Sunday, September 12, 2004

• TRAVELBLOGUE

  DAY 4, SUNDAY

  MAGIC KINGDOM

  PIRATES DINNER THEATER

   

   

  We got up early, had breakfast in our room, and headed to the Magic Kingdom. Since we'd only spent a little time there the night before, we wanted to cover a lot of ground.

   

  We took the ferryboat over to the Magic Kingdom from the Ticketing and Transit Center. Pluto was on the boat with us, which was fun. The kids got his autograph and he posed for photos with them.

   

  A lot of the characters were at Main Street, USA. The kids posed for pictures with several of them, and got autographs, before they got bored and we went to do some rides. We took the Disney Railroad over to Frontierland, then doubled back to Adventureland and rode Pirates of the Caribbean again (fun), along with Jungle Cruise (not too fun), and the kids checked out the Swiss Family Treehouse and the Magic Carpets of Aladdin.

   

  From there, we headed to Frontierland and saw the Country Bears' Jamboree, but the lines for Big Thunder Mountain Railroad and Splash Mountain were pretty long.

   

  Disney has a new feature since the last time I visited Disneyland (this was my first trip to Disney World) called FastPass. You can put your park pass (which has a magnetic strip) into a FastPass machine at any ride that has one, and you'll receive a printed ticket with a time range printed on it (say, between 3:15 and 4:15 p.m.). You can bring that ticket back at the listed time and wait in a much shorter line. The catch is, you can only have one Fast Pass at a time, so you can't go around and print tickets for every ride and then return.

   

  We decided not to use the FastPass for either Splash Mountain or Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, because we planned to go to Tomorrowland, and we didn't want to have to come all the way back at a certain time. We took the train to Toon Town and then walked to Tomorrowland.

   

  Mack and I rode Space Mountain, while Alex waited in line for Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin. We loved Space Mountain so much (it's dated, I know, but still cool) that we went again right away. We all rode the Tomorrowland Transit Authority, too. After that, Mack wanted to look in a gift shop, so Alex and I went and saw the Carousel of Progress. I'm sure this was really interesting when Walt himself came up with it in the 1960s (or whatever), but it was really boring. I guess maybe if you're not aware of any of the technological advances in the last century, it might be interesting. I did learn to appreciate attractions like this, though, dark and air-conditioned, and where I could sit down for a few minutes.

   

  When we came out of the Carousel of Progress, it looked like it was going to rain at any second. We put on our ponchos and walked back toward Frontierland to ride the other two mountains.

   

  By the time we got there, it was raining and thundering. Both Splash Mountain and Big Thunder Mountain Railroad were closed. Hey said they would reopen if the thunder stopped. We waited around for a while, had a Coke, and it looked like they were going to open back up. We got up near the gate so we could be one of the first in line for Big Thunder Mountain, but then lightning flashed, and we figured it would be a long time before they would re-open, so we decided to try to catch Mickey's PhilharMagic before we had to leave for dinner. We had tickets for the Pirates Dinner Theater at 8:30, and they recommended that we arrive between 6:30 and 7.

   

  We stopped off on the way and rode The Haunted Mansion, which was pretty cool. WE were totally drenched. Alex especially loved it, but I thought it was pretty cool too, especially at the end--you go past a mirror and there's a ghost in your doom-buggy with you. The ghost put his head on my shoulder.

   

  We also caught Mickey's PhilharMagic, which was  great--the second of many 3-D movies we saw on the trip. This one featured a lot of Disney music, and was a lot of fun. A definite must-see of you go to the Magic Kingdom.

   

  We rushed out of there and went straight to the Pirates Dinner Theater. We were dry by the time we got there, but still looked like we'd been out in the rain. It started out with appetizers (chips and salsa, potato chips, vegetables and dip) in this big room. You could buy overpriced drinks ($7 for a virgin margarita). We were assigned tables--each table had a color, which corresponded with a pirate's shirt. Our table was purple, and Saxon was our pirate. We were supposed to cheer for him whenever someone said "purple" or "Saxon."

   

  When we were finally led into the main room, there was a big pirate ship floating in 300,000 gallons of water. We found our seats and put on our purple headbands. It was very cold in there and my throat hurt. I felt like I might be getting sick.

   

  All told, the food was decent but the show was boring. Really boring. I didn't really follow the story, even. They did some cool stunts, but it was boring for sure. Alex and I hated it, but Mack said she kind of enjoyed it.

   

  When we finally left there, I needed gas very badly. Since we had been a little behind schedule, I didn't want to make us later by stopping for gas, and I knew I had enough, as long as I could find a place to stop on the way out. It looked like there were several places to stop.

   

  But then on the way out, we got stuck in the wrong lane, and I couldn’t get to the millon gas stations on the other side of the street. I turned up International drive, toward Universal Studios, thinking there would be a place to stop nearby. I was OK on gas, but needed to find something very soon.  When we got up to the turnoff for Universal Studios, I was in the lane next to the right lane. I didn't have to turn in to Universal, but I could if I wanted. I wasn't planning on it until some jackass in a red Fiero changed lanes and would have hit me had I not been very observant, and moved to the right lane. He honked his horn and moved right, running us off the road just after the Universal turnoff. I had no choice but to go ahead to Universal, where I tried to turn around. I encountered the same red Fiero again, tailgating and revving his engine. For a split second I thought he was following me, but then I realized he was just trying to get around me, that he probably didn't even know where he was going. It was tempting, though, to stop and let the air out of his tires after he parked.

  
  We got out of there and I had to decide whether to turn left or right to try to find a gas station. I decided to go right, since I didn't think I could make it all the way back where I'd seen the gas stations before.

   

  Fortunately, I gambled right and we found a station. I filled the van (only $30--it costs that much to fill my car in Oregon, and I'm sure the tank is smaller--gas was in the $1.70 range). I had to pump the gas myself, which was weird. I haven't done that in a long time. In Oregon, we don't pump our own gas. I wish we did, but we don't.

   

  We made it back to the hotel OK, and I was once again asleep within minutes. We had one more day at the Macgic Kingdom planned for the next day.

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