Daylight? All I see is stars!

Wednesday dawned cold and dark for me, as I rose to my alarm clock at 4:15am. After performing a few ablutions and locking up my apartment, I got on the road at about 4:50, ten minutes late, and arrived at my parents house at 5:25, also ten minutes late; my Dad, waiting in the driveway for me to arrive, was not happy, because not only was I 10 minutes late and hadn't called, but he had called me twice - but my cell phone was turned off. I appologized profusely the whole way to the airport; Dad likes to be into work at least 40 minutes early every morning, and my lateness was going to cause him to be only 30 minutes early.

We arrived at Baltimore Washington International Thurgood Marshal Partridge In A Pear Tree Airport at 6am, and I quickly performed a curbside check in to ditch my suitcase and get a boarding pass, then headed into the terminal. My destination was the comfy 2-level observation gallery in the middle of the landside portion of the terminal, but when I arrived I discovered that this gallery was closed. The lower level of the gallery was apparently being reconstructed into a small food court, which is not a bad thing in BWI, since food offerings in the landside portion of the terminal are not as good as those in the airside portions, but the upper level was also closed. Bummer.

After a quick stop to empty my pockets into my carry-on bag, I went through security quickly and with no problems, and proceded to the womderful food court in BWI's Terminal A-B complex for a McDonalds breakfast and some rest before my flight. I arrived at the gate at 7am for my 7:50 Southwest Airlines flight, and found the smallest pre-boarding queue I had ever seen on a flight to Orlando - one family of 5 with a single small child, and one lady in a wheelchair with her husband. I had checked in online yesterday so I already had a boarding pass for group A, and after a short wait in line, the plane boarded quickly and uneventfully, and we were soon on our way to Orlando.

Cars - Dadgum!

My flight landed right on time at 9:55, and baggage claim, as usual in Orlando, had the luggage from my flight appearing on the belts very quickly. Once I grabbed my huge American Tourister, I made my way to the Thrifty bus stop, missing a bus by just a few seconds, but only waiting about 10 minutes for the next one. As usual, the ride to the Thrifty facility just north of the airport took less than 10 minutes, and the wait at the Blue Chip counter was similarly short. As a Blue Chip member I didn't have to fill out any extra aperwork or sit through the hard-sell insurance sales pitch, so the rental process only took about 2-3 minutes, and I was soon folding myself into a Chrysler Seebring with only 3,000 miles on it and a plenty of New Car Smell left.

'Folding' is the operative word here; I don't know what idiot at Thrifty classified the Seebring as a Midsize car, but they obviously weren't 6'-4" tall or as wide as me. I have more room in all directions in a Chevy Cavelier than in this Seebring.

The car was very nice, however, and I was in such a good mood at being in Orlando that I barely even remembered to check it for dings and dents before I drove off. The seats in a Seebring are too narrow for a wide butt like mine, but they are otherwise very comfy, with plenty of lumbar support.

Having had plenty of cold weather during previous MouseFest trips, I had neglected to pack shorts, and since it was turning out to be a hot day in Orlando, I realized that this was a mistake that needed to be rectified. As I drove with the morning sun at my back, I also realized that I had somehow forgotten to bring my sunglasses with me! With this in mind, I stopped on my way into WDW at the new WalMart SuperCenter on SR 535, about 2 miles south of Downtown Disney. I picked up some shorts, sunglasses, some nasal spray for the cold I was still trying to shake, and a new toothbrush, since the old one was at the end of its operational lifetime - this seemingly insignificant detail would turn out to have some significance later. Due to the heat, I changed into my new shorts in teh WalMart bathroom, and also removed the button-down long-sleeve shirt I was wearing to reveal the Scopa Towers t-shirt below.

Scopa who?

When I finished at WalMart, I drove the last 5 minutes to Pop Century and entered Classic Hall. At this time of morning, there were plenty of open check-in stations but only a few Guests checking in. There was a cast member walking up and down the counter, directing the people in line to the next open check-in station; this young woman spotted my Scopa Towers t-shirt and read the caption with a puzzled look on her face: "Scopa Towers - Now In Color!"

"Do you know what Scopa Towers is?" I asked, grinning.

"No," she said, "What is it?"

"You're standing in the middle of it!" I told her. "It's a nickname for Pop Century."

"Oh," she said, still not understanding.

I began explaining. "You see, there is a travel writer named Mike Scopa who writes for a web site called MousePlanet. He comes to Disney World several times a year and stays at Pop Century almost every time..." I was interrupted by someone at the check-in desk calling my name, and turned to see the man himself. "Yeah," I told the CM, "That's Mike Scopa right there."

Mike had been talking so another person I recognized, Mark Goldhaber, also a columnist for MousePlanet. I had met Mark at last year's MouseFest and kept running into him because we had signed up for a lot of the same meets.

From out of the group of Guests checking in farther down the counter, a red-haired boy broke loose and ran up to me - I recognized him as Zach, and still at the counter was his mom Tracey, both friends from the Tagrel.com message boards and from last year's MouseFest.

I chatted with these friends for a few minutes before I was called to an available CM to check myself in, after which they all left to get into their rooms or to go to their first meets.

The CM who checked me into my room was fairly new; although he was not wearing the "Earning My Ears" ribbon of a trainee, he was obviously not long in his job. However, his friendliness and positive attitude made up for that and although he had to ask for help from his supervisor several times during the process, particularly when I put down Disney Dollars to enable room charging instead of a credit card, we got through it all right. My room, as it turned out, was ready for me, so I happily drove my car around to Building 2 in the 50s section of the resort, and dragged my luggae up to room #2406, on the 4th floor, overlooking the bowling pin pool.

Although I was ready for some in-park fun, I had some chores to take care of. First I unpacked my utility belt and park touring gear, then I set up my cell phone charger, camera battery charger, and laptop power cord on the room's small table, changed into those neww shorts, and pulled out the window decorations I had brought with me.

How much is that MouseFest in the window?

Tagrel.com was having a window decoration contest this year, and although I didn't think I had a chance of winning, placing, or showing, I did want to join in, so I had printed a bunch of static window cling decals. I started with the MouseFest logo,then added the logos or bannerheads of all of the participating web sites, and when I was done with that I found images of the book covers from all of the participatig authors as well. All of these images were put into Microsoft Publisher and printed on inkjet window cling media that I bought from Office Depot, and supplimented with some generic Christmas window clings from WalMart (santa, igloo, snowflakes, etc).

I began to put the cling-ons onto the window, but I soon realized the folly of doing so without shoes on as I stepped on the door stop several times, uttering a few decidedly un-Disney words. But when I got about halfway through, there was a knock at my door; on the other side was a friendly-looking guy who said, "Hi, you don't know me, but I saw your window and just wanted to welcome a fellow MouseFester. I'm in the room next door." As it turns out, he was someone I knew from the Tagrel boards; his name was Byron, and he posts under the screen name AUBandPilot. We didn't chat, as I was busy with the clings and he was on his way into the parks, but I knew that I'd spend some time with Byron over the course of MouseFest, since we were signed up for a bunch of the same meets.

Once the window was decorated, I couldn't stay cooped up in the room any longer. I began to put myself together in park touring mode, but had a nasty surprise when I opened my Brita Fill and Go sports bottle to put in a new filter - mildew! Yucky, disgusting, pink mildew coated the entire inside of the bottle, making it unusable. I guess I had put it away while it was still wet after I had last used it. Mildew is easy to scrub out - but only if you have a scrub brush or dishwand, and of course I had none. But I did have a car, and a working knowledge of the shopping options in and around WDW, so I decided to go off-site and find a dollar store where I could purchase a dish wand and some detergent. I could not survive my entire trip without that bottle, and to my knowledg there were no similar products available anywhere in the Orlando area.

After putting myself together, sans bottle, I headed toward the parking lot. But I had to head right back again when I realized that I had left my parking pass up in my room, and I wouldn't be able to park at the parks for free without it. So I pulled the tiny, tiny Seebring into a closer parking space in the lot and walked back toward my room, but stopped halfway to talk to MikeS and Amymouse, who were walking in from said lot. Amy was sharing a room with fellow MFers Tracy and Zach, and Mike was helping her get her luggage to the room. I stopped to talk and wound up standing there gabbing for at least a half-hour. We were joined at some point by Tracy and Zach, who were on their own way to the parks.

Once I secured my parking pass and got out of WDW, I went to a Dollar General on US 192 and bought a dish wand and some antibacterial Ajax (Note: for those who might call it by a different name, a dish wand is hollow handle that gets filled with dish detergent, topped with a sponge and ascouring pad, designed to be long and thin enough to scrub out inside of tall cups and glasses).

Back to the beginning and the End

Well, my day was pretty well shot now. Looking at the clock on the dash, I realized that park touring was out - I had just enough time to drive to Magic Kingdom, take the ferryboat to the park gates, and take another boat to Fort Wilderness for my first meet of the year. But the Disney Transportation system had other things in mind; I arrived at the Transportation and Ticket Center at 4pm, just as I had planned, but after taking the monorail to the park gates and hopping a resort launch, I didn't get to the Trails End Buffeteria at Fort Wilderness Campground until 4:45. By the time I arrived, almost everyone else was already there, except for Rosebud, who called me as I was approaching Pioneer Hall to tell me that she was on an internal FW bus and would arrive in a few minutes.

Late to my own meet; not the best way to kick off MouseFest, especially on top of the clown car I had rented and the mildew in my Brita bottle.

But the rest of this meet went swimmingly well. Everyone enjoyed the food and the company, and we all got a chance to catch up with friends whom we had not seen for a year.

When the bill came, however, there was a little confusion; it seemed that Donna had rung up the bill for 14 people, the number on the original reservation, instead of the 12 that actually showed up; this was my fault, since I had not informed the podium or the server that our group was slightly smaller than the ressie.And it was particularly hard on Mike Newell, since he took on himself the responsibility of collecting the money and handling the bill. But once we all realized what the problem was, Donna corrected it quickly and we were able to pay our bill and leave without further incident.

After dinner, the group moved outside, and after a few minutes of confused searching, we found the sign-in area for the Fort Wilderness wagon ride tour. And promptly discovered that there was to be no wagon ride that night.

Since there was no wagon ride, the group broke up and went their separate ways. DaisyDuck001 and I browsed the Trading Post for a few minutes (I cannot pass a shop without looking inside to see if they have anything I might want to buy). Afterward, I headed for the boat dock and she headed for the bus stops, but we ran into a Guest who had equipped his golf cart with a snow machine, and were fascinated by it enough that I had to stop for some pics.

I went to the dock and waited for the boat to arrive, but a few minutes later DaisyDuck001 came running up to tell me that the wagonm ride was actually going to be held tonight after all. Unfortunately, the group had already broken up, and I was beginning to feel the effects of waking up at 4:15am, travelling and touring all day, and the huge meal at Trails End, so I decided to skip the ride and head back to Pop Century for a rest. My day wasn't over yet - I was still heading to Pleasure Island that night.

It took a while to get back to my car and drive to Pop. When I got there, I was happy to find a good parking space close to my wing of Bldg 2. Parking at Pop is not as plentiful or convenient as at the All-Star resorts.

When I got to my room, I couldn't rest until I had cleaned out my Brita bottle with the dish wand and detergent I had bought. But the mildew was into the little nooks and crannies of the bottle where dish wand couldn't get to it; I almost had to put the bottle away and buy water in the parks at Disney prices when a brainstorm hit me! One of the things I had bought at WalMart today was a whole new electric toothbrush (for about $4), since they didn't carry the replacement heads for my old toothbrush. This left me with a spare electric toothbrush that was probably going to end up in the trash can.

With the old toothbrush and some detergent, I had that Brita bottle cleaner than new in about 10 minutes.

After that success, I lay down for a while, not really sleeping, but resting up. At 8:30 I went to the Pop bus stops, since I knew I would be drinking that night and so wouldn't be driving. But the trip to PI took a lot longer than I thought; first I waited 20 minutes for the bus to arrive, then 10 minutes for loading and unloading, 10 minutes drive time, and 10 more minutes for a stop at the Marketplace before finally getting off the bus at the PI stops at 9:20.

Voting myself onto the island

I was meeting friends from Tagrel.com for a meet tonight; BetsyAnn had called me while I was on the bus, but between the bus noise and the PI noise, we could barely hear each other. I did get that the group was going into the Comedy Club for a show, so I was to wait outside for them to get out of the show.

While waiting outside, I ran into BriarRose, Frogman, and MissBianca, and we found a spot outside the Adventurers Club to wait for the bunch that was in the Comedy Club. While we waited, we were joined by LimeGreenCheri and Stinkerbelle. But I got impatient after a while, so I goosed the group to go into the Adventurers Club and get our wristbands. We wound up in the Mask Room, where several of the AC characters came in at different times and got a full explanation from us of what MouseFest is, although I did get intercepted by the maid on route for an explanation; had she not been a costumed character, nearly young enough to be my daughter, and way, way out of my league, I would have sworn she was hitting on me. Probably just a fat old man's imagination.

On our way into the Mask Room, we got Kungalooshes all around (Cheri paid for mine, since I had never had one before). And once the alchohol started flowing, so did the silliness. Frogman became a target for female attention and the group broke out an army of cameras to take pics of him kissing, hugging, or hanging upon any woman who happened to be in the room.

When the next Library show came up, Samantha Sterling performed her musical stand-up act, singling out our group at one point. After that, we moved back out to the Mask room for a while and met up with the rest of the Tagrel group, who had just left the Comedy Club. The next library show included Samantha, the maid, and club president Pemelia Perkins in a song and dance number, along with members of the audience. For me, the highlight of the evening had to be Samantha and the maid mentioning MouseFest to Pemelia, only to have her exclain, "What the hell is a Mouse Fest?!"

The Adventurers Club ends the evening with something called a Final Hoopla, which on this night was to be at 12; but as we were all waiting in the lobby for the Hoopla to begin loading up in the library, I was really feeling the fatigue of getting up at 4AM, going all day, and the fuzziness caused by that Kungaloosh, so I slipped out at about 11:45.

The walk to the PI bus stops I remember, but returning to my room and getting ready for bed is a blur. I remember that I got to bed about 12:30, but that's about it.