Part 9 2007: May the Force be With You

With a huge sigh of relief and a big thank you we headed out of the shop to begin our MGM day around 12:30. We headed over to Star Tours to fastpass. Then we walked over to see One Man’s Dream which is one of our very favorite WDW attractions and I have to say that it is sadly unpopular.

We then headed over to Star Tours and on our way I overheard a CM telling a family that Darth Vader and the Stormtroopers would be out for pictures by the toy cart by Star Tours at 2:00pm. I made a mental note and we headed into the ride. As luck would have it we got out at around 1:50 and stopped and took a picture by the little rider thing from the Star Wars movie with the Ewoks. A man cut everyone in line so his son could get a picture on it and it was funny because me and Rob didn’t even have to say something because some mom from another family totally reamed him. Disney World or not he deserved it. We walked about 10 seconds over and hopped in the Darth/Troopers line and ended up being first when the family in front of us left. 

After our pictures we headed over to a bench near the route for Stars and Motor Cars and I got a frozen lemonade and Rob a beer and we sat in the shade and sipped while waiting. Once the crowds began to form we stepped up to another amazing spot for parade viewing. It just happen to turn out that the sky was cloudless and the sun unrelenting so we were literally standing in a concrete dessert at this point. Rob got a light sunburn just from holding up the camera. We got some more amazing pictures! I loved the parade so much! It was adorable! I have not enjoyed any of the Pixar parades quite as much as this one.  I especially love the last car! 

Since we had eaten a late breakfast and were having an early dinner we skipped lunch and headed across the street into some shade to reapply our suntan lotion and take a break from the heat. We then jumped into Sounds Dangerous… which was too long and a little short of fun so Rob and I entertained ourselves. When it was in the pitch black time, he turned his cell phone keypad on and lit up his face while making faces. I know, we are immature but it was long and boring. Haha! Anyways, afterwards we headed over to the Streets of America and took some pictures. Then, we spotted some cool cars—and not just Herbie! We bypassed the Mater and Lightening Lines by photobombing (before it was cool)! 

After a quick bathroom break we headed to Toy Story Pizza Planet arcade because one of my favorite things is when Rob wins me crane machine toys. They were stocked impossible and we gave up fairly quickly. But off we went for our Mama Melrose’s for our Fantasmic Dining Package dinner. It was really good. My salad had some weird spice that tasted like an aperitif but I got some creamy pasta and Rob had something that I can’t really remember right now. The highlight of dinner was the to-die-for cheesecake we both had for dessert! Fabulous! After dinner, since Rob wanted to skip the thrills rides this time anyhow, we headed back to CBR for a break before Fantasmic. 

We did a little more swimming, and the cutest baby was in the pool with his gorgeous parents. Then in about 20 minutes the pool got packed more than it had been the entire trip. Before heading back to meet the rest of the FDPers at Oscars we freshened up in our room and headed to the Hollywood Hills Theatre to see the night show. While we were waiting to enter the gate I got this adorable choker with my name on it and little mickeys. Fantasmic was Fantastic as usual, and again I don’t like to give away too many details because I don’t want to spoil it for those who haven’t seen it. Just trust me- go see it! I believe a little more in the power of my own imagination everytime I see this show! Sooo much fun!

And to add a little more magic to the night we decided to take our time leaving MGM and for the first time I got to see the Sorcerer’s hat at night. It was really amazing. The last time we went was January so the show was earlier I guess or something because we saw Fantasmic but never were in MGM when the hat was all lit up. Or maybe we exited the show a different way or something—I don’t know what the reason was but it was really amazing to see! So beautiful! And the Photopass photog took some great pictures for us.

Slowly but surely we made our way back to the bus stop area and got back to Caribbean Beach. We leisurely walked back to our room and we ended another great day in Walt Disney World by staying up talking and going over the days events. Watching the videos we had taken on the digital camera and reliving the day. It was a really great feeling just being there and being happy and being together. 

Segway Tour of World Showcase

If you follow us over on Facebook you have probably seen the album with pictures from Wild Africa Trek (more extensive pics then the post) as well as the Around the World at Epcot Segway Tour. Both of these tours are fabulous and I tried to give as many tips and details as possible when adding the pictures on Facebook.

Nonetheless I wanted to share some pictures here on the blog for the followers who visit through Blogger, RSS, or other reader sites/programs.

Part 8 2007: RIP Nikon Coolpix

Next we headed to Magic Kingdom and had about 2+ hours to go before Spectromagic started. Rob had this idea of trying to sit in the seating above the entrance to Magic Kingdom, in the train station. We headed right on up and low and behold there were already people waiting—however there was room for two, right down to two chairs almost dead center. We were thrilled. We settled into our little area, chatted with the family waiting next to us and relaxed as we watched the sun begin to set over Cinderella’s Castle. With about an hour to showtime I headed down and picked up mickey mouse ears for our nephews and niece, got them embroidered with names and snapped a couple pictures (including one of Lady and the Tramp’s footprints outside Tony’s). On the way back up I snacked two Mickey’s Premium Ice Cream bars. And Rob and I just sat, eating our ice cream and talking as day turned to night.

All in all, I try not to overdue it with information about the Magic Kingdom night shows. They are fabulous, fantastic, wonderful, beautiful, and just Disney magic at its very best. Rob and I fell in love with Spectro this go around the way that we had with Wishes our first time. We got some great pictures, especially of the parade. Rob was also spot on with his seat choice and it was well worth the 2 hours of waiting. I loved watching the sunset from the train station and it was front row for the parade’s start. We literally had the very best seats in the house and I would recommend them to anyone. Wishes was postponed for about 15 minutes and didn’t start until around 10:20 but it was worth the wait as well, and once again it was amazing to see the castle, and main street and the crowds and everything from the view at the train station. Fantastic. 

After our wonderful Magic Kingdom afternoon and evening finally came to an end, “See what a little Wishing can do?”, we headed back to Martinique. We got back around 11:30 and decided to take another quick swim and then do a load of laundry. We were in and out of the pool and at the laundry room in about an hour and a half. Only after I put the laundry in the machine and poured the soap Rob realized that the change machine didn’t work. SO we had to wait 40 minutes while someone brought us change!

In any case, to make a long and dreadful story short, we washed and dried —only we headed back to our room while each was going on-- and on our way out of the laundry room after we’d put our load in the dryer Rob heard a loud clunk in our load. He then joked “Maybe it’s my camera.” Can you guess what it was? Yup. His camera. As our laundry dried he tried his best to dry the camera and get it functioning. He is a very mechanical guy and if it was going to work he would have gotten it to. Only it didn’t and he didn’t. We laughed it all off very quickly but were both a little nervous of losing the pictures already on his memory card. I called the front desk and found out that The Dark Room in MGM (our park for the next day) was the photo headquarters for the park and should be able to help. We went to sleep on a happy note talking about Magic Kingdom and the night shows and singing “On this magic night… a symphony of light…” lol-- just kidding (kinda).

So the late late late night with our camera disaster had taken a lot out of us so we slept in this morning. Similar to our Magic Kingdom day we took a quick morning swim, grabbed breakfast at OPR and with that memory card on our minds we headed to MGM. We pretty much made a beeline right for The Dark Room which was conveniently located as you enter the Studios on the right. So thanks to a magic man named Mark we were able to make 2 CDs that held the 200 pictures Rob had taken! And they were all there! And perfect! Yaaaayyyy!!!! It took about 20 minutes to make the CDs so we perused the map while we waiting. I also purchased a well over priced Memory Stick for my Sony camera.

Part 7 2007: Parades, Pilots, and Pork Shao Mai

We made it to Magic Kingdom very refreshed around noon. As soon as we came in we got a fresh photopass picture and he kindly took one with our camera as well! Then we headed to accomplish our goals of the day: Splash Mountain, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, Pirates of the Caribbean and lunch at Pecos Bill. So we headed over to Frontierland and I hopped on the 40 minute line for Splash Mountain , while Rob grabbed us fastpasses for Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. We luckily were able to ride one right after the other in the unrelenting heat. I decided to wear my poncho on SM, (we were drenched head to toe last time and we hadn’t planned to return to the room until pretty late that night). It was so funny, the CM getting us on the ride yelled at me and told me that I was a cheater when he saw me put the poncho on. It was cute. I love both SM and BTMRR so it was very exciting. Next we headed over to Pecos Bill for lunch— Rob loves their burgers and it was delish.

In any case, after lunch we waited about 25 minutes for Pirates of the Caribbean which was pretty darn cool to see updated with Jack Sparrow for the first time. On our way out of Adventureland we came upon the end of the Share a Dream Come True parade! This was great timing! We weren’t planning on seeing this at all this time around since we had a great spot our first trip and it hadn’t changed at all that much! It was just great and perfect timing. We stopped to take some pictures before heading over the monorail to get on over to Epcot for dinner.

So, after a bit of back and forth arguing over who would ask the driver Rob asked if there was room for us to sit up front on the monorail and there was! Us and a couple on their honeymoon sat up front and even though it started to sun shower it was so awesome! We took some pictures and it was just fun and happy! And miraculously by the time we got to Epcot the rain had ceased! AND we got awesome Monorail Co-Pilots licenses from the driver on our way off! This was such a cool surprise! Neither of us had any idea they did this but it was so rewarding and great!

Since we had some time before dinner we headed over to Club Cool again, because frankly we were thirsty and out of water and we thought it was pretty dope! Then since it wasn’t looking so crowded we headed over to Mission: Space. The Green team had a no wait so we hopped on. Afterwards we headed over to China for our ADR at Nine Dragons! We decided that China was great to try once, but we would probably leave it to a Counter Service if we every returned. Rob and I had a double appetizer sampler that was fried dumplings, shrimp spring roll, and Pork Shao Mai or something like that. We then both had honey-sesame chicken which was like the gourmet version of regular fast food Chinese food you could get anywhere. After dinner off we went to re-board the monorail. But first we rode my favorite one more time: Gran Fiesta Tour! 

Our First Passporter Giveaway!

Anyone else obsessed with the awesome, all-in-one guide series known as Passporters?
These little lovelies are fantastic and I have a handful to giveaway on the site! I am going to try and be creative so the contests offer readers all different ways to win their own copy of the 2012 Passporter Walt Disney World! I will be reviewing it later this week and you will see our second giveaway opportunity when the review goes live!

This one is simple- reply below and tell me "the most magical moment of all" from your last Disney trip (one of my favorite pass-pocket questions). 

For a second entry comment on ANY other Picturing Disney post!!

I will tally names and use random.org to pick a winner on Monday afternoon (at 4:00pm)! I can't wait to read all about your magical memories! :)