for so long that I lost track of time, and when I looked at my watch, I realized that it was nearly 3:15pm.

A group of 50 people posing for a photo should be easy to spot, even at a Walt Disney World, so I looked quickly out the front door of the hotel, then out the back door, coming up empty. I got discouraged and decided to head back to CopaBanana; maybe I missed the picture, but I could still spend some more time talking to all the nice folks at the meet.

On my way in I nearly got trampled by the group, who were on their way out to take the photo.

Feeling like a fool, I joined in with the group and we headed out behind the Dolphin to a nice grassy knoll near the pool area. We all mounted the hill and struck poses, holding up Passporters and other web site ID badges, and Jen Watson took a couple of shots that I think will turn out pretty nice for the cover of next year's Passporter.

After the picture, I hung around outside talking to WHOSez (Sandy), whom I had chatted with online many times but had only met in person today. We sat on the benches at the Dolphin bus stop till it got a little chilly, then went inside to the Dolphin Fountain for a snack of some excellent cheese fries. Yeah, that's right, I like cheese fries.

My next stop was the Wonders of Life pavilion. I was in the mood for a root beer float, but I arrived about 15 minutes too late; Pure & Simple was closed. I was disappointed, but I knew I would be at WDW for the rest of the week, so I would have more chances. I checked the time till the next show of Cranium Command and spent most of the time sitting at an empty table in Pure & Simple making trip notes. When the time was right, I went into Cranium Command and sat in the front row of this excellent show, which is one of my favorite attractions at WDW.

You're just dieing to pilot this chicken, aren't you boy?!

I skipped Body Wars. It's not my favorite attraction, although I must say that Elizabeth Shue in that white jumpsuit does hold a certain fascination for me.

Next up was Ellen's Energy Adventure, and by the time I was finished I was getting hungry and a little tired. The temperature was also dropping, so I decided to go looking for dinner. My search took me to Mexico, where I checked the line for walk-ups at San Angel Inn; the restaurant was completely full, and the line for walk-ups was about an hour, so I decided to keep on searching.

By the time I got to the front of Epcot, I was exhausted and actually shivering. I made my way to my rental car as quickly as possible, stopping briefly to take a few photos, and drove off Disney property. I stopped on the way to grab some chicken nuggets at McDonalds and spent the rest of the evening resting my tired feet back at my hotel.