I had hoped to make rope drop at 9am, but sleeping late had made me miss it by five minutes. Still, there were Imperial Stormtroopers standing on top of the turnstile roof, pointing tier blasters around and mugging for Guest cameras. Stormtrooper voices periodically played over the PA system.
Once through the gate, I made a beeline (or was that banthaline?) for the Starring Rolls bakery. I was hungry; I tend to get that way when I don't eat, and the only way to make it go away is, well, to eat. So I got an apple danish and an overpriced bottle of apple juice at Starring Rolls and sat at one of the outdoor tables to eat before heading off to Mickey Avenue, where the times brochure I had picked up at the gate said that Star Wars characters could be found.
And sure enough, when I arrived at Mickey Avenue I found the place crawling with Imperial Stormtroopers. Over there, where Tigger can usually be found, Jango Fett was posing with his twin blaster pistols. And on the other side of the street, Emperor Palpatine beckoned Guests toward the Dark Side with oily slickness. And inside, Darth Vader posed in that manner that said, "I find your lack of faith disturbing."
I got my picture taken with all of them, except the Stormtroopers, who had no Disney handlers wandering the street with them to take pics; those of us who were alone had no one to take pics for us, and call me crazy, but I was not about to hand my $800 camera over to just anybody on the street to take a picture of me with a pair of Imperial Stormtroopers.
After waiting in the fairly short lines for pictures with these icons of evil, I entered the Millionaire building and enjoyed the special Star Wars edition of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire: Play it! I found that, even with my rather extensive knowledge of Star Wars trivia, I was outclassed right out of sight by the masses of Star Wars fans in the audience that day, and didn't make it onto the board even once.
All I can say is, why did they have to limit that stuff to kids? Youth is wasted on the young...
With the crowds around Star Tours, Backlot Express was also pretty mobbed, so I decided to go to the ABC Commissary for lunch. The Commissary, too, was crowded, but I managed to get a cheeseburger, fries, and a Coke, and find an unoccupied seat without too much trouble. As a courtesy to those inside, however, I left my table as soon as I was finished eating, so as to let someone else have a chance to sit in the air-conditioning for tier lunch.I sat at a table outside the Commissary for a few minutes to catch up on my trip notes.
My next stop was the Great Movie Ride. Some folks don't like this ride, or think it needs an overhaul or some updating, but I love taking that journey through movie history and seeing animatronics of John Wayne, James Cagney, and especially the Wicked Witch of the West. I have noted that the acting of the CMs on the ride has gotten noticeably more wooden over the years, and I wonder if the ride needs an infusion of new blood to bring these performances back up to par, but aside from that, the ride is as good today as it has ever been, and is a must-see for me whenever I go to Disney/MGM Studios.
Today, however, the combination of heat, dehydration, lots of walking, a big cheeseburger and fries for lunch, and lack of sleep the previous night, started to get to me, and I found myself drifting off to la-la land until we arrived in Oz - Just you try to sleep through that part of the ride... just try it!
Since this was a vacation, and not a forced march, I decided to take a mid-day break; I left the park and went back to my room at ASMU, where I took a cool shower and napped for about an hour.
And afterward, I hit my favorite store of all, the Character Corner at Lake Buena Vista Factory Stores. But I almost didn't; when I drove into the lot, the storefront where the outlet had been was closed up and vacant. Vacant! But wait - the store had moved once before, to a new storefront in the same shopping center. I figured it was a long shot, but i drove around the entire mall anyway...
And way in the back, sure enough, there was the Character Outlet sign. I let out a sigh of relief, found a parking space, and went inside. I browsed for about 30 minutes and came out with a Mission: Space t-shirt, a Mickey golf shirt, and a Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party 2004 sweatshirt, all for $40 (original in-park cost for those items would have been $97).
My next stop was a nearby 7-11, because I was in desperate need of a Powerade, and then I went back to ASMU to drop off my purchases. I also wanted to do a few repairs on my utility belt before heading back into the parks. Finally, I was ready to head back to the parks, so I jumped into my Grand Am and putted over to Epcot.
On the way in, I made sure to take a picture of my Leave-A-Legacy tile (E-3-G-24-5-19, I'm the one with the Mickey ears). And as I walked past the camera shop, I peeked in to see if they had one of those self-service digital photo download machines, which they didn't.
But as I peeked into the camera shop, my stomach growled. And when my stomach talks, I listen; so I made a beeline to the Land pavilion to try out the recently-renovated food court, and see if I could get into Soarin'. Well, Soarin' had no FastPasses left for the day and had a 90-minute stand-by line, so that was out, but the food court turned out to be pretty good; I got a chunk of grilled salmon with mashed red potatoes that were mighty tasty. One small problem, though, was that the Coke dispenser (at the only self-service drink dispensers in Epcot outside Ice Station Cool) were putting out diet Coke. Yuck! I ate quickly and left, only to discover as I got to the exit that it had started raining.
This was where my utility belt paid off; I reached behind me and pulled out my yellow Mickey poncho, pulled it over my head, and walked to Ice Station Cool. On the way the rain increased from a light drizzle to a heavy downpour, and by the time I got to ISC my hands and legs, the only parts that were not covered by the poncho, were dripping. I went in through the exit and got myself a couple of servings of that Veta-Vita-Vegamin stuff from Japan to wash the diet Coke gunk out of my mouth.
Once I was relived of the taste of Nutra-Sweet, I made my way into MouseGear, on the other side of Innoventions Plaza, and browsed for a while to let the rain ease up.
While I was browsing, my cell phone rang, and though I didn't recognize the number I answered it anyway, and was surprised to hear from one of my on-line friends, StephaMickey, who had called to wish me a good trip (and maybe drool a little over the fact that I was in WDWW and she wasn't). We talked for about 20 minutes, during which time the rain eased up to a light drizzle, and I rolled up my Mickey poncho and replaced it on my belt before leaving MouseGear and heading for Mission: Space.
Mission: Space had no wait at all, so I went through the stand-by line and was soon landing on Mars. Afterward, most of Future World was closed, so I headed back to World Showcase, stopping in Mexico to take a couple of long-exposure shots of the Plaza de los Amigos, which is one of my favorite photographic subjects. I rode El Rio del Tiempe, which never seems to have a line, and by then I was ready for a bathroom break, so I went to the nearest set of bathrooms, in nearby Norway. Most of the people in World Showcase were lining up in along the lagoon in preparation for Illuminations, so the Kringla bakery was all but deserted. I went in and bought myself a treat I hadn't had in several years, a Veiled Maiden, which is a tasty cup of alternating layers of applesauce and whipped cream, topped with cinnamon.
As I exited Kringla, not only was it closing, but the lights outside were dimming in preparation for Illuminations, so I perched myself on the stone wall of the outdoor dining area, which had a fair view of the show, and ate my Veiled Maiden while the fireworks went off. Trees blocked part of the view, but i still saw some of the better shells, and even took a few pictures of them after I finished eating.
Once Illuminations was over, I hung out in Norway for quite a while to wait out the crowds. When the passing crowds thinned out a bit, I even took some pictures of the Stave Church, and once the crowds were just about gone, I made my way back to Future World. Since the crowds were just about gone, I was able to take a few night shots of Spaceship Earth on my way out.
When I got back to ASMU, I stopped at the gift shop to pick up a package I had shipped from the park yesterday, downloaded my pics to my laptop, and made a few notes, before going to bed about 1am.